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Friday 26 December 2014

Merry Christmas

Hello readers I hope you have all had a wonderful day with your loved ones. Yesterday we didn't do much here at Tilly Towers to be honest. We spent the day watching Xmas movies and doing Xmas crafts. Normally on Xmas eve I can be found running round like a headless chicken getting all those last minute things taken care of. This year however I was super organised and had everything sorted well in time for Xmas. It has allowed me to have a lovely relaxed few days with my little family.


The boys woke us up at 6.30am very excited that Santa had been and wanted myself and Lee to get up so they could open their presents. It was lovely watching their little faces light up when they realised they had got something they really wanted. I have pictures but they are on Lee's phone and he went back home tonight as he is back to work tomorrow so I will have to do a post and share them with you next time he is over.


Lee's mum arrived at 11am it was so nice to share our special day with her. I won't go too much into detail as it is a private family matter but as mentioned before Lee's mum has dementia and since I last saw her a few months ago she has really gone down hill which was very sad to see. Nonetheless it was lovely to have her here for the day and my boys think a lot of her too so they were happy to have her here to.


We had our Xmas dinner around 2pm with our crackers and a glass of non alcoholic wine each and was stuffed. I cooked enough to feed a small army and we had to wait a good 2 hours before any of us was ready for pudding lol.


Lee and his mum went home about 6pm and the boys and I watched the Dr who Xmas special (my house is overrun with whovanians lol). I then had a nana nap on the sofa while the boys played with their new toys and watched Xmas television.


When I woke up I got the boys ready and off to bed everyone was pretty tired after a busy day. I have tidied up, hovered, put some washing on, and done the washing up. We are now all ready for our Xmas day number 2 tomorrow.


My mum, step dad, and Nan are coming down for the day where we will exchange gifts and have a nice buffet lunch. When I finish this post I will be getting myself off to bed ready to start all over again in the morning.


Here are the only couple of pictures I got on the kindle this morning.....




I hope you have all had as wonderful a day as we have surrounded by those you love. Enjoy the rest of your Xmas everyone.

Much Love
All of us here at Tilly Towers xx xx xx


Sunday 21 December 2014

Frugal Xmas Dinner For 6 Under £15 Total

Hello readers I have been having a nose around on the internet at frugal Xmas dinners and was shocked to learn that a 3 course Xmas Dinner for £40 for a family of four is considered frugal so decided to share our Xmas menu with you all and the pricing.

Starter
Cream cheese and Brussels pate served with salad and French toast

Cream cheese (Morrison's savers) 49p
Brussels pate £1
Bag of mixed salad (Tesco everyday value) 80p
Few slices of brown bread made into French toast (yellow sticker) 5p

Total £2.34


Main course
Roast turkey with all the trimmings

Large ready stuffed turkey (it serves 12 so half will be used Xmas day and the other half will be served boxing day when my family come to visit cost £10 for the whole joint) £5
Bag of roast potatoes (Tesco everyday value) 75p
Bag of Yorkshire puddings (Tesco everyday value) 49p
Brussel sprouts (Tesco) 49p
Pigs in blankets (I got these on a 3 for 2 offer when buying some party food for boxing day from Tesco) 0p
Bag of mixed veg including peas, carrots, broccoli, cauliflower (Tesco everyday value) £1
Gravy (Morrison's savers) 15p

Total £7.88


Dessert
Double chocolate gateux with home made ice cream

Double chocolate gateux (Tesco) £2
Birds ice cream powder (approved foods) 10p
1 litre of full fat milk (Tesco)  44p

Total £2.54

And to top it all off a box of 8 crackers (poundland) £1

Total spent £13.76

Did I mention that's for a family of 6. 4 Adults and 2 children (we are having Lee's mum over for Xmas day). I realize that a lot of it is ready made or frozen but in my eyes that works better in a few ways 1. less time cooking more time to spend with my family 2. more pennies in my pocket.


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Saturday 20 December 2014

Holidays And Clever Boys

Hello readers what an expensive few weeks it's been for me here at Tilly Tower's. Not only have I had Xmas to pay out for I've also had a holiday to pay off. We are going to Cyprus in February for 2 weeks that's not very frugal I hear you say but let me state my case. We are not a family who goes on holiday every year in fact it's been a good 3 or 4 years since we went on holiday and that was a 4 night uk caravan holiday that cost us £50 thanks to the sun newspaper. We have had sooooo much to deal with this year what with my health problems, Brandons school problems, Lee's work problems, Lee's mum's health (she has dementia), and Lee being dupped out of a rather large amount of money thanks to one of those PPI scams that I figured to hell with it as a family we deserve a bloody good holiday somewhere warm this year. Of course being the frugalista I am I wanted to do this in the cheapest way possible and when I saw an ad on one of the fb pages for a holiday apartment in Cyprus being let by a local lady I decided to do some research. I had a look at the ad and worked out the cheapest time to go was February and the 2 weeks we wanted would come to a total of £405. I then sent the person who originally posted the ad on fb a message asking if we booked through her privately whether she could give us a reduction as she would not have any website fees to pay by booking with her directly and was pleasantly surprised when I got a message back saying that we could have the 2 weeks we wanted for £325 and that included the cost of changing the towels and bedding before our arrival. I was delighted with this but decided to try my luck a little further and asked if I could wash the towels and bedding myself on our arrival (there is a washing machine in the apartment) instead of paying the £55 it costs to have this done for you. I was doing a little happy dance when she got back to me saying that was fine with her and if I wanted those 2 weeks it would cost me £270 with no towels and bedding being changed. Myself and Lee went halves on this so it cost me personally £135 for our accommodation.

Before securing the accommodation I had a look at flights as I know during school holidays the cost is often double or even more and I was right. For the 5 of us it would cost £1600 for flights (not a chance). I dabbled with the dates a little and found that if we left the uk 3 days before the start of the school holidays and returned 3 days after the school holidays it would cost us £750 a saving of over 50%. I had a word with brad and ben's schools to see if they would ok the extra 6 days off school and was told as they have a good attendance rate and are both doing exceptionally well in school and neither one of them has any exams due anytime soon that it would be perfectly ok. This is why we decided on 2 weeks instead of one as it worked out substantially cheaper to have the extra week (go figure). I should mention I have not yet booked the flights as we are hoping to get them even cheaper by booking them just a few weeks in advance as I have heard airlines often sell off the last few seats cheaply just to fill the plane. I will be booking the flights in a few weeks and will let you know how we get on with this and what we end up paying but for now I will work with the figure I have of £750. With Lee paying for his own flight fare I personally will be paying £550 for myself and the 3 boys flights.

As yet I have not taken out any travel insurance I will be looking into this over the next few weeks to try and secure the best deal. I have to be honest readers this is the part I am dreading the most. With all my health issues I am concerned the cost will go through the roof that's if I can even find someone willing to insure me arghhhh. Will let you know how I get on with this.

So far total cost for 2 adults and 2 children (brad is now classed as an adult) to spend 2 weeks in the sun £685 minus travel insurance not to bad if you ask me :)

Earlier I mentioned that both Brad and Ben are doing incredibly well at school well look what they bought home from school with them on Friday....


Brads achievement award for all his hard work


Ben's school report (if you click on the image you will be able to see it better)


I am soooooo incredibly proud of all 3 of my boys. They have so much to deal with in their lives and yet they can still achieve results like this.


Much Love
Claire xx xx xx

Thursday 18 December 2014

Xmas Time

Hello readers I'm back lol. Lee has had the past month off work that plus the usual health problems have kept me busy and away from blogging but I'm back now. I'm glad to say my health is slowly improving for the time being at least. I have been referred to a liver specialist and will have an appointment sometime in the next 14 weeks. I have some lovely pictures to share with you all of a trip out we had with the bestie and God daughter but I need to upload them all from my phone first. It was a real christmassy day and Brandon got to see Santa. Yesterday I went to watch an awards ceremony at my God daughters school. She won 3 awards since starting in September I am so incredibly proud of her.

Is everyone ready for Xmas next week ? We are all done now. The house has been decorated, all the presents have been bought and wrapped, all the cards have been written and sent, and all the food has been bought. I have dug out all the Xmas films, books, and CDs and we are now just enjoying ourselves before the big day arrives. This is the first year I have been this organised usually I can be found wrapping Xmas presents at midnight on Xmas eve lol.

How are you all getting on are you all ready for the big day ?

Much Love
Claire xx xx xx