What Happened to me?

Hey everyone

Well its been a mighty while eh?

----------------------------------------------------

 

Firstly my Blogger and Emails got hacked and took an age to sort

 

My OH for 13 years left me

 

I was in a very black hole

 

Had to scrape myself back again

 

Im still working on it

 

Its been the hardest thing EVER

 

Ive had to ask for help with money matters

 

Ive gone for weeks without much money

 

Im just getting there financially

 

Ive had to be more frugal than ever

 

Its been a great lesson

 

And I will win

 

Back soon

AFM

xxx

 

 

Donna - Granose Review :)

Hi Donna my lovely, i hope you are reading this?

 Would you mind emailing me your address so i can send you the box of Granose to try

Many thanks AFM xx

a.frugal.mrs@gmail.com

Who wants to do a review?

Two posts in one day? eck :)

Whats happened to the weather? glorious sunshine to three belting it down showers of hail stones !!

Right-e-oh i have in my store cupboard about 10 boxes of  Granose Chicken Style Meat Free Roast mix from Approved Foods,each box has 2 x 75g sachets in, its over date as most things are but that doesn't affect the taste or quality of the mix. I have made it up as instructions on the box and make a type of meat loaf from it, and have also made burgers by adding onion garlic and spices etc..now my son cant bear the stuff and myself and OH thought it was, just OK, so i was thinking i am willing to send out three seperate lots to whoever would like to try it, tell me what you think of the stuff, and maybe what recipe you have made from it? i would be interested to see what you come up with...

anyone interested?

If so bob me a comment and and your address to a.frugal.mrs@gmail.com

AFM xx

Randoms-looking back ..

Good Morning my bloggy friends

Firstly - welcome to a new follower -Paid In Chickens i will bob over and visit your lovely blog soon :)

Another random post really, i've so much on my mind, and allot to do before my parents arrive on Mothers Day, i think i have took to much on and am starting to stress myself out a bit to much...i have decided that whatever gets done this weekend, then that's it, no more decorating, wallpapering, painting etc.. it can wait till my mum and dad have gone back home to the Isle Of Wight ..

They arrived at my sisters yesterday in Leicester, My dad met Harley, my nieces Pomeranian, my dad has this thing, all dogs love him, when he comes to our house our Jack Russell ends up around my dads shoulders like a scarf haha

Little Harley..awww

Dad and Harley getting a fuss

Its lovely out again this morning, bright and sunny, i'm working all day so sat behind a stuffy desk till 5.30, so no sunshine for me :( hopefully it will be nice at the weekend because all that out-doorsy stuff still needs doing .. this sunshine makes me want to go on holiday..i hate flying but will suffer it if it means going away, i usually cry all the way there lol ..we've not been abroad for two years and im really missing it now, but we are trying to save save save so have been for the last couple of years going camping as our main holiday, we have always been campers - its not for everyone but we love it :) 

i found some random pictures - so lets have a look ...

Our last abroad holiday was Egypt with my sister and niece (another sister, this one lives on the I.O.W)

Sister Niece Me Mst J

Me my Son and Niece

Two Mummies and a very happy Son xx

Back in the UK now ---->

We are Messy Campers :)

Drying the wetsuits and making tea

Diesel on guard duty 

Beach bonfires

Getting the giggles

Me about to go-in !!

Making Memories

Me and the Wife (yes i have a wife)

Aww beautiful memories of last years camping trip to Newquay, you really dont need to spend a fortune, as long as you have each other, food in your tummies, lots of fun times, and Love in your heart, thats worth everything that money cant buy ...Love my little family..

Yes im supposed to be working right now lol!!!

AFM xx

The sun has got his hat on .. hip hip hip hip horray :)

 

Morning bloggy friends its lovely today, its sunny and the washing is on the line, nowt like fresh line dried laundry ...happy happy...

 

Im hoping its fine at the weekend, the yard walls need a quick tidy up, some pots need weeding, the garden gate needs repairing, the privet needs cutting, windows need cleaning,...heck why do we always have things to do, I honestly cannot remember the last time we just sat down in the evening, to watch rubbish tv, read a book, have a web ponder, pin a few things .. always busy .. hey ho, no need for boredom in this house..

 

 Thoughts in my head this morning:
Geeze how long does that paint need to dry? hurry up hurry up
Hmm I hope that wallpaper looks right against the carpet
What on earth is that postman doing?
Where on earth has the dog put my slippers?
Need to make bread
Need to get dog food
Should I let my son go on the school ski trip?
Must make a crumble with all those apples!!!!
HELLS TEETH
That's just for starters haha ..

..........Its coming along.........



AFM xx
 

Raining here in Lancs this morning, i wanted to get some washing out but have had to put it all on the airer now, hopefully it will blow over and i'll be able to peg out later. Just had my breakfast and a brew, and a catch up of the news online..this Malaysian Aircraft disappearance is baffling, those poor people and their families, doesn't bare thinking about, you would think in this day and age that they would have located it by now.. i'm not religious but sincere prayers for all those people involved, i hear that the relatives are threatening going on hunger strike until more information is released, i think the majority are thinking that they are not being truthful about the whole event.

Back on the wall this morning, sanding down is todays job...its going to be messy...i really need to get this done my parents arrive on Mothers Day .. no pressure then.. ive got their room to decorate yet too, i really want to get that done as we haven't seen them since December and want it nice for them.. my Dad is fitting a new shower screen while he is here too so that saves me a job.. :)

Eee this made me chuckle, i could manage the cupcakes for sure, not so sure about the marathon lol 

Happy Tuesday everyone

AFM xx

A beauty ..

Under the many layers of wallpaper i found this beautiful swan, once upon a time i imagine a wallpaper like this would have been someone's pride and joy .. 

Thankfully the walls are plastered and repaired now so i can wallpaper it soon, we managed to find a bargain £5 roll of paper, just enough for the one wall, the floral cream, brown, black wallpaper will jazz it up no end :)

I didn't do a roast tea last night we had a vote and opted for a Mummy McDonald's, my version-basically a vege burger loaded with salad,cheese slices,garlic Mayo and tomato ketchup stuffed into a home-made bread roll ... yummy ... sorry no pictures as we scoffed the lot before i remembered to take a picture haha im doing a quorn roast tonight, another house favourite with all the trimmings..

Back soon with a wallpaper reveal

AFM xx

Its been a while ...

Hello my friends ... heck i've been away a while, i didn't realise!! ive been feeling a bit out of sorts the past couple of weeks, house repairs that need doing, the weather, this and that .. you know the things... i have also have been naughty with money and had quite a few days of getting a treat to take to work, a chocolate bar here and there..which means unnecessarily spending and my waistline expanding more!!

Drat, anyhow i've put a stop to that again and feel a bit more on track now...i have been keeping on top of the savings however and have managed to save  £600 since January which i am really happy about, i've had some ebay sales too, so it all helps.

Firstly sorry again for picture quality, I had to blog from my phone today as the laptop was having a paddy, maybe the weather? not sure.. and i've lost the camera while we have been decorating..woops.. its a foggy morning today in Lancashire, and cold brrrr...glad i got all the washing done the last couple of days..

So our very large hallway was in desperate need of redecorating, it had a chip paper on the top half and a blown vinyl on the bottom, the paper was coming away at the top half and after taking a look and removing the paper it was in a terrible state, its took me two days to remove one wall, the worst wall at the top of the stairs...blimey... i was wondering why i had started?? i redecorated my sons bedroom painted the walls grey and put a feature wallpaper window side and at the opposite of the room behind his bed... he chose his wallpaper and all in all we spent £145.98 on a complete makeover ...

Wallpaper £14.00

Grey Paint £15.00

Light Shade £3.99

Carpet £27.00

New Bed £49.99

Fablon £10.00

Blind £16.00

New Sheets £10.00

We had Filler and was given wood paint :)

= £145.98

London Scene Wallpaper

 DS is 11 years old and wanted a more grown up room that was black and grey, we couldn't afford new furniture so i covered his beech coloured wardrobe and drawers with a black gloss fablon, and my gosh it looked fab!! hahah DS thought we had bought new at first, we did buy a new bed as his old one was old and it was a mid sleeper so getting a proper bed was great, especially for my back when changing sheets, my days of climbing cabin beds are over!! our terraced house has two small ish bedrooms and so it needed planning thoroughly... eventually we got it looking right and he is thrilled with it, so this prompted the hallway makeover as the new bedroom made the hall look even more shabby!!!  and not in a trendy way haha...

Just look at the state of this wall, all these gouges were covered in a green felt like stuff its took some blinking scraping off, i still haven't quite finished, the whole wall needs filling now too. Due to how bad this wall has been we have decided to just magnolia the other walls as the paper looks ok, we are thinking of putting a feature paper on this wall to jazz it all up a bit...phew... cant wait to get it done now its getting to me as the bathroom is next then the spare room, when we had all that bad rain we had a leak in the spare room and that needs papering and painting too..my parents are visiting at the end of march so it has to be done...hells teeth..i need a break lol..

I think the other walls look ok ? .. clean and fresh at least, we had some crown magnolia emulsion left so i have used that, although i think we will need another tin, but so far not spent on anything for the hall, we will need just one roll of paper for the feature wall and our local B&M'S have wallpaper for £5 a roll so its not looking to bad..the struggle will be to find something we both like and that has brown/cream patten on as our carpet is brown!!!

Fingers crossed :)

And to finish off ......

Hmm look who is in Mummys bed ?? Mr Deeds... im cold mummy its all foggy and nasty out today so i sneaked in your comfy bed haha .. got to love him ..

Sorry for a long boring post my friends ... back soon ... 

AFM XX

Bimbling along

Hi everyone first of all welcome to two new followers .. .. Mrs G and Thrift Delux .. :)

 We woke up to heavy rain again this morning, just for a change eh? it stopped about 8.00 so i quickly got dressed and we headed out for a walk, it was very wet out and very muddy, it ended up being a bit of a bimble of a walk as it started raining again and it was really cold..

We had a mooch around the bushes, in between the trees, i fed the birds, Deeds had a sniff about, we
slid about getting muddy..

 There were signs of spring bulbs popping up..

some wild mushrooms growing...

Dark clouds came over head so we trotted off home ...brr...

Come on Dee Dee Mummy is cold ...hmm refusing to move I see...haha

Back home, Deeds is all wrapped up in his bed with a hot water bottle after a soapy wash down, he was black again..haha..never mind, its nothing a wash doesn't sort..after all he does look forward to his walks..he's not moved yet..look at him..peebow..

Blimey I was freezing when we got back, big mug of tea, and hot porridge was very much enjoyed, a bit of a relax, now I need to nip out for a bit of shopping, and I've got a bag of bits for the charity shop that need dropping off...I  really cant be bothered this morning its still raining and a 15 minute walk into town, I might leave it a bit longer yet see if it fines up a bit before I go to work this afternoon..

Ive made another £15 on eBay so have added that to the January eBay account, it all adds up eh?there is  another couple of bids on a few things so that's really good for the account..

 I want to put a bit extra on the Farmfoods saving card today when I go out, i think i will add another £10 to it so there will be £17 on it now..

We added a bit more loose change to the savings Tin, I will count that up on Friday and then Start February's Tin..its looking full so that's good..as always I have added £10 to this weeks on-line savings we have £50 in that, so its all adding up nicely.. a great January already..

There's a pair of Sons pants that need stitching and a  new button on so if iv'e got some spare time that needs doing today too...

OH is cooking Tea tonight, Bangers, Mash and Beans, that'l do me fine..yummy comfort food :)

(pictures courtesy of Mr Google)

.......Eee im pooped ......
See you all later
AFM xx

  

Homemade Card Holder..and other Musings

Hi everyone...brr its blinking cold up North today, well it has been all weekend actually, same as many places i believe, windy, rain, thunder and hail, i thought we may wake up to some snow this morning , but no, just more rain and wind..

The hail was making such a racket i opened the back door to have a look and everything was covered...i went to grab my phone to snap a few pictures but the battery was dead!!when i finally managed to snap a picture most of it had melted but there was still some around because it was so cold...Diesel Dog hid behind the sofa in the back room when i opened the door i think he thought i was going to make him go out lol..

We got invited to the In-Laws for Sunday Dinner so that was  nice, no cooking for me :) lovely roasted food and apple pie and custard for afters yummy .. we sat and chatted away and watched a movie on tv, a bit of Maths homework was finished and then we headed home for a relaxing evening...

OH did a workout and had a soak in the bath, i attempted to sort the dresser of doom out hahaha every time you open the doors some material falls out or my buttons tin escapes lol... i gave up and decided i will do it in the week when no-one is around to interrupt!

I bobbed in Tesco on Saturday as we needed a few basic bits and i spotted this jute bag with the Tunocks print on and then LOVE on the other side, these were £4.00 reduced to £1.50 so i got one to put away to go with my mums Mothers day bits, these bags are really useful and she likes to use them when shopping, plus they are her favourite chocky treat :)

 

I was a bit bored the other day so i was tidying around the house and opened the drawer where i keep my savings cards and thought i really need a basic holder to keep them all in, i had a little think about it and i remembered that i had an old leather spectacles case that i didn't use, so i found it out ...

Got some of my cards out to measure how deep i needed it to be ...

It was a perfect width ...

I marked it with a pencil and then cut along with my dressmaking scissors ... i cut the top part off too so i could trace the dipped part..

I cut out the dipped part ...

I then added my cards .. hey presto a neat little card holder that cost me nothing ..tadaaa..

i quiet like it.. i dabbed a little glue where i cut across the stitching to keep everything held together..it holds 6 cards with maybe a little room for another if needed..im really pleased with it..

Off to the post this morning with some eBay bits i sold then i was off to do a full day at work .. my boss is off today so i am sneakily  blogging from my desk haha..

Home for Dinner in a bit so i will put the slow cooker on with a Quorn casserole for Tea, ive got some veggies prepared in the freezer so i just need to bung it all in and switch it on, ive a packet of vege suet for dumplings from Approved Foods so will make that up too...that's it for now my friends..its A No Spend Day today too as i already had the stamps for the post..

Happy Monday

AFM xx

Topping Them Up and a No Spend Day

Hi everyone ...

What brand of shampoo and conditioner do you use? how much do you spend ?

 

 

 

I buy Tesco Brand shampoo and conditioner 300ml each for 75p each,

Loreal is 250ml for £2.89 and Pantene 360ml is £3.69

 

I cant understand how people could pay that price to wash and condition their hair, I know some pay more certain brands are nearer to £5 each - crazy.

 

We have been using Tesco brand for a couple of years and I find it works very well, in smell and results are very similar to the Pantene ones, I will continue to use Tesco version as long as they still sell it, sometimes its on offer any 4 for 3 so £2.25 for 4 products works out at 56p each, great value, so next time its on offer I will get a few extra...there is the choice of For Normal Hair or Dry/Damaged Hair too which is great.

 

A couple of years ago I purchased some pump action shower dispensers for 50p each, I squeeze the shampoo and conditioner into one each and its really surprising how little you use when you use these, its so easy to squidge a handful out of a bottle when you don't need it, it stops kids emptying half a bottle on their head too hahaha I find that a bottle each when put into the dispensers last us about 3 weeks, and I wash my hair every day ..fab!! .. another advantage to these pumps are you can actually see what you have got as the dispensers are see through..so you don't un-necessary buy more when you can see what you've got !!

 

I know there is the value ranges out there that are cheaper and you get so much more for the money, but I find they dry my hair out terribly so I don't mind paying 75p each..however if we had a house full of kiddies I think it would be fine to clean their hair with the value brands, Tesco Value 1 ltr shampoo for 40p is a massive bargain...

 

 

 

 I have tried the Alberto Balsam ranges, 400ml for 75p, fab value, they smell really nice but again dry my hair out, so I stick to the Tesco ones...these ones come in several smelly fragrances too ..

 

 

Hope that wasn't too boring for you all ??

 

Just what I use, and if that helps someone wanting to try it then great, it saves me money so I get to put more into our savings over the year.. all these little things make it able for me to save save save.

 

Its a No Spend Day today here..fantastic..

 

Happy Friday Everyone

AFM xx

 

A Spend Day

Morning Bloggers..

Well I went to put the kettle on as usual this morning and it blew up !! so I had to boil a pan of water on the gas stove, which I am not happy about it took 7 minutes to boil so I could make a pot of tea for two and one coffee... our kettle used to boil in about a minute, I dread to think what gas you would use if that was how you boiled your water every time you fancied a brew!!

 

Heck, needless to say OH will be picking up a new one on the way home from work this evening, as I cant afford to be boiling water with gas. Argos have some basic style ones for about £9 so that will do us, our old one was a Tefal Red one, very nice but the pre 2013 years we would spend what we wanted on bits for the house, well not any more so a cheaper basic one will boil water just as good and we will have some spare money left.

 

 I need to pull the fridge out because the socket is behind the unit for the kettle to plug into, I will probably need to take the plug off the new kettle to feed the wire behind too...oh blooming heck what a faff ...

 

Well its raining again, just for a change up North, it woke me up bouncing off the windows at 5am this morning, I couldn't get back off after that so I've had a lazy morning so far, I need to pull my finger out and get some bits done.

 

When im stressed or worried hence last nights post I bake or go into a cleaning frenzy, I've wanted to make banana muffins for a while, I had saved some bananas and freezed them so I took some out last night and found a recipe online, reviews were great, I had all the ingredients, so off I went and made a batch...flaming eck they were awful, took an age to cook, and believe me I can bake, so I couldn't understand why everyone's reviews were great, lovely fluffy tasty muffins ??? mine wouldn't cook, still soggy in the middle baked for nearly an hour?? well I don't know what went wrong, so the birds will be having a treat when we go for a walk later..i was really looking forward to them too..oh well..im just annoyed that I've wasted precious ingredients..

 

I've scoured the cupboards and freezer so see what I could prepare for tea tonight, looks like it will be shepherds pie, I was going to make a lasagne but we don't have any tomatoes in the house so that's that, I've got plenty of potatoes, onions, plenty of Quorn mince, some reduced yellow stickered sprouts and a bag of yellow stickered runner beans, so that's tea sorted.. ive got a packet of Angel Delight in the cupboard from Approved Foods so will whip that up for afters...

 

Right I've got a few bits I need to sort for the post that I've sold on Ebay grand total this month for ebay is £12.65

That's it for today my friends
AFM xx

 

 

 

 

 

Gutted

This evening we invited someone into our home, our lovely warm home.

 

We spent 'our' time with them, I cooked a meal, provided drinks and desert for them, for me to end up feeling totally gutted 3 hours later to find out that said person was caught red handed by the OH attempting to steal from us earlier in the evening...I feel dreadful I truly do...I don't even know what to say but felt like I needed to put this down in writing...........my mind wont switch off now, whirling round with what ifs and scenarios..............

 

AFM x

No Spend Day

Evening bloggers, just a quick post tonight..
what a rainy evening its been, brr cold dark and wet...
 

Ive had a no spend day today, so that's good..we had homemade Quorn Korma Curry for tea tonight, ive used the last of the rice and pitta's from the freezer to go with it, and then we all came up to do our own things..

OH was weight training, Son was doing his homework etc etc..i turned the heating off and got in bed and have been watching SuperScrimpers on 4oD on the laptop..love that programme, still amazes me what people will waste and how they can't save money..dearie me

 

Catch you all tomorrow

AFM xx