Day 5- Feeding the ducks

 It's been a hectic day here folks. I had an appointment to attend midmorning which went really well.  But it did mean we couldn't spend the whole day out. Once I was back we loaded up the buggy with drinks and snacks, before heading to our local country park.
 We spent a lovely sunny afternoon feeding ducks and spotting wildlife.
 In fact by the time we'd toddled home and eaten the girls were yawning. I had themin bed and asleep by 6.15!
 So no page completed today for your viewing pleasure I'm afraid.
 Tomorrow is going to be a big trip out though, with a special Grandad shaped guest joining in the fun.

 X x

Day 3&4 - Baking and exploring

 Apologies for the lack of a post yesterday. It proved to be a rather difficult day but I'm happy to say today has seen a vast improvement!
 For day 3 we just watched cclassic Disney movies on Sky player and baked some cupcakes from kit in my baking stash. Once the girls were in bed, I quickly followed.

Today we all headed outside for some much needed fresh air. We stomped our way through the local path, kicking piles of autumn leaves, collecting interesting sticks and running far as our legs wanted to take us.

 We brought home a pocketful of seeds and leaves to add to DDs diary. 

X x x

Day Two; Nummies and rest

 I have two very tired girls today so our adventures hhave been close to home. Hubby had apparcel to post so took DD with him for the car ride. I stayed home with Baby D and let her nap.
 As a little reward for good behaviour at the post office they popped into Lidl for a bakery treat. DD choose pink donuts (4@25p).

 After an afternoon of playing with a cardboard box we decided a nice dinner was in order. So we treated ourselves to a portion of chips from the local chippy. We served them with quarter of a quiche from the freezer and homemade pickled eggs and onions.
 It went down rather well.

 Remaining budget; £44.00

 Today's costs -
  Donuts - £1
  Chips - £2.50

 Total - £3.50

 New budget balance - £40.50

Day 1 - Frugal Swimming

 As promised here is today's diary page. DD has done a good job I think

  We had a free child swim voucher so DD was free, Baby D is under 3 and swims free so we only had to pay for hubby and parking.  I prefer not to swim but like to watch them all play and help with changing time.
 I packed everyone some juice and a snack (apples today) as tiny tums seem to get out of the pool ravenously hungry.  I refuse to buy a fruit drink for over £1 and give them chocolate based treats from the vending machines.
 We collected some swim lesson leaflets from the changing rooms which gave us lots of cartoon swimmers to cut out for page decoration.
 We took our own swim toys to avoid buying or hiring any.

 Costs;
    Adult swim- £3.80
    Swim nappy - 50p
    Parking - 70p

 Total cost - £5.00

 Budget remaining - £44.00

 X x X

Frugal Half Term begins

 It's officially half term. DDs school has finished today due to staff training tomorrow.
  Being on a budget but also wanting some fun we have allocated £50 to the half term fund for entertainment!  So let's see how we can stretch that into 9, days of frugal fun.
 Our first £1 from the budget has been spent on a pack of exercise books (3) from the ever dependable Wilko.

The girls have been given one each as their Half term diaries. And job one is decoration!
 We've pulled out all the stops with stickers, glue and shiny paper.

 These diaries are a fantastic money saving idea for us as almost everything free becomes a souvenir.  Leaflets, ticket stubs, printed photos, used parking tickets and such like make great page additions. Plus if we do buy a little something after our visit a postcard or sticker is often one of the cheapest gifts in the store.
 Hopefully I will be able to show you our first completed page tomorrow after we go swimming together.

 X x

Presents for pennies

We recently had our first birthday party invite sent home from school. Being a family living on a small budget I needed some clever ideas for a budget present.  After a few searches on the fountain of knowledge that is pinterest and a quick visit to Poundworld I hit on a marvellous idea.
 

 What little girl wouldn't love a pretty apron and baking kit. Complete with her initial in sparkly thread.  The apron took about 15 minutes to make from a tea towel (a pack of two.so I have a spare in reserve) and some spare ribbon. Embroidery took about 45 minutes using a pattern found free on the net.
 I added a princess baking kit as I felt it needed a little something else with it.
 Total cost - £2.00

 I was stopped a few days after the party by the recipients mum who thanked me for such a thoughtful gift.  Her daughter had played with it all weekend and they'd really enjoyed baking together.
 I think I can class that as a major success :)

X x X

All change please, all change.

 2014 has been an incredibly crazy year for the Random family. We've dealt with last minute house moves, hospital emergencies, career changes, loosing and gaining family members and a whole host of never ending situations and scenarios.
 And we're not done yet!
September has seen DD off to school which has been a much bigger change for us all than I first realised.  Learning to run your day around school drop offs and pick ups has been strange. We've also had to step up on being more organised (hands up DDs been sent to school with a jumper still warm from the tumble drier on two occasions).
 I feel like we're finally getting there now though. We've reached that lovely plateau where things have begun to become routine.  I checked DDs uniform drawer on Sunday to find I'd washed, dried and put away her uniform from last week without remembering I'd done it!

  But as I say 2014 isn't done with us yet. We have a big secret to reveal in the works that your all going to love, and a big purchase to save for with some back to basic frugalling.
 So long story short ... I will be back blogging from tomorrow and sharing more of our frugalling adventures and experiments.
 Watch this space folks. 2014 is ending with a BANG!