Dear Master Frugal,I'm writing this after giving you a hug and a kiss and tucking you into your bed for the last time as a ten year old.You'll wake up in the morning as a very grown up eleven year old and I'll hug you and say Happy Birthday as I've done every year for the last ten years.But there's something else that I want to say to you, something that I might not say out loud but one day, I hope you'll be reading this blog and that you'll come across this post and you'll see what I wanted to tell you more than anything on the morning of your 11th Birthday.I want to thank … [Read more...]

This month hasn't been the best month for us and to be quite honest, there's been a couple of times when I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.  Master Frugal didn't get into his first choice school even though his sister goes there already which turns out to be an error as they didn't take that into account due to missing paperwork but even knowing that, the school is so over subscribed that I have to appeal to see if he can have a place!  That and the fact my lovely Dad had a fall which shattered his hip and meant he's been in hospital for the last two weeks recovering (slowly) from a … [Read more...]

Miss Frugal has always loved a good sleepover with her friends and over the years we've had a lot of them!Sleepovers are very different to what they used to be now that she's 13 (and a half ;-)) because the kids are sensible enough to know that whatever they're doing, they need to do it quietly because Miss Frugal understands now that if they're not quiet, then I will hear them and next time she asks for a sleepover, I'll say no!It's much easier for a teenager to understand the need to be quiet but it's not so easy to expect younger children to simply go to bed when they're told and … [Read more...]

Gammon was pretty much the first meat that Master Fussy-Eater Frugal would eat and even now, it's still one of his favourite meals.  It's also really versatile so we tend to buy a small gammon joint every week and although we love a good old mid-week roast dinner, I do try and mix it up a little bit - especially with the leftovers that we always have.  I thought you might like to see how far you can stretch a gammon joint by showing what I've made with ours.Before I go on to what we do with our gammon joint, I should really recommend that you always buy the next joint of meat you can … [Read more...]

Have you seen the 'On This Day' app on Facebook that sends you a message every day to remind you of what you were doing on the same day in previous years?   I love the idea of it and the statuses and photos that I've posted in years gone by regularly make me smile as they remind me of moments I'd all but forgotten.There have been a few lately though that have brought back memories of some of my less than brilliant parenting moments and I thought I'd sacrifice my parenting pride and share a few of them here with you today...Please try not to judge me, especially for number 1 and 6! … [Read more...]