5 Frugal Things Post 7 – Half Term Fun with the Children

5 Frugal Things post 7

Half term week is always a challenge work wise, knowing this, the boys had a little holiday to Essex to spend a few days with the in-laws. This meant I had 2 full days to myself to get a serious amount of work done and get ahead of deadlines. Sunday and Monday were spent writing tons and tons. This meant I could relax for the rest of the week and do stuff with the boys.

Monday night of half term sickness bug hit all three boys so I had to zoom over to Essex to collect sickly boys from the grandparents. After a quick recovery we have filled the week with frugal money saving fun we have done good considering its half term:-)

1. Wednesday was a Cambridge football training day for Dylan and Josh. Fully recovered from the sickness bug by then. They were dropped off at 9:30 and Jack and I had 6 hours to fill. Near to football training in Cambridge is Shepreth Wildlife Park, so we spent the day there. It cost £22 for both of us to get in. The only costs when inside was a jacket potato for my lunch as I sneaked in a packed lunch for Jack into the soft play cafe.
2. Thursday we had lots of job to do in Welwyn Garden City. My attempt to make it fun was to given Dylan the list and work out where we needed to go in what order;-) My mission to pay for as little of it as possible. A white shirt was needed for a photoshoot next week (!! more details coming soon I promise). The boys and I found a lovely shirt in H&M and paid using a gift voucher from a recent Zeek promotion. A new pink lipstick was found in Boots for £8.99 (already saving money as I would have bought from Bobbi Brown in the past) and used a Boots vouchers hiding in the depths of my wallet. Lunch was in a coffee shop where I had a gift voucher in my wallet as well. We got home and had a couple of hours at the park with some mummy friends. That finished off the day perfectly.
3. I have been super frugal with cooking dinners this week. I made a big pot of bolognase sauce on Wednesday night, we all feasted on pasta with sauce. We were left with quite a few leftovers so turned them into shephards pie on Thursday night.
4. We have done quite a few crafty things this week. I will be publishing a review post for Desenio prints and frames this weekend and the boys have been super creative with the packaging. The huge box has been turned into a bed for the new kitten we are getting this weekend and the packaging from the frames has been turned into artwork. And I have painted my Aldi baubles. These are available NOW in store to buy for £1.99 for 6 baubles, paint and brush with proceeds going to Bernardo’s.
5. I have been planning a birthday cake for Dylan who turns 9 on 9^th November. Baking cakes is such an enjoyable past-time and it’s a great way to save money for a party by making the cake yourself rather than buying one or having one made. I am really inspired by the bake off this week and those beautiful Victoria sponges they made in the technical challenge so I think I am going to create one for Dylan’s birthday, maybe this recipe from Paul Hollywood which looks so yummy. Don’t forget you can see Paul and Mary in the flesh at the BBC Good Food Shows in November in London Olympia and Birmingham NEC. I will be there at both and I have an exclusive 20% off voucher, just click on this link and add the code MP20 when prompted.

Next week is a busy one and I can already see the diary building nicely for November with exciting work projects (more info coming soon I promise) and social fun. I am off to the South West for the photoshoot and a visit to my forever friend Becky and hubby and their beautiful new baby Aimee. Halloween of course on Monday, the house is decorated, the pumpkins were carved last week!! We also welcome Trev the kitten to the house on Sunday so expect lots of cute cat pictures on Instagram:-). November bring it on

I am linking up with  Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Fabulously Frugal things I have done this week’ linky.