Saving money - downgrading the shopping

13/04/2012

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Knowing that it won't be long before I no longer have a reliable steady income I decided that we need to start thinking of ways to save money. One of my biggest annoyances is that we throw food away so the first thing I did this morning was check our cupboards and freezer and worked out that we can actually have some really nice meals until 3rd May without even using all the store cupboard ingredients. 

With the few exceptions of milk, bread, ham, fruit and vegetables we shouldn't need to do another shop between now and then. To ensure that I had bought all the other bits that we will need I went to Morrisons. I am fairly new to Morrisons as Tesco is closer but I have noticed that the produce tends to last a bit longer.  

To ensure that we save as much money as we can I have decided to downgrade our shopping wherever I can and in this case we went down to Morrisons savers if they had it or there own brand if they didn't. I was shocked when I got to the till and the trolley full of shopping came to £56.45 and that included two packets of nappies. This is in no way a sponsored post but I was very impressed with their prices so I want to know if the quality is good too.

To let you know how I get on I will write a list of the savers items (plus prices) below and will report back next week on what I would and wouldn't buy again.

Nappies 20 pack size 5 £1.41
Sponge scourers 5 pack 14p
Kitchen towels 3 pack £1.88
Hand wash 38p
Air freshened 29p
Facial tissues 45p
Mushrooms £1.59
Muffins 6 pack 59p
Tortilla chips 23p
Tortilla wraps 6 pack 67p
Part baked baguettes 2 pack 45p
Food bags 42p
Mozzarella 44p
Tea bags pack of 80 27p
Grated cheese £2.18
Sliced ham £1.65
Fresh Sausages 8 pack 57p
Salsa 69p
Chilli con carne sauce 52p
Mayonnaise 48p
Small 6 pack fromage frais 50p
Large 4 pack yogurt 33p
Tin of 8 hotdogs 55p
2ltr bottle of cola 17p

As you can see some of these products look to good to be true so we will have to see what they are really like. If you can think of other things that we can do to save money please do let me know as I need all the help I can get.
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Blogging from an ipad!

12/04/2012

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It wasn't long ago that I posed the question to twitter, can you blog from just an iPad? The overall consensus as no but me being me completely ignored you all and went ahead and got an iPad. Now don't get me wrong it is great, the kids love playing games on it, draw something is as addictive as people said it would be but I wrote a whole blog post yesterday and only half of it got posted. What's that all about? 

So here I am again giving it one more try, one more post before I decide what o do, do I return it and get a boing laptop or do I keep persevering with the great piece of kit and just be more careful when publishing a post. 

I was going to attempt to load a photo using one taken on the iPad to see if that was possible but that requires flash which even this iPad is unable to cope with. 

So what would you do? Keep the iPad and use a rubbish laptop to load the photos or exchange the iPad for a nice new laptop?
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Cbeebies Live - the girls best Easter Sunday ever!

08/04/2012

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When your kids cry because they have to leave somewhere you know they have had great fun.

I dont have time to write a full post and as we paid for the tickets I dont have to either but I did want to say that we had an amazing time and I wanted to share some photos and a great video of Justin Fletcher singing Hands Up live! Enjoy!
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I have the power!!

04/04/2012

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Ok so that sounds like it came from an old He-man cartoon but an interesting article I read today suggests that as a Mummy Blogger I do have the power, the power to influence people.

So here goes I want to influence you all to buy me chocolate. No I am only joking, well sort off , if you wanted to buy me chocolate then you can, honestly I wont refuse it.

The thing I liked most about this article is that the person who wrote it had their whole opinion of Mummy Bloggers changed after attending a Mummy Blogger conference. They realised that we dont start blogging for money and that we are honest about products and therefore make the best reviewers, they were inspired by Mummy Bloggers and to be honest so was I and that was why I started blogging.

So I want to say to all you Mummy Bloggers out there to hold your head up high and believe that you do have the power and you can make a difference.

Here is the link to the article in question so you can read it for yourself.




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Introducing my Britmums sponsor.....

02/04/2012

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Thats a surprise isnt it?

Well it was a surprise to me when I received the email offering me sponsorship, in fact I had to read the email three times before it really sank in. The best company in the world, as far as my family are concerned, want to sponsor little old me as a thank you for all the posts I have written about them.

I am so happy as I could not think of a better company that I would want to represent and anyone who tweeted with me before the Tots 100 christmas party or met me there know that I have an unbelieveable knowledge of all things Butlins. Where to stay? What to do? Where to eat? It all comes from experience and a love of a great british institution that manages to provide us with new experiences and memories everytime we go.

The fact is that my girls are only 2 and 3 (4 in June), our first trip was for Elizabeths 2nd Birthday and we are now Gold Premier club members which means that in less than 2 years we have been 7 times and we have another 2 holidays already booked for 2012. So while we count the sleeps (70 as I write this) to our next adventure at Butlins I thought I would share with you how really perfect this partnership is.

This is a shelf in Elizabeth's Bedroom.
Picture
Pictured - Rainbow, Dino, Darwin, 3 Billys, Jingle Jester and Sooty. Elizabeth is there somewhere too.
This is her bed.

In fact I had a walk around my house earlier and every single room in our house has something to do with Butlins in it.

Kitchen
Various cocktail shakers
Skyline Lunch box bottles
Skyline Mugs
Magnets on the fridge

Living room
Backpacks - Candi from Skyline gang and Billy Bear
Scrapbook full of Butlins Character photos
Billy Bear kites (in cupboard under the stairs)

Bathroom
Skyline Towels x 3

Alison Bedroom
Billy Bear Duvet set
Billy Bear cuddly toy
Daisy Cow cuddly toy
Dude Tshirt
Rainbow Tshirt
Rainbow resin figure
Frame with Skyline Autographs in it
Frame with a photo of Alison with the Skyline gang
Lanyard full of pin badges
2 pairs of Dude socks
1 pair of Candi socks
1 pair of Billy socks

Elizabeths Bedroom
Well you saw the photos but she also has
Rainbow tshirt
Skyline tshirt
lanyard full of pin badges
a proper medal full of pin badges
hoody she had printed in the Butlins shop that says "Pain in the Bum" on the back and "Beth" on the front.
1 pair of Bud socks
1 pair of dino socks
1 pair of Candi socks
1 pair of Billy socks
Billys Secret Dream Story Book

Our Bedroom
Now this is where I got a bit shocked because Butlins is in here too, I have a Butlins pen in my bedside drawer and I even have Butlins keyrings on my keys.

Even our Car
We have the Billy Bear and the Skyline gang cd's in our car and they are listened to a lot in fact the whole family can sing most of the songs from memory.

Basically we live and love Butlins and I could not be prouder to represent such an amazing company.

*Everything listed above is actually in my house and in those rooms. In fact I know we have other Butlins stuff but I dont actually know what room it is in at the moment.
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Manchester Mini Munchkin event 9th April - Free Entry

02/04/2012

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On Easter Bank Holiday Monday 9 April 2012 Glo Family are excited to be hosting a charity family fayre.  It's going to be a great event with fun for the kids, shopping for the parents; facepainting, yummy cakes and all of the proceeds will go to support the Manchester Children's Hospital.

The fayre will run from 10.30 till 3.30 and there will be lots of stalls selling goodies such as handmade cards, books, gorgeous toys, handsewn bibs, party supplies and much much more.   There is going to be a programme of taster sessions of some of the most popular kid's classes, which are free for your child to join in - just turn up and give them a go!  There will be toddler yoga, dancing, relax-kids and Tinytalk signing classes.

There will be a facepainter at Glo on the day and for just £2 your little one can be transformed before your eyes!  There will also be a chance to chat to some local photographers and class providers to find out more about the services they offer.

There will also be a fantastic raffle - the prizes are amazing and include......a meal for 2, leather baby shoes, facial massage, a term of tinytalk classes, voucher for exclusive ladies wear boutique, Toys, Zumba Classes, Handmade Children's plaque, cuddly soft toys and much more....... tickets will be on sale on the day or in advance from reception at Glo Family.  The raffle will be drawn on the day at 3:00 pm.

On the day GloFamily will be serving even more yummy homemade cakes than usual from the lovely cafe and you can enjoy a cuppa and cake whilst you're having a browse of the stalls. So make sure you bring some change for some goodies, coffees are around £2.25 each, cakes from £1- £3 and fab home made kids meals starting from £3.50 plus yummy food for the grown ups.

The event has been jointly organised by Belinda from www.minimunchkinmarket.com and Tamsin from www.tamsinstoys.com Belinda will be there on the day to explain how her website will help all you parents to save money on some great local products and Tamsin will have a stall selling hand-sewn bibs, toys, quilts and bunting.

It promises to be a great day and we look forward to seeing you there.

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World Autism Day!

02/04/2012

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Today is World Autism Day, it is a day to really stop and think.

Is that child naughty?
Is that child spoilt?
Is she a bad mother?
Or does that child have autism?

I did try to get a photo of the girls in rainbow clothes but they were being rather stubborn and said no so I thought I would share with you a poem that a friend of mine posted on her facebook page today, she has a son called Matthew who has Aspergers.


"My name is Mathew; I’m different to you
I don’t see the world the same as you do.
You see a classroom and I see a chair
I don’t always notice what else is in there.
Too much information keeps coming my way
... It’s so hard to cope with, day after day.
You show me so much that I don’t always see
One step at a time is the best thing for me.
Bright lights and loud noises upset me so much
An unusual smell, or somebody’s touch.
When you look in my eyes and I’m looking away
I’m not being rude if I don’t hear what you say.
I’m not being awkward; I’m just doing my best
I’m striving so hard to be just like the rest.
The times when you think I’ve not really tried
If only you knew how that hurts me inside.
I want you to like me the way I like you
If only you saw things from my point of view.
Your life and my life both run parallel
Yours seems like heaven, mine’s sometimes hell.
Whenever you’re frustrated at the things that I do
Remember
You could have been me and I could have been you."

For more on World Autism Day why not head over to A boy with Aspergers

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