Five little things - Friday 16th May

I'm getting in to the swing of these posts now. I enjoy taking note of the small things I do on a day to day basis and thinking 'ooh that should be in my Friday Five!' Here are today's snippets...

1. Used free wifi at work to go through emails and contact various people I have been meaning to for a while.

2. Got a 50p tip from a sweet elderly lady who I assisted with her bags! In my job I do not expect tips, they don't happen often these days with people caring more about their pennies. It really touches me when people give kind reviews about my service, that is something that makes me smile. Yet it is also nice to get a bit of free money every now and then.

3. Used my Morrisons £5 off voucher on the way home. I get these every couple of months from the Morrisons petrol reward scheme. This bought us a naughty treat of some Pringles, Wispa chocolate bars and a couple of bags of discounted veg. Every one needs a treat once in a while don't they?!

4. Mended daughter's duvet cover. 3 of the buttons had fallen off the bottom of it so I have sown them back on. Easily done and saves buying a new one.

5. Had an early night with a book. It is nice to sometimes turn the TV off and have an hour snuggled up with a book before going to sleep. This saved on electric downstairs.

Thanks for reading,
xx

Operation 'use up nearly-empty bottles'

Back in my unfrugal days I was a big fan of beauty products, hair care and perfumes. I have a mass of barely used bottles of products sitting in my drawers that really deserve to be used. Because of this, I am aiming not to buy any other beauty item until the end of this year. I have plenty of shower gel to keep us going, as well as enough make up to last me for the next 10 years! My hair care drawer has everything a girl could dream of - shampoos, conditioners, serums, hairspray, hair moose, shine spray, the list goes on...

I emptied this bottle of Moroccan hair oil last night after my hairwash and got a great feeling of satisfaction seeing the last little drops fall out. I haven't particularly liked this product but was determined to use it up before purchasing something new claiming to make my hair glossy and shiny. I have had a think back to when I actually got the bottle and I've remembered Mr MFW got it for me on our first Christmas together 3 years ago so it has lasted me a very long time!

By the way, anyone thinking of purchasing this moroccan hair oil, dont'!! It is ridiculously expensive (around £15 for 25ml) and doesn't drastically improve your hair like it claims. If you want smoother silkier hair which is my goal, the best thing I have found for it is Aussie conditioner. Specifically the miracle moist one, or the 3 minute miracle reconstructor. They are pricey for conditioners at around £3.99 for a 400ml bottle but well worth it. Used sparingly a bottle will last me 10 weeks.

I do hope that this will not only help me money-savingwise but that it will also help me declutter my bedroom and bathroom. Lets just hope that Mr MFW doesn't mind smelling of girly scented shower gel and shampoo for a while!

Thanks for reading,
xx

What I ate Wednesday

I have seen this tag go around on a few blogs. You take pictures of everything you eat on a Wednesday and post them to show everyone. I do like having a nosey at what other people eat on a day to day basis so this is a great tag for someone like me.

 This is what my little girl had. It's a bowl of rice crispies, followed by a banana and a cup of water.

 I had a bowl of cornflakes and a glass of water. I try and drink 5 of these glasses throughout the day but I do sturggle keeping my water intake high. I'm sure I don't drink as much as I'm supposed to.

 We had a midmorning snack of some red grapes. We eat quite a healthy diet and tend to have some fruit around 11am each morning.

This was my dinner today, I had eggy bread! I haven't had this for years and was really craving some. The only problem is it made the house smell of oil.

Baby had a cheese and cucumber sandwich with some cherry tomatoes on the side. She also got through 2 cups of water between breakfast and dinner.

We were a little bit naughty and shared a packet of buttons in the afternoon!

For our tea we had a meat and potato pie. It was served with cauliflower and carrots and lots of gravy on top. We didn't have any pudding this evening.

Thanks for reading,
xx

My top 13 newborn items you don't need!

This is following on from one of my previous posts about my top 5 newborn must haves . These are a few of the items we have found no use for and wouldn't advise anybody to purchase. There are so many gimmicks around baby products and it is easy to feel overwhelmed with what shops are telling you you must buy. Don't be fooled! Take time to think if you really do need to buy it and check to see if you have anything at home already that would do the job. Having a baby doesn't need to be expensive.

1. Baby bath. We had one of these but rarely used it. It was easier so wash our daughter in the bathroom sink or to put her in the bath when I was having a bath at the same time.

2. Wipe warmer. I'm fairly sure it never did a baby any harm having a room temperature bum wipe!

3. Nappy bin. Pointless purchase when you have to empty it in to your main bin anyway. We put them in the kitchen bin straight away and never had any bad smells coming out of it.

4. Baby shoes. Your baby will not walk for months and months! Why would you buy shoes for it??

5. Talc. My midwife and health visitor recommended not using talc as it doesn't do anything good for the baby. If they inhale it it can cause breathing problems too. Moisturiser is best for them.

6. Nappy stacker. A pointless purchase. We either had a bag of nappies under the changing table when we used it, or now we have a box of nappies in our bedroom for when we need them. If you want your nappies stacked somewhere, buy a normal storage box for a third of the price.

7. Changing table. We did have one of these to start with but it is just as easy to change a baby on a bed or on the floor. It's worth bearing in mind that there's quite a risk of baby falling off a table if you have one. If you get given one then great, but don't specifically go out and buy one.

8. Bath thermometer. You can tell if a bath is too hot by sticking your hand in it, you don't need a thermometer to tell you if it is too hot or too cold.

9. Manual breast pump. If you intend to express milk at all, you need to get an electric pump. Manual ones take 4 times as long to get any milk out, plus they hurt your hand a lot! Electric pumps tend to be able to do 2 boobs at once too.

10. Baby food maker. If you intend on making your own baby food then a regular food processor works just as well as these baby food makers on the market. Or you can get one of those 'blitz sticks' which just stick in a bowl and blitz it up.

11. Baby towels. We bought some of these when I was pregnant but in hindsight really didn't need them. A regular towel does the job fine and you must have some of those in your home already.

12. Bottle warmer. Stick a bottle in a jug of hot water for a while! It isn't hard!

13. Expensive baby bedding. We got a bedding bundle as a gift when baby was born and we haven't used a lot out of it. Cot bumpers have had a lot of bad press around them causing infant death so that put us off using one for a while. (We did use it for a while when she went through a wriggly head banging stage). You're told not to use baby blankets for a long time because of the suffocation risk so that only leaves the sheet out of the bedding bundle that you will actually use. I'll admit we just use a single bed sheet tucked right underneath the mattress. Much cheaper.

I hope this has given you an idea of what unnecessary purchases I have made and that it can stop you making the same mistakes I have done!

Thanks for reading,
xx

7 tips to find cheap car insurance

I hate the time of year when its time to renew insurances. It is such a huge chunk of money to spend on something you can't tell you have and hopefully will never need but because it costs so much money it is so important to find the very best deal.

1. Check what you current insurance company is quoting for your 'renewal price'. It is always worth while ringing them and saying you are unhappy with the quote they have given then ask if there is any way it can be cheaper. It worked for me last year! Just for a quick 5 minute phone call I got £50 knocked off.

2. Check price comparison websites. My favourite to use is confused.com . It searches most of the top insurance companies as well as a lot of smaller ones who sometimes come up cheaper.

3. Once you have used the price comparison website and found the cheapest company for you, go on their own website and input your details again to see if it comes up cheaper that way.

4. Try adjusting your job title. For example, changing my partners job from 'forklift operator' to 'yard manager' knocked over £20 off! Both of these job positions are accurate for what he does by the way.

5. Try adding an additional driver on to your policy. When I first started driving I added my Mum on to my policy and it reduced the premium drastically.

6. Be realistic about your annual mileage. Last year we told the insurance company our annual mileage would be up to 12000. I checked and we only went 4500 miles! This year I have been more conservative and set it at 6000 which has reduced our premium again.

7. Go through a cashback website to actually purchase the insurance. My favourite is quidco.com . It is a very simple site to use compared to others I have tried out. This year I got £60 cashback just for clicking through their website to go on to the insurers! 

This year my renewal price came through at £386. Using the tools I have described above I have managed to knock that down to £303 with £60 cashback so effectively it will have cost us £243. A grand saving of £143! I will mention that this new quote was obtained from the exact same company that gave me the original renewal quote... but it seems they value new customers more so than existing customers and give them the best deal. 

Thanks for reading,
xx

Make do and mend.

Being a Mummy, I feel as though I'm not very 'trendy' when it comes to fashion any more. I simply do not have the time to trawl around shops and try on clothes. Have you ever tried to try on clothes in a busy changing room with a 1 year old screaming? It's not fun. Some Mums do manage to pull it off and look perfectly made up each day with their perfect clean clothes, however this is not me. This is why I make do with what I've got and hope that when I'm done having babies, I can go back to nice clothes once more.

Recently, my work jacket got holes in both of the pockets, causing anything that was in my pockets to slip through in to the lining. Instead of going out and buying a new one I mended it by stitching the pockets. It is this mentality of mending and making do that has saved me a lot of money on would be purchases recently. Likewise when Mr MFW's button fell off his trousers, I stitched it back on even though he was all for going to buy a new pair.

I have a basic wardrobe consisting of a couple of pairs of jeans, some shorts, lots of tank tops, a couple of cardigans and some going out dresses. I can't remember the last time I bought anything new for myself. (Actually I can, it was when I was pregnant and couldn't cram my belly in to my jeans any longer!)

I would love to be how I used to be and be able to look nice each day. But with limited time and limited funds I have stuck to my existing wardrobe for the last 2 or 3 years and can't see me needing to buy anything new in the near future.

I do my best to wear clean clothes but with a toddler I always manage to get grubby marks on me where she has grabbed me with sticky hands or a slimy nose. Oh yes, this is the glamorous life of a Mother.

Thanks for reading,

xx

May day out to Gauntlet birds of prey.

I mentioned in one of my previous posts that we set aside a small budget each month so that we can go on a family day out. Last month we went to Monkey Forest and this month we went to a birds of prey centre near Knutsford in Cheshire. 

We went on bank holiday Monday since we were both off work for the afternoon. Luckily it was a nice day since the centre is all outside. There is not really anywhere to shelter should it rain when you are there other than the small tuck shop or gift shop so take a brolly if the forecast is dire.

The centre houses over 120 birds from 46 different species so there are plenty to look at. It is worthwhile staying for the flying displays which are put on for visitors. We arrived just in time for the 12:30 showing where they flew numerous vultures, an eagle and a falcon. They get the bird to swoop between the visitors while you are sat down so you do need to duck occasionally!

For 2 adults and a child under 3 to get in it cost us £11.90 for a days admission. You can come and go as you please which is great if you just want to stick around for the flying displays and go off for a wander in to town inbetween. 

Here are a few pictures of the birds we saw. Unfortunately our camera broke while we were walking around the centre so barely a quarter of the birds are shown! :-(

Thanks for reading,
xx

Five little things - Friday 9th May

This is the third of my 'five little things' series of posts. Each Friday I let you know what I have done that day to save money. Usually they are little things that normally go un-noticed but they all count towards us saving money and becoming mortgage free sooner rather than later!

1. Shared a shower with my 1 year old daughter. Saves on water and time!

2. Went on a playdate. We went round to a friend from works house so our children could play together. It was a lovely day to sit in the garden and best of all, a completely free fun activity.

3. Set up this years ISA for myself. I'm a bit late doing it this year but we haven't had any spare money to put in to it so I've not lost out! Will use it to get tax free savings for any money I put away.

4. Took a walk down to our local Tesco express at around 4pm. This is when they tend to 'yellow sticker' all the bits and bobs that are going out of date. I picked up 8 plums for 29p and 2 loaves of bread for 9p each.

5. Had a romantic night in with other half. Ok, I won't go in to detail but it saves on watching the TV or being on the laptop! Some times in a busy family life we forget that we are part of a couple as well. We aren't just Mummy and Daddy, we do have other responsibilities to each other and need to pay attention to our relationship to ensure we stay strong.

Thanks for reading,
xx

Just a catch up.

Apologies in advance for the rambling post this may turn out to be! I don't have a particular topic in mind as I sit down to write this time so I'm not sure where this is going to end up.

This week has been a good week so far. Because I have a 'casual' contract with work I am not guaranteed a certain number of hours per month. I am only working on Saturday this week so while that is good for saving money on childcare costs, it does mean that we are having to have a particularly frugal week with our spending. 

I haven't done a weekly shop this week for starters! I am trying to use up things that we already have in the cupboard which is making some interesting meals. We have plenty of meat frozen and there is a lot of salad left over from last week, as well as plenty of tinned potatoes in the cupboard plus rice and pasta. This has saved us spending the usual £40ish pound on our shopping.

I have forced  suggested that Mr MFW cycle to work today to see how long it would take him and to save on our fuel costs. We put on average £25 of diesel in the car each week. Surprisingly, it didn't take him as long as I thought it would for him to get to work, it only took 50 minutes which I don't think is too bad considering its 7 miles away and we live in a very hilly part of England. Also, he is not quite at the peak of physical fitness!

It is strange being at home for so much time. On days that I do work I have to be out of the house by 1:30pm to drop our daughter off with the childminder to get to work for 2:30pm so the mornings are usually quite a rush. I feel like I have had so much spare time to actually get things done! I have organised the baby's bookshelf with all my childhood books that were brought down by my Mum last week so her room is looking a bit nicer now. I have got soo much cleaning done, all those niggly little jobs that don't really NEED doing but it is nice to do them every so often, like dusting the lampshades and washing the curtains.

On other note, we are having our garden re-done this month/next month so that's not exactly moneysaving but it is something that needs doing in time for summer. The previous house owner had arranged the garden so it has 3 levels (no idea why! all the neighbours have flat gardens!) and he had flagged each level with those ancient yellow and pink flags old people seem to love. We have ripped all them up from the bottom level and dug it over, as well as chopping down the 5 big trees that were down there. The space looks a lot bigger now and after payday we will be buying turf to lay so that baby can play on something other than concrete!

I may have also started a little project of painting the bathroom! We had some leftover gloss paint from decorating our daughters room so we did the skirting boards with that. We found some white silk emulsion and cream silk emulsion in the garage so that did the walls and ceiling. Technically, we didn't actually spend any money buying new paint so it was quite a money-saving activity and it has freshened the place up nicely. I do love the smell of a freshly painted room.

We have had some fun Mummy/Daughter activities too. She loves being outside so we have spent a lot of time going for walks to different places. We like going to the library and to the park to play on the swings. Her cousin has given her a little plastic slide which he has grown out of so that has had a good few hours of playing with. It is nice to spend quality time together by ourselves. It is quite sad to think that in less than a year and a half she will be going to playschool.

So that's it. My week has been quite filled considering I have been off work. I could quite get used to the stayathome Mummy lifestyle but I don't think that would go down too well with Mr MFW!

Do you always manage to find little jobs to do when you're meant to having a relaxing week off?

Thanks for reading,
xx

Tracking your energy usage.

Does anyone else track their energy usage? I have always been aware of conserving energy and making sure we do our best to turn things off and save energy in any way we can, but this week I made a spreadsheet showing how much it actually costs us each month. We pay via direct debit, so the amount we actually pay each month stays the same. Because of this I have never really put any thought into lowering the figures further so that our direct debit can decrease.

You can see in December how much our electricity shot up due to having Christmas lights on and being at home more! 

The electric also went up more in March after having an electric shower installed and switching from a gas cooker to an electric one. Thankfully, having a shower installed means we will be saving heaps on our water bill now we don't all have to have a bath every night.

I've found that making this spreadsheet helps me keep track of our usage for the year. And it has given me a target of beating last months figures each month.

Thanks for reading,
xx

Cheap and easy meat and potato pie

• I found this recipe on the Tesco website and use it is a lovely winter warming meal. I usually make it in the morning before I go to work and heat it up once I get in. It is well loved by all the family and the leftovers can be taken for a packed lunch the next day.
• Ingredients you will need are...
• A quarter of a pack of Jus Roll shortcrust pastry
• 1 clove garlic – finely diced
• 1 medium onion – diced
• 1 tbsp vegetable oil
• 500g diced beef or minced beef
• 2tbsp flour
• 300ml beef stock
• 2 medium potatoes – peeled and cut into small chunks
• 2 tbsp tomato purée
• 2 tbsp Worcester sauce
• salt and pepper
• milk to glaze

Preheat oven to 180 degrees.

Fry the onion and garlic in the oil. Add the beef and cook until browned. Add the rest of the ingredients and bring to the boil, then simmer for 20 minutes or until the potatoes have softened. 

Put the mixture into a pie dish.

Roll out the pastry and place on top of the beef mixture.

Glaze the pastry with a little milk and put in to the oven for 30 minutes.

This is super easy to make and cost under £3 to make for 4 portions. I serve it with whatever veg we have in the cupboards or freezer (on this occasion it was cauliflower and green beans).

Thanks for reading
xx

My top 5 newborn must haves.

It is overwhelming how many products there are aimed at new parents. You are never quite sure what you will need and what products really work. Here are my top picks of the products we bought that made our lives easier.

1. Angel care movement monitor. This is an amazing monitor as not only does it let you listen to your baby, it also has a movement sensor that lets you know baby is still breathing. It is a horrible thing to think about but I'm sure every parent has the same thoughts about if their baby is still ok. On the parent part of the monitor there is a swinging pendulum which swings each time baby takes a breath. Should the worst thing happen, and alarm sounds to let you know there is a problem. This let us sleep much more soundly at night without worrying.

2. Turtle night light. We got this as a gift for Christmas just a month after our daughter was born. It was bought from B&M bargain shop for around £5. It projects different coloured stars on to the ceiling to create a calming environment while baby is falling asleep.

3. Gro-Anywhere black out blind. It took us a while to get into a night time routine but when we did we made sure when baby was having her last feed and being put to bed it was in a very dark room so she got the hint it was night time and time for sleep. This blind makes it pitch black in whatever room you're in. It's great for nap times or when you're staying away from home.

4. Tommee Tippee Milk feeding bibs. Our baby was a major dribbler when she was feeding. Normal bibs didn't do the trick and she used to get really sore and red under her neck where the milk dribbled and collected. These bibs fit closely around the neck to stop milk going anywhere. They have a super absorbent band around the top which soaks up any dribbles.

5. Mam bottles. Our daughter was breastfed for many months but we did use to give breastmilk to her from a bottle. These were the best bottles that we could find and where great for colic due to the design of the bottle. They are super easy to clean as you don't need a separate steriliser. If we need bottles for any future children we may have then these would be our only purchase.

Thanks for reading

xx

6 tips on how to save money on petrol

Mr MFW uses our car to get to work and back each day. It is a 16 mile round trip and we usually have to top up with £25 of fuel each week. The car does get used at a weekend if we are going out anywhere as a family. With fuel prices as high as they are, I have made it an aim to reduce our fuel costs. Here are a few tips I have found on the internet about how to reduce fuel consumption.

1. An obvious one is to walk where possible instead of using your car. I have mentioned/hinted to Mr MFW about the possibility of him cycling to work one day to see how long it would take him. He is trying to lose weight so this could be a great opportunity to both save money on fuel and for him to get more exercise. 

2. Over-revving is mentioned numerous times as a cause of using too much fuel. Typically, you should change up a gear once you get to 2000rpm in a diesel car or 2500rpm in a petrol car.

3. Acceleration/deceleration. Try to keep at a constant speed where possible. The road from our house in to town has a huge number of speed bumps along it. It is best to keep at a constant speed of 15-20 mph down the road rather than increasing speed between them and breaking once we get to them.

4. Don't go over the speed limit. According to the Department for Transport, driving at 70mph uses up to 9% more fuel than at 60mph and up to 15% more than at 50mph. 80mph can use up to 25% more than at 70mph.

5. Petrolprices.com is a site that compares the prices of petrol stations near you. The diesel in my town costs 135.9 at the moment but in the next town over where Mr MFW works it is 134.9 so we make sure the car always gets fuelled up when he drives past the cheapest one.

6. Don't use air conditioning unless you have to. Winding a window down can save 5% - 7% on fuel costs.

Hopefully by carrying out these tips we will be able to reduce our bills for diesel. I will let you know how we get on!

Thanks for reading,
xx

Five little things - Friday 2nd May

Following on from last weeks post, this is my weekly post of 5 little things I have done today to save money.

This week...

1. Charged phone at work to save on my home electric bill.

2. Had a stuff lunch at work to save me having to make my own. I work in a hotel so the chefs usually cook something yummy for other staff members to have. Today was beef hotpot and chips.

3. Walked home instead of getting Mr MFW to come pick me up or getting the bus. It was a lovely day and the walk did me good. It takes around 50 minutes to get home and most of it is up hill so it was good to get the exercise.

4. Had a candle lit bath. Ok, so the bath part isn't saving money on water but the candles save on using the big light so that saves electric! Also, gave me chance to finish reading one of my books I took out from the library.

5. Let my hair air dry instead of using the hair dryer. Every little helps!

Thanks for reading,
xx

7 quick ways to make money

1. Car boot. May is a great time for doing car boots! There are usually ones on each bank holiday weekend during May and the weather is nice enough for people to come out. Gather up your junk and see what you can sell.

2. Ebay. More expensive things are better to sell on ebay. Likewise for heavier items such as furniture.

3. Facebook selling pages. I do this for bundles of baby clothes that we won't be using any more. It is good for selling things quickly. Most items I post up are collected same day.

4. Direct debits. Check through them. Is there anything on there that shouldn't be? Can you cancel any subscriptions you have?

5. Sell your mobile/old CD's/DVD's. Websites like Musicmagpie are great for getting rid of CD's. I was recently given in excess of 100 old DVD's by a neighbour and after I had sifted through which I wanted to keep and which I didn't, I popped the info into MusicMagpie and got myself £65! Selling our old mobile phones got us £30. That is better than keeping them in a bedside drawer.

6.  Pick up change. We have a change pot for all the odd bits of change that bulk up our purse/wallet. If we see change thrown on the pavement this gets picked up and put in the pot. We empty it every 3 months or so and get about £25 a time.

7. Plan your meals. Work out what you really need to buy on each shopping trip to make your meals for the week. This saves on buying things that won't get used, and things that you already from going out of date. The money you save can be used to put towards a treat.

Thanks for reading,
xx