Frugal Friday

Money is a wee bitty tight in our household just now. What with Lollys birthday, my sisters 30th in December, Christmas and wedding savings, we are needing to tighten our spending belt.
There are a lot of us doing the same at the moment, maybe not for the same reasons, but trying to all the same.

I thought I would give some of my top tips that have helped us save a little bit of cash along the way 🙂

Meal Planning
Now I have done this in the past, not every week but now and then. And it has been since I started this blog that I have stuck to my meal planning and I have noticed a difference in my weekly shop spend. As I know what I am going for rather than aimlessly walking about the shop for ideas. And buying items I don’t need along the way! This is one tip I’d definitely recommend.

Homemade
If you can, always make your own. Whether it be soup, burgers, sauces etc. Not only is it cheaper, but it tastes a lot nicer too!
I love homemade food and it fits in with my Slimming World eating plan. You also know exactly what it going your food!

Buy in Bulk
We are Makro and Costco members and I go to these once a month to stock up. Mainly on non perishable items such as washing powder and toilet roll. Costco have a great buy of washing powder. Their own make just over £15. I bought in March and I still have about 5-6 washes left before it runs out. The good thing about it is that it’s versatile aswell. So can use it to wash the floors etc.

I hope you found these useful.
What’s your best money saving tips??

Lolly is 2!!!

Today Lolly is 2!!
Can someone please tell me how on earth that happened??
Where has my baby went??

It doesn’t seem like 2 years ago I had my gorgeous little princess. And now she’s been replaced with a 2 year old princess monster.
In fairness it’s not been since she turned 2, she’s been a mini diva for about 6 months.
Terrible twos most definitely arrived early in this house!

Lolly is a mummy’s girl, well that is until she hears daddy’s key in the look, then I seem to just disappear.

She goes to a fantastic little ballet class Babyballet and she loves it. A right proper girls activity.
But, stick a pair of overalls on her and send her to the yard with daddy and she’s equally as happy.

We are having a little cupcake decorating party for her with a few of her friends.
My plan, whether it goes accordingly or not, is to cover the kitchen in lining paper and put the cakes in one bit, buttercream in another and sprinkles in another. Then tidying up is just picking the paper up and putting in the bin.
Monsters will all be happy and tired and go to bed leaving mummy to have a cheeky glass of wine to unwind after having a house full of monsters.
Well that’s the plan! Fingers (and toes) crossed for me and my sanity!).

Happy 2nd birthday Lolly x x

I Think I Need a Bigger Car – Guest Post

This lovely blog comes from Happy Go Mummy
Happy reading x

Today I fell out of my car. Yes, you read that correctly and may well snigger but I tell you, it hurt! I put a peaceful sleeping baby into his car seat, retreated quietly from the car only to get my foot stuck, fall backwards, bum landing on the pavement, leg still inside. A nice image I know! Thankfully, with bubs asleep and my friend tending to her daughter, no one saw! But she did hear a bump, yep that was me! My leg somehow crashed into something metal and I am now sporting a huge lump and a bruise. Not good.

This isn’t the first time this has happened though. Oh no, the other day I took JB to the supermarket. Whilst taking him out of the car the same thing happened only this time I had a baby in my arms! My some miracle I managed to regain balance and catch JB by his leg! And another time I had the car door open and whilst I was strapping JB in, the bloody door shut, trapped my leg and another bruise appeared!

This is the problem with a three door car. Before the days of JB we had an old car, which was going fine until one day it started smoking from the dash board, you know, like it does! We used it in the scrappage scheme and got ourselves a lovely, new, shiny one. The only thing was there was a big waiting list, it was winter and we were car-less, except the salesman kindly showed us a nice blue car we could have straight away. Ooooh a new car, now, no cold bus stops, erm yes please! We didn’t much consider the long term responsibilities of the car.

Fast forward three years and now junior is here. We would love to take him on holiday but can’t fit everything we need in the car. To put the pushchair in the boot the following happens: fold down bar on pushchair, detach seat unit from chassis, fold seat unit, place on floor, fold chassis, detach wheel, place chassis and random wheel into boot, take seat unit and squash on top. This leaves about one bag for lifes amount of space in the boot. Before the pushchair I could carefully place six bags for life, although it takes some skill to do that!
So the dilemma, do we sell the car and buy a bigger one or be happy we have a car and stick with this one? Or get rid of it completely and save a tonne of money? Although saying that it’d probably fall off the bus or something. My worry is this car is under warranty for two more years and a new (not new new but new to us) car could break down on the way home! Oh if only I had a crystal ball, oh I did see one in the pound shop, I wonder if it works?! 😉

Silent Sunday – 25 November 2012

Autumn fun 😉

Head over to Mammasaurus and check the others out 🙂

Saturday Caption – 24 November 2012

This is a snap taken on holiday this September to Center Parcs with my sissy pops.
Never thought we looked similar until recently!

Head on over to Mammasaurus and have a look at the others. 😉

Cleaning Out The Fridge

I recently viewed a fantastic blog post over at A Thrifty Mrs about keeping your fridge organised. It was a fantastic read and I declared to myself that I would follow her tips and see how it goes.

So off I went with my Bicarb and white vinegar 🙂

Our fridge didn’t look as dirty as it actually was, maybe that was to do with the mountains of food kept in there! However, I cracked on, I was a woman on a mission.
It took me a good hour to give it a proper going over. But it looks a million times better 🙂

Next on the list was to go through the food.
Wasn’t too bad, just a couple tubs of cottage cheese and creme Fraiche that had to be thrown out.
The rest were all put back in their places, raw meat on the bottom, cold meat and cheese on the middle. Yogurts, yogurt drinks, jars, medicines on the top.

I took a step back and admired my work. Fair pleased with myself and here’s to having a clean and clear fridge helping me on my way to saving ££££ on my food shops.

Go and visit A Thrifty Mrs and look at her blog post about this.
Tell her who sent you.

Happy fridge cleaning x

Ps. Where do you keep your ketchup? Fridge or cupboard??

Foodie Christmas Gifts

Everyone has the right to have a little (sometimes a lot!) of indulgence in their lives. Especially at Christmas time.
I love to indulge my little self and have been looking into gifts that would make the perfect gift for any foodie.

Perthshire Preserves

With lots of varieties ranging from spicy tomato and chilli chutney to deluxe orange marmalade with deanston 12 year old whiskey, and everything inbetween.
I was literally drooling at their range.

Ochil Fudge Pantry

I love Ochil Fudge :).
They have the most amazing flavours of fudge, including Irn Bru! See my previous review here.
This would be perfect for a foodie with a sweet tooth.
Hmmmm fudge 🙂

Oliver Bonas Salt Wand

I seen these and thought they were pretty nifty, albeit maybe slightly dangerous round young children?
At £9.50 not as expensive as I thought they were going to be.
These would bring a magical sparkle to any table.

Celebrity Bake Book

I love a bit of baking, and nothing beats a nice new shiny book of new recipes to try out.
This book contains recipes from 150 celebrities from Twiggy to Joanna Lumley to the Duchess of Cornwall.
The proceeds raised from the sales go to the Ben Kinsella fund, to help raise awareness on knife crime. So that’s a bonus too.

Hope these have helped you a little in your Christmas gift quest 🙂
Happy shopping x

The Dougal Dog

In our monster house, we are all animal lovers. Always have been.
Ever since I was a teeny tiny little monster, we have always been surrounded by pets. From cockatiels, guinea pigs, rabbits, mice, fish, hamsters and dogs.
There has never been any doubt that my 2 would have a pet or two.
What childhood is complete without a pet of some kind??

We have a crazy pet dog – Dougal dog (or noodle). He is a Jack Russell, and turned the ripe old age of 10 this year.
He’s a fiesty wee character, and by heck does he let the monsters away with a lot. Ear pulling, tail stump pulling, although that was when they were younger!

There is the completely adorable side to the bond between the monsters and Dougal. Countless times I have seen them all cuddles on the couch together and when they are poorly Dougal curls up beside them.

The downside to pets?
When they have to go and play on the “magical farm” 😦
How do you explain that to little monsters?
This is the part I’m scared of. That and how I’m going to cope without the Noodle dog.
Hopefully we won’t have to deal with that for a while, as Jack Russell’s can live until 18-20. Or so I am told.

What pets do you have?
How will you tell your minis when the time for your furry member to depart comes?

Grandparents

Grandparents. Aren’t they fabulous?
(Well most of them)

We all have them, maybe different names – granny, nana, gran, grandad, pops, grumpa – but they all play a huge part in our lives. Some more than others.

We are lucky enough to have Granny and Grumpa stay a 10 minute walk away (mother and father in law).
If we need a babysitter ASAP they are a quick call and short walk away.
We always visit at least once a week, I believe in having a great bond between them and my monsters and they are very close.
Granny and grumpa, also take Junior and Lolly every 2nd Friday and have done since they were both quite young (Michael 9 months old and Lauren 6 months old). This has helped both of them immensely, if anything happened that I would need to run them up and drop them off without a seconds notice, they wouldn’t be unsettled or upset. In fact, probably the complete opposite they would be loving the adventure of going up!

On the other hand we aren’t so lucky, that my dad – grandad – stays down south a good few hours drive away.
Even though my little old dad stays a fair bit away and we don’t see him as much as the in laws, the monsters bond with him isn’t any lesser than with them.
It could be a bit more special, as they don’t see him that much. And the look on their faces when we visit him or when he comes to us, is priceless.
Because we don’t see him as often as we would all like, the monsters always speak to him on the phone, which they love.
There are times when Lolly has literally threw my phone at me and shouting phone grandad! Little madam!

The monsters have a special bond with granny, grumpa and grandad. Maybe slightly different, but not any less special.

Are your monsters close to granny’s and Grandads?

What Do I Want To Be??

What do I want to be??
That’s the question that has been bugging me for what seems like forever and a day!
If honest, it’s really starting to get me down.

Currently, I’m a catering assistant by day (at weekends) and a Pampered Chef consultant some evenings.
Although I enjoy both jobs, I want more.
More of what??? I just don’t know.

I feel silly, that at 27 I don’t know what I want to be. I have many ideas that I could do, but most involve going to college/university.
What’s wrong with that? I hear you say.
Nothing. Absolutely nothing!
I would love to go back to education and learn some new skills.
But I can’t 😦 and my reason for not being able to – I simply can’t afford it.

I was offered a place on SVQ level 2 professional cookery last year at Edinburgh college. I was so excited (as I am a keen cook) but I soon had to put the brakes on that.
All because of Childcare.
For someone to watch the 2 monsters during college hours Monday – Friday would cost me a hearty £462 per week!!
If I went through with that, I wouldn’t be able to pay my mortgage let alone eat.

In my opinion the government should put some money into place so that mums and dads, like myself can go on to further education and get into that career they have always wanted to.
Yet they insist on supplying drugs to drug addicts, and paying people to sit on their backsides.

I will never forget the words uttered to me at my local job centre 2 years ago while I was claiming JSA (I was previously made redundant).
I had questioned the advisor on the fact that I was only getting JSA for 6 months when there are other people less willing to look for a job constantly receiving benefits. Her answer? Quite simply that I had made the mistake of working since I turned 16.
It makes my blood boil!

Anyways, when the monsters go to bed tonight, the ‘puter is going on and Open University/evening classes here I come to peruse your offerings.

Is it normal to have lots of job ideas swimming around your head and not know what one to Brest stroke after??
I feel like I should know what I want to do and just crack on with it.

Do you like the Job you are in?

Do you know what you want to be??
Am I just a silly 27 year old who should know what I want to be??
Answers on a postcard 🙂