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2009-09-06T13:53:00.001-07:00

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5 Of The Best... Family Finance Resources for Money Savvy Mums

2009-06-09T06:49:00.000-07:00

In the midst of this "credit crunch" we are all looking at ways of cutting back, saving money and generally being careful with our finances.

As money-savvy mums, we cut back on luxuries; turn lights off when we leave the room and cross our fingers hoping we won't be affected by the rise in unemployment.

But there are many ways we can take control of the family finances, effectively "recession-proofing" ourselves and learning to live happily for less.

In this article, I'll cover 5 of my favourite "personal finance" resources for money concious families which offer friendly and impartial advice to help us take control of our finances.

Money Saving Expert

Since its launch in 2003, Martin Lewis' Money Saving Expert has become the most popular resource for personal finance in the UK.

The average person in the UK can give themselves the equivalent of a25% payrise, by being an active, savvy consumer and shifting to thevery best deals; this site's here to show you how.

Featuring articles which cover everything from the latest credit card deals to the cheapest family outings, this site has something on offer to help every family save money without cutting back on enjoyment.

A key aspect of MoneySavingExpert is "consumer revenge". As Martin explains:

The underlying philosophy is that we live in an adversarial consumer society...
A company's job is to make money. A consumer's job is maximise their cash. Companies spend billions on advertising, marketing & teaching their staff to sell; yet we don't get buyers' training.
We want to redress the balance.

Using information provided by the site (and the knowledgeable MSE community), thousands of readers have successfully reclaimed PPI and bank charges; saved hundreds each year by switching to the best deals for utility bills, and learned how to successfully get out of debt.

The community of Money Saving Expert is truly wonderful. In the forums, you can ask advice about virtually anything related to finance and will almost certainly find someone willing to offer their advice. There are even sections for thrifty gardeners, frugal families and grocery shopping on tiny budgets.

Finally, Martin's Money Tips e-newsletter is one which I recommend every parent receives. This weekly email collects the week's most important financial news and timely discounts and is sent to over 3 million subscribers. With the summer holidays approaching, we're bound to get news of discounted days out, family-friendly activities and even budget holidays.

Visit Money Saving Expert

The Money Magpie

The Money Magpie was started in 2007 by Jasmine Birtles: a finance journalist, author and presenter.

This site is focused more upon helping visitors make (and save) money by becoming savvy consumers:

We have up to date information on hundreds of ways to earn a bit onthe side and boost your income - and more are being added every week.

But there’s no point in earning extra money if you’re wasting itelsewhere, so we also have a wealth of information on best-buyfinancial products, plus heaps of articles to help you be a cleverconsumer and make the most of your money.

Families can enjoy a whole section of articles to help save money, including this lengthy post which offers 50 useful ideas.

Email subscribers can receive a free weekly newsletter containing a round-up of the best money saving tips, plus a free ebook and downloads to help manage family finances.

Jasmine Birtles has recently published The Money Magpie in book format, which I will be reviewing for Glamumous readers tomorrow. This book is a collection of all the best advice from the site and offers a structured long term plan for future finance happiness.

Visit The Money Magpie

This is Not Work

This inegnious site offers time and money saving tips to "sort our your finances in your lunch break".

Written by Richard Browning - the development editor of consumer advice site, This Is Money - this site is aimed primarily at time-concious parents, you can find a new short tip each day to help save money on family expenses:

I devised This is Not Work as a place for people - primarily parents - to share some of my quick tips and thoughts on making life that little bit easier.

While there are a lot of websites, blogs and discussion forums for people to while away the hours making 'friends' online and sharing tips and information, this is the one for those of us who haven't got hours.

You can also follow This is Not Work on Twitter to receive updates and information as it is posted to the site.

Visit This is Not Work

Love Money

Love Money is an "everyday" financial website, provided by the brains behind The Motley Fool. It offers down-to-earth articles which can help you feel richer and become wiser about your finances.

We believe that you should care for your money, keep an eye on it,and do everything you can to help it grow. In return, your money willlook after you and be the fuel that allows you to live your life theway you want.

How can we help you make this happen? By givingyou the tools to create real and lasting change in your life.lovemoney.com isn't just a finance news site or a product comparisonsite. It's a place where you can learn from experts, share yourexperiences and ideas, improve your money skills with easy onlinetools, and focus on personalised content hand-picked for you.

One of the best aspects of LoveMoney comes from registering with the site: members have access to a personalized "home page" featuring articles and the best deals most applicable to you and your family.

Updated at least every day, the site covers financial affairs as and when they happen on the blogs, and helps families discover ways and means to manage money more efficiently without using jargon, making it easy to understand.

LoveMoney also offers a comprehensive Q&A section where members can ask financial questions which are answered by the LoveMoney community.

Visit Love Money

Get Rich Slowly

This US-based site offers some very thought provoking articles about saving money and getting rich - slowly!

While some articles discuss finance options most appropriate to those living in the states, I absolutely love the style of the articles written on this site. These are posts which make us think about how we choose to spend our money, and how we can learn to live on less money without feeling as though we are missing out.

You will not find any get-rich-quick schemes here. Nor will you findmulti-level marketing fads or hot stock tips. I am not pitching anyproduct or book. Instead, you’ll find daily information about personalfinance and related topics.

To learn about the core values which Get Rich Slowly represents, take a look at the about page which offers a complete overview of the site along with JD's 12 personal finance mantras.

Visit Get Rich Slowly

Which sites would you add here?

For this article I limited my additions to the 5 personal finance sites I visit the most. However, as this recession deepens and saving money has become a concern for many more parents in the UK, I've also discovered several highly interesting blogs such as Reccessionista (UK), Miss Thrifty and Shoestring Alley (I couldn't write this article completely without mentioning these excellent sites!).

Are there any other sites you visit regularly which offer advice for money-savvy mums? Please feel free to let us know by leaving your comments below.

Image credit: Money Shot by Jessica Shannon.

Save Time and Money on Laundry Days

2009-06-08T14:03:00.000-07:00

Of all the cleaning we undertake as mothers, laundry is by far the most expensive task. Not to mention time consuming!

Bombarded with advertisements for the latest dirt-busting detergents and a never-ending pile of laundry, we often lose track of how to keep track of our pennies and buy into expensive ideas which claim to save us time (but don't necessarily save us money). Uniforms need to be ready for school; shirts must be ironed in time forwork; baby clothes are constantly being changed, and (what with all themess created by the rest of the family) mums just need something towear!

So in this post I'll share some ideas for how we can save money and time on laundry days, whether you set aside a particular day for all your washing or (like me) choose to run a load through the washing machine each day.

Organize clothes and wash less often

Whenever possible, sort clothes and other washable items by colour as soon as they need washing and encourage your family to do so too! Those laundry hampers with sections for colours and whites are wonderful (though expensive); having two or three cheap laundry baskets to hand is just as useful. This saves time sorting through clothes whenever you need to put on a load, and also prevents colour leeking from your non-colourfast red socks onto those expensive Egyptian cotton towels...

By organizing loads in advance, you can ensure you only wash clothes when there is a full load of washing. This saves money too, since you'd use more energy for 2-3 small loads than for a single full load on the same cycle (and probably more detergent/softener too!).

Use less detergent for each load...

Unless your clothes are very heavily soiled, you can get away with using half (or even less) of the recommended dose of detergent.

I prefer to use washing powder tablets, and use only one per full cycle of washing (whereas two or more are recommended on the pack). For very dirty clothes, I add half a cup of washing soda - which works out cheaper than that second tablet - which is sufficient to get rid of most everyday stains too!

Boxes of powder may seem cheaper on the shelves, but unless you're really frugal and careful with measuring for each load, you could actually use more than when paying a little extra for tablets. Supermarket own-brands (and also budget/unknown brands from local shops) usually work just as well as their branded counterparts. Go for these cheaper options which enables you to spend a little extra on luxury softener to make your laundered clothes smell and feel wonderful instead.

... Or make your own detergent!

I found this wonderful article over at The Family Homestead which explains how to make your own laundry detergent. According to the author, this works out at around 71 cents (about 45p) per batch, which can clean 64 loads of washing!

That's less than 1p per wash, far far cheaper per load than even the cheapest budget brand washing powder!

Use white vinegar instead of fabric softener

An oldie, but a goodie, white vinegar works out a far cheaper solution than buying fabric softener. Simply add a slug in place of your fabric conditioner in the detergent drawer and your clothes will come out soft and fluffy. Even better, the vinegar helps stop the build-up of limescale in your machine (and is also a cheaper solution to the de-scaling products on sale for our washing machines and dishwashers).

Don't worry about the smell - surprisingly clothes will not smell of vinegar when they come out of the wash cycle! The only down-side is that they won't smell of lovely expensive fabric conditioner either...

Pre-treat stains with a home-made solution

Don't pay through the nose for expensive pre-wash treatments - they really aren't worth the money!

You can make your own by filling a spray bottle 4/5ths full of water, then top up with cheap washing up liquid. Shake to mix well, then spray this solution onto the problem areas and leave to soak in before washing as normal.

For really tough stains, check out this huge page of stain-removal solutions which covers everything from mud to blood, grass stains, red wine and even tea.

Wash on the shortest, coldest cycle

During a wash cycle, the heating of water uses the highest percentage of electricity.

There really is no need to wash at the maximum recommended temperature for your fabrics unless the items are really badly soiled. Turn the thermostat to 30 degrees (or even less if you can bear it). You could save up to 40% in energy per wash cycle (depending how high your usual temperature).

Similarly, use the shortest cycle you can for everyday cleaning. Your clothes will still come out clean as the invigoration does most of the hard work, not the amount of time your clothes are immersed in water!

Wash your delicates in the shower

Our delicate underwear should really be hand-washed, but I'm sure many of you bunk your smalls in with the main washing load simply to save time...

The trouble with this is that delicates can lose their shape and colour; they don't last as long when washed so rigorously.

Instead, take your smalls in with you when you shower, and wash gently with your favourite shower gel or a little soap. This saves a lot of time and makes your underwear smell as gorgeous as you do!

Dry clothes on a washing line

Tumble dryers are a godsend when time is short, but these use up so much electricity to heat and dry our clothes (even the energy efficient versions).

If it's not raining and you have some outdoor space, save yourself the cost of electricity and dry your clothes outside. I'm not sure exactly how much money this will save, but trust me, it's a lot! Clothes can dry very quickly on a line, even when it's not sunny, and smell fresher too.

Use "Dryer Balls"

A while back, there was quite a craze for Dryer Balls which increase air circulation in the tumble dryer, helping clothes to dry more quickly and feel softer without the use of fabric conditioner or tumble dryer sheets.

I personally held off buying them for a while, but when I saw these on offer in Poundland (the actual branded variety, not a cheap knock-off!) I couldn't resist trying them out.

Ladies, these do work! I'd guess it knocked about a quarter off drying times and made our towels very fluffy indeed. If you spot them on offer, try them for yourself! The RRP of £9.99 seems a tad expensive to me, but I'm told they're often found in budget stores and Wilkinsons for far less.

Iron clothes while slightly damp

Remove clothes from the washing line/tumble dryer to iron while still slightly damp: they take far less time to iron!

If you give clothes a good shake before hanging out on the line (especially on windy days) there will be less creases to iron out. Also, take clothes out of the dryer as soon as the cycle is done and shake while still warm to minimize creases and ironing.

Invest in an enery efficient washing machine

I know washing machines are expensive and a purchase we prefer not to make unless absolutely nescessary. But if you're using an age-old washing machine you could be wasting pounds of electricity each year! Energy efficiency is measured on a scale of A through to E, where A offers the best possible efficiency (and uses far less electricity per cycle). Such machines may cost more for the initial purchase but do make up in saved electricity bills in the long run.

Final thoughts

I hope these tips can help you save a little time and money on laundry days! If you have any tips of your own to share, please feel free to leave your comments below and I'll update this article complete with accreditation to your own blog or site.

Image credits: "Better than TV" by BrianU; Spin Cycle by B Rosen; Washing Line by Steve9091. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

Looking for fun family activities this weekend?

2009-06-06T03:16:00.000-07:00

Now that summer is finally here and the long school holidays are approaching, you may well be looking out for some entertaining activities or information about family holidays.

Over at Have A Lovely Time, you can read reports of events, days out and holiday destinations which are written by parents, for parents!

This blog will report on places we have been and things we have seenwhile out and about with our children, in the hope of helping youdecide where would be a lovely place to go.

As parents, we love to read about the real experiences of families with children. Brochures, newspaper reports and the like tend to sell us the information we'd like to hear, not the truth about what it's like to visit a theme park, holiday location or event with children in tow.

The journalists of Have a Lovely Time are real parents who offer the truth and their own recommendations. You can also find entertainment reviews and fun activities for your family to enjoy at home. As the title suggests, this site is all about having a lovely time, no matter where our families may be.

This month, I have contributed a monthly round-up of news and events of interest to parents which Linda has kindly published on site. Find out about the Tales of the Road campaign, which helps children learn about road safety; discover some great events happening around the UK this June (including a festival of extreme arts and celebrations of Henry VIII's ascension to the throne), and even learn about special offers and discounts to help your family save money while having a great time.

Be sure to visit Have a Lovely Time soon to read about loads of great days out, news and opinions, and holiday experiences which are written with family in mind.

Image credit: peasap

Win a Copy of Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide!

2009-06-04T12:00:00.000-07:00

Are you expecting or planning a baby? Perhaps you know someone who is?

Ebury Publishing has kindly offered 10 copies of Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide to give away in a competition for Glamumous readers!

Christine Hill has over 25 years experience with ante and post-natal classes and has worked with over 5000 mothers during her extensive career. She is London's most sought-after pregnancy guru and as a mother herself, she knows a lot about the concerns, anxieties and questions asked by expectant mothers during pregnancy.

After reviewing this guide for Glamumous readers, I can honestly say this is the most reassuring and informative book about pregnancy that I have had the pleasure to read. Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide is like having a medically-qualified best friend who will explain the truth about your pregnancy in a straightforward, easy to understand manner; she dispels myths and cuts through the fog of information overload to offer the answers you really want to know.

The book is divided into fourteen short chapters which cover everything from your reactions upon discovering you are pregnant to ante-natal classes, possible medical issues and what really happens during labour. There is even a chapter specifically for fathers which assists understanding of how our men can help us through pregnancy and birth!

How to Enter

This competition is offered as a prize draw for all UK-based Glamumous readers (sorry I'm unable to offer these prizes to those living outside the UK).

To enter, all you have to do is leave a comment below with your name and a link to your blog/website or your email address (so I can contact you if you are one of the lucky winners).

Only one entry per person please! Multiple comments by the same person will count as only one entry.

Entry to this competition will close at 8pm BST on the 18th of June 2009.

Winners will be drawn at random from the names submitted in the comments (complete with photographic evidence to ensure impartiality) and will be announced here on Glamumous on the 19th of June. I will contact each winner personally for more details so we can send out your free copies of this excellent guide.

Guidelines

Feel free to comment using any identity you choose (such as your Google profile, Open ID, Name/URL or Anonymous).

Please be sure to leave your name and blog/website URL or email address in your comment so I can contact you if you are one of the lucky winners! If you don't have a website (or means of contacting you through your site) please leave your email address in the following format (or similar):

name [at] domain [dot] com

Do not simply type your email address in the regular way (such as myname@email-account.com) as this could leave you susceptible to spammers collecting your address!

*This competition is open to UK residents only*

More information

Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide will be available from all good book stores, direct from the publisher, and from Amazon.co.uk from the 11th of June 2009.

To learn more about Christine Hill and this excellent pregnancy book, please visit the official book page or read through my comprehensive book review.

Please help spread the word!

If you know of anyone else who may be interested to win a copy of Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide, please let them know about this competition. I'd be very grateful for any Tweets, links or social media votes to help others find out about this prize draw!

Wishing the best of luck to everyone who enters!

Get a Free Personalized Father's Day Card (Pay only 50p postage!)

2009-06-04T10:02:00.000-07:00

With Father's Day only a few weeks away (the 21st of June), I thought I'd let you all know about a great deal from BonusPrint (in conjunction with The Mirror) which enables us to get a free personalized Father's Day card that includes a photo upload and personalized message.

This offer is for the A5 sized card (not the smallest) and carries only the charge for postage: 50p.

To get your free personalized Father's Day card, simply head over to the Bonusprint offer page which contains the promotional code for this offer (write it down as you'll need this during checkout).

Be sure to choose the A5 size card to qualify for the offer, then upload your photo and personalize to your liking. There is a selection available to add a border around your image, which helps the design look more like a Father's Day card (choose Border>Father's Day and select from the two available alternatives).

Until you reach checkout, it will appear that the total cost of your card is £1.50. However once you've filled in your details you'll be able to enter your promotional code to reduce the total cost (including postage) down from £2.00 to just 50p.

This is a time sensitive offer which ends at Midnight on the 9th of June!

I've just created a special card from our youngest to her Daddy - she explained exactly which photo we should use and what she wanted to say in the card to make it a truly personal one :)

Hope you will enjoy this free offer too!

Thanks goes to MoneySavingExpert for news about this offer.

Image credit: renaissancechambara

Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide (Book Review)

2009-06-03T09:30:00.000-07:00

Are you pregnant or planning a baby? Perhaps you know someone who is?

Chances are, if you're expecting a baby you'd appreciate some sound and down-to-earth advice about what to expect though those nine months and how to adapt to the many changes you'll experience.

This is where Christine Hill's incredibly useful guide comes into play...

A Bit About Christine Hill

A physiotherapist with a postgraduate degree in paediatrics and obstetrics, Christine has worked all her life with mothers and babies. She is one of London's most sought after pregnancy and ante-natal gurus who has attended more than 5000 mothers during her career.

Most importantly she is also a mother, having given birth to three (now grown up) children. Drawing upon her professional and personal experiences she has produced this guide to offer realistic advice for expectant mothers in regard to the subjects we'd really like to know more about!

"This is a book about you"

As Christine states in the introduction:

Unlike other pregnancy books, this book is about you - managing a pregnant life and giving birth - rather than about the miracle of your developing baby.

From the very start, it is apparent that this book is unlikely to be anything like any other pregnancy guide you may have read. Christine gets straight to the point, presenting her advice in a straightforward and easy to understand manner, covering those aspects of pregnancy which we would really like to know about but are often afraid to ask.

Even sensitive subjects such as our natural (and often unexpected) feelings upon discovering we are pregnant and how to deal with haemorrhoids are covered in this guide, alongside practical advice about how we should look after ourselves (both physically and mentally), and where we can turn for support when we need it.

Practical, Reassuring Advice

While reading through this Pregnancy Guide, I virtually felt as though a medically qualified best friend had written this book for me.

This guide is unlike any other pregnancy book I have encountered: it offers the truth about pregnancy, the good and bad aspects of this experience, and through it all this guide manages to reassure us that all we experience through these nine months of change is perfectly normal.

For example, Chapter 3 covers Antenatal Care and (possible) Medical Problems, including details of all tests we may ge given as expectant mothers. At no point does this chapter lapse into unintelligable medical jargon! Throughout the information is provided in a friendly, easily digestible manner which undoubtedly reassures us about all aspects of potential medical issues with our pregnancies.

Those of you who are already mothers may - like me - have felt confused and overwhelmed at times during ante-natal sessions when it seems even the most sympathetic midwives can become tongue tied when explaining medical issues to the uninitiated! I personally learned far more from this book than through either of my pregnancies, because everything explained is so darn easy to understand!

What is Covered in this Guide?

Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide is divided into 14 chapters, which are organized (as Christine states in the introduction) in "loose chronological order".

Beginning with an overview of immediate issues relevant for anyone who has just discovered they are pregnant, through to an explanation of what to expect during labour and the birth of your baby, these chapters explain everything you need - and want - to know about through the varing stages of pregnancy. However, there are certain issues we like to be aware of early on, such as possible complications and organizing ourselves in plenty of time before baby arrives. These are dealt with in earlier chapters than may be expected, intended to help us prepare for the unexpected while retaining a sense of control through knowledge.

Here is a brief explanation of chapters covered in this guide:

Introduction: I'm pregnant for the first time. Help!

This introductory chapter offers calm and reassuring advice for those who have just discovered their pregnancy and are dealing with emotional issues of their change in physical circumstance.

Chapter 1: Immediate Issues

In this chapter, we are presented with practical advice such as working out for sure when baby is due and making important decisions about the future.

Chapter 2: Birth Issues

Here we are presented with considerations for the birth and antenatal care, some of which need to be acknowledged very early on in our pregnancies.

Chapter 3: Antenatal Care and Medical Problems

This chapter offers an overview of the different types of antenatal care we can consider, plus information about all the different medical tests and possible medical problems we may encounter throuh pregnancy with honest and clear advice.

Chapter 4: Work Issues

Christine understands the issues working women face when discovering they are pregnant. From advice about when to inform superioirs and colleagues of our pregnancy to learning how to dress to accomodate our changing shapes, this section covers anything and everything you may like to know about work when expecting a baby.

Chapter 5: Getting Organized

Making preparations for the new baby is a key aspect of most expectant mother's concerns. In this chapter, we learn about the things we really need to buy for our babies; deciding whether or not to breastfeed, and how to find someone who will look after us (enabling us to concentrate on our new-found duties as a mum).

Chapter 6: Thinking Ahead about Labour

Rather than be blissfully inorant of what to expect during labour, Christine encourages us to consider what will happen, and how we can deal with labour well in advance of the occasion.

Chapter 7: Well Meant Advice (and Dire Warnings!)

As any mother will explain, when pregnant we are offered advice from every corner of our world (friends, family, and even strangers in the supermarket!). This chapter helps dispel unnescessary concerns, and offers clear informed advice about how we should conduct ourselves with regard to health through pregnancy months.

Chapter 8: Muscles and Bones

The most drastic changes to our bodies during pregnancy are to our muscles and pelvic region. Christine offers explanations of these changes, with practical information to ensure our pregnancies are more comfortable (and less physically damaging) such as pelvic floor exercises and safe practise for lifting heavy objects.

Chapter 9: Pregnancy Related Irritations and Changes in Your Body

The physical changes we experience through pregnancy affect us in many ways. From sickness to sleeplessness and everything between, this chapter explains what can happen, why it happens, and how best to deal with the discomforts of pregnancy.

Chapter 10: Last Lap of Pregnancy

Those last few weeks before baby is born are a time when expectant mums feel at their lowest ebb. This chapter acknowledges our feelings, sensations of tiredness and discomfort, and helps us prepare both emotionally and practically for the imminent birth of our babies.

Chapter 11: How Labour Begins

This chapter offers information of what to expect during those first stages of labour, and what we can do at home to soothe and prepare ourselves for the birth.

Chapter 12: Labour Continues... And Possible Pain Relief

Here Christine presents concise information about possible pain relief, including the pros and cons for each of the different methods available to us.

Chapter 13: Second Stage - The Actual Birth

In this chapter we are presented with reassuring advice about both vaginal and caesarean deliveries, including what we can expect and the aftermath of birth.

Chapter 14: Fathers

This chapter is specifically aimed at fathers whose wife or partner is soon to be giving birth, and covers issues such as arranging paternity leave, helping mums through pregnancy and labour, and how to organize the home after the birth.

Conclusion: You as a New Mother

This short final chapter addresses concerns many new mums experience soon after their baby is born, again reassuring mums that their feelings are entirely normal and supplemented with advice to help everything run more smoothly.

What I love most about this book

By presenting advice in a manner which is friendly but straightforward, Christine cuts through the fog of information overload. She is adamant from the start that we should always keep an open mind throughout the course of our pregnancies. Rather than prescribe a course of action and experience every woman should follow, she offers advice and information that enables us to make choices that are particularly relevant for our individual needs.

Facts and figures are quoted often throughout this guide, which was an aspect of reading I did not expect. Unusually, this does not make us feel that we are numbers in a system: contextually these numbers are extremely reassuring. By providing facts in a friendly manner this enables us to feel we are not alone in our experience of issues relating to pregnancy and our experiences of childbirth. Such information provide details of what we would like to know, but may not understand how to ask questions to receive the answers we seek.

I particularly enjoyed reading through Chapter 3 (regarding antenatal care and possible medical conditions) because this section offered clear and easy to digest information which I personally felt was lacking in my experience of both pregnancies. I truly appreciate how Christine deals with issues which many women are frightened or nervous to acknowledge in a friendly yet professional manner.

Final Thoughts on Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide

When I was first offered Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide for review, I must admit I was a little apprehensive about my possible enjoyment of this book. I'm already a mum (having experienced two very different pregnancies) and was very curious to find out what this guide could offer that I didn't already know.

Any concerns were dispelled upon reading only the introduction. Christine Hill's tone is more like that of a best friend, one who explains the truth about pregnancy, and who approaches the subject in a manner absent from other pregnancy books I have read: she answers all the questions which are truly relevant for expectant mums!

This is not a book which will explain every detail of the stages of pregnancy and how your baby develops through each month; nor is this a book filled with medical jargon which causes us to have more questions for our midwives than before we had started. Instead, this book could well be the most important and informative guide you could hope to read through your pregnancy, whether you are expecting your first child or your fourth!

Christine Hill's Pregnancy Guide will be published by Vermillion on the 11th of June and is currently available for pre-order from Amazon.co.uk.

Stay tuned for details of a forthcoming competition where you could win your own copy of this excellent and informative book!

5 of the Best... Sponsored Survey Sites to Earn Rewards in your Spare Time

2009-06-02T08:39:00.000-07:00

A couple of weeks ago I published an article explaining the easiest ways to supplement your family income. One of the easiest ways to earn a little extra cash or rewards is to take part in sponsored surveys. These sites enable us to voice our opinions and assist marketing departments to develop products and services which are of more interest to us, while at the same time earning a few extra pounds or reaping the benefits of rewards.

I've been actively completing sponsored surveys for about 6 weeks now and have earned a fair bit in cash and vouchers for my time. Sponsored surveys are ideal for busy mums and dads as these usually take only 15-20 minutes to complete (some even less), enabling us to participate when we have a few minutes spare.

In today's post, I'll share my five favourite sites for sponsored surveys which I feel offer the best rewards for our time and actively allow us to contribute our opinions on products and services of interest to parents with children.

1. Toluna

By far my favourite (and most active) sponsored survey site is Toluna. I receive at least 3-4 emails notifying me of new surveys every day of the week, and have earned enough to cash in a £10 Amazon voucher less than a month after joining!

Toluna offers a rewards based system, and emails members fitting the criteria required for surveys when new opportunities are available. Surveys generally earn between 900 and 5000 points for successful completion, depending on the length it takes to complete.

Points earned can then be exchanged for vouchers redeemable at Amazon, Halfords, HMV, Love2Shop and many more reward partners besides. To give you an idea of the points required to earn vouchers, I earned a total of 60,000 points (in just over a month) which I exchanged for a £10 Amazon voucher.

To help earn extra points, Toluna offers a number of benefits for it's members. Quick surveys can earn between 15 and 120 points each, and take literally seconds to complete (there are hundreds to choose from too!). These Quick Surveys are available on the Toluna Website once you have successfully logged in. Furthermore, each personal interest survey you complete earns 300 points with an extra bonus of 2000 points when you complete them all.

Learn more about Toluna and sign up

2. Ciao Surveys

Ciao has recently improved the survey system (which is now separate from the general Ciao reviews site). Offering monetary rewards, Ciao will email eligible members about new surveys when they are available.

Each survey earns between 10p and £3, depending on the survey type and estimated length of completion. It could be possible to earn in excess of £20 a month with Ciao (though I confess to having earned only £11 last month). Payment is made via PayPal, and you can request to cash out at any time.

Learn more about Ciao Surveys or sign up

3. Pinecone

Pinecone is held in high regard as one of the most rewarding and influential sites offering sponsored surveys. Unfortunately it is also the most difficult to register with. Periodically, Pinecone opens to new survey applicants and allows members to post banners which link to the sign-up page for a certain length of time, restricting an influx of applicants to only a few targeted new members.

Surveys are very interesting and usually last about 20-30 minutes each. In return, you can be rewarded with "Luncheon Vouchers" to the total of £2-3 for each survey completed, which can be redeemed at loads of leading restaurants, fast-food outlets and takeaways.

If you are interested in joining Pinecone, the best method is to Google Pinecone to see which sites are offering current banners for new applicants (this was how I was able to sign up). It may take a day or two for your membership to be approved, after which you will receive confirmation and emails linking to new surveys suitable for your profile when available.

Learn more about Pinecone Research

4. PanelBase

This is another highly rewarding site though I personally receive news of new surveys less often than with other membership sites.

Many of the surveys offered by PanelBase are hihly interactive, including video and audio based research. The average reward for surveys is about £1.25, and most last under 20 minutes.

Panelbase seem much more concerned with security than other survey sites I have used, ensuring we feel more secure when completing surveys where sensitive information may be revealed (and even while logging in!). For me, this is a key aspect of my enjoyment when completing surveys, and I do highly recommend this site for those hoping to earn rewards from consumer research opportunities.

Learn more about Panelbase or sign up

5. Valued Opinions

I personally receive about 5-7 emails informing of new surveys each week from Valued Opinions who rewards for successful completion of market research surveys which can be redeemed for vouchers with Valued Opinions' reward partners (including Tesco, HMV, Marks and Spencer and more). Most surveys offer between 25p and £2 for each survey completed, though it seems to take a while for rewards to be credited to our accounts.

Valued Opinions again offer interesting surveys using different types of media (some of which are flash-based surveys offering a different perspective on the regular "choose your opinion" style). These surveys seem less "in-demand", so don't worry if you are unable to check your emails each day - you're still likely to be able to complete a survey before the allotted number of members have completed the opportunity.

Find out more about Valued Opinions and sign up

Tips for earning rewards from Market Research Surveys

If you hope to earn some significant rewards from participating in market research surveys, here are some quick tips:

Try to check your email at least once a day for news of new surveys. Some surveys are time sensitive or require only a limited number of participants. If you don't get in early, you may miss out.
Don't be put off if you receive the message that you do not qualify for the survey after a number of questions. Researchers usually require responses from a particular range of people, based on age, gender, location and such. Most survey sites offer a different reward (such as entry into a prize draw) for those who do not qualify.
Try to keep note of which surveys you completed to ensure you receive your rewards. Some sites only reward members when surveys are completed (up to 3-4 weeks). If you feel your rewards have not been received, you'll need to provide details of what you have completed in order to claim these rewards back.
Be honest! It is important to offer your honest opinion and be truthful about your personal status. Even if you think you may not meet the criteria required to successfully complete a survey, your opinions will be useless if they are false. What's more, the details you offer in surveys may be matched against those in your membership profile.

Participating in market research surveys is unlikely to help pay the bills, but in registering with these sites you can easily earn significant rewards each month to treat you or your family in exchange for your time each day and contribute your opinion regarding products and services which matter to you!

Image credit: wrestlingentropy

Take the kids to the cinema for just £1!

2009-05-29T05:33:00.000-07:00

I love going to the cinema, but with the high prices for tickets a family trip to see the latest releases can become an expensive affair.

Luckily, for the past few weeks we have been able to see a Saturday matinee at Cineworld for just £1 a ticket! Even when our whole family attend, the total cost is less than a single full priced child ticket, making this a cheap and cheerful outing we can afford on a weekly basis.

Cineworld's Movies For Juniors show each Saturday at participating cinemas. Usually there are three films on offer (a new film is selected each week), all of which start at 10am. These films tend to be older releases, and are movies most suitable for children.

This week, for example, we can choose from Madagascar 2, Hotel for Dogs and Bee Movie. We've previously seen Beverly Hills Chihuahua and Bedtime Stories, both of which were films the kids really enjoyed on the big screen.

To find out more about what's showing in the Movies for Juniors selection, take a look at this page of the Cineworld website.

In order to buy your tickets for £1, you will need to book/buy tickets in person from your local Cineworld cinema. It is possible to book online or by telephone, but a 60p charge for each ticket will apply! Tickets can be sold out quite quickly, so if you're worried you may not get in for the film of your choice, drop in to your cinema earlier in the week and buy in advance.

I only wish popcorn was as cheap for these showings (as our local cinema disapproves of people taking their own snacks into the cinema). However, if you specifically ask for a "Juniors Munch Box", you can get a kids sized box filled with the popcorn of your choice, a Capri Sun juice drink and a small packet of sweets for just over £3 (this may be different depending on the prices at your local Cineworld).

Hope you enjoy taking the kids to the cinema for less!

Image credit: Atomicjeep

A "Lovely Blog" Award!

2009-05-28T14:24:00.000-07:00

Thanks to Nixdminx for passing on this lovely award to Glamumous! I was thrilled to bits to receive my first award for this blog :)

When in Tunisia, one of my favourite beveraes is strong Arabic coffee flavoured with rose-water. Sounds odd, but trust me, this is one of the most divine drinks ever!

As per the concept of this Lovely Blog Award, I would like to nominate 10 blogs which I've recently discovered as new receiptants of this award:

1. Susanna of A Modern Mother, because I read your blog everyday and you post such interesting topics about motherhood in Britain.

2. Esther, Courtney. Michela and Emilie of Babyccino, a site of wonderful things for mums, kids and tiny tots too. I loved the recipe for preserving children...

3. Miss Thrifty, the ultimate money-saver for helping us learn to live for less (and love it!)

4. Reccessionista, who posts wonderful money-saving tips and bargains galore.

5. Nadine at Time Management Mum who writes about juggling a busy life with children. She's just published her first book on time management, which truly looks an interesting read!

6. Becky and Linda over at You've Got Your Hands Full who blog about their experiences with twins and triplets...

7. And another shout for their new travel blog, Have A Lovely Time, where you can find reviews on days out and holidays for families with children (well worth checking out!).

8. Experimental Mum who has a gorgeous design for her blog, and offers loads of wonderful science experiments which my son truly loves!

9. English Mum in Ireland, who I discovered after reading about her wonderful escape to Disneyland (ooh, I'm soooo jealous! But we may yet escape to Disneyland Paris this year...)

10. Are we nearly there yet Mummy, because as Laura rightly points out, parenthood is the longest journey we could ever undertake!

For those who I have nominated to receive this award, I'll be in touch soon through your blogs to let you know. If you choose to accept the reward, here are the rules:

Post it on your blog together with the name of the person who has granted the award, and his or her blog link.(You can save the award image to your computer and upload to your blog in the usual way).
Pass the award to 10 other blogs that you have newly discovered.Remember to contact the blogger to let them know they have been chosenfor this award.

I hope you enjoy reading the blogs I have posted here! These are all new additions to my RSS reader (which is now becoming so long to read) but are wonderful bloggers whose posts are well worth a look.

The Family Kitchen Garden - Book Review

2009-05-27T10:00:00.000-07:00

These days we are awed by the sheer number of books available to us, and it's difficult to choose something relevant to our needs. As parents, we are limited in the time we can spend reading, and as frugal families we cannot afford to spend on books we may later find irrelevant. So each Wednesday, I aim to review a book on a range of subjects from parenting guides to home-making, fashion/beauty and cookbooks which are most relevant for fabulous, frugal mums!

Today I shall review a truly exceptional gardening book: The Family Kitchen Garden by Karen Liebreich, Jutta Wagner and Annette Wendland. This title was produced from the authors' experience in working with hundreds of school aged children while restoring the Walled Gardens at Chiswick House in London as a kitchen garden, and is intended to offer advice for families who would like to produce their own foods but have little horticultural experience.

A particularly suitable format when gardening with children.

The Family Kitchen Garden is a 224 pages long, in a large soft-cover format and features a wipe-clean cover and high quality full colour pages throughout. This particular choice of format strikes me as highly functional for it's intended audience: by ensuring the thick pages (and especially the cover) can be wiped clean, we need not be concerned about sticky fingers or splashes of mud ruining this beautifully illustrated book when we allow our children to use it.

Virtually every page of The Family Kitchen Garden features stunning photography of the plants discussed on the page. On most pages, several photographs are offered, enabling us to easily identify the plant, vegetable, weed or problem being discussed on the page. I was particularly impressed by the descriptions and identifiable images of bindweed which - as a somewhat novice gardener - I had not realized was such an invasive weed and allowed to grow freely near the bottom of our garden for the last few years! Unlike most other gardening books I have read, The Family Kitchen Garden explains what this is, offers identifiable images of the problem, and a full explanation of how this can be dealt with. An excellent approach for the novice gardener, in my opinion, and a welcome change to the texts which assume that - even as beginners - we must know the appearance of all such invasive weeds.

The general function of this book is to assist families wishing to start (or better maintain) a kitchen garden - one which can bear foods which both children and adults alike will enjoy growing, harvesting and eating.

As such, the methods, plants and skills discussed are particularly relevant for children: from explanations of the easiest seeds that young children may plant, to illustrated instructions for making a ladybird shelter in the autumn months, for young ones to feel they are nurturing the creatures which help their garden to grow.

The brightly coloured photographs, playful (yet ornamental) garden creations and brightly coloured side notes all contribute towards attracting the interest of children. I particularly enjoyed reading the scattering of quotes from children who had helped develop the Kitchen Garden at Chiswick house, on which the ideas in this book are based.

A Book of Three Parts

The Family Kitchen Garden is divided into three distinct parts:

1. The Basics

This section offers an overview of gardening with children in mind, covering all manner of horticultural subjects from planning the crop to propagation; weeds and pest control. Each aspect is covered in detail, using jargon-free explanations and plenty of images which are perfect for those with no experience of gardening.

I found the sections about weeds and crop protection to be the most useful, as many of our previous attempts to beautify our humble garden were thwarted by pests, insects and unwanted plants invading our space. However, the sections on soil improvement and fertilization were very detailed and enlightening, ensuring that readers are properly informed about how the soil we choose to use can affect the growth and overall crop of the vegetables we plant.

2. Month by Month

I have no doubt that most readers will find this to be the most interesting section of the book. As the section title suggests, this offers a month-by-month analysis of the family's kitchen garden, including:

What to sow
What to plant
Gardening jobs to be completed
Foods which can be harvested
Foods to be eaten (including seasonal recipes)
Ideas for things to create

The information for each month's gardening duties is something I found particularly useful. While we can of course find when to sow, plant our and harvest our creations by other means, I believe having a guide for each month in such an easily accessible format ensures we are always more aware of what to be doing at any particular time.

Each and every month offers a recipe (or two) for seasonal foods which we may have growing in our own kitchen gardens. Overall, I have found the recipes use ingredients which are the easiest vegetables (or fruits) to be growing, and that all of these recipes are child-friendly, meaning that our children can help us prepare the foods and enjoy eating them too.

One of my favourite recipes in this entire book is for "fruit leathers" - essentially, strips of fruit-based sweets which can be produced with ease from whatever fruits we have available for picking at the time. These are just like the "Fruit Winders" you may have seen advertised on TV in recent months, but since this recipe enables us to make them ourselves, we can be sure they are completely organic (though unfortunately not sugar free!).

The monthly ideas for creative fun are especially aimed at children. Month by month, this section will enable you and your children to decorate your garden, from willow wigwams to a hideaway for ladybirds; cute plant labels and lavender sachets for the linen cupboards.

3. A-Z of Plants (plus appendices)

The final third of the book is quite lengthy as it provides detailed guides for dozens of vegetables, fruits, herbs and flowers ranging from artichokes to zinnias and everything between.

This section is very user friendly, with at least one page to describe each individual plant type. With suggestions for propagation, plant care, feeding, watering and potential problems this A-Z allows us to easily look up information on the plants we may be growing, or are considering adding to our kitchen gardens.

Each plant's description begins with a brief overview including it's ease of cultivation, whether it can be grown in a pot, if it is particularly suitable as a child's project, and any other useful information of relevance.

I found this section to be far more "user friendly" than other books I've consulted about our developing garden, not least because it offers advice in plain English without the jargon associated with texts assuming the reader already knows how to "deadhead" or "pinch out" her plants! We also found a few new plants in this section which we'd like to try growing in the few spaces we have left, such as chard (like spinach, so a potential new favourite for me!), rhubarb (I hadn't realized how easy this plant is to grow) and dahlias - because their photographs depict them as beautiful, and we discovered they can flower well into the winter months

My favourite parts of The Family Kitchen Garden

I must admit that upon first glance at The Family Kitchen Garden, I was unaware of just how much I'd enjoy reading through these pages.Throughout you can find gardening quotes and expressions from the school children taking part in the restoration project of Chiswick House which add deeper meaning to the plants and changing seasons described within the text.

The photography is both explanatory and inspirational, encouraging us to tend more to our gardens and to involve our children in the miracles of watching as plants grow from tiny dry seeds to plants we can harvest, cook and eat together.

One of the most enjoyable aspects of this book is the scattering of adult humour. This book was certainly written by women who enjoy their craft enough to make light of arduous work in places. For example, when offering advice for dealing with garden pests, we can read of "flying snails": a practise which many regard as "unneighbourly", while the mention of infanticide (with regard to plants, of course!) is guaranteed to make you chuckle.

Who is this book for?

The Family Kitchen Garden is a wonderfully explanatory book aimed at parents (and indeed grandparents) who are curious about gardening with their children. As this book explains, there are many edible plants which can be decorative as well as useful, which helps us nurture a sense of the natural world for our children.

I do also believe that this book would be beneficial for experienced horticulturists who have no experience of gardening with children. When I offered this to my neighbour (a self-sufficient gardener who lives from his allotment) he immediately expressed his interest in buying a copy for himself "to share with his grandchildren": it had made him realise that children are interested in watching things grow, and in learning about the environment.

Methods of growing organically are mentioned throughout, with the odd reference to non-organic practise for those who truly despise garden pests.

Final Thoughts

As a parent developing a vegetable patch for the first time, I found The Family Kitchen Garden to be an exemplary guide. This is like having three books rolled into one: a guide to the basics of horticulture, a month-by-month planner, and a complete guide to edible plants in a simple, easy to reference format.

The ideas for seasonal recipes and creative crafts are wonderful, adding a sense of creativity and inspiration to our gardening chores throughout the year, while the quoted expressions of children's experiences in working in the kitchen garden at Chiswick House helps affirm the sense that this book is a gift for parents to encourage the blessing of garden involvement with their children.

The Family Kitchen Garden is available from Francis Lincoln at £16.99 and can also be purchased from Amazon.co.uk.

5 of The Best... Tips to Save Money on Petrol/Diesel

2009-05-26T15:16:00.000-07:00

With the summer holidays just around the corner, there has never been a better time to learn how to save money on your petrol/diesel bills. Whether you commute daily to work or simply use your car for shopping trips, there are several different tips you can adapt to lower the amount of fuel you use (and which have little impact on the time taken to reach your destination).

In this post, I'll offer my 5 favourite tips to lower the cost of fuel bills for your family car which could help you save as much as 20% from your annual spend on petrol/diesel.

1. Find out which stations offer the cheapest fuel

One of the most wonderful things about the Internet is the ability to compare prices of just about everything, to ensure we get the best possible value for our money.

There are several websites which offer comparisons of fuel prices:

PetrolPrices.com - Search over almost 10,000 stations across the UK by town or postcode to locate the cheapest fuel stations near you.
FindCheapPetrol.com - Again, you can search by postcode to locate the cheapest stations close to where you love (this site also compares the prices of supermarket stations such as Tesco and Morrisons). I've just noticed this site is undergoing maintenance though it should be available again in the next couple of days.
KeepMoving.co.uk - This inenious site offers loads of information about travelling and traffic across the country, and the special "fuel prices" section allows you to search for the cheapest fuel prices along a route - reat for when you're travelling long distances!

You will need to register (for free) to be able to use these sites effectively, though when this could save you up to 5% on your fuel bills the benefits of registration speak for themselves.

For example, when I searched prices for my home town, there was a difference of 9.4p a litre between the highest and lowest prices of unleaded fuel. For someone who fills up with £50 of petrol each week, this could save almost £250 in fuel each year!

2. Make your car more efficient

Remove excess weight from your car, which will lighten the load and reduce the amount of fuel used per journey. So remove any roof racks not currently being used and empty all the junk from your boot!

Switch off the air conditioning unless it's really nescessary as this uses quite a lot of power when in action. Winding down the windows in warm weather is almost as cooling, and uses no excess power.

Make sure your tyres are correctly inflated. Under-inflated tyres can decrease fuel efficiency by around 3% as more power is required to get the car moving. Check the correct tyre pressure for your particular car on this page of the RAC website, and top up with air (if needed) the next time you fill up with fuel.

Lastly, don't completely fill the car with petrol. A full tank adds more weight to the car, which makes it less efficient. By filling only half (or even a quarter) of the tank and refuelling more often, you can increase efficiency and actually use less fuel in the long run.

3. Drive more efficiently

When I was learning to drive, I was lucky to have an instructor who taught me about the benefits of driving with fuel efficiency in mind.

The key to driving efficiently is understanding this:

Each time you put your foot on the accelerator, you are using fuel.

It sounds simple, but once you keep this in mind, you can easily learn how to use the accelerator less often without reducing speed or the time of your journey. Here are some useful tips:

Accelerate gradually, without over-revving the engine. A rule of thumb is to ensure you always drive at under 3000RPM.
Drive in the highest gear you can without putting stress on the engine
Slow naturally, without using your brakes unnecessarily. This is easier if you leave a 2 second gap between you and the car in front, leaving you time to slow using the momentum of the engine (and accelerate more easily afterwards).
Consider your position in the road. By being more alert while driving, you can reduce the need to slow and accelerate, ensuring a smoother more efficient drive.

4. Find ways to make filling up pay you!

There are several schemes you can join to earn cashback or rewards when refuelling at certain petrol stations. Most notably, the Morrisons Miles scheme (which I discussed in an earlier post) offers a voucher for £5 off your shopping in store for every 500 litres of fuel purchased from these stations. Here are some other schemes you could try:

Use your Tesco Clubcard when filling up at Tesco petrol stations
Asda Credit Card enables you to collect extra points when paying Asda fuel
Earn Nectar points whenever you fill up at BP stations.

However, don't go out of your way to be loyal to a particular scheme: this may cost you more in fuel over the long term than you will receive in rewards. Instead, use your reward scheme when this particular station offers the lowest priced fuel (see #1).

5. Ditch the car (or rather, choose to use it less often).

Of course, the ultimate fuel savings would be based on never using our cars... But for most of us, this is simply not a practical solution!Instead, we can consider ways of using our vehicles less, and making our journeys more efficient so we use less fuel over the course of each month.

For example, run all errands (eg: grocery shopping, post-office, recycling, library) on a single planned round-trip. Between each stop, your engine will remain warm and altogether you'll use less fuel than running each errand on a different day of the week.

Those who work (or shop regularly) in city centres may like to consider a park-and-ride scheme. This involves parking your car in a secure park on the outskirts of the city then catching a designated bus/tram/tube/train to your final destination. Usually these park-and-ride schemes are fee-based, but these will reimburse themselves when you consider how much fuel you'll save not getting caught up in slow-moving traffic or driving round for hours looking for a safe place to park (not to mention parking fees!).

Car-sharing can also offer savings on fuel. If you live close to friends, take it in turns to go shopping together, share the school run or drive each other to work, and share the costs of fuel. While it may be marginally less efficient to drive with more passengers in the car, you'll both be saving money on fuel costs on your regular excursions!

Do you have any more tips to share?

If you have any other tips for saving money on fuel costs, I'd love to hear from you! Please feel free to leave your comments below and if you enjoyed this post, a mention on Twitter would be very warmly welcomed :)

It's National Family Week! Find out what's on, including loads of special offers...

2009-05-25T07:10:00.000-07:00

This week (from the 25th to the 31st of May), celebrate National Family Week and bring your whole family together with activities, competitions and special offers.

This new national occasion will encourage families to play, learn, eat,read, compete and - most importantly - spend quality time together.Join in the fun with your family and celebrate National Family Week!

Over on the official National Family Week website, you can find out about events happening near you, enter competitions to win some fantastic prizes (including a Guitar Hero package, complete with Nintendo Wii!), and find out about promotions with some favourite family outlets including:

Adult entry for kids prices at Legoland Windsor
Kids eat free at Little Chef
See Night at the Museum 2 at kids prices with Vue cinemas
Kids eat free on 31st of May at Pizza Hut

And more besides!

These are all offered in the form of vouchers which can be printed from the special offers page of the site.

You can even print off a free Family Week Planner to organize special events for your own family during the week.

Will you be celebrating the first National Family Week? We'd love to know what you have planned for your family, so please leave your comments below.

How much housework should we expect our husbands/partners to do? [Poll]

2009-05-25T02:52:00.000-07:00

In the midst of a lovers' tiff, my husband exclaimed that I should not expect him to do any housework. The reason (or, in my opinion, excuse) being that as the main income earner who works a 48 hour week, his financial contributions to the household are sufficient to excuse him from the responsibilities of housework.

After our little tiff, we did discuss this in a more civilized manner, though it seems we are still of different opinions as to how much men should contribute towards the running of our family homes. Do most men take some responsibility and help their partners maintain a clean home, or are men mostly excused from housework if they work a full-time job?

Please take part in this mini-poll to let us know how whether husbands/boyfriends should take some responsibility for housework, and if so, how much? Voting is completely anonymous, but if you would like to leave a comment about your opinions we would love to know what you think about this! I'm hoping to write up a lengthier article on the subject of men and housework in the near future, so your opinions will be greatly appreciated.

Image credit: Wyscan, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Foolproof chocolate chip muffins

2009-05-18T10:00:00.000-07:00

Lately my kids have developed a taste for muffins. The chocolate chip variety to be exact. Since these seem to cost so much in the supermarkets (around £1 for four, which I personally think is extortionate) I decided to work out a tasty recipe for us to make together at home.

As the title suggests, this recipe is foolproof! Each and every time I've attempted this recipe, the kids devour the muffins faster than I can say "wait for them to cool". Which, when you consider how fussy my son can be, is a rather great achievement!

This recipe should provide enough batter to make 12 muffins if using the larger muffin cases, or 18 small ones if you only have cupcake cases to hand, and costs around £1.20 for everything (working out between 7p and 10 each muffin, depending on the size).
Here's what you will need:

250g Plain Flour
100g caster sugar
2 teaspoons baking powder
A pinch of salt
1 medium egg, beaten
200ml milk
80ml vegetable oil
100g pack of chocolate chips (or two bags of chocolate buttons, crushed)
[Optional] a tablespoon of brown sugar

Here's how to make your foolproof chocolate chip muffins:

Preheat your oven to 200 degrees Celsius (gas mark 6)
Mix all of the dry ingredients together in a large bowl
Beat all of the wet ingredients together in a jug, then pour over the dry products in the bowl. Mix well until everything is combined.
Divide your mixture between your muffin/bun cases, making sure each case is about 3/4 full.
For extra special muffins, sprinkle a little brown sugar over each filled case (optional, leave out of you're worried about the sugar content!).
Bake in your preheated oven for about 20 minutes, or until brown and risen. To be sure your muffins are cooked, stick a toothpick in one muffin and see if it comes out clean.
Remove from the oven and leave to cool on a wire rack. Then try to hide the muffins or they may well disappear before you have time to try them yourself!

You could make some variations to this recipe, such as:

Reducing the milk to 180ml and adding a chopped banana
Using plain wholemeal flour instead of white
Use brown sugar instead of white
Try berries instead of chocolate chips

I love making these muffins, especially as these are so cheap to make! I've found these can store for up to a week when in a sealed container, and they also freeze well, so if you're short of time double up on ingredients, use an extra muffin tray and make some in advance.

Hope you enjoy these as much as we do!

Image credit: wentongg, via Flickr Creative Commons.

ICE - In Case of Emergency. Are you prepared?

2009-05-17T10:00:00.000-07:00

A few days ago, a friend introduced me to the ICE (In Case of Emergency) campaign, which encourages people to add a contact in their mobile phones under the name "ICE" so paramedics, police or firefighters know who to contact in case of emergency or accident.

I was surprised to learn that the ICE campaign has been running for a few years now - it appears I'm a latecomer to this concept, but this is still an important campaign and one which I would sincerely encourage all Glamumous readers to consider.

The ICE campaign was started by Bob Brotchie: a paramedic with the East Anglia Ambulance Service who realised that while most of the people he attended had mobile phones with them, he and his colleagues were unsure which contacts to call in case of medical emergency.

To ensure paramedics and emergency personnel know who to contact if we're involved in an accident or medical emergency, we need to add an ICE contact to the phone book on our mobile phones. The ICE contact is the first number paramedics will try to call for medical information and to inform of your current situation.

We can have more than one ICE contact in place too. I actually have three, which appear in my phone book like this:

ICE1 Husband
ICE2 Dad
ICE3 Mum

This means that if my husband does not answer immediately (due to his job he's often unable to answer calls), my dad or mum may be contacted instead.

I've also programmed ICE numbers into all of my children's handsets too, with details of our emergency contact numbers.

If you don't already have an ICE contact programmed into your handset, please do yourselves a great big favour and add this right away. Perhaps add one for your partner and children's handsets too, so you can be sure you and your whole family are covered in case of emergency.

Image credit: Emergency Phone by Futureshape.

25 easy ways to boost your family income

2009-05-14T10:00:00.000-07:00

In the midst of this recession, many families feel the need to tighten their belts or take on a little extra work to supplement the family income. In recent months, I've seen friends and family members loose their jobs or have their working hours reduced, and I know from experience just how hard it can be to rely on benefits when supporting children.

I'm sure most families at this time would welcome a few extra pounds each week, whether this is to save for birthday and Christmas presents, a family holiday or simply to have an occasional treat. So in this post I'll share some tactics you could use to boost your family income using means already available to you, and without having to travel far from home.

Quick and easy ideas to earn money online

1. Participate in online surveys - Most companies use market research for new products and marketing schemes, and are willing to offer compensation in exchange for completion of surveys. There are many different companies you could join to earn a few extra pounds each week from participating in market research surveys including Ciao, MySurvey, Toluna and LightSpeed Research.

For each survey you complete, your reward could range from 10p to £15 (in either cash or vouchers) for between 10 and 30 minutes of your time. None of these companies will ever attempt to sell you anything or reveal your personal details. It's well worth joining a few different panels so you rack up your points or earnings more quickly.

2. Get paid for browsing the internet - Quite a few different companies have sprung up which offer compensation for visiting various websites or performing internet searches. In order to be compensated for visiting these sponsored sites, you will likely need to stay on the page for a few moments, or click on banners which you may have no real interest in.

However, the pennies will soon rack up. ?? claims that 20 minutes or so of your time each day could rack up more than £4 in earnings by combining your activities through various different services. Over the course of a year, this activity could easily set you up for a no-spend Christmas or family holiday. ?? has written a comprehensive guide for getting paid to browse the internet, which I strongly recommend you check out if interested in this activity.

Sites such as HTmail and Sterling Mails offer a few pence for each email you read and respond to, paying cash into your PayPal account. It's advisable to use a disposable email address when joining such schemes (Hotmail, for example) to ensure your personal email address is not overwhelmed or used for spam.

3. Reading emails could net you ££'s - This is not anactivity I have personally tried (as I already receive so many emailsfrom my blogging activities), but apparantly this activity could soonrack up a few pounds in compensation for only a few minutes each day.

4. Earn cash-back from your shopping - A relatively new concept for me is earning cash-back through affiliate sites when you make purchases online. Everything from supermarket shopping to digital camera could earn you cashback from such membership sites, so if you had planned to make these purchases anyway, such schemes are an excellent way to make a few extra pounds.

Some of the most popular schemes for cashback include GetPoundsBack, TopCashBack and CashBackChief. Some of these schemes offer a bonus just for signing up too!

In order to get the best deal you can also use the price comparison features of such schemes, then total up the cashback you would receive to make (or save) the most money.

5. Music Lover? Get paid to review unsigned artists - SliceThePie helps unsigned artists by offering their music for review by it's members. You could earn from 5p to 25p for each track you review (depending on your reputation), and tot up your credits to earn a little extra each month. Music artists could also profit from this site if their music receives many positive reviews by earning a contract.

It is complicated to explain, so be sure to read the full terms and FAQs on the site to get a better understanding of what it's all about.

Sell your unwanted household items

6. Sell anything on eBay - Of course, eBay is great for anything you may want to sell, from used electrical items to baby clothes and even your unwanted houseplants! It's very easy to get started selling on eBay: just create your account and sign up as a "seller". I would advise you to also set up a PayPal account as many eBay buyers prefer to use this as their preferred payment method. Here's a great article from MoneySavingExpert about the basics and most effective methods of maximizing your eBay profits.

7. Sell your books and unwanted CDs on Amazon - A little known feature of Amazon.co.uk is that anyone can set up an account to sell their unwanted books, CDs, DVD's and games for just a small fee. Unlike when selling on eBay, you won't be charged anything unless your item(s) sell. Many Amazon sellers have found some highly profitable means of buying and selling books through Amazon. While it may not become the equivilant of a full-time income, it's certainly worth a few pounds for the minutes of your time.

Apprentice Tycoon wrote a very useful article about selling on Amazon which you can read here.

8. Get £3 for each book you sell through Green Metropolis - Here's another easy way to make a few pounds from your unwanted library. Simply list your books on Green Metropolis and you'll receive £3 for each one sold (plus a little extra postage for large books and hardbacks). This website seems rather easy to use: you simpl input the ISBN of your books and the site does all the hard work for you.

9. Sell your unwanted mobile phones - You've probably seen many adverts on the TV recently from companies like MoPay and Envirophone offering to recycle your mobile phones for cash. This could well come in handy of you have a few old contract handsets lying around the house. All you need to do is visit one of these sites, provide details of your handset and you'll be given an instant price ranging from a couple of pounds to over £100 depending on the handset and it's condition.

For better profits though, I would recommend contacting any independent mobile phone retailers/repair shops in your town as you're likely to get a far better price for your phone! Usually you will be asked to bring your phone in person, but such shops are likely to offer far better money than the online companies do. By "independent" I mean the smaller, local stores (not Phones4U or any other high street name); take a look in our Yellow Pages and you're sure to find a shop or two close to home.

10. Sell at Car Boot Sales - Car Boot Sales are an excellent way to make quick bucks from selling anything and everything which you no longer wish to keep. For around £5-7 you can hire a spot in a local boot sale, set up a table to display your wares and get selling! Find your local car boot sale on Car Boot Junction where you can search by district or town.

I will say that Car Boot sales are better for getting rid of stuff which doesn't sell well on eBay or elsewhere, and certainly not for anthing valuable. It's great for old toys, clothes, baby stuff (pushchairs, moses baskets, and the like) which you don't mind getting rid of for only a few pounds.

11. Unwanted clothes? Get those online too! - Clothes swapping sites such as BigWardrobe.com and WhatsMineIsYour.com also enable you to make a few pounds by offering clothes for sale if there's nothing you'd like to swap with. Anything from Primark t-shirts to Prada handbags may be accepted, so if you have a wardrobe full of clothes you don't wear consider posting these online.

Sell your skills

12. Do you have a crafty talent? Join and sell on Etsy - This US-based site was created specifically for creative people to sell their hand-made goods online. Everything from knitted jumpers to hand-made gift tags is sold here, so if you have a creative talent be sure to join and showcase your skills in front of thousands more potential customers.

13. Sell your household skills - If you're an efficient cleaner, can iron shirts perfectly or are a wizard in the garden, why not offer your skills locally in exchange for an hourly rate? Even through the credit crunch, there are still families who would be thrilled to learn the lady (or gent) down the road could clean their home, organize their garden or finish their laundry while they while out the hours at work. Start by offering your skills to friends or post on a noticeboard near your local shopping centre. Part-time work such as this can easily fit around your current family schedule (nursery, school, etc) and once word gets around about your skills you could even end up inundated with new opportunities.

14. Sell your technical skills - This income booster is something I stumbled upon quite by accident when a friend-of-a-friend needed some help setting up their wireless internet connection. I offered to stop by and help, fixed the router and a few other issues with their laptop, and in return was handed £20 plus many recommendations to more friends-of-friends... I'm now known by word of mouth as someone who can fix computer issues, install software, clean up viruses and help set up email accounts. I don't charge a lot and most of the time I get to fix computers in my own time at home!

To cut a long story short, if you're technically minded and competent fixing some basic computer issues, you could try offering your skills as a technical expert. Unless you have a great stroke of luck like I did, I'd recommend posting details of what you can do on local noticeboards along with your email address or website URL. It's not major income, and I'd suggest you offer fixed price fees for your work to ensure no nasty surprises for your customers!

15. Skilled with a sewing machine? Start a home-based alterations service - My old neighbour took on a lot of work at home once word of her skills in altering clothes spread around the neighbourhood! Almost every family needs trousers shortening or clothes repaired once in a while, and these days it's very hard to find a trusted alterations service which doesn't cost the earth (especially in cases where the alterations could cost more than the sale items we need altering!).

16. Sell your photos - Those who are skilled with a digital camera could earn good money from selling their best photography on stock image sites like Fotolia, Photobox and iStockPhoto. For each photo sold you will earn royalties (after paying a small percentage to the service you use). This could be profitable for those skilled in beautiful photography or in a niche sector.

Work from home

17. Become a TeleTech@Home Representative- If you're serious about working from home and can spare around 20uninterrupted hours each week, you could apply to work with the USbased company, TeleTech@Home.This company offers full training (for which you will be paid) andenables you to work as a representative using your computer and hometelephone. There are a few assessments and training programs to becompleted; rates of pay depend on the contracts you are offered.

Thisdoes require a commitment from you, and you will be expected to workfor several hours at a time without disturbance or background noise, soit may be better suited for those with children in school during theday or who can work alone in the evenings.

18. Publish mobile content to earn a few pounds - AQUA2Uis a new mobile publishing service which enables (virtually) anyone tosign up as a publisher and deliver micro-content to subscribers andfollowers. If you've ever encountered "Horoscope" or "Weather" alertsto your mobile phone, you'll have a good grasp of the style ofpublishing I mean. In some ways, it's a bit like Twitter.

AQUA2U claim that with just 25 subscribers you could earn £275 a year, rising to almost £3000 for 250 subscribers.

Thisservice is still very new (it opened on April 20th, 2009) so there areyet only a few publishers listed, ranging from betting tips to bargainsand celebrity gossip, so if you have a good idea for a series oftext-tips, it may be well worth checking this out.

19. Be a "Party Planner" - A favourite income booster for mums is hosting parties for companies like Ann Summers, Virgin Vie and The Body Shop.When hosting these parties, you're expected to demonstrate theseproducts and earn a commission on anything you sell. Besides earning asecond income, these parties can be loads of fun (especially the AnnSummers ones!); you don't have to limit yourself to family and friendseither - by advertising your parties locally you may well be asked tohost parties for Hen nights, birthdays and other occasionstoo.

Earn money from your writing skills

20. Get published with Associated Content- This US based site offers a baseline rate of $1.50 for each 1000page views of articles you publish with this service. You can writearticles on anything you are proficient in, from how to find a reliablechildminder in London through to your top 10 country music websites (nokidding!).

The most popular authors can earn afull-time income, though to achieve this you'd need to submit quite alot of content of excellent quality.

21. Be paid to blog with Today.com - I've not covered earning through blogging in this article because generally it takes months to become established. However, the new service offered by Today.com offers publishers a guaranteed income for blogging on any subjectthrough their site (around $2 for every 1000 page impressions, plus a$5 bonus for new registrants who sign up through your affiliate links).

Earn money by offering your time

22. Become a market researcher - Companies like Saros Research offer opportunities for market researchers, usually in the form of small interview panels where you may be asked to test a product or offer your opinions. These opportunities typicaly pay well: between £30 and £50 for a 2-3 hour session. Register with Saros and look up local companies through Yellow Pages or your Thomson directory.

23. Monitor exams - This offers a great temporary opportunity for parents with children of school age as most exams will be taking place within school hours. By invigilating exams, you will be expected to monitor students, hand out extra papers, escort to the toilets and collect completed papers at the end of the exam.

Most schools, colleges and universities need extra staff for monitoring exams around Christmas, Easter and just before the summer holidays. Local newspapers may advertise these opportunities; alternatively you could contact your local council or approach schools directly.

You're likely to need a CRB check before being accepted as an exam monitor, but pay can be rather good at around £8-10 an hour (depending where you live).

24. Mystery Shopping - A "mystery shopper" is someone who is employed to rate the service or quality of products from retail stores while posing as a regular customer. By registering with "mystery shopper" organizations such as GapBuster, RetailEyes or TNS Global, you could earn free products, monetary rewards or gift vouchers. Most which I have encountered pay around £6-10 per assignment, though it is possible to earn up to £30 a day.

For some assignments these agencies can be rather strict and require you to take an online exam in order to qualify. Be sure to read the terms thoroughly and take details of each assignment into account to ensure you are reimbursed for any purchases and that you are paid for your time.

25. Count votes in local elections - Around election times, local electoral authorities may need extra help for counting votes and attending polling stations. Some local authorities pay upwards of £50 per session (or £10-15 per hour) for electoral duties.

Apparently, those already working for their local councils are offered first refusal of these posts, but it's well worth registering your interest with your local authority in case extra staff are needed. Take a look at the AboutMyVote website to find contact details for your local electoral office.

A note on tax

Earning extra income for your family is always welcomed, but don't forget to register your earnings with the tax man! By earning a regular supplementary income, you will effectively be self-employed and will need to declare this to HM Revenue and Customs.

You need to register with the HMRC Helpline for the Newly Self Employed on 08459 15 45 15 by the end of the third calendar month after you started or you may face a £100 fine. Also it's important to file your self-assesments on time (31st October for paper assessments, or 31st January when filing online).

Be sure to keep any and all receipts or details of your earnings - whenyou're self-employed you need to keep these for at least 6 years incase you are asked to produce them. Anything you spend on your business is tax-deductible, so it's important to keep accurate records of what you spend.

Don't forget to make full use of your personal allowances. The first £6035 of your earnings (in this tax year) will not be liable for taxes. Also, if you're on a low income, you should qualify for tax credits and other financial assistance. Take a look at the HMRC website for full details.

Final thoughts

I hope this article has provided some useful inspiration for means of boosting your household income without sacrificing too much time or family life. Of course there are many things I haven't covered here (blogging and website-building, for instance) as I feel these alternative income earners require far more involvement or long-term commitment - I chose to focus only on speedy and easy earners instead.

If you know of any other easy ways to boost your family income, I'd love to know about this so please feel free to leave your comments and opinions below.

Image credits: Home Office by jimwhimpey; Garage Sale by leighblackall; baby package by Ali Edwards; asleep on the table by obo-bobolina; Writing is my hobby by Charles Jeffrey Danoff; Time by Apesara. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

Thrifty Ways for Modern Days - Book Review

2009-05-13T07:01:00.000-07:00

Today I will review one of the most important books on frugality I have ever had the benefit of owning: Thrifty Ways for Modern Days, which offers collective wisdom from members of the MoneySavingExpert community and is edited by the money saving expert, Martin Lewis.

As explained succinctly on the front cover, Thrifty Ways provides "handy hints on living better for less". Essentially, this is a book about living thriftily, offering advice about how to spend less (if at all) on the things we do everyday, from cooking and cleaning to dressing and even entertainment. This wonderful book was written through the success of the Old-Style forum on the MoneySavingExpert site where some of the older MSE's decided to share their thrifty wisdoms with younger generations:

[The Old-Style forum] has swiftly developed into a discussion on living life cheaply, healthily, ethically and thriftily, with all generations together searching for a path to Old-Style bliss.

How Thrifty Ways is organized

Thrifty Ways for Modern Days is organized into chapters which outline the many money-saving tips we can choose to adopt for our everyday lives:

Cleaning
Shopping - what to buy and how to reuse it
Clothes and shoes
Home maintenance and DIY
The good life: grow your own
Presents and home-made gifts
Christmas, weddings and other occasions
The old-style recipe book

Each of these chapters includes many sub-headings to organize the information even more concisely. Chapter 1 (Cleaning) for example offers a section on the top 5 cleaners, followed by an analysis of the cose effectiveness of natural products compared to branded products. Later on, you can even find step-by-step instructions to clean every room of the house in a frugal and environmentally friendly manner.

(Trust me, I've tried some of these methods and not only do they save money but these can also save time and energy too!)

For me, one of the most interesting aspects of the format is the Preface section (if I may call it that) which offers an introduction to these "Old-Style" ways, complete with a broad overview of what MoneySavingExpert is all about.

The "Do you spend more than you earn..?" section was very enlightening. Here you can find fundamental lessons in debt and money management, complete with tables to help you account for expenditures and budgeting plans, which can help literally anyone find ways to manage their finances better (and even discover they have more money available than previously thought).

I suspect this particular section was written by Martin Lewis himself as the information he provides makes complete sense and cuts through all the fog we tend to associate with our finances, making this an important aspect of learning to deal with any money problems we may have and prevent any wasteful losses of our income.

My favourite chapters

I particularly enjoyed the chapter on cleaning, for while I have used natural (and thrifty) methods to clean our home for some time, I found the sections explaining methods for every room in the house to be particularly enlightening. These sections begin by explaining exactly which products are needed, followed by a run-down of how to clean various aspects of the room, including recipes for home-made cleaning products.

The chapter on shopping proved also very useful. Here you can learn how to make careful choices of what you choose (and choose not) to buy; how to fight the impulse to spend when it's not nescessary, and how to "downshift" in order to make even better savings for your shopping baskets.

This chapter does not only explain how to save money on grocery shopping: almost every aspect of what we choose to buy is covered, from electrical items to beauty and personal treats. Recycling is another important section of this chapter: rather than explain simply how to take your used paper and bottles to the recycling depot, Thrifty Ways offers useful insights of how products may be reused at home - this not only saves on waste, it enables us to save money on expenditure too!

Overview

Although a relatively small format when compared to similar titles, Thrifty Ways for Modern Days is packed from cover to cover (literally - there are tips on the front and back!) with great tips to save money and live within your means. The size of this book is roughly the height of a DVD box, and almost an inch thick making it ideal to stuff in your handbag for light reading on the bus or while waiting in a queue. Being a paperback ensures it's also cost effective - the quality of paper it's printed on is hardly exquisite but since this is a book about frugality, there is no more fitting format for this guide.

As Martin explains in his introduction, "Old-Style" ways are not for everyone; this book offers a "take it or leave it" approach where some tips may be suitable for your means while others may seem too extreme for your liking. For example, I personally prefer not to stock up with free sugar sachets and sauces from fast food restaurants or make gift tags on the computer at home. But on the other hand, the advice about swapping clothes at local parties and investing in my own breadmaker were tips which really worked out well for me.

I sincerely recommend you pick this book up for a read. It's currently only £5.49 from Amazon (the list price is only £7.99) though you're also likely to find this bestseller in your local library or through ReadItSwapIt.co.uk (which was where I sourced mine!). I can tell this book will live for a long time on my desk shelves as I seem to pick it up regularly for thrifty advice on whatever I'm up to.

Buy Thrifty Ways for Modern Days from Amazon.co.uk

5 of The Best... Loyalty Cards for Shopping Savvy Mums

2009-05-12T10:00:00.000-07:00

In this age of information, loads of different companies are jumping on the loyalty card bandwagon, offering points, discounts or money back for their customers in exchange for details of our shopping habits. But which are the best ones to use?

For today's post, I'll summarize my five favourite loyalty cards for British mums, complete with details of the rewards and value earned from using them.

1. Boots Advantage Card

This is by far my favourite all-time loyalty scheme, the one which earns more rewards than any other scheme I have yet tried.

Each point earned on your card equals a penny to spend in store; for each pound you spend, you'll earn a minimum of 4 points on your card, though double/triple points days and promotions for extra points on selected items means it's easily possible to earn far more than this.

For mothers with young babies, I highly recommend you also join the Mother and Baby club, which entitles you to triple points when buying Huggies nappies, plus you'll receive many other great offers to help you and your growing baby.

Once you've earned enough points, you can spend this in-store or online on anything you want (except for gift vouchers). You will need to have earned enough points to buy your purchase outright, as points cannot be used in part-purchase.

Personally I save up my points for expensive treats and luxuries (perfume and Chanel lipsticks are wonderful when no money needs to be exchanged) though you could just as easily redeem against your usual shopping to save money on your everyday needs.

How to apply

You can apply for a Boots Advantage card in store and begin earning your points right away, or visit the website to make your application on-line.

2. Nectar

Nectar helps you earn points from spending at a huge variety of high street stores, online retailers, petrol (via BP) and even on your holidays (through Expedia and others).

These points may then be exchanged for a variety of rewards including cinema tickets, days out, travel and beauty treats.

You can earn roughly two points for every pound spent with Nectar sponsors. These points roughly equate a penny each, though rewards start from around 500 points which could get you:

£2.50 off at Argos
A free DVD rental from BlockBuster
£2.50 off your shopping at Sainsburys
A £2.50 voucher for Gala Bingo

There are many many more rewards you could get depending on the number of points you have saved. Take a look at the Nectar card calculator to see how many points you could earn towards your dream reward.

How to apply

Many of Nectar's sponsors offer application forms in-store (such as Sainsburys and Debenhams), though you can also make your application online. This way you can make a note of your Nectar card number and begin collecting points straight away.

3. Tesco Clubcard

Here's another card which I use regularly, not just for shopping but for my fuel and mobile top-ups too (which earns three times as many points).

You can earn 1 point per £1 spend in Tesco stores, online and at Powergen, Marriott, Johnsons Cleaners plus a few other retailers. Each point earned represents a 1p discount to spend in store, and is redeemed in the form of vouchers which are sent out by post.

However, by redeeming points on Tesco's specially selected offers, each point is worth around 4p instead. These special offers include magazine subscriptions, family outings and even RAC membership.

How to apply

You should be able to pick up a temporary Clubcard from any Tesco store and begin earning points right away. Alternatively, visit the Clubcard website to apply online; you'll be able to collect points right away on online purchases, but would need to ask for a special receipt to credit your points by telephone after shopping in-store until your permanant card arrives.

You may also be interested to apply for the Tesco Clubcard Plus account by calling 08457104010 for an application form. This works like a prepaid card (no credit facility) which can be used only in Tesco stores and offers double points on your spending. I'm yet to receive my own card to explain more, but since I shop at Tesco so often I'm sure it will be worth the effort.

4. Toys R Us Gold Card

If you regularly shop at Toys R Us, have a young baby or are expecting one, then it's well worth joining the Gold Card scheme. Don't worry, this is not a credit card (though admittedly I was put off applying for a while since this was the impression I'd been given!).

The Tous R Us Gold Card offers a point for each pound spent when you spend over £10 in store or online. When you have accumulated enough points, you will be sent vouchers to the minimum value of £75 against selected future purchases.

It does take ages to collect enough points, and admittedly the vouchers may not always be for goods you would normally purchase. But if you have a baby or very young child, it is advantageous to join the related Mother and Baby scheme, where further discounts are offered and a regular newsletter is sent out.

How to apply

You should be able to apply in any Toys R Us store by filling out a quick application form. Alternatively visit the Gold Card page of the Toys R Us website to fill in a form online.

5. Air Miles

Although the Air Miles scheme seems to have been around for years, I've only recently discovered how useful this can be in collecting points for free family days out (travels too, though this aspect would rarely benefit us personally).

Air Miles points can be collected through loads of different retailers (more than 200 in total, both online and off) such as Currys, Evans, Shell petrol stations and even by transferring points from your Tesco Clubcard.

The number of Airmiles earned for your spend varies between retailers, from 1 mile for every £10 spent on eBay to a whopping 750 points when you take out a subscription to The Times.

For best value, redeem Airmiles against "experiences" rather than flights. This seems to offer more monetary value for your saving and enables you to visit some great attractions for free such as Legoland or the London Eye.

How to apply

You can register to collect Airmiles by filling in the application form on the Airmiles website. I'm unsure if there are ways to apply in any stores, though you could also call the customer contact centre on 0844 49 333 94.

What are your favourite schemes?

Have I missed out your favourite loyalty scheme from this list, or do you use any of my favourite 5 schemes regularly? Please feel free to leave your comments below.

Coraline - The best family film of the year?

2009-05-11T07:54:00.000-07:00

Over the weekend I took my children to see Coraline (in 3d) at our local cinema. Now as anyone who's read Glamumous for some time would understand, I don't usually review films on this blog (books yes, but never movies). However, we were all so blown away by Coraline that I simply had to write about this here for any other mums who've been hesitant about seeing this amazing film which I believe is truly best experienced in 3d.

Based on the novel by the British author, Neil Gaiman, Coraline is the story of a young girl who stumbles upon a magical, parallel and seemingly perfect world where everything she wishes from life becomes a reality. Whereas her real parents barely have time to talk (let alone play) as she explores her new home in the Pink Palace, in the other world, her "other mother" spends time baking cookies and delicious meals to entice her, while her "other father" lets the piano play him (no kidding) and takes rides on a magical mantis in their living breathing garden.

However, all is not as it seems. When her other mother wants to keep Coraline in the other world, Coraline is set to battle with all her wits (and the aid of a wise talking cat) to save her soul and free the ghosts of children trapped in this realm.

I don't want to give the story away since this is a film you really must make the time to see, or rent on DVD as soon as it's released!

Despite being marketed as a kids movie, Coraline is rather sinister and I doubt it's suitable for young or sensitive children as some scenes offer the potential for nightmare material in little minds. Having said that, my four year old daughter positively adores this film. I was a little apprehensive (having seen some of the trailers for Coraline) and at times she was a little edgy, but the sheer magic of this wonderful film won her over.

To summarize, Coraline is "handmade" - the attention to detail is exquisite, and once you realize that the sweaters and those mittens from the clothes shop are actually knitted in miniature by a real person, you'll understand even more what makes this film so special.

I'd certainly recommend this, and believe this is definitely the best family film of the year (if not the past five years). If you loved The Nightmare Before Christmas or James and the Giant Peach, this will truly be a film you and your family will love. Just be sure not to take very young children, and if in doubt, visit the official website to get a glimpse of what Coraline has to offer.

For those who do stay to the end of the film (as I always do!), you may well wonder what "Jerk Wad" means to "those in the know"... I sincerely doubt Henry Selik intended the meaning offered by The Urban Dictionary for this phrase! Instead, this was a password which could be used in Coraline's room on the official website to enter a competition for a pair of Nike trainers. Sadly the competition is now closed, and as far as I can tell there is nowhere else on the site to enter this curious phrase, but if you were burning with curiosity at least you now know what it means.

Here's one of the best trailers I've found for Coraline, in fact, the one which made me book tickets so we could see this film the very same night. Enjoy, and if you do watch in cinema 3d, be sure to leave a comment and let me know what you think too.

How To Be The Perfect Housewife - Book Review

2009-05-06T10:00:00.000-07:00

Being quite the fan of Anthea Turner's "How to be The Perfect Housewife" series, the book tie-in was one which I looked forward to reading. Or devouring, as it turned out.

Now before I go any further, let me explain one thing: I am by no means a perfect housewife. Cleaning is not a task which comes naturally to me. I am perfectly happy to live in a home resembling ordered chaos and can think of a million more interesting things to do than laundry, ironing and spring cleaning! I chose to buy this book (as a gift to myself, nonetheless) because I wanted a book which would help me learn to take care of our home more efficiently, leaving me more time to spend on the million more interesting things I could think of than ironing a huge pile of my husbands shirts. After a few moments examining the contents in the bookshop, it seemed quite apparent that this would be a suitable book for my needs.

Lessons in the art of household management

How to Be The Perfect Housewife is organized into 19 chapters, each of which deals in a particular "lesson" of household management. These chapters so follow in the order you would expect to learn about the management of your home, beginning with "Decluttering" (as Anthea explains, this is the first step towards a clean and tidy home), through to "Cleaning Room By Room" (chapters 3 and 4); "Kitchen Sense" (chapters 12 and 13) and "Home Safety" (chapter 19).

Anthea's approach is ideal for those who seek a solution for organizing and managing their house, no matter what their circumstances or income. In my opinion, the choice and ordering of these chapters aids in educating the reader in the manner you would expect to learn in a classroom or long-distance course. Essentially, I believe these lessons reflect the learning curve she creates for participants of the TV show (though I would love to get my hands on one of those manuals she presents to each wife as a "crash course" in housewifery!).

Well-presented and easy to digest

Each chapter is broken down into small chunks which make the lessons very easy to digest. Rather than write long (boring) paragraphs, Anthea presents her ideas in short paragraphs, bullet points and lists, enabling the reader to literally dip in at any point in the text. Important tips are highlighted in their own boxes or sections, while each page is somehow decorated with quirky (and mostly feminine) icons which I find makes light of the ardous tasks discussed in the text.

Indeed, this appears to be an extention of Anthea's suggestions that housework could be made enjoyable. In the same way we are encouraged to decant cleaning solutions into pretty bottles to brighten up our maids cupboards, her prose is presented alongside pretty flowers and flirty decorations.

Not quite as many "inside secrets" as I'd hoped

After watching almost every episode of the TV series, I'd hoped to find at least a good scattering of Anthea's recipes for cleaning products, tricks for folding T-shirts and towels, and lists of daily/weekly/monthly chores.

Sadly, these expert tips were few and far between in The Perfect Housewife. While there is a recipe for Anthea's ultimate grime-busting solution (which uses only natural ingredients) and a section on creating a cleaning schedule for your home, I couldn't help feeling a little disappointed that the television series revealed far more interesting tips than were offered in the book.

Bossy, but brilliant!

I must admit that Anthea Turner is a woman I would love to hate: like Mary Poppins, she is practically perfect in every way. Her home is a dream house; her cupboards immaculately organized and her souffles always rise. As in the television series, you may well find her lessons of the home come across as rather bossy and unquestionable, yet for me this is the beauty of her advice: when you put these ideas into practice, you can honestly attest that she is right!

So much as I would love to hate Anthea, the fact is I simply cannot. She is - as the cover describes - "The Queen of Clean". She knows exactly how to manage a home, and considering her mansion has two huge kitchens and a menagerie of pets, the management of her own household is testament to her expertise.

Yes, Anthea does outsource some of her cleaning. She does not expect a lone woman to tend to the entire house by herself, and her definition of what the perfect housewife should accomplish offers inspiration for us all:

A beautiful cosy home has very little to do with money or size, but has everything to do with making the best of what you have.

Be sure to read through the introduction to learn about the family in Delhi who made her feel such a welcome guest. For me, this story is the perfect example of what Anthea hopes we can achieve by following her advice.

An ideal home-manual for those who need a kick-start in household management

Overall, The Perfect Housewife is a very useful book for those who need a kick-start in the right direction, or who seek inspirational advice from the self-confessed "Queen of Clean". It's not aimed at those who do actually aspire to be perfect, but instead those who feel they need a helping hand, a little guidance, or a chapter full of useful tricks for removing every stain your family could possibly throw at you.

So if you feel your own home could use a little TLC, or that your organizational skills could use some touching up, be sure to look out for The Perfect Housewife at your local bookstore.

How to be The Perfect Housewife is currently available from Amazon, priced at £9.09.

5 Of The Best... Natural Products for Cleaning the Family Home

2009-05-05T02:00:00.000-07:00

In this day and age we are inundated with advertisements end endorsements for the latest, greatest cleaning products to enter the market. Fancy blocks which stick under the rim of the loo; grease-busting kitchen cleaner with lime-power; scent-infused wipes specifically designed to cleanse our hard floors... If we listened to the advertisements, our homes would cost a small fortune to maintain, with cupboards full of cleaning products designed to perform only one job!

In days gone by, our fore-mothers used natural products to clean their homes where each product could be used for a multitide of tasks. Being both ecologically sound and cost-effective to boot, it's no wonder that many parents are turning to natural solutions for cleaning their family home. Such products can save us ££'s, take up far less room in the maid's cupboard, and ultimately the lack of chemical ingredients make them safe to use around our children.

So here ladies, are my favourite 5 natural cleaning products, tried and tested with ideas for how they can be used. Try them for yourself to see just how effective these can be in comparison to your favourite chemical brands. Once you've seen the effects for yourself, I doubt you'll ever browse the chemical aisles again!

1. White Vinegar

While growing up, my only experience of vinegar was as a condiment for chips. My mum didn't really subscribe to the notion of natural cleaning, and even today her cupboards are filled with bottles of chemical solutions which probably cost more than the fees she could pay to hire a cleaner each week!

So when my good friend (and household mentor) suggested I use vinegar to clean my grimy windows, I was somewhat aghast. Why on earth would I want to make my home smell like a chip shop, I asked. But once I'd seen the gleam produced by diluted vinegar and scrunched up newspaper, I never looked back.

White vinegar still smells like the stuff you put on chips, but it's truly an excellent degreaser, ideal for all manner of cleaning in the family home. If you can't stand the smell, add a few drops of your favourite essential oils to your vinegar solutions to disguise the stink (and make your home smell wonderful at the same time).

Where to buy white vinegar

White vinegar is often known as "Distilled vinegar" (a title which confused me no end when I first tried to find this in the supermarket!). Unlike malt vinegar, this product is colourless and is usually sold alongside other condiments in your local supermarket at around 50p for a half-litre bottle.

For ultimate savings, try to find this in a larger bottle. Asian and Arabic supermarkets often sell 2ltr bottles for a couple of pounds, and other frugal home-makers have found this in the natural cleaning section in Boots stores (though I've been unable to find it in my local stores up North).

If you do buy from the supermarket, be sure to grab a few bottles at a time, as you're sure to use up a 500ml bottle in no time when you realise how useful this is!

Using White Vinegar to Clean your Home

For cleaning windows, glass and mirrors, use a solution of half-vinegar and water in a spray bottle (the type you use to spray your house plants). Squirt your windows a couple of times (don't be over-zealous) and buff off with scrunched up newspaper. The vinegar makes the glass sparkling clean and even removes the grease from cooking/smoking with ease!
For unblocking drains, pour neat down the plug hole, leave for 20-30 minutes, and follow with a kettle-full of boiling water. For very stubborn blockages, pour a handful of bicarbonate of soda down the drain first. The vinegar will make it fizz and unblock even the greasiest deposits.
For general cleaning/surface sprays, use half and half with water. This is a great solution for cleaning cooking spills, wiping down kitchen surfaces and even cleaning the bath-tub. Add lemon juice for a nicer smell or extra-degreasing power.
To soften clothes and fluff up towels, use in place of your regular fabric softener in the washing machine. Just a quick slug will do (about half a cup). I promise your clothes will not smell of vinegar once dried, and this really does fluff up towels (great for times when the fibres are flattened from accidental use of fabric conditioner in the wash).

2. Bicarbonate of Soda

Not to be confused with baking powder, bicarbonate of soda is another fabulous multi-purpose cleaning solution. I use this often as a mild abrasive, but it's excellent for stain-removal and deoderizing too.

Where to buy Bicarbonate of Soda

Most supermarkets sell this in small tubs beside home-baking products. Usually this is less than £1 a tub, though I've found the cheapest place is Tesco where I buy mine for less than 50p.

You may also be able to find large tubs in a local ethnic supermarket or wholesale supplier for a few pounds. It is worth investing in a large tub to save money over the long term.

How to use Bicarbonate of Soda for cleaning

For a mild abrasive (great for cleaning cooker tops and stubborn marks), mix to a thick paste with water. Leave on for a couple of minutes then buff off with a cloth.
To clean your fridge, dissolve half a cup in a basin of water and use as a solution to wipe down the interior.
To deoderise the fridge, leave small amount in an open container in the back of the fridge (this will not tarnish the interior or taint the food)
To de-scale a kettle or clean stained cups, dissolve a couple of teaspoons in a mug of hot water; leave to soak and rinse clean.
To remove stains, dampen the fabric and sprinkle a little bicarb on top. Leave to absorb the water, then rub gently with a sponge.

3. Borax (Sodium Borate)

Borax is a natural mineral with disinfectant properties which can be used for cleaning and disinfecting areas of the family home.

Be careful though: borax must be used with caution and kept far away from children and pets. Be sure to always wear rubber gloves when using borax, and keep in a sealed container.

Where to buy borax

Personally I have found borax to be among the most difficult household cleaners to find. If you're lucky, you may find this in the natural cleaning products aisle in your local Boots store. Some chemists sell borax (ask at the counter), and local hardware stores are known to stock this too (this is where I buy borax).

Alternatively you can try the Dri-Pak website, where borax can be purchased in bulk. Occasionally you can buy this from eBay in single tubs for a few pounds each.

How to use Borax for household cleaning

As a disinfectant, mix 1/2 a cup of borax with a gallon of hot water and use as required.
For cleaning very dirty floors, mix 1/2 a cup of borax with a gallon of vinegar. This will cut through grime and provide disinfectant qualities at the same time.
For a multi-surface disinfectant spray, combine 2 tablespoons borax, 1/4 cup of lemon juice and 2 cups of hot water. Decant into a spray bottle and use to clean the cooker, kitchen surfaces or any place where a strong disinfectant solution is required.
For cleaning grimy toilets, flush the toilet to wet it then sprinkle 1 cup of borax around the bowl. Spray with 1/2 cup of vinegar and leave overnight. Then simply brush clean in the morning for a clean, shiny bowl.

Lemons

Another multi-purpose product, lemons make an excellent degreaser; what's more, by using lemons (or lemon juice) for cleaning your home, you will also be exuding a fabulous citrus scent.

Best value lemons - where to buy

I've found the cheapest place to buy lemons is usually the supermarket (particularly Asda and Tesco), where you can buy a bag of lemons from the budget/value range for less than 50p. Depending on the season, you may be able to pick up lemons for as little as 10p each when sold singly.

If you prefer to buy lemon juice, try visiting your local ethnic supermarket for a large bottle (rather than the 200ml ones sold in supermarkets).

Using lemons for cleaning

To clean and disinfect your chopping board, rub with half a lemon and a little salt.
To clean a grimy microwave, quarter a lemon and place in a microwavable bowl with a cup of water. Cook on high heat for 5 minutes, then leave the bowl in the microwave for a further 1/2 hour. Once the water is cooled. use the water to wipe the inside of the microwave. All of the dried on grime will simply wipe away, leaving your microwave sparkling clean.
To boost cleaning when soaking dirty pans, add half a lemon to your bowl of washing-up water. The grease-busting power of the lemons will help dissolve the grime on your pans.
For a fragrant furniture polish, combine the juice of one lemon with a teaspoon of olive oil and a teaspoon of water. Apply a coating of the mixture to the item to be polished; leave for 5 minutes then buff off with a soft cloth. Also useful for polishing leather sofas (but use slightly more olive oil for this job)
To deodorize your kitchen, use leftovers from your lemons (perhaps after cleaning other things?) and simmer on the stove for an hour in a little water.

Washing soda (Sodium Carbonate)

Traditionally used for washing clothes, this mild detergent is an excellent grease-cutter too enabling it to be used for washing dishes, walls and indeed anything else which requires cleaning.

Where to buy washing soda

I usually buy washing soda in packets from the supermarket from around 50p for 500g (and it lasts ages!). You may also find this in Wilkinsons, Boots stores (near the natural cleaning section) or at your local hardware store.

The most common brand appears to be Dri-Pak so try their website if you're unable to locate anywhere close to home.

When buying in packets, be sure to transfer to a sealed, labelled container or place the opened packet in a zip-lock bag to prevent spillages or damp.

How to use washing soda

For extra laundry cleaning power, add half a cup to the powder drawer of your washing machine
For hand-washing delicate items, sprinkle a handful in warm water and add a few drops of your favourite essential oil to make clothes smell wonderful.
When washing dishes in the sink, dissolve half a cup in the dish water and add half a lemon for grease-busting power.
Create your own dish-washer detergent by combining equal parts of borax and washing soda (far cheaper than branded tablets and powders!)

Which are your favourite home-made cleaning solutions?

In this article, I've covered only a handful of the home-made cleaning solutions we can use to clean our family homes cheaply and without chemicals. The five products mentioned above are my favourites, but I'd love to know what you use for your own family homes too.

Please feel free to leave your own ideas and suggestions in the comments below.

Image credits: Eco-cleaning (top right) by extended.epiphany; Vinegar by Gorgeoux; Bicarbonate of Soda by solylunafamilia; Borax by luce_beaulieu; Lemons by terriseesthings; Washing Soda by Liquid Lucidity. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

Join Debenhams Beauty Club - Get Exclusive Freebies

2009-05-04T10:00:00.000-07:00

The Debenhams Beauty Club is a new loyalty scheme offering points-based discounts and freebies exclusively for it's members. Debenhams isn't a place I would usually visit for my beauty products, but after seeing a feature about this scheme in yesterday's You magazine (with the Sunday Mail) I decided it was worth a second look.

How it works

The Beauty Club offers points on your card whenever you make a purchase in-store in the Debenhams Beauty Department.

These points can then be exchanged towards money off credits - in increments of £5 - against future purchases in the beauty department.

At present, points can only be collected and redeemed in-store. Online purchases cannot collect points, nor can points be redeemed when shopping online.

The Beauty Club also offers exclusive freebies for it's members and a regular email newsletter featuring the latest beauty news.

How to collect and redeem points

Points are collected according to the amount you spend on each transaction in-store on products from the beauty department:

For purchases up to £25, you will earn one point per £1 spend.
For purchases over £25, a more generous three points per £1 spent are earned.

Transactions can include more than one item in order to earn these points. For example, if you were to buy a Touche Eclat at £23, this would net you 23 points on your card. However, if purchasing a YSL Touche Eclat and a Mascara Volume (value £21) in a single transaction, totalling £44, this combined purchase would earn 132 points in total.

Rewards are calculated on a monthly basis, in lots of 500 points. Each 500 points rewards you with a £5 discount against purchases, which can be redeemed as part payment.

This means that you need to earn more than 500 points in any given month to qualify for a £5 discount. If you earn 1000 points, you would earn a £10 discount, and so on.

Points can be carried over from month to month, and rewards are given in the month following that where enough points were accumulated. For example, if you earn 200 points in May and 300 points in June, your £5 reward will be credited in July.

To earn enough points for each £5 credit, you'll likely have to spend at least £163 (in transactions over £25 each time). For many mums, it may take a long time to accumulate this many points, though Debenhams assure us that there will be frequent occasions where bonus points will be offered.

Freebies for Beauty Club Members

I'm a sucker for freebies, and must admit that this aspect of the Beauty Club is what I'm most interested in.

At present, Debenhams are offering quite a few freebies for Beauty Club members, some of which are "no-spend" offers (meaning we don't have to spend anything to get them - hooray!).

Here's some of the best offers available right now:

No Spend - Elizabeth Arden Eight Hour Cream: get a free sample of this cult moisturizer when you ask at an Elizabeth Arden counter
No Spend - Clinique 3 Mini Lipsticks: when you have a free makeover or skin consultation at a Clinique counter
£5 worth of points for a £25 spend on cosmetics or fragrance. The website states that this offer is limited to one transaction per customer, per day, so I'm not sure if we can acquire £5 of points each time we spend more than £25, or if this is a one-time offer. Anyway, this offer ends on the 14th of June so be sure to get your points if you plan to buy fragrance or cosmetics this next month!
Free gift worth over £50 from Elizabeth Arden, with two or more purchases from EA (one to be skincare). I love the look of this gift set, which includes a full-size lipstick and summer make-up pallette.

Other current offers include a minumim spend/purchases from their relevant departments. Take a look at the Beauty Club events page for more details.

How to join the Debenhams Beauty Club

To become a member, you must visit a Debenhams branch to collect your free Beauty Club card. You can begin earning points straight away, but will need to register your card online for your rewards to be credited and to receive the regular beauty newsletter.

You must remember to take your card each time you make a purchase, as points cannot be transferred after purchase. If you lose your card, points cannot be transferred to a new one.

One good thing may be that friends and family can also help you build up points by borrowing your card when they make purchases too.

Is it worth joining?

In my opinion, the Debenhams Beauty Club is most rewarding for those who regularly purchase premium beauty brands, either for themselves or as gifts for family and friends. As much as I adore my Chanel lipsticks and fragrances, these are purchases I buy only on rare occasions (or receive as gifts), so to earn even a £5 voucher, it would take me literally years to clock up the points I'd need.

The prospect of free gifts and consultations is somewhat enticing; however, in my experience we can receive these without having to join a loyalty scheme. Perhaps the Beauty Club will make these more accessible?

Personally, I will not be ditching my Boots Advantage card in favour of the Beauty Club, since I can earn points on all my purchases from Boots and my points build up much more quickly.

Have you joined the Debenhams Beauty Club (or are considering this)? What do you think of this scheme so far, and how do you think it could be improved? Please feel free to let us know by leaving your comments below.

Cheap Bank Holiday Outings for the Family - What Will You Do This Weekend?

2009-05-01T10:20:00.000-07:00

Since hubby-dearest is away at the moment (long story), I've been trying to organize some fun yet frugal activities for the kids and I this Bank Holiday weekend. Money is a little tighter than usual (being the week when most of our household bills get paid) so I've been brainstorming some free and very cheap days out which we can all enjoy together.

So far, we've decided to:

Go to the cinema for £1

Each Saturday at 10am, Cineworld presents "Movies for Juniors" - a selection of fairly recent films for the kids with tickets at just £1 each, even for any adults who attent.

This weekend, the films on offer are Madagascar 2, Escape to Moonacre and Beverly Hills Chihuahua (I'm hoping we can settle on Escape to Moonacre, but we'll see what the kids vote for).

Visitors should also be able to buy a kids snack box for around £3.10 which includes popcorn, sweets and a drink. Be sure to ask for this as it's not usually on the price boards, and the cheapest alternative popcorn starts from around £3.95!

You can book online/by telephone but there is a charge of 60p each ticket. If you can, it's better to visit the cinema in advance and buy tickets as on the day the queues are huge and unless you're early you can't always guarantee a seat.

Visit a Car Boot Sale

We regularly visit the Old Coates car boot sale, which is about 30 minutes drive from where we live (and is among the largest in the region). I love visiting these sales as we always seem to find something great for the house. I wrote about this some time ago if you're interested to look. or you could visit Car Boot Junction to find a sale close to where you live.

This week, we're hoping to buy some established plants for our developing garden, particularly any vegetables that we haven't already grown from seed, and perhaps a small bench for the kids (provided we have room in the car to hold it!). I know the kids will not come home empty handed - they always find something of interest, which is why a pocketful of loose change comes in handy. And when haggling over 10p, it's hardly fair to hand over a ten pound note!

Have a picnic in the park

On Monday (good weather permitting) we're going to have a picnic in the park. We've not yet chosen which particular park to visit, but chances are we'll visit the large "country park" on the outskirts of town, which offers a beautiful walk around a man-made lake.

For added enjoyment, the kids will help me make a batch of muffins to take with us the evening before. It's always a messy experience, but I love to watch their faces as the soggy dough transforms into delicious risen dessert.

Which frugal activities do you enjoy with your family?

We're all experiencing the effects fo the credit crunch this year, so with little (or no) money to spend, what activities will you enjoy with your children this spring? A little closer to the main summer holidays, I'm hoping to write a feature-length article of fantastic low-cost activities for the kids, so please feel free to offer your ideas and I'll be sure to credit you if I use your idea for my article.

Image credits: Boy playing on balls by Pink Sherbert Photography; Car Boot Sale by Dominic's Pics; Picnic by Stewart. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

The Virgin Gardener by Laetitia Maklouf - Book Review

2009-04-29T02:00:00.000-07:00

These days we are awed by the sheer number of books available to us, and it's difficult to choose something relevant to our needs. As parents, we are limited in the time we can spend reading, and as frugal families we cannot afford to spend on books we may later find irrelevant. So each Wednesday, I aim to review a book on a range of subjects from parenting guides to home-making, fashion/beauty and cookbooks which are most relevant for fabulous, frugal mums!

At this time of year, many of us are considering revamping their weed-infested gardens or taking a shot at becoming more self sufficient by growing their own fruit and vegetables. What better time than this to review one of the books which has literally changed my life?

The Virgin Gardener by Laetitia Maklouf is a fabulous guide for anyone who - like me - has little or no experience in horticulture. When I say "fabulous", this is indeed what I mean about this book: it is in no way a boring representation of frumpy gardeners! A glance at the back cover says it all: glamourous pink heels sitting next to a pair of green wellingtons: yes ladies, you can have a beautiful garden and still maintain those immacuately manicured nails!

A "cookbook" for gardeners

As Laetitia explains in the introductory section, you don't need a lot of space or even much spare time to develop the garden of your dreams. Essentially, The Virgin Gardener is a cookbook of easy to follow "recipes" for gardening success, where one can literally dip in at any page to discover an easy-to-follow and complete project guide.

For instance, as I just opened this book at a random page, I was presented with the "recipe": Pickled Onions for Proper Cocktails. Does this sound like your average gardening guide? Indeed not! Beginning with Laetitia's reflections of her parent's cocktail parties, the page proceeds to explain the "when what and how" of growing your own miniature onions, concluding with an explanation of how to pickle for use in delicious grown-up cocktails.

Easy to follow, green-fingers not required!

All of the "recipes" for plant growth and/or harvesting in The Virgin Gardener are offered in the following format:

The Lowdown - A brief explanation of what this particular project is about
The Timing - The best time of year to undertake this project
You Will Need - The appropriate equipment required for the recipe
The Method - In plain English (no complicated jargon for newbie gardeners to wade through!)

Last of all, you will find a section offering ideas for what to do with your completed project - in the above example, this explains how to pickle your miniature onions for use in cocktails though others explain how to prepare your plants for consumption, decoration or even as an aphrodisiac...

Irresistibly inspiring

Laetitia's prose is elegant, passionate and utterly inspiring. I defy you to read this book and not immediately visit the garden centre for supplies!

The presentation of this guide is beautiful: on every other page (or so) there is stunning photography which depicts gardening as something quite sensual. Even text-based pages are adorned with watermarks of leaves or flowers, while the overall appearance is more a coffee-table book than a boring reference guide.

I have learned things from The Virgin Gardener which I hadn't thought possible: growing banana plants from seed and pineapple trees from the top of a supermarket fruit; cherry tomatoes on my windowsill and carniverous plants for the boys.

I doubt that Laetitia has much experience gardening with children (though her reference to wigwam runner-beans is pure genius) so while many "recipes" are guided towards sensuality very few are described in a way the family can enjoy. Saying that, as parents we can always adapt our projects for toddlers through to teenagers - no child I know doesn't love to see seeds sprout and grow into full bloom or eat the vegetables they had a hand in growing!

Not especially frugal, but not far off!

The Virgin Gardener is not a book for frugal experienced gardeners. It will not teach you much about saving money when building the garden of your dreams. Instead, this book is intended to inspire a passion for growth, for creating green spaces no matter how little space you have available, and to learn that growing plants can lead to more creative options for use than simple outdoor beauty.

I can't agree much with the cover price. At £20 this seems an expensive purchase for any gardening guide (even in hardback version). You can purchase from Amazon at the current price of £12 though - far better for those watching the pennies, and a reasonable price for such a beautiful and inspiring gift (or even as a hard-earned treat for yourself).

There are sections where saving money is discussed in slight detail: the expense of buying ready-grown babana plants for example, compared to the utter thrift (not to mention self-satisfaction) of growing from seed. Yoghurt pots and old tin cans, it explains, can be used to grow plants just as well as terracotta versions from HomeBase, while wedding and baby-shower gifts are wonderful when home-grown.

In summary, I would definitely recommend this book to anyone seeking a start in the world of gardening, and also those who already have a hand in the growth of plants but who seek inspiration for new things. Personally, I am very happy to own this book. From feeling concerned that all the house plants I've ever owned died tragically, to growing a family vegetable patch and seeing flowers everywhere (that I planted) in full bloom. This book has inspired me to try, and taught me that "plants want to grow". It's not a case of whether we are green-fingered or not. Instead, all we need to do try.

5 of The Best... Parenting Resources for British Mums

2009-04-28T02:00:00.000-07:00

Back when my eldest child was born, I didn't own a computer. In fact, the "internet" was something which we read about in newspapers - a phenomenon which only computer geeks understood and which only the richest even had access to (or so it seemed). But by the time my daughter was born, all this had changed. Not everyone was online then, but many of us were. I had my own laptop, hooked up to broadband, and a plethora of information, support and other mums were just a few clicks away.

These days, most of the mums and mums-to-be I know have sought information and advice online. Our own parents, siblings and close friends cannot (always) be with us 24/7 for advice, but online parenting communities are always there, offering advice and a sense of connection with others who are experiencing the same issues.

Over time, I've seen many different sites, communities and parenting resources for British parents, yet there are only a handful to which I turn often when seeking advice or company. These sites (in my opinion, and in no particular order) are 5 of the best parenting resources for British mums:

NetMums

http://www.netmums.com/

This was among the first sites I joined, and is an excellent place for meeting and interacting with other mums in your area.

NetMums is a members only site (registration is free, quick and very easy). This is because Netmums relies on a sense of community and members sharing as well as taking information" which ensures the site is a friendly and helpful community for all involved.

When joining NetMums, you will be able to read boards specifically for your town or area, meet other parents locally and also read through the general (nationwide) boards for advice on parenting, recipes, family finances and any other subject relevant to mums.

Visit NetMums to learn more

MumsNet

http://www.mumsnet.com/

The Times newspaper describes MumsNet as "The country's most popular meeting place for parents". Indeed, this is the main reason why I visit the site so much (the "Talk" section is unrivalled!), though MumsNet offers many more features useful for parents too.

There are dedicated sections for each stage of our children's lives, offering advice and information on every subject imaginable. Reviews of baby products, books and even entertainment help us decide if these items are right for us based on impartial reviews from other parents, while the recipes section offers tried and tested foods for the whole family to enjoy (most of which are also incredibly frugal).

Members of MumsNet can also start their own free blog to document their life as a parent (the best blogs are highlighted regularly on the front page).

Probably the most popular section is "Am I being unreasonable?" - a section of the talk boards where parents post their questions and are offered honest replies to their concerns from other members.

Visit MumsNet to learn more

YourFamily

http://www.yourfamily.org.uk

I wrote about YourFamily.org.uk a few weeks ago when I first discovered this wonderful site. Organized by the NSPCC, YourFamily offers advice on parenting for families with small children.

My favourite section of the site is the "Digital Nanny", where you can type in the name and age of your child to get advice specifically tailored to your needs (scroll down on the home page to find this section).

Other useful sections include "20 Ways To..." (featuring 20 useful tips on a variety of different subjects); creative video makes to create with your toddlers, and the baby calendar for expectant mummies which helps you see just how much your little one is developing.

Visit YourFamily to learn more.

MyChild

http://www.mychild.co.uk/

MyChild is a fantastic resource for parents of school-aged children which offers free reports, sample papers and support to help our children with their education.

There are also sections about child health issues, recipes and positive parenting; for those whose children have special educational needs, there are some highly useful articles and guides which both explain these special needs without patronising and offer helpful activities for positive experiences.

Visit MyChild to learn more

RasingKids

Inevtably as I visited RaisingKids to find those all important links for this section, I became distracted in reading some of those useful articles posted on the home page... "Getting rid of persistant head lice"; "the best bedtime for a 12 year old"; "Stingy parents, or spoilt kids?". These are just a few of the questions posed to the website's experts whose solutions always make for great reading.

There are sections for all stages of children's lives, and even advice about motoring and child safety. RaisingKids also has a good community where parents ask questions and discuss parenting issues with each other.

Visit RaisingKids and learn more

Just one last mention...

I know this is supposrd to be a "5 of the best" post but I simply couldn't write this without including one of my favourite blogs too: Parent Hacks. This site features real advice from actual parents: tried and tested tricks for parenting such as using empty egg and candy boxes as paint pallettes and taking a picture of your child(ren) before entering a theme park in case they get lost. Do pay a visit to see why I love this site so much. Although based in the US, most of the tips are just as suitable for us Brits!

Which are your favourite parenting sites?

Have I missed out your own favourite site? Let us know your own preferences, or what you think of my favourite 5 my leaving your comments below.

Image credit (top right): lepiaf.geo, via Flickr Creative Commons.

Blogging in Pink - Free ebook Guide to Blogging from Scribbit

2009-04-27T10:25:00.000-07:00

If you're a blogging mummy (or are considering starting a blog sometime soon) be sure to check out Blogging in Pink: a women's guide to blogging by Michelle Mitchell, author of the popular blog, Scribbit.

This 24-chapter guide gives you tips for organizing yourself, getting started, focusing your efforts and taking things to the next level. Plus you get some pret-ty darn spiffy illustrations to boot.

I've been reading Blogging in Pink all afternoon and am very impressed with Michelle's advice. This really does offer some great advice for bloggers, including loads of information I wish I'd had to hand when I first began blogging, such as dealing with comment spam, which blog host to use and "The Ten Commandments of Blogging".

Did I mention this ebook is completely free to download?

Pay a visit to Scribbit to learn more and download this outstanding guide to blogging, and while you're there, check out some of Michelle's other posts too - she really writes an interesting blog about her adventures in Alaska...

How will the 2009 Budget affect your family?

2009-04-24T02:00:00.000-07:00

I don't usually pay much attention to politics and money. Most of the issues go over my head: I'm certainly no financial expert and much of the jargon serves to confuse rather than educate me!

But at this time, Britain is in recession. My husband and I both run our own businesses and have four children to support. So I listened intently to the budget on Wednesday with particular interest for how finances will change for those with families to support.

For those of you who want to know how the 2009 budget will affect your family, here is a jargon-free brief guide with a slant towards families with children:

Taxes and allowances

There will be no tax increases this year. However, those who earn more than £150,000 per year (the lucky few!) will suffer an extra 5% tax increase (bringing this up to 50%) from next April.

Personal allowances will be fully withdrawn for those earning over £100,000 a year from next April too. This must be quite a shock (and a dramatic rise in how much to pay) for those lucky or skilled enough to be earning such big bucks.

Thankfully for those of us at the other end of the scale, there is some relief: personal tax allowance (for those earning less than 100k) will increase from £6035 to £6475 (an increase of £440). Also we can earn £2600 more before being taxed at the 40% rate (up from £34,800 to £37,400).

Families with children will benefit from additional Child Tax Credits and Child Benefit allowances, plus reductions in their tax/National Insurance bills. Take a look at these tables on This is Money to work out exactly how you stand in regard to finances from these budget changes.

Child trust funds will increase by £100 per year for disabled children and £200 per year for severely disabled children, offering savings in excess of £5000 when these children grow to adulthood. Also, grandparents who look after their grandchildren so that the parents cango out to work will be able to claim credits towards the basic statepension.

Cigarettes and Alcohol

Both tobacco and alcohol duties increased by 2% from Wednesday evening. This causes approximate increases of:

7p for a packet of 20 cigarettes
1p for a pint of beer (experts believe this will be rounded up to as much as 6p to the end-consumer due to brewers, pub companies and landlords round up the costs to protect profits)
4p for an average bottle of wine
5p to sparkling wine
13p to a bottle of spirits (eg: whiskey)

Mr. darling believes this will raise 6 billion pounds in taxes by 2012, but that's still a drop in the ocean when compared to the HUGE debts Britain will owe by then!

Motoring

I couldn't help thinking that our recent (slight) decrease in the cost of fuel was too good to be true. From September, fuel will increase by 2p a litre, with further increases of 1p a litre for the next four Aprils thereafter.

This won't just affect families with cars, but the costs of public transport and taxis too.

For those considering buying a new car, the government has introduced a new scheme offering £2000 towards the cost of a more fuel efficient vehicle when scrapping vehicles more than 10 years old (registered before December 1999 - V-reg and older). There are some conditions though: we must have owned the car for more than 12 months (preventing anyone from buying an old banger for the sake of the trade-in value), and this offer expires next March. Read more about the car-scrapping allowance here.

Mortgages and Homes

The Stamp Duty holiday on properties up the value of £175,000 has been extended until the end of the year; this means that around 60% of homebuyers will not be liable for tax on the value of their new homes.

Mr. Darling also announced a further £80m for the Homebuy Direct first-time buyer scheme. This means that if you're a first-time buyer but can't afford to buy a suitable homewithout help, you may be entitled to an ‘equity loan' for up to 30 percent of the cost of a home.

The Homebuy Direct scheme applies to new-built homes, and applicants should be earning under £60,000 per year and will need to cover a minimum of 70 per cent of the cost of a home youare buying through a mortgage from a qualified lender who is regulatedby the Financial Services Authority. More details of this scheme can be found here.

These schemes will offer relief for some families in purchasing new homes, and it's also hoped this will boost the housing market. Even in this recession, it is worth considering all options available for your family to see if you are able to purchase the home you've been considering.

So will families really be better off this year?

I would like to think that Alasdair Darling's Budget this year will mean families (especially those on lower budgets) will be slightly better off. Families whose income is below the £50,000 mark still qualify for help through tax credits, and the housing schemes enable some of us better means for buying our own homes.

However, as stated in The Telegraph: "All forms of tax now absorb about 10pc more of the average family's income than they did when Labour came to power", and many families are still confused about the tax credits system, and whether they are eligable for assistance.

If you're in any doubt about your income, family allowances or any other aspect of how the 2009 budget may affect your family, the best place for assistance is the Direct.gov.uk website. Here you can find helpful information on almost everything, with links and contact details for all public services.

I hope this post has helped you understand the basics of the 2009 budget in relation to families with children. Please feel free to leave your comments and experiences below.

Image credit: austinevan

10 Thrifty Style Tips for Mummies on a Budget

2009-04-23T02:00:00.000-07:00

Being a mummy need never mean you are frumpy! Just because babies and children force us to budget (in terms of both money and time) does not mean we should forget about our stylish selves.

Here are my top 10 thrifty tips to help ensure you always look - and feel - fabulous, even when you're broke and have only five minutes to get dressed in the morning.

1. Ensure you have a fabulous, fuss-free haircut

The last thing a stressed, time-stricken mum needs to worry about is whether she has the time to wash, blow-dry and style her hair each and every morning. Trust me on this ladies, it's far easier (not to mention cheaper) to have a wonderful, fuss-free style which requires little more than a brush through and perhaps a hairband or simple clip to make us feel utterly elegant.

I've worn my hair in almost every style imaginable: short, mid-length, long, curly, straight and dyed. But for the past six years or so, I've decided to keep my present style: one length in the back with a side-swept fringe which suits the shape of my face and only requires styling "properly" if I'm getting ready for a night out.

The best haircut for any mum is one which requires little fuss to lool absolutely great. Even if you have tightly curled locks, fine flyaway hair or ultra thick unmanageable tresses, there will be a perfect style for you.

The trick is to find a good hairdresser. As friends have often told me, the best hairdresser will perfectly understand your needs and find a style to suit you perfectly. Ask around: friends or family, and even local forums are all great places to find a reliable and experienced hairdresser whose skills with the scissors can tame your tangled masses into a elegant and easily managed mane.

Try also to keep your natural colour, spending the money you would save on regular colourings and root touch-ups on regular haircuts instead. This could save you more money and anxiety than you imagine: you need never be concerned that your roots are showing; your hair will appear healthier from the lack of chemical treatments, and you needn't be concerned about buying expensive products to suit your coloured hair.

However, if "natural" is not for you, try colouring at home instead and ask a friend to help you out. The end-result is undoubtedly better than attempting to reach all areas on your own, and saves pounds each time you'd have visited the hairdressers instead!

2. Organize a capsule wardrobe

A "capsule" wardrobe comprises of several key clothing items which can be mixed and matched to create a multitude of outfits. By having these key items in your wardrobe, you will always ensure you have the perfect outfit to hand, no matter how busy you are or how little time to get ready in the morning.

To create your capsule wardrobe, you needn't feel as though you need to spend loads of money. Instead, take a good hard look at the items you already own. Chances are you will already have several key pieces and may not even need to buy anything new.

What you will need to do is look at your clothes and combinations in a different light.

The best explanation of how a capsule wardrobe will solve all yoru clothing dilemmas is presented by Gok Wan in the new series of Fashion Fix (Channel 4, on Friday evenings). He suggests 24 key pieces to create literally dozens of new looks, and explains this by example when creating a new wardribe for each of his guests.

The 24 key items Gok suggests are:

1 pair good fitting trousers
1 pair jeans (dark dyed bootcut works well for almost every figure)
1 skirt (cut just below the knee is a style which suits everyone)
6 tops (including one white shirt and a camisole)
2 dresses
2 jackets
1 coat
2 scarves (to match wardrobe colour scheme of choice)
4 pairs of shoes (2 flat, two heeled)
2 handbags
1 pair of gloves
1 wide belt

In the episode I watched on Friday, Gok created a complete new look using red and green as key accent colours with the items in this capsule wardrobe (one pair of shoes, a handbag and the gloves were all pillar-box red, along with the coat and a jacket). I was inspired by his method, especially seeing just how much of a difference this capsule collection made to the lady's sense of style.After the show, I went upstairs and began rooting through my own wardrobe to collect items I could use to create my own capsule collection (and luckily only need one more dress to ensure this is complete).

Think of all the different combinations you can create with these basic items:

Dress and a jacket, worn with heels for a formal look
Dress worn alone with flat pumps for a casual outing
Trousers with camisole and white shirt plus a scarf around your neck
Skirt with a casual top and flat shoes
Skirt with a dressy top and jacket, worn with heels
Jeans and a white shirt, worn with pumps and a long scarf
Jeans with a dressy top and heels for a night out

The list goes on!

If you find there are items missing from your capsule wardrobe then these are the items you should look for on your next clothes shopping trip, not that bargain sequined dress which you know you'll never have occasion to wear!

3. Get rid of any clothes you don't wear

While it may seem daft to get rid of clothes when there is little money available to buy replacements, worry not: having a wardrobe clear-out will help you in many ways!

Firstly, you will be making room for the items you do wear so you can easily see what's available. Secondly, you will be able to see easily which areas of your wardrobe are lacking, and can concentrate on building these up when clothing funds are available to you.

When you declutter, you should look at each item and consider the following:

Have you worn this item in the past year?
Could this complement your capsule wardrobe?
Does it fit you now?

If you answer "no" to any of these questions, it's time to say goodbye to this piece (or at least put it away for storage if this is a sentimental item).

For clothes which are still good, consider selling on eBay to contribute towards your wardrobe fund. Or try swapping/"swishing" your unwanted clothes to update your wardrobe for free...

4. Swap unwanted clothes for something new

Another idea is to swap your clothes for something you would wear instead. There are many clothes-swapping sites sprouting up now including:

BigWardrobe.com (my personal favourite) where you can trade/buy anything from Primark to Chloe and Stella McCartney!
WhatsMineIsYours.com - you can even swap furniture here! More "high-end", including designer and vintage items.
CovertCandy.co.uk - a relatively new site which aims to help make trading easier by using a points system.

"Swishing" offers a more personal approach to clothes swapping, where friends organize clothes-swapping (Swishing) parties to trade their unwanted clothes for something else. It makes perfect sense, and saves the necessity of buying new clothes when we could just as easily swap. Take a look at Swishing.org for more information plus tips on organizing your own swishing party.

5. Try to have loads of plain white T-shirts and shirts

Mums, I hear you screaming "why on earth do we need white tops when our little darlings will stain them so easily?".

This, ladies, is exactly the point. It is far easier to remove stains, spills and baby sick from plain white cotton clothes than any other fabric at all. If you wear plain white often, you can bung all your dirtied tops in the same high temperature wash (along with a little bleach or one of those ingenious whitening sachets) and have these completely clean ready for the next round.

In contrast, patterned, coloured and even plain black tops are more difficult to clean as effectively; they will undoubtedly lose their colour after a few washes and will certainly not last as long as their white cotton counterparts.

White is also a universal colour to suit all skin tones, hair colours and complexions. It is far more flattering than black (which when worn against the face makes almost everyone's skin look dull), and can be jazzed up so easily with scarves, beads and other accessories.

Basic T-shirts and shirts are among the cheapest tops you can buy(such as those £2 Tees and £3 shirts from Primark, Asda and Tesco). Trust me on this and stock up on a few more plain white tops. You'll understand my point in less than a week!

6. When it comes to clothes, less is more!

The average woman wears 20% of her wardrobe 80% of the time ans spends over £13,000 in a lifetime on clothes she will never wear!

Rather than spend little and often on the latest fashions, it is far better to onvest in good quality, timeless pieces for your capsule wardrobe which can be worn almost 100% of the time.

Saving up to invest in one good quality piece which you will wear often will save you time and money. For example, instead of buying ten cheap synthetic Primark tops to get you through the summer months save your money towards one or two longer lasting, good quality cotton shirts. These will wash and wear far better than those cheap tops and will certainly last longer than one season.

Do your research, shop around; buy only the best quality items you can afford and only those which are absolutely perfect - not those which are simply "okay". "Trade-up" if you can: rather than shop for your basics at Primark, save up a little longer and visit Marks and Spencer, River Island or Monsoon; although these are more expensive, the quality if far better making the clothes last much longer (and helping your feel fabulous in the process).

I've been doing this for around six months now and despite shopping for myself so infrequently I honestly feel much happier about what I buy: there are no more "bad decisions", impulse purchases, or clothes which don't suit me (even though they looked great on the store-front mannequin!). Instead, I am simply replacing worn items from my capsule wardrobe and occasionally adding to it with clothes I am sure suit me, and which make me feel happy when I get dressed each day. To sum things up, I am spending less (in the long run) on things which I wear far more.

7. Ditch the Salon for DIY Beauty Treatments

Hair removal, brow shaping, facials... The things we ladies do to make us look pretty can cost a small fortune at the beauty salon! Aside from my regular bikini wax (my only indulgence, because I simply cannot do this myself!), I've always performed by own beauty treatments at home. This works out as a saving of over £70 a month compared to the equivalent treatments at my local salon:

Basic manicure	£10
Basic pedicure	£15
Simple facial	£10	Cost at home: £0
Full leg wax	£17
Chin and upper lip wax	£12
Eyebrow threading	£8.50

It would take ages to explain the methods for my own DIY beauty treatments, so instead I'll give a quick overview and link you up with some excellent demonstrative videos to help you achieve great results at home.

Manicure

As mummies, our hands suffer the most of all our body parts, but with a few tips it's easy enough to keep out hands in great condition.

For beautifully soft hands, slather loads of cheap hand lotion or vaseline over your hands before putting on the rubber gloves to clean/wash up. The heat from the hot water helps the lotion or vaseline penetrate deeper into your hands, and is a great treat to compensate for all the cleaning we have to do!

I personally tend not to paint my fingernails as the varnish chips within a day or two (even when I'm wearing clear varnish). Instead, I keep my nails fairly short and buff once a fortnight with a buffing block bought for less than £2 from the chemist and finish off by rubbing olive oil into my cuticles and skin (usually while watching Desperate Housewives, so it really doesn't take up much time). Buffing makes my nails look really shiny and lasts for ages. This video from VideoJug will show you how easy it is.

Pedicure

Our feet need looking after. Having a pedicure at the salon is immensely gratifying, but it's still possible to recreate the experience by pampering ourselves at home on a monthly basis.

This video explains how to pamper your feet at home. The products you'll need will last you for months; try visiting PoundLand (or the beauty stall at your local market) to get everything you need for under a fiver.

Facials

There are literally hundreds (if not thousands) of home-made face mask recipes available on the web. Take a look here for a huge selection or simply Google to see what I mean.

One of the best I've ever tried is the "Asprin mask". I first learned about this after reading India Knight's Thrift Book and was at first dubious until I saw the results for myself. Basically, asprin contains salycilic acid: a key ingredient in many high-end exfoliating face treatments (and is great for blemishes). This article from Faking Good Breeding offers a complete explanation, along with instructions for use.

For a complete "home facial" tutorial, take a look at this article from About.com.

Hair removal

Waxing is wonderful; the results last for weeks and is ideal for depilation on legs and the awkward bikini area. If you're able to wax yourself (or have a willing friend to help) then good for you! Personally I find home-waxing particularly taxing. My attempts have been rather painful, with less than desirable results.

Instead, I've learned two alternative and very effective techniques which cost virtually nothing. Neither are particularly easy and require some practise to perfect, but both are very frugal and will leave you feeling baby-smooth wherever you use them.

Sugaring is a little like waxing but it's far easier to wash off the residue and does not require you to use rags/strips to pull out those hairs. You can use sugar hair removal anywhere on your body, and since it uses all natural ingredients it's unlikely you'll have any unpleasant reactions.

Here's a video explaining how to create your sugar solution with a quick overview of how this works:

Threading is wonderful for eyebrows and facial hair (you can also use this for your legs, but it takes ages and it's awkward to reach the back of your calves). Ideally, you'll need to partner up with a friend and thread each other's unwanted hair as it's very difficult to apply this technique to yourself. All you'll need for threading is a length of cotton and a little patience. Here's how to create your "threading tool" and here's a tutorial for threading eyebrows.

8. Learn to Accessorise with Style

Accessories are a cheap and cheerful way of updating your look. If you have a classic, capsule wardrobe, you will be able to update your look with the latest trends simply by adding accessories, rather than forking out the cash for new clothes each season.

Now I will admit that I'm not really the best person to ask for advice on accessories. Until recently, I barely wore any jewellery at all, and belts were simply to hold my trousers in place! Luckily, my sister works for Claires and is quite the expert on this subject. She's helped me learn some thrifty style tips to help me feel more fabulous using clever (usually cheap) accessories which can be adapted to make any mummy feel great:

Have one great, oversized handbag for everyday use: Rather than have loads of different handbags for each day of the week, it's more useful (and economical) to have only one good quality bag which is large enough for everything we need as mums.

A good handbag need not be expensive: my favourite bag ever (which I've had for over 3 years now) is a classic leather bag which cost £20 from TK Maxx. With a huge main section and loads of pockets, I can segregate any "messy" kids stuff from my purse and documents. And as my sister tells me, big bags help you look smaller in comparison.

If you have young babies, you can even ditch the nappy bag in favour of an oversized handbag, which will last you far longer and is honestly a great investment for your wardrobe.
Wide belts help narrow your waistline: Like many mums, I still have a rather flabby area around my midriff. I prefer longer length tops to hide my little bulge, but have found that wearing a wide belt around my waistline helps pull me in so I look slimmer no matter what I'm wearing.
Wear a pretty necklace to dress up a plain top: Necklaces really do help complete an outfit (particularly when teamed with a matching bracelet or earrings). Unless you're wearing a high-necked, fussy printed top, try adding a simple set of beads or pendant to make your outfit stand out more. Chunky beads really suit those with smaller chests (like me) while long thinner strands lengthen and slim the torso as they draw focus down the body rather than across it.
Coloured scarves can draw an outfit together: An alternative to necklaces is the classic scarf (square or long) in a colour which draws upon an element of your outfit. For example, if you wear a dress which has red in the print, team this with a red silk scarf tied around your neck. Primark do a wonderful selection of scarves from only a couple of pounds each and you can also find these as giveaways on the covers of style magazines. Charity shops too usually have a basked dedicated to scarves and other accessories which you could pick up for as little as 50p!
Heels will make you appear slimmer: I am a true advocate of high heels and would probably try to convert anyone who would listen! Heels make you appear taller, lengthen the leg and look as great teamed with jeans or with pretty dresses and evening outfits. Recently the trend for "platform" heels has re-emerged, and the latest styles offer a seamless appearance between the shoe and sole; these help you wear slightly higher heels than normal as your foot is not as arched as it appears to be. Try this style (even with a small heel) if the thought of stilettos makes you cringe: they are far more comfortable, and could convert even the most dedicated "ballerina pump" mum!
Hairbands, clips and bobbles are essential: Mums tend to have less time to style their hair, so try keeping a selection of hair accessories for quick fixes instead. My four-year-old and I regularly raid each other's collection! Even if you have short hair, you can jazz it up with pretty slides and decorated hairpins.

By far the cheapest sources are Primark, supermarkets and your local market. Claires Accessories regularly have sales where you can buy 10 items for £3 so stock up when these events happen.

9. Look after your skin

By looking after your skin, you will undoubtedly feel younger, more vibrant and prettier from the inside out. It's really not necessary to spend a packet on expensive "youth nurturing" creams and skin peeling serums: a common sense approach works miracles, while cleansers and moisturisers can even be bought at the pound store.

Drink lots of water to flush out toxins and hydrate skin from the inside out. I promise this will help you look and feel loads better! Tap water is equally as good as those expensive bottled drinks (we pay way over the odds for fancy packaging), so there really is no excuse! Plenty of fruit and vegetables helps too.

Baby lotion is wonderful for the body; the "budget" versions from the supermarket cost pennies, and smell far better than their equivalents in the women's beauty section. Since having an allergic reaction to an expensive (apparently "miracle-working") brand of moisturiser, I now buy from the simple, no-frills range at Superdrug which works wonderfully for me.

10. Make time for you

In most areas of our lives, we pay more for things which save us time and are more convenient: microwaveable meals to save time in the kitchen; cleaning products which promise shine without scrubbing; hair dye which you can rinse away in only 10 minutes...

When we are trying to be frugal, we can save money by spending time instead. Whenever possible, try to reserve an hour for yourself each week. Ask your partner to mind the kids while you have a long soak, de-fuzz and give yourself a manicure, or rearrange housework to give yourself an afternoon off. Don't try to rush: spend time applying products or styling yourself properly and it needn't matter that the things you use cost less money to buy.

As I wrote right at the beginning of this article, many mums have only five minutes to get dressed in the morning before the school run/nursery dash/drive to work. We have barely enough time to brush our teeth and hair, let alone choose accessories to complement our outfits; perfect our make-up and set our hair in rollers.

So save time by rearranging your schedule, and manage your time more efficiently!

Decide what to wear and lay out your clothes the night before, giving you time to iron wrinkled clothes and decide on accessories in advance. You could even spend an afternoon arranging your wardrobe and clothes, grouping outfits together so they can be grabbed in a single sweep. Give yourself a manicure/pedicure while watching your favourite show on TV. Small efforts like these can add minutes to your day, preventing you from feeling stressed and anxious.

By managing your time effectively, you will feel more relaxed and find that there is time for a manicure, time to apply a touch of make-up, and enjoy a coffee with your other half after breakfast. Relaxed mums smile more often and appear more confident: two utterly fabulous qualities which are out of no woman's reach!

So despite your busy days, the endless housework and the rising costs of living, remember that you are important too. Spend a little time and less money on yourself and your confidence will reap the benefits!

Image credits (in order of appearance): Hairdressing by Helmet13; What to wear by Sugar Cookie; Cluttered closet by Darwin Bell; Washing by Daylight.; Clothes shop by *Muhammad*; Pedicure by (nutmeg); Shoes by stevendepolo; Time by Epesara. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

The Thrift Book by India Knight - Book Review

2009-04-22T02:00:00.000-07:00

Well presented

It's beautifully presented, in hardback form with quirky illustrations in virtually every page and is one of those magical references where you can literally dip in at any page to find tips of worth in cutting down our budget.

My favourite section is that on "Beauty", where you can find sections explaing the best value products (and why they are so good); home-made beauty treatments (the Asprin mask? Inspired!), and "How to look expensive" which offers common sense yet wholly truthful tips on how to look great on the most meagre budget.

The section on "Community" was also quite inspiring and offers ideas for how to entertain oneself by choosing inexpensive interactions close-by. With chapters on Food (and how to grow your own) and a very down-to-earth explanation of the economy, it is overall an enlightening and entertaining read.

Too good to be true?

However, I must admit some reservations about India's "thrifty" advice. As a Northener (Yorkshire born and bred), I find many of the tips and locations mentioned are perhaps more appropriate for the London crowd. Also, this really is a book aimed at those who do have a nice little nest egg to cushion them through this current recession. At heart, I am a truly frugal mummy, and India's advice to "shop daily" or save up for (very) expensive designer clothes which are too pricey for 90% of the population are quite lost on me. I can't help thinking that certain sections were added to fill in gaps, rather than methods India has tried and tested herself, or at least sourced accurate advice about.

The cover price is rather expensive for the hardback version. At £14.99, this is hardly a thrifty price. You can buy The Thrift Book from Amazon at £7.49 for the Hardback version (£5.99 for the paperback) or try to source this from ReadItSwapIt (this is how I got my copy!) for the ultimate in frugality.

While aimed more at those who do have room for financial manouver (with many references particularly suitable for Londeners), I'm sure you'll find The Thrift Book an enjoyable book to read, which will undoubtedlyprovide you with some great tips for saving money in all areas of yourlife.

5 Of The Best... British Daddy Blogs

2009-04-21T11:43:00.000-07:00

Way back when I first started writing Glamumous, it was difficult to find and network with other British parent bloggers. Luckily, blogging has become a much more popular pastime, with many mums starting blogs and writing of their experiences as parents and even the occasional book deal has sprouted from the new-found British love of blogging.

But what about the "Daddy Bloggers" among us? Surely they also deserve a place in the limelight?

So here are my favourite 5 British "Daddy Blogs": written by fathers who blog about their children and family life. I hope you will enjoy reading these blogs as much as I did while researching them!

Lemon Drizzle

This hilarious blog is written by Paul Collins: a lone man in a house full of girls. I love reading a daddy's perspective on the naiive and wholly entertaining interactions with his daughters.

Lemon Drizzle is such a curious name for this blog. At first I wondered if the inspiration had come from a recip (and checked); in fact the name derives from a friendly discussion about blogging, in the same way which many of the greatest ideas do.

Visit Lemon Drizzle

Single Parent Dad

Single Parent Dad is written by Ian: a 30 year old widower, "and parent to the most brilliant young boy in the world".

Ian's posts make for wonderful reading, and it's easy to tell his writing comes from the heart. Going back through the archives to read of his emotional journies as a widowed dad is highly recommended!

Visit Single Parent Dad

Man About the House

Alasdair, writer of "Man ABout the House" is a stay-at-home-dad: "an over-educated father of two who spent the first 25 years of his lifeattempting to achieve everything that educated people are ‘meant’ toachieve".

His posts have a definite political overtone, but as written from the perspective of a dad, these offer interesting insights for parents into the political state of Britain.A really entertaining post from Man About the House is The Peasant Princess … and why Pastor Mark Driscoll is an idiot, where Alasdair offers his fiery feedback on a video interview with the pastor (and his wife) condemning fathers who choose to stay at home.

Visit Man About the House

Bringing up Charlie

Bringing Up Charlie offers us a glimpse into the life of a stay at home dad who cares for his young son, complete with CBeebies, Pram Rage and parents evenings at school.

Tim also writes about his wife and school age daughter in his posts which are often funny, sometimes emotional and always entertaining. I discovered this blog through browsing the sites listed on the British Mummy Bloggers network, which now makes me wonder why there are no such sites listed for British dads...

Visit Bringing up Charlie

WorryBomb

Worrybomb is the "blog of a baby, kept by her father", which was started even before Amelia was born!

While Worrybomb was created as a means for friends and family to keep track of Amelia's progress through life, it is positively endearing and there's no wonder this blog was listed as "Dad blog of the week" on the MyChild site!

Visit Worrybomb.

I hope you enjoy reading these British Daddy blogs too! Please let me know if there are other Daddy blogs you recommend by leaving your comments below.

How to fold T-Shirts in 2 seconds flat!

2009-04-20T01:22:00.000-07:00

This "folding T-shirt" video seems to have been doing the rounds for months, and is a truly nifty trick for wash days. Be sure to watch carefully: if you blink, you'll miss it!

Fast Folding: How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds

Luckily I found this excellent video on YouTube which provides a full explanation of how this trick works. It takes just a little practise, and soon you'll be able to fold your family's T-shirts like a pro:

Fast Folding: How To Fold A T-Shirt In 2 Seconds - Explained

I demonstrated to the kids this weekend, which proved a good tactic. They spent the rest of the day neatly folding all of the rogue clothing in their drawers. If only there were tricks to fold shirts neatly in such super-fast time...

The Yummy Mummy's Ultimate Family Survival Guide - Book Review

2009-04-15T03:39:00.000-07:00

The truth about motherhood

Unlike many other "yummy mums" who've jumped on the hugely successful bandwagon of writing in this field, Liz Frazer offers us the truth about motherhood and freely admits this is based on her own perspective. So rather than be faced with prescriptive methods of parenting, we are offered advice on a "this is what works for me" basis. Which for me was a pleasant surprise!

Strangely organized

The organization of the book is rather surreal: chapters are labelled as rooms of the house, such as the kitchen and master bedroom chapters. Then each chapter offers advice about the family associations of the room (relationship advice for the master bedroom, culinary tips for the kitchen, and so on).

It's quite fun to read the book in this way, and just in case you need to flick to a particular section for on-the-spot-advice, you can locate this easily enough in the contents section.

There are some true gems of humour in here, which are enough to brighten any gloomy mums day! Even such tricky subjects as infidelity and in-laws are handled with a jovial touch. One thing which I really appreciate about Liz's writing is that she understands the concept of "budgeting": unlike other celebrity mums and their name-dropping advice guides, Liz's advice is real and practical. She explains how to "make do and mend", prepare tasty meals even when the budget is running low, and even how to prepare for a children's party without breaking the bank.

To summarize...

This isn't the best presented advice guide I've ever read, and at over 400 pages it will probably take you a while to wade through it all. Though after reading through this a few times now, I can honestly say that most (if not all) aspects of motherhood and family life are covered here. This will certainly remain on the bookshelf above my desk, which houses the books I refer to often, and I would indeed recommend this to any mother first-time, third time or grandparent!

Free eBook - Fabulous Frugal Food Bills

2009-04-15T02:00:00.000-07:00

As I'm sure we're all aware, the cost of our family food bills has skyrocketed these past few months! According to the price comparison site, MySupermarket, the average weekly spend for a family of four has increased by as much as 25%.
Shocking, isn't it?

While we have little control over the rising cost of fuel, housing and other household bills, we can control just how much of our hard-earned cash we part with to feed the family. Switching over to supermarket own brands is not the only solution: there are many more ways we can choose to save money yet feed our families healthy and satisfying meals.

I've always considered myself a frugal mum. Compared to my friends and family, our food shopping bills are positively miniscule, and yet we always have food on the table, in the cupboards, stored in the freezer... In short, we are never hungry and I often feel smug in my knowledge of thrifty ways which are helping us survive this credit crunch.

So in response to encouragement from my friends (and all the articles in magazines which seem to teach us nothing new about saving on food bills), I decided to write my own ebook: Fabulous Frugal Food Bills.

This ebook offers useful tips, tricks and a scattering of family-friendly recipes to help you save money on your family food bills. From learning how to organize your food stores for maximum efficiency to saving money at the supermarket and even growing your own, I hope you will find something useful to lessen the burden of your weekly shopping trips.

In the spirit of sharing and of embracing thrifty ways, I offer this ebook for free. No cost, and certainly no advertisements! You can download this ebook in PDF format to read on your computer or ebook reader, or simply flick through the pages in the embedded ebook further down this page.

Licensing

Frugal Food Bills is licensed under the Creative Commons, Attribution, Non-Commercial lisense (which is to protect my rights as the author, and to prevent profit-makers from selling this free guide when it's intended to be free!). Feel free to download, share, re-use and redistribute this ebook however you like. All I ask is that you adhere to these simple conditions:

Attribution: please credit me as the original author of this ebook.
No commercial use: do not sell this ebook!

Please feel free to get in touch if you would like to discuss this license or any other aspect of Fabulous Frugal Food Bills, and I'll be happy to help.

Download this ebook

This ebook is presented in PDF format. In order to read this offline, you will need to use Adobe Acrobat (or other PDF reader) which you can download free from Adobe.

Share and enjoy

If you like Fabulous Frugal Food Bills, please feel free to share this with others. You can offer this ebook for download from your site, or embed this in your own blog or website using the following codes:

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Alternatively, visit the Fabulous Frugal Food Bills page on Scribd for even more sharing options.

Read Online

Here is an embedded version of Fabulous Frugal Food Bills to browse this ebook online:

Publish at Scribd or explore others: How-to-Guides & Manu shopping recipes

Feedback

Please let me know your thoughts and opinions about this ebook by sending me an email or leaving your comments below. Your feedback is much appreciated!

5 Of The Best... Internet Browsers for Kids

2009-04-14T02:00:00.000-07:00

As anxious parents we are all too aware of the dangers posed to our children on-line. From concerns of sharing personal information to accidental splashes of unsavoury images while our children research material for their homework. How can we ensure our children are safe on-line?

The answer dawned on me when I took my daughter to nursery last week. Staff had just installed a dedicated "Kids Browser" to their child-friendly computer and were testing the effectiveness (and fun-value) with the kids. I thought this was just amazing: the browser prevents unsavoury sites from being accessed at all, instead offering a colourful cheerful approach which encourages safe, responsible learning.

Now this particular software is reserved for nurseries and educational establishments (therefore it's quite costly), but I was intrigued and after a little research discovered several wonderful free browsers for kids which I would recommend to other parents too.

These browsers are probably better suited to young children (my 9 and 12 year olds think these are way too "babyish"!), but offer a safe environment for your little ones' first encounters with the internet.

In no particular order, here are my top 5 (free) Internet browsers for kids:

1. Kidoz

This bright and colourful browser offers a completely safe environment for children and prevents access to any unapproved content.

Younger children can simply "point and click" to access their favourite content, while the "Parental Control" section enables parents to monitor and control the content available to their children.

Content is restricted only to approved sites (these are moderated by humans and updated daily) or by manually adding your seal of approval in the Parental Control area.

Kido'z operates using Adobe Air and ensures browsing is both fast and reliable. You may need a fairly recent computer to use this browser effectively (Pentium 4 and above is recommended), though this is an otherwise beautifully designed browser which you and the children will enjoy equally.

Visit the KIDOZ site for more information and to download

2. Kidzui

This browser offers more features and seems appropriate for a slightly older audience. Using a tabbed menu at the top of the screen, children can quickly navigate between the Web, Videos and Photos and have a vast range of visual prompts to be clicked which help them find the content they want to view.

One huge advantage of this platform is the parental controls. You can change settings for Kidzui to prevent the browser being closed without entering the parental password which helps protect your desktop and other files being accessed or accidentally deleted.

Kids can design their personal Zui avatar; make "parent approved" friends online and chat in a safe environment.

There is also a premium version of Kidzui which offers such features as unlocking more clothes for avatars, a homework helper and favourites folder.

Learn more and download Kidzui

3. KidRocket

KidRocket is a simple hybrid browser and activity centre for the kids. Featuring a desktop lock (to prevent access to your important files) and optional email service (where you control whom emails are sent from and to your kids), it's quite useful and makes browsing fun.

Rather than being "installed" like a regular program, KidRocket is a standalone program which is launched through a desktop icon to prevent conflict with your regular (grown-up) web browser.

Access to websites is limited only to those which have been approved by KidRocket, such as CBeebies, Crayola and Disney. Simple "art" and "maths" programs add offline interest for curious kids, while you can control how the program functions using the "admin" section.

Learn more about KidRocket and download

4. Pikluk

This browser is completely controlled by the parent dashboard where you choose which sites your child is allowed to access, and with whom they can correspond by email.

No URLs are displayed, and access is restricted to any sites which you have not deemed as "safe". Your desktop is also safe from prying eyes and accidental deletion as Pikluk cannot be closed without parental consent.

Learn more and download Pikluk

5. Buddy Browser

Buddy Browser is a very interesting application. Functionally it's close to "Mum and Dad's" browser in terms of appearance and functionality, though rather more colourful and child-orientated.

Navigation is made easy using descriptive buttons at the top of the browser, with individual sites linked in the sidebar. School-age children can easily access sites to help with homework, while a dedicated "Toddlers" section offers games and education suitable for pre-school ages.

Kids can chat safely using a messaging service which parents control to ensure they are totally aware of who their kids talk to online, while "favorites" can be added in just a couple of clicks (a feature sadly missing in other free kids browsers I've seen).

Learn more and download Buddy Browser

What do you think?

Have you encountered any other free kids browsers which you'd like to recommend? Which of these browsers do you prefer to install for your own children?

Please share your thoughts and opinions by leaving a comment below.

Image credit: Computers and kids by Tanya Ryno (top right).

Read your favorite magazines for free!

2009-04-12T04:03:00.000-07:00

Being quite the magazine maven, I shudder at the cost on the covers (and dread to think how much money I could spend on magazines alone each month!). So I was very pleasantly surprised to learn that the Telegraph is offering many of our favorite magazines in digital format which we can download and read for free!

The Telegraph's offer enables us to download three single copies of different magazines in digital format from the following list:

Esquire
House Beautiful
Men's Health
Runner's World
Zest
Coast
Cosmopolitan Bride
Country Living
You and Your Wedding
Company
Baby and Pregnancy
Good Housekeeping
Prima
She
Cosmopolitan
Bazaar

The digital format of these magazines is essentially the same as what you'd buy at the newsagents, except that it's free and includes no junk leaflets. You won't be able to claim any of the freebies offered on the cover though!

How to get your free digital magazines

Simply go to MagazinesOnDemand and add up to three magazines to your basket by selecting "Single issue". Then checkout and complete the quick registration (no payment details will be required). At the checkout, enter the promo code 3FREEMAG to ensure your magazines are delivered for free.
You'll need to download some special software to be able to read your magazines (named "Delivery"). You can find a link to the download on the checkout confirmation page once you've placed the order for your free magazines.

Once you've downloaded the free mags (and software) you can read these whenever you like, or even forward these on to a friend. Printing is also an option, but you could spend more on paper and ink than the cover price of the magazine!

I've just saved £9.90 by downloading She, Good Housekeeping and House Beautiful for free! If you're looking for a free treat for yourself (or even your partner), I would honestly recommend these free magazine downloads.

This offer does end on May 31st 2009, so be sure to grab your magazines before then. Also, the promotional code can only be used once per account (but of course, you could band together with friends and swap your downloads around...).

Four free copies of "The Lady" magazine are also up for grabs

Another "free magazine" offer from The Telegraph is four paper copies of The Lady magazine, delivered to your door.

Already an icon, The Lady is famous for its super-useful classified section and eclectic, fascinating features. After 124 monochrome years, the magazine now features a full colour re-design to compliment the new look. Celebrate her unveiling with an exclusive offer only available to Telegraph readers – claim your four free issues today.

I have never read "The Lady" but have applied for this free offer to see what all the fuss is about. To claim your four free issues, simply visit this page on the The Lady website and fill in the form (no payment details requested).

The Lady is published weekly, so you'll receive four copies over the course of a month, saving £6 in total on the cover price.

Via MoneySavingExpert.com

Know of any more free magazine offers?

If you know of any other free magazine offers which would interest Glamumous readers, feel free to leave a link in the comments below or shoot me an email and I'll update this post.

10 Fabulous Books Every Mummy Should Read

2009-04-08T09:17:00.000-07:00

Thesedays we are awed by the sheer number of books available to us, and it'sdifficult to choose something relevant to our needs. As parents, we arelimited in the time we can spend reading, and as frugal families wecannot afford to spend on books we may later find irrelevant. So eachWednesday, I aim to review a book on a range of subjects from parentingguides to home-making, fashion/beauty and cookbooks which are most relevant for fabulous, frugal mums!

I'm a vigorous reader: my shelves are filled with books I have read, enjoyed and refuse to ever part with. Within this library is a particular shelf I refer to often: my "mummy" books, fabulous reads on various subjects which I believe every yummy mum should read at least once - and probably refer to her friends!

For those who prefer not to buy books outright, why not reserve in your local library or see if there are copies available to swap for free on ReadItSwapIt.co.uk?

Without further ado, here are my top 10 fabulous books for mummies (organized by category, and in no particular order):

Best for... Surviving Parenthood

The Fabulous Mum's Handbook by Grace Saunders

This is one of the more recent "parenting guides" I've read, and has certainly been highly enjoyable. It's really aimed at new mums (or those who are expecting a baby) and offers advice on everything from what your baby really needs to styling your ever adjusting figure.

Several celebrities offer their expert advice on various subjects, from Tanya Byron (from The House of Tiny Tearaways) on getting sleep, to Amanda Smith (former director of style for Elle Decoration) on having a wonderful, stylish and child-friendly home.

What I love most is that each section offers advice tailored to the needs of all mothers, along with "top tips" at the end of each chapter.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

A Spoonful of Sugar by Liz Frazer

I've currently borrowed a copy of this from the library and have now ordered a copy of my own because I don't want to give this one back!

Now as mothers, I'm sure many of us have turned to our own parents for advice. In this book, Liz Frazer takes it a step further to ask her grandmother for her pearls of wisdom and applies this to modern day mothers. With all our concerns over 21st century dangers, 24 hour TV and fast food, we may have forgotten that the happiest of family lives comes from making things simple. Much of what you will read here is common sense, but it's always good to be reminded of old-fashioned ways!

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Baby-proofing your marriage by Stacie Cockrel et al

A lighthearted look at the impact a baby can have on relationships, this was written by three feisty mothers who seem to have survived the worst of it all!

Including lighthearted anecdotes (and passages which will make you laugh out loud!), Baby-proofing Your Marriage offers friendly advice based on experience: from sex (or the lack of) to in-laws, division of housework and everything between.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Best for... Feeding the Family

How to feed your whole family a healthy balanced diet with very little money... by Gill Holcombe

This book is a lifesaver in terms of cheap healthy recipes which the whole family can enjoy! Gill Holcombe offers us a guide to help us cook for our families from scratch with easy to follow recipes from her delicious "All in one Apple Cake" to "Salmon Pasta Bake" and the super quick "Instant Corned Beef Hash".

If you need a book which can advice you how to cut down on your family food bills or even learn the basics of home cooking, this is certainly something of interest to you.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Saving Dinner by Leanne Ely

The title of this book truly does justice to the content: Saving Dinner offers time and money saving recipes and menu plans to help bring your whole family back to the dinner table.

I first came across this through the FlyLady site when Leanne offered her advice about menu-planning. Her recipes use frugal, seasonal ingredients and take very little time to create. Best of all, you can visit the website to print off your shopping list so you don't have to write them all down or take your book to the supermarket!

Being an American title, some of the ingredients may be bewildering to us Brits; just look up anything you are unsure about (don't forget, "zuccinis" are "courgettes" to us!) and you'll find this a useful addition to your cookery shelf.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Best for... Keeping House

Sink Reflections by Marla Cilley - AKA FlyLady

I can describe this book as nothing more than a Godsend! For mummies whose homes seem to have transformed into bombsites die to the lack of time, energy and motivation, this title will help you get your home (and your life) back in order with seemingly no effort.

Based on the wisdom of FlyLady.net, Sink Reflections offers us an insight into Marla's previously unkempt home and how she learned to transform her house into a haven using "babysteps" to achieve great things over time. From learning how to organize yourself to daily 15 minute plans of achievement, this book will be something you can refer to over and over.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

House Rules by Clare Coulson

Forget trying to be a "perfect housewife": for me, this book would be better termed "The Bible" of housekeeping! From the best way to iron a shirt to foolproof cooking techniques, this covers everything you could possibly want to know about keeoing a haven and not just a home.

Admittedly, the directory section is not wholly appropriate for me (most addresses are based in London, or are very expensive outlets), but the "how to" sections offer clear and concise advice on everything you could possibly need to know about keeping house. This takes pride of place on my bookshelves, and is a title I pick up whenever I have a question about our home.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Best for... Entertaining the kids

I'm Bored by Suzy Barratt, Polly Beard and Sam Holland

This ingenious book offers imaginative ideas for keeping the kids entertained whether you're stuck at home on a rainy day or caught up in a traffic jam.

These ideas do not ask you to buy any expensive equipment; most simply require a little imagination and what you already have at hand. It's beautifully illustrated too, which encourages younger children to look at the pictures and decide what they'd like to play.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Best for... Frugal Living

The Thrift Book by India Knight

Written by a self-confessed "child of the more-is-more 1980s", this book offers insights into how we can reduce our expenditure without expense to our lifestyles.

I've always been a thrifty mummy at heart, but found many new ways of saving in this book (especially the website directories and "community" section). Some of India's insights are amusing, and it's hard to imagine she honestly has tried everything she recommends, but overall this is very enjoyable.

Buy from Amazon | Find on ReadItSwapIt

Thrifty Ways for Modern Days by Martin Lewis

Based on the "Old-Style" forum of MoneySavingExpert.com, this guide offers tried and tested frugal tips to help you save money in almost every aspect of your home. Include tips for growing your own vegetables, eco-cleaning and cheap (yet wonderful) family foods, there's something in here to suit everyone and help save a pretty penny in the process.

Martin Lewis is famed for his expertise on saving money, and has graciously contributed all proceeds of this book to charity since the wisdom is collected from avid members of his infamous site. If you're a fan of MoneySavingExpert.com or even just need a little nudge to save more money around the house, this really is a book you should read at least once!

Buy from Amazom | Find on ReadItSwapIt

What would you add to this list?

These books are my personal favorites: the ones which I have read, and can honestly recommend as useful reading for mummies!

Do you have any favorites which are not on this list? Please let us know what your favorite books are and why you enjoy them so much by leaving your comments below.

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2009-03-19T02:39:00.000-07:00

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Tots100 - The Top 100 British Parent Blogs!

2009-03-18T14:56:00.000-07:00

Over at Totsy's Place, Tracey and Lisa have meticulously compiled a list of the top 100 most influential parent blogs in the UK. Using "currency", "influence" and "popularity" as the basis for a scoring system, over 250 blogs were discovered, analyzed and ranked.

The Tots 100 Index will be updated regularly, including details of movement up and down the ranks in future editions.

Here are the current top ten Brisith parenting blogs:

I'm thrilled to see this list has been published, not least because this offers an opportunity to connect with more British based parent bloggers ;)

Take a look at the complete list, especially if you're looking for interesting, funny and entertaining blogs to read!

Grown-Up Games for Nintendo DS

2009-03-17T16:21:00.000-07:00

When I told my husband that I wanted a Nintendo DS for Christmas, his face was a picture of utter disbelief. "Why on earth do you want one of those?" he asked. "Video games are for kids!"

Thankfully I was armed with a list of "grown-up" games I was just dying to play, not to mention the plethora of recent television adverts featuring Patrick Stewart, Fern Britton and many others besides whose fame and persuasiveness have helped a nation of adults understand that Nintendo produce enjoyable games for adults too.

So here is my list of "grown-up" games for the Nintendo DS: educational, insightful and wholly enjoyable (without a red capped Italian nor a fuzzy yellow hamster in sight).

Brain Training

I have no doubt that this must be the most popular Nintendo DS game ever to hit the shelves. Every DS-toting mommy I know has a copy of this, and with good reason too!

Dr. Kawashima promises to help develop your brain through short stimulating exercises performed daily (or when you have a few moments to spare). From reading aloud to solving quick mathematic equations, sudolu challenges and much more. Brain training is a game you can play in your coffee break and even in the few minutes waiting in the car park for your children to come out of school feeling smug in the knowledge that your memory and knowledge is improving every day.

Learn more about Dr. Kawashima's Brain Training | Buy from Amazon

Cooking Guide: Can't decide what to eat?

This was the first title I bought when I acquired my own DS and is known as "Personal Trainer Cooking" in the US. Far better (and easier) than using a recipe book, cooking guide takes you through each step of creating delicious recipes from around the world using visual and voice activated prompts. No more messy pages!

You can choose the recipe you want by browsing by region, ingredient and even the time taken to prepare/cook your meal. Starters, side-dishes, main meals and desserts are all included. I was impressed to find even Tunisian cous-cous as one of the recipes available which I finally learned how to cook without creating a huge sludgy mess (Hubby dearest was impressed!).

Learn more about Cooking Guide | Buy from Amazon

101 Classic Book Collection

With this title you can turn your Nintendo DS into a pocket sized library for all your favorite literary classics. Featuring the works of Shakespeare, Jane Austen and even Jules Verne you can hold your DS as you would a book; change the font sizes and even add bookmarks so you don't lose the place where you were reading.

Classis Book Collection offers recommended reading based on the titles you enjoyed the most, and extra content which can be downloaded by wi-fi connection. There has never been a better excuse to indulge in a little Pride and Prejudice...

Learn more about 100 Classic Book Collection | 100 Classic Book Collection (Nintendo DS)

Personal Yoga Training

After the success of Wii-Fit, we are starting to see physical training games appear on the Nintendo DS. Personal Yoga Training promises to help teach you the basics of yoga in just 15 minutes a day to help you relax, develop a better posture and maintain calm in your hectic life.

Personal Yoga Training (Nintendo DS)

Walk With Me

This game has not yet been released in the UK but it is certainly a title I am looking forward to. Walk With Me will come complete with two Activity Pedometers to help track how much walking you have done each day.

Using amusing activities such as the "walk through space" and images of the world which can be uncovered when you have walked sufficient distances, this game will encourage you to take up one of the healthiest and cheapest fitness activities.

Learn more about Walk WIth Me | Buy from Amazon

The Times Crossword Challenge

Do you love crosswords? Spare the bulky newspapers and treat yourself to the Times Crossword Challenge instead. You can set the difficulty level to the standard most suitable for you and use either the stylus or buttons to complete your crossword challenges.

Read more about The Times Crossword Challenge

Professor Layton and the Curious Village

This list would not be complete without my all-time favorite game!

Professor Layton is a Sherlock Holmes inspired detective called to the village of St. Mystere to solve the puzzle of the Golden Apple. To progress through the game, you must solve a mind-boggling series of logical and lateral puzzles which increase in difficulty as you get closer to solving the riddle of the village.

Honestly, this game still astounds me! Between puzzles you can view beautifully animated cut-scenes, and once you've discovered the solution to the mystery you can continue play by downloading extra content via your Wi-Fi connection.

Learn more about Professor Layton and the Curious Village | Buy from Amazon

What are your favorite Nintendo titles?

Are you already a Nintendo DS convert? What are your favorite "grown up" games for the handheld DS? Please feel free to add your comments and recommendations below.

Image credit: Pink DS by Shrk via Flickr Creative Commons

Real Meals Booklet Encourages our Kids to Cook (and is handy for Moms too!)

2009-03-17T09:56:00.000-07:00

If you're looking for a helpful way to encourage your kids to learn to cook, here it is: the Real Meals cookbook which was recently published by our government in an initiative to teach 11 year olds the basics of healthy cookery.

Available for all Year 7 students through their school, this booklet offers 32 healthy and delicious recipes with easy instructions which is designed especially with young teenagers in mind. The Real Meals recipes were chosen after the public was asked to nominate the basic dishes every child should learn how to cook. What's more, the booklet has been endorsed by the celebrity chef Phil Vickery:

Cooking is a skill and often it is not learned at an early enough age. Once you can cook the basics you will have the best survival tool in the box to take you into adult life. Eating good quality meals made from basic ingredients should be part of everyone’s daily experience and by learning how to prepare simple and nutritious meals we will make this a reality (Source).

What I love most about this booklet is that the recipes are simple, easy to follow and based on frugally priced ingredients! Besides offering this to your children, you may well be inclined to cook a few of these yourself!

You can purchase a hard copy of the Real Meals booklet for £7.99 by calling 0845 60 222 60 (as it's only available for free distribution through schools). However, you can read/download each individual recipe online through the Teachernet website, or download a full PDF copy from the Direct.gov website using the link below:

Download the Real Meals Cookbook (PDF)

I hope you enjoy reading through these recipes as much as I did!

Introducing YourFamily.org.uk - Parenting advice for families with Small Children

2009-03-15T15:40:00.000-07:00

The NSPCC's newest venture, YourFamily.org.uk, offers an invaluable resource for parents with young children.

Honestly, this site is wonderful! It's wonderfully designed, offers easy navigation to articles of interest, and - most importantly- it includes the most helpful interactive parenting feature I have ever seen: a digital nanny!

A digital nanny?

The Digital Nanny feature can be found on the home page (near the bottom) and on most internal pages in the sidebar to the right. To use this, type the name of your child and their age, then use the drop-down menus to choose the specific advice you would like for your child. Once you're done, you'll receive personalized advice specifically geared towards helping you with your problem or question.

Things to do with the kids

YourFamily offers loads of fun and creative ideas for things to do with your children, from days out in your area to creative crafts and healthy recipes the kids will love to help make.

There are loads of videos you can watch on the site too which are fun to watch with your little angels before trying out these ideas for yourself.

Go take a look for yourself!

If you have young children, you really ought to check YourFamily.org.uk out for yourself to see what's on offer and how this site could be useful for you too. The site is regularly updated with new features, tips and videos and also includes a forum where you can discuss parenting issues with other mums and dads in the UK.

Visit YourFamily.org.uk

Find money saving tips with Google's Tip Jar

2009-03-14T08:26:00.000-07:00

Tip Jar is a collection of money saving tips ranked by members of the online community. Organized into sections like Finance, Kids and Family or Food, this user submitted directory offers useful tried and tested advice to help you save money (which is especially important for us now in this time of economic insecurity!).

Some of my favorite tips include:

Give a gift of a service instead of an item. For new parents, give an evening of babysitting as a gift. If you know pet owners, offer to take care of their pets when they travel. Offer up some lawn care as a gift to a new homeowner (by The Simple Dollar)

Celebrate saving: Discuss with your kids an appropriate and safe place to keep their money (e.g., piggy bank, plastic container, wallet, etc.). Put a picture of the item for which they are saving on the “bank” to reinforce visually. (by Choose to Save)

Turn off the lights in the rooms of your house that you are not occupying. Make it a habit to flip the switch each time you leave a room. Save electricity and save on your bill. (by Crista)

Use your library's online catalog to order books, movies, audiobooks and CDs. My library sends me an email when they are ready for pickup. It's as easy as Blockbuster, but free. (by Johny)

You can also register to add your own money-saving tips, to comment or vote on those submitted by others. Also if you are interested in similar sites of this genre, you will encounter loads of links to other fantastic sites which offer mmoney saving tips and articles, such as The Simple Dollar, Zen Habits and more.

If (like me) you like to spend five minutes doing something constructive in your coffee break, this is certainly a site you should visit ;)

Mrs Beeton's Top Tips for the Modern Housewife

2009-01-16T06:45:00.000-08:00

Back in 1861, Isabella Beeeton wrote The Book of Household Management which quickly became a staple text for housewives of the time. It may surprise you to learn that Mrs. Beeton was in her early twenties, a journalist not long married when she embarked on the creation of this epic text in response to her own question: why had no-one written a manual for wives to explain how to conduct the household after marriage?

Even today, much of Mrs. Beeton's advice holds true. Underlying the principles of modern housewivery are several of her sayings and kitchen maxims - though their meaning may be interpreted slightly differently for the 21st century woman.

Here are the best of Mrs. Beeton's tips, with their interpretations for the modern housewife and mother:

There is no work like early work

If you begin housework early in the day, you can finish sooner and enjoy an evening of relaxation (either with your loved ones, your favorite book or movie and wine with your friends).

Starting work as soon as you wake up is particularly useful for today's working parents: rather than have a mountain of housework to accomplish when you walk in tired and hungry from your day's employment, you could instead arrive home to a home already clean and organized with very little to do before dinner is made and eaten.

It's not only good housewifery, it's good for the soul to have personal time free from the toils of keeping house!

A good manager looks ahead

Don't let the wording of this maxim confuse you! As a housewife or mother, you are the manager of your household in the same manner as a landlady manages a hotel.

By looking ahead, you can ensure you are organized and well-prepared for any eventuality. From maintaining a diary or calendar of events to laying out your clothes in preparation for the next day, forward-planning can save you time, energy and even money.

Clear as you go. Muddle makes more muddle.

This is a lesson I wish I could have learned from my mother many years ago. Despite having seen how effectively she cleaned up after herself every day of my childhood, the actual reason why eluded me until quite recently when the proverbial light-bulb lit up above my head!

If you leave all your cleaning-up to be done in one session, you will be faced with a mountain of cleaning which can make you feel even less inclined to complete! Instead, cleaning up as you go means you achieve this in small, bite-sized chunks. Your home will appear cleaner, even while you are cooking or have your mind on other tasks.

Not to wash plates and dishes soon after makes more work

Simply put, if food on plates and cookware is left to dry and harden it will take more time and effort to clean them.

Try to at least rinse the food off plates soon after dining to make it easier for yourself later.

Dirty saucepans filled with hot water begin to clean themselves

This one leads on from the previous tip and is one of the best advices for cleaning the kitchen I have encountered. My friend recommends leaving these saucepans on the still warm hob (or on a low heat of sauce is already baked on) filled with very hot water and a drop of washing up liquid. By the time you have cleared the table and washed the other dishes, your saucepans will require only light cleaning as the cooked on sauce will literally slide off.

Spare neither borax nor hot water in washing up greasy articles

Hot water is essential: not only will this help in the cleaning process, the heat helps dishes to dry themselves, forsaking the need for drying by hand (which when you think about it, is unhygienic, due to germs passing from your tea-towels back to the plates and saucepans).

Borax - while considered old fashioned - is an excellent cleaning solution which is much more environmentally friendly than most washing-up detergents. I discovered this after reading Anthea Turner's book where she recommends it highly, though there was no mention of where it may be purchased!

If you are looking to buy borax, try your local Wilkinsons or Boots store (you'll likely find it near the cleaning products, sensitive washing-up liquid, etc.) though it's not available to purchase from either online store. Alternatively you can buy in bulk from Dri-Pak.co.uk.

But of course, if you are blessed with a dishwasher there is no need to wash by hand ;)

A place for everything, and everything in it's place.

While this maxim may seem like common sense, applying this to every aspect of your home can work wonders and ensures your house virtually cleans itself!

Now personally, I am not a naturally tidy person (and the other members of my family are even worse!), but I have discovered this maxim to be the most important and helpful saying to ensure a tidy house for the following reasons:

If something does not have a definite "place" in your home, it is clutter and should be disposed of/recycled/given away
If something is lying around, it is not in it's place and should be put away.
Every time you get something out, put it back as soon as you have finished using it (this applies to all members of your household too!)

While these things cannot automatically make your home clean, it will make it tidy, and homes which are tidy are a breeze to clean!

Final thoughts

Although Mrs Beeton's maxims are almost 150 years old, their principles still echo true in the hearts and minds of today's modern housekeeping experts. Being something of a book-lover, I gorge books such as Anthea Turner's Perfect Housewife and Claire Coulson's House Rules and have found to my delight that when we read between the lines of these pages, Mrs Beetons original maxims still hold true.

If you would like to read the original Household Management text, you can find this online at MrsBeeton.com or on Google's Book search; download this as an eBook from Project Gutenberg or spoil yourself with a hard copy from Amazon.

I hope you have found Mrs Beeton's lessons as useful as I do. Please feel free to leave your comments and suggestions below.

Image credits: Mrs Beeton book cover by Joan Thewlis, Calendar by Patrick Haney, Washing the dishes by K0P, Kitchen Counter by Evelynishere. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

How to get Free Make-up, Skincare and Perfume

2009-01-15T04:00:00.000-08:00

Being money-savvy parents, we often have to cut back on luxurious treats for ourselves. That beautiful new shade of lipstick you saw in your favorite magazine or the fabulous new fragrance advertised on TV could certainly take a chunk out of your weekly housekeeping allowance and perhaps your birthday some months away.

Instead, why not take advice from the Glamumous notebook and source out free alternatives: samples, giveaways and other methods of satisfying your hunger for beauty products which have absolutely no impact on your wallet.

This, my fellow frugal mums, is having your cake and devouring it!

There are many ways of acquiring free beauty products (cosmetics, skin care, fragrance, etc.) such as:

Internet promotions and giveaways
Becoming a "club member" of your favorite brand
Vouchers from magazines (often for full-sized premium products)
In store promotions

Here are my tried and tested methods of getting free make-up, skincare and perfume samples, you can enjoy your luxuries without having to worry about the costs.

Internet promotions and giveaways

This is the first method I ever tried and has still proved the most reliable, cost-free method of finding free beauty samples and giveaways ever used.

Basically, you scour the internet for free samples, paying particular attention to "deal sites" and message boards where other frugal aficionados post their latest finds.

It's time consuming, especially when you have to fill in your details for each and every single offer you encounter, but it's well worth it. Last night, for example, in the space of an hour I ordered about 10 different fragrance samples (for myself, DH and as well-wishing gifts for friends and family), 2 full-sized lipsticks, a full-sized mascara, nail varnish and other body care products.

Use a different email address

To do this, you will need a "ghost" email address (sign up at Hotmail or Google Mail for a free account) as many offers require you to sign up for newsletters in order to receive your gifts. Don't be tempted to use your main email address or within a day you will end up with an inbox full of stuff you don't really want to read (or which could potentially tempt you into spending - after all, we're trying to be frugal).

Every now and again (I usually check once a month or so), check your "ghost" email account for details of any new offers and vouchers. Also, keep emails which detail your username/login details for any sites you have registered with to ensure you can access future offers.

Finding free samples and giveaways

While you could search for free samples through Google, I prefer to take the shortcut and scour through sites and bulletin boards where members post their latest frugal finds.

My favorite place for finding free beauty samples is HotUKDeals.com. This is truly a treasure trove for all things free (or at least, very cheap!). You will need to scour through many posts to find products suitable for you, or search the site instead. Luckily you don't need to register in order to link through to the listed sites, though if you find something wonderful it's a great feeling to share your find :)

Another highly useful site is MoneySavingExpert.com, in particular, the Freebies section. Here you can find a hoard of free stuff, giveaways and the like. It's not quite as comprehensive and up to date as HotUKDeals, but is well worth a look (or sign up for the newsletter to save time).

Here's a handful of the best promotions running at the time of writing this post to give you an idea of what to expect:

These particular offers may well expire soon, but there will undoubtedly be more for you to try on the HotUKDeals and MoneySavingExpert sites!

Become a member of your favorite brand sites/Join mailing lists

While most of the best deals can be found on bulletin boards and other freebie sites, there will undoubtedly be some which slip through the cracks.

So to make sure I get freebies and samples from the products I like (or would love to use if I could afford them!), I sign up to receive newsletters by email/post and enjoy "member status" of sites where this is possible.

Here are some of my favorites (be sure to visit the websites of your own favorite brands if they aren't listed here!):

Club Olay: an excellent membership with regular freebies and discount vouchers by mail, plus invitations to special events.
Loreal Paris - Beauty Confidential: Joining allows you to create your personal profile so any freebies are tailored to your needs. Skincare samples are sent frequently; make-up can be acquired through regular limited giveaways, and you may also receive vouchers/samples of haircare products. This is one of the best and most valuable beauty memberships I use.
Elizabeth Arden Newsletter: I've received vouchers for sample perfumes and Eight Hour Cream, plus notifications of seasonal offers and in-store promotions from signing up here.
Rimmel London: I personally haven't received any postal freebies from Rimmel. Instead, registration is useful for participating in the "Win one of 10,000" product giveaways which happen regularly. The odds of winning 1 od 10,000 products is pretty good and certainly worth a few moments' registration.
Maybelline New York newsletter: Few samples available, but you may be sent vouchers and do receive automatic registration in prize deaws.
Chanel Newsletter: When new products are launched, you may well receive a free sample in the post (I received a sample sized lipstick and several mini perfumes). Also, receive notice of in-store promotions which are also useful for freebies.
Dior Newsletter (and free samples?): I wasn't aware that Dior had a newsletter until today (though I had searched as this is another of my favorite premium brands). If you're reading this soon after posting, you may still be able to claim a sample of their new foundation range by signing up. If this offer has expired, sign up anyway as future offers may be available.
Lancome Newsletter: Infrequent (though always welcomed) freebies, and notification of offers, in store events and such.

Magazine Vouchers and Freebies

A favored method of persuading consumers to purchase magazines (especially the premium, £2.50+ types) is to offer a free gift, either with the magazine itself or as a voucher which can be redeemed in store.

In recent months, I've seen magazines offering free Elizabeth Arden eye shadows, Clinique perfume and even full sized mascaras!

For the cost of the magazine, you could well receive something far more valuable in return and have a magazine of inspiration and reading material to boot. Don't forget to look through the small print of ads in case a different (non-advertised) sample is offered too. You may find a URL to claim yet another discount voucher, or discover a newsletter you haven;t signed up for before.

Also, be sure to check out the websites of popular magazines from time to time as other freebies may be available exclusive to the site. Glamour and Marie Claire are sites I visit regularly, and I often see ads and offers available which have not been featured in the actual magazine (especially when you sign up to the sites' weekly newsletters too!).

In-Store Promotions

One final method I have found of discovering free cosmetics is using in-store promotions. Now these vary in type, so I'll explain a few of the tactics I have personally used:

Buy something, get something free offers

For offers such as these, you will initially need to spend something in order to receive a valued free gift.

Premium brands such as Clinique ("Bonus Time" offers), Dior and Elizabeth Arden seem to do these on a regular basis, whereby if you purchase two or more products, you can receive a set containing a selection of seasonal items. Boots No.7 and 17 ranges also offer similar deals and generally offer exceptional value for money.

Store magazines and loyalty schemes

Many stores offer free magazines for customers in which vouchers and the occasional freebie voucher are often found. Superdrug, Boots and many leading supermarkets offer such magazines which you can pick up free in-store.

If your favorite shop or outlet offers a loyalty card with which you can earn points from purchases, sigh up for it! Besides the obvious "points=cash-to-spend-in-store", you will likely receive other useful offers and vouchers to assist your frugal quest for luxury.

Make friends with shop assistants

Each time you visit your favorite stores, make a point of being polite and friendly to the people working there. Saying "hello" and "thank you", asking questions and showing an interest helps you develop a friendly relationship with beauty counter assistants, and in turn you may find yourself in receipt of beauty tips, demonstrations and the occasional freebie (especially when you make a purchase).

Boots Advantage Card

For me personally, Boots Advantage Card has been the best loyalty scheme ever. I tend not to purchase all of my toiletries and such from Boots: instead I look out for promotions, extra points days and such when buying from Boots would be advantageous to my budget.

This means that over the course of time, I can save enough points for my absolute favorite luxuries: Chanel lipsticks and YSL Mascara which I covet like no other products :) Yes I know it seems outrageous for a frugal mummy who shops at Aldi (with vouchers!) to indulge in such expensive products. But I can assure you, for all the expensive cosmetics garnishing my dressing table, I haven't actually paid a single penny!

Here's the way I see it: I only purchase from Boots the things I would need to buy anyway for the family. I could spend the same aount elsewhere without earning points. Effectively this means the Advantage card points are a bonus, just for me.

Furthermore, using your Advantage card offers access to even more ways to save: in-store, you will find Advantage card machines where you can use your card to print vouchers for more points, money off your total spend, and even the occasional free sample.

To make your Advantage card work even better for you, why not share with a friend or family member? My mum and sister share a card so their points add up more quickly. Don't forget, you can also use your Advantage card online!

Conclusions

In this article I have shared my tried and tested methods to help you find free make-up, skincare and fragrance to help you feel luxurious without having to feel guilty about spending your weekly housekeeping finds.

Getting things for free means that you will have to compromise on your expectations. Many of the free beauty treats you can find are sample sized, limited to the first X customers, or accessible only by spending (wisely of course) on other products first. You probably won't get that Chanel lipstick in the exact shade you want (though it can happen...).

But who cares when you can have luxuries landing on your doorstep or finding their way into your shopping bags every week without any feelings of guilt?

If you know of any other recommended methods, please feel free to share these with Glamumous readers and leave your comments below.

Image credits: Cosmetics counter by Eliazar, Boots shop sign by Redvers, Magazine cover by Fotographix.ca, Rouge by Kanko. All via Flickr Creative Commons.

About Glamumous

2008-09-19T09:40:00.000-07:00

Glamumous began as a personal blog documenting interesting things about my family life. Being something of a info-junkie, I soon developed a liking to posting useful stuff too: things which other mommies would find useful.

Being a British mummy, this blog offers articles of particular interest to other mommies in the UK. I'll share tips about the bargains I find (both online and off); family-related news and information which I find useful; ways to stay stylish and beautiful on the most meager budget, and much more besides.

Frugality..?

Frugality has always been a part of my adult life, beginning from the days when my son was a baby and I had no job to support us. Saving money on everyday things enables us to treat ourselves to something extraordinary, and even though I'm now married, employed by my internet activities and generally leading a financially comfortable life, I still enjoy saving the pennies where I can (especially when I can share my tips and ideas with other British mums who can benefit from them too!)

Contact me

2008-04-14T16:04:00.000-07:00

To get in touch about any aspect of this website, please use the form below:

A safe mobile phone for your kids

2007-12-14T03:44:00.000-08:00

Omego have developed a fully functional mobile phone for children. Unlike regular cell-phones, the Omego phone can be completely controlled: when and who a child can call, who can call them (to ensure strangers or unwanted calls are not received), plus many more useful features.

The design of the handset is also very useful for younger hands: it cannot easily be broken or damages (issues which concern many parents in offering their child a regular handset to stay in touch!). Also it includes educational games and a fully featured kiddie scheduler so the children will always be organized.

You can purchase the Omego phone with either a 12 month contract (for £15 per month, the handset is free), or as a Pay as you Talk handset from Amazon.co.uk which currently costs £89.99 (plus delivery).

For more information or to purchase an Omego phone, visit the Omeg0 website at www.omegomobile.com

Image credit: Peter Verkhovenskey

Organizers for busy mums

2007-12-13T03:43:00.000-08:00

With the new year fast approaching, I've been on the lookout for a new diary/organizer to help me keep track for the family. While most diaries and personal organizers are created to help women schedule for themselves, only a few seem to offer organization for a busy family. And any mum knows just how difficult it can be to keep track of all the family's appointments! So here are three of my favorites, any one of which would be a welcome Christmas gift for a busy parent!

The "Mom Agenda Kitchen Folio"

This particular organizer is aimed as mommies in the US though it's really so useful for any mum, no matter where in the world she may live!

With this nifty organizer, you can store class lists, school schedules, sports schedules, menus and more in heavy-duty, clear plastic page protector. There are 24 interchangeable tabs so you can organize for each child or family member with ease, and there are forms for Birthdays/Anniversaries, Babysitter's Info, Medical Info, Important Phone Numbers, and more. This could easy become the organization hub for your whole family and beyond. What's more, it's delightful to look at with the pink faux lizard skin jacket!

Cost $32.95 plus postage (approx £20)

You can order the Mom Agenda from www.momagenda.com, and can download free sample pages and day planners for print from the site too.

The Dodo Household Stuff Book

This is a gem of a household book, with it's unique design and especially the usefulness of the pages contained within. The Dodo Household Stuff book has sections and pockets for every conceivable household scenario, from birthdays and anniversaries to motor maintenance and home insurance.

You can purchase this either directly from the Dodopad website, or through Amazon (which is slightly cheaper, especially when accounting for the postage costs). You can also purchase extra pages to be used with the Household Stuff book, or find a range of complementary stationary to match the Dodo design.

Cost £18.95 from Dodopad.com

Life Book Diary

Here is another beauty of a family organizer: the "Life Book" by Organized-mum.co.uk. Of the three books I've looked at here, this is the one I covet the most: aside from being incredibly useful with stickers and sections to help you keep the whole family well organised, this is beautiful to look at, heardwearing and luxurious with the optional tan leather cover!

Price: from £5.99 for the pocket diary to £28.99 with tan leather cover from Organized-Mum.co.uk

Image credit: BitchBuzz

What's your peculiar aristocratic title?

2007-11-26T03:42:00.000-08:00

I came across this fabulous meme over at Ingenious Rose's blog and just had to nab one for myself! You can generate one for yourself over at Masquerade Mask Arts.

My Peculiar Aristocratic Title is:
Honourable Lady Amanda the Convincing of Mellow under Trollness
Get your Peculiar Aristocratic Title

So what's your peculiar aristocratic title?

Beat trolley-dash tantrums with MySupermarket.co.uk

2007-11-26T03:40:00.000-08:00

Any service which makes life easier gets the thumbs up from me, so I was thrilled to discover MySupermarket.co.uk:

"Our aim is to help shoppers get the best possible price for their supermarket trolley while enjoying an easier and more consumer-friendly shopping experience"

You can say that again! I tried MySupermarket out yesterday and was more than pleased with this service. This site offers your favorite supermarkets all in one place; you can shop online or print off a shopping list to shop for your items in your own time. But the best thing about this site is that you are shown cheaper alternatives to your selection and can swap items to get better value for your money. Also, you can view equivalent items from other supermarkets and are presented with the total cost so it's easy to see if you could save money by shopping elsewhere.

As a mummy, I do prefer to do my shopping online and have it delivered to my home. This saves me so much trouble (not to mention time) of traveling to the supermarket and putting up with the tantrums of my two year old while we shop. For me there's nothing worse than trying to read the labels on a can of soup while my daughter races around throwing unmentionables in the trolley or strops when she can't have a bucketful of sweeties all to herself! With MySupermarket, I found I can also save a lot of money simply by choosing different (but equivalent quality) items for my basket, like this:

Another feature of MySupermarket is the "Health Checker": this can help you choose healthier items for your basket based on fat content and calories: excellent for those who are watching their tums in the pre-Christmas run up!

It's a really easy service to use: once you have chosen your supermarket, you simply choose your shopping items as normal, and when you're ready to check out you'll be given options to swap items in your trolley for those which are cheaper or healthier. You'll also see how much it would cost to buy the same products from a different supermarket branch instead, so you'll quickly know if you can save money by shopping elsewhere.

I'm really impressed by MySupermarket.co.uk and will definitely be using this for my Christmas grocery shop instead of bracing the aisles! What's more, I can do the shopping whenever I want to, even at 1am when the kids are all snugly tucked up in bed.

I hope you will enjoy this great service as much as I do. Please let me know what you think by leaving your comments and opinions below.

Image credit: Simon Shek

Primark launch eco-friendly range

2007-11-24T16:14:00.000-08:00

Primark is perhaps most famous for it's cheap clothing and accessory ranges. So it came as some surprise to me that this great clothing store now has a range of ethical, eco-friendly clothes on offer too!

As always, these ranges offer great value for money: the white T-shirt (top left) is priced at only £4, as is this gorgeous boob tube. There's even more available in store, including long-sleeved tops which are perfect for the cooler months ahead.

More eco-friendly products are set to be in store in the new year, including selected styled for kids and babies. I'm really pleased that my favorite clothing store has opted to be more ethical about the sourcing of their clothes. And since these items are so reasonably priced, we can look good, make a difference, and not have to worry about breaking the bank to do so!

Designer style handbags to suit every budget

2007-11-23T16:13:00.000-08:00

Do you drool over the latest designer handbags while knowing you could never afford the real thing? Beautiful though they may be, designer handbags can often cost more than we'd spend on food in a whole year!

But help is at hand: The Little Bag Company have a gorgeous range of designer-inspired handbags at a price we can all afford, such as this Fendi-inspired little number which is priced at only £24.99!

There are loads of designs and colors to choose from, and postage is very reasonable at around £3.00 per bag for first class delivery to the UK mainland.

For the man in your life you can also find a range of leather wallets, credit card holders and funky key-holders which are very reasonably priced.

The Little Bag Company offers real value for money, even competing with high street prices for style and quality. This is a great shopping site to visit for Christmas gifts for family and friends (and also as a hint to your other half...).

Anti-Bullying Week

2007-11-22T16:12:00.000-08:00

Bullying is a widespread problem, damaging the mental and physical health of children and young people.

45% of all children have been bullied (Department for Education and Skills)
Bullying worsens social exclusion
Victims of bullying lack confidence, often have few friends, spend their leisure time alone, and often suffer from anxiety, sleep problems, depression and even suicide (Royal College of Psychiatrists)
1 in every 2 school exclusions and 46% of school non-attendance is in some way related to bullying (Institute of Education)
Bullying has a damaging effect on educational attainment
School policies to tackle bullying are not always effective

If you are a parent whose child has been the victim of bullying, you will be only too aware of the problem, and the emotional turmoil it creates. Anti-Bullying week helps schools and communities coordinate anti-bullying strategies, and bring widespread awareness to the problem of bullying.
Anti-Bullying week runs from the 19th to the 23rd of November, and gives us all a chance to educate our children about bullying and how it can be stopped. Many schools and national authorities across the country are taking part in events and activities to raise awareness of this campaign. You can find out what's happening in your area by visiting the Anti-Bullying Alliance events page.

If you think your child has been the victim of bullying, talk to them about this and reassure them that they have done nothing wrong. Many children are afraid or embarrassed to talk about their problems and need reassurance to know that they will be alright. Schools generally take a tough approach to bullying, so if you worry that your child has been bullied at school, you should arrange to meet your child's teacher and ask about your school's policies on bullying.

For more information about Anti-Bullying Week, check out these useful and informative sites:

See Something, Say Something: Nickelodeon's Anti-Bullying campaign

2007-11-21T16:08:00.000-08:00

Bullying is something we all fear for our children, especially in this modern age when bullying can take so many different forms. This week is Anti-Bullying Week: an annual event organised by the Anti-Bullying Alliance which was formed in 2002 by the NSPCC and National Children's Bureau. Over 65 different organisations are involved in the Alliance, who have helped build the profile of Anti-Bullying week at both national and regional level. Anti-Bullying Week takes place this year (2007) between the 19th and 23rd of November. The theme is around school and community and explores safer routes to and from school, community cohesion, engaging parents/carers in school life, cyberbullying, and extended school provision. As well as a launch event in London there are many local and regional events taking place - take a look at the organisation's website for details.

The video above was produced by Nickelodeon as part of their anti-bullying campaign. As a parent whose child has recently suffered at the hands of bullies at school, I found this video both touching and motivational. Armed with information and support, we can surely help our children to beat the bullies, and also ensure that our children do not become bullies themselves.

A Robot to Clean your House?

2007-11-18T16:01:00.000-08:00

When I saw an advertisement for the Irobot Roomba in a magazine, I admit I thought it was a joke. A robotic vacuum cleaner that cleans your floors while you are away from home? The stuff of dreams (or perhaps for those with millions to spend on a whim). So I was surprised when I checked this out and discovered that Irobot have sold over 1.5 million of these worldwide.

Even more shocking was the price tag: currently around £195 in the UK (and far cheaper than this in the United States).

Not that I'll be trusting the cleaning of my own house to a robot though! My kids make far too much mess for such a small device to effectively clean this house!

Kids go free on fun days out!

2007-11-15T16:07:00.000-08:00

Theme parks, shopping malls and MacDonalds can all become rather expensive methods of entertaining the kids. And free days out are hard to find these days...

Or are they?

Kids Go Free is a great website which helps you find free (and low cost) days out and activities for the kids. You can search by town, postcode or area for attractions close to you.

This site is becoming invaluable in locating free and cheap days out for the family, especially when it comes to the school holidays! At Kids Go Free, you can find everything from local city farms to museums, walks and historical attractions near you. It also includes directories of "family-friendly" places to eat and stay.

Check it out the next time you're looking for an inexpensive way to entertain the kids. You could even use this as a bargaining tool so the children will put up with your Christmas shopping over the next few weeks!

Here we go...

2007-11-13T16:10:00.000-08:00

I've started the makeover process now, and have uploaded my brand new, fancy template! I hope you like these changes so far!

I know there are loads of links which need to be changed or added, and that most of my previous widgets are gone. In the next few days I'll tidy things up a bit and soon everything will look and act better than it ever did before!

If you're looking for a new template for your own Blogger blo, why not check out the selection I created over at Blogger Buster? There are various templates available to suit almost all tastes and preferences, or you could even search through the archives to find a tutorial to help you customize your own...

Glamumous is getting a make-over!

2007-11-13T02:49:00.000-08:00

Now that I have a Pagerank (of three, no less!), and have made several blogging friends who have inspired me, I've finally decided to give Glamumous a complete overhaul! So in the next few weeks or so, you'll see many changes here on the Glamumous site, including a brand new makeover and a focus on all things "Glamumous"!

I hope you will like the new look and focus of this blog. I will blog about all these changes as they are happening, and as always appreciate any comments and suggestions you may have on this subject.

High Heeled Shoe Race!

2007-11-10T15:28:00.000-08:00

I bet the contestants had so much fun in this race, which was held in St Petersburg! The winner was awarded $3000 dollars worth of shopping vouchers. I so wish there was such a competition near me, I'd be one of the first to sign up!

Happy Halloween!

2007-10-31T13:28:00.000-07:00

Tonight it's Halloween, and how I wish my little ones would join in the celebrations!

My son has never wanted to dress up or go "trick or treating", and now that he's eleven he's even more reluctant! Little Angel (bless her) is scared to death of anyone dressed up in a spooky costume! She won't even go near the Halloween section in the supermarket as she's frightened that the sinister display will somehow come to life...

Back when I was a kid, I used to plan my costume weeks in advance. I loved Halloween, more for the spirit of the evening than for the sweeties I'd bring home at the end of the night! My friends and I would sit round each other's houses until our parents made us come home, telling each other spooky stories, trying to be the storyteller who could scare the others the most. This year, I'm resigned to watching (slightly) scary movies with my son, who luckily does seem to have inherited my passion for horror flicks!

Wishing all of you a very happy Halloween!

Free stationary and business cards!

2007-10-16T13:27:00.000-07:00

I'm always on the look-out for bargains, and this really is one of the best I've found in recent weeks!

Vistaprint, famed for their 250 free business cards offer, are now offering even more personalized stationary for free! You can choose from desk calendars, holiday cards, postcards and even more. You only need to pay for the postage!

As Christmas is only a couple of months away, this could be a great opportunity to bag a few free stocking fillers for your family and friends. Or you could choose the free business cards for yourself, and use these to help promote your blog!

My husband yesterday received the business cards he ordered to help promote his cell-phone shop, and he's rather pleased with how good they look. What's more, as we are now Vistaprint customers, we've been emailed even more great offers (free T-shirts, personalized rubber stamps and notecards) which are only available to customers who have completed an order.

Why not try Vistaprint for yourself? As all these offers are free, you really have nothing to lose!

Happy Birthday Little Sis!

2007-09-26T11:32:00.000-07:00

For your eighteenth birthday to my special Sis: I hope all of your wishes come true. May each hour and minute be filled with delight, And your birthday be perfect for you!

With love from all the family xxx

No more hospital (we hope!)

2007-09-25T11:28:00.000-07:00

Today Dad finally was discharged from hospital after all the problems which resulted from his operation. He's seemed much better for the past couple of weeks, in fact, though the doctors didn't want to let him leave until they were sure he's be safe and well at home.

What a lovely birthday treat for my sister and I (as both our birthdays are coming in the next week)!

I'm so glad he's home, and now I'll be able to visit much more often as I won't be struggling to find a sitter to visit in hospital any more :)

Blogger Buster - Helping you build a better blog

2007-09-10T05:28:00.000-07:00

My main blogging venture of late has been my other blog: Blogger Buster. This is where I discuss and tutorial-ize everything I've learned about blogging so far.

I'm so proud that I started this blog now! At first it began as an offshoot from Glamumous, since it was here that I first started blogging about blogging with Blogger. When I noticed that my posts about blogging were the most popular here, I quickly realized that I ought to create a blog about this specific subject, rather than clutter this one up with technical info. And it really paid off! These days I get loads of comments, emails and opportunities from Blogger Buster, which really fuels my desire and ambition to blog.

I've also developed a love of creating Blogger templates, and have now created quite a few original designs which you can download and use in your own blogger blogs. What's more, a few people have asked if I'll create custom designs for them too!

So if you need any helo with your Blogger blog, or are looking for Blogger templates, head on over to my Blogger Buster blog and you'll be sure to find something to interest you!

Dad in hospital (again)

2007-08-30T09:39:00.000-07:00

As you may have read a few posts back, my Dad had to go to hospital for a lengthy operation on his spine.

I felt really bad about being on holiday while he was still recovering in hospital, though I did my best to keep in touch everyday and by the time we arrived home, Dad was discharged, safe and sound at home.

Or so we thought...

Only a week after being discharged, Dad was back in hospital again. He had an infection in the wound from his operation and had become severely ill again. Later today, Hubby Dearest will be looking after the kids so I can go visit him on the ward. I do hope he's feeling a bit better today.

It's been a while...

2007-08-10T10:33:00.000-07:00

It's been such a long time since I last updated this blog... Of course, I know I should have updated sooner, to let my few readers know about my lengthy absence from this blog. But what with one thing and another, I simply didn't have the time or the inclination to do so....

Yes, I'm a terrible mommy blogger! I know this and from now on vow to keep this blog updated, as I should have done all along.

In fact, I have a few bright and wonderful ideas in mind for the (soon-to-be-newly-revamped) Glamumous blog!

So keep your eyes peeled. You could be in for a pleasant surprise!

Discovering the beach...

2007-07-22T07:13:00.000-07:00

Discovering the beach...
Originally uploaded by AmandaFaz.

Its now our second day on holiday and what a lovely day it's been so far! This is what being on holiday is all about: the kids all playing happily on the sand; sun shining; everyone's smiling and happy. Hubby dearest has cooked all our meals so far, even a wonderful english breakfast for when i (finally) woke up! I'm really glad we decided to come here now, even though the timing wasn't so good with dad being in the hospital and all. Lets hope the rest of the week is as enjoyable,:)

A near miss...

2007-07-20T12:26:00.000-07:00

Last night, my son came in screaming moments after he'd gone out to play across the road. He'd been so preoccupied with a gift he'd just received from his aunt that he walked out into the road without looking, and...

Well, you can guess what happened.

He was so SO lucky to have come out of it with only bruises and a sore leg! The driver of the van was so concerned and stayed until he was certain my son wasn't badly injured. I hardly remember what I did, except that I sobbed and insisted on stripping him to his underpants right in the open doorway until I knew for certain nothing was bleeding or broken.

So so lucky. And so unlike my son to cross the road without looking both ways first! I've installed road sense into him from the moment he could walk, so I can only believe he must have been too excited about his gift and the impending holidays.

I thank God that he is safe and well. Heaven knows what I'd have done if he'd been seriously hurt, or worse... I'm so glad that the driver had enough sense to drive through our road with caution and safe speed, since there are almost always children playing in the street. If the car had been one of the "boy racers" who speed through the road at night, I certainly wouldn't be here writing this post now.

Thank God for small mercies, and for keeping our children safe.

Dad in hospital

2007-07-19T12:36:00.000-07:00

Today I took Dad to hospital, where at present he's being prepared to have major surgery on his spine. I hated leaving him there alone and nervous. These days, he seems so weak and sad, and pained. It hurts me to see him this way, so I know the operation he's having can only make him more comfortable than he is at present.

The picture above was taken when Dad was feeling much healthier, and this is always the way I remember him: seemingly invincible and happy. I do hope he's well enough for me to visit tomorrow evening during visiting hours. Now I feel so guilty that we're going on holiday this Saturday, as I won't be able to visit him after tomorrow, and I'm really anxious about him. If it wasn't for the kids, I'd have cancelled the holiday and stayed at home instead to be there when he needs his family close by. At least I'll be in Sheffield when he comes out, to help him at home while everyone else is at work.

Miss you Dad!. All my love and hopes for your swift recovery!

First day at "Big School"!

2007-07-17T12:20:00.000-07:00

Today my little man spent an "induction day" at his new comprehensive school. I was so nervous for him! He still seems too young and small to be attending comprehensive!

But he dispelled all my fears when he met me in the car park at 3pm, all smiles and gossip about how much he'd enjoyed the day. He;s already made friends with some of his classmates and feels he knows his way around the maze of corridors, which is no small feat considering the size and scale of the school!

Only six weeks of holiday to go now before he's there full time! Still, we have to get through a summer of rain before then...

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