We all know Christmas can be an expensive time so my competition today could help you out a little because I'm giving you the chance to win two of this year's most wanted Christmas toys.The first is the new Monopoly Empire board game which has been a big hit.  Monopoly has always been my favourite board game but no-one ever wants to play it with me as 'it's boring' or 'it takes too long'!Monopoly Empire is a completely different version of Monopoly and in my opinion, it's much more family friendly.  Gone are the iron, the old boot and the dog as they're replaced by the more up to date … [Read more...]

It's such a  fine line between being a friend to your child and being a parent and it's important that you get the right balance because if you're too strict and controlling then I think that children will rebel as soon as they get the chance to.  At the opposite end of the spectrum, if you're too much of a friend to your children then you might find discipline to be a problem at some point because they haven't had enough structure.I have a really good relationship with Miss Frugal who's now 11 and I really want to keep it that way as she gets older although I know that's going to be an … [Read more...]

Our main family computer is tucked around a corner in the kitchen on a too small computer desk that we bought because a) I didn't want the computer taking over the room and b) it's the same colour as the tiles in the kitchen.Until recently, we didn't have a special computer chair for it and we just used a dining chair from our old dining set before we got rid of it and I was happy with this.  Everyone else in the family, led by Mr Frugal, didn't share my feelings though and whinged told me that the chair was uncomfortable!To me though, a chair is a chair and there always seems to be … [Read more...]