If your children are any thing like mine, their bedrooms will probably be bursting with toys - some loved, some they've grown out of, some they don't play with and even, in our case, some that have never been out of the box! Don't get me wrong, we don't spoil our two but the fact is that even just taking into account birthdays, Christmas and the opportunity for them to spend their own pocket money at car boot sales has resulted in them having a lot of toys each.We have a regular clear out and have one planned for this week which the kids are looking forward to. Not.There's lots of … [Read more...]
Selling on eBay – Your questions answered….
Hands up those of you who have used eBay at some point to sell your unwanted things? If you haven't, you're missing out on an easy way to make some extra cash! I wrote a guide to using eBay before Christmas as a guest post on the lovely Melaina's Transatlantic Blonde blog and I've also mentioned eBay on here a few times so I often receive e mails and tweets asking me questions about how to use eBay to sell unwanted items and make some extra money. The most common questions are below with my answers but if you have any other questions (or answers), please feel free to let me know in the … [Read more...]
How we make room in our budget for fun….
As I've said before, my main reason for being frugal is so that I can afford to work part time and spend more time with the kids.But (there's always a but).... It's also really important to me that, as a family, we have lots of fun together and even though I know there are plenty of things we can do together that don't cost a penny, there are also lots of things we like to do together that do cost money.We allow a set amount of money each month in our budget for fun things, which could include anything from going to the pictures or bowling (doesn't happen often as it costs so much … [Read more...]
See how much you can save….
I know I'm always telling you about ways to save on your gas and electricity but today I wanted to share with you this:It's my latest energy bill, showing that I'm £858.07 in credit! How fantastic is that?We've tried really hard to reduce our energy usage around the house using all of the tips that I regularly share with you on here but as well as the energy we've saved by reducing our consumption, we've also saved by switching to a different provider.I think a lot of people don't realise how easy it is to switch providers. Everything stays exactly the same other than the company … [Read more...]
How to make a wall planner for your meal plans….
I know, I've gone a bit meal planning mental this week but I promise this is the last post on the subject (for at least the rest of the week anyway).Usually, I have our week's meals written on a scrap of paper, stuck on the front of the fridge if I'm feeling particularly organised, somewhere at the bottom of my handbag if I'm not! This led to us not sticking to the plan on lots of a few times as we couldn't remember what we were supposed to be eating so as part of my New Years resolution to be more organised, I decided that from now on we're going to have the meal plan where everyone can … [Read more...]
Earn money while you spend….
To me, being frugal isn't all about saving money (although that's a definite plus ;-)), it's about maximising what we already have and increasing our income by making a bit of extra money wherever we can. There are lots of ways to do this but one of my favourite ways, and quite possibly the easiest is by earning cashback on a website called Quidco. Quidco is an online company who work with over 3000 retailers to give you the opportunity to earn cashback on your spending. It works because when you click through to a retailers website from Quidco, they earn a commission, based on the amount … [Read more...]
