I'd be lying if I said I wasn't proud of the relationship I have with my daughter.At almost 14, she still enjoys spending time with me (although I'm not always her first choice these days) and will still happily sit and fill me on what's going on in her life.  She's very honest with me and I like to think that she knows that she can ask me anything (as she frequently does).I love the person she's growing up to be and I am making the most of every minute we have together trying to teach her the important things that I think she needs to know in order to be the person I know she can … [Read more...]

As you probably already know, I started Slimming World back in January and so far I've lost a stone which I know is great because a stone is a stone but it's less than I wanted to have lost by this point and during March I found myself feeling with less determination that I'd started with back in January.I felt like I was using any excuse not to stick to my diet and although I didn't put any weight back on, I was practically the same weight at the end of March than I was at the start of the month which is so frustrating!The the clocks went forward and the nights got lighter and I … [Read more...]

This time of year is the perfect time to be thinking about saving money on your heating bills next Winter!That sounds odd I know but if you're anything like us, you're using your heating less and less now that Spring has arrived and I'm sure that in a couple of weeks we'll barely have it on again until the cold weather kicks in again later in the year.If you identify areas where you can cut costs now then you've got plenty of time to get them all done before the cold weather does start because believe me, you'll be a lot less inclined to take action in the cold dark Winter months than … [Read more...]

Dear Master Frugal,I'm writing this after giving you a hug and a kiss and tucking you into your bed for the last time as a ten year old.You'll wake up in the morning as a very grown up eleven year old and I'll hug you and say Happy Birthday as I've done every year for the last ten years.But there's something else that I want to say to you, something that I might not say out loud but one day, I hope you'll be reading this blog and that you'll come across this post and you'll see what I wanted to tell you more than anything on the morning of your 11th Birthday.I want to thank … [Read more...]

This month hasn't been the best month for us and to be quite honest, there's been a couple of times when I just wanted to curl up in a ball and cry.  Master Frugal didn't get into his first choice school even though his sister goes there already which turns out to be an error as they didn't take that into account due to missing paperwork but even knowing that, the school is so over subscribed that I have to appeal to see if he can have a place!  That and the fact my lovely Dad had a fall which shattered his hip and meant he's been in hospital for the last two weeks recovering (slowly) from a … [Read more...]