Growing up is hard (and expensive).... | The Diary of a Frugal Family

It’s not easy this parenting lark is it?

Not so long ago, birthday parties for Miss Frugal and her friends consisted of an hour at soft play followed by some jelly and ice cream but now at the grand old age of nine, those days seem to be long gone. In the last few months alone we’ve had a limo party, a pamper party, a nail art party and this week, tea at Pizza Hut. Preparations for the parties have changed as well – there’s no more cute frilly party dresses for a start. Getting ready now takes a lot longer and involves carefully selected (by her not me) outfits and a handbag filled with lip gloss, perfume and a mobile phone.

Still, my growing up traumas are nothing compared to what one of my friends at work is going through at the minute, her 18 year old daughter is about to buy her first car, having just passed her driving test. I’m dreading this when my two are older, although I do like the sound of the black box insurance that my friend was telling me about.

I’d never heard of this before but apparently a small data box (about the size of a mobile) is installed into your car and measures things like the speed of the car, acceleration and braking, and how well you take corners. This data is then analysed to calculate the insurance premium payable which means that the safer they drive, the less money they could be charged for their insurance premium – the perfect incentive to drive safely if you ask me.

I also like the idea of this type of cover because it allows the insurer to judge an individual based on their driving history rather than how a statistic says you should drive. I always think it’s such a shame when even careful young drivers have to pay a premium based on the boy (and girl) racers out there.

Not all companies offer Black Box Insurance at the moment but you can get a quote from Ingenie if you’re interested and hopefully by the time my two are old enough to drive, this sort of insurance will be the norm rather than the exception.