There's no doubt that having children can be a costly business. Clothing them is one big expense, especially as they just seem to grown over night. There are ways to save money though through buying second-hand and here are five top tips as to where to pick up children's clothes. 1. eBay As the best known online auction site, eBay still can hold a few real bargains if you know where to look. In amongst all the "seconds" and brand new listings you can often find job lots of children's clothes in a certain size range. The good listings will detail what is in the ... read more
That first tooth
As any parents knows teething can be hellish. Watching your little baby scream in pain not understanding what is going on is torture. We had it lucky with Little Miss C as her first teeth didn't cause much pain other than the couple of hours before they actually popped through the gum. With Master C it seems to have been a different story, with months and months of build up before that first tooth came through just a couple of weeks ago. As an aside - according to my dentist boys are often much later than girls in getting their first teeth too, which is maybe why it feels like it ... read more
Thomas the Cake
It's hard to believe that it's nearly a month since Little Miss C turned three. A busy month in which we've had lots of family adventures, but it means I've not yet had chance to tell you about the cake, or more accurately about Thomas the Cake! I'm not sure where she got the idea from but one day, about two months before her birthday, LMC suddenly announced (as toddlers do) that she was going to have a Thomas Cake for her birthday. Now she is a little obsessed with Thomas the Tank Engine at the moment, but it still took me a bit by surprise. I then did something that no ... read more
Review: Hotter Shoes
When I like a brand I tend to talk about it. That's just the way I am and over the years my friends and family have just got used to that. Or got better at ignoring me! Over the last few weeks I've been testing a pair of shoes that I was sent to review from Hotter Shoes and, as usual, I mentioned to quite a few people that I was doing so and how I was getting on with them. What surprised me was their reactions. Now I have to admit that up until another blogger told me they were looking for reviewers I hadn't actually heard of Hotter Shoes before. It seems I was in a bit of a ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: The Ladybird Book of Aircraft
Well we've survived our first foreign holiday as a family of four and even managed to fit in a wedding in a foreign language and following wedding reception without too much incident. I'm therefore catching up on all things blog related (including a full low down on our trip) but it seemed obvious that this week's Ladybird Tuesday has to be holiday related, and seeing as there are no titles related to overseas (why?) I went for Aircraft instead. We've already learnt here on Ladybird Tuesday as to how the aeroplane works so this time we're doing a bit of plane ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five – Toddler Days Out
The key thing to remember when planning a day out for toddlers is that it really doesn't have to cost an arm and a leg for them to have a good time. Follow these five tips and you should be able to have a fun day out without it hurting your purse. 1. Fresh Air is Free There's nothing as healthy for toddlers as running around outside in the fresh air and I'm always amazed at how often my daughter tells me she just wants to go to the park and run around. There's so much you can do with young children outside and most of it for free. Running around a new park or wood can be very ... read more
Review: Rechargeable Batteries
I've never tried to stop and count how many batteries are in all my children's toys, but I do know that there are an awful lots of them and that it's always the way that they seem to all run out at the same time. Good batteries are not cheap and it always seems so wasteful when you have to throw away the dead ones. When I was asked if I wanted to review some rechargeable batteries and a charger from rechargeablebatteries.co.uk I jumped at the chance. I'm constantly trying to make our household more green and getting through single use batteries so quickly was ... read more
Ladybird Tuesday: Road Sense
A couple of weeks ago here on Ladybird Tuesday we indulged in some car games and at the time I commented on how all the inside of the front cover of the book was devoted to Health and Safety messages. To make sure we all get that message loud and clear this week I'm looking at a whole book devoted to Road Safety, part of series 702 (Learn with Mother). The book is slightly strange in that you have all these lovely vintage illustrations in traditional Ladybird style, but then overlaid is a cartoon character, Jimmy, who is telling you how to be safe on the roads. Even more freaky ... read more
A-Z of My BritMums Live! 2013
There's so much I could say about BritMums Live that it could fill several blog posts. So as not to bore you all senseless - here's the A to Z of my BritMums Live! 2013. A is for All Bar One That for me is where my BritMums adventure began. A chance to put faces to twitter handles whilst getting some dutch courage before heading to the venue. B is for Bigjigs My lovely sponsors for the conference and the people who provided me with my very bright t-shirt which certainly helped break the ice with people on day 1. Thank you. C is for Cabbage Cocktails Apparently this is what I was ... read more
Thrifty Friday Five: Grocery Shopping
Following on from my little turn on BBC3CR earlier in the week I'm today going to be looking at five tips for saving money whilst doing your grocery shopping. 1. Never shop on an empty stomach It may sound obvious, but how many times have you gone round the supermarket whilst a bit peckish and ended up picking up a few extra things as a result? We've all done it, but if you can just try to shop after you've eaten it really will help you cut down on extra things finding their way into your trolley. 2. Write a shopping list and stick to it Don't go to the shops unless you've ... read more