Holiday for the summer

I am finding it difficult to keep up to date with my blogs while the kids are home, it seems to take so much more time to tidy up etc. I am going to do my best, but please bear with me if the messages come far less often.

Save money when you go out for the day

I find that even if I go out somewhere that is free to go in I always end up spending out on drinks and food. The best thing is to be prepared and take drinks for you and the kids as well as a picnic and lots of extra snacks as they will get hungry as they are bound to burn off more energy than usual. Otherwise I find that I end up spending nearly £20 a day just on drinks, snacks and lunch.

Another Cheap Day Out

Today I got a lot of bargains. Went into town and parked using my boyfriends parking permit so saved myself £2.50. My girls wanted their dad to come with us so I managed to get him to pay for some shoes for them and that saved me another £10. With the £10 I saved I got myself a bargain pair of shoes that were reduced from £25. The sales are a great way to save money all the time, as long as you only look for things you need instead of things you just want (like my shoes!). The rest of the time we spend in the park with the kids. They played for free and it exhausted them so I now have a quiet evening - a good day all round!!

Promote Your Blog

I dont' know if anyone who reads this has a blog as well, but if you do I found an interesting site today that promotes your blog by way of an onilne interview. It is easy to enter and you can filli nthe interview form without them contacting you. For anyone who is interested here it is:

http://www.bloginterviewer.com/submit-an-interview

Low cost holiday activity

It is the first sunny day we have had for a while and looks like the only one this week. To take advantage of the weather we aren't going to an expensive theme park or a similar activity, we are going to do gardening. My kids love doing stuff in the garden, they think it is real fun (and a novelty as they haven't done it much this year!) They are so excited about doing it. It just goes to show that having fun doesn't need to cost money.

Win $2500

Over at Ashwin’s blog, you will find one crazy blog owner!! You can win $2500!! To enter just copy this text and paste it in your blog!! But hurry, this competition will not last long! So get posting!

This sounds too good to be true, but surely worth a try!

Ebay isn't always cheaper

Today I went to look for some phonics books for my youngest daughter. I found them in the Early Learning Centre and was about to buy them when I thought that they might be cheaper on Ebay. When I got home and checked I found out that in fact not only were they dearer, they were more expensive by a few pounds. I wonder who buys things from Ebay that you can get cheaper in the shops. At least it taught me a lesson, that ebay isn't necessarily cheaper.

Look local to save money

I was always under the impression that local shops were more expensive than big chains because they have less competition and so can get away with higher prices despite the lower rents than they would pay in the town centre.
However today I was suprised to find out that in my local shopping area there is a pet shop that is selling items far lower than the big chain pet shops. She can save you about 25% on normal prices. It just goes to show that it is worth shopping around, especially before you make an expensive purchase (like a cockatiel cage!!).

Free Kids Activity

Today my girls went out to a birthday celebration in a pet shop. They got to look at animals had a free badge and bookmark and got their faces painted. These sort of activities are great as they are free but the kids really felt like they were given a treat. It is worth looking in the free papers for events like this.

Saving Money - The Little Things Add Up #12 - Cooling

In the summer I usually see lots of people with fans on trying to cool down their houses, this is a real drain on the electricity. In the USA a lot of people have air conditioning and just put it on without thinking that there are better ways of stopping the house getting too warm.

To start with I leave the curtains drawn on a hot day. I have black out curtains upstairs and hardly any of the heat seems to come through them.

I try to get a through breeze in the house so I keep the windows and the door open so the air can circulate well.

I also wear cool clothes. I wear thin cotton clothes and not tight heavy fabrics.

I also use lots of ice in drinks and always make sure I have a cold drink next to me as that cools me down quickly.

School Holidays

The summer holidays are coming up soon and I'm sure everyone is as anxious as I am to find activities to do with the kids that are cheap and fun.

My daughter came out of school with a leaflet about all the acitivities that are taking place in the libraries in our area. There is something each week that would be relevent to one or both of my girls and they are all free. I would think it would be worth other mums checking out their local libraries as I know other areas of the country have activities in their libraries too.

Free day out

Today we took the kids around town and then to the park. We didn't buy anything in town, just looked around the shops a bit and then they played in the park.

Car parking is free in town on a Sunday and so all we had to pay for was the petrol to get us there.

Everyone had a good time, so it was a nice free day out.

Saving Money - The Little Things Add Up #11 - Decorating

I have just been decorating my living room but I have a limited budget. Instead of doing expensive decorations I have painted the room magnolia over the top of the paint that was already there. That meant I only need one coat of paint which saved me money and I could also buy very cheap paint as magnolia is one of the cheapest ot buy. White paint is cheap too which is why I have kept the ceiling white even though I'm not keen on white ceilings.

Instead of getting a new carpet which I really need I'm going to use a friends carpet cleaner instead to make it look cleaner and newer but saving me a lot of money.

I have also washed down all the door and skirting boards which has meant I don't have to repaint them which will save me money as well.

Walking to School

Well I decided to stop driving to school again today. It has got to be a bit of a habit. With all the bad weather we have been having and because I have been doing some childminding, it has been difficult to get motivated to walk. It it much better as it saves me money on petrol but also keeps me fit! It is amazing the difference it makes, I usually have to put about £10 worth of fuel a week into the fuel guzzling car that I borrow from my ex to take the kids around.

Bucks 4 Banners

I have been resisting putting on these money making websites onto this blog as I wanted it to be more about ways to make or save money around the house as there are plenty of sites about how to make money on the web.

However today I signed up for Bucks 4 Banners. I put 3 of their banners on different pages of my website and I will get paid £10 for that and a further £5 for every month the banners are active on the site. This involves no work whatsoever and doesn't depend on people clicking through for you to have to earn. I hid the banners on the bottom of pages of my site that people don't usually look at, but this was still acceptable. This means my hosting fees will be paid automatically for my site without me having to rely of google adwords or selling products.

To see an example of one of the banners on my site go to: http://www.recipesforvegans.co.uk/aboutus.html

To get more detailis go to the Bucks 4 Banners website.

Freecycle

Freecycle is a wonderful website where you can recycle your unwanted items instead of throwing them away and filling up the landfill sites.

It is also a great place to find items for free that you might otherwise have had to buy, hence seving you a lot of money.

If you go to http://www.freecycle.org/ you can find out which group is the most local to you and subscribe to it. I have got rid of loads of 'rubbish' from my shed, and lots of the kids toys knowing that they are going to a good home. I have also got a lot of good things off there including a push chair, car seat, books, clothes and shoes for the kids and videos.

Saving Money - The Little Things Add Up #10 - Driving

Petrol and Diesel prices are increasing all the time so owning and driving a car is getting more and more expensive.

Save fuel by trying not to rev as hard. Using the air conditioning uses more too so only use it when its really necessary.

When you are about to make a car journey question whether it is really necessary or if you can walk instead.

I had to give up my car as the engine went wrong and the cost to repair it was more than the car was worth. I now walk far more often, and when I do need a car I borrow my kids' dads' car. That way I don't have to pay tax, insurance or for mot or servicing only my share of the petrol. Even if we were sharing those bills it would still save me a lot more than when I had my own car. It is certainly something to think about.