Post in association with Tesco Bank

money saving hacks

 

A little while ago Tesco Bank asked me to put together some of my best budgeting hacks for their website. I came up with 10 really simple ways to save money – I was quite proud of myself. You can read them here, so please do go and have a look.

In the process of writing that piece though, I realised that I’m a bit of a natural in the old money saving department. Perhaps that first class economics degree really is good for something?? I thought I’d put together a few more ideas for you here.

Have a read and let me know if you have tried any of these and if they’ve made a difference to your household finances. I’d love to hear about any other tips you have too! View Post

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Before we start, I know that actually I should be calling it Mothering Sunday, but it really annoys Fiancé when I call it Mother’s Day, and so now I do it deliberately, just because that’s the sort of annoying, belligerent girlfriend I am.

(Also, I think that’s the first time I’ve ever typed the word belligerent, which is nice, because it’s good to try new things.)

Mother’s Day then. What do you normally buy your mum for Mother’s Day? Now that we’re grown ups we can’t get away with glueing some dry macaroni and glitter to a piece of card and calling it art, so if you’re anything like me, it will be something from this list:

  • A card – one that doesn’t scream ‘I just went to the supermarket this morning and this was all they had’. (A couple of years ago I got my mum a card that said ‘Best Mum in Somerset’, which I think she appreciated.)
  • Chocolates – mid-range, unless you went SUPER FANCY and made the effort to go to Hotel Chocolat. (Get you, trying to make the rest of us look bad.)
  • Flowers – small bunch of.
  • A homemade ‘cheese stew’ – I received this rather than gave it. If you’re intrigued, you can read more about it in this article I wrote recently for Prima Magazine.

Not a very inspiring list is it? (Apart from the cheese stew.) Sorry Mum.

cheese platter

Just getting my ingredients ready to make my Mothers’ Day gift.

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I am a very recent but very happy convert to online grocery shopping. I had always thought that I rather liked the idea of mooching around a supermarket, squeezing the fruit for myself and spotting the bargains, but it turns out that I really don’t. I don’t like it at all.

What I do like it strolling around a very small supermarket, picking up treats, with little or no regard for actual meals. That, unfortunately, is not shopping.

I’m so glad I gave online shopping a go – it is no exaggeration to say that it has totally revolutionised by shopping experience. I love that you can place an order and come back and add the things you forget, rather than getting home and smacking yourself in the face because you forgot milk – the one thing you actually went for in the first place. I like how you can easily compare products like cashew nuts, which inexplicably appear in about three different places in an actual supermarket, and you even get reminded to buy your regular purchases. You also don’t have to do the awful bit of putting everything into carrier bags and lugging it to and from the boot.

It’s awesome.

That’s why, as a proper online shopping fan, I was more than happy to say yes to giving you a sneak peek of Tesco’s new Family Magic video, extolling the virtue of online shopping for families of budding magicians. I really love the bloopers video too.

If you do decide to give it a go, do check out Tesco ‘favourites’ feature – if you pop in your Clubcard number when you first register for online shopping it will add your in store favourites too, so even if you’ve never shopped online before it will be super easy right from the off.

Enjoy!

Sponsored post

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Can you imagine going to check on your baby and finding that they weren’t breathing? Would you know what to do or would you just panic?

It’s pretty much the very worst scenario imaginable for any parent and I’m not sure I wouldn’t just crumble. I was in enough of a state when Bee dropped a dish on her foot, resulting in what turned out to be a tiny cut, convinced as I rushed her to A&E that she would have bled to death before I could get her there.

Thankfully when Natasha Jones checked on her 11 week old daughter Ava-Mai and found her not breathing she managed to keep her alive until the ambulance arrived, an agonising 36 minutes later. Natasha admits that this was pure luck; she had no real idea of the correct procedure, a fact that prompted her to set up baby resuscitation classes for other parents. 600 successful trainees later and Natasha is still going strong.

“I’ve had two mums that have used it on their children and saved their lives as a result,” says Natasha. “It makes me feel really fantastic. I set out to do this so that other people don’t go through what we went through and so other families don’t suffer.” View Post

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Regular readers will know that this is the third year now that I’ve been involved in the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards.

Every year it is an absolute joy to follow the journeys of the inspirational women who are doing remarkable things to improve the lives of others. It’s a bit of an annual wake up call for me; a reminder that there is a lot more to life than posting funny pictures on Twitter and complaining about ridiculous things like having to walk all the way upstairs to get my phone charger.

(Although this picture that I posted today is very funny.)

The shortlist for the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards has been announced this week – 26 incredible women chosen from literally thousands, 26 women who have made a difference to their communities.

Tesco Mum of the Year Awards 2015To mark the fact that 2015 is the 10th anniversary of the awards, Tesco is donating £1,000 to a charity of each shortlisted mum’s choice. Since the Awards began in 2006, Tesco has helped over 80 mums raise the profiles of their charities and causes.

I will be following the awards and am already looking forward to the winners being announced early next year. In the meantime I’m going to try and think of these women the next time I leave my phone charge upstairs.

Disclosure: I am a blogger ambassador for the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards.

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This review is from my very favourite 19 year old daughter Bee.

Hudl 2

I recently received the new Hudl 2 to review.

“What is a Hudl 2?!”, you’re all thinking, “is it something to do with penguins? Or rugby? Big, burly rugby playing penguins?”

The Hudl 2 is actually the brand new tablet bought to you by the makers of my favourite thing, Pink Doughnuts…

Tesco!

I was obviously not that enthusiastic about it when I originally accepted the offer because it isn’t a tablet made by one of those big tablet making companies so I assumed it would be a bit lame. The information said it was £129 and was great for families with kids, so it sounded like the sort of thing that would keep kids entertained and let frazzled mothers do their online grocery shopping with the touch of a button, but that would be about it. View Post

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For the last couple of years now I have been an official blogging ambassador for the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards, and I’m very honoured to have been asked to be involved again with the 2015 awards, their 10th anniversary.

Tesco Mum of the Year Awards

The Tesco Mum of the Year Awards are about recognising and celebrating those mums who have gone the extra mile in supporting their families, communities and causes close to their heart. We’re not talking here about simply going to the effort to bake something homemade for the summer fair rather than buying something at Waitrose and roughing it up a bit around the edges, this is about amazing women doing truly amazing things. View Post

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Ah, the joys of single life. It’s all about going out and getting drunk and forgetting your problems right?

Um, wrong.

Not when you’re a single parent anyway, because who, now you’re single, is going to babysit for you? My new single life has so far mainly involved working at home during the day and hanging out with Belle at home in the evenings. Now this is fine, but when the ‘home’ is somewhere that you’ve only ever lived with your partner, it’s trickier.

Everywhere I look, literally everywhere, is a reminder of Boyfriend. It’s kind of annoying.

‘Ah, here we are in the kitchen, where he used to stand in that corner leaning against the counter and I would hug him!’ Or ‘The sofa! We used to sit there together to watch Wheeler Dealers and eat sweets!’ Or even ‘Look! The rack where he used to keep his shoes!’

It gets a bit pathetic sounding after a while. (By a while I mean about three seconds. Not that I say these things out loud, but still.)

In situations like this some sort of positive action is definitely required and so I was very happy to accept Tesco’s offer of some goodies from their new Couture range to give my bedroom a little bit of a makeover. At least then when I get into bed I will not be able to make any sort of feeble emotional connection with my duvet cover.

Tesco couture range View Post

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I have been away this weekend, staying with some friends in Scotland. Before we left I told Belle that if she saw me using my phone, that she was allowed to tell me off. For the whole weekend I restrained myself from checking my emails and tweeting, except for a couple of occasions late at night or in a toilet, which I’m sure is absolutely fine and not at all a sign of a problem.

This was me making an effort at being a Good Mummy.

It would take a little more though I fear than restricting my Twitter usage to public toilets to get me on the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards shortlist, packed as it it full of women who are actually amazing parents.  View Post

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Will you be throwing a Halloween party for your children this year? If so, then you’ve come to the right place. It’s almost like I planned this just for you.

Last weekend Belle and I hosted a small spooky gathering for five friends and their children. I say small – I did have to shift the furniture about to get everyone in, but then my house is pretty teeny. It has been a while since I had a house full of so many young children and have got rather used to Belle just sitting quietly watching Poirot or doing a spot of colouring, so I was probably unprepared for the amount of noise even a small number of boys can make. Still, it is Halloween, it’s supposed to be scary. View Post

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On Sunday I was lucky enough to be invited to the Tesco Mum of the Year awards at the Savoy in London. I’ve written already about one of the winners, Anna Kennedy, and it was fantastic to get to meet all of the winners in person and hear their inspiring stories. They really are an amazing bunch of women.

I had a fantastic day, and it didn’t hurt that there was the chance to eat a yummy dinner and do a spot of celeb spotting too. The ceremony was also being filmed – watch the Tesco Mum of the Year Awards on Channel 5, Sunday 10 March 2013, at 12noon and see if you can spot me in the audience. I’ll be the one near the back tweeting pictures of my food. If you can’t watch it then, fear not, it will be available via Demand 5 for a whole year. View Post

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This week Tesco have been announcing the winners of the Tesco Mum of the Year awards.

Anna Kennedy, like many mums, hasn’t had things easy. When her two sons, Patrick, now 23, and Angelo, 19, where first diagnosed with autism, Anna was told that they were the only children in the area with the condition. Can you imagine how isolating that must have felt? At a time when more than anything you need the support of other local parents in the same situation, you discover that there are none. View Post

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