The Most Recent Win!

The most recent win is this mega bloks play table which my little one seems to love! Her daddy also enjoys playing with it, perhaps even more than she does.

I've also won a framed photo from my awesome photographer friend Helen. Here is the proof version (hope I'm not infringing her copyright - I do get a copy of this on disc to do what I want with so I should be ok!).

Anyway, if you live in the West Yorkshire area and are considering getting photos I thoroughly recommend her. Her website is http://www.handrewsphotography.co.uk she really is brilliant.

Bills Bills Bills (mainly shopping)

One of the main ways I can save money is by trying to reduce the food bills. I've got out weekly food bill to around 50 pounds a week but it's not always easy. I thought I'd try to share a few of my tricks with you.

1. Go with a list

Before I shop I write a list and approximate how much it will cost. I stick firmly to the list and then there's no nasty surprises at the till. By guessing how much I think something should cost I can always look for cheaper alternatives if something is a lot more expensive than I'd anticipated.

2. Go before closing

The best deals I've had are just before closing time. Freshly baked bread and buns get their prices slashed. You have to time it right though or you will end up missing out.

3. Don't be scared to freeze!

I used to be scared of freezing things and poisoning us all when it came to defrosting. Recently I've been buying reduced meat and freezing it. So far I'm still here to tell the tale!

4. Make double

To save on food and fuel bills make food you can make double of and freeze it in batches. Bolognese, curries, stews and soups are very good for this. They can also be made using cheaper cuts of meat so they are even more economical to make.

And lastly

5. Never shop when hungry.

Seriously, don't do it. You will spend a fortune and end up with the wrong kinds of food.

Putting a DVD on should be easy

I just tried to put a dvd on.

1. Thanks to Elsie's meddling the dvd player drawer now opens itself at will at varying durations.
2. The Wii sensor had disappeared down the back of the tv unit and thanks to Elsie thinking the remote is a phone the batteries are flat.
3. The xbox mysteriously no longer turns on and the dvd remote has vanished (presumably another pretend phone incident)
4. The PS2 had vanished off the tv unit, after 5 minutes of searching it apparently had been pushed down the back.

Following the reconnection of the PS2 Lilo and Stitch is now playing. Elsie is not interested and is instead sat  in just a nappy playing with her bi-lingual keyboard.

I give up!

Thankless Task Thursday

Time to tidy up (again)

Now she's a toddler my day goes something like this: 

• baby makes mess
• mess no longer interesting
• baby moves onto something else
• mummy goes to tidy up mess
• area no longer messy
• not messy is more interesting
• baby makes mess

This cycle repeats until mummy decides drinking a cup of tea surrounded by mess isn't that bad after all. Or until baby goes to sleep when mummy does a mad tidy up and for all of 45 minutes there is harmony in the house.

Then baby wakes up and realises it's not messy. The mess cycle begins again!

Washing Machine

Number of times Elsie has pressed the buttons on the washing machine: 175
Number of times I've told Elsie not to touch the buttons on the washing machine: 175
Number of times Elsie has laughed at me for telling her not to touch the buttons on the washing machine: 175

Currently Googling:

• "How to reason with a toddler" 
• "Things a toddler finds more interesting than a washing machine"
• "Why won't you go to the rinse cycle you f&%king thing?"
• "How to de-program an Indesit washing machine"
• "Cheap second-hand washing machines"

Money Making Review #1

To try and make a bit of spending money I've joined a myriad of cashback, survey and cash-for-clicks sites. I'll be reviewing them and letting you know how much I make from them and if they're worth doing.

The first site I'm reviewing is Swagbucks. It's a site where you get Swagbucks for searching using their toolbar, completing tasks, completing surveys, watching videos and finding mystical Swagcodes on their blog, facebook and twitter feeds. I joined on the 12th April and am just finding my feet. I don't spend a lot of time on it. maybe 5 minutes logging in and completing the to do list then use the search engine for my searches and have made approximately 1200 Swagbucks which sounds a lot but is just short of £6.00 if you use the option of buying paypal cash.

Still, £6 for something I get nothing for on Google seems like a good idea to me. I'm sure there are ways of earning more and I'll keep you up to date with any tips I find along the way.

So far my tips are: search for stuff like Facebook instead of just typing in the URL, type any CAPTCHAs it gives you in your search box, they have often given me good amounts of swagbucks and if you're popping in and out of the room your computer is leave the Swagvideos playing away to themselves - you get points for them too (but obviously only do this if you have unlimited data on your broadband!)

All in all it's worth doing. You won't make enough to retire but I figure by Christmas I might have enough to buy a couple of pressies.

(if anyone wants an invite please use my referral link here: http://www.swagbucks.com/refer/Nileypie - I earn points if you lot join!!!)

Win Win Win!

In order to be a stay at home mum I'm trying to supplement our income as well as spend much less. A way I've found to supplement our income has been to enter competitions. Firstly it gives me something to do while Elsie sleeps, secondly, very occasionally I win something.

So far I've won:

1. A Stokke Tripp Trapp high chair

Excuse the mess (diner/kitchen renovation)

2. A Tesco Blossom Hamper (technically for mums to be - they'll come in eventually)

 3.Six weeks worth of dog treats and balls (with catcher)

£8.99 a box in the shops!!

4. A peanut butter KitKat Chunky

And the most recent win...

5. Ten swimming lessons for Elsie!

I enter loads of stuff in the hope I'll win something. My advice is give it a go as someone has to win!

Careful Negotiation

We are now entering the stage of negotiation as Elsie has decided to take a shine to items and carry them everywhere with her. 

Yesterday we built a den, she took along her shoe for entertainment which she is currently contentedly playing with while reading through a book as I write this.

It's amazing the things she finds interesting and decides under no circumstances is she going to give them up without a fight.

We've had:

• A shoe - which she tries her hardest to put on as yet unsuccessfully
• A spatula - she carried this for 20 minutes up and down the garden
• A pencil - HUGE tantrum trying to get this off her as she decided she wanted to walk round with it
• A wooden block - which I found at the bottom of the wash basket
• A coaster - at her grandma's house which she carried around for another 20 minutes 
• TV remote - which she somehow got an icon on the screen which took me 45 minutes to get rid of
• many many more...

The hardest challenge is trying to find something more interesting to give her instead so she lets go of the offending item. 

I'm pretty sure right now I'd make a good hostage negotiator!

Least Used Baby Items

Following my earlier post of items I've used a lot I thought I'd follow it up with those we haven't used. There are a few that were a waste of money mainly down to our parenting choices.

1. The Cot

"Get your baby in their own room in a cot as soon as possible" most people said. I didn't. The cot stayed next to our bed until Elsie was one. At which point we finally admitted it was just a fancy play-pen and put it in her room, where up to press she has spent exactly ZERO nights. Neither me nor my partner can bring ourselves to put her alone in her own room. I keep thinking of monkeys in trees, they don't shove their babies into other trees or other branches when they sleep. They hold their babies close and keep them safe. That's exactly what we've done.

I thought I was a bonkers over-protective mother until a fellow blogger mentioned attachment parenting when I suddenly realised "that's me!" So every night Elsie sleeps with me, safe in-between me and her daddy.

Meanwhile the cot sits in Elsie's room full of toys!

2. An Electric Breast Pump

I breastfeed Elsie, it's amazing stuff and she loves it. In a post-natal haze I became paranoid I might become ill and stop producing milk so spent £150 on an Avent breastpump. I filled the freezer and 3 months later threw it all out as I never got ill and carried on feeding her as planned!

I can see how pumps are very useful for a working, breastfeeding mum but for me it was a lot of money to spend on peace of mind.

3. Bottles

Along with the breast pump I also never used any of the bottles I bought prior to Elsie's arrival. We tried to bottlefeed her at a few months old to give me a break. She posited it all back up as the flow was far too fast. Back to the boob it was then!

4. A Bath Seat

I bought a bath seat when Elsie first started sitting up. We used it but with hindsight it was a waste of money, the time between buying it and Elsie being strong enough to support herself was so short it hasn't really been worth it. We now used it as an over-sized plug-cover as there's noting more fun than pulling a plug out apparently!

5. The Baby Monitor

I think we've used the baby monitor about twice. It has cctv and was a lot of fun trying out in different rooms but as Elsie doesn't really get left alone in rooms it has been pretty useless.

Obviously if you've a more traditional parenting style you'll use all of these, but for me I could have quite happily lived without them!

My Baby The Artist

We've played with coloured pencils before (too easy to break) and felt tips (goes everywhere) but today I bought my 13 month old some crayons!

It's funny how as soon as I opened the pack and got her some paper she seemed to know exactly what to do with them, gently scribbling on a piece of paper and carefully selecting different colours.

I *heart *art

I love how she loves art, drawing and creating are my favourite things and I'm so pleased Elsie's now big enough to start to share in my enjoyment of colour. I'm also amazed at how good her motor skills are, though to be fair we've helped her by filling her highchair tray with Rice Krispies and watching her feed herself from as soon as she seemed able to self-feed.

Another positive was that after a few times saying "no sweetheart they're not for eating" she seemed to get the idea.

Most Used Baby Items

When you have a baby you can be at a loss at to what you'll need. Here are my recommendations of things I found useful and will use with any future children!

1. Baby carrier

We’re outdoorsy people with a dog. We enjoy our walks and always have so a baby carrier seemed like a good idea. We bought a baby bjorn carrier and have used it almost every day. It’s brilliant for walks, great for taking a baby shopping and has definitely been one of our most used baby items. So much so we have bought a backpack style toddler carrier now she’s outgrown.

2. Travel System

We bought a Recaro Travel system. The pram and buggy were well used, however the pram in my opinion doesn’t fold down small enough for the car. If you’re buying a buggy you should check out how small it folds prior to buying, that’s definitely what I’d do next time. Without doubt the car seat part of the travel system has been the most used item. My daughter is now 13 months old and still in the rear-facing car seat.

3. A Bucket With A Lid

This sounds strange but in it we keep everything we need for nappy changes, it’s easy to carry and keeps everything close to hand. It’s been invaluable. The only downside I’m finding is that now the baby is getting more adventurous she likes to empty it all out over the floor!

4. Highchair

You will need a highchair sooner than you think and once your baby starts being weaned he or she will be sat in it A LOT. Don’t get a fancy one – I won a Stokke Tripp Trapp one and haven’t used it – to be fair it doesn’t help that it has no safety straps. We use a simple Cosatto one with straps and a tray, try and get one with a cover that easily comes off and wipes down.

5. Baby Walker

Ignore anything you may read on the internet saying walkers stop babies from learning to walk properly. You probably had one and don’t fall over when walking into town. I bought one with an activity centre on it and the baby has spent many a happy hour in it. Make sure you get one with anti-roll pads on the bottom and it goes without saying DO NOT let your baby use one near the top of stairs. Ours has and will always remain permanently downstairs.

6.Baby Gates

Buy these early, we didn’t and ended up racing out to buy them when the baby suddenly decided crawling was the best thing ever. We have four baby gates and used them to herd her into the rooms we need her in. We have one at the bottom of the stairs, one on the top, one on her bedroom door and one on the living room door! As we have a dog they act as a wonderful barrier between the pair.

7. A Floating Bath Pillow

This proved extremely useful when baby was too big for the baby bath but too small to support herself in the big bath. Bought for me by a friend with 2 kids I thoroughly recommend them. Basically a net full of polystyrene balls it supports baby leaving your hands free for washing and playing!

Baby + Blogging = Difficult

Over the past year I intended to blog, really I did. But the thing I found more than anything is HAVING A BABY TAKES UP ALL OF YOUR TIME! I’ve had no time to blog, no time to think, no time to write. No time at all.

Now my baby is one I have more time. Not a lot of time but a bit more. So I shall endeavour to blog about babies, toddlers and money!