Budget Christmas Partying

I think it's fair to say that most of us love a good party and let's face it, at this time of year you're unlikely to slide through the month without at least one invite to someone's festivities. But whether you love to party or not, Christmas time is probably the most financially unforgiving with the presents, the food, the parties and all the other little extras that come with making that last week of the year something spectacular.

In recent years, since donning my Mummy hat, I've had to cut back extensively on the Christmas party spending. Four years ago I thought nothing of dropping £100 a time or more on one outfit for one party, but now with two children, a heap of household outgoings and maternity leave this year...I'll be lucky if I spend half of that on all of my parties combined! The old me would've been horrified but I would much rather spend that money on my children or my family than on myself, and let's be honest...is anyone likely to realise that you wore that little black dress last year? Can you remember what they wore last year?

So here's a few tips to make a megre party budget go further, whether it's out of choice or necessity, you can be the belle of the ball on a budget!

Bargain Beauty.

Beauty is an expensive habit and it seems that every time I swing through Boots, more prices have edged just a little bit higher. With that said, there are more and more low-priced brands coming forward to offer make-up at mini-prices. Long-gone are the days where a small price meant 'pocket-money', you can now buy fantastic, pigmented and long-wearing make-up from as little as £1 from brands such as MUA, Barry M, Collection and Sleek. Everything from your basic lipstick and eyeshadow to more professional tools such as primers and brow-kits.

Smokin'.

A smokey-eye is a classic for the party season. It'll give you a great pop of colour and open your eyes up. If you have three shades of the same colour lurking in your vanity table then you can create this look easily with the help of thousands of online-tutorials ranging from subtle to dramatic, depending on the look you're after. If you don't think you have anything suitable, you can pick up a vast range of eye-shadow pallets from the make-up departments of Boots and Superdrug for well under a tenner. Models Own even have a small pallet designed exclusively for a smokey eye which comes complete with brushes and a photo-tutorial, retailing at around £5.

Supermarket Superheros.

The supermarket clothing brands have come on leaps and bounds in recent years and party-wear is no exception. Both Tesco and ASDA have a large range of festive-appropriate frocks online and in store for a fraction of what you'd pay on the high street. Try to resist loud, statement dresses if you want to get a lot of wear out of them, using accessories to change up an outfit from party to party. 

Viva the video.

Stuck for hair inspiration? Not quite sure on that cat-like flick? One word; YouTube! With hairdressers, make-up artists and brands flooding the channels with tutorial after tutorial, you're bound to find a video that'll give you that helping hand that you need! I've even cut my own side-swept fringe using a YouTube video (NOT for the faint of heart)! If the products they use seem a bit on the pricey side, try googling dupes for them as a lot of beauty bloggers will often review and offer a dupe solution for those of us not willing to pay £10+ for a texturising spray!

It's a deal!

I love a deal and at this time of year 3 for 2 reigns supreme!! If you have an award card such as Boots Advantage card, check out what offers you can get before you spend. You often can get vouchers and money-off of certain products that might work out cheaper than buyingt hem on a multi-purchase. My best friend and I like to split a 3 for 2 offer when it comes to a party. We'll buy an item each and then share the third (usually a nail polish), we've then got two new products for the price of one! If you have older daughters, this is also a great way to keep them cheery!

Clare

Top 5 Green Baby

I will hold my hands up and admit that I am not the greenest of people, but I try. I've found it's very hard to buy ethical on a low income, to be green on a budget. I've shopped around and so today I'd like to introduce you to my top five ethical products for parents and babies.

Organic bodysuits - £3.99 each (3 for 2) H&M.

Organic clothing can be expensive, especially when you consider how short of a period your little ones will be wearing it for! There are some beautiful companies out there that do stunning pieces for special occasions such as Frugi, however for every day you don't want to pay through the nose. These organic cotton bodysuits at H&M are super soft and great value.

Reusable bags - from £5.99 Re Uz.

Re Uz have a gorgeously-designed (you know I love a bit of design) range of reusable shopper, holdalls, handbags and accessories that are kind on your purse, kind on the environment and absolutely beautiful to look at! The reusable shoppers make great alternatives to horrible plastic carrier bags, or even for stashing all those bits that baby just has to have carted around with you! The scrunch up über small too, making them an ideal stocking filler for that really hard to buy for person!

Reusable breast pads - £8.99 Babi Pur.

Ladies, let's talk boobs. Or more specifically boob milk. Let's be honest and admit that yes, they leak. Some more than others! If you're unfortunate to be like me and leak lots then reusable breast pads could be for you! They absorb far more than their disposable counterparts and are way less irritating on delicate and sensitive skin, leaving you less likely to catch a horrible and uncomfortable infection. They're pretty, too (bonus)! You can also get reusable sanitary towels (but for some at might be a step too far).

Terry nappies - from £10 a Grow Up Green.

I'll be brief because I've talked of reusable nappies loads in the past. Reusable is by far the best for the environment and the landfill situation. The cheapest you can get are Terry towels (but don't forget to by the waterproof wraps). They'll last you probably until your child is in university (though hopefully not still wearing them...I meant for cleaning etc)!

Fair trade crochet rattles - from £4 Pebble at Babi Pur.

These little crochet rattles make cute, fun little toys for babies with bright colours, interesting shapes and easy to hold designs. They're currently half-off too!

And here's one little ethical luxury item that I can't live without!!

KeepCup - from £7.80 KeepCup.

As a total coffee geek, I drink it a lot. I drink it at home, at friends and out. Some coffee shops offer money-off and incentives for using a reusable cup and I much prefer my lovely pink cup over an ugly, old travel mug any day! They come in a range of sizes depending on what's your poison (6oz for a flat  white for example).

Clare

Gigging on a Budget

My husband and I don't go out much, but when we do, it's normally to see live music. This is my husband's great past-time outside of the Play Station and typically I'm just happy to get out of the house. I have seen some amazing bands and been to some wonderful places since I met him, through his love of live music.

Concerts are costly, on top of ticket price, there's often a service charge for buying online, travel to and from the event plus food and drink. I can't tell you how to get cheap tickets, or how to avoid paying excess booking fees, but I can tell you how to save money on your travel if you're a driver.

We're not much for drinking and typically drive to every gig we go to but parking can be expensive (around £20 at the O2 for example), it was my husband that discovered Park at my House, a website that helps you find private parking spaces around the country as an alternative to expensive parking costs. We've used it several times, parking on driveways and even in the staff car-park of a printing firm (out of hours of course) and have never had any problems. We found it particularly useful with parking for Wembley Stadium and Arena. 

I'd highly recommend it to anyone attending any sort of event where the cost of parking is going to be high.

Alternatively, look at public transportation, if you're travelling from a distance, it might be cheaper to go by train, just be sure to triple-check your last trains, any works being done and have a back-up to get home (long gone are the days where my friends and I could loiter at a 24-hour coffee shop in the station waiting for the first train the next morning or walk home from North London clubs in early summer mornings).

When it comes to food and drink, events are expensive so eat a good meal before you go. Food and drink from outside the venue will often be confiscated so try not to take anything in with you as it'll probably get chucked. A large fizzy drink at the O2 is £5 but it does get hot inside, obviously alcohol will dehydrate you further so try to stick to water. It's the cheapest and most beneficial.

If you're buying merch, withdraw cash before hand, a lot of places slap on a charge for using credit or debit cards as well as at the crowded stands someone could easily see your PIN over your shoulder and nab your card. Keep your wallet/purse to the front of you (never put valuables in back pockets or bags out of your line of sight) so that you can remove and replace cash quickly when paying and know exactly where it is whilst you make your way out of the crowd.

Those are just a few tips on keeping your costings low when gigging, it is by no means a definitive list.

Clare

Please note this is not a sponsored post.

Budgeting; managing the month

In our house, money never sticks around for long. We are fortunate enough to be in a situation that we have enough to cover all the outgoings including a few luxuries like Sky and Spotify and a bit spare for birthday presents, outings to soft play etc but things are tight and it is a juggling act.

Today I'd like to talk to you about how we keep our beady, little eyes on our finances, especially now I'm on maternity leave and our income is getting smaller and smaller in the run-up to baby Bear making his grand entrance.

This is our calendar. For ages we both had all of our ins and outs and direct debit dates on our phones and iPads. But it then meant so much shuffling back and forth between the calendar, the calculator and the notes and we were both getting into a bit of a muddle. So we popped out one day and found this!

It's adhesive and so sticks directly to our fridge which is nice as I'm not forever picking it up and re-pinning it to a cork board or misplacing it. Apparently it doesn't leave residue when you peel it off (I don't plan on doing that for awhile but I hate re-adhesive things...it always goes wrong).

Using white board markers we write in the month and it's dates in the correct boxes. We then use colour-co-ordinated markers to write in our ins, our outs and any family-impacting events so that they cannot be forgotten such as midwife appointments, parties, weddings etc.

Black; dates.

Green; ins.

Red; outs.

Blue; events.

Our bills are spread out across the month because in my job, I get paid weekly. I cannot express how handy it is to have it all written out in front of me, when I know I've got a bill coming up, I can see easily what day it's going to come out and what I have coming in before hand to cover it. We find that this works really well for us but it might not suit everyone. A regular calendar would work just as well however when we went on a hunt we couldn't find a calendar with big enough boxes that wasn't £11 (yes, really). My little duck helps me keep track of what day we're on, I move him over in the mornings when getting breakfast. Am I the only person that never knows what the day of the week is?

Stick-on calendar £6 Martha Stewart and white board markers 4 pack £5.50 Sharpie, both from Staples.

How do you manage your monthly budget? Is it as much a logistical nightmare as mine?

Clare

Holiday Budgeting

So as I'm going on my holidays on Sunday I thought I'd do a few 'going away' themed posts for you today! So this is the first and probably the most serious, I present to you my top tips of holiday budgeting when you've got children.

- Budget yourselves as parents.
You know how much money you have, in cash or card so sit down before you set out or on your first evening and divide it up over how many days you are away for. Sometimes things crop up, especially whenever children are travelling too, however take this into account for future days, you will have to reduce your budget over multiple days OR from one, depending on how much has eaten into your budgets. I usually carry an extra $20/€ on top of my daily cash allowance plus we carry cards (as an example).
- Budget the children.
It sounds so, so cruel but children honestly do not need everything. They are no less of a person if they don't have things and you are no less of a parent by denying them. Their eyes can get very big when away, especially in attractions such as Disney and other theme parks. Give them spending money at the beginning of the day so that they know how much they have. This is better for older children, younger children obviously don't understand that value of money but it is still a nice experience for them to have their own cash in their own purse to spend. I'm a firm believer that children should not share adult concerns and never tell my child that we cannot afford something (even if we can't), I would like her to be young and enjoy it for as long as possible.
- Get them involved early.
A piggy bank/jar/tin is a wonderful thing. By getting them to save early and put money towards their own holiday spending money you will feel incredibly grown up and excited as they watch their balance grow over the weeks before you go away. I typically give Moo 50p pocket money a week and everything 20p and smaller from my purse at the end of the week. Even if its just a few pence, it all adds up and she's at the age where she's just excited to put the money in! Just before you go, take them to have the money changed (lots of supermarkets have those CoinStar machines), then to have it converted into currency. It's a big adventure for them and kills a morning successfully.
- Buy in bulk where you can.
If you're self-catering (even if you're not) try to go to a local supermarket and stock up on things that you think you will get through a lot of. An ideal example for this is bottled water. You will always need to have drinks throughout the day. You will save money by taking your own bottled water out with you.
- Avoid excess luggage charges.
If you're flying, watch out for excess luggage charges when travelling with a baby. Unless you're going to outer-Mongolia, chances are the will be nappies on sale near you. Buy them when you get to your destination and only take enough for your journey to save space and weight in your luggage.
- Exchange your currency early.
I know everyone knows this but I'm going to say it anyway. It's important. NEVER BUY YOUR CURRENCY AT THE AIRPORT/FERRY/YOUR DESTINATION it is notoriously bad value. Everyone and their dog does currency now so there really is no excuse. Research rates online in advance, I find that the Post Office and Marks and Spencer are the best though my mother-in-law swears byThomas Cook. If you live in a large or destination city/town there will be independent currency shops dotted about also that often have very competitive rates.
- Get a pre-paid travel card.
This is my husband's thing and he swears by it. We hold one for dollars and one for euros with Fairfx. There are a lot of different ones out there, this is just the company that we happen to use. You usually have to pay a small fee when they issue the card, then you load up your money and use it as you would your regular credit and debit cards. You get a slightly worse exchange rate on your money on a pre-paid card than you would cash currency, however you do not have to pay a fee for every time you use it like you do with your regular credit and debit cards, you also have the security of not carrying all your money in cash. You can have second cards issued so you and your partner have one each though we just carry one. If you have a credit card, take that also in case of emergencies. If you had planned to use your credit card for your spending money, you can load up the pre-paid from your credit card without facing any charges for using it abroad. Avoid using your debit card abroad wherever possible. They are incredibly expensive to use; you will be charged heavily per transaction.
- Going to a resort? Make it work for YOU!
All inclusive? Got meal vouchers? Get the full 'bang for your buck'. If your resort offers unlimited cold drinks/snacks/food etc make sure you get your money's worth and minimise dining out. If you're staying at a resort such as Disney that offers a meal voucher scheme and you buy into it, make sure you are getting full value. They are usually charge at one flat rate and offer dining at a variety of venues. Do your research, the only restaurants that they're actually worth buying for are usually the highest rated two or three. Most do not offer great value for money and it would be cheaper to 'pay as you go' so look up the menus before purchasing and ensure that the more expensive food is cuisine that your family are likely to eat. If not, it's probably cheaper to just budget for your meals out of your money rather than paying in advance
- Check your bank.
It's not said often, but banks are great! By upgrading your account you can usually save big time on things like home insurance, break-down cover, gadget-cover and yes, travel insurance! We are with Lloyds TSB and have the basic upgrade of silver on our joint account. It is £10 a month and we use all of the previously mentioned services. It saves us money on our gadget cover alone. Because we are paying it anyway, it meant that we didn't have to take out travel insurance, we are already covered and only need notify them should we need to make a claim. Most bank upgrades offer travel insurance as basic though be sure to call them if you're travelling with children, it usually only covers two of you and you will need to pay an excess to add your children (ours is £25 to add Moo for the year). Do it at the last minute so that you get the maximum usage out of it (you might be able to squeeze a second trip out of it if you plan your holidays accordingly).
- Buy in advance.
If you have an idea of what you're going to do whilst away, you can often by tickets for events and attractions cheaper online in advance before you go. It's usually around 20% off of the gate price.

So there we are, just a few little things that we use when travelling. I'm sure there're other things that I've missed or forgotten, if you know of any handy hints yourself, please comment to help others!

Clare

Salt Dough

Last week was grim. It was grimmer than grim it was...British weather. It was cold, windy and wet, especially down here on the supposedly sunny south coast. The children were bored and acting up as a result...something HAD to be done...so out came the salt dough!! A mother's best friend (though only when wine and chocolate are strictly post-bedtime amigos).

If you've never made it before or if your little one is just coming of age then I'll quickly run through, it is so ridiculously easy and cheap, you'll never buy branded play clay again!

You'll need some flour (I prefer plain though I'm sure if you used self-raising you'd probably be okay until you cooked it), salt and water (warm as its nicer to touch than cold). How much you use of each depends on how much dough you want (or how many children you have). Find a container that'll be good for measuring out your ingredients like a cup. I use one of our multi-coloured picnic beakers. Place one full 'cup' into a mixing bowl followed by half a 'cup' of salt. You'll then need to half-fill the 'cup' with water. Time to start mixing...add the water gradually so you can gauge whether or not it's too moist. If it is, add some more flour, if its still quite dry, add more water. Mix it until its all clinging to the spoon in the annoying way that it does, then get stuck in with your hands!! Knead it until it's at the right texture; non-sticky and firm. Then you're ready to roll (and cut)!

Grab everything that you can to have some salt dough fun, cutters, rolling pins, utensils....if you've got food colouring kicking around (I sadly didn't...did you know that food colouring can go off? I didn't...) then you could split up your dough and dye it different colours for even more fun.

There are a few different ways you can dry your salt dough, it makes fantastic-children-made Christmas decorations, gift tags for presents or even place settings if you're having a hand-made wedding! You can bake them, let them air dry or my personal favourite...the microwave! I place the shapes between two plates (one on top of the other) and then put it on for around thirty seconds for small pieces. I'd rather undercook and have to keep checking than completely chargrill them, which is something that I have done before. If you're using them for decorations or gift tags, don't forget to make a little hole with a kebab stick or toothpick for the ribbon/string etc.

Another great thing is if you pop it in an airtight container and whack it in the fridge you can use it again and again. So it costs mere pennies to make and lasts for ages! Bargain!

So there we are, my go-to rainy day activity. It's cheap, cheerful and never fails to entertain a toddler...as does jumping in puddles which is just as much fun!

Clare

Father's Day Top 5

So this Sunday (16th June) is Father's Day and here are my top 5 gifts for under £20, you'd better be quick though, time is running out!

1. Personalised Daddy dictionary print. £14 notonthehighstreet.com

2. Nerf 'Shoot to Snooze' alarm clock. £10.82 amazon.co.uk

3. Freaker bottle insulator. £9.99 firebox.com

4. 12oz Keepcup. £9 lifeonthego.co.uk

5. 'Daddy Cool' Terramundi money pot. £17.50 temptationgifts.com

All of the above gifts are ideal if, like me, you have younger children who are too young for hand made but you still want to give a little something that won't break the bank!

Clare