Food shopping gone good

Me and my husband was wondering where all our money kept going to and found out our main problem was on food shops, When he would get paid we would go do a big shop and end up spending nearly £200 on basically junk food (Not good)and every week after we was spending another £100+ on food for dinners and lunches, So we decided to go back to getting our veg from Riverford to see if that helps us, But upon us choosing our veg box, We saw a lovely fruit box that we knew would go down well with our kids so that also went in our basket, And then we noticed they sold meat boxes too so again one went in our basket,

We have been ordering this now for over a month and the price on average (depending on the veg box we choose)is around £55, Now obviously we still have to go to the supermarkets for other bits but that is now done with me sending my husband a text telling him what we need and he pops over to a supermarket after work (very handy as his work is just over the road from one)

Our kids have still been getting there treats or sweets and crisps but that is done through approved foods and only ordered once a month and the average price for that is £20 with the cost of delivery.

By doing this we have managed to cut down how much we spend dramatically and all the fruit, veg and meat is organic something I never thought I would be able to afford.
I think it really does save to shop around as I would just go to our nearest supermarket and shop there with out bothering to think of how much we are spending.

Oh no why did I open my big mouth

Since my husband past his driving test in 2005 he has now had 4 cars,
He started with an old J reg proton and when we found out we was expecting our second child we decided me needed a bigger car, So he found a cheap Mondeo it was only a W reg so wasn't really new but it had all the mod cons in as it was an ex company car.

Sadley the Mondeo didn't last to long as the clutch went so we took it to get fixed and the garage that had it fixed it, Well so we thought when we got it back it was running fine but there was a terrible knocking sound and no other garage could find out what it was, So onto his 3rd car that too was a Mondeo this one was also a W reg and he got it at a bargan price as the original owner worked with him and was moving away so wanted to sell it cheap and knew my husband wanted a new car.

Well this Mondeo had done us good, We have just put it through its MOT and got it taxed, When I open my big mouth and said to my husband I will let you buy a new car if you can find one that you really really want and at the right price.

Stupid mistake to make as that night he was looking for a new car, Lucky for me there was none in his price range for the time being so he said he will save up for a few months and then get one, Me thinking he would forget about it.

But the next day we are out shopping and on our way home my husband sees a car not just any car one her originaly wanted when he got his first Mondeo, And to top it off he knew the person selling it, So he now has his Mondeo estate that he has always wanted and for a good price as the person selling it does up cars to sell on so he swapped our old car and £180 in cash (cheap as my husband had just filled our old one up with petrol)for this estate Mondeo, Now I have a very happy husband but it will teach me to say he could have a new one.

Homework Over The Summer Holiday

My daughter was given homework to do over her summer holiday, Which I didn't really mind, The only thing that bothered me was that it was going to cost me money as she needed to read a book by a certain autor.

So the day we got the information I searched the internet for a place to buy one very cheap, I managed to buy one off Amazon for just 1p but the postage was £2.89 still the price was good.

A few days later the book arrived in the post and my daughter got very excited and read it that night, So her homework was as good as done, But my daughter wasn't happy she wanted more books to read, I was more than happy to buy her more books as both me and my husband love to read, So over the summer holiday I have now brought her a total of 9 books, Which she likes to read one every night before bed.

On top of all her reading she has been doing I have wanted to get her to practice her handwriting as her teacher has mentioned a few times that its very hard to read, So every other night she comes in from playing and either writes a story or writes about what she has done in the day.

I'm hopeing that by her doing this she will be much better when she goes back to school, I admit I do feel a little mean as I get her in from playing early so she can do all this and her friends are all still playing outside.

School summer holidays

It's gone so quick and I haven't managed to do half the things I wanted to do with the kids mainly because on all the nice sunny days my husband has been working either he's been dragged in on over time or its his normal shift.

We was lucky that on one Saturday the weather was really nice and Riverford had a 25th birthday celebrations at one of there farms, So we packed a picnic and drove off to the farm, It took us about 1hr 30mins to get there but the drive time was worth it, My daughter was very excited to see where our fruit, veg and meat comes from and also all the free actvities they had planned for everyone that went along.

My daughter was a little upset that she couldn't get her face painted, If you remember a post from a while back she came out in a huge rash and we are now thinking its because she had face paints on and that was the only new thing she had come in contact with at the time. But my daughter managed to win herself and her brother a piece of fruit which they both gobbled up very quickly, No surprise there really as given the choice between fruit and sweets they will both choose fruit everytime.

Both my oldest daughter and my son got to sit on a tractor, My son was getting a little to into sitting on it that he even started pulling leavers and trying to get it started.
Sadly it was a little to hot that after just a couple of hours we decided to take the kids home and get them all a nice cool bath.

As this was the only time we could take the kids out we decided to splash out a little (or should I say a lot) on some new things for the kids to play with, We got our 6 year old a barbie skidder and a new hello kitty scooter, Our son got a balance bike and a game of matar golf and our youngest got her own pillow pet.

Some people might see it as pointless gifts for our kids but as we haven't been able to do much with them over the holidays we thought it would be nice to buy them some new things to play with, To try and make up for the lack of other activities.

Entertaining my 6 year old

Over the summer holiday my daughter has been allowed to play out in our street, Now we live in a quiet street and there is only one way in and one way out so I know she will be ok.

But sadly all her friends that she would normaly play with are out today so she keeps coming back moaning shes bored, So I decided to make a list of colours and give her the list along with a pencil and to get her to search for something that was a colour on the list, Unfortunately she found them all way to quick.

So next up she has a list of all the letters of the alphabet and its proving to be a little more tricky for her but at least shes having fun and practicing her writing at the same time.

Its days like today that I wish I could drive so I could take her and my other two out somewhere.

Fruit Shoot Smencils

When I was younger I used to have scented colouring pens but they were nothing like Smencils where you could hardly smell them at all, But with Smencils the scent is so strong you can smell it from quite far away, Smencils are made from 100% recycled newspaper and each Smencil comes in a tube made from biodegradable plastic.

I was sent a pack of 5 graphite pencils each with a different scent Tropical, Blackcurrant and apple, Orange, Apple and Summer fruits. The Summer fruits scent appears to be my daughters favorite scent as thats the main one she uses when writing and drawing.

My daughter can't wait to go back to school and show all her friends her new Smencils, I think having these would make all children exited to go back to school.

Learning resources have a Facebook competition for your chance to win some Smencils you can find that here.

RM At Home

RM at home is full of educational toys a other bits to help parents at home carrying on the learning when children are not at school.
I was sent two of there products a See N Speak recordable magnifier for my 3 year old son and some conversation cubes for my 6 year old daughter.
Both products have given my children hours or entertainment while also helping them learn.

With the magnifier you can record things you find on it by speaking into it, But What I did with my son which was a nice little game to play was I would record a message like go find an ant and then he would go look for one, It can only record 30 secs of audio so you wouldn't be able to record a big message, What I really like about it is that its very chunky and can withstand a lot of knocks.

The conversation cubes are a really good idea, If your child is anything like my 6 year old getting information out of them after school can be hard, So what I did with these is I got my daughter to roll a cube and then read her the question and get her to answer, By doing this I found out a lot of things I never really knew about her as she just wont open up much at home.

You can buy both of these and many other products on there website here

Back To School With Aldi

I admit I never knew Aldi sold school uniform until I was asked to write a review on some for them, The quality of their school uniform is just as good as what I brought my daughter for school last year and the price is even cheaper, I found myself spending a small fortune on her uniform last year, But now I know I can get just as good quality for a cheaper price.

I was sent a pack of two white school shirts, A pack of 2 white polo shirts, A red school jumper, A pair of trousers and a skirt.
The trousers and skirt have an adjustable waist which I think is great as my daughter is taller than most her age so we need to buy her the next size up just for length but they never fit her waist, So with the adjustable waist its no longer a problem.

You can buy a full set of uniform from Aldi for just £4 at that price I can't see them staying around long so you would have to be quick.