Mummo Mag features our top 10 money saving tips

Mummo is a fantastic new website for mums to share experiences and network. Mummo is supporting the Million Mums Campaign to help maternal mortalities in developing countries.

We were lucky enough to get a Mums Money Tips double page spread.

Check out Page 66 here to read up on our top 10 money saving tips.

Spare £200,000? - that's the cost of bringing up baby until they are 21.

My son had better be the best behaved teenager in the whole wide world, make his mummy umpteen cups of tea, breakfast in bed, settle for any old trainers I decide to buy him, tidy his room on a daily basis and be a straigh A student, if it's going to cost me £200,000 then I want my monies worth!

£200k! - that is the cost put on raising a child to the age of 21.

According to LV the insurance group who carried out the research we spend around £7,415 on them on leisure and recreation alone until they reach 21. Does that include the iPhone, iPod, iWhatNext and nike trainers that speak to you and turn you into a superhuman that they will want when growing up? or is that just for straight cinema, swimming, football, afterschool clubs, ballet, piano lessons, school trips etc?

The biggest cost factors in order are:

- Childcare
- Education
- Food
- Clothing

Saving money where you can by planning, budgeting and putting some aside is going to be vital to make sure you have enough for your essentials and any extra.

There is help out there, you just have to go and look for it and set aside some time, fill in all the forms and do a bit of research and claim:

Benefits
- Child benefit
- Tax credits

Contact: call 0845 300 3900 or visit http://www.hmrc.gov.uk/

Child Trust Fund Account
Child Trust Fund Account with a £250 government payment to kick start it with another £250 when they reach 7.

Contact: visit http://www.childcarelink.gov.uk/

Childcare vouchers
The Children’s Information Service has the names of all registered childcare providers in your area.

Contact: call 0800 234 6346 or visit http://www.childcarelink.gov.uk/

Healthy Start Vouchers
If you are on certain benefits you can claim Healthy Start Vouchers that you can put towards fresh fruit & vegetables, milk and formula.

Contact: visit Healthy Start Vouchers

Freecycle
A global community that is made up of 4,675 groups with 6,407,000 members. Their message is simple, it’s all about reusing things and not throwing out stuff you don’t want anymore leading to landfills overflowing. It's free to join and it's great for baby / child stuff and furniture.

Contact: visit Freecycle

Portion control - frozen & canned vs fresh

I have never been a big fan of the freezer (tucked away in a really awkward place) unless it was holding Hagan Daaz strawberry cheesecake icecream, a bottle of vanilla vodka and some fishfingers (not my staple diet I hasten to add!) but recently I have started stocking up on things I wouldn't normally buy frozen such as cod, tuna steaks, prawns, croissants, herbs and cauliflower.

I have also been heeding my own advice (posted on Mums Money Tips section Freeze, Freeze, Freeze) and have been opening and shutting the freezer door more times than i've had hot dinners due to freezing every leftover I can find; herbs, bread, fruit, meat, banana, grapes, pitta bread and berries!

Banana???!!! yes, banana! not any old banana, one that has been peeled and rolled in desicated coconut, frozen bananas are great for teething babies and a really fun desert or late night snack instead of biccies. Check out the chocolate dipped frozen banana

I still struggle with buying canned food over fresh as there just seems to be something strange about vegetables in a tin, although canned food is great for value for money and portion control. If you are anything like me, my eyes are ALWAYS bigger than my belly.

According to The Grocer magazine canned soups account for 95% of the soup market, I have to tell you, I can believe that when Baxters bring out such scrumptious recipes such as Tomato with roasted garlic and parmesan, er hello! bring me more. You are also doing your bit for the environmant as Baxters cans are recyclable and are already 35% recycled.

Supermarkets 'use discounts to disguise price rises'

Interesting article about how supermarket promotions discount prices and then push the price up higher than it was previously when the deal is over.

http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/uk/Supermarkets-39use-discounts-to-disguise.4982727.jp

On my next shop i'll have my toddler in one hand, a calculator and notebook of all my old shopping prices in the other :-)

The many talents of the humble cucumber

I often read my newspaper in the bath, it's seems to be the only time I get to myself, once my husband and son have been fed and watered and the younger of the two is safely tucked up in bed.

It is certainly not the best way to read a newspaper as I often drop it in the water, as I did the other day when I read the price of cucumbers have risen nearly 46% this month due to a reduced harvest in Spain - I nearly laughed out loud!

Has the world gone totally mad?!

After googling this fact I came across many forums about people complaining about the rise (gone up to £1.24 apparently), so I thought I would post about the many talents of the humble cucumber - so you can justify the cost if you do dare to purchase one.

Cucumber recipes (no I am not joking!)
Cookitsimply

Cucumber beauty regime
1/2 peeled cucumber and puree in a blender, add 1 tablespoon of plain yogurt, apply to face and leave for 20 minutes. Wipe off with a damp cloth.

Grow your own cucumbers
Lets go gardening

Packed lunch
Good ol' cheese and cucumber sarnies!

Jamie saves our bacon

It's one of those programmes I wish I hadn't watched but just couldn't help myself. I am squeamish at the best of times and although I tend to buy organic meat, I still don't feel 100% comfortable with eating it, the smell of lamb makes me feel sick, I can't eat roast chicken anymore since forgetting to remove the insides before roasting and getting a nasty shock when I removed the lemon and onion out of it's bottom! Now bacon I can get my head around with lots of brown sauce but beef, after a few chews (as the Dragons say) I'm out!

Jamie's programme about pigs was certainly the last nail in the coffin for my meat eating diet.

The programme was fascinating, upsetting and informative. Apparantly cheaper cuts of pork are up 270% at Waitrose thanks to Jamie educating the public. What an amazing acheivement. Good work Jamie!

Sales over the weekend following the airing of the show were up 20% according to The Grocer Magazine due to Jamie hammering home the importance of buying British to support our farmers, the better standards of animal welfare and the cold weather, hmmm yes, nothing like snuggling up to a piece of pork shoulder to keep you warm on these snowy, wintery days :-)

His website has a piggy illustration where you can click on the numbered part of the pig and find a recipe: http://www.jamieoliver.com/bacon/

Right, off to rustle up a veggie breakfast!

50% off Gourmet Society Membership

If you are a foodie and like to eat out, then BaBeeCard will save you 50% off a Gourmet Society membership. Gourmet Society has over 1,500 restaurants on their scheme around the UK.

Membership lasts for 14 months (which includes 2 months free) and offers you 2 meals for 1 or 25% off your bill which includes drinks.

Membership should be £53.50 but BaBeeCard will give you access to the membership for only £25.00. You can also buy the membership as a gift for a loved one or friend.

Great savings for social animals....

I need to eat out more this year, think I should add that to my New Year resolution list.

As a nasty woman once told me "A moment on your lips, a lifetime on your hips".

Perhaps I could stick to salad and water? Yeah right!