Magazines.

I very, very rarely buy mags in the shops as I just don't think it's worth it! I will occasionally, if there's a really good gift with it or if I'm desperate for something to read. What I prefer to do is sign up to magazine subscriptions online. There are regular offers meaning you can get a few copies at a very low price and/or with a great free gift.

This year I've had subscriptions for 3 copies each (I think? Maybe 4...) of Heat and Grazia for £3. I had a terrible time with their customer services as after the confirmation letter & first copy of each, I received nothing. They said the address was wrong and the magazines were sent back - how is that possible when I had received the letter and first magazines?? Anyway, in the end it got sorted out, I got back copies of all that I'd missed (despite not wanting them!) & had the subscription extended so god knows how many I ended up with, about 12 of each I think. I've got them piled up ready to give to the girls to make collages.

I signed up for a subscription to Radio Times, I think that was 6 months worth for £1? Excellent bargain there, I don't particularly want to read them but again they are great for crafts.

Lastly, I have a subscription to Glamour - this is my favourite! I paid £6 for this one and I have no idea how many months that covers. Maybe 6? And I also got a lovely package of hair products from them as a gift for signing up. It's one of the more upmarket Schwarzkopf sets, and I got shampoo, conditioner, deep conditioner and serum which have kept me going for a good 5 months so far. Anyway, I'm always surprised when it arrives as, like if say, I can't remember how many copies I'm getting!

Over the period I've been getting Glamour, I've been really impressed. There's been a few free gifts and even in the months where there isn't a free gift, there's trial sachets and perfume testers inside which I love! I also find it's a bit more 'educated' than some of the other glossies, and has more in-depth articles about more important subjects.

So, December's Glamour just popped unexpectedly through my door and I'm over the moon. I have a letter to take to my closest Nails, Inc counter to get a free nail varnish worth £11. I have a gift card for either £3, £15 or £100 off at Body Shop with no minimum spend. I have a discount card for 20% off at H&M. And I have a sachet of Pantene conditioner, and a tester of Calvin Klein perfume. On top of that, I'm actually looking forward to reading the magazine itself!

Frugal meals! And a cheap trip to the cinema...

We had a treat day yesterday as when S is off midweek we like to have a date day. We did a little bit of shopping and had lunch in a new all you can days world buffet restaurant. It was £6.99 each which included unlimited drinks too and it was lovely. We went there around 12:30 and didn't need anything to eat for the rest of the day! We popped to a local coffee shop for some peppermint tea after to help us digest. That was £3.40 altogether but we realised afterwards the teapots were big enough for probably about 4 cups so we could have easily shared.

Then we went to the cinema to see Annabelle. We usually only go on a Tuesday or Wednesday when it's cheap - but I had a voucher for 2 4 1 entry every Monday this month, plus we had a voucher each for a free drink or popcorn. Excellent bargain! £7.50 total for two tickets and two cups of Pepsi Max. The film was good too, creepy and the baby in it was adorable which made us even more excited for ours coming in a few weeks.

So today, S is back at work, the girls are at their dad's still so I'm alone til about 6pm. I've got housework to do - I've done some of it already - and I've just done lunch and tea - it's leftover day!

For tea we are using our trusty Crock Pot. I've put in:

*1/3 bottle mulled wine - leftover from sometime last week when I cooked beef in it
*turkey - leftover from our Sunday dinner
*1/2 pack bacon - used the other half last week with gnocchi and it needed using up
*small bowl mixed veg - leftover from Sunday dinner
*2 beetroot - leftover from last week
*mug of lamb stock
*handful of chopped onion

And later I will add some veg - probably spinach - and mixed herbs. Great low-cost meal with ingredients a lot of people would probably throw away, and I've now got room in my fridge to defrost meat for tomorrow.

For lunch, I had about 1/3 of a boil in the bag rice left over from Saturday. I fried that in the bacon fat after adding the bacon to the crock pot. Then I added 2 whisked eggs & a handful of chopped onion. Although I hate waste, rice is one thing I would normally throw away if I made too much so I'm pretty chuffed with this low-cost meal.

My morning in town.

Yesterday I spent my morning in town after dropping the kids off at school. I was going to get my favourite bus, the one that only costs £2.10 for a day ticket, but wouldn't you know it - I waited about 20 mins at the bus stop then when it came up the street I was looking away and missed it. So I walked about 10 mins to the metro station and the metro pulled up just as I arrived so it left when I was buying my ticket! So after leaving school at 8:50 I didn't get to town until 9:40 even though it's probably a 20 min walk from school!

I went to Wilkinsons to get a drink and snack as I realised I hadn't had breakfast. Got a bottle of Irn Bru and something I've never seen before which was a strawberry meringue bar! A bar of meringue with chewy strawberry bits in. It was lovely. More excitingly, I checked out the reduced section and found a load of kitsch baking stuff reduced. I got a pack of 2 cake boxes to fit 6 cupcakes each, one floral and one dotty, for 25p.  I got a pack of 3 star shaped cookie cutters for 50p. And I got a pack of 6 little windmills to decorate cakes with for 25p! I was happy with that little stash and will use the cake boxes for presents. I might even go back on Monday and see if there's any left.

I went to the library and got a couple of books out inc the newest Charlaine Harris one which I was happy with. I picked up the girls' new coats from Argos and was really happy when R tried hers on. It's labelled as waterproof and windproof and it's meant to be great for keeping heat in. It's also quite long, knee-length. It looks sturdy and sensible and will be great for school, the park, the beach... Everything!

I popped into M&S because I'd seen 1D t-shirts online for only £2 but they didn't have L's size. Well, in store they only had 11-12 which was no good, so instead I looked at the reduced baby stuff. I found a beautiful set for the baby which was a cream long-sleeved vest with a design and diamantes on the front, a matching dusky pink tutu, and cream tights with a pretend shoe design on in the same dusky pink. This was from their Autograph range and originally cost £22 but was reduced to £8 - and because I had a gift card with £7.10 on it, it only cost me 90p!

I went into the YMCA charity shop after that and found a couple of other things for baby - 2 pairs of tights and a bunny ear hat - all priced at 49p each, and I treated S to a book about motorbikes. He loves bikes. And this was a book about the history of them with pictures and info right from the first bikes up until the "modern day" - only the book was printed in 1978 so even they look ancient to us! I thought it was great, and only cost 99p.

Now, the other thing I bought yesterday is the reason why we are staying home today and waiting for the delivery man - I popped into the BHF charity shop (which sells only furniture, electricals and homewares) as there's a couple of things we needed for storage. I managed to find a perfect set of shelves which is ideal for our hall! We have very limited storage but in the hallway we need to store motorbike stuff and outdoor toys. These shelves have metal sides and wooden shelves and they aren't enclosed at the top or sides which means you're not constricted by the size, it's ok if things stick out upwards or sidewards. Well, the shelves cost £20 and then it was £10 for delivery which seems like a bargain to me. I should really have had a deeper look around for other items to make the £10 delivery go further but I wasn't feeling too well after skipping breakfast so didn't bother. But I'm pretty chuffed with that - one of my jobs today after they arrive will be altering the shelf positions and arranging stuff on them :)

This weekend.

Oh dear, I've woken up feeling pretty crappy this morning. I've been sick and still feel sick. I'm also feeling a bit down which I attribute to feeling ill!

S has had a 3 day weekend. On Friday we did basically nothing, just lay around all day and watched a film (The Uninvited). We weren't that thrilled with it, but the ending was good and now we plan to watch the Korean original.

On Saturday we spent the day relaxing/napping again then on the evening went out for a meal with my family to celebrate my niece, M, going off to uni. She's going to York, which is far away from the point of view that nobody in our family has ever moved out of the county to go to uni, but close enough that she can come home any time she wants. We went to Nandos, which I'd never tried before - it was okay but I wouldn't choose to go again. We spent about £25 on food and drink, plus £11 on a card and Tesco gift card for M - so not a particularly frugal evening, but worth it IMO as a one-off for the enjoyment of seeing my family.

Yesterday, again we spent time relaxing and we also watched Paranormal Activity: The Marked Ones. It was quite good... But I prefer the original series. We had Sunday dinner consisting of turkey, mashed carrot and swede (my favourite!), Yorkshire puds, roasties and cheesy courgette. The cheesy courgette was something I found on Pinterest which looks horrible but tastes lovely, such a comfort food. It's not one of my favourite dishes that I've found on Pinterest but I'd definitely have it again.

Today S is back to work & I'm home alone til about 19:30. I have a to-do list of cleaning and organising jobs but some of these can roll over onto tomorrow or Wednesday morning - which is just as well considering how yucky I feel!

One job I do need to do, though, is making pasta sauce in the slow cooker. I very, very rarely buy pasta sauce but usually I just add a tin of chopped tomatoes and then add other ingredients as I go along. This time, I'm going loosely from a recipe on Pinterest but I'll add the usual suspects too such as Worcester sauce, plus grated carrot and cherry tomatoes as I have some that are past their best. Then I'm planning to blend it, use some for tea tonight, and freeze the rest. As well as being healthier and more convenient, I'm hoping the smoother texture will appeal more to the kids - and the hidden veg is certainly a bonus too!

Is it Autumn yet?

Well, summer is over in my house. My girls are spending this last week of the hols at their dad's, as he hasn't been able to have much quality time with them over the rest of the six weeks - which is pretty rubbish for me as this is the longest I've ever been apart from them.

The good news is that because the girls are away, and S is working silly shifts (1-10), and the letting agent came for a house inspection on Tuesday - it's really given me the impetus to have a good clean! I have no willpower and so this is the tidiest it's been since we moved in and I hope to keep it this way. The laundry has changed from a mountain to a handful of items, not even enough to run a load!

My frugal tips for cleaning?

• You don't need 101 different cleaning products. At the minute I'm using a 99p apple-scented antibacterial spray from Morrisons. I've just bought a 25p all-purpose cleaner from Tesco with the aim of cleaning the floors with it once I buy a mop - but it can be used for surfaces etc too. I have an Astonish mould and mildew remover from Poundland which works wonders in my bathroom at getting rid of the yucky black marks (my bathroom has no window so it's not surprising if it gets a bit damp in there). I have Toilet Duck, and of course washing up liquid (Tesco brand) & laundry products. I also find baby wipes come in handy for all sorts!
• I buy large boxes/bottles of branded laundry products when they're on offer. They last me months & I've tried using the cheaper brands of powder before but I don't feel they remove our marks - similarly, I don't think the cheaper fabric conditioners scent the clothes for as long. I do use less than the recommended amount. I paid about £7 for our box of Surf when we moved in (May), and it's about halfway through now. I've considered making my own... But I'm not sure it will work out as worth it!
• Vinegar! Every so often I have a vinegar phase. It's so cheap and a fab cleaner for all sorts. Iuse it in a spray to clean surfaces (sometimes sprayed over bicarbonate of soda for tough marks) and sometimes instead of fabric conditioner. I used to use it neat but saw a tip online to use your old citrus peel to infuse the vinegar, so I had a jar stuffed full of orange peels which I then poured vinegar over and left to sit until I needed to refill the spray bottle. The orange scents the vinegar, and the vinegar pickles the peel, meaning that you can pretty much keep it in the jar indefinitely, refilling with vinegar as needed and it won't go off - mine stayed in there over a year. Another option would be adding a small amount of essential oil for the scent of your choice.
• Lovely smells. Scenting my house is a little low-cost luxury for me which makes my house feel that bit cosier. I can't stand scents that smell synthetic, like plug-ins or aerosol air fresheners - they're not for me. What I prefer instead is Febreze, scented candles, incense sticks or oil burners. I bought some Febreze recently from Poundland but rather than buying another when it ran out, I refilled the bottle with a mix of fabric conditioner and water. I like to spray the bedding and carpet with it to freshen up the bedrooms - it's a nice clean scent. Right now in my sitting-room I have a Glade blackberry and fig candle which I bought reduced from Tesco for £2. It has a lovely scent which drifts around the house (the stairs lead up from the sitting-room) - it's a little bit Christmassy but not overwhelmingly so. I LOVE Glade's Christmas scents but I'm not willing to pay £5 for the pleasure just now ;)

I think that's about it on the frugal cleaning front! Welcome to my new readers who are here from Netmums *waves*

Last weekend.

The girls' dad picked them up at 6:30am on Sat. We had to stay in all day to wait for a parcel so we made the most of it!

S put together a wardrobe we have had sitting upstairs for a couple of months. Although our house is furnished, there wasn't enough wardrobe space. I had a look in the BHF shop a few times as they usually have good, sturdy furniture for a low price. I've bought wardrobes from there before, solid wood ones that were decades old for only about £50. Unfortunately I couldn't find anything this time though, so we got this set. It was really handy as I'd just moved L into her own room at the time (she and R had shared previously) so she got the shelves and we got the wardrobe.

Once that was up, I spent the day sorting out bits and pieces. Clean laundry that hadn't been out away, random boxes of stuff, relocating make-up and things. Our room looks so much better now! I need to do a bit more tidying in there today and then vacuum, and then the plan is to hopefully keep it tidy. We aren't the tidiest people!

We also dyed my hair so it is now dip-dyed turquoise!

All in all a no-spend day as we went nowhere but were productive. I also came up with an amazing tea, which was 1/2 pack cooking bacon, 3/4 pack gnocchi, 1/2 pack soft cheese, 1/2 block cheddar and a few handfuls of kale and peas, topped with fried cherry tomatoes. It was the creamiest, cheesiest sauce I've ever had and we will definitely be making it again. Approx cost: £1.75; kale was free from Morrisons, peas and tomatoes would have cost pennies as they were from the value range but I've included them roughly. Less than 90p per serving and I'd have happily paid £5 in a pub served with garlic bread.

Sunday was a lazy day. We were planning to go to a bar in Newcastle for my birthday meal but I actually forgot until Saturday! We already celebrated with the kids on Wednesday and that feels like ages ago now. The bar in question serves the most amazing steaks I've ever had. We went last year when I won a £50 voucher at work and paid £12 each for the steaks on a special offer (the rest went on cocktails!) I've been wanting to go ever since, although the price had gone up so it would have been £14 each. In the end though I decided at almost 7 months pregnant, I know my body and I know after a big meal I'd rather just go straight to bed to chill rather than enduring a 25 minute metro ride and 15 minute walk. So we decided to go to our local instead!

We don't really drink, but we do enjoy the food at our local. It's a Greene King pub, and has great offers. For kids, it's £3.49 for a 2 course meal and a drink and then adults have daily specials. We actually visited on Friday too as a treat for the kids. But on Sunday, we decided that would be a good compromise. I got a standard Sunday roast which comes with roasties, carrots, peas, broccoli, gravy, Yorkshire pud and half a roast chicken. S got the large meal, which comes with extra roasties and veg plus a whole turkey drumstick *as well as* the half roast chicken or beef which comes as standard. He got a Guinness and I had a pint of lemonade, and for afters we had churros to share. Altogether it came to £19.66 but we had a voucher for £5 off, printed from their site, so we only paid £14.66 - bargain considering if we'd gone to Newcastle, we'd have paid £28 for food, £9 for travel plus drinks on top of that.

Summer holiday fun!

Last year was my first with a proper 'summer holiday' break and I took about one day off a week. It saved me a bit of money in childcare, but of course because L wasn't at school I was spending more than usual, over £100 a week. I also couldn't really do much with the girls. I knew they were doing fun activities at the childminder's... But I didn't get to participate.

This year I deliberately started my annual leave and maternity leave in July as I didn't see the point in paying for childcare when I could be spending time with my girls myself! As a result I'm only paying £40 for the contracted hours and the girls are going there one day a week.

Before the hols started, I printed some summer holiday planner sheets from Netmums - one for each week of the holiday. They only run Mon-Fri, which is odd - but I guess a lot of parents already have Saturday and Sunday off so it's only to cater for the extra days. I found the planner really useful. I've noted S' shifts and everyone's appointments, plus our daily plans. I'm flexible on these - for example on Friday we should have gone to soft play, but it was raining, so we stayed home and did some educational activities and watched a film instead. Incidentally, I'm not telling the girls our plans for the most part so that they get a nice surprise on the morning and aren't disappointed if we don't go for any reason.

So, here are some of the things we have done or plan to do:

- Visiting local parks with a picnic - free
- Visiting local museums - often this is connected to the one above - free or small charge for extras
- Signing up to the library and borrowing books/participating in craft activities - free or small charge for extras
- Visiting local art galleries and joining in with craft activities - free or small charge for extras
- Sleepover at Grandma's house
- Visiting the shops that the girls like - such as Lush, Poundland, Disney Shop, the pet shop etc - technically free!
- Soft play - BOGOF locally so £2 each before 10am, bargain!
- Beach, again with a picnic - free
- Sunderland International Airshow - we spent a bit here on souvenirs, rides etc but it was mostly free. We could have done it for free, I just wanted to treat the girls. And they got loads of free sweets!
- Sunderland Glass Centre - free entry, small charge for craft activities
- Walk by the river and marina with picnic - free
- Hairdresser - likely about £15 total, something necessary for school but only done once a year so quite a novelty!
- Optician & dentist - free - again not really a 'treat' activity, but needs to be done and the girls will hopefully find it interesting!
- Swimming - I think it's about £12 for a family ticket
- Funfair - we may do this as part of a day out in South Shields - so it'll be about £25 for ride tickets but then can keep costs down elsewhere by taking a picnic etc
- Metrocentre - around £11 travel costs - this is for my birthday so we will be spending more while we are there as it is a special day
- Cinema - £10 total or preferably less - I never spend full price for the cinema! The most I would pay is Orange Wednesday or Saver Tuesday prices. We usually go to Empire Juniors on the weekend which is just £1.25 per person. On this occasion we are going to the Odeon in the Metrocentre which is £2.50 each but on every morning, not just weekends.
- Bowling - early bird special - unclear whether this is £2 per game or per person
- Newcastle Centre for Life - around £69 for a year's family ticket which we will likely invest in
- Visiting Nanna and her new puppy - free
- Educational activity books to keep them in practice over the summer - cost around £5 per child
- Scrapbooks to document everything we are doing
- Eating out - McDonalds, pub, restaurant, ice cream parlour, cafe - price varies

That's all I can think of offhand! As you can see, we aren't doing anything too pricey because we simply can't afford it. The more expensive stuff is a one-off but activities really don't have to be expensive to keep kids happy, certainly not aged 4 & 6! We do have parks and a beach within literally minutes walk of the house so they aren't big trips and we are spending time at home too. I don't want the girls to do so much that they get bored of it... And not only that but as I am currently 6.5 months pregnant I just can't handle lots of walking! We are aiming to do the more exciting things when S is off work which is handy as it spaces them out nicely.

I hope that we are creating lots of nice memories. I'm lucky in that I will also have next summer holidays off thanks to taking a full year maternity leave!