This guest post comes to you from the pen of Tamsin Oxford, staff writer on PlayPennies.com , a UK website for pennywise parents.
There is nothing quite as terrifying as the prospect of going shopping over the weekend in search of school supplies. The endless queues, the crowds of harried shoppers, the whining of hungry and tired tots, and so the list goes on. If you haven’t already, it’s time to stop, stay at home, and do it all online. You may have to pay for delivery but that’s already cheaper than bus fare/parking/ petrol.
The thing is, when you first open up the internet using your favourite search engine, it’s difficult to know where to start. Do you visit your usual retail haunts and see what they have on offer, or do you trawl through acres of pages in search of what you need?
This is where the hard work of other people makes your life easier. There are quite a few sites that list all the latest bargains on their sites. You only need to amble onto the landing page, search for the items you need, and see what special offers come up. It’s brilliant way to save money by taking advantage of special offers, sales and bundled deals.
When it comes to school supplies, there are so many exciting offers on at the moment you’re going to be hard pressed to choose which ones you prefer. I advise having a shopping list at the ready so you don’t forget the essentials, and don’t buy too much. It’s one thing to have a fantastic deal but often we can get so swept up in the excitement that we buy too much or buy things we don’t need. And that just kills any savings you could have made.
Old hands at the school shopping insanity will know which brands of school clothes are the most robust. If you are new to the business, you may have to brave the shops just one last time so you can try out the fit on your kids and check the quality first hand. Once that’s done you can get exactly what you want online.
The special offers often come from many of the lesser known online stores, but they can be truly impressive – like 100 pens for £1.29 including free delivery. You won’t be needing to stock up on those for at least a year. The thing is, finding deals like these demands a measure of patience. Shopping online is far more convenient (and you can drink a nice cup of tea while you’re doing it) but it can take a very long time if you are determined to find the very best bargains.
It takes me at least four to five hours to complete my online shopping for school goodies but I have saved so much money. I sorted out my daughter’s entire school wardrobe and essentials for less than £40 this year. And that includes shoes!
Hey, sod the tea, get a glass of wine and do the online shop with your feet up and your kids quietly asleep in bed.
Popularity: 1% [?]
Saving time & money buying online
For this weeks Freebie Friday we have teamed up with Nelsons, the UK’s leading manufacturer of natural healthcare products, to give away 10 of their
Recently in The Times the weekend section was titled “Who needs Nintendo? How to have an Enid Blyton summer” and was full of some great articles by people like Dr. Tanya Byron and Chris Packham about putting the fun and freedom back into children’s outdoors experience and the value of unsupervised and unstructured play where imaginations as well as bodies could run free.
The summer holidays are finally here which is great for the kids… but what about the parents? Mums and dads all over the country will be trying to concoct a host of ideas of how to keep the kids entertained for six weeks. Many will also be trying to come up with ideas of how to fund the summer- as keeping the kids active and engaged can be an expensive task. A fun day out need not cost an arm and a leg, which is why we’ve put this guide together to give you a little help with keeping the little ones busy…
When you become a parent your relationship with sleep changes for ever. Add to the mix the added stress of running a business around a family, and it can be all too easy to end up burning the candle at both ends, and sacrificing sleep in favour of ticking off a neverending To Do list. In this article Registered Nurse Sue Bedford explains why sleep is so important and offers some tips for a good night’s sleep.
NB. Having recently experienced a period of difficulty sleeping I was kindly sent some
There are more pregnancy and motherhood advice books on the market than you can shake a Clearblue stick at! Most of them are earnest, some of them are finger-wagging, and others seem designed to make you feel guilty every second of the day. This is not one of those books.
MTB groups are all run by busy mums with their own children who know all about the pressures that holidays can bring – particularly if you are trying to juggle being with the children and keeping on top of things with your business.
Are you looking forward to the summer holidays or dreading them? However you feel you can’t escape that they are now upon us. As we embark on the holidays I’m actually really looking forward to a break from the school run routine – but I know that a week or so in I may be longing for some structure and routine back in our lives!
This week we are setting you a Daily Challenge – to spend ½ hour every day doing something you enjoy and which relaxes you.
For some the Easter holidays are already a week old, but for us it just started. So what are we planning on doing with our 2 weeks? As little as possible verging on nothing at all is the simple answer.
I make no secret of the fact – I hate housework. I’m not one of those people whose idea of a treat is to don her marigolds and lose herself in cleaning, polishing and scrubbing (and believe me, I know people like this *shudder*).
Some months ago I was delighted to be asked if one of my poems could be included in an online magazine written by mums for mums, called
In this guest blog Gabriella Howson, Managing Director of Tonicity Ltd, talks about the importance of exercising your hidden muscles.
I’m ashamed to admit it has taken me 40 years to have this great idea, but now I have, I thought I would a) share it with you and b) ask your advice.
After a post-Christmas weigh-in I find myself with something of a problem. I am the heaviest I have ever been (including being pregnant) and I need to lose weight. Yes I’m a mummy, but this is not Baby Fat. This is Toddler Fat. Let me explain……
I find New Year a strange mix of emotions - a time of reflection on the year just ending and the promise and potential of the year to come. 7 years ago I started a little personal tradition of writing myself a letter on New Year’s Eve. I have usually started to think about this in the weeks leading up to New Year, as I open the one from the previous year just after Christmas. I tend to forget over the course of the year what I have written, and it is lovely to open the envelope and rediscover what I had hoped for. It is a lovely way of reflecting on the different aspects of the year and noting what has happened as hoped for, but also that which hadn’t been expected or planned.





