Gumtree selling site for big items

I’ve had a lot of success on Gumtree over the years when selling big, collect only items. I’ve sold numerous cars, a freezer, a bike, a dining table and even an oak front door. The site is easy to use and creating ads is quick and simple. There are no listing fees and you can add up to 20 images at no charge. There are additional paid for services should you want. These include adding a link to your website (£5.21) and numerous ad promotion options.

Go to: https://www.gumtree.com/

De-cluttering baby equipment

I amassed so much equipment when the children were babies especially as the twins needed additional specialised items. I found Preloved UK a great selling site for this type of stuff and items such as feeding cushions, a Medela Double Electric Breast Pump, the iCandy Peach Blossom and a Silver Cross 3D Pram System were snapped up.

The site is extremely easy to navigate. Again it’s free to list and you can upload three photos for free. If you’ve subscribed to Preloved Premium membership, you can add unlimited photos. You can set a specific price, invite offers, say you’ll accept near offers, very near offers or offers above ‘x’.

Go to: https://www.preloved.co.uk

Selling children’s clothes locally and further afield

Outgrown clothes accumulate quickly so serious de-cluttering is needed regularly. I find the local selling pages on Facebook great for bundles of lower valued items as well as higher value pieces. My go to is Kidz Stuff Surrey. This is great as people can see exactly where you’re based and can usually collect, which saves on faffing on postage and packing. There are also even more localised selling groups. For designer/high end items there are some brand-specific groups such as Mini Boden and Joules childrens’ clothes. The audiences on these sites know exactly the worth of the items listed so these are the perfect venues. However, you are likely to have to post the items. Facebook marketplace is also a great option.

Vinted for children’s and adult’s clothes

I’m quite new to Vinted, but am finding it a good platform, which is really easy to use. You can add up to 20 photos and there are lots of drop down menus that help you to describe the item as well as select the brand. I initially thought that the suggested prices for items was too low, but soon discovered that this is recouped on the shipping costs, which are paid for by the buyer. Vinted even generates the shipping label for you. You also receive updates about the progress of the order and you’ll be alerted as soon as the buyer receives.

Go to: https://www.vinted.co.uk

Top tips for selling online 

• Good pictures are vital
• Be realistic, if you price too high you’ll put people off
• That said, don’t go too low as you might be bartered even lower
• Descriptions should be informative but succinct
• For something like a buggy, people will want the instruction manuals, without these you can’t expect to get as high a price
• If you are sending items by post, don’t buy posting and packaging until you have received payment (or at least a deposit)
• Be prepared for time wasters and learn how to spot them
• If someone is coming to pay in cash for a larger item and requests you take it off the market, then you need to get a deposit
• If you’re not doing a face-to-face transaction, then PayPal is the way to go

De-cluttering with a Nearly New Sale 

Keep an eye out for local Nearly New Sales. These are great for shifting large volumes of items in one go. You have to pay for a table (and rail if you want to hire), but if you’ve got a lot of stuff and some higher value items, it’s very easy to recoup and make a healthy profit. They are often publicised with posters at church halls and community centres and you can use the following links to find out where your local NCT sales and Mum2Mum Markets are taking place. These two are the biggest out there. Whilst I haven’t done an NCT sale, I have done a number of Mum2Mum Markets. You can find out more about this here.

Happy de-cluttering!

The post De-cluttering in the New Year (and making money) appeared first on The Parent Social.

Wills are also very important if you’re not married or not in a civil partnership. When a person dies without leaving a valid will their estate is shared out according to certain rules. These are called the rules of intestacy. Only married couples or civil partners (and some other close relatives) can inherit under these rules.

Another thing to note is that whilst it’s fine to include your funeral wishes within a will this isn’t actually legally binding.

Will Aid month – donate to charity instead of paying a solicitor 

November is Will Aid month. During this month, instead of paying a participating solicitor a fee for drafting a will/wills, you are invited to make a voluntary donation to Will Aid. The donation supports the work of nine Will Aid charities:

ActionAid, AgeUK, British Red Cross, Christian Aid, NSPCC, Save the Children, SCIAF, Sightsavers and Trócaire

The suggested donation is £100 for a basic will or £180 for a pair of basic mirror wills. To give you an idea of the usual costs, the Co-op charges from £150 for a single will and from £245 for mirror wills. It’s worth noting that the final cost is likely to be higher as these are the entry level prices.

We gave the suggested donation, so it cost significantly less than our solicitor’s usual fee and we’d given to charities – win, win.

Book in plenty of time so you can get a November appointment. You can look up participating Will Aid solicitors here.

A note on mirror wills

Mirror wills describes when a husband and wife or partners make almost identical wills. Often in these cases each person leaves everything to the  other if they die. In the event that both die together then any inheritance goes directly to the children. There are various pros and cons to mirror wills and obviously everyone’s situation is different, so, as always, do your own research!

For more information visit: https://www.willaid.org.uk/ 

The post Will Aid Month – Getting Wills Drafted For Less appeared first on The Parent Social.

The current cost of living crisis

I’ve often talked about money saving and money-making ideas as a way to boost income and reduce costs. However, we’re currently experiencing rather unique circumstances and for the first time I’ve been properly talking to our children about how the macro things affect us.

I’ve always advocated talking to children about saving and budgeting (when they are old enough to understand). Now more than ever, I think it’s important we talk about what’s happening and its personal impact. It’s also vital to have these discussions to put into context what children have undoubtedly consumed via their peers, TV or social media.

How we’re talking to the children about rising costs

Honesty is the best policy. We’ve been having lots of conversations about topics such as inflation, interest rates, mortgages and rising food, petrol and energy costs (and how they all interlink). We’ve stressed the importance of being mindful about our consumption but at the same time have allayed concerns. It’s a fine line between raising awareness and causing panic; we’ve tried to counter the sensationalist headlines they’re exposed to.

Reinforcing good habits

We’ve mainly tried to reinforce habits that we’ve always promoted and explained how these help. These include:

• The importance of saving
• Switching off lights when leaving a room
• Turning off appliances and electronic devices when not using
• Not wasting food
• Not spending money on ‘stuff’ for the sake of it (differentiating between wants and needs)
• Being savvy when it comes to shopping
• Putting on a jumper instead of immediately whacking on the central heating (this will be coming into play soon!)

Cutting back and lifestyle tweaks

We’ve said that we’ll need to cut back a bit in the autumn and winter but have not been dramatic. Ultimately, it’s important to be realistic. It’s also important to not paint it as an insurmountable problem (even if it feels a bit like that). A key thing has been to emphasise how they can actively help.

Be clear with children if the current climate means you have to cut back on some of their favourite brands at the supermarket, or if you need to take them to more budget-friendly clothing stores to pick out new items. Reassure – but don’t promise – them this should only be temporary and help them to understand how important it is to appreciate all that they do still have, rather than what they don’t.

Brean Horne, a personal finance expert at NerdWallet

I think it’s imperative to manage expectations especially with celebrations such as Halloween and (dare I say it) Christmas coming up. Whilst we might previously have bought a new costume for Halloween, we’ll be customising stuff we already have. Similarly, we won’t be ordering costumes off of Amazon every time there’s some event or dress up day at school.

We’ll be cutting down on things like bowling, cinema trips and pub lunches. Instead, we’ll be hunting for new walks and doing free and outdoor activities such as going to the seaside, visiting museums and having more film nights at home. Our National Trust membership is very cost-effective for days out. We also love having family games nights, which don’t cost a penny.

And finally…

I often find that children are more perceptive than we give credit for. By involving them in conversations and explaining things realistically, you might be surprised at how understanding and helpful they are.

The post Discussing the rising cost of living with children appeared first on The Parent Social.

Ways to counteract food inflation

By changing habits a little, being a bit more adaptable/flexible and knowing some of the pitfalls there are a number of simple ways to regularly save money. So here, in no particular order are 12 tips.

Don’t pay for convenience

Carrot batons, celery sticks, pre-grated cheese, prepared fruit, ready diced meat… they’re all more convenient, but this comes at a hefty price.

For example, 350g of pre-cut celery sticks are £1.10 compared with 70p for 470g (over 350g when cleaned); loose carrots at Sainsbury’s are 80p per kg versus its carrot batons, which are a whopping £2.50 per kg (and they’re pretty flavourless)!

Aldi’s Ashfields British Chicken Breast Fillets 1kg are £5.99 per kilo, the exact same brand’s diced version is £7.48 per kilo.

Ready-meals are a lot more expensive than making the dish yourself. I spotted an M&S Carbonara (for one), which was a staggering £4.75! That’s more than it costs me to make a Carbonara for five of us. Recipe here.

Shop around (literally)

Loyalty doesn’t always pay so mix up your shops. Chopping and changing where you do your supermarket shop often results in the ‘neglected’ supermarket sending you money off vouchers to entice you back.

If you’re trying to save, it’s tempting to only visit the budget supermarkets. However, if you shop at a variety you can access lots more deals, receive far more money off coupons and can also gauge which ones have the best prices on particular products. Also, many of the traditionally more expensive supermarkets now price match the likes of Aldi.

Check your marketing emails

The more supermarkets you’re signed up with, the more marketing emails tailored to your buying habits you’ll receive. I also get inbox notifications each week from Waitrose, Sainsbury’s and Marks & Spencers about my new vouchers, which are linked to my loyalty card.

I recently received a promotional code straight into my inbox for £10 off my first three shops on Amazon’s same day delivery service of Morrisons groceries. The minimum spend is just £40. You can receive the same by visiting here.

Freezer fodder

If you see a good multi-buy or just a good deal for something that can be frozen, stock up whilst it’s on offer. Yellow stickered items can be so cheap, but that’s often because they have to be eaten that day. If however, they’re freezable you’re onto a winner.

Fill up on frozen veg. It’s a common misconception that frozen veg is far inferior to fresh. In the case of something like peas, they are frozen within a couple of hours of being picked so very few nutrients are lost. The frozen varieties of things like sweetcorn, broccoli and peas are not only cheaper but also save on waste.

Switching brands and making substitutions

Chopped tomatoes is a classic example of where a brand substitution makes a huge difference; just look at the price per 1kg variations above! There’ll probably be differences in quality, but for making a basic tomato sauce/base of a casserole you don’t need the finest. The same applies to tinned beans and lentils.

My kids go bonkers with cheese on their pasta so I often substitute Parmesan for Grana Padana; the former is £15.50 per kg and the latter £10.23 per kg at Tesco. They’re both Italian hard cheeses made from unpasteurised cow’s milk and for the purposes of grating they can’t tell the difference.

Similarly, I was making a quiche that called for Gruyere cheese. It was an eye-watering £26.30 a kg so I opted for Swiss Fior Delle Alpi instead for £21.77 a kg. Again no one noticed.

Also, check out Tesco’s Perfectly Imperfect range, which tackles both food inflation and food waste.

Head to the baking and world food aisles

For nuts and dried fruit such as raisins, sultanas and berries, head to the baking aisle instead of the ‘snacking’ aisle. Often in bigger pack sizes and minus the recognisable branding, they are usually a lot cheaper.

Likewise hit the ‘world foods’ aisle to pick up your herbs, spices, sauces, rice and more on the cheap.

Swap to less popular/cheaper cuts of meat

I now use turkey thigh mince as opposed to breast mince to make turkey burgers. It’s much cheaper and actually more flavoursome. Check out the recipe here.

The same goes for beef/lamb mince that has more fat (5% versus 10/15%). It takes seconds to drain excess fat when you’re cooking and the saving is significant.

Pork shoulder steaks are really cheap. They require a lot of cooking time to become tender, but its completely worth it. I use them for a pork, cannellini and chorizo stew.

Buy seasonal

Obviously, you can’t do this for everything, but buying fruit and veg that’s in season is a major way to fight food inflation. Products also taste so much better if they’re in season and haven’t had to be picked early so they can be flown 1000s of miles; you’ll also be reducing your carbon footprint.

Of course you can always visit a pick your own farm too.

Yellow stickers

Different supermarkets reduce the price of items (aka yellow stickers) at different points in the day. Find out what that time is and then go grab yourself some bargains. I follow a great Facebook group called Feed Your Family on a Budget – much kudos to member Tori Drinkwater who bagged everything in the picture above for an amazing £10.90.

Buy in bigger sizes

For your non-perishables, buy in bigger sizes/larger numbers as it works out substantially cheaper. For example, we buy three litres of olive oil and then decant into a Kilner bottle.

Check the deal is as good as it sounds

Watch out on 3-for-2 offers or buy two for x amount deals. Whilst some are great, others are simply a way for supermarkets to get rid of surplus stock. Check how the unit price or price per 100g/100ml compares to similar items and evaluate how good the deal actually is.

Then sometimes you just need to step away from the offer. There was a two for £3 on lemons, which I was about to take up. Did I really need 12 lemons? The answer was no. An offer is only good if you actually need the product!

Visit supermarket websites for ideas to tackle food inflation

Sainsbury’s has brought back its Feed Your Family for a Fiver . They provide the recipes; the prices for the ingredients required are valid for three weeks.

Aldi also has meal suggestions in its Feed the Family for £5 section: https://www.aldi.co.uk/c/recipes/feed-the-family-for-a-fiver-recipes

—–

Costs of running cooking appliances

Another thing to bear in mind is how you’re cooking your food as some methods are more expensive than others. Hometree has done some great number crunching to reveal the costs of running your cooking appliances.

Here are the findings:

Slow Cooker

Slow cookers are one of the most energy-efficient ways to cook. Even left on all day it will use about the same amount of energy as a lightbulb. They have low wattage, so even cooking something for 8 hours will use less energy than an oven or hob.

On average, slow cookers usually use about 1.2kW over the course of eight hours. This works out at just 5 pence per hour. 

Microwaves

Microwaves aren’t as versatile as conventional ovens. However, they’re very useful for reheating, defrosting, melting/softening etc. They’re also great for cutting the cooking time of baked potatoes! As microwaves can cook or heat food more quickly, they use up to 80 per cent less energy than conventional ovens.

An average 700w microwave will use about 0.058kWh of energy. Five minutes of usage will cost around 1.98p.

Air Fryers

Air fryers are all the rage and much more energy-efficient than most convection ovens because they cook food much faster (though they do use electricity, which is typically more expensive than gas). Research shows that cooking in an air fryer costs about half the price of cooking in an oven.

Using one of average wattage (1kW) for around 10 minutes would cost an average of 5p.

Hobs (Gas/Electric/Induction)

An induction hob uses energy more efficiently than a gas or electric ceramic hob because no energy is wasted heating the space around the pan. 

Electric hobs are the next best bet in terms of efficiency because when you’re cooking with gas, a significant amount of heat is lost. However, electricity is more expensive than gas, so a gas hob may save you a few pounds a year. 

An average electric hob (2kW) run for 15 minutes will cost 17p.  

Ovens (Gas/Electric)

The same applies to ovens and hobs: gas is cheaper than electricity, but electricity is more efficient. In either case, if you’re reheating food, the Energy Saving Trust recommends using a microwave.

If you have to use an oven, there are ways to maximise your energy efficiency. For example, refrain from storing baking trays inside the oven when cooking, as they block the airflow. Also, cleaning your oven regularly helps maintain more effective heat distribution.

The average oven (c.3kW) run for around 20 minutes costs approximately 34p.

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My daughter had a Halifax savings account for a number of years. However, the bank doesn’t offer a product/s, where she can earn interest and have a cash card so we had to look for something else.

Savings accounts with cash cards for children

I’m with HSBC myself and discovered its MySavings account for 7-17 year-olds. It has an interest rate of 5% on balances up to £3000, which is the best on the market currently. From the age of 11, children can also have a current account (MyAccount). This account combined with the savings account forms a package called MyMoney.

MyAccount provides the all-important cash card (HSBC Visa Debit Card), which can be used in stores, online and at cash machines. You are able to transfer money into the current account from the savings account and vice versa. However, we’ll fund it separately with money that isn’t earmarked for savings. The current account doesn’t pay any interest so we won’t be putting too much in it. Our main objective is to save

Opening the savings account

Parents or guardians who are existing HSBC customers (current account) can apply online otherwise you need to go in branch. If your child is under 16 you have to be present to open the account.

When I opened an account for my eldest, we did have to go in despite me banking with HSBC customer (this has subsequently changed ). It was a good experience for my daughter. She answered quite a few know your customer (KYC) questions, signed an official document (she hasn’t had to use her signature on anything important before so this was pretty major) and filled in a paying in slip. Finally she had to go to the counter and make her first deposit on the new account.

She can do internet, phone and mobile banking, which is very exciting stuff!

Key facts

• Get 5% interest on balances up to £3000 and then 2.25% interest on anything over that
• Open the account with just £10
• A current account is automatically opened on child’s 11th birthday so they get a debit card
• 7-10 year olds get a money box on opening the account
• Ages 11 and up can use online, mobile and phone banking to check their balance and send money between their savings account and current account
• With the current account they can only use/withdraw the money that’s in there

Find out more here: https://www.hsbc.co.uk/savings/products/mysavings/

You might also like: How Much Pocket Money?

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Money Making Ideas

Online surveys and market research

There are plenty of companies willing to pay you for your views and feedback about brands or for telling them about your shopping habits, or even your personal and social habits! MoneySavingExpert.com has a great round up of some of the best: Surveys.

Sell LEGO by weight

Sites such as musicMagpie buy old LEGO by weight, so no need to worry about complete sets. You can sell anything from 500g up to 10Kg. Just put your LEGO bricks into a plastic bag and seal/tie it. Then weigh and round up to the nearest 500g (0.5Kg) and select the weight from the dropdown. You’ll get an instant quote and you can send it for free. Then sit back and receive a same day payment.

Recycle old clothes

High Street favourite H&M has offered an in-store garment recycling service since 2013. They accept clothes by any brand, in any condition at all of their stores. All donations are used somehow and won’t end up in landfill. Simply fill up a standard carrier bag with your unwanted clothing and you’ll get a £5 voucher in return to spend at the store. Win, win.

M&S has an initiative in place with Oxfam. Donate any item of M&S-labelled clothing or soft-furnishings to the charity store and you’ll receive a £5 voucher for Marks & Spencer, which you can use at any participating store when you spend £35 or more. More details here.

Get a current account that pays interest

I really like the Santander 1-2-3 account. It’s a current account, but pays 2% on balances up to £20,000. It also gives you cash back on many household bills and up to 15% cash back when you use the Santander debit card at a range of major retailers. There’s a £4 monthly account fee, but this is more than offset by the cash back you get. In order to qualify, you have to pay at least £500 into your account a month and have two active Direct Debits.

Selling unwanted items 

Facebook is a great platform for selling things you no longer need. There are loads of local selling groups so you can connect easily with people in your area. You’ll also find many selling pages for specific items/categories such as Mini Boden & Joules Children’s Clothes UK  Additionally, there are sites such as Mazuma for selling old mobile phones or tablets and great general selling sites such as Preloved and Gumtree.

Offline, there are plenty of options too. Nearly New Sales or Mum2Mum Markets are great and there are also old school car boot sales.

Money Saving Ideas

Just as important as money making, is money saving! Here are a few ideas…

Refer a friend

You can get money off for yourself and a discount for whoever you’ve referred with lots of businesses/brands such as banks, clothing stores, utility providers and supermarkets. Use ‘Francesca De Franco’ for clothes brand hush to get you £20 off your first order.

The Penny Challenge

A really simple idea… Starting with just 1p, you save money every day for 365 days, going up in increments of a penny each day. So on day one of the challenge you put 1p away, and then on day two 2p, 3p on day three and so on. If you do this for a year you’ll have £667.95 – Skint Dad’s chart helps you keep track – https://skintdad.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2021/12/Skint-Dad-1p-Saving-Challenge-2022.pdf

Teaching Your Children About the Value of Money

Rotate online supermarket shops 

Sadly, loyalty doesn’t pay. If you have a number of online supermarket accounts chop and change which one you use. Ocado in particular is very good at sending discount voucher codes to lure you back if you haven’t shopped with them in a while.

Saving money on petrol and diesel

Before you next fill up the car, take a quick look on PetrolPrices.com. The site tells you where you can get fuel cheapest in your local area. Prices fluctuate all the time so it’s worth looking regularly. You can make very big savings.

Discounted tickets for Merlin attractions – Alton Towers, Chessington World of Adventures, Legoland…

Kellogg’s cereal boxes regularly have vouchers giving one free adult entry with another full-paying adult or child for Merlin attractions. We recently redeemed two at Legoland so my husband and I got in for free. However, the three childrens’ tickets were still £180. I’ve since discovered there are better bargains to be had on eBay. Just do a search on the site and you’ll get an array of ticket sellers (many tickets are for specific days).

Kids Pass – a digital membership platform – offers discounts at cinemas, attractions and restaurants across the UK (and even on UK and European holidays). You can try it out for £1 here.

Online discount vouchers

Before you click ‘pay’ and make that online purchase, always look for online discount coupons for the site in question. Daily Mail, Voucher codes and Voucher Cloud are some of the best. However, it’s worthwhile Googling the name of the retailer followed by ‘voucher code’ or ‘discount code’ and seeing what comes up. You might get a few duff ones/expired ones, but it’s worth persevering. I’ve found codes for everything from chocolates to a garden shed! I’ve signed up to a number of voucher sites so get alerted when a new one becomes available for brands I’m interested in.

Prepay

I’m always remembering birthdays at the last minute so Funky Pigeon is a frequent port of call for me as it is so fast and efficient. What I particularly like is you can load up credit and get bonus credit added. If you prepay £5 you get £1.25 added to your account balance for free; £10 and you get £2.50 and with £20 you get £5.

Switching utility providers

If you’re not on a fixed-term contact, regularly check whether there are better deals out there. USwitch is brilliant for this. Obviously, this also applies when you’re coming towards the end of your fixed contract. Make sure that you’re not going to be automatically rolled over onto a less-attractive deal with your existing provider and shop around.

I’m with Octopus who will gift you £50 credit (and me) if you sign up using this link.

Cheaper meals out

Save money on a meal by booking a table through an e-commerce site such as Groupon or Bookatable. There are some great deals out there.

Car and home insurance

When my renewal quote is sent for car and home insurance I always hit GoCompare immediately as the renewal price is always higher than the previous year (without any claims).

I’ve discovered there’s no point in going to your existing provider first to get a better quote; you have to call them armed with a list of alternative providers that can offer the same cover cheaper. Almost always they’ll then price match or even undercut. If they don’t then just swap, it’s very straight forward.

Saving money on your will

If you’ve not made a will, try and schedule it in the month of November with a solicitor that’s taking part in Will Aid. It will save you A LOT of money. Here’s what you need to know. 

Discounts for multiples

If you have twins, triplets or more then a membership to Twins Trust offers a whole host of benefits including great discounts at a wide range of high street retailers. Lots of independents offer special discounts too; usually because they have a multiples connection! Independent Usborne book seller Fiona also offers a twins and multiples discount. 

National Trust membership  

Entry fees for a family of five at a local attraction can easily cost in excess of £50 and something such as Legoland is a whopping £60 per person! On the other hand, National Trust membership for one adult and up to 10 children costs £78 a year and for two adults and up to 10 children is £126 a year (under 5s are free). This can be paid in monthly instalments and gives access to over 500 NT venues and includes free parking. Also check out National Trust Holidays.

Would love to hear about your money making and money saving ideas. Please comment below.

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It got my attention as someone asked the journalist who’d trialled it, if they’d really made £700 in five months. I put stuff on Preloved, do Mum2Mum markets and NCT sales, and write the occasional guest blog post for a fee. I’m always interested in ways I can supplement my regular income. I had to find out more…

I read up and liked what I saw. Job Spotter was created by recruiter Indeed and launched in the UK in February 2017. The premise is very simple: you help businesses get the word out that they’re recruiting; you get paid via an Amazon voucher for your efforts.

How does Job Spotter work?

You download the free app (Google PlayStore or App Store on Apple), which takes a few moments, and it’s really easy from there.

1. Fire up the app (you’ll immediately be presented with the screen for taking ‘Photo 1’ – the hiring sign)
2. Press the camera icon to take a photo of any ‘help wanted’ or ‘hiring’ signs you see in the windows of shops, cafes, offices etc
3. If you’re happy with it click ‘use’ or else click ‘cancel’ and retake

Photo 2 screen

4. Take ‘Photo 2’ – a pic of the shop/business front the hiring sign was found in (click ‘use’ or else click ‘cancel’ and retake)

5. Click submit

That’s it.

What happens next?

You have to wait for your submission to be approved. The exact location of the sign/business hiring has to be verified and the submission has to be checked for clarity. Approved ‘spots’ can be awarded between 5 and 150 points depending on certain factors. The approval process has taken from a few minutes to a couple of hours for me.

Some submissions

Independent and niche businesses with homemade signs get more points. Generic hiring signs for big chains score low. One of my biggest scorers was JT Snuggs, a family owned jewellers on my local high street (205 points) and my lowest was for Pret a Manger, which got me a measly 5 points. I’ve even got points for charity shops looking for volunteers and for a paper boy/girl. I’ve been amazed at just how many local businesses are recruiting.

I’ve only had one submission rejected and that was because the pub that was hiring didn’t have any signage at the time.

Every approved submission adds to your Wallet’s balance with each point worth a cent (converted to Sterling automatically). You can also get points for verifying other peoples’ submissions. I’ve just done it in my local area or where I’ve happened to be visiting and have amassed points and money quickly. However, I can easily see how you’d rack up a considerable sum if you put in some miles.

I even managed to spot some jobs on holiday

You can ‘cash out’ at any time and redeem your balance for an Amazon gift card.

I’m officially hooked!

• You might also like to read: Making Money from Home (and de-cluttering)

* This isn’t a sponsored post

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What does tax-free childcare actually mean?

The new scheme, which will come into force next month for the youngest children, will mean that the Government will pay 20 per cent of annual childcare costs (for every 80p you pay in the Government will pay 20p – ie the basic tax rate) if you are eligible.

Who is eligible?

The scheme is available to parent/s of children up to 12 years of age (for children with disabilities this is increased to 17). In order to qualify, the parent or parents have to be working a minimum of 16 hours a week and earning at least £115 a week. If either parent earns more than £100,000 a year they won’t qualify. If you’re already on any employer childcare voucher scheme, you wont’t be able to apply for both (you can choose one or the other). It’s good news for the self-employed as they too can apply. The scheme is also available to those on paid or unpaid maternity, paternity or adoption leave. The scheme is only available in England. In the USA kids can attend children’s academy for preschoolers that is quite affordable. Hopefully, there will be similar institutions in England soon. By the way, those who live in Highlands Ranch, CO, USA, contact OVCA for details.

What do you need to do?

Firstly, if eligible, you’d have to open an online account through NS&I and this will be via the Government website. Exact details seem to be a bit vague at present and there don’t appear to be any links just yet.

Once open, you pay whatever you want into this account up to a maximum of £8,000 and this is topped up by the government. If you paid in the full £8k, this would entitle you to the maximum government contribution of £2,000 (for disabled children it’d be £4000). You can open one account per child, with the £8000 cap for each. You don’t have to pay in a set amount each month, so you can pay in more for the times that you need to pay for more childcare. The even better news… anyone can pay into the account, so get the relatives on the case

• Savings Accounts for Children

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Pocket Money Habits

She was asking as they currently give £1 a week but were informed by their daughter that ALL her friends got more.

There were a variety of responses including:

• My two get £2 per week which they can spend on anything they like. If they don’t do their jobs and keep their rooms tidy, it goes down…..

• Only in return for little jobs like clearing the dinner table, plumping the sofa cushions (!) and making sure he wipes away the toothpaste from the sink bowl.

• My daughter has £3 a week (when we remember!). She has 3 money boxes, £1 each: One for spending, one for sharing and one for saving. But if I’m buying a magazine or something for her brother and she wants one, I’ll substitute the spending £1 for that. She saved £42 of her spending one to buy a suitcase from Smiggle!

• Emily earns money for good behaviour; she normally gets between £2-£3 a week.

• They only get money if they do extra jobs ie hoover car/stairs. Hence they don’t get money every week!

goHenry

Then someone mentioned goHenry cards. They said they found them good as they give an idea of what the going rate is for certain age groups.

I immediately looked into it.

We’ve just received Sofia’s card and she could not be more excited. We haven’t learnt the full ins and outs yet, but it’s for children aged 6-18, and essentially you have parental control of a pre-paid card and app. I fund my own linked account and then can automatically transfer a set amount of weekly pocket money on the proviso that chores are done. I can also do one-off transfers and take money out of her account. Sofia can use the card at cashpoints to withdraw money and can use it as a debit card in shops. I can set a maximum spend per month and there are loads of features such as charting spending versus saving.

The post How Much Pocket Money is the right amount? appeared first on The Parent Social.

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Studies over the years have shown varying numbers on the average costs of raising a child, but the one thing that is evident across the board is that having children is an expensive exercise. In the US, one child on average costs $245,000, while the Telegraph reports a whopping £230,000 per child. From electricity bills to groceries and clothes, having a kid can do some major damage to your bank account. However, it is possible to reduce family expenditure. 

Here are a few ways that you can maximise your family budget:

Buy clothes for quality and versatility

More often than not, parents will wait for clothing sales during back-to-school seasons in hopes of saving themselves some money, only for the clothes to get worn out and tossed in the bin because they aren’t good enough to be sent to charity. Don’t fall into the trap of sales, which can make you spend more than you anticipated; rather, you want to shop smart. As Tootsa describes, you should be aiming for clothes “ideal for layering to suit temperature and changes in weather,” as well as durable enough to last wash after wash, so that once your child grows out of those garments, they can be passed down on to the next one (if you go that route!) or even sold on.

Plan your weekly meals

Cooking on a daily basis can get tiring and influences you to eat out or order in more. However, it’s common sense that your money will go a lot further on a trip to the grocery store than it will at your local takeaway restaurants. To minimise the time consumed by brainstorming what could be made with the leftovers in your fridge, a simple meal plan is all you need. Money Crashers recommend a weekly meal plan, as it will help you figure out exactly what you need and enable you to shop well within your budget. Removing the stress, helps remove the temptation of too many takeaways and meals out!

Throw the occasional “give and take” party

Have friends who also have families? American mother Julie Knoll has a mom’s club that often hosts a “give and take” table, an item swap that lets friends trade pre-loved toys, clothes and houseware that are still in great condition, all for free. The more exciting version of a garage sale, this is a great way to help out friends, neighbors, and of course yourself without dropping a fortune at different boutiques and department stores. Another benefit of this give and take party is that it helps in decluttering your house.

If you have any other tips, please feel free to share them below!

Also read:

Making Money From Home (and de-cluttering) 
I've Changed... I've Created a Meal Planner 

The post Three Ways to Save on Your Household Budget appeared first on The Parent Social.