Budgeting for your Toddler

I am always looking for ways to cut our outgoings. One of the ways I manage to

cut our spends down is by keeping up to date with current offers, in store events and online deals on things like nappies, wipes and baby food. 

I would never buy nappies at full price. I recently bought 2 boxes of 74 nappies for Mia from Asda for £19.99. These boxes usually retail at £14.99 per box so I effectively saved myself £10 by waiting and stocking up on nappies when Asda had their baby event. I try to buy a few boxes so that it lasts us until there is another baby event. 

Wipes is another item that can become expensive if you're not savvy. We use wipes a lot, not just for nappy changes but also to clean Mia's face after a meal, wipe her hands etc. This is not the most savvy way to use wipes but because we're out the house so often it's just easier. Again, I buy wipes only when they're on offer. You can get wipes from any supermarkets baby event reasonably priced. I actually picked up this box from

Bookers (if you don't know what bookers

is, it's a wholesalers for shops and businesses) I got a box of 6 for £2.99. 

I am a little fussy with wipes. I won't use any other brand. I love Huggies wipes and think that they are the best. 

The other big monthly outgoing is Mia's food/snacks. She's never eaten baby jars, she eats whatever we eat so it's not

so much the food but more the snacks and breakfast also. She enjoys the cow and gate museli which is quite expensive at £2.48 in Tesco. Again, Asda's baby event sells these at 3 packs for £5. 

We also stock up on her other snacks during these events such as the baby rice cakes, baby biscuits etc. 

I think Asda currently does the best baby event for overall value, the nappies and food are always at a really good price. However I have never found good deals in Asda for wipes. I have found good deals on wipes in Tesco and Bookers. 

I have also started buying bits for Christmas for Mia (early I know!) Whenever I go shopping if there are any sales on I will have a quick look and get anything that I think I won't be able to get cheaper. We have decided we want to get Mia a play kitchen for Christmas and the other day I got her a trolley with play food as it was on offer. Doing this will mean I don't have a huge amount to buy in our November or December wages. It's also Mia's birthday in November so it's always an expensive few months. 

I love to hear about other peoples tips for budgeting and saving money :)

Mia's May Favourites

Books - starting at £4.99

Bananas

Mop and broom - Early Learning Centre £9

Cupcake buggy - early learning centre 

Bubbles - Poundland £1

Baked beans

Mia's 18 month update

Mia is now 18 months old! A year and a half! That seems crazy to say out loud! 

Mia is really good at following instructions now. I've really noticed this month in our classes she will copy what the teacher does and really gets involved. 

She has started to get really interested in climbing now and climbs on all the furniture! 

She has started to wear some 9-12 month tops now although she still wears 6-9 trousers and 6-12 dresses. 

She loves books as well, especially Peppa Pig books. She loves to identify he characters and objects, for example if we are looking at the book and I ask her 'where's peppa?' 'Can you find. Flower?' She loves to point and show me how clever she is! 

She has her first dentist appointment soon so hopefully I can find out how many more teeth she has to come through. 

Toddler BBQ

New potatoes, corn and homemade burger. 

These burgers were made with beef mince, coriander, onion, cumin, pepper and salt. 

Primark Haul May 2014

Toddler canvas shoes £3

Sleeveless vests 9-12 months £3

3 pack of white tights 6-12 months £4

Toddler sunglasses £2

How to: Make a Toddler Book

You can buy make your own toddler books from amazon. You can chose from the traditional board book or a fabric book. I, however decided to make Mia and Adam a book to read together only a few days before Adam's birthday so buying from amazon was out of the question so I thought I would share how I made it. This cost me only around £6 altogether. This was for printing the photos and having the book bound. You could bind it yourself using ribbon to save money. 

You will need:

-A5 paper (you can use any colour you like or cut A4 paper in half to make A5 paper) 

-a selection of photographs that you want to put inside your book. 

-laminating pouches in A5 and a laminator (alternatively most stationers can laminate for you)

-binding machine (again you can pay to have it bound. It cost me only £3.50)

How to make it:

On a computer or by hand you need to do the writing for your book. I wanted each page to be very simple eg 'my daddy takes me to the park.' 

I put my writing at the bottom of each page. 

Next you need to print all your pages and cut them down to A5 if you have used A4 initially. 

Then with glue stick your photographs to each page. 

Next you need to seal your pages with your laminating pouches. You don't have to do this step but because I wanted Mia to be able to read it and look at it, if I hadn't laminated it she would of ended up tearing the pages. 

Finally once you have laminated all the pages bind it together. Either use a proper binding machine or punch two holes in and threat ribbon through, remember to only tie the ribbon losely as it needs to give a little for the book to open properly. 

I would love to hear your crafty ideas for things to make for/with your toddler. 

Weekly snaps