How to Survive on Maternity Pay

Going from a full time job to statutory maternity pay can be hard, and coupled with having an extra little person to pay for, it is life changing.  I found having a baby to be a massive lifestyle change, and our days of eating out regularly, huge shopping sprees and big nights out were suddenly cut very short. Saying this, I had a fantastic matern ...

Xmas Me-Time!!

So, Christmas is a-coming and aren’t we all excited..?! Or do you perhaps feel a little sense of ennui that half the supermarket has been submerged under tinsel and collection boxes of chocolate when there’s still six weeks to go? It seems to me that mums have the roughest time, because all of the expectation and planning falls on their shoulders. ...

Want To Save Energy? Put On A Christmas Jumper!

It’s obvious, I know! “Don’t turn up the heating, put a jumper on.” Well, as Christmas is approaching I’ve compiled my favourite, kooky Christmas jumpers for you. 1. Brat & Suzie Panda Jumper £32 Asos.com // 2. Christmas Pug Sweater £30 (Brighton lovelies) Mamasan // 3. Knitted Gingerbread Jumper £42 Topshop // 4. ...

Dear Energy Company, You Are Not Getting My Cash This Winter

Yesterday, the Energy Secretary welcomed the EDF 3.9% price rise on fuel for being closer to inflation than the prices hikes announced by their rivals. According to Mr Davey, “Now people will see they have choice. It isn’t just the smaller suppliers offering lower prices,”. Personally, I do not see families having to find extra m ...

Throwing Money At Mums? Will It Really Encourage Breastfeeding?

This morning the government announced plans for a new pilot scheme to encourage breastfeeding among mothers. New mums will be offered up to £200 of shopping vouchers as a incentive to breastfeed their child. The pilot in South Yorkshire and Derbyshire is to be funded by the medical research sector and government and will start from now until March ...

Where have all the real women gone…?

A friend of mine posted this link on Facebook recently about the Photo-shopping of pictures for magazines. It makes depressing viewing. We live in a world that is a nightmarish reversal of The Emperor’s New Clothes. We are bombarded by images of these fantastically gorgeous women, which we nod and accept as if they are real. The clothes are there, ...

Keeping Warm on Bonfire Night

Bonfire Night is swiftly approaching… (Everything is swiftly approaching at the moment; it seems to have a habit of doing this since becoming a parent) Are you braving Lewes for the fireworks? No? Us neither – we’re getting out and heading up North to visit the in-laws before the carnage begins!! But if you are being bold and heading out in t ...

Money Savers and Home-made Heaters

Everyone’s skint right?  Perhaps not everyone- in-the-whole-country, but certainly every one of my friends.  Our family are on one income these days, while I flex my creative muscles and establish my own business, so anywhere we can save money, we do. We’ve gone through all the usual stuff from switching supermarkets and cancelling our TV contract ...

Great British Babe Off

So, The Daily Fail has waded in, in its usual bellend fashion, claiming viewers were furious because Ruby ‘cried her way to the final’ in Great British Bake-Off. Oh, and Hollywood fancied her, so she was a shoe-in anyway. And the other contestants were dry-eyed throughout…? I don’t think so. Even if Haughty Hollywood and Slightly Less Steely Berry ...