Frugal Adventures In WebsterLand

Last year was my worst year, prize wise in all of my 12 years of comping, no matter how much extra time I put into my hobby the wins were few and far between, luckily surveys and freebies were aplenty.

It's a brand new year full of possibilities and this first week has been rather lovely prize wise.

The DVD was a prize from last year that I had to chase up, I've heard good things about this film and it's always a bonus if we can watch a film altogether.

Chris won the t-shirt last year and we had forgotten all about it, it's a very generous size which is a good thing after the Christmas indulgence.

The letter takes the best prize of the week award, it's a voucher for a meal for two with wine at Gusto, I've looked at the menu and oh my goodness it all sounds delicious, it will be a lovely treat for Chris and I without the children for once, just have to decide when to book now.

On Friday I entered a comment giveaway on Cbeebies Facebook page and won a comic for Daisy, she will be delighted when it arrives.

I also had a letter informing me of a win from a local paper, a Countryfile Seasons DVD, it should hopefully arrive soon.

No freebies in the post this week but I did redeem £40 in Argos vouchers from a few survey sites which meant that Jake's new car seat only cost us £10 cash.

Be Lucky

Angela x

Monday was the day I'd been dreading ever since I put Daisy's application in last year, it would be her first step on the ladder of education but it would also be the day that I let my little girl out into the big bad world on her own, I know that sounds terribly dramatic but that's how it felt.

You would think it would be like water off a ducks back to me, I have a 17 and a 15 year old who both survived primary school but that seems like a lifetime ago now, I think it felt different this time too as I gave up work when Daisy was born so we have spent all of our time together.

I knew that Daisy was more than ready to head off to pre-school, she's such a friendly sociable child, she's also very bright and inquisitive which I haven't been able to nurture quite as much since Jake was born.

The Thursday before she started we had a home visit from her teacher and one of the teaching assistants, this is quite a new thing to me and I'm still not entirely sure why it's necessary, the following day Daisy spent an hour at pre-school which she was very excited about, she looked most offended when I came to collect her.

Over the weekend we bought her uniform and PE kit, uniform is not compulsory but I like them as they look so sweet and of course it saves her good clothes from any damage.

As a side note, if you are ever stuck for finding the right size pumps, try Marks & Spencer's they have a great range.

So Monday morning all nice and neat in her new uniform with her snack money in hand Daisy happily toddled into pre-school, I collected her a few hours later, she had a good morning and told me she was 'humbry' and wanted her lunch.

Each morning she goes in, hangs her coat on her peg, finds her name apple, puts it on the tree then practices writing her name, parents are encouraged to do this with their children which I think is nice.

I ask her each day what she's been doing and the answer is always the same 'dunno' or 'nuthin' which I think is pretty normal, she always know's what she's had for snack funnily enough.

The new routine has been a bit of a shock to our systems and by Thursday afternoon we were all exhausted, once Daisy had finished on Friday we all had an afternoon nap !

Daisy seems happy and excited to go in each morning although she has brought home a nasty cold so this weekend hasn't been much fun.

I have missed my little buddy but it's also been nice to have a some time to myself, Jake has been napping in the mornings so I've been able to relax and enjoy the quiet.

So that's it our life of school run's, homework, school holiday's and education has begun.

Have your little ones started pre-school recently ? how did they and you find the transition ? let me know in the comments, I always like to hear from you.

Angela x

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I've really gotten back into the swing with comping this week and have had a couple of nice wins, I can't seem to get up the motivation to start the survey sites just yet but I'm sure I will soon.

I had been doing shop & scan for about six months but I didn't feel that the reward was worth the time and effort you have to put in so I decided to end my participation, the scanning part is easy but remembering to upload and then scan each receipt was time consuming and we often forgot or rushed just before the deadline.

The Cbeebies magazine that I won for Daisy from their Facebook page arrived this week, Daisy has already demolished the sticker page, they had another giveaway last Friday so it might be worth having a go yourselves.

On Thursday I had an email from Asda Magazine to say they had re-drawn an earlier competition due to someone not being able to accept the prize and I had won a family ticket to Gulliver's World with access to Splash, Spy or Nerf zone, I'm delighted as we haven't taken Daisy yet and we live really close by.

The Cow & Gate pouches are from Mumsnet, we are trialling them and then letting Mumsnet know what we think, we could also win a £250 Mothercare voucher for giving our opinion, I've tested several things for Mumsnet, it's a brilliant way to try new products.

On Thursday I got a message on my Instagram account from Very Lazy Foods to say I had won a prize, I'm not sure what it is yet so I will let you know when it arrives. They have a new Instagram account and are giving away prizes for every 100 followers they get up to a 1000 so if you're quick and give them a like you could be in with a chance too !

Change 4 Life do these packs a couple of times a year and are really worth applying for, as well as containing coupons there are stickers, a shopping list pad and some great ideas of healthier snacks.

If you have a little fan of Lego make sure you sign up to their free club , Daisy loves getting her Lego magazine through the post, inside you will find stories, activities and competitions.

If you shop at the Spar be sure to keep your receipt as they have a 'Shop & Win' promotion on at the moment, details are on the bottom of your receipt. I played today and won a Frijj Milkshake and was entered in a £500 prize draw.

Also if you are not already signed up to Tesco's Orchard scheme then have a pop over there and join, I've just had a new campaign email through, they are sending me a £10 coupon to spend on fresh meat which can be used on their 3 for £10 deal, have brilliant is that just for your opinion and spreading the word.

I think that's it for this week, please feel free to leave a comment if you have any questions or if you want to tell me about any great freebies or wins you have had recently.

Be Lucky

Angela x

Just before Christmas I won a prize with Juice FM, a £75 voucher to spend at Beauty Buzz Kardashian Beauty store in Liverpool then a couple of weeks ago I won a meal with a bottle of wine at Gusto on the Albert Docks, as both prizes required a trip to Liverpool we decided to make an afternoon of it.

We left the little ones at home (not alone of course) and made our way to Liverpool and headed to church street to find the Kardashian store, we walked all the way to the end of Church street before admitting defeat and popping into a camera shop to ask them what number they were, after finding our bearings we headed back the way we came to find the store right at where we had started ! Not to worry as we enjoyed the street entertainment on the way.

The lady in the Beauty Buzz store was really friendly and so helpful, although I do wear make-up I've always been an eye-liner, foundation and powder type of girl, keep it simple is my motto, after a little friendly guidance I chose my products, most of which were on buy one get one free, what a bonus !

We left the store and headed back towards Albert Docks, we had some time to spare before our reservation so we had a wander round, taking photo's, we popped in to look at the 1950's house, looked out across the Mersey and spotted the love locks that I heard so much about.

We made our way into Gusto, we were a little early so ordered a drink and sat on the comfy well worn leather sofa's in the bar area, once our beeper started flashing we were shown to our table and the waiter took our order's, I had already studied the menu at home so we knew exactly what we wanted, the food was delicious, I totally forgot to take a photo of the starter's as Chris and I were both so hungry having missed lunch so we could fit all three courses into our belly's.

The only negatives about the experience were the dim lighting and the very loud music, I could barely hear what the waiter was asking me and Chris and I had to almost shout to have a conversation.

With full belly's and me a little tipsy from one glass of wine too many we made the journey home, we were treated to a few flakes of snow but sadly they didn't stick.

We had a fantastic afternoon all for free and thanks to this wonderful hobby, so I thought I would treat you my readers to something nice, I picked up an extra palette and powder compact from Beauty Buzz to giveaway.

All you need to do to enter is complete the tasks in the Gleam widget below.

Open to UK residents only.
The winner will be selected at random the Gleam widget.
The winner will be informed by email & will have 28 days to respond before the prize is passed on to another winner.

Angela x

The above title sums up this last week perfectly, it's been an absolute nightmare, Daisy brought a nasty cold home from pre-school, she was really poorly last weekend but by Monday she seemed a lot better apart from a snotty nose so she went to school as usual.

My Poorly little girl

On Monday evening after doing the washing up I started getting a headache, then within a couple of minutes the back of my throat and my nose started burning and I felt really stuffy, I had a terrible night trying to sleep but tossing and turning, limbs aching and sweating like mad.

Tuesday morning I felt horrid, Chris had to take a few days off work due to him being poorly too, the next two days we muddled along between us taking it in turns to have a nap, sleep at night time was elusive.

By Wednesday poor Jake was full of it too, coupled with teething he's had a really rough time of it, he seems to sleep illness off unlike his sister who prefers to be awake when what she needs is rest.

Chris went back to work on Thursday so it was back to our normal routine, none of us felt any better but we had no choice but to get on with it.

I think it's hit us harder than usual as we were only just getting over cold's, cough and croup from Christmas.

Everyone I spoke to last week seemed to be suffering the same so there must be a particularly nasty strain of the cold virus doing the rounds.

Thankfully we are all starting to feel much better now, I can't stand weeks like that where everyone is in a grotty mood and nothing get's done, I've been so motivated since the beginning of January and it really felt like I had stalled but I mustered up some energy this weekend and got stuff done.

So onwards and upwards into a new week with less snot and plenty of sleep.

Angela x

I'm glad to say I've had a couple of little wins this week, I spent nearly two days in bed or resting so took the opportunity to enter lots of competitions, of course it might be February before I see any fruits from my labour but that's the amazing thing about comping you never know what's just around the corner.

On Monday I noticed the hashtag Blue Monday being mentioned a lot so I decided to search it on Twitter, I use the search facility a lot on Twitter to find low entry competitions, I don't just find competitions that need retweeting I also spot links to competitions usually with short closing dates, that was the case with my first win this week, a pair of cinema tickets from Freesat. The competition was only open for that day, Chris and I are going to see the new sci-fi movie Ex-Machina in a couple of weeks.

Also on Monday one of my Facebook comping friends mentioned that a competition from Magners that has been running on Blippar were being generous with their instant win prizes, I had been entering daily before Christmas but had forgotten it was still open, I had a go and won a Beanie hat, Chris had a go too when he got home and won one as well so no danger of our head's getting cold.

A Countryfile DVD that I won a couple of weeks ago from a local newspaper arrived in the post on Thursday.

As I mentioned last week I won a Frijj milkshake with the Spar's Shop & Win promotion, I picked it up on Friday and needed to buy something else so I entered again and this time I won a Muller yogurt, each time you play you are also entered to win £500, it's running until the 15th February so still plenty of time to enter.

I nearly forgot to mention that my Very Lazy prize that I won on Instagram arrived this week, a jar of chopped chilli's.

This week I'm going to concentrate on my wins wishlist for 2015, I'm a little behind on creating it, follow me on Pinterest if you fancy a nosey I'm MrsWebster147 or have a go at doing one of your own, it really helps keep you focussed.

Have a winning week

Angela x

I can't remember a time when I wasn't savvy about saving money, I'm always looking for a bargain, using coupons, looking for freebies (that are relevant to us of course), trying to stretch our money that little bit farther, finding much needed items on Freecycle and the list goes on.

I'm always looking for inspirational blogs about how to save money and become debt free and kept coming across articles about using cash instead of debit cards for your weekly or monthly budget, the money is to be stored in different envelopes depending on your budget, for example we have one for groceries, one for petrol and one for Chris's expenses.

I started using the envelope system at the beginning of January and so far it's working really well for us, because we can actually see where the cash is going it's making us more careful about spending it, any money that's leftover each week goes into a separate envelope and will either be paid off our credit cards or used for a family day out, as much as we want to pay our debts down quickly we also need to be able to have a treat or life would be very dull and we would lose motivation.

Another great side effect of using the envelopes is that our 'loose change' sealed money box is filling up nicely.

I'm so glad we have given the envelope system a go, I feel like we are telling our money where to go instead of it disappearing in dribs and drabs from the bank, it's helping me budget better for our groceries which I will write about in next weeks Money Monday post.

Do you use the envelope system ? I would love to hear how it works for you if you do.

Angela x

It's been a rather quiet week on the prize front this week, I managed to enter most of the month ending competitions so I'm hoping for a few nice surprises at the beginning of February.

I've made a start on my Pinterest wins wishlist and have been searching for and entering for those prizes first before I comp for anything else, I'm determined not to bring anything in the house this year that is not useful to us in some way.

I'm also beavering away at trying to win us experiences instead of physical prizes, nothing extravagant like overseas trips just local prizes like overnight stays, cinema tickets, theme park tickets, meals and the such like.

This little sample size Benefit Porefessional came from SoPost, my friend Sarah always spots these great little freebies and sends me an invite to them, it might only be as small sample but I reckon there is enough inside for a couple of applications.

This little sample tub of Lotus Biscoff spread came with a 50p coupon off your next prurchase, it didn't make it into the photo as Daisy hid it somewhere shortly after it arrived, she also opened the sample and ate it whist I was pre-occupied but that's another story, samples are still available on the Lotus Biscuits website.

My only prize this week came from Twitter, Toblerone run a competition each Tuesday to win a 400g Toblerone bar of your choice, I answered the question and was lucky enough to win.

I'm slowly getting back into doing surveys, I burnt myself out doing them last year but it was worth it as it paid for Christmas, I've got £4 coming from Pinecone and I'm not far off cashing out on Ipsos, I also cashed some money out from Quidco, it all adds up.

Hopefully I will be back next week with news of my first win in February, hope you have a good start to the month too.

Be Lucky

Angela x

I think the post I wrote last week saying we were all on the mend cursed us, we've endured yet another week of snotiness, coughing fits and grumpy moods, Daisy had two days off school, poor Chris had to drag himself through a week of work with a sinus infection, Jake was snottier than a snotty thing and I felt dreadful too !

I think I'm in mourning for when we all felt well, I know it's that time of year but when the whole family is poorly and we just keep passing it all back around it's no fun at all.

Anyway, that's enough moaning, we did have some snow at last this week along with some freak stormy weather in which I tried to push the buggy, I got as far as my doorstep before deciding I valued my life too much and headed back inside.

The snow did look pretty while it lasted, I wish Daisy could have played outside in it but it fell the day she was poorly, maybe we will get some more before winter is over.

Jake cut his first tooth this week, thank goodness, it feels like he's been teething forever, I couldn't get a decent shot of it so took some pictures of the thing he likes to teeth on the best.

With us mainly staying nice and warm indoors this week there has been plenty of playing with toys, watching of Frozen and lots of cuddles going on.

I will leave you with a mean mummy moment where Jake is attacked by a giant teddy bear and I laugh and take photo's before helping him out.

Angela x

Tiny Tickers is a charity that was founded in 1999, it's aim is to improve screening for congenital heart defects before birth, studies have reported that there are benefits to babies that are detected early with pre-natal screening

According to the website bigtick.org.uk
'Heart defects are the leading cause of birth defect related deaths and are among the most common, too. Around 5,000 babies are born with some form of heart defect yearly in the UK, 3,000 of which will require major surgery'

Tiny Tickers help by raising standards, providing training, raising awareness about the importance of pre-natal screening and congenital heart disease and research into the condition.

You can read more about the vital work that Tiny Tickers do here and you can also read all about Tiny Tickers Heart Week 2015 here , it runs from the 7th-14th February.

Thanks so much for reading, you can help Tiny Tickers by organising an event and raising money during heart week, donating at any time or even just by raising awareness of the great work they do.

Angela x

This week's Money Monday post is all about making a simple menu plan and shock horror having the same meals twice in one week.

I say shock horror because I used to be one of those people forever stressing about providing a different meal every night, constantly feeling under pressure to not let the weekly menu get boring, that was until I had a word with myself and realised that not only was I creating a problem that didn't exist I was also adding to the already huge expense that the weekly shop can be.

I used to always buy more than we needed each week, my cupboards were overflowing and my freezer jam packed but when I decided to start using the envelope system to budget I realised that something had to change or I would forever be overspending on groceries.

I sat down and wrote a list of 14 meals that the whole family enjoy, keeping in mind the cost of the meal and how many it would feed as a couple of times a week my big kids eat with us, I decided to rotate the meal each week and sometimes repeat the same meal twice.

Every week I write a shopping list making sure to check the cupboards to avoid buying duplicates, I buy only what we need, working out how much veg we need for each meal as well so there won't be any wastage.

Of course there is a little flexibility, a few weeks ago I cooked a whole chicken and planned to make two nights of roast chicken dinners but decided to throw a pie together on the second night using the leftover chicken and some other ingredients I already had, but the point is on the whole I'm sticking to the plan and it's saving us so much money.

I'm finding it hard to ignore all those great bargains on the supermarket shelves but I keep reminding myself that something is only a bargain if you really need it and I'm enjoying having money leftover in those envelopes at the end of each week.

We have also started doing our main shopping trip almost entirely at Aldi which seems to be saving us a lot of money, I love the quality and prices of their fruit and vegetables.

Do you stick to a menu plan ? Does your family moan about having the same meals each week or are you all on the budget bandwagon together ? leave me a comment below if you like.

Angela x

Well it's been an incredibly slow week here, nothing won for February yet, I'm wondering if it could be because I haven't updated my wins note book with the header 'February Wins 2015' maybe it looks to the universe like I'm not expecting anything, must run and do that when I finish typing.

I haven't had as much time this week to spend entering competitions or filling in surveys, the children are still under the weather and of course they need my attention first and foremost, I have put in a few hours of an evening so all is not lost.

These Yu Fruits blueberry's arrived from a Twitter competition I won a couple of weeks ago on blue Monday, they were delicious, Daisy loved them too, they are made from 100% natural fruit and great as part of my new healthy snacking resolution.

One of the beanie hat's that we won on the Magners blippar app competition arrived on Saturday, I'm not sure about the bobble on the top though !

There are lots of short life competitions appearing for Valentine's day, twitter is a great way to search for these, lots are low entry because they require a little effort so always worth having a try.

If you are a comper I would love for you to leave me a comment and let me know how your winning year is going so far.

Be Lucky

Angela

We had big plans for this week, the first full week that Chris would be off work since last May, maybe that was our downfall making plans, silly parents of little ones thinking we could be as organised as that !

Our week has mainly consisted of the children taking it in turns to see who could out-poorly the other with me and Daddy behaving like yo-yo's running up and down the stairs at bedtime to see which little one needed a cuddle, some water or some medicine next.

A week spent playing musical beds, very late nights followed by ungodly early morning's, trying to remember who had what dose of medicine at what time whilst wondering if we should ourselves down the bottle to fuzzy the edges of the endless cycle of wiping snot and ringing ear drums from the synchronised wailing.

We are all truly shattered and an unfruitful trips to the doctor's on Friday left us with no option but to batten down the hatches and ride the storm of cold after cold and cough after cough, but this morning with Daisy showing no signs of improvement and actually getting worse Chris took her to the out of hours at the hospital where she's been diagnosed with tonsillitis, no wonder she has been feeling so wretched.

I'm sure we will all survive to tell the tale but next winter we shall be seriously considering digging an underground shelter in the garden and living in isolation away from germs and nasty's.

In my obvious state of delirium I decided this week would be the perfect time to start on my mission to be fit before 40, I bought lots of fruit and vegetables to blend into smoothies, borrowed a cross trainer and decided to give up all those sugary grots I love so much.

In my confused state I forgot to take a single photo of the said smoothie's, would have loved to show you the green concoction I made, chilled, gagged on then poured down the drain, which only re-affirmed my hate for Kale, I've tried it, dealt with the after effects and realised that's as far as my journey with that particular leaf goes !

I've started off slow with the cross trainer and might even add an exercise DVD in a couple of times a week once Daisy is back in nursery properly, I do enjoy exercise once I'm back into it but I find it way too easy to find an excuse to avoid it, but I'm determined to start feeling better and get put of this sluggish rut.

On a brighter note I cleaned the bathroom's and mopped all the floors within 30 minutes, might seem like nothing to some people but being able to do something without having to stop a hundred times to rescue an escaped baby or to take part in an imaginary tea party with a toilet roll tube is a huge achievement to me.

Also Jacob's ever changing crazy hair kept us amused, you never know what it will do next.

I will no doubt be back next week with more exciting tales but if I have to write the word snot in my title again I will definitely be writing under the influence of copious amounts of calpol and maybe some night nurse thrown in for good measure.

Angela

One of the quickest and easiest ways to make some side money is to sell your unwanted, unloved and unused stuff, I've included below all the method's we have used to sell our things.

Do you remember years ago when the only ways you could sell your stuff was through the newspaper Loot, the small ads in your local paper or a card in the newsagents ? I bet nobody even looks at those boards in the newsagents now, I know I don't.

There are so many ways to sell your stuff now that it can all become a bit daunting and disheartening, you need a thick skin and realistic expectations.

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LOCAL FACEBOOK SELLING PAGES

Local Facebook selling pages for your area are a great place to start, but you will need a good sense of humour and not get too easily offended by the ridiculous offers and arguing about who asked to buy it first. I've had the most success by attaching a photo of the item and giving as much information about the item in the description, you can even offer to deliver within a reasonable distance for a few pounds extra.

I've found the best things to sell well are children's items, furniture, consoles and mobile phones.

If you do decide to sell through Facebook be prepared for people not turning up and giving you the run around, I find it best to state from the beginning that items will only be held for 24 hours before passing on to the next person after all you want the money quickly not in 2 week time when the buyer gets paid.

GUM TREE & PRE-LOVED

I'm lumping these two websites together as they both serve the same purpose, I've sold through both and find pre-loved the most successful, gum tree for some reason seems to attract weirdo's but is a better way to sell large items like cars or furniture.

Gumtree

Preloved

EBAY

If you can make a profit after all the fee's that Ebay seem to charge nowadays then it might be a worthwhile way to sell those higher end, higher value or more unusual items, you will probably find that you can't sell your higher value items using Facebook as people want a quick bargain but on Ebay people will be actively looking for specific items.

I've had good experiences selling beauty products, designer clothing and jewellery on Ebay, I've even seen people selling empty boxes from iPhones and the like, you can never tell what people will buy !

Ebay

CEX STORES

We have always used CeX stores to sell our unwanted dvd's & blu-ray's, some are only worth pence but others like box sets can make you a fair bit, you can also choose store credit which is normally higher than the cash amount they offer.
CeX also buy some consoles, mobile phones and other small electronics, you can type your item into the website to see what they will pay you before deciding if the journey is worthwhile.

CeX

CLOTHING WEIGH IN

We have a couple of the cash in your clothes shops nearby and have used them a few times, you do need a good sized bundle and they don't pay much but something is better than nothing in my opinion. Companies like this sometimes weigh in books and small electronic items so definitely worth doing some research into selling this way if you have plenty of storage at home to keep everything until you have enough to weigh in.

Cash4Clothes

We-Recycle4Cash

Of course there are so many other ways online you can sell your stuff, a quick search will bring up lots of company's that are willing to buy from you, just make sure you do a little research before committing to anything, if you are willing to think outside the box then the sky's the limit.

How do you sell your unwanted stuff ? I would love to hear about your experiences with selling both good and bad, feel free to leave me a comment.

Angela

In just 3 short month I can't believe I will be writing Jacob's 1 year update, I won't say that the past 9 months have flown by but you just don't realise how fast that first birthday comes around.

Jacob has officially been in the world as long as he was in my womb, now that's a strange thought.

Sleeping

Jake's sleeping has improved massively compared to a couple of months ago, adopting a firm routine at bedtime and sticking to it has made the world of difference, within 10 minutes of going in his cot he settles himself off to sleep, he has always been a brilliant night sleeper, he doesn't wake up until between 6-6.30am the next morning.

Nap times during the day are still a bit of a battle, I try to make sure he has one good sleep in his cot where he will usually sleeps between an hour to 2 hours, then he has about a 45 minute to an hours nap on my lap.

I can't begin to tell you how much his mood has improved since he's been getting regular naps, I only wish I had been a little firmer from the start, he's in such a happy mood when he wakes up and has lots of energy for exploring and playing.

Feeding

Jake's doing really well with lumpy food and finger food's now, he wolf's his meals down, he gets very excited at meal times, I try to mix me feeding him with some foods he can feed himself I find it's a good balance.

He still has his formula milk but is down to 3 bottles a day, he has juice or water from his sippy cup.

Growth

I don't know why I keep this part in the updates as I never take him to be weighed, Jake wears 9-12 months in most clothes but his t-shirt's, jumpers & coat's are all 12-18 months.

One thing that I can say is that his hair never seems to stop growing, he amuses us daily with his funny style's !

Development

Jake can now crawl, he can do a few shuffles on his hands and knees but prefers to commando style crawl as it's a lot quicker.

Nothing is safe from his grasps now, he loves wires, his daddy's guitar, the sky box and people's feet especially if they are sporting a pair of shoes with laces on.

We took Jake to the doctor's last week with some concerns about his legs, they have been making an awful clunking sound and he can move his whole knee cap that on top of him not liking to put weight on his legs had us a bit worried, I'm glad to say that it's pretty normal and nothing to worry about.
I've noticed Jake reaching up for the couch and his toy box so I'm sure in his own time he will realise he can pull himself up.

Jake loves playing with his toys, he also loves looking at books and doesn't try to eat them anymore.

Teething

Hooray I can finally say that Jake has some teeth through, his two bottom incisors have appeared, this also seems to have alleviated some of the dribbling.

Jake is still enjoying bashing and smacking at us, we do tell him no but he finds that even more amusing, poor Daisy bear's the brunt of it luckily he doesn't hurt her and she tells him no too, I'm sure he will grow out of it soon, it's all about cause and effect at the moment.

I will be back next month with his 10 month update, who knows what he will be up to by then.

Angela

Chris and I have decided not to exchange gifts this year for Valentine's and it's not because we don't believe in celebrating it.

There are a few reasons, the first being that we are enjoying throwing any spare cash we have at our debt's it's a great feeling seeing the balance reducing each time, I also wanted to focus this year more on experiences rather than things I've spent so much time de-cluttering lately that I don't want to bring anything unnecessary into the house.

We also only have a small circle of people that we would ask to look after the children, who themselves will probably be busy so going out on the actual evening itself isn't an option, so it got me to thinking about things couples could do to celebrate Valentines on a small budget and without the help of others.

The Sacred Gift Of A Lie In

A lie in is like the holy grail of parenting little ones, we mourn it's loss and wonder if it will ever happen again and berate ourselves for not appreciating it while we had the luxury, It would be a lovely gesture if you could offer to take it in turns to have a lie in over the Valentines weekend, totally guilt free.

Cinema At Home

Going to the cinema isn't a cheap date anymore, it involves a second mortgage, a babysitter and taking a huge bag to sneak your bargain goodies from the supermarket in (oh, is that just me ?), it can also involve a very numb bum or falling asleep if you are a sleep deprived parent and cursing the money wasted.

There are so many rent at home movie websites now, you have the paid subscription ones like Netflix and Now TV or movie rental services that have some of the latest releases on like Blinkbox or Google Play , movies are roughly £3.49 unless you want HD and watchable for 48 hours which is great if you do drop off during the action.

With some non overly priced snacks, the aroma from the microwave popcorn and dimmable lights and without the buttock numbing chairs and annoying tall person who always sits right in front of you (oh, that's just me again !) you can almost imagine you are at the pictures on a date.

Posh Grub For Less

If you can stretch you budget a little further you could enjoy a nice three course meal with wine and chocolates in the comfort of your own dining room for £20 or under, you could even keep your pyjamas on if you like.

Most supermarkets have followed suit of Marks & Spencer's 'dine for' offer, most are available year round on the shelves but I've seen quite a few tempting Valentines Day ones this year, you would definitely spend more than that eating out and you will be saving the cost of transport and the need for a babysitter.

I was drooling over this selection from Waitrose earlier, I'm sure a search of other supermarkets will bring up similar offers.

Technology/Social Media Switch Off

Wouldn't it be nice (or a nightmare in some cases !) to just concentrate on each other for an evening with no distractions like the TV, Facebook, Candy Crush and the other endless list of time and attention stealers, you could talk, cook a meal together or play a board game, as this is a family blog I will leave the other alternatives up to your imagination but you get my point, a whole evening of just focussing on each other as a couple.

Of course there are loads more low budget, no budget ideas to help celebrate Valentines Day, have a search of Pinterest for some fun creative ideas.

No matter what you do remember to take a minute to think about everyone you love and how it feels to be loved back, in the immortal words of Moulin Rouge.....

Happy Valentines

Angela x

Well the title this week should read Webster's lack of wins, I haven't won a bean yet in February, in all the years I've been comping I have never had a totally dry month so I'm hoping the remaining two weeks are going to bring me something nice.

It's hard to keep your motivation up when you're not seeing any results but I keep thinking of all the wonderful prizes and experiences that comping has brought me over the years not to mention all the lovely people I have met, when I feel like this I normally take a step back for a couple of day and have a think about trying new ways to enter that might be more successful.

I did get some nice post this week though, my John Lewis reward arrived in the form of a voucher for a free hot drink and slice of cake at their cafe's, the offer doesn't require you to purchase anything so it's a really nice freebie. You can sign up online here .

My Tesco clubcard rewards also arrived, I never get a huge amount as I don't shop there very often but as with all the store loyalty cards I'm always looking for ways to get points for free, it pays to search around and find out if you can earn points from your energy suppliers or service providers, also keep a look out for competitions or promotions that offer free points for taking part.

Both the Tesco Orchard scheme and the Bzzz Agent scheme offer clubcard points as incentives for taking part.

I usually use the clubcard boost to double the value of my rewards and get an even better deal.

Hopefully I will be back next week with news of a win or two.

Be Lucky

Angela x

The week started off with yet more illness, Daisy was no better on Monday morning and Jacob started with an awful cough and even snottier nose, I really was beginning to think that illness was going to the theme for 2015, no end in sight, grouchy little ones and sleep deprived parents do not mix very well.

By some divine miracle Daisy perked up immensely by the afternoon and Jacob decided that sleep was the way to go to feel better, I couldn't believe the difference in them both and so suddenly, what a welcome relief.

Jake's crawling has really taken off this week but now nothing is safe from his clutches, he can spot a dangling wire from a mile off, everything that can be unplugged has been, he's very interested by Daddy's guitar and has even figured how to reach up and grab the TiVo box. I'm wondering how long it will be before he figures out that he can escape into the hallway, as much as I love this stage of development you really do have to be one step ahead all of the time.

I found Jake stuck under the coffee table without a care in the world, he's also a fan of tipping the toy box and the bricks out and leaving a little trail of destruction after him.

I don't know if it's because Daisy had been so poorly and cooped up in the house but her behaviour since she started feeling better has been trying for want of a not so pleasant word, we've had a week of tantrums for such reasons as there are no clean socks in her drawer to the TV not coming on as fast as she wants it to, she's been shouting at us and demanding our full attention at all times, needless to say our 'naughty step' has been fully utilised this week.

We didn't plan anything for Valentine's this year as I mentioned in this post here but Chris spotted that he had £5 credit for google play from a rewards scheme so we decided to rent a movie to watch, we chose Gone Girl and I'm really glad we did, it truly is an amazing film, I had a headache when it had finished and that's always a sign of a great movie for me, if you love thrillers then this is a must see.

I made soup in my slow cooker for the first time this week and it's turned out delicious, it's jut a basic lentil soup but it's really filling, low fat and budget friendly it's fed me lunches all week.

I have it with a couple of crackers as I'm cutting down on bread, I've got another batch on the go as I type, I'm going to try something different next week.

With everybody on the mend I'm hoping we can get out a bit more next week, cabin fever is really starting to take over and I can see the first signs of Spring out the window, I've been slacking with taking photo's these last few weeks so I'm going to rectify that as well.

Angela x

I thought I would write this weeks Money Monday post about fun things to do outside the home during half term when you're budget is limited, you could also try some of these ideas on the weekend as well.

Shopping Centres

Lots of shopping centres offer free half term activities, of course the purpose is to lure you in to spend your money there but with a strong resolve it's a great low budget idea, my local shopping centre offers a week of themed activities where children can do crafts, experiments, sports and they even have a colouring competition and treasure hunt.

The only cost involved may be the parking but a few quid for a couple of hours peace is well worth it, you could walk or cycle if you live near by, take some drinks and a snack and it's a no budget day.

Libraries

The library is a great no budget idea for any time of the year but many offer activity days during school holidays, some offer reading schemes where children can collect stickers or book marks for each book they read, many also have child friendly tables and chairs with puzzles and games on.

The library we go to provide a free 'Storytime' session every week, the children can do crafts, play games and learn songs and of course listen to stories, you could give your library a call and see what they have to offer.

Parks

This is an obvious one really isn't it, we are quite lucky and have several really good parks in walking distance, the council updated them all a few years ago and the equipment on them is fantastic, they all have safety gates to stop little ones escaping, nothing simpler or great for a low budget than letting kids run of steam at the park.

Garden Centres

If you live near a large garden centre it might be worth giving them a call or looking on their websites to see if they are running any activity days, the one we live close to has a free story time session each week and have a craft activity running for half term.

Children's Centres

When my two eldest children were at primary school I would love searching out things for us to do in the half term, we went to a pretty good children's centre who would put extra activities on during the school holidays and even organise low cost trips.

The children's centre I sometimes take Daisy and Jake to is a Sure Start centre, all families are welcome with children up to the age of five, the centre's stay open all year round and provide fun activities as well as a healthy snack and drink free of charge. Some of the centres also provide a sensory room and a book borrowing scheme.

It's worth searching out similar places in your area, some cater for children up to the age of eight during the holidays too.

Museums

Museums are usually free to visit and on top of the fantastic array of wonderments to look at and learn about most offer half term activities, children can make a bottle rocket or create a flying saucer at our local museum this half term.

I also spotted this morning that Brewers Fayre are holding Beano themed activity mornings at some of their venues this half term, I'm not sure if you need to purchase a meal it's not very clear but I thought I would mention it in case you have one nearby.

Make sure you keep your eyes peeled for community notice boards or local council Facebook pages they often list events and activities, there is always something going on you just have to search it out, nothing worse than being cooped up with bored kids.

Angela x

Can you believe that I only learnt how to make pancakes for the first time last year at the age of 36, I know shocking isn't it.

I'm getting good at making the thin type tradition pancakes but I hadn't ever made the thick American style ones so in the spirit of pancake day and the leftover blueberries from making smoothies I decided to give them a go.

I chose a simple batter mix and added the blueberries, the pancakes didn't come out looking pretty but they tasted delicious, they made a great finger food for Jake too.

Ingredients

200g Self Raising Flour

1 Tsp Baking Soda

1 Egg

300ml Milk

150g Blueberries

Pinch of salt

Oil or knob of butter

Method

Mix together the flour, baking soda and a pinch of salt.

Beat the egg together with the milk.

Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture and whisk in the milk mixture to make a thick but smooth batter.

Stir in half the blueberries.

Heat the oil or butter in a frying pan and drop a large tablespoonful of the mixture per pancake.

Cook until you notice the pancake bubbling then turn over onto the other side and cook for another 2-3 minutes until golden.

Serve with your desired topping.

I will be making traditional pancakes for pancake day as I love smothering them with lemon and sugar (sweetener for me actually) but I definitely want to have a go at making more variations of the American pancakes in the future, if you have any good recipes feel free to 'toss' them my way !

Angela x

Webster's Week In Wins 5-11th January 2015

Daisy's First Week At Pre-School

Webster's Week In Wins 12th-18th January 2015

Our Winning Afternoon In Liverpool & A Giveaway

This Week At The Webster's - Sniffle's, Snot & No Sleep

Webster's Week In Wins 18th-25th January 2015

Money Mondays - The Envelope Budget System

Webster's Week In Wins 26th January-1st February 2015

This Week At The Webster's - More Snot, Some Snow, A Baby Tooth & A Giant Teddy Attack's

Raising Awareness - Tiny Tickers Heart Week 2015

Money Mondays - Make A Simple Meal Plan

Webster's Week In Wins 2nd-8th February 2015

This Week At The Webster's - Daddy's Home, Yet More Snot, Getting Fit & Nasty Kale

Money Mondays - Sell Your Stuff

Jacob At 9 Months Old

Low Budget, No Babysitter Ideas For Valentines Day

Webster's Week In Wins 8th-14th February 2015

This Week At The Webster's - Crawling, Tantrums, Amazing Movies & Homemade Soup

Money Mondays - No Budget Low Budget February Half Term Fun

What's Cooking At The Webster's - Blueberry Pancakes