Blog : Little Lilypad Co

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A few weeks ago, during half term, my eldest daughter got the opportunity to go to see her baby sister in her Water Babies swimming lessons. This was quite a novelty for her, especially as it is usually the little one watching her every week.

So whilst sitting on the side of the pool playing on her iPod, she decided to take some videos of Nanny and the little fish in the water. It was fantastic for me to get home and watch them enjoying the water and I have loved seeing her start to learn to actually kick her feet in the water.

I have agonised over sharing these videos, as it is genuinely lovely to see all the little ones enjoying the lesson and I really want to share it with you so you could see what I have been going on about for all these weeks. But unfortunately it is not just Nanny and little fish in the video. There are other babies in the background and I know how I would feel if someone was sharing my daughters images through social networks, without my permission.

I remember when I was young, my parents took pictures of me in the bath or running through the water sprinkler in the garden for no other reason than for their memories. Unfortunately today, in an age when every aspect of our lives is shared through social media, I am still very reluctant to share images or videos of my children.

Ultimately, I am not skilled enough with video editing to manage to isolate the little fish and Nanny in the video, so you will just have to take my word for it that is it great. It just makes me a little sad that we are now so cautious and that protection of our children's safety means sharing our memories is no longer acceptable.

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We have talked quite alot about finances on the Lilypad lately but this is important to growing families, with ever reducing budgets due to the rising cost of living. So can changing bank accounts save you money and how easy can it be to change?

I have changed utility providers before and have always used online comparison sites but I think sometimes we open a bank account and never look to see if it continues to provide us with the best deal and options for our money. (I am guilty of this, as I still have the bank account that gave money boxes for savings goals as a child!)

We don't claim to be financial experts but in the words of Martin Lewis "Switching CAN make you £100s. While banking is 'free', this only applies if you're in credit. Most banks pay a pitiful 0.1% interest on your money then loan it out as overdrafts at 20%. So, even if you like the service, if it's so good, are you willing to pay £100s in lost benefit?"

There are lots of options available and we are not here to suggest anyone in particular but to serve as a reminder that changing your bank account or indeed loan or mortgage could save you hundreds of pounds. Using a comparison site or budgeting tool, like the one we found on family friendly site MyFamilyClub definately helps to reduce the search. 

Budgeting for a family can be a juggling act, whether you are living day to day or saving money for your children's future, so it's great to know that we can save money by using a simple budgeting tool to make simple changes. At this point, I usually make a comment about saving money means I can buy more shoes but the rate my daughters are growing, I think it will be more shoes for them instead!