Blog : Little Lilypad Co

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The Little Lilypad is a lifestyle blog mostly written by a mum to two beautiful, cheeky and entertaining daughters. It is sometimes written by the Man on the Pad or by one of our baby bloggers. Occasionally we accept guest posts too. There is frequently talk of sustainable living, saving money, lifestyle and travel. It is hopefully helpful, sometimes funny and always honest.
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Category: Views & Ramblings

  1. Five Frugal Things I've Done This Week

    Posted on

    This week has been a little bit unusual and with everyone focusing on the election, it seems that there has been little time to think about anything else but I have still tried to focus on being savvy. My husband has what we will call a "project car" and said car appears to be more of an expensive project than originally anticipated, so my desire to become more frugal is currently being offset by the car but we shall gloss over that small detail for now and concentrate on the good things!

    Emma from Emmas Savvy Savings always talks about her Marks and Spencer bargains and I have to include them in my five frugal things I've done this week post! Take a look and see what you think?

    Five Frugal Things - School Uniform

    1. 20% off School Uniform at Marks & Spencers

    As soon as I saw this, I was immediately on the website and ordering sizes for both girls for the new term in September. 20% works out to be a decent amount of money when you are buying 5 pinafores, 5 trousers and countless blouses and tshirts.

    2. Cashback

    Not only did I get 20% off the school uniform, I activated the link through a cashback site, which technically means I got it even cheaper.

    3. Kidstart

    I set up a Kidstart account years ago that saves money for your children, in a similar way to a lot of cash back sites but this one saves for your children. I had completely forgotten about it in recent years (for no apparent reason) and have realised how easy it is to save for the children this way when shopping online. 

    4. Ocado Smart Pass

    Now I am well aware that there are cheaper supermarkets than Ocado but I actually deteste food shopping and when I can order via an app on my phone and have the magic food fairies come and deliver to my door, I can accept that this may not be the most frugal way of doing it. However, I have an Ocado Smart Pass that costs me £1.99 per month but gives me reduced delivery charges and discounted products every time I shop, saving 10% on a lot of the branded products I buy!

    5. Repeat Customer Bonus

    I am a big fan of Ocado (as you might have gathered), they win all sorts of awards in terms of customer service and unlike other supermarkets, have never been substitued with random products that I don't want or need. Ocado recognise this and having placed 4 orders within the last 6 weeks, they have awarded me with a £10 bonus to spend on my next shop!

     

    Have you got any top tips you can share with me on my quest to recover the money for my husbands "project"?

    Finally, as always, I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Fabulously Frugal things I’ve done this week linky.

     

  2. 5 things to celebrate about the end of term

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    The dread of the looming summer break is a long-standing quip between school run mums. Social media sees parents counting down the days, as children become bored and unoccupied, ‘ready to go back to school’. You know, swinging from the lightshades and dragging their siblings around by the ear.

     LLP - No School Run- Enjoy the Benefits of the Summer Holidays

    I just know I’m not alone here. I’m surely not the only parent that can’t wait for the six week break to begin. Once May is out of the way, I find myself counting down the days until the end of term, when I can spend quality time with the kids. After all, blink and these years are gone. Gushing aside, there’s plenty more to celebrate about the upcoming end of term.

    1. No more school runs

    It’s not even as though you’ll get a lie in. We all know that those are a thing of the past. But, just imagine six whole weeks where it’s perfectly possible to stay in your PJs after 8am. No more screaming over unfound socks and shoes. No more school run traffic or compulsory morning walks. 

    2. A break from hellish homework

    Reading stories with infants can be cute. Pythagoras theorem with teens? Not so much. In fact, anything beyond finding fractions is simply out of the equation. How do children know this stuff? Did we know this stuff? Summer is a break for the brain.

    3. Lunch is made at lunchtime

    Is there anything worse than dragging yourself out of bed at 6:30am, only to prepare a packed lunch every single weekday morning. Yes, the better routine is to make it in the evening and pop it in the fridge. Does anyone actually stick to this, though? Summer shows us that sandwiches for lunch can be made at lunchtime. Who knew!? 

    4. No school, no afterschool activities

    We all want the best for our children, but I challenge you to find me any parent whose patience hasn’t been tried by afterschool club schedules. Music tuition, swimming lessons, Brownies, the list goes on. Oh and on, and on. And on. How splendid it will be come summertime, when beans-on-toast-Tuesdays and even whack-it-down-your-throat-Wednesdays are temporarily replaced by relaxed evening meals.

    5. It’s not quite the end…

    And of course, if you really are dreading the six weeks holidays, perhaps the best thing about a looming end of term is that we’re not quite there yet! Relax. There remains a few more weeks of child-free nine-while-threes. 

  3. Five Frugal Things I've Done This Week

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    I love linking up with Emma's Savvy Savings weekly frugal round up as it really focuses my mind on being savvy every single week but last week we were lucky enough to go on holiday and that has changed our spending a little. So here are the top 5 savvy savings I have made this week.

    Five Frugal Things I Have Done This Week Jun 17

    1. While we were on holiday, I had one friend who had a birthday and another who was leaving work to have a baby, so I needed to send flowers to them both to arrive while I was away. I have tried lots of different online florists over the years but Interflora have always seemed the most consistent and value for money and they now have an annual delivery pass for £10, so it doesn't matter how many flowers you send, you only pay the inital £10 delivery pass charge. This is a result as I often send flowers to friends who live far away.

    2. I also used my usual trick of googling discount codes before checking out and as I did them in seperate transactions, I saved £15 in delivering both bunches of flowers this way! That was a blooming good deal I thought (sorry I coudn't resist the pun)

    3. A few days before we went away, I was checking out the best deals on travel insurance (nothing like leaving it to the last minute) when I had a moment of inspriation and remembered that my bank account had insurance features, so I rang them up, checked all our details and had confirmation straight away. I know I am paying for it as part of my bank account but it meant that I saved £100 that I thought I was going to have to spend, so that was a win for me!

    4. We needed new luggage for our holiday and I have been coveting some new suitcases for some time, so I visited our local outlet store and managed to pick up 4 lightweight Antler suitcases from the outlet store for £120 and they come with a 10 year guarantee!

    5. Finally (and a bit tongue in cheek) my best saving of the week was enjoying all the food and drink that I wanted ...... from the all inclusive menu, without having to pay a single bill!

    So as I said at the beginning, I’m linking up with Cass, Emma and Becky in this week’s ‘Five Fabulously Frugal things I’ve done this week linky and I am now off to have a read (and get inspiration) from the others that have linked up too.

     

  4. What does your attire say about you?

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    Despite this post being about clothing, unusually I have let the "Man on the Lilypad" loose on the blog .... be kind to him!
     
     
    ‘the apparel doth oft proclaim the man' We all know the famous Shakespearean proverb don’t we... that well known quote that helps  remind us and others that we do, and have always judged people's character by the clothes they wear.
     
    Well following a conversation I had recently with my lovely wife – the driving force behind the Little Liliy pad I felt compelled to delve into this concept a little deeper and share my thoughts. In our house it is a running joke that there is a never ending conveyor belt of clothing purchases arriving at the door, I live with 3 girls that all love to shop and my wife-for as long as I have known her has always presented herself immaculately at all times, in fact her impeccible appearance was one of the things that attracted me to her in the first place!
     
    So if Shakespeare’s quote has echoed through the ages, is there still judgement made about what people wear now in the modern 21st century, in the age of dress down Fridays and the late great Steve Job's signature casual roll neck sweaters? Another literary heavyweight offered further reinforcement with ‘Clothes make a man. Naked people have little or no influence on society’, which to some degree explains a few things about the society we live in. As great as it is to have the ‘take me as you find me’ mentality the clothes we wear do actually say a lot about us as a person. They can inform strangers of your type of employment, emotional state, personality and ambitions and also spending habits and affluence.
     
    What does your attire say about you-
     
    I recently purchased a series of new suits, I work in the corporate world and have always wanted to project a certain perception to colleagues and the new clients I meet, I find a well tailored, classic  mens suit helps do that – it says I have put thought into my appearance and you should take me seriously, just like the skirt suit or dress & blazer for ladies, its timeless, classic and suits nearly all body types. As I don the blazer before a meeting it almost changes my mentality, that suit aids me..its a weapon in my arsenal even.
     
    During our conversation at home it was this ‘feeling’ we got when we know we look a certain way that interested us, a lot of what my wife does is invisible to her clients behind a laptop, blogging, social media management and the many other aspects of the Lilypad mean her client s don’t necessarily see her but she rarely looks anything other than professional. Clearly our casual and work attire is as much about self perception as a social and economic indicator to others. I wonder if people who work at home would find they are more successful if they kicked off the casual clothes or pj’s and slippers during that 9-5pm window and put ‘work’ clothes on?
     
    I read recently about a  study where a generic white coat was given to 2 groups of test subjects, one group was told it was a doctors lab coat and the other group were told it was a painters smock…guess which group completed their allotted tasks with more care and attention – clothes clearly do influence our mindset!
     
    So, tomorrow and the next day and the next when the parcels get delivered and the regular response of “what, this old thing?” rings out I shall just smile as always, as in our case we are more Mark Twain than William Shakespeare!