MUMMY TO THE MAX

Just over a month ago I did a large coupon shop which was worth over £108 and I managed to get the whole shop for just under £3.  I am saving my coupons to do another big shop soon however at the present moment there are a few fantastic deals which I thought I would share with any money saving lovers out there.


At the present moment I tend to shop a awful lot in Tesco, mainly because it is close to us and I love getting rewarded for shopping. At the present moment the best coupon deals at Tesco are:

Money can often be tight and sometimes it can be hard to save but here I have a list of 30 different ways that enable you to save £1 in money.  Some of these ways can be harder than others but I find that most of the ideas are easy to complete.

Set a budget - Before you even go and buy items, stick to a budget. Keep in your mind what that budget is and work around the budget. Why not include your children in this and explain if you both manage to stick to the budget and spend less then you will split the remaining money with them so they can buy themselves a small treat.

Stick to a list – Write down everything you need and don’t veer from this list. You may be tempted to buy extras or give into children's demands however do they really need it and can you really afford it? Stick to your list and shop around for the best deals.

Check your house - Before you hit the shops check that you don't have items that can be used from the year before. There may be some new pens and pencils tucked in the back draw that didn't get used last year, use those before buying new. If the old school kit still fits why not use it until they have grown out of it before buying new.

Shop the sales - Check online and high-street sales. You can save money on pretty much anything these days from lunch boxes to winter coats see if you are able to find things cheaper. Always look out for discount codes/vouchers when shopping as this can help save more money and buy stationary in bulk as it is something they will need all year.

Trawl charity shops and pre loved sites – you can often find uniform/back to school bits on there. Just because its second hand doesn't mean its rubbish. A lot of things people sale are as good as new and sometimes things can even be new.

Supermarkets - Supermarkets are often tripping over themselves at this time of year with cheap uniform deals and BOGOFs. They try and compete against each other and try and offer the cheapest price. Compare prices on the net before going on a trip to save fuel. If you find a bargain – buy the next size up too so you will save money when your child grows.

Spend a day getting funky - Buy plain items which will be cheaper than character/branded stuff and jazz it up using stickers, glitter glue, badges and even iron on badges which can be used on clothing/fabric bags. This will be a fun activity for your children and show you their creative side.

Label Items - Label all your children's belonging so they do not get lost. If your child keeps managing to loose their belongings this is going to end up making you spend a lot of money. Teach your children to look after their items and if they do go missing, make sure they are easy to identify by placing a simple label on them.

Its the end of July and I thought I would write a post telling my readers what I got this month . As most of my readers know.. I love a bargain and I rarely pay full price for anything!

Maxwell's Items


H&M Pj's =  RRP £7.99 - I payed £3 including delivery
10 small pots of playdough = RRP £5 - I payed £2 including delivery
Mega Blocks Truck = RRP £10 - I payed £5 including delivery
Gap T-shirt = RRP £10 -  I payed £2.99
Vtech Toy = RRP £15 - I payed £3.49 including delivery
Tommee Tippee Cup - RRP £4 - I payed £1

RRP Cost = £51.99
I Payed = £17.48

Mummy's Items


Classic Blue Short Uggs = RRP £150 - I payed £40
Next Shoes = RRP £15 - I payed £4
7 cans of Right Guard = RRP £15 - I payed £0
Topshop Maxi Dress = RRP £40 - I payed £10

RRP = £220
I payed = £54

Food Items


2 X Little Dish Meals = RRP £2.40 - I payed £2
Helmans Mayo = RRP £2.79 - I payed £0
2 X Utterly Butterly = RRP £3.60 - I payed £0
J20 = RRP £4.49 - I payed £1.14
2 X Danio = RRP £1.70 - I payed £0
2 x Oasis = RRP £2.30 - I payed £0

RRP = £17.28
I payed =  £3.14

As you can see we got some massive bargains in July. Most of the things we bought Maxwell is being put away for Christmas. All the clothing is aged 3-4 so it will last him and the toys will all end up in his Christmas stocking.
We did well on food this month thanks to vouchers I was sent from manufacturers or I found on the internet!

My bargain of the month goes to my amazing Ugg Bargain. They are real and have original certificates! I headed over to my nearest outlet shops to get these and this is not the first pair I have found this cheap.

Total
RRP =£289.27
I payed =£74.62

Swap your old electric toothbrush for a new Colgate ProClinical C200 with Absolute Radio. From today (Monday 8 July) you'll be able to swap your electric toothbrush, by registering on this page, then posting it to us free of charge.

Yesterday was a great day for the Mummy To The Max household. I managed to save over £50 simply by using coupons and getting great deals on reduced items.

First off I popped to Boots to get myself some toiletries to take to London with me for Britmums. I went into the shop and went to the Kiosk to get the best deals off my Advantage Card.
There were some great deals including bronzer makeup down to £2.50 instead of its £5.50 price tag and 10% off deodorants/body sprays.
I then headed to the reduced section and was amazed at what I saw. Shampoo down form a £1 to 50p and dry hair shampoo from £2.50 to £1. I picked up 2 of each and headed to the checkout along with some body spray and my bronzer.
I paid for my items and once I had left the shop I found that I had been charged 50p for the dry shampoo instead of £1 and they had taken 20% off the body spray instead of the original 10%. I managed to save over £10 on my Boots shop and I also got advantage points as well as a voucher for half price sunglasses.

We then headed to Tesco, I had no plans of what to buy but my purse was full of coupons so I went around the shop working out what I could buy with my coupons and getting some shopping to feed us for the week minus fruit,salad and veg which I buy from our local market.
I had £4 Walkers coupons, £3 Fox Biscuit coupons and £5 Pampers coupons to use... I also had a lot of £1 coupons and some coupons to use from my Bzzagent trials to use.
Whilst in Tesco I spotted that they had a fab deal on Huggies Baby Wipes - 9 packs for a small £6.28 which is a great saving as I normally only see the wipes on offer at £1 a pack. Before I left my house I also spotted that Tesco were selling there jumbo boxes of Pampers nappies off at £5 so I asked for them to look out the back and to my surprise they had a box - 68 nappies for £5!!

When I went to the checkout I was unsure how much my shopping would cost as I had walked around the shop working out the price in my head and had calculated I would need to spend around £13 of my own money once I had used vouchers.

My shopping came to £49 and I got it for £11.79 which is a amazing saving! I got paid to take the Pampers nappies away as I had a £5 voucher from P&G and also a £1 voucher when you buy pampers nappies in Tesco. I also got paid to take some of the cheese's away as the voucher was more expensive than some of the products. I had a £4 off voucher for a £40 spend as well.

I had a great day of shopping and managed huge savings.


Freebies for this week:

Coupons
E-vouchers to use online for fruit and veg at Tesco.
75p off £3 or more fresh salad. Enter code GRF66P at checkout
£1 off £4 or more fresh fruit. Enter code GRKFTY at checkout
John Frieda Everlasting Blonde trial packs to give away every hour. 200 each hour - from 9am until 8pm for 2 weeks.

Freebies

Get a FREE bottle of Sprite. Print off the coupon and take it into your nearest stockiest. https://apps.facebook.com/rediscover_sprite/coupon

Claim a FREE pack of Belvita Breakfast Biscuits. Print of voucher and take it to your nearest Nisa Locally.

If you do your Tesco grocery shopping online, it's normally £2 if you want to use the "Click & Collect" service, but it's FREE from 24th May to 3rd June. Just place your order as normal - all of the slots are listed as £0.00 at checkout.
£12 off your first online grocery shop at Sainsburys over £60 excluding delivery charges. Order for delivery before 07/08/2013. Use code LFC6-9YTP-6MHM.
£12 off Your First Shop Min. £60 Spend, delivered before June 4th using eCoupon at Tesco Groceries.

Freebies
Get a FREE pot of yoghurt. Print off the coupon and take it to a local Waitrose.
Get a FREE/Cheap Tub Of Clover. Print off coupon and take it to a local store. It has been reported Asda have ranges that are £1-£1.50 meaning it will cost you no more than 50p!
FREE L'Oreal Nude Magique CC Cream Sample. Follow the link and enter your details. 3 Samples to choose from.

If you are on 02 rewards look out for:
Use your 02 rewards app at ODEON - FREE large popcorn, hot dog or nachos! The same code stays on your phone but resets every week so you can use the same code every week!
If you have any problems redeeming this offer, please speak to the cinema manager. With this offer you can get a free large dispensed popcorn, hot dog or nachos only. Use the offer between 20/02/13 - 01/05/13. Voucher can only be redeemed at the cinema retail counter of any ODEON Cinema in the UK, and cannot be used at cinema box office, ODEON.co.uk, the ODEON Mobile site, ODEON App or via the Filmline or ATM. Voucher must be presented at time of purchase, and can only be used once in respect of one snack purchase. No reimbursement for previously purchased snacks will be allowed. Only one voucher can be used per transaction. Only one voucher can be used per week.

Competition:Win