Share your parenting money-saving tips - £200 voucher to be won

[CeriMumsnet]

Whether it’s new toys and gadgets, after school clubs or family days out, keeping your children entertained can be expensive. That’s why we want you to share your best money saving advice. Do you set yourself a budget for kids’ activities? Maybe you shop around for the best deals? Whatever your hacks are, please share with us below.

• Post your tips/hacks in the thread below to be entered into a prize draw
• One lucky MNer will win a £200 voucher for a store of their choice (from a list).

Here’s what Klarna has to say:
"It can be expensive keeping kids entertained, the list of requests can seem never-ending, from the latest toys, trips to soft play or the farm and everything in between. We’ve developed our app so that shopping doesn’t become a burden and take up too much time. With our new app features, you can spend less time searching and more time enjoying yourself - whether you’re shopping for birthdays, Christmas or everyday essentials, we’ve got you covered. Shop smarter with our range of tools from price comparison, to price drop alters and delivery tracking, we’ve got it all to ensure you get great value for the money and time that you spend."

Thanks and good luck with the prize draw!
MNHQ

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Free days out are often the best. Pack a picnic and explore the woods, venture up a hill, go conker hunting, shell hunting, or wave jumping. Some of our best memories cost. nothing.

We buy alot second hand. We have a good second hand charity shop in our area and also use Facebook marketplace, gumtree and ebay. We sell on our old things too. MOney saving and good for the environment.

When you are travelling long distances by car with children, Harvesters are your friend. Once tyulł a table you have access to the salad bar and bread and butter, which is great for hungry tummies without waiting long.

I would say a museum or check your cinema for family tickets - usually early evenings.

Refillable light water bottles. Will save you a fortune

Go to your local library and have story time - my library has half term activities with painting and a toy library to get a new toy or board game for a couple of weeks.

I check for NHS discount wherever possible

I use cashback sites, even if it is a small percentage, is mounts up for every shop - there are so many good ones, topcashback, jam doughnut, quidco and airtime rewards - I find it really worth it for saving money in a 'family fund'

I use https://olioex.com/ for donating things I don't need - I have also had so many things which I have used, which has saved me £££'s and made many. a family tea with - there is also a 'too good to go' app which you can get cut price food bags - it can be a bit of a lottery though.

Sell their clothes that no longer fit on Vinted - it becomes fun money for days out.

We shop in Boots where possible to accumulate points, as well as use supermarket reward apps such as Asda to accumulate money through the year and spend this at Christmas.

For Birthdays early in the year, we buy in the January sales.

Check your local council website for clubs some churches and children's centres run activities that are either free or very cheap - you get to meet other moms and the children learn to play share and create.

For days out, I normally say 1 paid activity per week, something like trampoline centre, not a major expensive place. Otherwise free stuff like walk in the woods, picnic etc.

I did this first one by accident first but saved a fortune in the early years doing the same on other trips. Toddler DS was going the Zoo the next day with us in Spain at the time. Happened to be in a charity shop the day before and bought a colourful Zoo book and cuddly elephant toy for pennies. He was too young to realise at the (very expensive!) Zoo gift shop that I produced the charity shop items from my rucksack. Saved a fortune and I still have the book as a memento. DS is now almost 17!

• Google discount codes before buying

Shop it the evening when food is discounted

Excellent suggestion.

We love our local library for free days out, it's very family friendly.

Use local
Children's centers

Go onto the internet and plan your days at anything held at you local community centre, library, sports centre church or playgroup - and if you volunteer to run one you can find a new skill and also bring your children and reduced rates

Use your local 'Waste Not' or similar sites like Freecycle - it's amazing how many free toys and games you can get as well as books and dvds.

A leak proof coffee cup, a picnic blanket that folds up small, a packet of colours and some pages ripped out of a colouring book save a fortune on cafe visits.

A magnifying glass to be nature detectives and go out discovering.

Knowing what makes a good stick, the hunt for it, the games with it.

A tennis ball for endless games of catch.

Watching the level crossing go up and down. Sitting in a busy train station watching trains come in and out. Counting them, voting on who has the nicest coat, announce a prize of crisps for anyone who can see someone in a dinosaur top.

A trip on the top deck of a bus to go to a different playground.

Go to a food waste cafe and have lunch there

Get a family ticket for a bus go to the top deck and play eye spy.
Go to the park.
Go to pets at home and look at the animals.

Create a cinema in your home - bring the kitchen chairs or bean bags in the living room. make popcorn, and watch a couple of movies.

Buy a large bag of cheap bird feed and decant into smaller bags when visiting parks / ponds - such a fun cheap activity!

National Trust membership has been really good value for us. It was a combined family Christmas gift & we definitely have made good use of it! Free entry to NT properties/sites & if you take a picnic & a flask of hot drink, you needn't spend anything. They often have fun activities on over the school holidays - nature trails, etc. & you can build in a bit of education for the kids (& yourself!) too! In the houses, they often change the displays so you don't always see the same things when visiting. Calke Abbey & Belton House are favourites near us - Belton House has a cracking playground!

We buy a term time pass to the local farm.

It's brilliant as they have a little petting farm, sand play area, mini tractors, soft play and playground.

We went so often last year that each visit was only a couple of quid.

The Donkey Sanctuary is one of our favourite places to visit. We go to the one near Sidmouth, Devon. It’s free to park and free to get in. You can stroke the donkeys, they are so cute, and the keepers are on hand to answer any questions. There are also walks from the site. It’s a fabulous free day out.