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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Its always worth reviewing your bills on a regular basis using sites such as uswitch.

Buy an airfryer - I have to say - the outlay is worth it, you can bake, fry, slowcook (depending on the model of course - mine is a 5 in 1) I hardly use my oven now when making dinner and tea - and you can choose the cheapest cuts of meat fill with seasonal veg for a hearty super tasty (with no chewy meat) tea

A treasure hunt (with a nice snack hidden to find) or can you spot the xxx type game can make anywhere exciting. Also my kids actually prefer a picnic to eating restaurant food a lot of the time as they see it as more fun having that selection of things to choose from.

My tips would be to batch cook a bolognese, they you can make lasagne, stuffed peppers, spag bol - and a chilli if they like a bit of spice. A vegetarian bolognese is also tasty - I've done that when I have not got a lot left till payday.

So many great suggestions already. Some of our best days were free. I also recommend visiting the library, or a free museum and my kids loved a quick trip to see the guinea pigs and bunnies at our local pet shop on our way home. Lots of local places have free activities for children during school holidays but even just visiting a different park to collect conkers and pine cones is a lovely thing to do.

Our family National Trust pass has been money well spent this year - it paid for itself over the course of the first month we had it even. We are going on holiday during the October half-term and will be planning days out around NT sites in the area. Love, love, love it.

Very family friendly activities for rainy days, too, as well as seasonal themed events.

Always pack drinks and snacks wherever you are going. It will save you a fortune.

Always search for discount codes and use cashback sites.
For days out, always take snacks and water!
We have a couple of good free museums locally which are great and we can go to different sections each time we go so doesn't get boring.

Learn to say no to your children! They don’t need to be taken on a day out every weekend.

Take a Flask of hot chocolate to the park to avoid trips to cafes. Second hand Christmas presents on eBay and vinted for clothing bundles, especially holiday clothes

We have always taken lots out with us so we don't have to spend unexpectedly. Eg, shopper trolley with picnic, hot flask, games, ball, books, etc. So even if we are going somewhere expensive, the only money we spend is on the activity/event, rather than adding £20 for overpriced food.

I got a little book from a charity shop about interesting things within walking of every (I think) tube station. So if we have a day out in London, there's always something free to fill a spare hour before the train home is due.

There's always a list of things we need for presents on our phones so that if we happen to come across an offer we can buy throughout the year.

We use the MSE budget planner to make sure we have a separate savings account for things you don't buy every month but can't afford to pay out for in one go. We put enough in there each month to cover 1/12th of the budget for Christmas, birthdays and boring stuff like insurance and car tax, then transfer from it each time we need to buy something for that 'event.'

Meal planning saves us a lot of money. And online delivery as i just buy what's in the plan and can't be tempted by the end of aisle offers.

If you cannot afford a holiday - borrow a tent and have a staycation in your's or your relatives garden - make it fun, memorable - read stories, take torches, listen to the noises of the morning, if you have wi-fi - watch a movie with popcorn - bring lots of food, drinks and snacks.

Did you know that cheese freezes well?

I live alone and so even though those enormous blocks of cheddar cheese are the best value, they would go off in my fridge before I can finish them … so I cut it into smaller blocks and freeze it! Works a treat!

Oh, and buy your chocolate and biscuits and cereals somewhere cheap like B&M before going to do your main supermarket shop (especially if you have children with you!)

We usually pick one local place for a good day out that does annual membership and go there regularly. Then when it’s up for review we ask the children if they would like that one again or somewhere else.

I've started to use a dedicated spending account which is linked to snoop. I then allocate a budget to different categories each month, including a bucket called 'one off'. It means I can see quickly how much I have left for eating out or days out with the kids. It has made me much more aware of my spending but has been much less time consuming than previous budgeting exercises.

Use your freezer wisely for short dated foods, check out the reduced items and freeze those - cook from scratch and bulk up bolognaise with grated vegetables and diced bell peppers.

Always keep an eye on the sales and offers in-store and online, snap up any offers as you come across them. I buy birthday and Christmas presents all year long when I know the items are going to be things people will still want when it's gifting time. I will buy clothes, toys etc that are the next size up and store them until they are appropriate to give. This means I don't usually have big outgoings around Christmas and birthdays that could effect bills or everyday purchases.

My son chooses old toys each month he wants to sell on "his Facebooks shop". I sell them online and then he gets the money to buy what he wants. It gets rid of things he doesn't play with.

Check if annual tickets would be a saving if you plan to visit again. I buy an annual ticket for one quality attraction and then visit every school holiday and sometimes weekends too. Don’t need to spend a full day the way you do with an expensive day ticket. Change the attraction every year as kids get older.

So much money can be lost on food wastage. A meal plan can cut this in half! Use a chalk board and decide on meals for the week in advance. You can then use this to guide your grocery shop and reduce wastage. Leave Sunday free and raid the cupboards for anything left over / that needs using for an inventive meal. You can also do this with the children to teach resourcefulness.

I would say invest in a (new or preloved) 3 in 1 airfryer and cook your meals in that, it will cook nuggets, fries,(pre microwaved) jacket potatoes, pasties and pies without turning your oven on - and using the slow cook function will make excellent casseroles, stews, and chillies with minimal prep, the cheapest cuts of meat (use a brisket joint overnight on slow and make a joyous pulled beef). My electricity usage -(and quality of meals) has changed so much - for the better

We have a budget and have to stick to it.

In the summer holidays cineworld have a cheap 10am showing every morning so that will be a treat, I call it the surprise showing so kids don’t know what they’ll be seeing which adds to the excitement (it goes without saying we take our own shop brought sweets).

Walks where we have to find certain items and put them in our own scavenger bags which will then be used to make nature pictures at home.

bike rides are free and great way of keeping fit.

We do lots of baking (due to so many allergies in our family it works out a lot cheaper to bake cakes on a Sunday to last the week), I get the children to pick which cakes to make before I shop for ingredients.

we get clothes from charity shops as we can buy items with hardly any wear to them at a much cheaper cost. We also get board games/jigsaws from there, normally for about 99p

Getting a dog - this has meant many, many more free walks and we also can’t go in shops!!