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Mum’s Gone To Poundland

Tuesday, January 22nd, 2013

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Back before Christmas I was contacted by Sally from Bottle PR to see if I would like to take part in the Poundland Weekly Essentials challenge.

How could I resist? After all I’m a bit of a fan of Poundland and love a challenge especially when it’s to do with saving money.

Poundland have recently increased their groceries range in an attempt to save families money. I consider myself to be rather a savvy shopper, so I accepted the challenge and soon received vouchers worth £15 to spend on groceries.

As I mentioned earlier, I do like Poundland anyway, but have to admit I’d not considered buying food before other than packets of biscuits or chocolates, so I was intrigued to find out exactly what they were selling.

I arrived at the large Poundland store in Coventry, once a former Woolworths. It was a  Tuesday afternoon and as usual Poundland was very busy. Before deciding what to buy I spent some time browsing the shelves to see what was on offer. I got very excited when I saw a box of Dorset cereal which I love but don’t buy due to the price. I quickly grabbed a basket and decided now was the time to start shopping!

I decided to choose carefully as I wanted to enhance my weekly shop rather than add things to it that I didn’t need. I first went for staples like pasta, rice and cereal. My kids love cereal and get through boxes of the stuff. As a result I usually buy cheaper own brands so was pleased to see a good sized box of shreddies. That should last us a day or two!

I continued to fill my basket with tea, tomato sauce, tinned salmon, olive oil and finally some treats like biscuits and heinz tinned chocolate pud! In addition to the usual ‘everything for a pound’ there were other ‘mix and match’ offers in the store. For example I bought basmati rice, 1kg of spaghetti and Loyd Grossman sauce all for £2.

One thing I will say, is that some items are not as good an offer as they may appear. For example I bought a multi bag of crisps which stated a special offer of  5 bags for the price 4. The same multi bag in supermarkets usually comes with 6 bags as standard, so it’s still important to shop wisely even if it looks like a bargain.

Once I got my booty home, I did the all important price comparison against two major supermarkets. Shopping like for like, the same products from Tesco came to £23.62 which meant I had saved £8.62. What was interesting with Tesco, was that some of the identical products had been discounted to £1 which made me wonder whether they keep an eye on Poundland and attempt to match the prices.

I then did the same online shop at Sainsbury’s where the total spend came to £30.53 which saved a whopping £15.53, double what I had spent at Poundland.

I was more than happy with what I bought from Poundland and after seeing what I could save I will definitely use it to pick up items like cereal, rice and pasta as well as traditionally more expensive items like olive oil, tinned salmon and of course…Dorset cereals!

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Halloween and birthday treats

Friday, October 28th, 2011

Halloween is always an extra special time of year in our house. Yes the kids love to dress up and inflict heart attacks on our elderly neighbours but that isn’t the only fun they have!

Halloween is also middle sons birthday and we always have a fabulous Halloween party to celebrate.

This year, I was on the look out for different, unusual and above all, cheap decorations for the party when I was contacted by Poundland who asked me if I’d like to have a look at their range.

I have shopped at Poundland before but hadn’t considered it for Halloween, so I was quite surprised when I popped into town and saw that their window was crammed full of fantastic decorations, costumes, horror make-up and everything was…you guessed it… a whole pound! Brilliant!

Poundland in Coventry used to be Woolworths, so it’s a pretty big store with plenty of choice and I have to say I was really very impressed. The store stocked pretty much everything you could want from table decorations, plastic glasses and paper plates through to the whole costume and when you have three children to buy for, value for money is the key!

I filled my basket and the whole lot came to just £15 which I thought was amazing value for money.

I showed middle son when I got home and we started to plan the big bash for Halloween night. He was over the moon with all the goodies I came home with and I feel confident that all of his friends are going to love it too and have a fantastic time.

And if you’re stuck for party ideas, these websites give great tips and advice on how to host the perfect Halloween party:

www.halloweentips.com/

www.allfreecrafts.com/halloween/index.shtml

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Thank goodness for the Wii part II

Wednesday, April 21st, 2010

Finally the easter holidays are over! I thought they’d never end!

Eldest always gets more time off than any other child I know and was flopping around the house for almost three weeks until he made his way back to school yesterday.

For a change the weather was pretty good, and we made the most of it by visiting the park and going for walks.

On the cold and wet days, we turned to the Wii again. I was lucky enough to be sent a game by Activison called ‘How to train your Dragon’ based on the Dreamworks film of the same name.

Eldest wasn’t the slightest bit interested. If it’s for the Wii and not the PS3, he doesn’t want to know.

Middle son, on the other hand , loves playing Wii games. Probably because they’re a little easier to play than the more complex games his older brother enjoys.

After he’s spent a couple of weeks playing, he invited one of his friends over so that they could play on it together. My son hasn’t seen the film although his friend has and this is what they both had to say. (They’re 8 remember!)

Son “It’s really good with lots of adventures in the game though I found some a bit hard to do. The graphics are awesome, really colourful and I liked the way you can change parts of your Dragon so that you can make it your own. I want to see the film now.” He gave it 8 out of 10

Friend: “I’ve seen the film and some of the things they say are the same as in the game. It was easy to play and there was lots of adventures and the Dragons are cool and awesome!” He gave it 9 out of 10

OH and I had a little play while the kids were in bed and had a great laugh, although we had drunk a bottle of wine!

Essentially a fighting game, I enjoyed the mini games which involved solving puzzles. I also liked the way you can customize your own Dragon. With sharp graphics and easy game play, which I suppose is the beauty of the Wii, it certainly did a good job of keeping a little boy happy on his easter break.

And while I’m here, if Activison have anything that needs reviewing for the Nintendo DS….I’m your woman!

How to train your Dragon is available to buy in all the usual games formats, RRP £39.99

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Posh new addition…part II

Monday, December 14th, 2009
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Not my bedroom!

It’s been an age since my last blog.

This has been due to the whole family having been struck down with a variety of illnesses which started with a projectile vomiting toddler. That was almost six weeks ago and since then both myself and eldest have had swine flu, middle son had his tonsils out and now we’ve gone full circle when Friday evening vomiting toddler started again!

Last night, my bedroom looked like a low budget zombie film as various children wandered in and out wailing, moaning and crying. Eventually OH had to make his way, yet again, to the spare bedroom in order to escape their escalating demands. I almost feel jealous that he’s going to work today.

It’s felt as though my only little ray of sunshine in amongst this sea of illness, have been the lovely things that I get sent to review. The most recent being a beautiful Dorma Boudoir cushion.

Unfortunately my bedroom is not very boudoir like. It’s currently without any decent furniture and has bare floorboards…though I’m on the case!

What I do have however, is a rather gorgeous, cream, high backed chair, which sits like a throne in the corner of the room. Inherited from my mum, it’s the sort that has a lift up seat so you can store blankets etc. It could probably be converted into a comode in the distant future!

In the meantime, I use it for the spare duvet and the boudoir cushion from Dorma’s ‘Belvoir’ range sits perfectly on it, looking very posh. My OH even noticed it when he went to bed, so it must be good!

I imagine that the cushion would be used for decorative use, though it’s certainly felt very comfortable when I’ve used it to prop myself up while using the old laptop in bed.

I’ve always loved Dorma bedlinen and their new products are quite gorgeous. Some of the designs look very sumptuous with deep, rich colours.  Personally, I’ve asked Santa for the Keira range which will go beautifully with my new bedroom wallpaper.

The website looks great too and is very easy to use. What I particularly liked was the ability to zoom in in on the designs to get a really good look at them.

Of course Dorma don’t only sell duvet covers they also sell duvets, towels, table linen and have an amazing selection of bedroom furniture. Bedroom furniture! That’s exactly what I need!!

Now where’s my christmas list.

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Posh addition to my kitchen!

Thursday, November 19th, 2009
Not my kitchen!

Not my kitchen!

I recently agreed to write a review for an item from the simplehuman range of products for the home.

As always, it’s very exciting to find a parcel on the doorstep and this time it was one of the simplehuman slim cannisters.

The main reason I was keen to try it, was the promise of ‘fingerprint-proof stainless steel’. I couldn’t wait to see how it stood up to the sticky paw prints of my group of little monkeys.

The cannister comes very nicely boxed, and I was very impressed with how it looked when I removed it from it’s packaging. It was a real treat as I wouldn’t normally buy anything like this. I tend to use tupperware boxes or old ice-cream tubs for storage.

The cannister comes with a window on the lid where you can place a label and these can even be customised from the simplehuman website. As I only had one cannister I didn’t feel the need to label it!

I’d originally had the idea of putting cereal in it, but it was a little too small for that, so I put some fresh coffee in instead. Simplehuman sell the cannisters in 5 different sizes, so there is one large enough for cereal.

What I liked most about the cannister, was the push button opening. No fiddling with lids only to end up throwing coffee all over the kitchen! One of my aunties came over for a coffee and while chatting away to her, I got the cannister out, pushed the button and the lid gently opened. ‘Ooooh! I like that!’ she said. I felt very posh!

I’ve been using the cannister for around four weeks now, and have even got the kids to open and close the lid and do you know what? It really does have fingerprint-proof stainless steel.

My OH did have one negative comment to make. He felt the handle was a little too small and so found it hard hold. I have to add…he does have very large hands, but I see his point.

When I originally started to use the cannister, I did think it was an unncessary replacement for my battered old tupperware, but I really do like it. It looks great, has kept the coffee fresh and has made me consider buying one.

The slim cannisters are available from www.simplehuman.co.uk and range in price from £24.99 to £39.99


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Thank goodness for the Wii!

Thursday, November 12th, 2009

millionpoundnote1I’ve been away from the computer for over a week now. It wasn’t deliberate, it was due to a huge order of £1Million notes. 10,500 to be exact!!

Each note has to be put together with a backing card, slid into a plastic wallet, sealed and barcoded. The notes are then packed into envelopes of 25 with ten full envelopes going into a small box. Four of those smaller boxes go into one large box…..yawn!!! You still awake?

I normally do all the packing with the help of OH and two reluctant children. The most I have done up until now was 4,000 and I optimistically thought 10,500 would be a doddle.

I won’t bore you with all the details, but we started packing at 4pm Monday and finally finished at 11:30am Sunday! I went to bed at midnight each night and was up again at 5am each morning. I roped in my cousin, my uncle and two friends to help, plus bribed the kids to get them to stick bar codes on. All this in between OH jetting off to Baltimore, me taking the kids to their many social events, coming down with a cold and forcing myself to watch the Michael Jackson Seance with Derek Acorah!!!

Phew!!! I did my upmost not to moan or complain, after all I wasn’t down a mine, working on a hospital ward, cleaning public toilets or doing any other genuinely demanding jobs…but it was blummin’ hard work!

With the boxes all nicely packed, I spent Monday driving for 6 hours to Lowestoft and back to deliver them before flopping in front of the telly with a curry and cuddle from OH who’d just got back from Baltimore. While we were watching TV, I suddenly realised I hadn’t been anywhere near the computer for a whole week!  No emails, no blogging, not even a tweet….and I hadn’t even missed it!

After that revelation, I made a pact with myself not to spend unecessary amounts of time on the computer…the Wii on the other hand!

BonsaiBarberscreenshot11.jpg-thumb-500x303-21290I love the Wii, probably more than my kids do. I love it’s simplicity and how easy it is to use. By the way Santa, if you’re reading this, I’d really like a wii-fit for Christmas!

A couple of weeks ago I was sent a game to review called Bonsai Barber. As expected, I was more excited than the kids. The game is aimed at younger children, so my 13 year old wasn’t that impressed. Then again he’s a hardened PS3 gamer who plays games with horrible titles like ‘Modern Warfare’ and ‘Assassins Creed’.

I sat down  with my 8 year old and we started to play. The idea is a little strange. You’re a new barber in town and have to cut the hair/leaves of various fruits and vegetables. You get given a style template and you have to cut around that template, gaining stars for accuracy with 5 stars being the highest you can get for each cut.

Simple enough. The wii remote becomes either a pair of scissors, clippers or even a paintbrush so you can colour the foliage.

After we’d styled about 6 different vegetables, the game suddenly wouldn’t let us go any further? We were both feeling a little frustrated until we realised that you only have a certain amount of  appointments to complete each day.

The following day we were keen to turn the wii on again and see who was queuing up at our virtual barber shop. This time we had new customers and the styles were clearly getting harder.

We played Bonsai Barber every day for around two weeks and we both thoroughly enjoyed it. Even my step-daughter who isn’t remotely interested in gaming, started her own story mode. It’s certainly not taxing and you don’t have to be skilled with a game controller. For that reason it isn’t suitable for older children who are used to more difficult games consoles. However it’s perfect for younger children and 39ish mums who want to spend some time playing a game with their kids that they actually have a chance of understanding!

Now where’s that Wii remote gone?

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Review of KidsRooms.co.uk

Friday, October 30th, 2009

roses_lifetime_swapI  recently saw a request from Rainbow PR for bloggers to review www.KidsRooms.co.uk. I was keen to take a look as it can get kind of boring when the only furniture option is Ikea!

Being totally honest, my first thoughts were not positive. To begin with the logo was way too small and surely a Kid-Inspired site should have a fun and funky logo? Overall I thought the website looked uninspiring. However, as I had agreed to review it, I made the effort to delve deeper.

What I found was a website crammed with some of the most fun, unusual and exciting children’s furniture that I’d seen in a long time. My particular favourites were the Tea Party bed and the amazing Treehouse bed which my middle son would just love.

Using the website was easy enough. The categories down the right hand side are self-explanatory and very easy to navigate. Once I’d clicked through, the images were rather small and it wasn’t until I clicked again that I saw a larger image.

The furniture carries a 5 year guarantee but that wasn’t immediately apparent. It would have been good to see this stated more clearly as I think it’s a great selling point.

I’m no web designer but as a Mum looking out for child-friendly products, I would love to have seen a site more reflective of the quality furniture it’s attempting to sell. The products looked great once I started digging through all the prose. I just think they could do with a better showcase.

Don’t let the website put you off. The furniture looks amazing and certainly worth more than a cursory glance. I’m sure they will do great business with what are unique, fun and functional products.

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