Don't forget to CHECK FIRST!

As you will be aware from my previous post, I am prone to enter the odd competition lol! Well fair's fair, I have invited my 'Better' half to pass comment as well and as she is reluctant to involve herself on the 'pooter' beyond Facebook and Tweeting, I have interviewed her.....and guided her....I swear to god it's like pulling teeth sometimes.....

A MUMMY PIGGY TALE

This is an entry for the Brit Mums and Virgin piggy bank comp featured here sponsored by Virgin Money

Well Mrs Elvy, Mr Elvy has entertained us with his stories of comping fun, what do you see as a great way to make money go further in the Elvy household?

Firstly, stop talking like a smarmy w****r and trying to act all sophisticated (I have faithfully typed her responses). The comping that you do may have led to a few trips and a nice little bonus at times BUT it is me that has to watch the pennies day by day, put food on the table and clothe the girls.

Okay, I accept that, but what exactly do you do to save those pennies?

(A little swearing takes place at this point, before Mrs Elvy calms and composes herself)
Saving money is something that you do everyday! You might think nothing of going to Morrisons or Tesco and piling food in the trolley, but those vouchers that can be collected through the month can easily knock £20 off a monthly shop...EVERY month. The odd coupon in a paper and a quick check online. Companies have facebook pages most of the time and you can often pick up free product vouchers from their pages!

So you can save money shopping, and I agree that this is all helpful, but printing off a few coupons and vouchers wont really make that much difference will it?

(Mrs Elvy muttered a little before continuing)... It is NOT just for shopping. When you go into town for the day with the children, a check on various voucher sites will get you half price dinners or 2 for 1 offers in various pizza, burger or restaurant chains. Also now, other sites are popping up and these 'group' sites will often allow you to take up some amazing deals on everything from haircuts to theme parks and adventure places.

So that trip last week to Carmarthen?

We went on Wednesday because I could take advantage of the 2 for 1 cinema offer from Orange, this meant we paid £12 instead of £24. Then we also ate at Pizza Express and spent £15 for all four of us instead of £25! (Orange Wednesdays again). We stopped in WHSmiths to pick up a book for Amy, free with a voucher from the Newspaper the week before...and we stopped at Tesco on the way home to pick up a couple of things for the kids (Clothes) because I had some Clubcard vouchers to spend! Typical day really, but by organising a little and thinking ahead, maybe a little prompting and making everyone think it was their idea, I saved over £40 without really trying.

So did you really fancy pizza then?

(A lot of laughing) I didn't really mind pizza, but convincing you and the girls that you wanted it....that's the easy part!

I then let my wife return to her coffee and early evening television. I now have to think carefully whether I really am in control in this house? or am I really so easy to manipulate?