January Round Up
This post may contain Affiliate Links
January round-up: A quick overview of everything that’s happened this month including what I bought in the January sales.
Welcome to a new post on the blog that’s going to be a quick round-up of everything that’s happened with me, my life and my finances over the course of each month.
January Round Up
There’s lots of little things things that I do to make and save money over the weeks but they aren’t always big enough to warrant a whole dedicated blog post. It means I can include any personal news I might have shared on social media but not here on the blog and I’ll also be sharing my favourite bargains, apps and cheap hauls from the month.
So, here goes!
It’s a girl!
As I mentioned in my 2017 roundup post, my husband and I are expecting our first baby in May 2018. On the 4th of January we went for our 20 week scan. We’d always known that we’d want to find out the sex of our baby and we’d spent the last few months convinced we were having a boy (of course we’d be happy either way) so it was still a bit of a surprise when the sonographer said he was 95% certain I was carrying a baby girl.
It’s been so lovely knowing though – I really think it’s helped me bond with the baby and it’s so nice referring to her as her or she. We’ve been able to narrow down names too and start buying some lovely baby girl clothes.
January Sales
Mothercare
Straight after our scan appointment, we headed to Mothercare to pick out a few outfits. We’d been given a £20 voucher for Christmas and they had a January huge a sale on. We chose a few bits we liked and headed to the till, expecting the total to be around £30. However, the items scanned for just £11 in total – for five outfits!
We were super chuffed and headed back the next day to spend the rest of our gift card and pick up some more bits and pieces including a cot bumper that had 75% off and lots more clothes ranging from newborn to 9 months. While we know we’ll probably be given loads, especially with lots of girls in the family, it was really nice to choose a few things we loved, including coming home from hospital outfit.
These were definitely my favourite bargains of the month! A lot of the prices pictured are wrong, and they went through the till at much less.
Boots 75% off Sale
The long-awaited Boots sale started on the third week in January. I was very restrained and only ended up buying two things, both of which have been put back for next Christmas. I only wanted to buy things when I had a clear idea of who the recipient would be, rather than grabbing items just because they were cheap and then not having anyone suitable to gift it too. I also picked up an adorable baby girls swimsuit reduced to £2.70 – perfect for baby swimming classes which we hope to do next winter.
The Best of the Rest
- Everywhere seems to have baby events on at the moment so I’ve been stocking up on things like baby lotion and baby oil while it’s cheap.
- 10 Birthday cards for £1 in The Works plus wrapping paper down to 10p for two sheets – I’ve stocked up for the year for less than £3!
- ‘Secret’ Menu in Prezzo – They emailed about a set menu that was available on a Saturday night – 3 courses for £14. We had to specifically ask for the menu by name on arrival but worth it to save almost 50% off our bill. We usually avoid eating out on a Saturday night because of the cost. Three courses each, two soft drinks and a tip for under £35 is a winner in my book!
Couponing Disasters
I do like to do a little a bit of couponing to keep the cost of my groceries down. Using apps like shopmium and checkoutsmart combined with in-store conditional spend vouchers and buying reduced food means I end up getting a fair bit of food for free or for very little. However, this month hasn’t been great for offers and all the good ones seem to be at a Tesco or Waitrose, neither of which I hav
e anywhere near me! I’ve also made trips to Morrison’s with a list of freebies written down only to discover they don’t stock the items in my local store. Really disappointing considering I managed to make a huge hamper full of free food to give to charity over the course of November (You can read about it here!)
My favourite app this month has to be the O2 Priority moments app, available to anyone who’s with O2. They seem to have a book a week for £1 from WHSmith which is cheaper than most charity shops in my town and if the books not my cup of tea I’ve been putting it away for Christmas. I really hope they keep this offer up! There’s also been loads of competitions and the usual discounts for various shops. There was also free breakfasts, coffee, protein bars, deicer and cookies.
Comping
During December there were loads comps running, especially during advent and myself and Paula from MummyVSWork really encouraged each other to get entering. during January I’ve entered far less and I really need to up game again!
Just in-case you missed any of my new posts this month I thought I’d leave a quick round up of some of my favorite posts here and a few from other money bloggers that I loved.
From Me
- 10 Best Recipe Books that will help you become a budget savvy cook
- My ultimate guide to Saving on Books
- How to save on a Trip to Las Vegas
- 10 Misconceptions about buying reduced food
From some other awesome bloggers
- Should you ever take on debt for love? – From Homely Economics
- How to Stage your home when it’s For Sale – Joliesa Creed
- How to apply for Tax Free help with Childcare costs – The money Whisperer
How exciting!
Some good buys there too 🙂
Thank you
Ahh so exciting you’re having a girl. Some great Mothercare bargains your found there! I find they have excellent sales for baby clothes but I haven’t managed to find anything for my toddlers in the last couple of sales they have.
Oh that’s a shame! We really had to resist kitting her until she’s five haha, there was so much stuff there for all ages. The only thing they didn’t have much of was basics like tights, baby grows and vests but it’s nice to have lots of outfits that there is no way I would have paid full price for!
Congratulations! Don’t forget about that 5% though! A friend of mine was looking forward to welcoming her daughter Lily (having been told “95% sure it’s a girl”), but returned home from the hospital with baby Liam, in a Disney Princess onesie, to his pink nursery with a wardrobe full of dresses and a funny story for when he’s older 🙂
Aww that’s such a funny story! Honestly as long as the baby is healthy we’ll be happy 🙂