Feeding children during the credit crunch

For a normal person it is harder making ends meet during the credit crunch. Majority of us suffer in one way or the other. I wonder about the ways it is affecting our kids.
Even in the better times kids are expensive. We all know that. But today how many parents will be able to put their kids needs first?
There are bills and expenses that have to be paid. You can not tell the council that you will pay later because at the moment you just don't have money for the council tax. But you can tell your child that the MP3 player he so wanted for his birhtday is now out of reach or that they will not after all be able to go to the Art class after all.
Maybe not. I think the best of us will sacrifice our needs and desires instead and refuse to put our children's happiness and health long way after the mortgage, council tax and gas bills.
I found this article written by a mother at the "Full Time Mothers "website and it really made me think.

The London fly

I look down from the ceiling at a desert.
That person looks as big as a skyscraper.
The rolled up newspaper moving towards me is as dangerous as a steamroller.
I fall down like a meteor.

Save money in London

Some people think that this year London is cheaper than before. Others disagree.
But one thing is for sure. Saving money and looking for discounts is becoming one of Londoners' favorite pastimes. There are articles in almost every paper advising us who to spend less and to earn more. Not all of them as useful as they make themselves out to be. For example if somebody is having a whopping 20% off sale and you buy some items at a reduced price you will still be worse off than if you never went there in the first place.
Same goes for discount vouchers. The other day in the supermarket I bought four items that I didn't really need and probably could ill afford. At the time though, I did feel that I was saving cash by doing this (after all I had a voucher for one whole pound off the price of an expensive mascara, fifty pence off an overpriced ready meal and two ten pence vouchers off baking goodies).
However if you are after some discounts or money saving tips there are some helpful websites and publications around. Here are just some of them
SAVE MONEY ON YOUR TRIP TO LONDON
MONEY SAVING EXPERT
DISCOUNT ATTRACTIONS
LONDON DISCOUNTS

UFO in London again. Did you see it?

I have just read a story about UFO in Lincolnshire, where a blade was mysteriously torn off a wind turbine amid reports of "strange lights" in the sky.
I wonder what colour lights they were? Wherever I read about UFOs before the person claiming to have seen them described the bright orange lights, but few weeks ago I saw strangely bright light blue lights over the North Circular. It is second time I have seen Unidentified Flying Objects in this area. (Read my blog HERE)
This time it was around seven pm and I was walking down the road. It was relatively quiet for this time of the night – not too much traffic. I glanced at the sky ahead of me and was surprised to see five rather large bright pale blue lights above the road junction. At first I thought that they were stars, but they were much bigger and looked closer.
Then I thought that they were the helicopter lights (police helicopters often hover above the North Circular if there has been an accident), but this would require five police helicopters staying absolutely still in a particular pattern for at least few minutes. Also you can usually hear the helicopters from far away.
In this case there was no noise at all.
I walked as fast as I could. For some reason I believed that once I reach the North Circular I will be closer to the lights and therefore might be able to identify them, but before I reached my destination the lights started going our one by one. It was like somebody was very slowly turning off the lights. By the time I got the junction the strange lights were gone.
Did anybody else see these lights or anything unexplained in Greater London area in the last few months?

Keeping warm in winter

Keeping warm in winter in London is not easy. The problem comes from our houses not being designed for the cold weather. To make it even more challenging winters seem to be getting colder every year. (Apparently it is something to do with global warming :-))
The best place to be for the heat preservation are the blocks of flats and the worst are the detached or semi-detached houses.
Heating up our homes is expensive and choosing the right supplier is crucial.
In August all the major suppliers - British Gas, Scottish Power, nPower, EDF, Scottish & Southern increased rates (see price rise charts). The prices were expected to rise in January but the global economic decline meant it is now predicted there will be a price freeze or more likely a price cut.
Most providers offer special capped tariffs. They lock in at that rate for a set time which means you won't be affected by price rises over that period. At a time of rate hikes, this looks attractive, especially for those worried they can't afford any further price increases.
Those on pre-payment meters sadly pay a lot more than everyone else. If possible switch to a billed meter to save money.
If you currently pay your bills quarterly when you receive them, you can cut the cost by around 10% with almost every provider simply by switching to monthly direct debit.
You can also use the Energyhelpline to switch provider. It also pays cashback of £15 per switch; which means switch to dual fuel (gas and electricity together) and it's £15 or switch to a separate gas and electricity supplier and it's £30 (joint highest).

The perfect cheap date in London

The prices of going out for a meal in London are on the rise. Some of us are choosing to stay at home or opt for cheaper take-away options. There are still however some vibrant and popular places to go on the date in the capital without breaking the bank. Some of them come highly recommended.
Also check out this article in London Time Out magazine!

Find cheaper petrol in London

The prices of petrol have recently reached new heights and many people in the UK find it hard to keep the car running. It is especially hard for low income families who have kids and for those individuals who have to travel to work by car due to unavailability of suitable and affordable public transport options.
Motorist in London have been hit the worst with petrol pump prices rising 18.5 per sent in the past year.
Of course some petrol stations still charge better prices than others and if you travel a lot knowing a place like that can be extremely important.
There are currently four or five websites that can help you to find cheaper petrol in you area. Check out those
find cheaper petrol 1
find cheaper petrol 2
find cheaper petrol 3
Other money on petrol saving tips

Going wild in London

I am confused. First we were told that the bank holiday weekend was going to be warm and sunny, now that it is going to be rainy and gloomy.
What to do in London on a sunny bank holiday weekend? You can take a boat trip on river Thames, go to the park, enjoy your meal on the various pavements (if you like traffic fumes) or you can sit in the garden with a good book (if you have a garden that is).
But what do we do if it is rainy and horrid? You can spend a day at home, spring clearing your house and watching a couple of good DVDs or you can hit the streets of London looking for
wild animals, eating out in Wild restaurants and going to see the Wild Ones at Green Carnation or visit other wild nightclubs.

London without the pink sunglasses

As the overblown London housing market is slowing down and the economy is heading for even bigger slump, Londoners are spending less money on the luxury and more time looking for bargains. (That is unless you live in Holland Park, Camden Town or Hampstead where some people still seem to be pretty relaxed about dining out two to three times a week in horrendously overpriced local restaurants.)
Many of us are beginning to watch pennies over food and gas bills. For the latter the weather doesn’t help at the moment.
Last night it was so cold that we had to put the central heating on for few hours. This is the end of May we are talking about!
Amount of unemployed people in London has risen by 20 000 this year and finding a job, even very low paid one is no longer a matter of one to three weeks.
This is not surprising with economy headed by Gordon Brown going down the toilet, but it is surprising why has London seen much sharper rise in unemployment than any other place in the UK.

Women find David Cameron sexually attractive

Many of us, Londoners think that the new Tory party leader David Cameron is sexy and attractive. Are you surprised?
Look at the Prime Ministers we had in the last ten years. We have had enough of Tony Blair blaring at us on every corner. He was a power hungry actor and a public speaker, totally up himself and manipulating to the core. The other one is Gordon Brown who is simply a bit of a flop.
Having read the description of Britain given in the new Rough Guide (2008) I think you will agree that what we really need now is a change.