5 Ways to Save Space with a Growing Family

Sponsored Video: Mumsnet - Your Bank Live 2015 #YourBankLive

Barclays hopes to make banking, and life, easier for families and is presenting a series of family-friendly products, including Code Playground, part of their Digital Eagles campaign.  Other family-friendly initiatives include a new HomeOwner app, Cashless Days, and more family friendly branches, all of which will be put through their paces by Mumsnet members, a group not known for holding back when it comes to critiquing new initiatives!

Thoughts of Spring, and Winter Entertainments

We may still be in January, but to me there is a feeling of spring already.  As soon as the Christmas decorations come down and the tree heads out the door for composting, I go straight into home re-arranging and spring cleaning mode.  It must be the exposure of dusty corners hidden for several weeks by a large conifer, or perhaps purely the fact that the shape and size of your home seem to metamorphose as soon as the boxes are packed away in the garage.  No wonder there is always a spike in house selling at this time of year!

Parenting Prompt

Review: Oral-B Pro-Expert All-Around Protection

An old adage states that you lose a tooth for every child, so in theory I should have three missing!  Thank goodness this isn't the case, but I do have moments where some of my teeth feel a little wobbly, especially towards the end of my pregnancies and during the early days of breastfeeding a newborn.  It does worry me and I know I'm not the only one who experiences this.  The hormonal ups and downs combined with higher acid levels in your saliva and a greater flow of blood through the body can play havoc with gums, teeth and the bones that hold your teeth in place.  Hence that cheerful adage I suppose!

How to Plan a Holiday with Another Family

Going on holiday with another family can be a fun experience that will make your friendship grow and provide wonderful memories. At home, you celebrate the highs together and drown the sorrows with a few glasses of wine, plus your kids play together all the time. But living under the same roof for a week or more is a different kind of ball game. If you don't plan properly or lay down ground rules, it can soon turn into a holiday you'll want to forget.

Here's how to have a wonderful holiday with another family and come home with friendships intact.

How to Make Term Time Holidays More Acceptable to Schools

In 2013, the British government introduced £60 fines for taking a child out of school during term time, making it incredibly difficult to plan holidays if you have school age children. To an extent this legislation is understandable, since a child’s education should always take priority where possible, but it's an understatement to say that these fines have been unpopular and caused controversy. There are exceptions to this rule, like attending a funeral or wedding, but penalties have been heavily enforced.

Read the following advice on taking your kids on holiday during term time.

5 Family Friendly Ideas for Backyard Fun

Who says you need to leave the confines of your backyard for a bit of family friendly fun? We certainly don’t. If done well, your backyard can offer you and your family unending hours of entertainment and good times. Here are 5 family friendly ideas that will turn your boring and uninspiring backyard space into a fun-fill wonderland.

Review: Kitchen Gadgetry and Accessories from Aldi

Growing up in the '70s, the chest freezer and the pressure cooker were the twin bastions of 'fast food'.  The closest we had to ready meals were Fray Bentos tinned steak & kidney pies and Vesta boil in the bag curries.  Most housewives as they were frighteningly still known would fill their capacious freezer at Bejam's and then produce a fortnight's worth of meat, potatoes and frozen veg meals.  Thank God I turned vegetarian fairly promptly, but not before consuming successive stews, casseroles, liver & bacon etc, all of which had made their journey from freezer to plate via pressure cooker.  And brown food was king, as you can see from the advert below!

Win a Kenwood Hand Blender

If one of your New Year's Resolutions is to eat more healthily, or you are about to embark on a get fit or slimming plan, then we have just the prize for you!  Hand blenders are an essential kitchen gadget, perfect for blending soups, smoothies, dips, sauces and more.

Video Recipe: Veggie Kebabs

Looking for a delicious but healthy midweek supper dish?  This veggie kebab recipe is colourful, and very tasty. It would also work really well with tofu.  Yum!

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