This recurring section used to be called “blog highlights from around the web” but I’m changing it because it really is a tips roundup rather than a list of my favourite posts. Or I should say they are my favourite tips posts!

Anyway – here is a list of some of the most useful posts I’ve found in the past few weeks. The last thrifty tips post can be found here.

101 ways to save money from Monevator

The items worth buying at Poundland from the Telegraph

16 gadgets that will save you money from LoveMoney

Lessons from Toy Story 3 – Grow your pennies from infinity to beyond from Magical Penny

Avoid the pension pitfalls: Retirement experts’ top 10 tips from WalletPop UK

Make money selling cakes, jams and sweets from Money Magpie

17 alternative uses for toothpaste, from bee stings to cleaning rings from WalletPop

10 key characteristics of debt free people (of modest means) from Len Penzo

Nothing crazy yet this week but I’m really quite shocked at just how much we spend on groceries! We’re barely past the halfway mark for my tracking month! This is a real reality check.

Running total: £167.13

2nd September – £3.36 for two boxes of cereal
1st September – £26.25 for Abel & Cole delivery – fruit and veg, milk and eggs, plus pork mince for burgers (plenty will be frozen for another time) and more bread flour
31st August – £6.29 for massive block of parmesan (went on last night’s courgettes and pasta)
30th August – £4.25 for goats cheese (half off! to go on beetroot salad and baguettes) and £.89 for the baguette
29th August – nothing!
28th August – nothing!
27th August – nothing!
26th August – nothing!
25th August – £23.73 for Abel & Cole delivery, which included salmon and mussels (but we had a £10 off voucher)
24th August – £3.20 lunch stuff
23rd August – £28 misc lunch and dinner stuff (E didn’t save his receipts so this is an estimate)
22nd August – £5.20 baking stuff for chocolate chip cookies
21st August – £37.24 (guessing again here, as I also lost my receipt. argh!) mainly on fajitas stuff and also rye flour which we will someday use to make sourdough starter
20th August – nothing!
19th August – nothing!
18th August – £20.13 Abel & Cole order – fruit and veg, milk, eggs and bread
17th August – £5 on 2 x 500g steak mince, £1.50 on 2 x 750g tomato sauce
16th August – £1.80 on stirfry stuff for dinner, £.98 on cereal
15th August – nothing!

Other than our Abel & Cole delivery we haven’t spent much…except for a few investments in cheese. I love vegetables with cheese – beetroot with goats cheese or blue cheese, spinach or courgettes with parmesan. Yum! Anyway the increase in veg in our house correlates with an increased spend on cheese.

We were away this weekend visiting family and friends so we didn’t eat in very much but we’re trying to get back on track with the home cooking – even with MORE family in town this week!

Here is where we stand:

Running total: £137.52

31st August – £6.29 for massive block of parmesan (went on last night’s courgettes and pasta)
30th August – £4.25 for goats cheese (half off! to go on beetroot salad and baguettes) and £.89 for the baguette
29th August – nothing!
28th August – nothing!
27th August – nothing!
26th August – nothing!
25th August – £23.73 for Abel & Cole delivery, which included salmon and mussels (but we had a £10 off voucher)
24th August – £3.20 lunch stuff
23rd August – £28 misc lunch and dinner stuff (E didn’t save his receipts so this is an estimate)
22nd August – £5.20 baking stuff for chocolate chip cookies
21st August – £37.24 (guessing again here, as I also lost my receipt. argh!) mainly on fajitas stuff and also rye flour which we will someday use to make sourdough starter
20th August – nothing!
19th August – nothing!
18th August – £20.13 Abel & Cole order – fruit and veg, milk, eggs and bread
17th August – £5 on 2 x 500g steak mince, £1.50 on 2 x 750g tomato sauce
16th August – £1.80 on stirfry stuff for dinner, £.98 on cereal
15th August – nothing!

Oh, what an embarrassment. Our grocery shopping is definitely NOT frugal this week. We’ve had three mouths to feed plus friends over for dinner and that means lots and lots of food.

On the plus side, we’ve had some lovely meals, including prawn stirfry, bubble and squeak, baguette pizzas and chicken fajitas. Yum! And loads of veg are being eaten in these parts.

We also did lots of baking. We tried our hand at making bread using this recipe from Jamie Oliver. His countertop mixing method was a huge hit but the flavour didn’t blow my mind. I’m keen to try making his sourdough starter and see if that makes things more interesting. We also made some delicious chocolate chip cookies using this recipe and some fat chocolate chips we got in the States (although we used self-raising flour because it was all we had and scooped the dough instead of slicing it, as the recipe calls for).

That said, we’re definitely spending more than I’d like us to and I’m also annoyed with how careless we’ve been about receipts. But this month is about tracking and next month we’ll get down to the business of trimming away the nonessentials.

Here is where we stand:

Running total: £103.25

24th August – £3.20 lunch stuff
23rd August – £28 misc lunch and dinner stuff (E didn’t save his receipts so this is an estimate)
22nd August – £5.20 baking stuff for chocolate chip cookies
21st August – £37.24 (guessing again here, as I also lost my receipt. argh!) mainly on fajitas stuff and also rye flour which we will someday use to make sourdough starter
20th August – nothing!
19th August – nothing!
18th August – £20.13 Abel & Cole order – fruit and veg, milk, eggs and bread
17th August – £5 on 2 x 500g steak mince, £1.50 on 2 x 750g tomato sauce
16th August – £1.80 on stirfry stuff for dinner, £.98 on cereal
15th August – nothing!

Last post.

The second installment in our grocery budget tracking. Yesterday I bought sauce and beef and E made some really tasty pasta. Much more exciting than what I would have made – he really knows his way around the spice rack!

Today we got our first Abel & Cole order. It was already unpacked by E before I got home so it didn’t have that ‘Christmas morning’ feeling and to be honest everything looks smaller than I expected, but no matter! I’m excited to have new veg to play with. We’ll see if we use it and it is worth the price.

Running total: £28.91

18th August – £20.13 Abel & Cole order – fruit and veg, milk, eggs and bread
17th August – £5 on 2 x 500g steak mince, £1.50 on 2 x 750g tomato sauce
16th August – £1.80 on stirfry stuff for dinner, £.98 on cereal
15th August – nothing!

I’m looking for ways to cut back and I really think we could trim our grocery spend. But I don’t have any sense of what a household grocery budget should be for two adults and a part-time kid in central London. I know we could plan ahead better so we can compare prices but without a good snapshot of what we spend I can’t wrap my head around what kind of figure we should set for a grocery budget.

E and I both go in phases of tracking our spending and haven’t been great lately. When I know things are going over budget, like on our recent holiday in the States, I can sometimes be guilty of burying my head in the sand rather than writing down all the purchases and dinners out.

Anyway I think we need an audit period so we know how we can adjust. I like starting things like this on a first of a month, but I will settle for the 15th. I’ll be tracking everything we spend on groceries. That will not include things like household cleaning products and won’t count eating out. Just groceries.

To kick things off, here is where things stand:

16th August – £1.80 on stirfry stuff for dinner, £.98 on cereal
15th August – nothing!

Does anyone have a good rule of thumb for grocery budgeting? Care to share how much you spend?

A roundup of useful posts I’ve found over the past couple of weeks.

To see the last roundup click here.

Back to school bargains from WalletPop UK

5 Money Lessons from the Third World from Wise Bread

7 Habits of Highly Frugal People from Money Ning

20 things you can get for under £5 from lovemoney.com

How to develop good habits from Brip Blap

5 ways to make money by going green from WalletPop UK

Oi! Fill that freezer from A Thrifty Mrs

Starting a Kitchen Garden from Five Cent Nickel

Five Questions About: Child trust funds from The Independent

Cocoboat have offered VoucherMum.com readers an exclusive 10% discount to use on the Moonjar financial education programme for children.

Financial education really is a problem. Few children received a proper education about how to manage money which means they are more likely to find money intimidating, confusing and stressful as adults. Now that we’re all struggling through the financial crisis, it is more important than ever to introduce children to healthy attitudes toward saving, spending and sharing.

I think the Moonjar financial education programme is quite cool. It is designed to encourage children to “shoot for the moon”, to not only go after their dreams and goals but to learn good money habits along the way. The programme has won several awards in the US where it was created.

Central to the Moonjar approach is a whole new style piggy bank. Instead of the old one-slot icon we are all familiar with, the award-winning ‘Moonjar’ has three compartments “that remind us of the choices we can make with our money. One each for: Saving, Spending and Sharing.”

Games, books, teaching aids and other materials round out the programme for a wide range of age groups.

 If you are looking for positive tools and resources to help teach some basic money concepts to your children this is great place to start.

Cocoboat sells the Moonjar range online. This includes:

• the classic Moonjar three compartment moneybox
• the  family kit with; lesson plan, 1 classic moneybox, ‘Conversations To Go’ about Money, ‘How The Moonjar Was Made’ storybook and two felt characters
• ‘How the Moonjar was Made’ storybook
• ‘Conversations to go’ range of conversation starters – over 100 questions in each box. Choose from; life, money or travel

To purchase Moonjar at a 10% discount please email me at vouchermum@gmail.com and I’ll put you in touch with Cocoboat.

A roundup of useful posts I’ve found over the past couple of weeks.

To see the previous roundup, click here.

20 ways to save money this summer from the Telegraph

Saving money on cinema from Shopaholly

Make the most of your loyalty cards from lovemoney.com

5 financial principles for a seismic economy from Wisebread

Six top tips from Yorkshire’s thriftiest grannies from Miss Thrifty

9 ways to save money on home insurance from WalletPop UK

8 easy, simple and frugal home improvements from Home Ever After

One hundred ways to save money parts I, II, III, IV, V, VI, VII, VIII, IX from Notes from the Frugal Trenches

Guest post from the Moneysupermarket.com car insurance team

Consider third party, fire and theft

If your car isn’t hugely expensive or fully comprehensive insurance just seems ridiculously expensive, third party, fire and theft insurance is a viable alternative. Of course, the level of cover is lower (It just covers you for third party damage, fire and theft, surprisingly), the difference in price can often be the deciding factor. Just remember that neither you nor your car are actually covered in the event of a crash.

Travel less distance

If you don’t travel too far, you pay less for your premiums – It’s that simple. There are a number of mileage calculators online that’ll help you figure out roughly how far you travel in a year, and you should use them. As easy as it is to just say “average”, you may well find that you actually do far less than that – just don’t forget to include any long drives or holidays you might take the car on each year.

Impress your Provider

Know what car insurers like? People they aren’t likely to have to pay any money for, and people who are constantly trying to keep their driving ability tip-top. The best way to show your provider that your doing these things, in case you’re wondering, is to get yourself on some form of advanced driving course, or pass plus. People who have taken these courses are statistically less likely to crash, and as such are less likely to cost insurers money, which they like. On the other hand, of course, insurers don’t like people who are dangerous on the road – Any convictions you get will affect your premium, so try your best to stay on the right side of the law!

Security

As well as crashing, having your vehicle stolen is of course a major concern for providers. Most vehicles have alarms and immobilisers as standard now, but tracking systems are not unusual nowadays. If your car doesn’t have any of these things, consider getting them installed, just ensure they are recognised by your insurer and installed professionally.

Add a named driver

If your driving history is quite short, or not exactly pristine, adding a named driver to your policy can really shrink your car insurance quotes. Whatever you do though, don’t be tempted to add yourself as a named driver to a policy for a car which you will be the main driver of, this is called fronting and is illegal.