Super saving ideas

With all this talk of credit crunch and the skyrocketing price of groceries, I've been on a mission to look after those pennies with the hope of saving a few quid each month.  Once you get started, saving money is addictive.  I get a smug rush every time I issue a coup de grace to the supermarkets' coffers by canny purchasing.  Ha ha!  I know they want me to get sucked in by 2 for 1 offers, but I'm not falling for that.  I don't want a fridge full of rotting veg I can't eat before the use-by date, I want a genuine price slash on a single purchase that I really need.  My money saving exploits go beyond the supermarkets, onto the high street and Internet... I stalk my prey for weeks, finding the best deals that don't mean compromising on quality.  Here are some of my favourite cost-cutting techniques:

1. Only buy B.O.G.O.Fs when the products are non-perishable. Tins and toiletries are a no-brainer.
2. Stalk favourite luxury items regularly to make sure that any discounts are fully exploited. The Green & Black chocolate offer at Sainsburys right now means I'm gorging on my fave chocolate every day, so that hopefully by the time the offer ends I will be sick of the stuff.
3. If you have something at Debenhams on your wish list, lie low and wait until a Blue Cross sale.  You will see the price of your target purchase slashed -- by up to 70 per cent.
4. Get a Boot's Advantage card -- it's like getting free money. Clock up points with boring purchases like nappies and toothpaste, then use them for something fun like cosmetics.
5. Use voucher code websites to find discounts and free delivery offers for all your favourite Internet shopping haunts.  www.vouchercodes.com and www.vouchercodes.co.uk have saved me lots of lovely lolly on fashion finds.
6. To save electricity, turn appliances off rather than keeping them on standby.
7. To save gas, tweak your thermostat down.  Every degree costs you quids on your bill.
8. Check your mobile phone tariff is working for you -- I nearly got laughed out of Phones 4 U when they realised I was on an aged tariff that was a blatant rip off -- switching to a new one has halved my bills. 
9. Check your bank statement -- what charges are you paying and are you taking advantage of any perks your account offers?  I found I'd been paying a premium for account services such as travel and motor insurance, but had been paying for these elsewhere as well.  
10. Make the most of your skills and those of family to DIY as much as you can -- getting my mum to hem my jeans rather than taking them to the dry cleaners saves me £12.  Even if I purchase a thank-you bottle of wine, I can save over a fiver.
11. Buy in bulk for things you use every day -- that's 72 Weetabix please; 24 loo rolls... Your house may end up looking like Costco, but you'll save more than a bit of loose change.

Supermums under fire

A new survey from Cambridge University suggests that support for "have it all" mums is on the wane. Comparing stats from the eighties, nineties and noughties, the poll suggests that increasing numbers of men and women believe that family life suffers if a mother continues to work rather than filling the traditional shoes of a stay-at-home mum."Supermums" who juggle adrenaline-fuelled days at the top of the career tree with baking fairy cakes and reading bedtime stories are considered by many to be the stuff of legend. Juggling this precarious load, the survey suggests, is like living under a huge, wobbly stack of Jenga blocks... Yet, despite more people saying it can't work: it does and it must. While being a mum and a homemaker is undoubtedly the hardest job in the world, mums deserve the option to be "super" career women if they want. Their professional success pre-motherhood is every bit as hard-earned as their partner's and their work ethic as committed. As the kid of a working mum, I salute the Herculean effort it took for her to hold down a job and be as complete a mum as I could have wanted. The sad truth is that motherhood is like a handicap in the workplace -- with flexible working hours just edging into most employers' consciousness and challenging part-time roles a myth -- it's a wonder that any mum returns from maternity leave with a clear route defined on her career map. As a mum that juggles home-working with caring for a son, I raise a toast to women that stay at home too. Let's face it there's no easy option: there's just hard-won choices and the best we can do in our given circumstances, driven by career goals, financial pressures and, most of all, the quest to be great parents. And our own intuition, rather than the opinions of others, will tell us whether we are doing what's best for our families.