Tesco's Farm To Food Trail

Last week Joe and I attended a farm to fork talk in Padiham at Tesco's Lancashire. It is an initiative that is open to Schools in the area, we were lucky enough to be able to go along during half term and see what it was all about.

The event was run by the fabulous Sabrina who first told the children how to act safely in store, gave them all clipboards and handouts, she then showed us to the fruit and Veg aisle. Here Sabrina told us all about the fruit and veg and discussed how to identify where food comes from. 

Amazing Air-miles are Taking us To Miami.

Whoop whoop we have booked our flights to Miami for next year, and they were an absolute bargain, here’s how we did it. Now anyone that knows me, knows I have a bit of an obsession with collecting British Airways Avios. These are air miles that can be redeemed on British Airways flights, all over the world.  For me it is a no brainer, I just don't get why everybody I know doesn't collect them? 

During the years we have collected them, we have booked some amazing flights and saved a fortune. But this year we have been saving for the big one, a trip to Orlando. The flights have gone up so much over the years. Yet we love Orlando, so decided to start saving our Avios towards our Miami flights to bring the cost down. 

Here’s how it works; we have an American Express credit card with which every penny we spend we collect Air Miles, you also have the opportunity to build up companion vouchers. These are built up according to spend, I put all my shopping and petrol on my card, and when I pay it off I get points and my spend allocation builds up. Once you reach a certain spend level you get rewarded with a companion voucher. You can use up to 2 companion vouchers on a flight for a family of 4. 

Holiday Planning Mum, Budgeting for Family Holidays

I recently saw this opportunity to blog about budgeting for family holidays, and thought this is right up my street. Chris gets incredibly bored of me constantly pricing holidays and flights to get the best deal. In fact I think after blogging, searching for holidays is one of my favourite pastimes. I really should have been a travel agent and not a teacher. So here goes; my top 10 tips for planning and budgeting a holiday.

1.    Do your research, if it is a big holiday plan well in advance. I find flights are always cheaper as soon as they come out. For the Disney trip we are going on next year I researched prices and deals a year in advance, this way I got a feel for the actual prices. When a deal came out, I could recognise that it was infact a great deal. This paid off; We got the Disney Dining Plan Free for our holiday to Orlando next year, saving us a fortune.

2.    For cruises book early to get on board credit, the best cabins and early booking discounts. 

3.    Collect air miles, I use my American Express credit card, and Join the British Airways Executive Club to build air miles. We have flown business class on holiday for the last few years using our Avios points.

Amazing Air Miles

I love air miles; I cannot believe the cheap flights we have receive by using these. 

There are many schemes available but we use British Airways Executive Club. When you read reviews there are good and bad, however I can honestly say we have never had any problems. As long as you are prepared to be flexible there are flights available, you just need to be organised and keep watching the availability.

There are several ways to collect, 

1. Firstly American Express Credit Card.  For every pound you spend you get 1.5 air miles (or Avios as they are called). When you spend £10,000 in a year on your card you receive a free companion voucher, this means you can bring a companion on a flight and pay the tax but no air miles.( when you think what you spend on shopping and petrol alone this adds up quickly)