A frugal family's tale - my budget baby articles and review of Aldi's Lelli-Kelly-style shoes

First of all, let me say that we regularly shop at Aldi, so when I was offered a sample of the Lelli-Kelly-style shoes for Michela, I was happy to accept. I was not surprised to find out that Aldi won Which? Supermarket of the Year 2012 - its international offerings (sliced cooked meat, cheese and the cheapest but quality maple syrup you can find) had us hooked for the past three years or so. Aldi's brochures are so well written - as a copywriter I find them delightful. I have kept the Halloween edition as it offered ideas for spooky face paint and fun themed dishes.

Without further ado, here is my review of Aldi's Lelli-Kelly-style shoes. The
headline of the press release says it all: Spend or Splurge? Well, we are no splurgers, we love a bargain and we are charity shop addicts. I even wrote baby-on-a-budget/credit crunch articles a few years back (scroll down for links) for various publications.

Back to the Aldi shoes, we tested them on a walk into central Cambridge and at school (Michela's school uniform policy doesn't apply to shoes). It was a welcome change from the usual, sensible shoe we buy for Michela - we bought plimsolls, boy-style boots (sturdy, rainproof and kickproof) and croc lookalikes at Aldi, so we have tested its kid range out of our own pockets since she started school. We buy most shoes from supermarkets anyway, we tried Tesco, Sainsbury's and Asda for trainers, sandals and wellies. We only shop at shoe shops during the sales and it's more like TK Maxx anyway.

The shoes did well, they were a bit dirty after a day at school but the sequins were still stuck on! Lelli Kelly shoes come with little gifts but retail at a whopping £49.99, while these lookalikes are £8.99. They have been available from June 27, so if you are lucky you can still find a pair at your store. Sizes are from 7 to 12. Pity they don't do size 3 as I'd have bought a pair from myself! These pink and silver sparklers are part of a special range, so they won't be gathering dust on the shelves... I hope Aldi will reissue them at some point. Children grow out of shoes pretty soon.

My credit crunch series in full

Baby on a budget (online version)
Baby on a budget (print version)
Buying secondhand high chairs
Buying secondhand for your pregnancy, baby and toddler
Have a green Christmas
Family garden on a budget
Build your first aid kit

Return of the hamster and entertaining a school-age child

SEO is like a rollecoaster ride, everybody is on a steep learning curve.
Expertise comes and goes at the beat of an algorithm (from my new SEO blog)

Hello there,

it has been a proper sunny summery week, so excuse me for not blogging! Schools are out and it's a tad difficult to continue working with a five year old at home all day who expects endless excitement. My daughter's school excels in stimulating creativity and love of learning through a huge number of structured activities, but as there is just me and her dad, both trying to squeeze some work here and there - keeping her occupied and happy is a daily challenge. 

So how do I cope? Well, since it's summer I can easily wake up at dawn (or before) every day, so I can clock in some work before my daughter wakes up. Trouble is, I'm dead at 8pm and fall asleep on the sofa after I have eaten my dinner. My partner had to tap me now and then last night so I could watch the Olympics' opening ceremony as I was dozing off every ten minutes. I eventually went to bed after 1am, woke up at 4.30, then decided today I should sleep till at least 6. I have been down here for an hour and half now checking my emails and applying for an interesting local job. I still have work to do, but as I put in some hours at weekends, I will catch up today or tomorrow. 

I have resisted the urge to book Michela into a holiday club, with her father around, it doesn't make sense and it's such a long day from 8.30 till 6pm! I have booked a few craft parties, a couple of hours here and there so she can enjoy building things and making jewellery. She has already a box of treasures with all her makes and is looking forward to the school's show and tell coming this autumn as she will have things to boast about. Aren't children competitive? We played a game of snake and ladders the other day and she was very angry when I won. Her father lets her cheat or give her unfair advantage to humour her. 

We are teaching her about money, she has a money box and she likes to get money out and go to the newsagent to buy cheap sweets (love hearts is her favourite as she can now read the messages). We also visit charity and cut-price stores for inexpensive toys. Yesterday she got a toy unicorn and an inexpensive Hello Kitty PJ courtesy of Aldi. My partner then found a cheap paddling pool at Asda (unusually for a man, he likes going around shops and is an addict of B and M, the new cut-price store in our area).

So I was quite taken with this article that landed in my inbox, with the appealing headline: 20 kids' gift under a fiver. To read it, click here.

Enjoy the sun while it lasts!