Ollie&Fletch

This is something that only really kicked in when Ollie my first born turned 4 months. We had struggled through my maternity leave as a family with statutory maternity pay only, as I had missed the window for Occupational Maternity pay by two weeks!! I know, two weeks!! I kept hearing ‘couldn’t you have waited woman’ – this phrase kept ringing in my head repetitively.

Well, at that point after loans from family and an unhealthy credit card bill. We started to seriously look at our finances and began to budget far better than we did before.

We changed our provider companies for amenities, car insurance, cancelled anything we didn’t need. Sky and Netflix was the only thing that survived the cull. After all, it’s essential for long breastfeeding nights as a Mother.

The biggest change we made was our food shop, and our baby essentials shop. We had been drawn in by all the huge brands (as everyone does) thinking that these are the only thing that will do for your precious bundles. As you can imagine the bill was huge. Nappies, wipes, shampoo, nappy bags, food in pouches for on the go. A huge dent in the already empty bank account.

This was the moment that the light hit us.

I was sitting in a mother and baby massage class, and realised that most of the babies had the same nappy on (not the branded ones that I had spent a small fortune on). This was my introduction to Aldi.

Thank goodness for good mothers.

I was still unsure about using an unfamiliar branded nappy for my boy, so one of the mums gave me, yes gave me about ten to try and a pack of wipes. I offered her money, but she gave me a cheery chuckle. Now I know why!!

If I’m honest, I saw no difference between the Aldi nappy and the well known branded nappy that I had been using.

From this, we jumped on the Aldi train and bought the nappies, wipes and anything else that took our fancy within the Aldi Mamia range, and have been doing so ever since 2016. So when I was contacted by Aldi to write a blog post I bit their hand off.

I received £25 in vouchers to go and spend on the Mamia core baby range.

Now, I know that I can get quite a lot of stuff from the Mamia range at Aldi for a good price, but it wasn’t until myself, my husband and the kids (yes the kids too) went to our local store that the task actually hit us.

The range is huge with everything you need from birth. Nappies, wipes (babies and toddlers – the flushing wipes are handy for potty training), formula, food pouches both savoury and sweet and so much more. We were spoilt for choice.

My husband was adding up the cost as we were going along, the shopping trolley was pretty full. I remember asking him ‘We must be done now right?’  I got a shake of the head – yep, that was a negative.

It was at this point that even Ollie was questioning his dads mathematic ability……

But, we kept going!!!! 🤣😂

At this point my husband said a rude word that we will replace with the word ‘codswallop’. Luckily the kids didn’t hear. The careful input of the total cost of items going into the trolley had been deleted by his man hands. 😬😬🤦🏼‍♀️

Fletcher even tried to hurry me along. Apparently I was taking too long!! Cheeky baby!!

We eventually finished our shop feeling quite smug that we were 2 pence below the £25 total.

What!!! We were just under the total and by about £2!! 😬😬

I’m sacking my husband from these type of tasks in the future!!

My husband ran back to the baby aisle in Aldi (Dale Winton would have been proud) grabbing what he could to make up the total. The items included a multipack of 4 baby wipes, a pack of nappy sack bags, and a packet of Mamia carrot snacks. Good choices. He redeemed himself.

Two big full bags and a huge pack of nappies later and we were done.

I’m still shocked to see how much we actually had in our trolley for £25.

We are huge fans of the Mamia range at Aldi and we actually do our shopping here for the kids and the food shop for us big kids. This is not for show, or just because the vouchers were gifted.

This is the reality of our lives and how we manage from day to day. The cost saving has made a huge impact on our family life and we haven’t sacrificed on quality.

Here’s the greasy receipt that Ollie kept safe for me while eating a cookie!! 😂🤣

If you were like me and unsure, just take the leap and try.

It’s not going to cost you if you do.

But it really will cost you if you don’t.

Happy shopping. 😉💪🏻💪🏻