Do your children manage their pocket money well? Are they always asking for extras, or do you not give pocket money instead giving money for certain incentives such as doing well in school or cleaning their bedroom? Do you lack a structured way of approaching this? How do you manage it?





Well when my son was small we gave pocket money for chores such as tidying his room and extras for doing well in school. Now as he is older he helps out now and again in our shop, washes the car, and is expected to tidy his bedroom and set the table for dinner as well.

I guess when he was young we had a haphazard way of doing it, we had no record of how much he got really and when.  As he has got older I like to think that I have instilled in him that he should think twice abut spending his money and not on random things either. If he wants something expensive and its not his birthday or Christmas he generally saves for it himself, and occasionally if he saves half I will give him the rest. If he doesn't want to come into the shop and do an hours work he doesn't get paid for this but he gets a smaller amount of pocket money. A more structured way of dealing with this is definitely welcome.

Well I have been asked to review a new website called PKTMNY which could be of benefit to thousands of parents and children.  What does this mean? Well I was a little slow, and didn't realise straight away, although everyone else did - it means Pocket Money! 

PKTMNY (now rebranded as Go Henry)  is a new way for children 8 to 16 to learn how to earn, save, and spend wisely. 




Supported by a new type of VISA card PKTMNY is an easy to use secure website that offers a wide range of interactive savings tools. They pride themselves on the website being designed for parents by parents and it certainly is a colourful fun way for children to manage their money.




What I like about this website is that you can set limits on how much the child spends on the card. This enables parents to have some control while still giving the child some freedom. Another thing is that the website is very colourful and appealing to primary children and young teens in particular. 


It allows the parent to set clear ways of earning extra money at home, for example you could pay £1 a week for extra jobs such as clearing away the dishes or cleaning their bedroom.



PKTMNY also gives you an opportunity to sit down with your child and talk about money, how often do we are parents actually do that? I think it can also develop positive attitudes to saving money, a goal can be set and the child has a visual representation of how much they have saved.  

All fees for the website are set out here,and I will let you know more about them in my next blog when I report back on how we get on!

This post is part of a project with BritMums, sponsored by PKTMNY, highlighting it's launch (http://www.pktmny.com). The new tool allows parents to easily pay and monitor their children's pocket money online, whilst allowing their children to earn, save, spend and manage their money in a totally safe and fun way. 

* We have been trialling the service and all thoughts and opinions are our own.

The kind people at Popchips sent me some Thai Sweet Chilli potato chips to try the other day. I'm always on the look out for tasty healthier snacks, especially since I started trying to cut back and lose some weight.




What I liked about these snacks is that they pack a mouthful of flavour into every chip. The chips (ok crisps to us British) are very light on the tongue and give a satisfying crunch. They have a mild chilli taste, and I swear I could almost taste a  hint of coconut. They describe them as "an exotic fusion of sweet and spicy".  I would serve these as an accompaniment to a nice Thai green curry and some sweet chilli dipping sauce.




They have been nominated for a number of awards and Shape Magazine have voted it their Best Snack. 

They say that they have found a way of 'popping' a chip that has all the flavour of conventional chips but less fat.  

When compared to regular crisps they have 50 % less fat per 23g serving and less calories too 95 Kcal per 23g ( a serving)  or 412 Kcal per 100g

Popchips are now in Waitrose and a number of other places, such as WHSmith and Harvey Nichols and I would definitely recommend them for a tasty snack that's light on the waistline.

* PR sample 

Charnos is a name noted for quality in tights and stockings and gorgeous underwear. Established in 1936 their hosiery department makes a range of stunning styles from everyday sheers and tights to coloured opaques and fun fashion wear. The Charnos customer is classy and confident and knows that her legs look good in their brand.

I was given some tights to review for my blog and also some for you lucky people to giveaway!

The first tights I tried on were the classic opaques in 100 denier. These soft tights felt lovely on and covered everything. Ideal to keep your legs warm in winter and for those with legs that need some cover up. I really love these tights!

The next ones I tried were the Elegance ultra sheer hold-ups in 10 denier. Now these are great for dressing up and going out, and would be fab with a black dress for a Christmas party. The are suitably sheer but I was impressed that they didn't snag very easily too. What I also like was that I found the hold ups comfortable and that they also stayed put with Stay4Sure technology.



And talking of Christmas parties and little black dresses - a fabulous idea is their range of Killer Figure tights. Killer Figure waist cincher tights smooth your waist instantly and flatten your tummy. With a cotton gusset, they are comfortable on whilst given you a nipped in figure.  The Hourglass control tights smooths your hips, tones your thighs and flattens your tum!  I can't wait to try these ones out when I go out for a special meal next.




Now onto the Sheer Lustre tights in Barely Black. I liked the sheer gloss finish of these tights. I thought they were a lovely pair of special tights to wear in the evening.

You can buy Charnos online through their website and they are also stocked in John Lewis, House of Fraser and Debenhams amongst others, but if you want to try some of the Killer Figure tights be sure to enter my giveaway now. 

a Rafflecopter giveaway

I have been given a selection of Charnos to try but the opinions are entirely my own

Store Street Bloomsbury is a great area of London that you may not be aware of. But when I say it covers the area around The British Museum and Russell Square you will probably know the area I mean.



It's a great area to visit or shop in and has some great attractions.

TOP TEN ATTRACTIONS


The British Museum
The Building Centre
NLA
Russell Square
Coram’s Field
The Cartoon Museum
Dickens House
Foundling Museum
October Gallery
The British Library

Christmas is coming and people are very conscious in this day of getting value for money and watching the pennies.




In our shop RMA Williams Jewellers we have a wide range of jewellery, from engagement and wedding rings, gold jewellery and silver jewellery and a range of prices from children's earrings from £5 to engagement rings up to £5000 and beyond. We stock lots of items in our shop under £50 and have an even greater variety of jewellery than we stock on our website.

Here are some lovely gift ideas under £50 for you and your loved ones from RMA Williams Jewellers. 




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I was lucky enough to win a weeks worth of Food from Diet Chef, a few weeks ago, perfect timing to start my diet! I need to lose weight as my weight has been creeping up and I want to look good in a swimsuit on holiday in the summer next year.
Well today the food arrived, and it was very exciting. I picked a weeks worth of food on the 1500 calorie diet. 




Diet Chef brings you healthy, great tasting food that will make it as easy as possible for you to stick to your diet. The Diet Chef plan is clinically proven to improve likelihood of success and is easier to stick to compared to doing your own diet.

My one observation is that the breakfast portions seem small, but that may be because  I have been having portions three times the size! One of the things I need to get used to is portion control. 

The food is real food, breakfast is a choice of granola, muesli or cereal bar for example. Lunch includes tempting soups such as minestrone, chicken couscous salad, or tomato and pasta salad. Dinner includes such classics as Lasagne, Chicken Tikka Marsala and Italian Bolognese. The only thing you have to add is vegetables to the meals or a piece of fruit as a snack. 


You also get a tasty snack too each day. It comes with a guide and a great little magazine full of inspirational stories. 

Well my first day of trying the diet has gone well




The apple granola for breakfast was very tasty but small (40g portion) I ate it with a teaspoon and soya milk to make it go further. The chicken couscous was not to my taste but that is just me. It was however filling. The chocolate soft cookie was very nice indeed.

I snacked on chopped up carrots and drunk diet flavoured water and tea with soya milk and sweetener.

But I must admit my downfall was I went out for an Indian! Ok, Ok I know but I didn't have any wine and I had a dry dish without any of the fattening sauces.

I will continue on my Diet Chef food for the rest of the week and update you on my progress at the end of the week.

I want to share some fantastic news with you! I will be running lots of competitions soon on The Diary Of A Jewellery Lover blog. Since August my blog has grown so thank you everyone for following me I have between 3700 and 4200 page views a month on average, not bad for a little blog ;-)


As well as a jewellery competition with my store RMA Williams Jewellers, I will be running an  advent competition with a great website and I hope to have 12 - yes 12 prizes! I also have another competition in the pipeline so it will be a busy month.


It should all kick off in the next couple of weeks so be sure to subscribe via email as I wouldn't want you to miss out!