The kitchen. The heart of the home as many may say. I love my kitchen as it’s a wonderful space and one of the only spaces when we all come together to sit, eat and talk about our day. But with every kitchen, comes the endless food shops, the tidying and the washing up (or dishwasher if you have one!). If you haven’t, you should put one on your Christmas list (that’s what I did – not a joke!). In fairness, I did ask for some Jo Malone products aswell. My husband said I was pushing my luck, I told him he’s lucky to have me and we continue to bicker from there!

Budgeting for a weekly household food and products shop is a high wire balancing act. Some people are very savvy and always remember to use discount vouchers, but I’m not. By the time I remember to take the voucher, it’s normally expired! So, instead I have to rely on a supermarket that delivers to the house on time, along with giving us fair prices and great value food.

When it comes to shopping for groceries and household products, we all have own quirks and systems of how we like to do things. Online, offline or regular trips to the farm shop for local produce. Either way, many of us are seeing our regular shop bills increasing and sometimes ‘popping to the shop’ can end up costing us a lot more. The subject matter of impulse buying, which we are all guilty of! We leave the shop wondering what on earth we have bought.

However, I wanted to share with you some changes I have made recently. Around a year ago, I switched from one large grocery retailer to Sainsburys in a bid to see if I could make a small saving every week, as well as feeling like I am retaining the great tasting food we expect to eat as a family.

Now 12 months has passed, I can now let you know that I have shaved an average of £25 a week off my grocery and household products bill. I also switched to using many more of the Sainsburys branded items. It was like a light bulb going off! Why did I not do this before?

Even though £25 a week might not sound like a huge amount, over the year, it is a saving of £1300, which is enough to send us away for a week’s holiday somewhere in the UK!

Over the last week, I have been trialling some new dishwasher tablets called Prism, which are now available from Sainsburys. It made me think about how much I love my dishwasher. I know that sounds like an incredibly sad thing to say, but it reminds me of the years and years we spent washing up before we had a dishwasher.

Now, with the Prism dishwasher tablets, I’m hoping I can save even more money on my monthly shopping bill as the Prism tablets are significantly cheaper than other leading brands.

I’ve always used Fairy Platinum dishwasher tablets for as long as I can remember. I suppose you could say that I have just been very loyal to the brand (sorry Fairy). If I switch to a different tablet, I normally don’t find they perform as well. I’ve tried a load of other brands but they just haven’t worked for me. You know the saying, when sometimes it’s ‘best to stick with what you know’. But…I was impressed with the information sent through on Prism, and when they asked me to take part in a trial to get my opinion, I was happy to put it through its paces!

During the testing week, I thought the Prism tablets worked just as well as Fairy Platinum and I’ll be switching to the new product moving forward as it does exactly what I need! It cleans well and will save us money.

So, on a closing note, Guilty Mother is a happy mother. My kids might spend half their life squabbling with each other, but hey…at least we have clean dishes!