Sally and her husband have three kids, ages five, seven and nine. ‘How are you managing at the moment?’ I asked her yesterday. ‘Well, we spend a lot of time looking down the back of the sofa for loose change,’ she replied. ‘And we go to free museums and take our own sandwiches.'

My own biggest money-saving tip is to order your groceries online. Not only do we avoid unexpected items in the bagging area (usually placed in the trolley by my son), and nasty surprises at the checkout, but we don’t come home with excess fruit and vegetables that are left to turn into penicillin in the fridge. (If you’ve never tried it before, KidStart has some great offers for first-time online supermarket shoppers).

Sometimes when I’m exploring the virtual aisles I feel a bit like I’m living on Wisteria Lane – I have to plan all the week’s meals in advance, Bree-from-Desperate Housewives-style, to make sure I order everything we need (although given the state of my house, I probably have more in common with Susan).

But it means I’m less likely to buy things we don’t need, and we have a little more to spend on treats - we’ve booked a family theme park offer to Chessington for Whitsun. Land of the Dragons, here we come.