The cost of raising a child to the age of 18 has never been higher, even though there is extra government help with child care costs it is still unaffordable for the badly paid and even more expensive for the well-paid.

It sounds good to get 30 hours of free nursery care until you find out it is for only 38 weeks of the year, and nurseries can charge those with a good income twice as much as those on an average wage, and then it is withdrawn for those who earn £100,000. It can cost £25,000 a year of taxed income to pay for one two-year old in a London nursery and Tax-free child care is also withdrawn for the best paid.

In addition parents who individually earn £60,000 start to lose child benefit.

But there are ways of cutting the cost of child care without sacrificing quality.

Shared care by parents can reduce the income of a higher earner so that he or she qualifies for the free help and also reduces the monthly child care bills. It also helps those with lower incomes and is definitely worthwhile even though the savings are not quite so dramatic.

Paying more into a pension can also help a parent qualify for child benefit and also builds up their funds for retirement. Grandparents can also help their children by looking after grandchildren up to the age of 12 and then can gain extra NI years towards their state pension.

It is all super complicated so parents need to allocate time to checking their child care costs and lots of mistakes can be made, which if they are not spotted can result in overpayment, or even worse substantial arrears accruing.

The planning is vital as few families can pay the mortgage or rent with only one income.

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Grocery price inflation is increasing even though 97% of shoppers have a loyalty card, which is supposed cut some prices by up to 50%. It does not seem to make sense.

The supermarkets have persuaded us that the cards save us lots of money so that people who forget to take their cards with them when they shop believe they have missed out on big reductions.

We have to remember that supermarkets are making enormous profits. Just a week ago Tesco announced that its sales in the UK increased by 5.1% to £12.3 billion in the 13 weeks to May 24 and its market share in the UK has risen to 28 %.

The big losers are shoppers who do not have a loyalty card. Some are deliberately excluded by supermarkets because they do not have a smart phone. Supermarkets have chosen not to allow offline membership or under-18 shoppers to benefit from the discounts.

Now that shoppers believe that loyalty cards are a good thing it seems that the loyalty prices are less generous than they were when they were launched with lots of big television advertisements. We now have fewer advertisements and fewer discounts. But shoppers still believe in loyalty cards.

We can save more by avoiding big brands that cost lots more than own-brands or discounted store products. But we also have to make sure we are not panicked into buying items because they have a special price that week. Yo-yo pricing means that we can work out the pattern of the reductions and buy items when they are cheaper again.

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It has never been more important to make sure that we get value for money and Mrs Mean is here to answer your questions.

The energy price cap is being reduced in July but most of us can save hundreds of pounds a year by opting for a fixed rate tariff and it only takes minutes.

While the Bank of England has reduced interest rates four times in the last year credit card interest rates have never been higher and many are increasing again in July. It is time for anyone who pays credit card interest to find out if they can get a deal paying nothing and get a head start with clearing their credit card debt.

The holiday season is with us and trains, boats and planes are booked, but many people do not book travel insurance.

It can be very cheap and save thousands but you have to beware as insurance companies are well practised in avoiding paying out. It is worth spending a few minutes to make sure that you get the cover you pay for.

Making money is as important as saving it. The second-hand clothes market is booming, although most sellers want to call their fashion items pre-loved. It now costs nothing to sell your old clothes, or those of your children online, and there should be no tax bill either.

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