OK so we will be paying more for our mortgages but how long will it be before the savings rates go up? I bet it is not as quick if at all!!

We shall see.

Opened 2 new ISA's this ywar from the best buy tables. I have transferred my husbands into his new one with the Bradford & Bingley but I am just putting the New Tax Years allowance into mine with the A&L.

In December 2005 I reviewed our current account to see whether we were still getting the best deal. Although smile.co.uk give excellent rates of interest ontheir current account, the Alliance & Leicester far surpassed them as long as you don't have a balance of more than £2500. We don't so I changed current accounts. All was very smooth and within 2 months all direct debits had ben changed using the A&L account change facility.

Although the direct debits change over was smooth there was still the problem of getting any income changed over. For my employer that wasa simple and straightforward process. For benefits such as working family credit and child benefit it has taken a little longer.

Having changed our current account twice in the last 3 years I now plan to review it every year, but unless the interest rates drop dramatically I will NOT change accounts again for 5 years.

One of the best ways to save without paying any tax on the interest you earn is through an Cash ISA. Each adult can have one and you can invest up to £3000 a year in one.

This is an absolute essential investment tool.

Interest rates vary so you need to look around for the best ones. See one of the web sites I recommend to be able to run comparisons.

In November last year our little boy was born. From the previous March when we discovered I was pregnant we cut back and saved as much as we could because we new our income would drop dramtically whilst I was on maternity leave. Four and half months on SMP does not even cover the mortgage repayments.

In hindsite we should have started saving before we new I was pregnant, we would have had a bigger pot to see us through the maternity leave period.

Do babies cost money? Of course they do. How much is very much dependant on what you spend, how much you are given in terms of cloths, cots, prams etc. Don't forget that babies grow very quickly and is it really worth paying for designer baby clothes when your local supermarket or discount cloths retailer does them for a lot lot less?