Kerching!

Money. Can't live without it, could do with lots more of it. But even lots more of it wouldn't necessarily make you happier. Oh alright, maybe temporarily.

With a mid-sized family it's something that is never far from my mind. New shoes, coats, bags and that's just me.

Who hasn't thought about what they would do if a lottery win came their way? I'd know what I'd do in a shot. Buy a new house, share it with family and good friends, give some to charity, and then do something random like open a tea shop that sold cute gifts by day, and was a bar by night. What would you do?

A new report by LV reckons the average cost of raising a child to the age of 21 costs over £200,000. Wowzer! That's a pretty eye-watering amount. Now, my maths has never been good, but times that by three and that's . . . a figure I don't want to think about.

According to the data, we'll spend £11,000 on babysitting alone. Surely that can't be right. Most parents I know barely go out. Either you don't have the energy, don't get invited (you fall off the social radar with friends without kids) or by the time you do organise a babysitter, get your outfit and get excited, somebody falls ill and the whole night is scuppered.

Childcare tops the biggest expense with us Brits spending over £54,000. I've spent a small fortune on childcare over the past five years, but a friend recently pointed out in the days pre-kids that I wouldn't have saved that money either.

Too true.