When it comes to saving money during the school holidays, most parents would appreciate a little help and TV personality and mummy influencer Stacey Solomon has a few unusual ideas that are worth a try

Joe Swash and Stacey Solomon have six children between them

She may have first caught our attention with her singing abilities on the X Factor, but it would seem Stacey Solomon knows a thing or two about parenting. Stacey was a teenager when she had her eldest son Zachary, now 17, and went on to have Leighton who is 12, then Rex, 5, Rose, 3, and one-year-old Belle with husband Joe Swash, 43.

And the former Loose Women panellist who now presents Sort Your Life Out on BBC One is also step-mum to Joe’s 17-year-old son, Harry. While the couple aren’t short of a bob or two – they are reported to have a combined net worth of just less than £9m – they do love a great hack. They recently revealed that they sometimes take all of their bumper brood to other kids’ birthday parties so “they don’t get invited again.”

The mum revealed she gets away with the sneaky party hack by asking parents if siblings are allowed, without telling them there will be four siblings coming along. “It’s a free day out and they all get lunch,” Stacey added. “If the parent says yes I’m like ‘Bam! It’s party time’,” Stacey laughed.

Stacey and Zachary, now 17, and went on to have Leighton who is 12, then Rex, 5, Rose, 3, and one-year-old Belle

Stacey also recently shared a brilliant way to keep kids entertained during the school holidays and it costs next to nothing. All you need is just two ingredients – plain flour and coconut oil – and if you don’t have them in the house already they’ll cost you about a fiver.

In a clip uploaded to Instagram, Stacey posted a video of herself making ‘homemade play sand’ with the help of her kids, Rex, 4, Rose 2, and one-year-old Belle. “Making our own sand with flour and coconut is better than ordering sand and ending up with a Ton of it like I did a few years ago,” Stacey wrote.

Stacey has also shared how she keeps things tidy – something most parents find more difficult during the school holidays when the kids are at home – by dedicating 15-20 minutes each day to tidying up.

Stacey and Joe with their youngest child Belle(Image: BBC/Optomen Television)

Meanwhile, the Sort Your Life Out presenter uses baking soda for a variety of cleaning tasks and revealed a clever trick for eliminating stubborn sealant mould in a recent episode.

Cleaning expert Iwan Carrington, who works with Stacey on the show, headed to the bathroom to share a “really easy” mould removal hack. Pointing out the mould growth on the sealant by the bath, Iwan said: “All you need to do is get some neat bleach and then just run a line of it along that sealant.”

To hold the cleaning product in place, the expert covered the area with cotton wool balls. He continued: “We are going to leave this overnight, and by the morning they’ve had a nice little party together and it’s all going to be back to lovely and white.”