Fighting Flies - Best Fly Prevention and Repellents

Here in the UK, flies are only really a problem during the hottest part of summer, which can range from seemingly a couple of days, to several weeks, depending on how kind the British weather is feeling. This being the case, no one wants to spend a lot of money on swanky electric fly-zappers, or other costly and cumbersome gadgets, but flies are still irritating and gross, so what else works to prevent, or repel flies? Included in this post are some of the most effective and low-cost fly prevention and repellents available, all-natural, humane and pesticide free. Feel free to let me know in the comments if I'm missing any brilliant ideas, we need all the help we can get!  

How to Make a Cheap, Sustainable Book Advent Calendar

With so much emphasis on sustainability in our current climate, as well as a need for an awful lot of us to try to save money this Christmas, I challenged myself to make an advent calendar for my adult daughter (I know, I know, don't judge me, she still gets a stocking too, I just can't stop myself!), spending as little as possible, while also reusing and repurposing as much as I could. Here's how I got on and I hope I haven't left it too late to pass on these ideas to anyone who could use them. The best part is, you can make this advent calendar for any age from toddlers to grown-ups who are probably too old for this nonsense, but why let details spoil the fun? 

Small Business Christmas Gift Guide

 Somehow the year has once again flown by and our attention is turning to Christmas. This is likely to be a tough one for many and I thought it would be nice to produce a guide to some of the small businesses and sole traders who are fighting against huge brands to be seen and heard in the marketplace. Many of us would like to support more small businesses, but it's not always easy to find them, so I'm hoping this will be a good place to start. I can update this guide at any time so if you know of a great small business that you have used or think could benefit from a shout-out, drop me a comment or email me via my contact page and I will add as many as I can. 

Hotel Deloix Review - Large Groups, Small Dupes, Stray Poop

For our family holiday this year, we stayed at the Hotel Deloix Aqua Center in Benidorm. The hotel is about a mile from the beach, situated in a pleasant area that isn't noisy or busy but does benefit from a few shops and entertainment venues a short walk away. I had not intended to write a review, however, when I got home, I realised that I had quite a lot to say and an unsponsored review might be of benefit to anyone thinking of booking a break in Benidorm. This is why the photos are a bit more haphazard than I'd like, but I hope you can still get a feel of what you get for your money here. The hotel was booked as part of a package holiday, so I can't tell you the exact cost of our stay, but the hotel advertises rates of £157.49 per night for full board in June at the time of writing. 

10 Ways To Survive Christmas without Gaining Weight

Anyone who struggles with their weight will know how hard it is to stay on track over Christmas. Temptation is everywhere; special offers in the shops, gifts from well-meaning friends, offerings at the school fete, the list is endless! Christmas these days seems to centre predominantly around food and there are no end of tempting treats that we feel compelled to buy in the shops, because it's traditional. No one wants to undo all their hard work in just a couple of weeks, though, so I've put together a list, with some ideas to keep us all motivated. If something has worked for you, feel free to comment below!

Christmas Packaging - What can you Recycle?

Over Christmas, the UK population generates 25% more waste than normal. With waste collections becoming less frequent and rubbish bins getting smaller (in our county, anyway!), this can pose a real problem for households. Add to that, the strain on the environment, and this means it is even more important than ever to up our recycling and upcycling game to try to keep landfill to a minimum. This post aims to sort out the facts when it comes to recycling your Christmas packaging, as well as what you can do to ensure you don't end up with a lot more landfill waste this Christmas and some alternatives to traditional wrapping.

Snow White at the Bristol Hippodrome Review

 This week we were lucky enough to be invited to the free press night showing of a classic tale: Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs. We did a little dance when the invitation came our way because while we were all sat indoors, twiddling our thumbs, eagerly awaiting the day we can look at this pandemic and say - “It’s behind you!” getting an invitation to escape it for a few hours was the next best thing. The pantomime is showing until January 2nd and you can get your tickets via this link www.atgtickets.com. It was a magical experience to see the Bristol Hippodrome eagerly throw its safety curtain up and doors wide open after this year of turmoil for the theatre industry. 

Would you Encourage a Career in Engineering for Your School Leaver?

I attended an online presentation last week with my son on the career options in a manufacturing firm near us. We are surrounded by big-name manufacturers where we live and I was really taken with the idea of an apprenticeship. I'd never really thought about it before, I didn't even realise they were still a thing, but I thought it was important we got some insight into potential careers since we won't be going to any events any time soon and I really learned a lot. Things have changed since I was at school and young people are required to stay in education even longer, which is great, but I'm glad there are options available for those who may not be that academically minded and would prefer something a bit more hands-on. 

How to Declutter and Still Be Sentimental

 I've never considered myself to be a hoarder, but I do like to hang onto things. Not necessarily out of sentimentality, although that is often the case, sometimes because there is no real reason not to keep something. I look after things and keep them in good condition, so why not just let it all stay? Like most people, though, my house is not huge, and recently I've found myself dreaming of a bigger place even more than usual. Something had to give and it was time to either buy an awful lot of lottery tickets or get tough. I started with my dressing table, which I talked about in Creating my Small Space Home Office and I've carried on from there. Here's how I decluttered my whole house successfully, without losing my mind, or anything I didn't want to. 

The Ultimate Independent Small Business Gift Guide

This gift guide is entirely unsponsored and features a combination of small, independent businesses that I have used myself and small independent businesses that have been recommended to me. I hope it provides a useful resource for anyone wanting to support small businesses and #BuyLocal. There are a number of reasons to choose independent businesses, including supporting the economy and helping to create a more diverse marketplace. It's also nice to buy from someone who is really going to get a warm feeling from someone using their service. There are no pictures, to keep it fair to all the businesses and because this took forever to produce and I really wanted to get it out before Christmas! 

Mindscreen Experience Raising Self Confidence in Children - Part 3

 We've come to the end of our Mindscreen Experience and we wanted to share one last update with our progress and thoughts on how it went. In case you haven't caught up with Looking After Children's Mental Health with Mindscreen and Review of the Mindscreen Experience Part 2, I've been taking part in a review of the Mindscreen Experience program with my teenage son. Mindscreen provides a toolkit of resources to enable you to measure and improve your child's self-confidence, by helping you work together to find out how they feel now and guiding you through lesson plans and worksheets to improve their self-esteem and self-confidence. 

Amazing Gift Ideas for Teens and Tweens

 

Teens and tweens are one of the hardest groups to buy for. These days it's worse, because they are mostly involved with tablets and smartphones, so what do you buy for them that won't last five minutes before they get bored with it and it potentially ends up in landfill? To avoid having to resort to money or vouchers, this year I've used all my experience raising teens and tweens to come up with some great suggestions. I've got together some amazing gift ideas from Buzz Beauty and Buzz Retail to help you out this Christmas with some entertaining gifts that teens and tweens will love. I have not been paid for this post, but I did receive free products, chosen by me, so that I could review them properly and take photographs. 

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10 Easy Ways to Relax in Just 10 Minutes

 When we entered lockdown back in March, everyone talked about having so much free time, but this wasn't the case for everyone. We might have been home more, but educating children, working from home, and other new unforeseen demands all meant that for some, life never really slowed down. Now we're back in another lockdown, and it's worse because many are still at work, but the kids are getting sent home for isolation, so there's that, Christmas needs preparing for, with pressure to make this Christmas special to make up for the rubbish year (especially for me, because my son's birthday was the first day of the first lockdown and it sucked!) and it's all so stressful!! Here are ten ways to relax in just ten minutes. I'll be over here, under a blanket.

Five Fun Long Distance Lockdown Date Ideas

 

“If the two halves of a couple are currently in separate households, ideally they should stay in those  households… for quite a significant period going forwards, they should test the strength of their relationship and decide whether one wishes to be permanently resident in another household.” This was Dr Jenny Harries, Deputy Chief Medical Officer for England, answer to a question on whether couples who lived apart could socialise under new restrictions. My heart sank when I heard her answer, not for us, but for the couples who are just starting out, who might still be showing their best side only, not daring to fart in front of the other and now their very new, shiny relationship is about to hit a mountain size road bump, completely out of their control.

How to Make this Christmas Extra Special

 

This year more people than ever are finding themselves separated for long periods and long-distance relationships are becoming unavoidable. This means that Christmas shopping habits may be a little different, with the focus on items that are digital or easy to post. It's easy to think that Christmas will be less of an occasion this year, because of all the restrictions in place, but I hope it can be an opportunity to do things a little differently and embrace traditions that have been lost to commercialism over the years. If there's one thing this year has taught us, it's that we have a lot to be thankful for and we can often make the best of our situation and find joy in the small things. Here are some ideas to make Christmas extra special this year, despite what December has to throw at us! 

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Four Tips to Thrive with Chronic Illness

 

Today I am welcoming guest poster Patti Kaye to the blog, to talk about living with Chronic Illness. She  has been a huge inspiration to me and is just an all-round lovely person, so I hope she can inspire you too, whether you live with a chronic illness yourself, or know someone who does and want to learn more about it. She lives in British Columbia, Canada and has lived with the effects of MS for twelve years. Whilst this caused her to have to give up her teaching job and was devasting at the time, she has resolved to approach life in as optimistic and high spirited way as she can, which I think is a brilliant outlook to have and something I really aspire to do myself. 

Review of the Mindscreen Experience for Children Part 2

In my first review of the Mindscreen Experience Toolkit, I covered my first impressions of the site and my thoughts on the early stages of the Mindscreen process. Today, I'm going to cover the first four sessions, including the lesson plans and organisation of the program. All opinions are my own and based on our experience. The lessons are not long, or difficult, but my son is 14 and generally allergic to anything that resembles learning or education, so he is not the most willing of subjects, but there is lots of guidance to help with keeping children motivated in the parent guides and I've included some tips to get your unwilling participants participating fully in the activities.  

Inexpensive Chidren's Bedroom Ideas

A big financial challenge when raising children is keeping up with their interests and, dare I say it, 'fads'. It's not unreasonable to expect a child to go through their interests quite quickly, as they change from being little children to almost-adults in a few short years. There's a lot of pressure from their peers, too, so subjects that were once everything to them can suddenly seem babyish and uncool. So how do you create a bedroom that will stand the test of time without needing completely revamping every time they go through a new phase? Having raised a couple of teenagers now, I've put together some inexpensive children's bedroom ideas to keep things current without breaking the budget or creating a lot of work for yourself.