Showing posts with label homeandlifestyle. Show all posts
Showing posts with label homeandlifestyle. Show all posts
It’s been a whole month since I sat down here in my little sanctuary of my blog and what a month it has been! Life has definitely been challenging and testing in July!
If that wasn’t enough to be going on with, my dad also had his surgery. I can’t remember if I’d mentioned that he was waiting for heart surgery but he finally got it done on the 20th July. It’s been a difficult time but he is thankfully on he mend!
I can’t believe how quickly she is changing and developing her own personality! She is such a calm and placid baby apart from a few moments of teething pains! Bless her!
I mentioned briefly about the work we were having done at home after the leak we had. Our house has basically been upside down! There have been a building site! A total nightmare when you have a little one! We had to have the living room and bedroom replastered, redecorated, new carpets, bathroom redecorated and new floor and the loft reboarded! Hectic to say the least! Me and Erin moved in with my mum and dad while the main part of the messy work was done but frustratingly we’ve had quite a few delays!! Anyway it’s nearly done!! As we speak the guy is just finishing the loft and that’s it! All done!
If that wasn’t enough to be going on with, my dad also had his surgery. I can’t remember if I’d mentioned that he was waiting for heart surgery but he finally got it done on the 20th July. It’s been a difficult time but he is thankfully on he mend!
Erin is growing quickly and changing every day! She’s 16 weeks old today! I’m not quite sure how that happened!!!
I can’t believe how quickly she is changing and developing her own personality! She is such a calm and placid baby apart from a few moments of teething pains! Bless her!
She’s almost rolling now - she gets half way and is nearly there! There have been so many close calls! I don’t think it will be long!
August is a pretty exciting month! I have a really great month planned business wise and have started planning Christmas already!
We have my brother in laws wedding at the end of the month and my future sister in laws hen do in a couple of weeks!
September is going to be a good month too as we have Erin’s first holiday when we go to Centre Parcs!
I am hoping now I’m back to some kind of normality, that I can find the time to sit and enjoy my little space again!
If like me your a shopper at Tesco, be it regularly like us, or on the occasional visit, you probably have a Tesco club card and collect your Tesco points when you shop.
It’s been well known for years that you can exchange your Tesco club card points for vouchers for things such as days out to places such as the Merlin attractions, cinemas and other local attractions (Trentham gardens is a local one for us).
From 11th June, some of the companies who are partnering with Tesco on their club card exchange are changing the amount you will exchange your points for..
What is basically means is that some of the partners who you currently get 4 x the amount for will now be dropping down to 3 x the amount. So if you have been saving your points up for a family day out, it is worth checking if the partner you are planning to use if affected.
It’s not all bad news though as some of the attractions that you currently only get 2 x on you will now get 3 x on.
If your a regular Tesco shopper it is definitely worth heading over the website and checking it out.
I had £16.50 in vouchers and have just exchanged them for vouchers for cover admission for me and Adam to the sea life centre. As the voucher is valid for 6 months we are going to wait towards the end of the year and take Erin for a day out, when she is a bit bigger and able to enjoy seeing the fish and sharks!
You have just 1 week to go so head over to the Tesco website and have a look what you can exchange your points for.
As you may or may not already know - 6 months ago I packed up all the crap I had hoarded over 25 years and I moved out. Me and Adam decided that we were going to rent somewhere, mainly because we just didn't have the money for a deposit right now. I learnt and have picked up loads of tips and I thought I would share them with you all :)
- When you first pick up the keys to the house, make sure you check your gas and electric metres and take a picture of them. I did this the first day I picked the keys up and it meant that we were not paying for any gas and electric that was not ours.
- When your boxing stuff up be ruthless. As I say I had collected quite a lot of crap over the years, stuff I had intended to use and never did, clothes I had never worn, get rid of them if you haven't used them!
- If your moving out of your parents house you probably have little or no furniture like we didn't. Shop around and get the best deals for what you want and don't be afraid to buy from different places, it is tempting to just get everything from one place and pay one lot of postage (if you do it online) but sometimes shopping about can save you a fortune.
- Don't be afraid to visit charity shops - we have a couple of charity shops around Stoke which specialise just in furniture and you can pick up an absolute bargain. I knew when we moved in I wanted a 6 seater table so we could have both sets of parents around or more room for guests. We picked up this 6 seater table and chairs in Oak (solid oak) which also folds down to a 4 seater table if you want more room. This was an absolute bargain of £75 from our local British Heart Foundation.
- If you want to buy furniture new - visit Ikea! We got quite a few bits from Ikea including a lot of kitchen basics which are dirt cheap, plate sets, glasses. We also picked up a lot of other furniture such as an awesome coffee table for £5, drawers for the bedroom which were £35 and bookcases for £10. The awesome thing about ikea too is that their prices depend on what colour furniture you chose. Most of their pieces come in white, black and various wood pieces.
- Consider setting up an account for Bills. Me and Adam set up a joint bank account where we both pay into every month. We then have our all bills and rent come out of this and the left over is what we have for food. Saves us both gaffing.
- Use apps. A lot of companies now have apps that you can use. We have our gas and electric with Eon and we can upload our metre readings and keep a check on our bill on the app.
- One piece of electrical equipment I would defiantly recommend that you buy is a slow cooker. It is so tempting when you move out not to cook. I have never had a problem because both me and adam love to cook but I know friends who have moved out who go mad and live on take away. If you invest in a slow cooker you can whack something in before you go to work and when you get in, its done, little effort involved.
- Tying in with the above, plan your meals. I always plan everything because doing slimming world it is easier to track but I have found too that it can save you an absolute fortune! I make a list on a Saturday or Sunday of what we are going to eat in that week and then make a list for the supermarket based on what we actually need to but not just winging it! Even if I end up with a couple of extras it still saves me buying things we have plenty of. Ive got the below planner from the Martha Stewart range at staples so we both know what we are having on what day.
- Again in with shopping make sure you use all the resources around. With Asda you get can price check on your receipt, Sainsburys do it for you and give you a voucher if they were not cheaper. If you don't mind shopping at a different supermarket every week, download an app called My Supermarket allows you to put in what you want on your shopping list and it tells you where the cheapest supermarket is - great if your a planner who knows what they want like me.
- Use the local amenities rather than supermarkets. We shop at a local butchers who has a massive outlet where the meat is so much cheaper than at the supermarkets! We go about once a month and stock up!
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