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Exciting times!

Hi guys!

Sorry there's been no post from me again this week - we've opened our new Holistic Centre in Keynsham and it's been so exciting and busy! The sale is still going through on The Witches Brew so I'm splitting my time between the two at the moment. Once we're in the new place full-time I'll take some pictures and give you some information on it, I really can't wait. :) If you want to come have a look for yourself we're having an open day next Saturday (27th) with cake! Message me for details if you're interested.

I'm also going away for a few days so I won't have any posts for you until Wednesday at the earliest (sorry!). Tom and I are going to a retreat in Wales which is super exciting and I can't wait to be surrounded by countryside. :)

I'll write again soon, promise!
Ami
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Keep cosy this winter..

..without it having to cost the earth!

We all want to delay putting the heating on, but most of us try to tough it out and give up when we can't bear sitting in a cold living room anymore. Little do we know that there are more ways to keep the house toasty out there. If you want to keep warm this winter without paying huge gas (or electricity) bills then read on...

First up we have things you can do;

Wear the right clothes.
It's all about the layering in winter - start simple and work up. You don't have to wear a vest like when you were little, but there's nothing wrong with a little thermal strap top underneath your t-shirt. Next a thin cardigan might be all you need depending on the eco-stats of your house. But if you're still cold there's nothing better than wrapping up warm in a wooly jumper (or fleecey blanket/dressing gown/all three!) for a little extra warmth at the end of the day. Don't forget to top it off with a pair of wooly bed socks to keep your toes toasty!

Grab a hot drink.
Warm insides = warm outsides. Whether you prefer tea, coffee, or my personal favourite hot chocolate, a warm drink is perfect for keeping you toasty in the evenings. It has the added bonus of warming up cold fingers. :)

Do housework.
Give the heating a day off at weekends - go out for the day for a walk, a trip to the pub, something fun that keeps you warm away from home. Then once you're home for the evening get on with the housework you would've done in the day - not only will your house be spotless but you'll have had a fun day out and you'll be so warm the heating isn't necessary until later in the evening.

Bring back romance.
In the summer everyone wants their space; it's just too hot and sticky to be cuddled up on the sofa. But winter gives us the opportunity to get snuggled up under a blanket and watch tv together without passing out from heat. Grab a hot choc each, a movie you both love and enjoy the added warmth of a cuddle. :)

Next, tips for around the house;

Close the door(s)!
The obvious one is not to leave the front door open while you stand a chat to a departing guest or while you bring shopping in from the car. Less obvious is to keep all the doors in your house closed. The same number of radiators giving off the same level of heat will do it much quicker in smaller spaces than one large one, so bedroom doors, kitchen, bathroom etc. - close them all!

Close un-used rooms.
If you have a room in your home you very rarely use it can be beneficial to close it for the winter. Turn the radiator off, shut the curtains and close the door - remembering a draft excluder so the cold doesn't leech into the rest of the house under the door. One less room to heat!

Make your own draft excluder.
Get crafty with the kids; grab an old pair of tights and cut the legs off. Stuff them with newspaper, old (clean) underwear, cotton wool.. whatever you have to hand. Then sew across the top to keep it all in. You may think draft excluders are just for external doors, but you'll be helping your radiators do their job if you use them on all internal doors too.

Work with the sun.
Make note of which windows face the sun at each time of the day - if a window is in the shade close the curtains to keep warmth in. If the sun is hitting the window leave the curtains open to warm the room.

Close the curtains.
I know you want to grab the last 5 minutes of light while it's there, but it's cheaper to turn the light on than the heating! Curtains trap in the heat, so make sure yours are extra thick (you can buy backing to bulk up curtains if you need to) and keep them closed when the sun isn't around!

Get radiators working efficiently.
Make sure to get air out of the systems regularly so they do the best job they can. Also attach foil to the wall behind radiators - this will bounce any heat back into the room instead of being lost to the wall. You can also get a little gadget that draws heat from the back of the radiator and aims it back into your room, reducing the amount of time the heating needs to be on.

Time your radiators.
Even those with a most basic heating system (like ours!) can usually set timers for their heating. Don't put it on for hours in the morning when you'll be gone by 8.30am - time it to come on 30 minutes before you get up and shut off 30 minutes before you leave the house. Then time it to come on when the sun is going down - if you're home before that make the most of the wooly jumper I mentioned earlier! And finally set it to turn off 30 minutes before bedtime - it'll still be warm by the time you climb into bed.

Use your oven as a radiator.
I am not suggesting turn the oven on and leave it open. But when you're cooking a lot of heat is made and you can make the most of it. Close the kitchen door so the warmth is kept in and you'll be toasty while making your meal. Once you're done leave the oven door open (oven off!) so that the heat can dissipate into the room instead of going out of the back wall through convection.

Only heat the room(s) you use most.
If you'll be spending all night in the living room then going to bed, why heat the dining room? Or the study? Close those doors and turn the radiators off. Also try to get family members to congregate into one room if you can - more bodies means more natural heat. There's also no need to heat the bedroom in early winter, it's just a little chill. Save the heating for later when it's really cold. Use it as an excuse to get a hot water bottle and snuggle under the duvet!

Dry clothes the smart way.
Don't wash a load of clothes then hang them over all the radiators to dry - this will just block the heat in and take forever to heat the house. It's also better to dry washing when you'll be heating the house anyway - not while you're at work or out for the evening. Instead get an airer and place it somewhere with a lot of air-flow, preferrably in the room you're spending the evening in to make the most of the previous tip!


I bet you didn't think there were that many different ways to delay the use of and make the most from your heating! Follow this advice and you'll not only be toasty this winter, you'll have lowered your energy bills too. :)

Do you use any of the tips already? Do you have any other tips I haven't mentioned? Let me know in the comments below. :)
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Green Living: New Resolutions

The link to the Green Living article is working again now, so I've been through and picked some new resolutions to try out. :)

The ones I'm keeping from last time are:

16. Carry a reusable bag.
Despite an improvement in this habit I'm not remembering as often as I should, so I'll keep trying.

3. Start refilling, not replacing.
I'll have to wait until we run out of something refillable to do this, but my aim is to refill everything possible in the kitchen. :)

And the new ones I'd like to try out are...


17. Wrap a present in a gift bag or fabric scarf.
With christmas on it's way now seems like the perfect chance to try out inventive wrapping paper!

22. Leave the car at home for a day.
At the end of the month I'm moving offices and the new one is a 5 minute walk from home, plus Tom has a new job that's a 30 minute walk from home. I'm going to invest in some good waterproof clothing for Winter and leave the car at home as often as possible. :) (I will let myself off if it's torrential rain or snowing though!)

30. Create a scrap paper box.
I always put paper to one side if it has space for notes/scribbles still, but I always seem to lose it or someone else throws it. Moving to a new office is the perfect opportunity to make a scrap box so I can actually use the paper I set aside!


I'll review this again after christmas, since some of the resolutions are aimed at the Winter months. :)
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Green Living: Update 2

Some of you may remember my post from ages ago about Green Living. I did an update a little while ago with how I was getting on, but I haven't revisited it since moving into the new flat so I thought now might be the time! So let's have a look at the habits I promised to try...

5. Banish stand-by.
I'm doing much better than I was with this one. I can now safely say there are only 4 items in our flat that are on full-time; the fridge, the freezer, the internet (if you switch it off it doesn't work for a few hours when it comes back on) and the Virgin box (to record programmes). Everything goes off once it's not in use. :)


16. Carry a reusable bag.As with #5, I'm slowly improving with this one. I don't remember every time, so won't take it off the list yet, but I certainly remember more than I used to! Making a meal plan really helps because it makes me think about what we need before we leave home.


27. Head for the local library. Once again I have to admit to not visiting a library, but I have still been borrowing books from friends. I've been on quite a reading spree lately and of all the books I read only 3 were bought. I think I'll just have to give up on this one as I haven't made any progress with it since March and I'm unlikely to.


Now on to my newer resolutions...

3. Start refilling, not replacing.  I definitely need to look into this a little more as I'm not sure what items we have are refillable. I stupidly forgot this and bought more basil the other day which I could've bought as a bag.. but apart from that I don't think there's much in the cupboards we can refill.


8. Clear out old stuff. I think I've reached my limit of old stuff to throw out now. Tens of bags have gone to the charity shop, a box of shoes is going to Car Boot whenever we get a chance and anything else useful went to family/friends. I've even got an email from GiftAid saying they've raised £11 so far with the stuff I donated. :)


So that's 3 resolutions I need to replace; 2 completed and 1 very sadly being given up. Annoyingly I can't get onto the article with all the resolutions I found, either the website is down or they've removed the article. So I will do some hunting and find some new resolutions ready for my next blog post. :)

Have you tried to introduce any Green Habits lately?
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Water Savings

We got our first water bill this week so it was finally a chance to see if our water saving efforts were doing any good and I must say I was pleasantly surprised!

When calling to set up our account I answered a quick survey and they deemed us as "Low Consumption" and said it would be £30/month. To be on the safe side we started paying the "Medium Consumption" tariff which was £36/month. So I was rather happy when our first bill came back to say we were actually £50 in credit! Not only were we below the Medium Consumption amount, but we were also below the Low Consumption rate by £10/month! Our monthly use averaged out to about £20/month, which makes me a very happy bunny indeed.

We've now lowered our payments to £25/month and my aim is to be using even less than £20/month for the next bill which arrives in 6 months. Not by going without or anything silly, just by being smarter with the way we use our water. I've already started turning the shower off while I wash my hair, turning it back on each time to rinse, now I just have to get creative elsewhere around the house. :) (Like maybe showering at someone elses' house? :p)


What ways do you save water around the house? Are there any unusual methods you think I could try?
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Minimal Make-Up

I was having a conversation with a friend the other day about make-up items we simply couldn't live without. It got me thinking about all the products that have multiple uses and how you could create a beautiful look without using many products at all. I use a small number of make-up products to create a wide variety of looks and it never occurred to me until then to share them with people. It's early in the morning and my make-up is being held captive by a sleeping Tom, but I may post a mug shot later if I remember!

The products you will need are:
Vaseline Lip Therapy - Rosy Lips or a pinky-red lipgloss
Some kind of shimmering eye-shadow powder
Eyeliner
Mascara

The key to creating a simple look is to think of the many uses your products aren't designed for but are perfectly capable of doing. So here's the run down of each products' uses.

Vaseline (or lipgloss)
- Most obviously, to colour your lips!
- As a blush - use the tiniest amount (we're talking teeny tiny) on your cheeks and blend well. Build up colour by only adding a tiny dab each time and blending until you're happy. Don't be tempted to use more to speed up the process, you'll end up with clown make-up!
- As an eye-shadow base. This one should only be done with vaseline as lipgloss will just make the shadow sticky and clumpy.

Vaseline is better for fresh-faced dewy looks, lipgloss is more suited to a going out look.

Shimmer Eye Shadow Powder
- As a shadow for your eyes.
- To highlight your brow and cheekbones. As with the vaseline for a blush, use the tiniest dab and blend it well. This works best with a shadow with a warm hue, but a cold hue could be used for creating a more striking look.
- To add sparkle to your lips. Add a touch of the powder to the vaseline (lipgloss will only work if it's closer to a liquid than a gloss) and blend well. Your lips will catch the light and be the focal point of your face!

Eyeliner and Mascara
I can only think of the conventional uses for these products (unless you're into a more extravagant look, in which case liquid eyeliners are perfect for artistic designs around the eyes) but no look would be complete without either. If you were very careful and talented you could probably use mascara as an eyeliner, but I wouldn't recommend it!


So there you have it, a make-up look that only takes 4 products but looks like you've gone all-out! I can vouch that this works because I'm a very lazy person when it comes to make up, so I only have these products in my daily make-up bag. I have an assortment of mostly unused items in a drawer somewhere that I pull out for special occassions, but day-to-day this is the most I'll use. :)

Do you have any multi-use products or alternative uses for the products above? Also feel free to share any pictures if you try out this look!
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Monkey Mischief

Hey guys!

I've finally had a chance to sit down and recover from the last few days, which have been amazing but tiring! Tom's parents came to visit for a few days over the weekend and we did as much as we could to make the most of their time here. :)

On Saturday we went to Longleat and did about everything they had to offer us, including a trip around the safari! This little guy was a bit cheeky and took a momento from my car:


Yup, that's my magnetic car sign he's ripped to pieces there! And all his monkey friends came running over to help him eat it... bless them? Although I wasn't too happy about the loss of my sign, it did mean we got a very up-close look at them as they were fighting next to the car and jumping on the bonnet. :) The rest of the day was less eventful, but still exciting and fun as we watched the Birds of Prey show, walked through the meerkat enclosure and fed the sealions in the lake!


Also logging in today I spotted that I've passed 6000 views! So a huge thank you to everyone for that! I'd love it if the people who stopped by regularly could become followers. :) As a little incentive I'll be giving away a gift once I reach 50 followers. ;)

Hope you all had a lovely weekend!
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