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Top tips for organising your living room

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If there’s one thing that people tend to complain about when it comes to their home, it’s storage. No matter how much stuff we throw out or donate to charity it just seems to continue accumulating.

The worst room is usually the main living room as this is where the whole family gather and leave their stuff behind but that can make it really difficult to kick back and relax.

Whether your home is littered with shoes, DVDs, books, magazines, newspapers, school work, remote controls, photo frames or even fireplace accessories here are some top tips to help you get organised.

Newspaper and magazine rack

If there are more magazines in your living room than in the local doctor’s surgery, it’s about time you had a clear out. You don’t have to bin all of your favourites but throw away anything more than a month old. Store the ones you’re keeping in a tidy magazine rack next to the sofa instead of letting them clutter the coffee table.

Invest in adjustable shelving

How annoying it is that shelves tend to be the same height? Our stuff is all different sizes with books tall and pocket-sized, folders can be A4 or A5, photo frames are landscape or portrait and so on. If you’ve got adjustable shelves, you’ll find that you can finally fit all your belongings without difficulty.

Tidy up that hearth

An old traditional fireplace can add a bit of character to your home but you’ll need all sorts of stuff to maintain it, such as the logs and coal but also the poker and other accessories. If you’ve got inset gas fires in the house, you might still have bits and bobs lying around the hearth. Use some wicker baskets or boxes to keep your belongings tidy and use your fireplace as a feature of your living room rather than seeing it as a nuisance.

Make the most of your walls

If you’ve got a smaller floorspace to work with, you’ll need to really utilise your walls. Rather than spreading your furniture around the living, work your way up towards the ceiling to create a feeling of openness.

Think carefully about your furniture

It’s easy for the living room to become full of furniture, so the fewer pieces you have, the more space that is available. Obviously, you will need most of it, such as sofas, bookcases and television units but some will be solely for displaying other items that are also cluttering the room. Think twice about your furniture choices, literally. If a TV stand or ottoman can also be used for storage then that’s all the better!

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Things to do for families in Las Vegas

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Las Vegas is a place that we usually associate with gambling and casinos, but there is far more to the place than that. Casinos are very important but you can also enjoy a family holiday there which doesn’t involve Mum staying with the kids while dad plays slots in Caesars Palace. Here are a few things for families to do.

Hire a car and take a trip to Death Valley. In many ways it is one of the most exciting places on the planet and the kids will just love it. Just driving across the Mojave Desert is a thrill of a lifetime, and visiting the valley is an unforgettable experience. Badwater Basin is 86 meters below sea level and Furnace Creek has the record for being the hottest place on earth. You will see some amazing sites and make sure that you visit Zabriskie Point and view the Badland Formations; truly amazing.

Keep that car and take another trip, this time to the Grand Canyon. This is one of the world’s natural wonders and another very remarkable and unforgettable destination. The canyon is 277 miles long and up to a mile deep and 18 miles wide. This beautiful and unique place is home to many Native Americans whose tribes have lived there for thousands of years. You can take an aeroplane or helicopter trip into the depths of the canyon too for some unparalleled views.

Another fascinating place to visit is the Hoover dam, but the kids might appreciate its reservoir Lake Mead a little more. Boating on Lake Mead is very popular ad are swimming, water skiing and fishing. The lake is huge, up to 112 miles long, and there are numerous beaches, marinas and resorts.

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Ben Nevis – Home to the UK’S highest Bed

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BEN NEVIS – HOME TO THE UK’S HIGHEST BED

Yes, Travelodge is known for its weird, kooky hotel designs, but this one really takes the biscuit: a team of 36, led by Travelodge Managing Director for Property & International, Paul Harvey, climbed Ben Nevis’ 1,344 metre peak, but not just for the view. On arrival at the summit, the team constructed a replica Travelodge room, having carried the contents of the very room itself, up the testing terrain. I encourage you to refer to the images to see just what the team achieved. The Dreamer bed, duvet, chair and wall hanging make up the very same components you’d find in any other Travelodge Hotel.

Though the trek was nothing less than exhausting, the team had the weather on their side; it rained as the group ascended the mountain, ensuring that team members were kept cool as they carried the contents and shell of the bedroom on their backs. On arrival at the summit, the wind stopped, the rain and stopped, and the snow provided an excellent base for the bedroom.

The formidable task took a total of eight and a half hours to complete: four hours to ascend Ben Nevis, two hours to build the room, and two and a half hours to descend. The team walked a total of 11 miles and burned 3000 calories each.

As anyone who has had cancer will know, the fight is made all the more easier by having steady support and not having to face the disease alone. Travelodge made this more and more of a reality by partnering with Macmillan Cancer Support for the trek, and raised a staggering £60,000 for the cancer charity. Sally Hill at Macmillan Cancer Support expressed her delight at working with the hotel chain as well as her heartfelt gratitude for what Paul Harvey and his team achieved.

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Beach holiday checklist for families

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The secret for enjoying a day at the beach is what you take with you and I have some great hints and tips.

Leave towels at home for the younger children and purchase towelling dresses or robes instead. It is much easier to just pop them on when they are wet and cold.
Talc or baby powder is great for removing sand off feet before putting your shoes on.
Get some shade – a beach umbrella is a must with children, even better is a UV tent as they can take a nap in it.
Take plenty of sunscreen. Even if it says it is water proof please reapply every time they have been in the water.
A string bag is perfect for carrying beach toys.
Take beach toys, bucket, spade, ball, flying disc and cars or diggers.
Take snacks and water. I pack my snacks in individual bags as sand will always find a way in to an open bag. The same with water, it is better to pack multiple bottles than one large one.
Take spare change for ice creams and beach snacks. Never take a lot of cash or your cards.
If you want to take photo’s – make sure it is just a cheap compact camera – sand and camera lenses do not mix well. Or even better take a waterproof one.
Hats are a must for everyone.
We always take a couple of UV suits so that they can use one against the other.
Beach shoes are great if you are going to a rocky area.

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Modernise your Lounge: Top Tips for the Minimalist Look

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Modernise your Lounge: Top Tips for the Minimalist Look
A minimalist home certainly isn’t for everyone – in fact, it’s nigh on impossible if you have a family home full of messy kids and moulting pets with grubby paws. If you’re the sort of person who would be able to apply a minimalistic approach to your home, then it’s a bang on trend style that can look amazing if you know how.
If you plan on turning your living room into a simple and stylish sanctuary, you need to give some thought to what pieces of furniture you’re going to have in there and where you’re going to store all the clutter that you’ll be moving off the shelves. Choosing a standout piece as a focal point, such as one of the sleek and stylish corner sofas from Sofas and Stuff UK will help to direct the eye to a centrepiece that will set the mood for the room perfectly.
As far as turning your home into a minimalist heaven is concerned, there is no right place to start. Change the way you think, find a place for everything that is out of sight and keep your home decluttered and you will have the basics for the minimalistic look. Simplifying an entire house isn’t easy, so start with one room and move from there. The living room is an ideal place to begin, because it’s one of the main rooms you’ll use day-to-day.
Look at the furniture you have and try to whittle it down to the bare necessities. The fewer items you have, the more minimalist your lounge will look. The trick is to remove furniture without affecting comfort – ask yourself what pieces are essential and take away the things that aren’t.
Other than furniture, your floors and surfaces should be clear. Wooden floors and light, shagpile carpets work well in a minimalist room as long as you can stay on top of cleaning them. Avoid storing things on the floor and surfaces, or stacking things next to your sofa – that defeats the point entirely. Find a home for everything, apart from a choice item or two which will add striking visual appeal – a vase of fresh flowers and an elegant ornament, perhaps.
Living in a minimalist home is difficult but if you can change the way you think about your pad, you will be able to enjoy the simplicity and tranquillity associated with it.

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Fundraising Ideas for Everyone

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Fundraising Ideas for Everyone
Charities in the UK rely solely on the fundraising efforts of the public, together with donations made via their shops and collections and legacies left in people’s wills. They receive no government funding and in times of financial hardship like those we are currently experiencing during this recession charities find that their funding drops considerably.
This is understandable: when your job is unsafe and you are worried about how you are going to afford food and your mortgage, your ability to donate to charity has to come lower in your list of priorities than it usually would. However, even if you cannot afford to make regular donations yourself, you may still want to help your favourite charity. You could do this through volunteering your time or you could organise a fundraising activity.
You may think that fundraising events are organised on a large scale by dedicated fundraising teams. In fact, anyone can host a fundraiser. All you need is a worthwhile cause that everyone can get behind to support, and an idea for what to do to raise the most money possible. You can get everything you need in terms of forms and advertising online.
For example, the RSPCA has a Choices website where you can not only select a particular project to support (e.g. your local rescue centre, or providing veterinary care to the animals helped by the RSPCA to name but two) but can also download all you need to get your fundraiser up and running. You can also set up a fundraising page online that you can promote through your favourite social networks: it’s really easy, all you have to do is fill in your name, brief details of the project and why you want to support it, and what you’re doing to raise the money (and how your friends can help you to achieve your goal).
Are you stuck for ideas on what sort of event you could organise? A lot will depend on the space you have available and the time you have to organise it. A lot also depends on the weather! Since it’s summer and we’re hopelessly optimistic in the UK about how sunny it will be, here are some ideas for fundraising during the summer months to get you started.
A summer fete is the obvious choice, if you can gather together members of your local community to organise stalls and entertainment. Perhaps speak to your local church or even the PTA at your children’s school about coming together to organise a traditional British fete in a location central to your area. As well as selling crafts and cakes, your local school could put together a dance routine to entertain people, and sell refreshments to raise even more cash. Look into local companies that hire out bouncy castles to see if they will be prepared to donate a bouncy castle or slide for the event. You could also organise races like the egg-and-spoon, sack race or three-legged race with a small donation for taking part. Offer chocolate as prizes – this won’t cost much and you might even be able to get a donation from your local supermarket if you ask and explain what the event is supporting.
On a smaller scale, you could organise a car wash. Look for car parks close to main roads where you can put up a sign advertising the fact that you are washing cars for the RSPCA with a suggested donation of, say, £5 per car. Or you could go door-to-door or call in at local offices that have their own car park and ask if anyone would like their car to be washed for charity.
Whatever you do, have fun organising the event and be pleased that you are doing your best to support a charity that is close to your heart.

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My Maternity Essentials

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A friend of a friend is currently pregnant and has asked for tips on all things maternity. Now I wasn’t a very good pregnant person and spent most of it in and out of hospital, but there where somethings that I could not have managed without.

A fragranced candle – Everything smelled odd to me throughout most of my pregnancy. My usual perfume was to strong, MadDad’s aftershave turned my stomach as did cooking smells, however, I found a fragranced candle that I could bear and we had one for each room.

Peppermint tea – I went off tea, coffee and all milky drinks when expecting. I indulged my need for a warm drink with fresh mint tea and during the winter good quality dried tea leaves.

Big pants – I know that a lot of people like under bump pants, but for me I needed big pants. I bought packs of them from M&S and they were fab. They also worked great after I gave birth as they didn’t rub on my c-section scar.

Body Oil – My skin was really dry and I moisturised with body oil, I also used it in the hope of not getting stretch marks too.

Audio books – I just couldn’t concentrate on reading for any length of time and found audio books a real lifesaver.

Bubble bath – I suffered from Hyperemesis throughout both my pregnancies and everyone kept telling me to have ginger (ginger tea, ginger biscuits, ginger ale, ginger everything). Eating generger never did anything for me at all, but a bath with ginger and lime scented oil did give me a little respite.

Acupuncture – This was the only time I got any relief from my sickness throughout my pregnancies. It was worth every penny we paid for it.

Multivitamins inc folic acid – Yes I was vomiting, but I still took vitamins in the hope that some got to my babes!

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