Ready for Christmas?

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With less than three weeks to go until the big day, many people are panicking about Christmas. I know a lot of people who really enjoy the festive season and love picking out presents for people, decorating their homes and really getting into the spirit of things.
Unfortunately, I'm not one of those people! Maybe it comes from working in retail over the Christmas period or maybe it's the fact that I'm not religious at all. But I really do not see the big deal about Christmas. People waste money they don't have on things they don't need. People work themselves up into a frenzy and panic about which mass-produced tacky gift to buy their aunt who they only see once a year.
Of course, a lot of people say that they don't want an extravagant Christmas, they just want to spend time with their loved ones and enjoy the holiday season. But how often does that actually happen in reality? This year I'm working everyday except Christmas day, and I know many people have to work on Christmas Day too.

My boyfriend has bought presents for all of his family, but I haven't bought any presents and won't be pressured into doing so. My family will understand my views when I explain that I don't wish to waste money on a gift for them that they'd probably never use anyway. I might give them a token gift such as some homemade cakes or a book that I know they want. But I refuse to buy gifts for someone just for the sake of it.

I also think that the amount of food that goes to waste is absolutely shocking! I work in a supermarket and I see people leaving with two trolley-loads of food. Of course, they might well have a huge family who they are having over for dinner. But do they really need all of that food? Nobody wants to be still eating Christmas food halfway through February so have a bit of common sense. If you are cooking for family, plan your menu and only buy what you need.

I didn't mean for this post to turn into a rant, so I will try to end on a positive note. This is the ideal time of year to do something charitable. Donate some of your unwanted gifts to a charity shop, give some food to the food bank or volunteer at a charity. Christmas can be a difficult time for many people and anything you can do to help would be a benefit.

Merry Christmas and enjoy those mince pies!

Tips for maintaining a healthy weight

I'm very lucky and have never been in a position where I need to lose weight. I've maintained an average weight of 9 stone for the past 6 years. Here are some of of the things I do or have done that may be useful to anyone else trying to maintain their healthy weight.

1. Walk wherever and whenever you can. Walking is free and can be great fun too. Make sure you wear suitable shoes for walking in.
2. Always take the stairs. It might not sound like much, but if you always take the escalator or lift think of the extra exercise you could be getting just by running up an extra flight of stairs.
3. Take one less sugar in your hot drinks. If you take two sugars in your tea, cut down gradually to one and a half and then down to one. Eventually you could even go without any sugar in your drink.
4. Eat smaller portions or fill up on vegetables. For example if you're having sausage and mash and you usually have three sausages, try only having one sausage and give yourself extra mash if you're still hungry.
5. Take a packed lunch to work. If I don't take lunch with me I end up buying junk food out of the vending machine. It's much better to take a sandwich and some healthy snacks from home. This also saves you money!
6. Snacks are fine in moderation. I try to keep lots of healthy snacks in my cupboard. Dried fruit is a good alternative to sweet treats and crackers are a good alternative to crisps. Everybody is entitled to a naughty treat now and then, just try and limit yourself to one or two a day. Don't beat yourself up if you binge on chocolate once in a while!
7. Go for the low-fat options wherever you can. For example, today I had a reduced fat blueberry muffin instead of the full-fat version. I didn't notice any difference in taste. Do check the ingredients though as some low-fat foods contain other hidden nasties instead.
8. Know your size. Measure your waist and chest to make sure you are wearing the right size clothes. There's no shame in having to buy a bigger size, the important thing is that your clothes fit correctly and make you feel good about yourself.
9. Weigh yourself. You might not like the look of that number on the scales, but you need to know it, otherwise how will you know if you've lost or gained anything?
10. Enjoy life and love yourself. If you are happy and confident then it won't matter what size you are. Also if you're busy having fun you won't be sat on the sofa comfort eating that junk food!

Please note: These are advice only and may or may not work for you. Seek medical advice before making any drastic changes to your diet or lifestyle.

Decluttering, Part 2

My last post (over a month ago, oops!) Decluttering My Home listed some of the tips I'd found useful as I began to declutter my home.

I've already got rid of anything that was rubbish, that is anything that was broken, worthless or just plain trash. I've also set aside some things that can be donated to charity. this includes things like clothes and any free gifts that came with magazines that I have no use for.

There are of course some things that I didn't want to give away or throw away even though I didn't really want to keep them either. These were the things that I had paid a lot of money for, or that I knew were worth some money. I've decided to try and sell some of these things myself. Obviously I don't want to hang onto this stuff forever in the hope of making some quick cash, so I'm going to set a time limit. That way if I haven't managed to sell something within a month I'll feel less guilty about giving it away.

So where's a good place to sell these things? I don't have a car, garage or yard so car boot sales, garage or yard sales are out. I do however live in a block of flats where people are always moving in and out. This makes it very easy to sell the larger household items that I no longer need, all I have to do is put a notice on the noticeboard. I have also found some local groups on Facebook which are useful for selling items locally, however I did have some issues with trying to get the group administrators to approve my posts quickly and I also encountered a few timewasting buyers.

However, I intend to sell most things online. I am using Amazon for selling books, DVDs, CDs and games. Although I'm not likely to make much money through this because their fees are quite high, there is quite a quick turnaround and I managed to make 3 sales in the first 24 hours.
For craft supplies I'm thinking of using Etsy and/or Folksy as I have had good experiences with these in the past.

For everything else I will probably turn to Ebay. One issue I have with Ebay is that listing items can be a lengthy process, also it can be hard to get your items noticed.

I think I'm going to concentrate on using one selling site at a time. For the meantime I'm quite in love with the simplicity of listing on Amazon. I love that all you have to do is type in the barcode and all the information is already there for you.

In case you're curious here's my Amazon storefront.

Decluttering my home

My boyfriend and I live in a one bedroom apartment. It's not overly small, but after being here nearly two years things are starting to look a bit cluttered. I've been slowly going through everything and deciding if we really need to keep all of the stuff we've accumulated. Here are a few of the tips I've been following during this process:

1. Don't try to do everything in one go. I found it easier to focus on one area at a time, for example the desk or the bathroom cabinet. This also ensures that you don't pull out too much in one go and end up with more mess than you started with!
2. Take pride in what you have achieved. Decluttering is frustrating, but it's worth it once you've cleared an area and it makes you happy.
3. Clean as you go. If you take everything off a shelf, wipe the shelf before you put stuff back. Also clean any ornaments and pictures at the same time.
4. Be ruthless. If something has been sat in a drawer for over a year without being used, chances are you won't miss it if you throw it out.
5. If you want to sell something or donate it to charity do it as soon as possible. If you put things to one side to deal with later you might forget about them and they'll still be there three months down the line.
6. Rearrange furniture. This can give your room a fresh new look and almost make you feel like you've moved house!
7. Instead of buying new things try to make use of what you already have. You might find a use for something if you move it to another room. For example, I had a chest of drawers in the bedroom that wasn't being used, so I moved it to the hallway and it now stores gloves and hats as well as making my hallway more welcoming.

8. Don't throw away other people's stuff before checking with them. I filled a box with my boyfriend's things and gave it to him to sort through. He ended up throwing it all out anyway, but at least I hadn't unintentionally thrown out something that he needed.
9. Keep at it. I still have a long way to go with sorting out our home, but I do a little bit each day and it gives me something to do if I get bored.
10. Don't feel guilty. I was feeling guilty about getting rid of things that I'd received as presents or things that I'd spent a lot of money on. But at the end of the day, if you're not using it, why keep it? You can sell things or donate them to charity and hopefully they'll go to somebody who can use them.

I hope these tips help you if you're trying to declutter and organise your home.