Shopping Lists

I like to do an online shop before actually heading out to the supermarket.

This sounds a bit strange, but it really does save me money. I try not to set a budget straight away, but instead flick through my recipe books and decide on what to have throughout the week. I like to vary what I eat and find that preparing a menu means that we don't have pasta twice in a row, or five days in a week with meals containing tinned tomatoes.

I aim to not repeat a dish with each of these ingredients more than twice a week: rice, pasta, mashed potatoes, roast potatoes, boiled potatoes, gnocchi. Otherwise it feels as though we've had no variation.

Then I go online and price up everything I need to buy. The good thing about doing this is that you see exactly how much you need to spend - and don't add in the naughty temptations. I then look at the amount it costs and allow myself to round up to the nearest £5. Then I go through and find any treats I'd like.

It makes you realise that you're not going to need the 2-for-£7 pizzas, and buy not buying the 2nd, you've probably got another £3 to spend on some ice-cream, or a bottle of wine, instead. Are you really going to use all the parmesan in that tub? Or are you better saving that 50p and just buying the small packet?

Remember - the shops want us to spend more. Don't deny yourself treats but don't buy things you don't need and will eventually waste.

I like to do my menu for the week on a Saturday afternoon. It's the one time of the week I get to myself and I curl up on my sofa with Saturday Kitchen on the telly and my recipe books strewn all over the floor. It's not at all stressful. Quite the opposite in fact. And looking at all those pictures in the books gets you really excited about the great food you'll be eating next week - and because you'll be looking forward to it, and know exactly what you're doing, you'll be less likely to think *eugh, I don't know what to do for dinner.... let's just get a chinese*... and blow £15.

Go Veggie

Last year, I watched a programme that changed the way I viewed meat.

I am not a vegetarian, nor am I going to write a lecture on how eating meat is bad. I love meat, and I will eat it. But now I've learnt that I don't have to eat it every day.

I have never liked the thought of cheap meat, but Britain's Really Disgusting Food made me make up my mind 100% that it was not something I would eat ever again. The thought of Mechanically Reclaimed Meat and other equally gross animal parts in foods made me want to be sick a little, and still does. I cannot go anyway near processed meats and bottom of the range choices.

A Bookcase

A bookcase isn't just a bookcase.

It's a feature. A place to put not just books, but ornaments. Figures and plants, potpourri and piggy banks. Don't be fooled by it's name - a bookcase is simply a few shelves and can become whatever you want it to be.

I bought this bookcase from Ikea at a steal of a price (and pretty much a steal from another person, as they'd tried to 'save' it by hiding it near different packs of furniture) and when I got it, I didn't even know where I was going to put it. All I knew was that it was a beautiful shape and would have a purpose one way or another.

This bookcase was positioned in my hallway when I initially bought it, and when we moved it was brought into the livingroom. It has been a main feature in both these areas because of what it holds - everything.

Books, fairies, plants, a small wicker basket, a strange wooden ball that I bought for no apparent reason, a small statue of a lady, cards, notebooks, piggy banks, a big glass bowl full of potpourri, a small pink bucket which holds more pens than I could ever possibly need, a box full of memories, dvds, board games, a clock, 4 bright green vases that don't (and have never) held flowers and my bright pink filing box.

It oozes colour and brightens up the area in which it stands. It stores objects that I have no storage space for and yet even though it looks used, I hardly ever take anything off it. It serves no other purpose than to just be.

I loved the look of it so much that I took photos and when I moved house the first thing I did was look at the pictures and work out how to put it all back together again into it's beautiful state of organised chaos.

I didn't buy anything specifically to go on the bookshelf. I used what I had to build colour, depth and excitement. It cost me nothing to decorate it, and yet it looks as though everything was bought to intentionally make it look the way it does.

Be bold. Don't be afraid of wild colours. Have a bright little spot in the corner.

Colour

The thing I often see that people get wrong when it comes to making a house look homely, is stick to a colour scheme and not stray away from it at all. And the most popular colour scheme? Brown and cream.

I think this is pretty common as it’s neutral. The idea is that anything will match magnolia and whilst this is true, it is almost always matched with brown and one single colour. Although the idea is to look modern and stylish, it can become a trap, with the decorator afraid to add in another colour in case it clashes.

And I have been guilty of this. The colour scheme in my living room at my flat at University was green and purple (as accessory colours - the walls were magnolia). The bedroom was blue and brown (again, accessories only). And whilst the bedroom was fine with a colour scheme (I actually love blue and brown – I still have that in my bedroom now – but I’ve added white into the mix) The livingroom just didn't feel full enough. It was lovely as student accommodation, don't get me wrong, but it lacked something busier and just felt a bit too empty at times.

I've come to realise that a room doesn't have to be bursting with objects to make it feel full and comfortable (you may like a more spacious feel, but i find that too often than not that a minimalistic approach lacks a bit of warmth) and incorporating colour fills this gap.

Say you rent, for example. The walls are magnolia. The carpet is cream. You have a brown sofa. Your TV cabinet/case is wooden and your TV is black. Your dining table is wooden. Your bookcase is wooden. Everything is brown, or cream and dull. Is there anything you can do?

Yes.

Add colour with your cushions and curtains and put some bright flowers in the centre of the table (the daffodils were a pound from Tesco - you cannot resist flowers for a pound). The bookcase adds dramatic colour to the room and creates a feature. 4 little things and I have transformed the brown shades.

Not only is it possible - it's easy.

Moving Day