Beauty, Bargains and Beyond

I have fallen a little behind on my challenges as I wanted to complete 1 a month, but so far I am only on challenge 7.  You can read my last update here .  I have had builders working on my house for over 2 months, which has meant that things have had to be moved around while they work and it's been hard to keep track of where everything is.  Everything is back to normal now, so I wanted to update you on which challenges I have completed and some new challenges. Challenge 4 - Completed This was to read 10 books which I have managed to do and have actually carried on with this one and so far I've read 14 this year.  I don't think I've read that many books in so long I think I read about 2 or 3 last year in total.  I have realised from this challenge that I love to read so it's something I am going to make time for going forward.  I think one of the things that helped is that when the builders were here they managed to knock the sky satellite dish and ...

I am setting myself monthly challenges for 2017 and I just wanted to post about my progress so far.  You can read my last update here .  So far I have completed 3 challenges and I've set myself 2 more. Challenge 3 - Completed This challenge was to wear all of the jewellery that I own (obviously not at the same time ).  I have so much jewellery, but I rarely make the effort to wear any of it, so I decided that I would wear every piece at least once.  Basically, once I had worn a piece of jewellery, I would place it into a separate drawer, that way I would always know which pieces I still had to wear.  This worked perfectly and now that I have worn everything. I am in the process of wearing it all again and gradually putting it back in the correct place.  It was a also a great way to declutter some of the pieces that I no longer liked. This is the majority of my necklace collection This is just a small part of my ring and bracelet collection C...

I decided to set myself 1 challenge a month in 2017, which is much more manageable that setting 12 for the year all at once (not sure why, but it just is).  You can read my original post here , but I just wanted to give you a quick update on how it went. Challenge 1 - Completed My first challenge was to give up chocolate and fizzy drinks cans for 30 days and I am pleased to say that as of the 8th February I totally achieved this challenge.  I usually drink at least 2 cans of pop a day and have at least 1 bar of chocolate, so I am very pleased with myself and I don't plan on going back to my old bad habits.  I will treat myself to a can of Pepsi or Cherry Coke occasionally and also a bar of chocolate, but it certainly won't be a daily occurrence.  Hopefully I may have lost a few pounds as well, but that was not what this challenge was all about. Challenge 2 - Completed Challenge 2 is a 30 day no spend on makeup, toiletries and any other beauty ite...

As some of you may be aware I have picked a number of challenges at the start of each year, to try and complete for the last couple of years.  I've decided to do it slightly differently this year, as I must admit to losing track of them throughout the year until I write an update  on the blog and then I realise that I have forgotten about most of them.  This year I thought I would try something new and just have one or 2 challenges that I need to complete before I move onto the next one.  Hopefully this will help me to stay on track and complete them rather than forgetting about them.  Some of them will be small ones that can be done quickly, while others might take awhile, but I want to try and complete them all. So the first challenge, should I wish to accept it, is to g ive up chocolate and cans of pop (mainly Pepsi) for 30 days.  I must admit, like a lot of people chocolate is my vice, I don't smoke and rarely drink bu...

Wow it's 2017 already, so I thought I would update you on how I did on the challenges I set myself for 2016. Spending ban from 4th January to 31st March 2016.  I have spent so much on makeup and toiletries in December 2015, in order to take advantage of all the great offers that are around at this time of year.  I am going to have a complete spending ban from the start of the year for 3 months.   January spending ban was completed.  Then I failed miserably due to British Beauty Bloggers Aveda Box Sets which I couldn't resist.    I did manage to do another 2 month spending ban later in the year though. COMPLETED Nano Keratin Treatment - I have finally found a hairdresser that I like, so I will definitely be booking this for early 2016 - I did this just before I  went on holiday and I have to say that I was disappointed with the results. My hair feels smoother when I wash it and it is quicker to blow dry straig...

As January is over I thought I would do a quick update on how I've been doing with the challenges I set myself for 2016. Spending ban from 4th January to 31st March 2016.  I have spent so much on makeup and toiletries in December 2015, in order to take advantage of all the great offers that are around at this time of year.  I am going to have a complete spending ban from the start of the year for 3 months.  January spending ban completed, I haven't bought anything beauty related since the 4th January.  2 more months to go. Nano Keratin Treatment - I have finally found a hairdresser that I like, so I will be definitely be booking this for early 2016. Pay off credit card - I want to get my credit card balance to 0 this year. Books - I want to finish 10 books that I already own this year. I have read 1 book so far. DVDs - I want to watch 25 DVDs that I already own and decide whether to keep them or give them away. Weight - I would like to lose 1 stone this ...

I like to set myself some challenges at the start of every year and I am going to list my 2016 challenges in this post.  If you want to find out how I did on my challenges for 2015 you can find out here .  This is what I want to achieve in 2016: Spending ban from 4th January to 31st March 2016.  I have spent so much on makeup and toiletries in December 2015, in order to take advantage of all the great offers that are around at this time of year.  I am going to have a complete spending ban from the start of the year for 3 months. Nano Keratin Treatment - I have finally found a hairdresser that I like, so I will be definitely be booking this for early 2016. Pay off credit card - I want to get my credit card balance to 0 this year. Books - I want to finish 10 books that I already own this year. DVDs - I want to watch 25 DVDs that I already own and decide whether to keep them or give them away. Weight - I would like to lose 1 stone this year.  Once I achieve...

I set myself some challenges back in 2015 and I just wanted to post an update on how I did with my challenges. Top of the list is to lose weight - FAILED.   This was my biggest failure of the year and if I'm honest I didn't even try and I am probably slightly heavier than I was at the start of last year.  This is going to be my main challenge for 2016. I want to have 3 no spend months this year .  The no spends are on unnecessary items such as makeup, toiletries, clothes, shoes, accessories and jewellery.  It does not include food, drink, petrol or going out - COMPLETED. I want to use up 10 makeup items.  I find that makeup is the hardest thing to use up, so I will pick 10 items to fully use up. This is like the Project 10 Pan Challenge that appeared on You Tube a few years ago - COMPLETED Go for a proper bra fitting.  This may not seem like much of a challenge, but I have never had a bra fitting, so I think I really should this year and find out...

I set myself some challenges at the start of 2015 and just wanted to post a quick update on how I'm doing with them. Top of the list is to lose weight.  I set myself this target last year and whilst I did lose some weight, it wasn't anywhere near enough.  I did join a gym last year, so I am going in the right direction, but I am going to target myself with losing 2 stone this year and at least 1 dress size. Failing this at the moment as I'm still going to the gym but need to sort out my diet. I want to have 3 no spend months this year.  The no spends are on unnecessary items such as makeup, toiletries, clothes, shoes, accessories and jewellery.  It does not include food, drink, petrol or going out. COMPLETED.  I completed this challenge this week and promptly had a bit of a shopping spree, although it was more clothes than beauty. I want to use up 10 makeup items.  I find that makeup is the hardest thing to use up, so I will pick 10 items to fully u...

I set myself some challenges back in 2014 and you can read my final update here . I have decided to set myself some more challenges for 2015, so here's the list of what I hope to achieve: Top of the list is to lose weight.  I set myself this target last year and whilst I did lose some weight, it wasn't anywhere near enough.  I did join a gym last year, so I am going in the right direction, but I am going to target myself with losing 2 stone this year and at least 1 dress size. I want to have 3 no spend months this year.  The no spends are on unnecessary items such as makeup, toiletries, clothes, shoes, accessories and jewellery.  It does not include food, drink, petrol or going out. I want to use up 10 makeup items.  I find that makeup is the hardest thing to use up, so I will pick 10 items to fully use up and list them in a separate post. This is like the Project 10 Pan Challenge that appeared on You Tube a few years ago. Go for a proper bra fitting. ...

Hey everyone, I'm back and I'm ready to get my blog on. You may (or not) have noticed that I haven't blogged much this year. I was ill just before Christmas and it really knocked me for six and to be honest it's taken me a while to get my blogging mojo back. I've been feeling pretty lazy for the first 2 weeks of the year, but now I'm ready for some action so hopefully I'll get back into posting at least twice a week from now on.    Back in December 2013 I set myself some  challenges for 2014 .  I posted an update in July  here  and October here .  Here's an update on my challenges. Watch 50 DVDs from my collection and then give them away. FAILED. This was a big fat FAIL I'm afraid as I ended up getting Netflix last year and watched more on that then DVDs.  I'm going to try and get round to watching my DVDs this year as I want to declutter and I think I will have a few DVDs that I can get rid of. Sort out 100 items to get rid o...

Back in December 2013 (if you can remember that far back) I set myself some  challenges for 2014 .  I posted an update in July here .  Any challenges that I completed by July I will strike out below and just provide updates on the ones I've completed since.  Here's my original list below and I will add an update to each line. Watch 50 DVDs from my collection and then give them away.  I haven't made much progress with this one as I have so much to watch on Sky+ and I have recently joined Netflix.  I have only watched 11 DVDs so far. Sort out 100 items to get rid of (either sell, throw away or giveaway). This can be any type of item and is all part of the decluttering process.  Completed based on the amount of items I've donated to charity, sold on ebay/blog sale, although I didn't keep a specific record of exactly how many.  I need to have clearer challenges next year. Read 20 books from my collection (I know I am so behind the times, I re...

Back in December (if you can remember that far back) I set myself some challenges for 2014 ,  I haven't really posted much about them since then apart from my shopping ban so I thought I would do a quick update and hopefully motivate myself to complete more of them. Here's my original list below and I will add an update to each line. Watch 50 DVDs from my collection and then give them away. I haven't made much progress with this one as I have so much to watch on Sky+ and I have recently joined Netflix.  I have only watched 9 DVDs so far. Sort out 100 items to get rid of (either sell, throw away or giveaway). This can be any type of item and is all part of the decluttering process. I need to work out how many I've done on this one as I haven't kept a record. Read 10 books from my collection (I know I am so behind the times, I recently bought a kindle but most of my books are still paperback and take up alot of room). My hope is to finish all the books and pa...