Rachel Bustin

5 Tips on Getting a Good Night’s Sleep

Psychologists at the University of Warwick recently published a study which determined that “improving your sleep makes you feel as good as a lottery winner”. The quality of sleep, the study reported, is much more important than the quantity of sleep with regards to improved health and overall wellbeing.

Specifically, Dr Nicole Tang of the university’s Department of Psychology found that “improving your sleep quality leads to levels of mental and physical health comparable to those of somebody who’s won a jackpot of around £200,000”.

5 Tips for Getting a Good Night's Sleep

While not everyone may be lucky enough to win a jackpot playing the US Powerball lottery, all of us are capable of improving the quality of our sleeping patterns.

Here are five tips which will help you get a good night’s sleep.

Maintain a regular sleep schedule. If you maintain a good circadian rhythm, your body will know instinctively when to go to sleep and when to get up in the morning. You should avoid long naps and save sleeping for night time and stick to a regular sleep schedule as much as possible, even on weekends. Your body’s internal clock will help you sleep when you need to sleep and stay awake the rest of the day.

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Top Tips For Posting Your Christmas Presents

No matter how beautiful and wonderful, Christmas can easily become a very stressful and busy time of year, especially with little ones to think about. The pressure of making sure that your festive gifts reach your loved ones before the big day, especially if they don’t live in the same area as you, is a worry that most of us experience every year. Fear not, there are solutions to these problems.

Top Tips on posting your Christmas presents

If you are planning on posting your Christmas presents, it is best to buy them and send them as early as possible, even if the recipient is slightly tempted to take a sneak peek at what you’ve bought them! If, like a lot of us, last minute shopping is inevitable, make sure to check the last delivery dates to avoid disappointment.

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Time for cleaning your house? See these good and bad habits.

Time to clean your home again? Dull, huh? Not necessarily. Actually, cleaning can actually be quite the fun, and not at all as time-consuming as you think. We interviewed maids from leading cleaning companies and they advised us how to clean our homes quickly and efficiently. And according to specialists, cleaning your home can be ten times faster if you just break the bad habits and replace them with good ones. And, believe us, we, too, were shocked when we found out about these habits.

Tips on cleaning your house

Using bleach to clean is wrong

Your mother lied to you when she said that there isn’t a better all-purpose cleaner than bleach. In fact, bleach has no cleaning properties at all. Thus, if you use it as a cleaning product, the bleach is as good as nothing. Another lie you’ve been told is that bleach never expires – actually bleach loses 90 percent of it’s disinfectant properties just 60 days after it’s first use.

The right habit to adopt: Inform yourself before you declare a product the perfect all-purpose cleaner. You’ll be surprised but vinegar, for example, is ten times more effective than bleach (and it’s not only a disinfectant like bleach – it’s good for cleaning, too).

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The Cora Series – JORD Wood Watch Review

Last year I was lucky to be sent a stunning JORD wood watch for my husband to review. Over this past year he has had many amazing comments about how an unusual and unique watch it is. Some of these comments have been in his work meetings and others by random people!

This year I have been sent the cool turquoise luxury watch from the Cora Series. Made from Zebrawood the grain and colour has warming undertones. A sapphire crystal glass with Swarovski crystal number markers and it has a self-winding automatic drive system meaning no batteries are required. The power reserve is 36 hours.

The Cora Series - JORD watch

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Five Cost-Effective Workshop Ideas

If you are starting up your own craft business or opening your first Etsy shop, you might need a little bit of extra space. Using the kitchen table can do for a while, but as your stock grows and you need to hit deadlines for orders, you might need to get some more space and storage. Creating your workshop in your home can be challenging, and you might not want to spend a lot of money on an extension, or moving house.

Below you will find some great home workshop ideas you can put into action on a budget.

Summer House in the Garden

If you get a cheap wooden summer house, you might be able to get electricity in there. There are several designs that have plenty of windows for you to get natural light for working. Some of them have insulation, and you can get a portable heater in the winter. If you only use the summer house for your workshop, you can have matching wooden shelving inside, so you can store your raw materials and tools.

Orangery

You might want to get a lean-on orangery to work in. This way, you are never too far from your family, and get plenty of light for work. You can take up a part of the orangery for your tools and worktop, and the rest can still be used for relaxing and entertaining friends. Having this solution is better than using your spare bedroom that will be smaller and darker. On the other hand, you will need to move your items when one of your friends decides to stay overnight.

Loft Area

A simple solution is to turn your loft area into a workshop. Many people have successfully completed the project, and managed to get sewing machines and professional lighting installed. Make sure that you have professional loft windows fitted that are adequately glazed, so you don’t get cold on winter days, and get enough light to work with.

Five Cost-Effective Workshop Ideas

“Loft Conversion. Sam.” by Phil Campbell is licensed under CC BY 2.0

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5 Tips On Making Your House Move Easier

We have been here in our new house for 4 months now. The Time has gone so much quicker than I anticipated. There is still boxes to unpack and pictures to be put up, but we are in. That was the most important thing for us. We have decided it’s our forever home, well unless we win the lottery!

5 Top Tips - Make your House Move Easier - moving house you need to be organised, pack well, have a removal company to help, keep the cleaning equipment out, tea and coffee available, moving house tips, moving house checklist and who to notify

It’s in the perfect location for both our jobs. Close to the town but not right in the town like our last house. There is a primary school across the road which will come in very handy in the next few years. Plus we are lucky to have a small park, village hall, post office and local shop. It’s the perfect village life.

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