How I beat my FOBA (Fear of Being Away)

Hi guys!
It’s been a while, I’ve had a lot of exciting projects going on that have sadly taken me away from the blogosphere. I’m now running a local website for families which has been absolutely amazing as it’s given me a great chance to get to know my local area even more.

I live in the city of Portsmouth and when people hear the name Portsmouth, they often assume it is a bit rough and ready. They think of sailors and students, usually the football club comes to mind as well.

However it’s a fantastic city to live in, particularly if you have kids. There’s over 100 parks, family friendly cafes and, the area I live in at least, a really low crime rate.

Over the summer though I started to get quite anxious. There were reports of burglaries in the area with people having intruders jump over their garden fences and break into their homes.

Having a young daughter at home and spending a lot of time out and about with my new role left me feeling anxious. How could I protect my home and family as best as possible without spending an absolute fortune?

Ensuring you keep everything locked

It sounds daft but I cannot count the amount of times I’ve nipped up to get something from upstairs and left my conservatory unlocked. Simple things like making sure windows are closed as well. Now I make a point of locking the conservatory every time I leave the room. This means any chancers have two locked doors before they can even reach my house. Simple but effective.

Setting Up Timers

Whenever we go away we have set up timers on our lights, this makes it look like we’re in the house and in some of the rooms. Even if we’re just nipping out for the evening we make a point of leaving lights on.

Getting to know our neighbours

It’s a sad state of affairs that the average Brit no longer knows their neighbours. When we moved in we were fortunate enough that Mr Luxe had grown up in the area and we knew a few people already. By speaking and getting to know our neighbours we have the reassurance that if someone did see anything unusual they would report it. Thanks neighbours🙂

Using social media carefully

I know it’s tempting when you go on holiday to tag yourself at the airport, sipping cocktails on a beach and generally having a good time. Sadly though, particularly if your privacy settings aren’t high on Facebook etc, this can be a calling card for intruders.

Knowing that the house is empty and you’ve tagged yourself previously at “Home Sweet Home” not only makes you a target but also can invalidate your insurance. Save the snaps and share them when you get home to your nice, secure house.

Don’t leave valuables in view

We’ve recently had these swishy new shutters installed. They are perfect for letting the light in and keeping prying eyes out. We never even have to shut them like you would curtains. This plus never leaving my laptop, handbag or any other valuables in plain sight dissuades any potential burglars from targeting your house. Same as not leaving valuables in the car. If there’s no easy win, they probably won’t target you.

Thinking about installing a security system

My father in law has one of the old school security systems. Full motion beams, box alarm on the front of the house, telephone alert system. This was great a few years ago and it does still work very well, but in this modern age you can get security systems that are a lot cheaper and just as effective. You can even have it sent to your Smart Phone!

One such device is by Panasonic. They have a system connected to a hub in your home. Their system starts at just £129.99 for the basic set up and then you can buy additional Panasonic motion sensors for just £35.99. This sends an alert to your smart phone if motion is detected, and sets of an alarm and siren. You can even set it so it turns ALL of your devices on and freaks the intruder out. The low cost point means you can kit your whole house out for less than a traditional  security system. You can connect up to 50 of these motion sensors to your hub as well, so even if you live in a huge house you can streamline the lot.

The added bonus? They can also be used to automate your home. You can create a network so your music plays as you enter a room, or your lamps switch on and off as you come and go. Pretty cool!

So, now when I go out I don’t suffer any more Fear of Being Away. In fact, I can’t get out the house fast enough sometimes! Your home is your castle and you should do whatever you can to protect it for you and your family.

 

DISCLAIMER: This post was sponsored in part, all opinions are my own.

Sore Throat – Please bare with me!

Hey guys,

You’ve probably noticed I’ve been a bit absent the last couple of weeks. With birthday parties, freelance work and now a horrendous attack of tonsillitis whilst trying to chase a 1 year old in the mix I’ve fallen quite behind on my usual blogging schedule.

Please bare with me and normal service will be resumed next week once I’m dosed up and up-to-date.

Xxxx

Tangles Be Gone – Holy Grail Product

Hey everybody! Sorry I’ve been a bit quiet, especially after banging on about consistency and sticking to schedules when blogging. Woops!

It was Mini Luxe’s first birthday last week and I had a lot of work beforehand so my planned posts didn’t get written in time and, as I’m sure you would agree, spending the time celebrating such an important milestone took precedence.

With this in mind, and because I’m starting to get quite busy, I have taken the decision to amend my posting schedule for the time being. From now on I’ll be posting twice a week. Once on Wednesday and once on Sunday. This means I’ll be able to concentrate on giving great content and not rushing around attempting to post when I have other work to do.

NOW! Onto the post!

I know, like many other beauty bloggers out there, that there are certain products you just can’t live without.

For many it’s a skincare product, for others it’s particular brushes and tools, sometimes it’s an entire brand.

I have a number of holy grail products that I personally could not function without and will be bringing you a range of these on my blog.

This week we’re talking hair, and more specifically, tangles.

Seven Things I’ve Learned in Twelve Months Of Motherhood

As you can probably tell I’ve been a little quiet this week. Amongst the usual chaos and business of being a work from home mum I’ve also had my daughter’s first birthday this week.

It’s been a truly humbling week to realise that she was born a whole year ago. It’s also got me to thinking amongst the present wrapping, card reading and aquarium trips about how I’ve changed as a person.

When they say motherhood changes you, they aren’t kidding. I would say the majority of it is for the better and maybe, some of it, not so much.

So, here are seven things that I have learned in twelve months of motherhood. Hope you still like me afterwards!

The Alternative Father’s Day Gift Guide

Dads, god love ’em. They pick us up and carry us through childhood, shout at us when our skirt is too short or we’ve smashed a lamp coming in drunk. They do so much for us and Father’s Day is the ideal way to let them know how much we care.

But what do you do if the usual cufflinks, beer mug and football strip just won’t cut it?

Mr Luxe is just so one of these guys, a doting father and the anti-thesis of every traditional Father’s Day gift out there.

When I was put in contact with the Formations Company about collaborating on my gift guide with their cool and unusual product, I thought why not build a profile for the dads in our lives that don’t just quite fit the “traditional” box.

June Goals and May Goals Update

This goal setting malarkey is intense. Every time I manage to complete something another three things come my way. And whilst I’m enjoying being busy it’s coming to my attention exactly what my next focuses need to be.

So without further ado, here are the things that I hope to achieve this June! I’m keeping it a lot more simple this month as I have a lot going on!🙂

May Favourites

It’s June, which means that Summer is pretty much here. Hooray!

Whilst we have been blessed with a couple of gorgeous days it still seems a bit far from the sundrenched, pub garden, rose drinking days we know and love about the season.

With the beginning of the month means that I take a look back at the previous month and see what things have been floating my boat.

Blog 2.0 – 5 Things I’ve Done Differently This Time

If you follow my blog then you may know I used to run another a few years ago called Fluffy Candy UK.

I’ve always been into my beauty and make-up, and love writing about it. These are passions that stay with me consistently even when I’ve ended up being a total flake in other aspects of my life.

Setting up a new blog was bittersweet for me. Part of me wondered if I should relaunch my old handle and page. There was content, there were followers (in fact I think my old Twitter handle has more followers than my current one!) but I made so many… mistakes doing it. A fresh break and a bit of organisation were required.

Here are some of the things that I have re-evaluated this time around.

The Mummy Tag

I was tagged by the lovely Sadie over at Tiaras and Wellyboots on the Mummy Tag. I thought it was a great tag and was really keen to do it as I love being a mum.

Normally I would post a selection of photos on my blog but, with Mini Luxe, I don’t think it’s fair for me to post pictures of her online. She is 11 months old and even though I think she is SUPER DUPER ADORABLE, I would have hated my mum putting my baby pictures online for all to see. I’m conscious as well that I don’t use her real name. I hope this doesn’t affect your enjoyment of the post but us mums can be a tad protective you know?😉

1. Are you a Stay at Home Mum or a Working Mum?

Groceries for £30 a week – Living The So Not Luxe Life

Make-up and fashion can get a bit pricey. New launches, latest trends, replacing your Holy Grail products… it all adds up.

Before I had a family I would quite happily live off beans for a week so I could buy a new pair of jeans. However with two (three if you count the dog) other mouths to feed this isn’t feasible now and groceries are a lot more expensive.

When I gave up work, money became quite tight and Mr Luxe wasn’t in a position to give me a lot of money to shop with. The total amount per month was £150 to be exact. Some people spend that on a week’s shop!

Here are my top, money saving tips, that I’ve learnt along the way to save cash, have good food and have more money to spend on treats!

We are omnivores in this house but if you’re a veggie a lot of this still applies.