Master Bedroom Makeover

Those of you on my instagram will remember this picture

I was fed up with our room. I wanted to redecorate (had for a while) and I was frustrated that we'd picked the colours, painted testers on the wall and still hadn't painted.

I'd been staring at this for weeks

Well, on our way to the supermarket the other day, we headed to Homebase and finally got paint! We headed home with paint and other supplies, sorted out the room and snapped some before shots

You can see why I'd get bored/fed up with it.

Due to having other things that needed doing it was quite late before we were finished with the first coat. So we left it to dry, cracked a window and hit the shower and bed (stayed in the guest bedroom). The next day we checked up on the room, it was ready for it's second coat but it was time for my husband to head off to work. So I decided to surprise my husband and I got the second coat done, did the cutting in and by the time he was home it was dried and he kindly popped plug sockets/light switches/radiator off and painted behind them all.


They're now dry and the room is all put back together.

We're not done making over the room yet. We plan to move the desk and computer downstairs, get a chest of drawers in there instead (we have a lot of clothes!). We need to add curtains among other things, but for now it's such an improvement.

Here are some after shots (please excuse the mess, our house isn't a show home, it's lived in)

Guest Bedroom - From Storage To Bedroom

I currently have a horrible sinus infection, so I'm taking the opportunity to catch up on some well overdue blog posts. Although, honestly I feel like I should be working on my will!

Our "guest bedroom" has been storage space since we moved here. It was the sensible option because aside from it being a spare room, it's right by the attic hatch which meant we didn't have to go far to put things in the attic when we got a chance.

For a little while now I've been sneaking up there to organise some of the boxes, but recently I went up there and decided to get as much done as possible. So rather shamefully, I share our  before pictures.

 I decided to be tough with myself. So armed with a bin bag I got to work.

Do I need it? Am I sure?

Those were the questions I asked myself with each item I took out of the boxes. It went into a bin bag or into a box. The furniture got moved around and then the items I decided to keep got found a home.

I took a few "during" shots.

It was hard work. I kept having to remind myself I really didn't need every single thing, like the old flip phone that hasn't worked for around 5 years. But you get sentimentally attached to the silliest things. Eventually I was left with a couple of boxes that need to be put in the attic (we need to get a new ladder though). But it's a massive improvement! And now we can think about painting.

 (Please excuse the spare bed and mattress, we have had people staying with us)

Still to do:

Curtains/Blinds
 New Bedding?
 Painting

Arm Chair (towards where the spare bed/mattress is)
New Lampshade

Household Folder

We decided we wanted to be extra organised over in the House of Sneyd this year.

I've been meal planning for a while but it's been a nightmare to keep it all organised, so I dug out an old ring binder and set to work.


The first thing in our Household Folder is an Emergency Info Sheet

Next you'll find our Cleaning Plan

 

We haven't listed things like dusting because we spend so much time wiping down things because of sticky fingers etc that dust doesn't stand a chance haha.

Then we have our meal plans - we were going to do five weeks but four fitted perfectly.

Then using that as guidance I wrote out our shopping list.
Our shopping list is then uploaded onto MySupermarket, where I use the switch and save to find the best deals and compare which supermarket is cheapest.

Then I look for voucher codes and cashback deals, I pop those in to save a little more money and order it for as soon after pay day as possible and choose the cheapest delivery slot.

Vegetables go on a seperate shopping list as we go to our local Greengrocers every Tuesday, it's not always cheaper but as they last longer it does work out cheaper in the long run.

Our butchers also runs a bundle deal, so we're going to get the information for that and see how that works into our meal plans.

Our plan for 2014 is to get more fresh produce, locally sourced and help the smaller business. And spend less in supermarkets.
I'm going to bake our bread, cakes etc. I'm also going to try my hand at homemade sausage rolls etc for snacks!

We also plan to build our own stock pile of pantry, bathroom and cleaning supplies. Invest in a cheap freezer off Gumtree so we can stock up on meat etc too. And be fully prepared for emergency expenses.

All bill money will be transferred to a different account on pay day so that what's left in the main account is petrol, shopping and extras money.

Making/Saving Money

We all have budgets, we also all have certain things we really want/need.

As I'm a Stay At Home Wife and Mother, my partner often feels the pressure and I hate that. So I've been working on Making/Saving Money to help with that pressure.

First off, I would recommend you make a new email address. I made a Googlemail account. This is used specially for signing up for freebies etc so they don't spam my normal email account.

Second, work out what you plan to do with your money. Is it going towards Christmas next year, maybe on a holiday? You won't be earning any big bucks, BUT you can earn a fair amount if you put the effort in and don't spend it willy nilly.

Tip: Make a little poster/sign to remind you what you're saving for. It will motivate you and help you think before you spend.

Third, make a facebook account if you don't have one. Use the email address you made earlier and don't feel pressured to add anyone. Lots of competitions, coupons and freebies require facebook. It also makes it quicker to sign up to sites.

Now for the websites!

Extreme Couponing Uk

https://www.facebook.com/couponshopuk?ref=ts&fref=ts

Full of coupons, freebies and good deals. I check it daily.

Extreme Couponing and Deals UK

https://www.facebook.com/Extremecouponinguk?fref=ts

Also full of coupons, freebies and good deals. I check this daily too.

Swagbucks

www.swagbucks.com 

You do surveys, watch short video clips etc to earn Swagbucks. Easy to earn (I've earned 240 Swagbucks in 3 days), a £5 Amazon E-Giftcard is 849 Swagbucks up to 82,999 Swagbucks for a £500 Amazon E-Giftcard. Other rewards available.

Toluna

https://uk.toluna.com

More surveys, I currently have 11185 points. I'm aiming for Amazon vouchers. I need 68815 more points apparently. Not the quickest or biggest earner, but every little helps. Other rewards available, including Toys R Us vouchers.

Crazy Couponing Mom

http://ukcrazycouponingmom.moonfruit.com/ 

I check this daily, she lists printable, postal, on product, cashback and magazine coupons.

I would also recommend you check out Shopitize, Clicksnap, Top Cashback, Quidco, Tesco/ASDA Magazines.

Rhonna Designs App - Cute Jar Labels

I love our house, and I'm loving turning it into a home. And we're doing it on a budget!

So some stuff has been temporary due to being free..

Well today I finally changed the labels on the jars in our pantry.

 

Yes, that was what it looked like before. It was embarrassing, ugly and I hated it. But it was free..

Well after a long time waiting, Rhonna Designs finally released an android app and so I had a bit of a fiddle and came up with these.

  How cute are they!?

I opened a white square background and had a look through the different label options available through Rhonna Designs App and fell in love with these. I picked a nice duck egg blue and tweaked the settings a little to get the shade exactly what I wanted. Then I emailed them to myself and opened a new word document. I selected add picture and put these in, moving them around to fit six.

Then I used dafonts to find a suitable font (or twenty, there are so many cute ones!) and added the names of what I keep im the jars. Then I sat and cut them out carefully..

 

Ta da!!

I cleaned off the old labels (please do them as you are ready, I kept having to do other things and if I had taken all the labels off I may have mixed up the cornflour and icing sugar.. Yuck!)

And carefully stuck on the new labels (you can use glue, sellotape, double sided sticky tape..)

 

Yes, those are my fluffy spotty PJ bottoms I am supposed to be on bed rest. But I got bored, so I decided to do this instead haha.

I love my new labels!

 

Such an improvement!


Rhonna Designs App is £1.22 on Android, it's also available on iPhone.
The labels took me a few minutes to make, I then emailed them to myself. I put them all on a Word document and printed.

I cut them out while watching Catfish. Then pottered around sticking them on the jars and dealing with the cats etc.And don't worry, I'm now sat back down resting. I really hate bed rest haha.

  

Winners!!

Congratulations Jon Binley, I'll get your voucher in the post as soon as I get a chance if you can send me your address please :)

Sarah Lane I'll get your bits posted soon too! I've got your other bits put to one side so they can all go in one parcel for you :)

Natalie your stuff is ready to post, just need to hunt your address out again :)

They should all be on their way Monday at the latest, all by 1st class post BUT I won't estimate when they'll arrive due to Christmas post being crazy x

December Giveaway! More Pro Plan Vouchers!

Well it's crazy in the House of Sneyd right now. I swear I don't get a minute to post! I'll be updating with pictures soon I hope!

In the mean time I've got more Pro Plan vouchers to giveaway!

So until noon friday I'm running a bit of a competition..

First, comment with your email address. Female or male and age bracket (18/19, 20-29, 30-39, 40-49, 50-59, 60+) - this info is used for research only. It's purely feedback for Pro Plan to build a picture of their target market.

Second, share this competition.
Ask them to do the same as above plus include your name so I know who referred them. They can share too.

I will use a random number generator to select two winners out of the comments - they will receive a £5 voucher each.

Then I will look at who shared and count how many times their names came up. The person who has the most people they referred enter will win - they will receive a 100g bag of Pro Plan Cat Food and a £5 voucher!

Good luck :) x