Taking a fresh look at timeshare

Mar. 06 Travel 3 comments

If you’re as old as me you’ll probably have a preconceived notion of what timeshare is all about – it’s people losing ten of thousands of pounds buying shares in Spanish resorts that end up never being built right?

Wrong.

Turns out that over the last 20 years timeshare has evolved into an altogether more viable option, not just for semi-retired 50-something couples, but also for young families. Did you know for example that you can buy a five year timeshare with Disney? Every year for five years you get to go and stay in one of their resorts, saving you money compared with paying for each holiday separately.*

Another thing that I didn’t know about timeshare is that you aren’t committed to going to the exact same place at the exact same time every single year. This sort of holidaying doesn’t appeal to me, as I like to try out new things and visit new places, but through a company called RCI you can swap your holiday for someone else’s. Essentially your holiday is worth a certain amount of credits, and you can trade these in for other holidays of a similar value. You might want to swap your week in peak season Italy for example for two weeks in low season in South Africa. It’s all very flexible and not half as daunting as the idea of having to return to the same place year on year. Read more

How much housework do you do?

Mar. 05 Parenting, Work 3 comments

How much time does housework take up in your life?

If Boyfriend had to answer for me he’d probably say ‘not much’ although I am adamant that I do more than he thinks, I just don’t like doing the jobs that get your hands wet, like cleaning toilets. I am good at general tidying though – putting things into neat piles, plumping cushions, organising folders into colour order, that sort of thing. Just don’t look at my bedroom floor.

Seriously, don’t. It’s shameful. At the moment it resembles my bedroom as a teenager, where I had so many clothes on the floor I actually once trod on a guitar without realising. (True story. When I discovered it I had to stick the back back on with duct tape.)

In fact, looking through this infographic from Co-operative Insurance I wonder whether I might be slacking in other areas too. I’m slightly doubtful that I will spend anywhere near 167 days helping my children with their homework and my food shopping tally has got to be way off, as Boyfriend doesn’t trust me to do that, complaining that I never come home with things you can actually make meals from.

I tell him that mushy peas on toast is definitely a meal, but he’s far from convinced.

How do you think this infographic compares with your lifetime of chores?  Read more

The one with the teacher and the sellotape

Mar. 05 Children 21 comments

Most of the time when I make the effort to read the news it just makes me sad. Bad stuff is happening all over the place isn’t it? It’s really bloody depressing.

Sometimes though Boyfriend will read me out a story that just makes me laugh. The story in the news today about the teacher in Williton sellotaping up the mouths of their pupils because they were being noisy is one of those things that you can’t help but think could have happened to you, if only you had made one different decision somewhere in your life and become a teacher.

I know it’s wrong, of course teachers shouldn’t be allowed to go nuts with the tape willy nilly, but it’s not like she stabbed them all with safety scissors or anything is it? Read more

Squeeze more in with Actimel – win tickets to Gary Barlow at the O2

Mar. 03 Competitions 3 comments

Do you ever feel like there just aren’t enough hours in the day? Do you wish you could squeeze more in?

I do.

I’m a total sucker for it. Take last week for instance. Thursday was a really busy day for me – I was delivering a half day Twitter workshop in Bristol in the morning, then whizzing over to London to run a social media workshop in the evening. In between I also had to squeeze in a couple of hours of other work. Of course what always happens when you have lots on? You get offered more work. And what do I always do? Say yes.

D’oh!

It seems that no matter how busy I am, I always want to lever in than little bit extra, just to tip me into the chocolate digestive zone. Read more

A short rant about car air freshners

Feb. 28 A short rant about... 6 comments

I had a long day yesterday. I delivered a Twitter workshop in Bristol in the morning and another in London in the evening. It was nearly 1am by the time I got back to the train station and found a taxi to take me home.

All I wanted at this point was to take a deep breath and relax, but of course you can’t physically do that in a taxi without throwing up your over-priced train sandwich into your own lap because of the stupid bloody ‘air fresheners’ that taxi drivers more than any other car owners insist on polluting their cabs with.

My taxi driver last night had broken away a little bit from the pack and gone with a white dove instead of a tree. In no way did instil any sense of peace or tranquillity in me. Read more

Helping relatives regain their freedom

Feb. 28 Uncategorized no comments

This post has been produced in partnership with McCarthy & Stone

When my Gran was alive and much younger, she always said that when she got to a certain age – I think it may have been about 65 – she wanted us just to shove her off a cliff. Of course 65 came around and she changed her mind. Turns out that 65 isn’t terribly old after all. In fact, once you reach that hallowed retirement age, life can be pretty sweet, once you get into the swing of it.

Actually retiring though can be a tricky process for some people. Think about it for a minute. Can you even imagine having no work to do at all ever? Personally I think I would find that a bit of a shock. Since the age of 17 I’ve had the responsibility of being a parent and work of some form or another, and suddenly one day being retired and not having to earn a living… I’m not sure I would know what to do with myself.

If a member of your family is approaching retirement age then, chances are that they could do with some support to help them with the transition and to make sure they make the most of their new found freedom. This could be as simple as encouraging them to join local clubs or societies, helping them discover what’s going on in their local area, making sure you visit on a regular basis or helping them through the process of downsizing or choosing a retirement property if that’s on the cards. Read more

Red Candy review – stainless steel soap and stick-on blackboards

Feb. 25 Reviews 2 comments

My sister Annabel is back! Following her Galt Toys review she’s now talking stainless steel soap and chalkboard walls…

It first needs to be known that I am hideously indecisive. Just leaving the house takes me longer than the average human (much to the exasperation of friends and family) as I dither. About. Everything. Size of decision is not an issue, should we move house/have more children or do I eat cereal/yoghurt/both for breakfast. It does not matter, I agonise for longer than is healthy about what is the best option.

This indecision has not been useful during the recent renovation of our house. As diligent readers of Joey’s will be aware, I now live in my grandparents former home and our major structural changes to the kitchen brought her to tears. So, she very kindly passed me some items for said kitchen from Red Candy. Read more

Are you overpaying on your bills?

Feb. 20 Money 10 comments

I was having a disagreement with Boyfriend the other day.

It all started because I have been taking part this month in the Great British Budget challenge and have been using the new Money Hub app from Your Wealth to get my finances in order. If you are the sort of person that likes lists and charts then you’ll love Money Hub. You can test out all sorts of different scenarios to see the impact of certain financial decisions on your future wealth, as well as budgeting for the day to day stuff.

For example, based on my current earnings and level of spending it is projecting my net worth at retirement to be -£173,962.

*whistles casually* Read more

Smiggle stationery – where a smile meets a giggle

Feb. 18 Children, Reviews 8 comments

Smiggle stationery new shopThey say that if you want to discover your true vocation in life, you should think back to the things you enjoyed doing when you were ten years old. Think about it now – how did you like to spend your Sunday afternoons?

Of course this won’t really work for our children, as they will all have just been playing ‘design your own cake’ games on phones, but if I think about my ten year old self I reckon she’d have been pretty happy with a job in the new Smiggle stationery store, opening in Stratford this week. Stationery was definitely my thing. (Developing when I was about 12 into a game called ‘estate agents’ where my sister and I would design our own property details and take pretend bookings for viewings. Let’s not think about that though.) Read more

Go pro and make money from your WordPress blog

Feb. 17 Blogging no comments

I get quite a lot of people on Twitter and via email asking for tips to help make their blog look professional and start making them money. Normally this is a Twitter DM that reads something like this:

‘Great to connect! I’ve started blogging but not sure where to start – any tips?’

Hmmm, let’s see, I have 140 characters, what exactly are people expecting here?!

Because clearly 140 characters is not enough to share all my massive blogging knowledge and experience, I’ve put together an online course that I’m offering through my media training company, Inside Scoop. It’s about 80,000 characters long, which is definitely more than you can fit in a tweet.

If you know of anyone who might enjoy this course then please do share this information with them. Cheers!

Go pro and make money from your WordPress blog