Thrifty Thursday: Free Ways To Guarantee A Good Night's Sleep

We all know sleep is important: Most of us wish we had time for a lot more of it! Yet ever since the rise of social media and since our lives are becoming busier and busier, a fair few of us struggle to get the recommended 8 hours every night! Just a few small, FREE changes can aid the sleep quality in your life. Can you do it?!

1) De-clutter your room, de-clutter your mind
It may seem simple but those with a tidier room have a clearer mind which means they're able to switch off quicker at night! Instead of stressing out trying to find my cleanser and then scrabbling around looking for a clean pair of fluffy socks, I'm in bed unwinding already!

2) Lose yourself in a good book
Removing yourself from all the thoughts of your reality, pick up your book and get lost for at least 30 minutes before you try to sleep. The main cause of sleep deprivation is the inability to close off from to-do lists, daily stresses and every day strains. I'm reading Croissants and Jam by Lynda Renham and it's the perfect brief escape to help me dose off!

3) Drink a milky drink before bed
Milk contains melatonin which is the helpful stuff apparently! Not only is it proven to prevent bone decay, balance the chemicals, postpone ageing and aid the prevention of cancer, it has also been used as a Pre-bedtime drink since way back in the day! Mother has a milky coffee before bed every single night, my grandad has hot cocoa and my nan usually has tea! My tipple of choice is an Options Hot Chocolate in either Vanilla, Banana or Coconut flavour!

4) Take work outside
Your room is supposed to be your escape, the one place you can go for ultimate privacy and down time. If you've spent all day in there working on that presentation, article, spreadsheet or whatever it is that you're doing, when it comes to shutting off and going to bed, you're not leaving it behind anywhere! It's like trying to kip in the office.

5) Ban social media from the bedroom!
I could be feeling the sleepiest I've ever felt, then I quickly log onto Twitter to 'check' my feed. Instantly I'm involved in a string of retweets, a live web chat, multiple trending posts... I just can't help myself. Before I know it it's an hour later and I'm getting 7 hours instead of 8 hours sleep! No more 'checking' the feeds before bed!




Photo Sources:
http://reddphoenix78.deviantart.com/art/Tidy-Room-Tidy-Mind-314465070

http://www.sainsburysentertainment.co.uk/en/Books/Paperback/Lynda-Renham/Croissants-and-Jam-A-Romantic-Comedy/product.html?product=E11148522

http://mind-power-book.com/blog/Hot-Chocolate-Bed-Time-Drink-or-Disturbed-Sleep

http://www.fitnessmagazine.com/health/body/healthy-toolkit/cell-phone-health-risks/?page=4

Thrifty Thursday...On A Friday?!

Current Location: At home on the sofa..
With: Boyf, brother & pooch..
Why: We are all SKINT

Sound familiar?! Well it's not as bad as it seems. A Friday night in can actually be fun, cheap and chilled all at once if done properly! Here's my top 5 thrifty night-in guide...!

1)
Firstly, we need to establish the dinner situation: take-away, ready meal, something much more affordable and delicious?? Yeah, us too!

Tesco, Sainsbury's, Asda & Waitrose are all doing 'eat in' deals that are all cooked and served within half an hour! Our choice today were the Beef Steaks in the Peppercorn Sauce - 4 for £7 in Tesco! Also reduced in Sainsbury's were some mouth-watering cream filled eclairs...
If you head to the supermarkets sometime around 7/8pm A LOT of fresh cakes, dairy and baked products are reduced so much you can feast like a bunch of starving piglets all night for less than £3 each! Mmmmm...

2)
Then comes a long evening of entertainment to arrange! ITV's new comedy offering 'The Security Men' provided some light-hearted giggles at 9pm and before that a mighty Dog The Bounty Hunter marathon was enjoyed: Our collective TV guilty pleasure! Friday nights aren't renowned for their fab TV options but they are excellent for an injection of horror with something like Ghost Hunters on Sky Livit or celeb chat shows on C4!

3)
Following some light procrastination via Twitter, Facebook & YouTube I imagine we will indulge in copious amounts of tea, munchies and probably more telly. If not, bring out the big guns and get competitive! I'm not saying it won't end up in tears but drag out that old school racing game from back in the day - we recently downloaded Crash Bandicoot Racing for a couple of quid! I've heard Black Ops is a fun multi-player choice too...I'm usually lost by then and am usually found either blogging, Tweeting or jammin' on SoundCloud!

4)
Other amazingly obvious night in pleasure is usually enjoyed with girlfriends: Renting/buying stupid films and DVDs plucked straight from the bargain bins in HMV, Asda & Play.com ... Things such as High School Musical, Zoey 101 & Legally Blonde! Having a ridiculous dance/shuffle around whilst stuffing digestives in your happy mouths! (Anyone else secretly begging this to happen very soon??)

5)
Many a night in has been spent playing Monopoly or Game of Life...as sad as it sounds I miss the occasional board game! One of my favourites was played two Christmases ago when my cousin got it as a gift: Sequence! Never under-estimate the fun factor of board games! Really!! If board games aren't your bag, spark up cheeky card games...instead of paying for money try swapping the chips for biscuits..or cupcakes..or any food fancies that tickle your pickle!


So far I've not spent more than £15 in any situation...AND I'm in a tracksuit, snuggled under my duvet listening to the April Showers outside! I may gain a major food belly but I'm chilled out, happy and money-saving all at once!!

So, if you're going out tonight, enjoy! Live like it's your last...although remember: It's not what you do or where you go, it's WHO you do it with!

Pass the doughnuts will you...




Photo Sources:

http://www.tesco.com/groceries/Product/Details/?id=268216876

http://www.mysupermarket.co.uk/grocery-categories/Eclairs_And_Doughnuts_in_Sainsburys.html

http://spoilerbuzz.com/category/dog-the-bounty-hunter/

mostlyghosts.com

http://brilliant-fullsoftwares.blogspot.co.uk/2012/03/crash-team-racing-full-game-for-pc.html

http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/jamie%20lynn%20spears?before=61

http://www.purplepawn.com/2009/07/sequence-and-variants/

http://www.sheknows.co.uk/home-and-living/articles/950201/5-best-movies-for-a-girls-night-in

Thrifty Thursday - Take A Bake...

What a day! It was my brother's 16th birthday today so I decided that I'd take a break from this week's Fashion Week frenzy and bake the best birthday cake for my bro!

A pre-made birthday cake in the supermarkets (double chocolate with icing and multiple layers) cost £10 and up...minimum!

The ingredients for this little beauty cost just under a fiver (bearing in mind I had most of the stuff in my cupboards somewhere anyway!) even though I used Organic Green & Black's chocolate! Twit twooo! Get me with my posh choc...

So whilst my brother slogged it out at school I was a slave to the kitchen whisking away to the soundtrack of J.Lo's Greatest Hits and, all in all, my sunny afternoon baking was a cheap and pleasurable way to spend my afternoon off! I didn' think about shopping once for a good 3 hours! Barclays will be pleased...

To bake your own delicious choccy cake I recommend the BBC Good Food Recipes! They are in such simple steps and I've never had a messy result since I started using them - which was after a very bad experience with a pasta recipe from Food & Travel!

What do you reckon? Think I went a little over the top with the Green & Blacks and pink decorations????

 

As always feel free to Tweet me @sheldan2207 or comment below

 

xx