We are a little bit past it but now that the weather is starting to improve and it actually ‘feels’ a little like spring. In our house, at least, there is often a shift towards spring cleaning. Often this is bought on by a particularly nasty falling out with an over-filled cupboard or an hour long hunt for something that is lost in amongst a pile of random toys and books that are no longer even looked at.

Sorting stuff out is a boring task it is true but in my house, where there is not much available space it has to be done regularly. Otherwise we would disappear under a tide of clothes. Never to be seen again.

What do you do when you tidy out and sort out?

A few years ago I had the bright idea of doing a car boot sale. I priced everything up, thought i had some really good bits and booked a stall at a local boot fair. It was an early start and we had to set up and then bring the kids back as it was just too much having them there as well. We borrowed a table and some cloth (to make it pretty) and then set about our display, hanging clothes in the car and trying to give everything a fair chance.

It was a 10am-2pm type boot fair but little did we know that if you didnt rock up at least 3 hours before the start your place was going to be at the back, out of the foot fall, fighting away discarded hot dog wrappers! It was a lesson learnt but to be honest!

Right there and then we both decided that, that would be the end of our boot fair days, at least on the selling side. We don’t need that level of work and there was a lot to it for not much gain.  Plus the childcare was juggled between us and the kids got pretty bored. Never mind the fact that they trawled round the other stalls getting other junk so that it just replaced the stuff we were actually selling, which entirely defeats the object anyway!

But it is nice to recycle and make a little bit of cash from your goods that you no longer use, especially if they are things like that juicer you got given for your wedding that has never come out of the box!!!! We have done it quite a bit in our time and i think it is a really effective way of getting a bit of cash without having to endure a 6am start for a boot fair and coming home realising you may have got rid of your maternity wear but you are, in fact, coming home with 6 peppa pig books, a trike and a baby outfit!!

Thats why i was quite interested when i was sent a link for this company Musicmagpie that actually give you a valuation online of your stuff. particularly technical goods, clothing or CDs. Which in itself is a great deal, who hasnt got millions of CD’s kicking around in the loft now as we all go onto mp3. Once you have you valuation, you dont have to pay delivery costs and then the money is paid direct into your account. Seems like a great idea to me. Those extra delivery costs and queueing for half an hour with wriggly toddlers in a post office is always the hardest bit of selling online. So its a great idea to eliminate that part. Do go and check them out.

 This is a sponsored post. We are however, failed car booters

Maybe….

hopefully…

could be…

Come on summer!!

Anyway I have a large number of ladies in my house and so kids clothes are increasingly important in our house. My little girls get the good old hand me downs. But this year it is time for a little bit of supplementing the older girls wardrobe. It would seem that they have been standing firmly in the grow bags and lately we have seen the trousers get shorter and little cries of ‘this doesn’t fit me anymore’ coming from the bedroom.

They are getting to the age now when what they wear is really starting to matter. They have ideas about what looks good on them and I try to stay very ‘on the middle ground’ and not make judgements about what they like. Recently the older girls are very into One direction and so i purchased a single from itunes onto my phone so that they could occasionally listen to it. I get a bit of a shock when that rotates onto ‘you don’t know your beautiful’ when im out on a run!! Not exactly my taste it has to be said but then I remember liking the boy bands that were around when i was young so i figure they have the right to think those boys in the band are the next best thing.

I guess i would describe my girls style as “comfy girlie. ‘ They love the dresses and cute little shoes but they are very active so often a dress gets teamed with some leggings and trainers or wellies! so that they can get on with the important business of playing. I like that.

So with all that in mind, i gave the girls a challenge to put some clothes together. They didnt entirely get the idea of an outfit but they seemed to love the idea of flicking through the huge amount of summer clothes available. We were checking out the company KandCo, which not only sells a HUGE range of kids clothes but also has nursery ranges, home and garden and some fabulous offers for the bank holiday.

Here is what they came up with:

this is a featured post! But i do have a lot of ladies who very much enjoyed an on line shopping session!

Recently i had to order to some new shoes for work and as I work in an intensive care area the shoes i am wearing in work should not be worn anywhere else for infection control issues so they needed to be comfortable, fit in with the hospital policy and also not be too hard on the old pocket. The shoes i was after were more available online and so i was stuck with the dilemma of how to work out my shoe size. But using the magic of google I was able to work out how to measure my own foot! It was an interesting little exercise to do on your own, but it can be done, even though my kids did have a good giggle at me trying to stand up whilst drawing round my foot with a pencil!

At the time I was after a particular shoe but online but then i started doing some shopping and came across some other shoes that I will be adding to my wish list. A girl can never have too many shoes! Check out some of my favourites!

But in the meantime, if you are wanting to work out your correct size. Try using this method below. You just might need someone to lean on though!!

You can measure your own feet by following these simple instructions,

1. Find an A4 blank sheet of paper and a hard flat surface.

2. Place your foot on the paper, including the socks you are wearing.

3. Get a pen and hold it vertically and not at an angle.

4. Then you need to place a mark at the end of your big toe and heel.

5. Then you can also leave marks at the widest part of your feet, if your concerned with exact width measurement.

6. Get a ruler and extend the marks for the big toe and heel.

UK Size Chart Mens in Centimeters (heel to toe)

4 ————– 22.4
5 ————– 23.3
6 ————– 24
7 ————– 25
8 ————– 25.8
9 ————– 26.5
10 ————– 27.5
11 ————– 28.4
12 ————– 29.2
13 ————– 30.1

UK Women’s Shoe Size Inches (heel to toe)

3 ————– 8.69 inches
3.5 ———– 8.8
4 —————- 9
4.5 ————– 9.1
5 ————– 9.3
5.5 ————– 9.5
6 ————– 9.6
6.5 ————– 9.8
7 ————– 10
7.5 ————– 10.1
8 ————– 10.3
8.5 ————– 10.5

this is a sponsored post