The Glam Show Live – ticket giveaway!

Bethanie Lunn – our very own Queen of Fabulousness – will be appearing at The Glam Show Live later this month, where she will be divulging more of her insider secrets and further advice on her four fabulous commandments!

The girls at Glam Show Live have kindly offered Bookshelf Boyfriend readers a £5 discount on the Silver Day Ticket* – simply enter the code BETHL0709 in the promotional box on the ticket form.

*discount code valid until 15th October 2009

The ultimate day out for women is coming to Earls Court London Saturday 31st October – Sunday 1st November – The Glam Show in association with TV’s lifestyle expert Nicky Hambleton-Jones.

Showcasing the latest in women’s fashion, lifestyle, health and beauty the event will combine fantastic shopping opportunities together with fabulous fashion shows and the latest in products and services.

The two-day exhibition will host fashion shows throughout each day, featuring the most up-front fashion trends for autumn/winter, alongside vintage style presentations and expert demonstrations in all aspects of beauty, health and lifestyle.

**WIN WIN WIN** A VIP GOLD DAY TICKET TO THE GLAM SHOW LIVE!!!

To help kick off the fun, the Glam Show has also donated six Glam Gold VIP tickets which include entry to all eight feature zones, access to the VIP lounge, a Glam luxury goody bag and a Glam event guide.

To be in with a chance of winning one, fill in the subscription form on Bethanie’s website being sure to state your full name, postal address, email address and which day you would prefer (Saturday or Sunday) – and winners will be picked out of a very stylish hat!

Read Bethanie’s article How to Be Fabulous: My Four Fabulous Commandments on BookshelfBoyfriend.com

A Girl’s Guide to Decorating – book review

 

This week we are LOVING A Girl’s Guide to Decorating by London-based interior designer Abigail Ahern! When it arrived on the doorstep of Bookshelf Boyfriend Towers there was a flurry of excitement as we all got to read through what has to be one of the most gorgeous DIY books published.

Filled with inspirational pictures that burst with colour on every page, it is impossible to browse this book without spending far longer than intended and wishing for more rooms in your home so that you can try out the various style and decorating tips.

From making tiny rooms feel more spacious, to tips on dividing up space in larger rooms, Abigail demonstrates how this can be done super-easily, cost effectively and, most importantly, stylishly. The presiding message of the book is that the best way to achieve this is by injecting your own personality through your home. It is a refreshing move from the bland “blank canvas” that has been so encouraged during the housing boom- when was a house was more a commodity than a home.

Abigail includes simple suggestions for how to approach each room and she fully explains all major decorating techniques with step-by-step instructions – from hanging wallpaper, to creating shelving and achieving different lighting effects. Chapters are based around fundamental elements of home design: space; colour; light; texture and the individual touches that make it your own.

Go on – glamorise your home and make it a hot property as well as a cool place to live!

 

Read extracted guides from the book on Bookshelf Boyfriend.com: How to sand and paint floors, and, How to box out shelves.

Buy A Girl’s Guide to Decorating on Amazon.

Make your own paper logs for burning

This is just a quick Thrift Bitch to tell you about something I have just discovered. 

Those of you lucky enough to have a working real flame fireplace will most likely have lit your last fire until the end of the summer (fingers crossed) but that is no need to not look forward to next winter. This contraption will also be of use to those who have a wood-burning stove.

The recycled paper brick maker is to me a wonderful contraption. Basically all you need to do is soak your old newspapers, place them in the brick making mould and then squeeze it to get rid of excess water. Then leave the new recycled paper brick to dry.

When completely dry it can be used in replacement of logs/coal, making it thrifty as all hell- pretty much free after you have bought the brick maker. On top of that it’s more environmentally friendly as you are not using carbon energy fuels and you are recycling something that would otherwise have gone to waste! Perfect.

Bricks burn for up to two hours. Prices vary from around £15- £30.

Check out Amazon for the eko-mania Heavy Duty Paper Log Maker, or B&Q for the Winther Brown Paper Log Maker.

See more tips and how-tos by our Nifty Thrifty .

A thrifty May Day feast for your friends

At long last a warm sunny bank holiday is in our sights. We can start looking forward to BBQs and sunbathing and alfresco prosecco.

Winter is well and truly over and the birth of the summer has been traditionally celebrated in the UK for eons. One of the best ways to celebrate is to eat! What better way to welcome the sun and earth back into awakening (other than dancing round a big phallus with pretty ribbons) than by stuffing your face? There is no better way- it’s the best way to celebrate anything… well that’s certainly our view here at BB Towers.

So for your May Day treat we have come up with a spread of wonder! Whether you’re dining with friends and family or are hoping for something more intimate, we have a meal plan- which will cost you a mere £17 and will provide seven dishes to last you through the weekend – and if you’re really thrifty and have a freezer, well into next week.

One of the best ways to be economical with food is to make as many dishes out of the same ingredients as you possibly can. That means you don’t keep going back to the supermarket and spending your hard earned cash and means less food waste- which is better for us and (you don’t need me to tell you this…) the environment.

These dishes are designed to invoke the lightness and freshness of early summer. Meat lovers beware, these are meat free dishes, not because we are meat Nazi’s but because meat can add a great deal of expense to the average meal… but if you have some needing to be used, feel free to add meat to certain dishes. 

What you will need to get with your £17

(Prices based on high street supermarkets)

• 1 bag of fresh spinach – £1.30
• 1kg- plain flour – 50p
• 4 bulbs of garlic – £1.70
• 3kg potatoes – £2.00
• 1kg onions – £1.00
• 12 free range eggs – £2.50
• 1 block Greek feta cheese – £1.50
• 600g (2 punnets) baby tomatoes – £2
• 700g bag of value mixed peppers (about seven small peppers) – £1.50
• 1kg frozen sweetcorn – £1
• 1 small tub of cream – 60p
• 250g butter – £1

What we hope you will already have in your kitchen stores

• pasta
• olive oil
• chilli powder
• stock cubes (chicken or veg)
• nutmeg
• seasoning

What you will magic these into

Sweetcorn chowder

Potato soup (add chicken, ham, bacon, fish even)

Mash potato with garlic and spinach

Spinach and feta salad

Spinach quiche (add bacon for meat treat)

Spanish omlette with peppers (add Spanish ham for meat treat)

Roast tomato and pepper salad

You can either serve this as three meals for 2 – 4 to last you the weekend or as one big buffet, or even two moderate buffets.

The beauty of these is that if you are cooking for a hoard you can prepare the soups and the quiche the day before. And the Spanish omelette can be served hot or cold. If you are cooking for a small group you can mix and match the dishes to suit the mood! None of the dishes take very long to prepare… what will take the longest is the quiche but don’t be put off as the majority of the time is waiting for it to cook in the oven.

Read Dawn’s scrummy recipes here on the Boookshelf Boyfriend website.

A money-saving feast for friends

[ Dawn Frances - Nifty thrifty - Thrift Bitch blog ]

Single workers hit by financial crisis

As news reports yesterday stated, inflation has reached an 11 year high.  

This is further bad news for the “invisible poor” who were identified by a National Consumer Council report as being primarily young single workers living on their own with no dependent children.  These are people working long hours on a low income, who pay their bills, their tax and their contributions, but are struggling to pay for more than basic essentials.

The report says they are being “neglected” by government whose policies (rightly) help families, children and pensioners, but ignore the low-waged singles. Similarly, many businesses, from phone companies to insurers to utility companies, overlook singles. Yet this group makes up one sixth of the UK’s workforce, and could be you or someone you know.

The Bad News:

The Joseph Rowntree Foundation reports that a single person needs to earn at least £13,400 a year in order to achieve an acceptable standard of living, which is half the amount needed by a family of four.  The problem for poorer workers is that the proportion of income spent on essentials is now growing at a faster rate than their wages.  This has not been helped by the rising cost of food, petrol and household energy bills, which have nearly doubled over the last four years.  

The removal by the government of the 10p tax band means that, despite the compensation announcement at the last mini-budget, 500,000 single childless adults under 25, another 115,000 childless single people aged 25 to 55 and 140,000 childless couples aged 25 to 55 will lose an average of £83 a year.  

On top of all this, many single people who bought a house a few years ago, are now finding their fixed-term fixed-rate mortgages coming to an end – typically pushing up the payment by over £100 per month on a £100,000 mortgage. Those faced with negative equity can’t re-mortgage to find a better deal and are now stuck paying even higher rates of interest.  These mortgage rate rises are also seeing to the rise in private rents.

The Better News:

If you are struggling financially there are a few things you can do to help your situation. 

• Read the Bookshelf Boyfriend guide to budgeting and planning your finances, and check out the rest of our finance section.
• See if you are entitled to any benefits such as Working Tax Credit, which many people fail to claim.
• Shop around and switch your gas and energy supplier regularly.
• Install a water meter if you are in England and Wales. If for practical reasons your water company refuses this, ask them to offer you an “assessed charge” based on an estimate of your use as a single householder or on what other metered customers in your area pay. 
• If you are getting motor insurance, again, shop around, and include another person (such as a friend or relative) on your policy, which can help to reduce the cost by up to £200.
• If you think you are going to struggle with your mortgage payments soon, it may be worth considering renting out a spare room or all of your property and becoming a landlord.  In which case you will also need to consider the pros and cons of renting, if you don’t have family to stay with.  
• If your money is out of control and keeping you awake at night read our article on borrowing and debt, which has lots of handy information and links for further help.

Quaker Social Action is a London based organisation, but has a very good selection of links to places for further help.

[ASM]

Hit the Sales – go on, its good for you!

It’s that time of year again – post-party and overindulgence has left you feeling bloated – but don’t suffer with the January blues. Treat yourself at the New Year sales and don’t feel so guilty about buying yourself something special.

With up to 60% in stores such as Gap, Debenhams, John Lewis etc, there’s no reason not to bag yourself a bargain. Pace yourself however, to prevent the all-too-likely hangover the morning after a shopping binge. Here are some handy hints to make sure you get the best experience possible:

Stick to classics
A good cashmere jumper, for example, can be bought at Uniqlo for the bargain price of £29.99 (RRP £49.99).

Lilywhites are selling Asics trainers for only £50 – well worth investing in if you enjoy outdoor pursuits.

Thomas Pink have reduced their White Collection ‘Ly’ Women’s Shirt – Button Cuff from £99.00 to £39.00.

Even Harrods are promising 30% off a Luella Bartley handbag and as every woman knows it’s the bag that adds a certain ‘je ne sais quoi’ to an outfit.

Make sure the shoe fits
There’s no point blowing cash on size four Manolos if you’re two sizes bigger. They may well be only £100 but will probably spend their lifetime making a show for themselves in your shoe cupboard.

Check out online deals
If the idea of trawling the high street fills you with fear, shop from the comfort of your very own sofa – online. All the major department stores are online and you can even pick up items that have already sold out in the shops.

Amazon are selling DVDs with up to 75% off. Now if that’s not giving it away then what is!

Grab the ultimate pop princess’ Showgirls tour for only £12.99 at play.com

Don’t forget the boring stuff
Yes, electricals etc.. may seem dull compared to a pair of Gucci Sunglasses but with Currys, Argos and most of their competitors slashing prices, it could be well worth making that investment in the half-price washing machine.

And so to bed
Sales are also a great time to stock up on some quality linen and bedroom accessories. Newbie to the high street, Zara home, have some fantastic 100% cotton Satin bed linen which will transform your bedroom into a boudoir.

Look no further than House of Fraser for a set of two duck feather and down pillows for £24 reduced from £30.

And to really spoil yourself, Habitat are selling a silk bedspread for £97.50 – that’s half of the original price.

So there are really no excuses. If you’re shopping savvy, set out your budget and stick to the rules then you’ll save in this New Year’s Sales.

[This was originally posted on BookshelfBoyfriend.com by Rebecca Bryant.]

[ASM]

A warming winter welcome!