12 saturdays left !

Why is Christmas Advertised so Early?    

 

In the next week or two we will begin to see Christmas advertisements in supermarkets, on the internet and all over TV breaks, even though is four months away. Is there a reason other than trying to make as much money as possible, and if so, why does it have to be so early?  Here’s a look at some of the possible reasons for September Christmas advert.

As an example of just how early brands are doing it, Selfridges set up the Christmas section of their flagship London store a whopping 141 days before Christmas, meaning you can now get anything you need and even some things you don’t. One of those things includes a £1600, 6ft polar bear to bring a little extravagance to your living room.

 

Making loads of money?

The automatic assumption when we’re trying to figure out why Christmas averts appear so early is that companies do it to make more money. The trouble with this theory is that Christmas is going to happen every year, regardless of whether brands advertise now or in November, so it seems unlikely that it could make that much of a difference.

 

Giving people a chance to save

If you’re luckily enough to not have to worry about how much you spend on Christmas gifts then you might not realise how tough it is for people on lower wages to deal with the big expense of the Christmas break, but that doesn’t mean that they don’t want to celebrate Christmas like everyone else. Having a big period of advertising gives people plenty of notice on what’s available and how much it will cost, so people can use the extra time to save up if they really want something.

 

Time to shop

People who work 40+ hours a week could face time constraints when it comes to going out/shopping around online for presents. Advertising Christmas gifts simply gives people more potential time windows to go and buy presents. If no one advertised till December, there could be a lot of empty spaces under the tree.

 

Personalised Gifts take longer

There has been a huge rise in personalised gifts available over Christmas from sites like www.gettingpersonal.co.uk and they obviously can’t be taken off the shelf with your desired custom elements. Ordering personalised presents will take longer to arrive at your door than usual, so a longer ad period makes this better.

 

New house dreams ....

What a few weeks its been the house move has come to a stand still.
We have gone back and forth to the solicitors and well I'm at my whits end. The best thing is there is no chain at either end. So I don't know what's going on :( Its been 8 weeks on Monday since the accepted our offer and the house was taken off the market.
Have they changed their mind and don't want to sell ?


No packing has been done and I've no intention until we have a date. I do think we will be getting someone into pack for us though as I don't think I'm up to moving boxes around.

So our dream house is just out of reach, but I cant wait to start the next chapter in our lives in a new area . Closer to friends and family.

I can't wait to get G into a playgroup and then pre school and then school ( which is a 2 minuet walk away.

But for now we are waiting....... 

spare 20K - yes please

if I had a spare 20k yes a whole £20,000 I would like to give at least half to charity, but I know H would completely freak out cus he would want to spend it on a car. His dream car is a Nissan z370 something to do with skylines ??? think fast and furious think rubbish jap cars -only kidding and please don't be offended my comment its a personal joke between me and H.
 So I guess as we are moving house and he's paying .  the car he wants is worth 20k at the moment so I would let him have half so i'm down to 10k :(




We are moving house in 6 weeks (ish ) and we need a whole lot o new furniture. As I've said in a previous post all of our current furniture is kaput /old and tired

So new bed £1000 I would have a king size, don't get me wrong I love snuggerling up to H but we are both tall people and the bit extra space would be amazing.
new wardrobes £700 ikea -
bedside tables £200 ikea

Sofa - we would need a 2+3 so we can have guests and seat them. plus a sofa bed for the second lounge- so that's about £3000.

some funky bar stools for our kitchen £150

A new TV panansonic is the best make in my eyes ! £679



Then comes the holiday of a lifetime - which I'm hoping will cost about £4000 .I would love love love to go and do route 66 in the USA - driving through new mexico around this time of year so I could once again see the shooting stars that show this time of year. In new mexico the air is so crisp and so clear its perfect for star spotting and I have found memories of lying on the grass at ville phimote - a scout ranch in amaerica and watching the amazing site that it is. There is no light pollution at all just an amazing site

.

But this is dream money and I know in my heart I will never get to see the stars so clearly :( As for the furniture in our new home it will be a long time and a lot of saving before we can afford it.

This post is an entry for BritMums #Spend20K Challenge sponsored by The National Lottery, with more time to win more money on the new Lotto game. Find out more about new Lotto, which starts in October.

please click on the lottery badge to connect to britmums where youcan take part :)

#housemove13

So our house move is moving forward and we should hopefully be in our dream home in 6 weeks time :)

6 WEEKS OMG how on earth am I meant pack in 6 weeks we have, over the years collected so much stuff. our garage is bursting and our loft is half full. On top of that I have demanding toddler who is wanting lots of attention.

Our little G still isn't talking - well a few words , so how do we explain the new move. We don't know how much he is aware of what's going on.

We are so looking forward to our new start as this will be our first together home, as I moved in to H's place. I'm looking forward to putting my stamp on the place and getting some new furniture and crockery - is it bad that I want everything new? When we moved in together I was a (mature) student and H was a true bachelor. Most of our furniture was second hand and almost everything else was brought in from my uni flat.

I cant wait to start our new life with a whole lot of new furniture , but that will have to wait just a little it longer until we have saved just a little bit more :) as we are sensible people and don't believe in debt so no interest free finance for us. We prefer to save up the old fashioned way. I think its much better doing things this way , as I couldn't sit on a sofa or lie in a bed that didn't belong to me - us.


  

all grown up !

wow we have our dream house :)

Yesterday was so daunting as I signed for my first ever mortgage :) , and now I feel  like a proper grown up

Even though I'm married and have a child - its strange the things that make you feel old - I never thought I would have any of that but a mortgage wow.

I really cant wait to move in to our new house and make it into a home. We don't have a huge budget but we are going to have all new furniture, as the furniture we currently have is well a bit dilapidated and in need to go to furniture heaven.

I'm still over the moon at our news and really hope it all goes to plan.

  

Plum Sandpit Review

As I said in my previous post about out day out at PLUM PRODUCTS we were given a sandpit to review which was a lovely surprise.

A few weeks ago H got round to putting it up and G LOVES IT.

As you can see it comes in a tiny box with a set of clear instructions and a full set of screws.( we even had two spare) bit worrying but ho hum .

All that was needed was a screwdriver and sand :)

The wood panels come numbered so they are easy to put together.

 

                        From start to finish it took about 45 mins to put together and put the sand in.

 

 
 
 

Where the coloured stripes of wood are there is a hidden storage area for all the buckets spades and everything else. plum really have thought of everything - it even comes with a cover to keep the rain off and the cats out but we found it pools with water when it rains and I'm then having to spend ten minuets emptying water out , but that's part of the fun which G enjoys :)

below are some photos of G in the plum products sandpit

 

 

 

G wasn't to keen at first but now he loves it and we struggle getting him out of it lol

its so nice to see G enjoying sensory play, but he's still not keen on getting his hands dirty 

 

 

The RRP on this product is £59.99 and its well worth the money, G has had hours of fun out of it and it will be coming to our new home with us :)

 

 

 

 

I was given this product to review but all views words and photos are my own.  

A letter to my 10 year old self

This post was inspired by Andy Murrys letter to his 12 year old self.

Dear Emma,

You may not realise this now on your 10th birthday what your about to go through , but you are a lot stronger than you think and YOU can get through anything.

Next month you will have  a stroke during your second heart operation. Don't be scared because you will come through the other side. You don't even know what a stoke is yet.

You will be bullied because you walk funny, because your speech will sound slurry and because your mum is soooooo embarrassing , but this as you will learn is only cus she cares so much for you.

 Your mum will become your best friend and you will only discover this when you are really really old like 25 he he.

All of your friends you have now will disappear even the ones you knew since you were 5. Its NOT YOUR FAULT.

I'm hear to tell you that it will all be ok ,

1 despite kissing lots of frogs (boys ) you will one day get married and have a beautiful baby. All of the people you know will get married before you and you will feel lonely and unloved but just wait ......

2 bullies bully because they are envious of you and your family and your life - don't forget this but don't ever say it to their face as the saying goes the truth hurts . You will encounter bullies everywhere you go . primary school , high school , college , uni ( yes I sad university you will go one day.) and even work but like I sad they are just envious .

3 YOU are very clever you have an IQ of 136 so don't ever let anyone call you stupid - just because you have dyslexia dose not mean you are stupid ( even albert Einstein had dyslexia ) and months  of missed school wont help. Enjoy your education you are very privileged to have it.


4 Be strong - and think positive - you will have to go through so much in the next 16 years. sometimes you will wonder if its really worth all the pain and you will hit some lows but it will all work out in the end.

5 Your mum and dad love you so much and this you will only discover how much when you become a mum yourself - don't ever tell them you hate them - you don't mean it.


6 - SMILE - I know you hate your goofy smile but one day you will get braces and you will have a beautiful smile . Smiling will get you everywhere in life.

That it for now as I know you will now be bored of my ramblings ,so I will leave you to enjoy our childhood (what's left of it ) x