Get active the easy way

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No time to get to the gym?

End up doing the washing rather than playing tennis?

Got a to do list that takes you away from your Pilates class week after week?

We get it, life is busy but if you want to avoid bad moods, stress and burnout, you need to make time for you and your health.

Exercise is a key part to keeping a level head so we have had a look at how you can fit it into your everyday schedule.

We aren’t saying do ALL of these, but simply pick one or two and you will soon find you are feeling stronger and healthier and will have more energy than ever.

Exercise before breakfast
If you get up just twenty minutes earlier than usual, you will have time to have a drink of water, do a 10-minute intense workout and shower before anyone else has even hit the snooze button. Simply find an online workout or app that incorporates interval training, circuits or a weights session, and if there is a community you can be part of too, even better.

Walk to work
Any extra walking during the day will contribute to your daily step count. Walking burns calories, boosts your cardiovascular fitness, and helps to tone your legs too, so even if you park a mile away from work or get off the tube a couple of stops early, it all adds up and you will see a difference.

Get away from your desk
Meetings and extra projects can hamper your best efforts to exercise more but we all need a lunch break so use yours wisely. Whether you go for a run in the park, a swim in the local pool or a bike ride make sure you move away from your desk and take time out for you.

Get on your feet at work
If you use every opportunity you can to be more active during your day, you will be surprised at how much better you will feel. Stand rather than sit, go and talk to someone rather than sending an email, go up the stairs rather than taking the lift, take letters to the post box rather than using the internal mail, basically do anything you can to get your body moving.

Go home via the gym
Once you get home and change out of your day clothes, going out again might seem a chore. Take the temptation to veg out on the sofa away, and hit the gym, pool or a yoga class on your way home and you will feel so much better for doing so.

Shop until you drop
Yes, you heard us, go shopping! Even if you don’t buy anything, a walk around town (minus visiting the burger bar) can be a good workout and it could tempt you to buy some new fitness kit and do even more exercise.

Mow the grass
You can either see mowing the grass as another job on your list or as a quick workout that will help trim and tone your legs! Put on your music, get a good rhythm going and you will soon be in the swing of things.

Walk after dinner
Rather than slumping front of the TV or checking your emails, go for a walk after dinner. You can use this time to chat with the kids or your partner, or if you are walking solo, simply gather your thoughts and breath as you let go of the stress of the day. Stretch the walk by one minute every evening and you will soon be going places.

Got a tip for easy ways to exercise, let us know, we would love to hear it.

Team Pure-Beauty

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How to shop in the sales

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Before we have even put our Christmas presents away, the shops have got their sale signs up and once again our credit cards come out and take a battering.

Yes, 40% off might seem like a bargain but it is a good idea to stop and think about what you are going to buy otherwise it could just be a huge waste of time and money.

If you approach sale shopping the smart way, you’ll get the most out of your cash, walk away with great purchases and avoid feelings of regret and shame.

Preparation
Sale shopping starts with preparation so look at what you already have so don’t simply buy another version of it. If you have five black dresses, will a sixth really change your life and while those boots might be 80% off, if you have two pairs the same already you aren’t making a saving at all.

Make a List
Just as you do for your weekly groceries, make a list before you head to the mall and this will help keep you focused. Sales are a great time to replace staples as well as finding classic items in excellent fabrics that won’t date. Dresses, trousers and jackets can be layered to take you from winter to spring and you can never go wrong with a smart wool coat if you want to make a fashion forward statement.

The Right Size
If you are a size 14 in jeans, buy a 14 and not a 12 hoping you will slim into them in the summer. Bargains are only bargains if you can wear them, so go for the right size and colour and prevent a trip to the charity shop in March.

Make Life Easy
Let’s be realistic, the shops will be busy, it will be warm and stuffy and by the time you get to the changing rooms you might be flustered. Go to the sales in easy to take off layers, use a rucksack to keep your hands free and if you can, shop alone.

Fuel Up
If you are out for several hours, take a break. Regular breaks to eat and drink will keep your energy levels up and stop you from getting distracted and impulse buying those bright pink hot pants you will end up having to take back the next day.

Set a Limit
When big discounts are on offer, it is easy to get carried away. Set yourself a spending limit and once you have reached it, call it a day and head home. There is no point cramming the car with shiny bags if it means ending up in debt and having to eat beans on toast until the summer.

Exchange and Refund Policies
Last of all, before you buy, just check the returns policy so you know that if that leather skirt isn’t quite right when you get home, you can take it back. Oh, and always keep your receipts safe.

Happy shopping.

Team Pure Beauty

Laundry hacks you’ll love

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We are always looking for ways to do chores better, faster, smarter and cheaper and when it comes to laundry, every little trick helps.

We have some savvy shortcuts to share that we hope will keep nasty smells away and save you time, money and effort.

Colour coded baskets
Yes, we know this sounds a bit OTT but it works. Buy three laundry baskets and colour-code them as whites, colours and darks. On wash-day, simply empty one basket into the machine and press go leaving you free of stinky sorting.

Stain free
Go easy on chemical stain removers, and trying rubbing a little chalk into stains before you put your clothes in the wash and everything from lipstick, grass and bacon will be gone.

Bright whites
To get your whites bright once again, slice several lemons, put them into a pot of water and bring to the boil. Turn the heat off, add your clothes and let them soak for an hour before washing as usual. To get glowing results, let them dry outside in the sunlight.

Make it quick
If your laundry is pretty much stain free, go for a quick wash setting which will clean and refresh but won’t take forever or add to your utility bills.

Inside out jeans
Washing and drying is tough on denim and washing can see colour and shape being lost. To keep your jeans looking and feeling new, turn them inside out before they go into the machine and leave them like this as they dry.

Towel fresh
We all love soft, fluffy towels but keeping them in pristine condition can be tricky. Forget
fabric conditioner and instead add a cup of white vinegar to your wash load and as well as bringing towels back to life and keeping them soft and absorbent, the vinegar will also help keep musty smells away.

Go for a spin
If you want to aid the drying time of your washing, go for an extra spin during the washing cycle. Adding just ten minutes to a wash will actually cut down drying time later.

Keep your machine clean
From time to time it is worth cleaning your washing machine if you want to keep it in good working order. To do this, simply add half a cup of bicarbonate of soda to the machine drawer with half a cup of white vinegar and put it on a quick, low temperature wash.

Tumble faster
If you want to speed up drying time, and bring down costs, add a couple of clean tennis balls, dry towel or scrunched up balls of foil in with your clothes and the job will be done in flash.

Bed bundles
Once your bedding has been laundered, rather than simply stuffing back in the cupboard, why not make life easy and pack it into ready to use bundles? Put a clean folded fitted sheet, duvet cover and pillowcase in a pile, then carefully place this into one of the pillowcases and next time you change your bed, everything will be there ready and waiting for you. Add a little lavender and it will smell good too.

Got a tip that works for you? Get in touch, we would love to know what it is.

Team Pure Beauty

Free your mind

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Stressed?

Over worked and under paid?

Tired?

Anxious?

Far from being words that are banded around for the sake of it, for many of us this is the reality of 21st century living.

We are expected to be on the ball, on trend and down with the kids 24/7 and sometimes, things can get a bit too much.

We have put together some easy ideas of how to free your mind so you can relax and chill out once in a while rather than constantly having your brain in free fall mode.

Breath
Before you do anything else, sit back, count to ten and breath. Focus on your breathing, feel the air go into your body and out and just stop for a few minutes and regroup.

Talk
After breathing, comes talking. If you bottle everything up, then it is only going to get worse and seem harder and harder to deal with. Open up to your partner, mum or a close friend and they may have ideas about how you can make changes and find a positive way forwards.

Live in the moment
Whatever is making you anxious right now, isn’t going to last. Breakdown what is bothering you into manageable chunks and tackle it one step at a time. For example, if you are moving house you might feel overwhelmed, but step back, make a list, work out what needs to be done and if you can, delegate.

Not this again
If you are worried about an interview, think back and see if was the same the last time you went for a new job? If it was, and you got the job, what are you worried about? You aced it last time and we bet it will be the same the time round too.

It’s not all about you!
Harsh we know, but not everything that happens in this world is about you. Yes we can all feel put upon or have our sensitive days, but thinking every situation revolves around you in some way can be really destructive and you could be missing out on a lot of fun.

Look at the bigger picture
Ask yourself whether the issue that is on your mind right now will still be there tomorrow, in a week or in a month. It is unlikely it will be, so regroup, relax and look at what is going on in the world and see there is more to life than a difficult boss or messy flatmate.

Preparing for the worst
I will lose my job. He is going to dump me. She doesn’t want to be my best friend anymore. We tend to jump to conclusions and dwell on the worst-case scenarios and this can lead to stress and depression. It is far better to talk to the person involved face to face and find out what is really going on before you make yourself ill believing the world is about to end.

Take some exercise
Social media, long hours and desk based jobs mean many of us get less exercise than ever. Try to get some fresh air every day and even if you have a brisk walk or a quick swim, your heart beat will go up and the endorphins will pump good vibes around your body.

Laugh
If nothing else, remember to laugh. Life is short so make the most of it and enjoy every single day you have.

Team Pure Beauty

Get extra cash, in a flash

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A to Z, advertising, affiliate, agencies, Amazon, £500 a month, baby food, bank account, bicycle, big screen, blog, Blogger, books, Brexit, car, car boot sale, car boot sales, commission, community, compers, competitions, day, delivering food, deposit, dogs, ears, eBay, exercise, extra, films, fitness, five figure sums, flexible, fresh air, General Election, Google, guarantees, Gumtree, health, interview, make-up, market, matter, millionaire, money making, motorbike, new, out, people, pets, popular, powers that be, quid, ready-made, references, rent a room, rich, servies, shoes, Smartphone, spare room, spare time, stocks and shares, time, travel, TV, TV shows, walking, weekend away, WordPress, working

Ever get to the end of the month and find yourself in the red?

Fed up of never being able to go on holiday, despite working hard?

Keep buying scratch cards in the hope of becoming winning big?

All too many people find that there simply isn’t enough cash to go round and with the General Election and Brexit making things even more uncertain, the money pot seems to only get smaller.

Fear not, while we aren’t saying money grows on trees, if you have a little spare time, vision and dedication you can add to your bank account, without changing the day job.

Be a blogger
Blogging is easy to set up and a great way to generate a passive income. Decide on a name, choose a platform (Blogger and WordPress are popular), buy a domain name and pay for hosting and you are on a way. You then need to create content that people want to read – this is the key to success. Maybe it is health, fitness, books, travel or parenting, but make sure you have an audience and when you write posts, make them relevant and interesting so people want to come back. Once you’ve gained a following, you can make money from:

• Being an affiliate where you are pushing other people’s products or services on your site. Make sure these products or services are relevant to your blog, such as baby food, shoes or make-up and when a visitor clicks that link on your site, you’ll earn commission.
• Selling advertising is great once you have traffic running through your site and as your visitor numbers increase, so does the change for ad space on your blog.
• Sponsorship could be a one-off feature or a logo on your site and as the stat’s go up, so do the deals.
• You can also review products on your site, but be sure to disclose and brand relationships and be true to yourself, your readers and the powers that be (Google).

Selling stuff
We bet if you spring clean your house you will find a lot of stuff you just don’t need. Unworn clothes, flippers, a smoothie maker, golf clubs are all things you might not need but someone else might want.
Amazon, eBay, Gumtree are all perfect online places to sell things that are gathering dust but could easily turn into enough money for a weekend away or a much-needed new TV. You can also go to car boot sales where you can flog your stuff make a killing.

Rent a Room
OK, someone else in your house might not seem ideal but if it means and extra £500 a month in the kitty, maybe it is worth a go? Make sure you have a decent spare room, ask family and friends if they know anyone looking for digs, and of course, make sure you do interviews, get references and a deposit before handing over any keys.

Stocks and Shares
Investing in stocks and shares has been a popular way to earn a passive income for years, and thanks to the internet, today it is easier to do than ever. Go online and do some research, maybe speak to an expert, start small, see how the markets go and you never know, this time next year you could be a millionaire.

Online Surveys
OK, it isn’t massive money, but for a few minutes of form filling you can make a couple of quid answering online surveys, and if you do enough the total soon adds up.

Get on Your Bike
Got a car, bicycle or motorbike? What about a Smartphone? This is pretty much all you need to make some extra money by delivering food, or people, in your spare time.

Get Competitive
Sounds silly but entering competitions can make you rich. There are no guarantees, but there is a growing community of ‘compers’ in the UK who are making five-figure sums by entering all sorts of competitions, all of the time.

Be an Extra
If you fancy being on the big screen, or small one for that matter, agencies are always looking for extras for TV shows and films. You need to be flexible and able to get from A to Z under your own steam, but it fun, easy and pays alright. And, you never know who you might meet on set.

Get Walking
Fancy some fresh air and exercise, well the good news is that walking other people’s dogs is big business. If you have free time during the day, when others are out at work and worried about their pets at home, and you like dogs and are professional, there’s a ready-made market waiting for you.

Got a money-making idea we have missed, let us know, we are all ears.

Team Pure Beauty