New Years Resolutions: Giving to Charity

This is the third post of ten that I am doing to cover the most common New Year Resolutions, this post will give you 8 suggestions to help you get more involved in charity. I hope you enjoy!

1. Support the Slightly Skint Blog's Charity of the Month - I have decided that every month I am going to support a different charity by posting a donations link and doing something specific relating to the charity. If you own a blog then you could do as I have done and chose a charity to support on your blog. This month's charity is FareShare who do a lot to support food banks in the UK. If you'd like to donate, please click here.

2. Charity Run - If you are planning on loosing weight as part of your new years resolutions then this would be perfect for you. Charity runs occur up an down the country all around the year, all you need to to is find a charity that you'd like to support and find out if they are holding any events. If they aren't there are plenty of charity runs that allow you to support a charity of your choice.

3. Shop at Charity Shops - This is so simple but does make a massive difference. Need a new party dress or  some crockery? Well I can guarantee you will find some absolute gems at a fraction of the cost in your local charity shop. Click here to see the benefits of charity shops or here for where to find your nearest charity shop.

4. Volunteering - You don't just have to give money to support charity. Volunteering can give a massive boost to your well-being and your CV as well as providing some much needed help to charity. To look for volunteer positions in your area click here.

5. Food Box - I'm sure you've seen in the news that there food bank use is at its highest for decades, and you can help by giving the gift of food. In fact you can feed someone 22 times for a mere £3, here is an exhaustive list for what you can gift to your local food bank. Use the Trussell Trust's Map to locate your nearest food bank.

6. Click To Cure - This is an absolutely brilliant and a great excuse to get off Candy Crush, you know who you are (Me included, fuck Candy Crush)! The boffins at Cancer Research UK have created a website which uses crowd sourcing to diagnose cancer. If you are intrigued click here.

7. Animal Fostering - The RSPCA is always looking for people to look after animals while they are in the process of being rehomed, if you can help then please do!

Pweeeeze foster me!

8. Working for a Charity - This is obviously a massive commitment but it is a worthwhile one. Charities don't just rely on volunteers, they do offer some paid/practically paid positions which range from stewarding at festivals to CEOs. Have a google to find a worthwhile charity you can work for!

I hope this post has helped you! Let me know your suggestions for giving to charity in the comments below, on twitter or facebook. To see all posts in this series click here

New Years Resolutions: Healthy Eating and Drinking

This is the second post of ten that I am doing to cover the most common New Year Resolutions, this post will talk about how to eat healthily and reduce your alcohol intake whilst on a budget. There are many small changes that can make a massive difference to your diet and make it more healthy so this post should help you to initiate those changes even if you think you can't afford to.

What do you currently eat?
To help change your diet it is a good idea to really look at what you currently eat on a day to day basis. It might help to write down everything you eat or, better still, take a photo of everything you eat so you can get an idea of portion size too. Once you have done this for a few days you should review your record and decide which foods and drinks you think were unhealthy and which were healthy.

Delicious, but extremely unhealthy!

What should you be aiming for?
According to the NHS adults should be aiming to eat no more than 2000 calories a day and our diet should consist of 5 fruits or vegetables a day, healthy fibrous starch should make up around a third of what we eat and we should be having lean protein from pulses and fish, not just meat. We should not be eating any additional sugar, drink no more than 3 units of alcohol per day 4 times a week and should avoid eating large quantities of fat. It sounds like there are a lot of rules to follow but with a little bit of planning it is extremely easy to eat a healthy, balanced diet.

My only issue with the NHS's guidelines is that starchy food has been linked to weight gain as most starchy foods are carbohydrates which are metabolised into sugar in the body. If the sugar floating around in your blood stream is not used immediately then it is converted into fat so it can be used much later when sugar is scarce. You do need to have carbohydrates in your diet otherwise you'd not function well but you need to chose ones which have other nutritional properties like fibre and vitamins.

Tips for improving your diet

• Plan your meals ahead of time. This will help you save money and stop you eating fast food because nothing else is available.
• If you are trying to lose weight you need to reduce your portion size, try only putting half the amount of food on your plate. You can always go back for more if you don't feel satisfied. Doing this will break habitual clearing of your plate.
• Find out what 100 calories looks like.
• Freeze the food that you don't eat, that way you won't be tempted to pick at it later.
• In fact, just use your freezer more. Prepare food in bulk and freeze it, that way there is always something quick to microwave if you need food fast.

Credit to green-mom.com

• It might help if you eat smaller but more regular meals throughout the day as this will help regulate blood sugar, make you feel less hungry and help you make better food choices.
• Eat more homemade soup. Soup helps to fill you up and it is great for sneaking in vegetables you aren't really keen on. I love making simple Broccoli and Stilton soup.
• Change your supermarket - this won't be easy for everyone but fruit and vegetables are cheaper at the market and at Aldi and Lidl. If you have the time it is well worth going to save money.
• Change one meat meal a week to fish and another completely vegetarian. Coley is my favourite fish at the moment because you can get 6 decent sized portions from Tesco for £2.50. Each portion is only 75 calories and take just 3 minutes to cook in the microwave! Tinned fish is also a winner.

Winner, winner, fishy dinner!

• Approved Food is a discount food retailer and often has staple foods like pulses, quinoa and wholegrain pasta for next to nothing. Just avoid all of their tempting junk food!
• Use the Change4Life Smart Swaps system to help find alternatives to unhealthy food.
• Bulk up protein and carbs with vegetables. Substituting half your mashed potato with carrot is simple and you won't even notice it.
• Water is your best friend, you need to have water with you at all times as it will fill you up and ensure that you are actually hungry rather than dehydrated. Drink a glass before you eat.
• If you can't give up fizzy drinks have carbonated water (just 22p a bottle from Tesco) with some squash or real fruit juice. You could also try iced teas. It really does taste just as good but it is a damn sight less harmful to you. 
• Alcohol can be substituted for virgin cocktails! Between each alcoholic drink have one non-alcoholic drink. If you are a beer drinker, have a shandy made with soda water and diet lemonade. 

Healthy recipes

• Most of the recipes that I feature on the blog are healthy, you can find a list of recipes here
• Blogilates, who I mentioned yesterday, do a series of recipes called Cheap Clean Eats which can be found here
• Healthy Iced Tea Recipes
• Virgin Cocktails
• How To Use A Whole Chicken
• Jack Monroe Recipes - you are going to start hearing a lot more about Jack!
• 5 A Day meal planner and shopping list - quick and simple
• Channel 4 healthy recipes

Regardless of everything else I have said here there are two important points. Don't feel bad if you eat something which isn't healthy. Don't write off an entire day because you eat something 'bad', you can still recover by making everything else you eat healthy. You need to find a diet you can stick to so make sure it is sustainable, if you feel like you are missing out on something then you need to find a way to integrate it into your diet whether it is eating it in moderation a couple of times a month or find a way to make it healthy.

Let me know your suggestions for cheap but healthy recipes in the comments below or on twitter or facebook. To see all posts in this series click here

New Years Resolutions: Exercise and Losing Weight

Today's post will be focusing on the first of the top 10 most common New Year resolutions which is to exercise more. As I discussed in my introductory post yesterday, you need to make your goal specific, write everything down and be properly prepared to make this commitment to your body. Just reading this post is one step toward preparing yourself.

How much do you exercise already?
You need to assess where you are in terms of your health and fitness at this present moment. For me, I would say that I was quite sedentary as I walk everywhere but do little else in terms of additional exercise. Assessing where you are right now will help you to make your resolution specific. Do not set yourself the task of exercising for an hour a day if you do not do some sort of exercise already because this is simply too much and will lead you to failure and feeling crappy about yourself which is never ideal. That doesn't mean to say that for an entire year you must only do 30 minutes of exercise a day, when you come to review your goals later on you can increase this number. As you get fitter you will be capable of doing more.

 Credit to vapresspass.com

How will you exercise?
There are many ways to exercise which do not involved a hefty gym membership.

Blogilates - free 
I've been trialling the Blogilates app and youtube channel in perparation for this post and I have to say I am extremely impressed with what I've seen so far. Blogilates is run by Cassey Ho a professional Pilates instructor, Pilates is like a more energised version of yoga. At first I was sceptical, I'd always heard that cardio was the best form of exercise but actually for someone who is just starting out this can be a great way to start to love exercising. There are some cardio videos available and they are extremely fun! Cassey is bubbly and talks to you as though she is your friend so it makes it feel less like a work out and more like a social occasion. The only essential equipment you need is a yoga mat but you could easily substitute for a towel or a comfortable floor. The app is the triumph of Blogilates though as it means you really can exercise anywhere! Blogilates also has recipes and work out calenders so it is easy to follow. Pro Tip: the beginners calender is available for free here (it costs 69p on the app).

Jogging - free
Unadulterated exercise. Perfect for those who already have an okay level of fitness and want to do more cardio than toning but it could be used to supplement other forms of exercise too. Jogging is an excellent stress reliever and will allow you to see results daily. It might be a good idea to get a couple of your friends to jog with you so it can be social as well or you can just put in your headphones and jog away. The only things you need are some decent running shoes, socks and sports bra which can be picked up cheaply from Sports Direct. Mapometer.com is great for route planning and can tell you how many miles you will run for and estimate how many calories you will burn based on your weight.

Free gym passes - free
If you still can't keep away from the gym then make use of these free gym passes!

Couch to 5k - free
Couch to 5K is a completely free podcast produced by the NHS to get people into interval training. I did this for a couple of weeks but I personally found it very hard because I wasn't able to commit to it fully. The suggestion is that you train for half an hour every other day but I struggled to motivate myself because I hate running! I think Couch to 5K is great if you aren't really sure where to start with jogging and really want to monitor you progress and push yourself.

Outdoor Gym - free
Throughout the country there are several outdoor gyms that are free to be used by members of the public. Find your nearest one here.

PayAsUGym - <£10
The most expensive of my suggestions but great if you want to supplement other exercise you are doing at home. PayAsUGym gives a list of facilities in your area with prices so you know exactly how much it will cost. This is prefect for engaging in activities that you wouldn't be able to do at home, like swimming or using expensive equipment.

Let me know your suggestions for cheap exercise in the comments below or on twitter or facebook. To see all posts in this series click here

New Years Resolutions

Happy New Years Eve to you all! I'm sure that you've already been thinking about making some new years resolutions, well this post is going to cover some of the most common new years resolutions and how you can avoid breaking your resolutions. In the weeks that follow I'll be doing a series of posts relating to specific goals taken from the top 10 most common resolutions. I hope you enjoy this series and find it useful! In 2012 Time declared the following 10 resolutions as the ones most commonly broken:
Lose Weight and Get Fit
Quit Smoking
Learn Something New
Eat Healthier and Diet
Get Out of Debt and Save Money
Spend More Time with Family
Travel to New Places
Be Less Stressed
Volunteer
Drink Less

I bet you see some of your own resolutions on here as well, don't you? I think this list is familiar to everyone because these aren't only the most commonly broken resolutions, they are also the most commonly made. So don't feel bad about making a resolution that most people fail to achieve because there are ways to ensure you go at least some way to achieving your goals.


Simplify and specify
You will notice that most people say they want to 'lose weight' or 'save money'. Although these seem like very simple statements they are horrendously complicated and non-specific. Instead of saying 'lose weight' you need to split your goal up into more manageable, measurable and achievable tasks.

With the losing weight example, you should instead say "I'm going to lose a stone by the end of the year by exercising for 30 minutes a day using... technique and only eat junk foods once a week". Both of these things are measurable, specific and more simplified. It might also help to add a time element to your resolution if you are working towards a mid-year goal, a wedding for example.

Write it down
It might help to write down your goals that way you won't forget their specificity and to help you keep track of how you are doing. You can buy little note books from Poundland if you like to physically write things down or you can use a note taking app on your phone/tablet so you have it to hand at all times. You could also start a blog if you want to turn your resolutions into a hobby (two birds with one stone if your resolution is to start blogging!).

Don't take on too much
There is no point in making loads of resolutions because you won't be able to tackle everything at once. Start by having a think about which goals will take the most time to achieve. Choosing to exercise for 30 minutes each day in order to lose weight will take a longer time to achieve so you could start with attempting that first. Once you've got used to changing your habits you could start to take on another resolution.

Preparation
This is sort of related to to the above point. Don't go into something if you are not prepared. Quitting smoking but not having the right support in place will ultimately lead to you starting again. You can't start going on a daily jog if you don't have a sports bra that fits you or comfortable running shoes. It is better to put something off until you are completely prepared than to start, fail and then feel badly about yourself. Just make sure that you don't keep putting something off otherwise you will never achieve it.

Reviewing
This relates to the point about writing stuff down. You need to check in every now and again to see what you have achieved. Not only will this keep you motivated but it will also give you an indication of how close you are to achieving your goal. I'd suggest reviewing your goals every month. You might want to extend or decrease a deadline or completely change your goal depending on how well you are doing. You have to remain interested to achieve long term goals.

In my future blog posts I'll be covering the following resolutions and I'll be putting up the links here once I've post:

1. Exercise more
2. Eat healthier (we will cover alcohol too)
3. Give more to charity
4. Save money
5. Get a new job
6. Manage stress better
7. Be more productive
8. Spend More Time with Family
9. Learn something new
10. Quit smoking

I hope you have a lovely start to 2014 and don't get too drunk!

Blog Sale!

If you are interested in anything featured here let me know in the comments leaving your email address, or you can email me your order using the email address on my contact page. Postage will be around £2.20 regardless of how many items you order but more accurate estimates will be given once you've ordered.

 Happy shopping!

Avon Foot Works Heel Softening Cream x2 - 50p each

Avon Planet Spa Hot Oil Hair Treatment - 50p

Avon Naturals Shine Drops Hair Serum- 50p

Avon Skin So Soft Hand Cream - 50p

Olay Essentials Complete care plus Multiradiance for Normal/Oily Skin 75ml - £3

Hello Kitty Bath Soak 75ml - 50p

Hello Kitty Shower Gel 75ml - 50p

Accessorize Lip Gloss SAMPLED ON HAND - 50p

Avon Smooth Minerals powder foundation Nude 6g SAMPLED - £4

17 Instant glow Highlighter and Bronzer in Tan USED - 50p

Stilla Sheer Tinted Moisturiser in Light 02 SAMPLED - £1

Clean and Clear Spot Control Moisturiser 40ml x2 - 50p

Neutrogena deep clean wave 30 replacement pads - £1

Clean and Clear spot gel treatment 10ml x2 - £1

Project D Day Hand Cream - 20p

Project D Day Foot Cream - 20p

Shimmy Shimmy Glitter Bar - £2

Lush Glitterbug Retro- £1

Juicy (2" pendant) Necklace with long chain - £3

Hello Kitty Watch - £7

Clinique Washbag - 50p or free with any purchase

Charity of the Month: Vote Now

This is the first month that I'm doing this so I expect there will be some hiccups as there always are with these kinds of things.

This month you have a choice between:
FareShare - Dedicated to relieving food poverty in the UK
Bristish Red Cross - Helping people who find themselves in crisis through out the world
NSPCC - Stopping child cruelty in the UK
UNICEF - Campaigning for children's rights all over the globe

You can vote by using the voting panel at the top of the right hand bar. You can only vote for one charity but you can change your mind if you want.

Voting is open till the 1st January!