Candles Candles Candles

I burn candles nearly every day and there is nothing I love more than coming home from work as the evening draws in, closing the curtains and lightening a few candles to create that much wanted relaxing atmosphere. I don't just have candles in the lounge, I also have a few in the bedroom and whenever I have a nice long relaxing bath, there are a few placed around the bath to again create that atmosphere.

A few weeks ago, I was kindly sent these wonderful products from the Scented Candle Shop* and in my box which you can see below is:

• Yankee Candle Housewarmer Jar - White Christmas
• Yankee Candle Votive Candles - Welcome Christmas x 2
• Wax Lyrical Porcelain Frangipane Roomscenter Holder x 2
• Yankee Candle Jar Shade - Small (Snow Covered Mosaic)
• Yankee Candle Tray - Small (Snow Covered Mosaic)
• Prices Candle Lighter

I have always wanted a plate and shade for one of my candles and it has been one of those items that I have never got around to getting, so I was so chuffed to see something so beautiful inside my box. As soon as I attached it to my lit candle, it really came to life as you can see in the photos below:

The Scented Candle Shop stocks well over 2,500 different types of candles and scented products which include scented and unscented candles, wax tarts, tea lights, votives, pillar candles, candle holders and a vast array of candle accessories. Alongside Yankee Candles you will find brands such as WoodWick, Colony Candles, Bolsius and others aside.

If you are looking for some new candles, any of these would be perfect. The Scented Candle Shop recently started a youtube channel and here is one of the videos below.

Do you love candles as much as I do? Do you have a favourite brand?

My £2 challenge!

Now we are almost a month into 2014, most people will have had their credit card statements, seen their bank account and are thinking about next Christmas as well as other activities and events in between and there is one thing all of these things have in common - Money!

As I have spent hours reading and commenting on other blogs, scrolling up and down sites such as Facebook, Money-saving Expert, and Twitter I have discovered that there is a wide range of different money-saving methods out there. For example, when it comes down to saving money, whereas some people prefer to work with financial services providers like Aspiration, others prefer to do things a little differently. That being said, if you would like to learn more about the different ways that financial services providers like Aspiration can help people to save money, you can take a look at these aspiration online bank reviews. As for me though, over the years I have attempted spending bans. Many of us are currently doing them as well as looking for other ways to save some money and I am sure we can all manage to save just £2 per day from the change we have in our pockets, wallets, or floating around in our handbag.

Once the money to save has been found, for me it needs to be out of sight, so this is my money box, Freddie the Frog and I have had him since my University days when I used to put all kinds of coinage into him and whilst he is looking a little older and a little bit battered, he is the perfect size for this challenge.

We all have loose change in our handbags, pockets and purses and I don't know about you, but I do find it rather annoying and heavy and am always wondering what to do with it.  So what I am going to now do is keep all of that change at the end of each day and try to ensure there is a minimum of £2 and then I put it into the frog.  Naturally I would prefer to have £1 and £2 coins but as long as it adds up to £2 that will do and if I have a little bit more change that will also go into the frog.  Then by the end of the year I should have no less than £730 which I can either use beforehand when buying Christmas Presents or leave it until the New Year and have a good old spend in the sales.

It is now 13th January and I already have £30 in my frog, £30 I would have probably just used on things I didn't need!  Putting that into perspective, it is almost a Naked3 Palette!

Is anyone else doing anything like this or have you tried it in the past?