Family-Friendly Features to Look for When Buying Your Next Home

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Buying a home is a huge milestone and a massive decision, especially when you have little ones in tow. Between school runs, endless snacks, and trying to keep toys from taking over every surface, finding a house you can call a home can be a stressful and worrying time. However, finding the right home can make family life that bit smoother and means you have somewhere to settle down for years to come with your family. 

When looking for your new home, there are a few family-friendly features that you should prioritise and keep an eye out for, to make things a little bit easier as life happens and children grow. 

Teaching Children Kindness Through Everyday Family Conversations

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Kindness isn’t something children suddenly “have.” It doesn’t arrive fully formed, but the ability to be kind is always within. Most of the time, it grows quietly, in ways that are easy to miss while they’re happening. It shows up in fragments. In things children overhear while playing nearby. In the way adults speak when they’re tired, distracted, or running late. What happens after a mistake, not during the lecture that might follow.

Children watch reactions more closely than rules. They notice tone before content. They notice pauses. They notice whether a sharp comment is walked back later, or left hanging in the room. None of it feels important at the time. But it settles somewhere.

Over time, these small moments begin to shape what fairness feels like. What empathy looks like in practice. What does responsibility actually mean when things don’t go smoothly?

Why Hydration and Sleep Matter More Than Skincare Products

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The beauty world loves a miracle. A tiny bottle that promises glow. A jar that claims it can erase time. Shelves full of hope, wrapped in glass and plastic. But skin doesn’t actually begin there. It begins in the body. Before anything touches the face, the skin is already responding to life. How much water does the body really get? How heavy the sleep feels in the morning. To how much stress quietly sits in the shoulders, the jaw, the chest. When those things slip, the skin doesn’t whisper. It speaks. Through tightness. Through dull patches. Through breakouts that appear for no clear reason. Through that tired look, no amount of makeup ever fully fixes.

Healthy skin isn’t about perfection. It’s about peace. It’s about giving the body what it needs so the skin doesn’t have to fight just to feel okay.

Helping Children Settle into a Calm and Consistent Nightly Routine

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If you have a child who seems to think sleep is for the week, and bedtime is a challenge, to see how long they can stay awake. You are not alone! Lots of children struggle when it comes to bedtime (mine included), and it can feel like a fight trying to get them to lie down and go to sleep, even when you can see they are exhausted! 

However, establishing evening patterns that work for you and your family can help, but it requires understanding both structure and flexibility and making it work for you. Children often respond positively when they understand what to expect, whilst parents benefit from approaches that reduce bedtime battles. Creating sustainable habits takes patience, but the rewards go far beyond just getting youngsters to sleep on time.

Ideas and inspiration for Mother’s Day

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Now that January is over (why does it always feel like it lasts about 3 months?!) we can concentrate on all the lovely celebrations coming up this year including Mother’s Day! Falling on 15th March 2026,  you might want to start thinking about what to get the mums in your life and the best way to do that is think about what would genuinely make her smile. It doesn't have to cost lots of be a big grand gesture, most mums will want thoughtful over cost! Instead of relying on the same ideas you’ve used before, look at the little moments that define your relationship with her.

Maybe she lights up when you bring her a cup of tea, or she relaxes the second she steps outside for some fresh air. Perhaps you have a photo of you both that she loves or a salon she has always wanted to visit? Those small clues help you shape a day that feels personal rather than predictable.

Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD): What It Is, Symptoms, and Ways to Cope

As the days grow shorter and the weather turns colder, many people notice changes in their mood, energy levels, and motivation. For some, this shift feels deeper than just “winter blues”. If you’ve ever felt persistently low during the darker months, you may have wondered whether Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) could be the reason.

If that’s you, you’re not alone, and you’re certainly not failing. SAD is a recognised type of depression, and help is available. So please don't feel like you have to continue feeling the way you do without help or support. 

This post is here to gently explain what SAD is, the symptoms to look out for, and how to identify it its winter blues or something more serious, such as SAD, with some practical steps that may help you feel more supported during the tougher seasons.

Ah yes… another one of those New Year posts

You know the ones.

The “new year, new me”, “this is my year”, “I’ve reflected, journaled, and suddenly have my life together” kind of posts.

So yes… this is another one of those New Year posts.
But also… it really isn’t.

Because if I’m being completely honest, 2025 was a bit rubbish in more ways than I wish to care for!

And I don’t mean the “oh, it was busy, but we got through it” kind of rubbish. I mean the kind where you discover friends you thought were your ride or dies have disappeared, and you are forced to cut out family for your own mental health. The kind where you have cried far more than you ever thought you would, and slowly realise you’ve let yourself go in just about every way possible, physically, mentally, emotionally… all of it.

I’ve shown up for everyone else while quietly running on empty. I’ve survived rather than lived, and barely at that. There have been nights when I have lain in bed not wanting to go to sleep purely because I couldn't face waking up for another morning. And if there was an award for holding it together on the outside while falling apart internally, I’d have at least been shortlisted.

Recently, I read a quote that stopped me in my tracks. It said something along the lines of "I have sat at tables I should never have even pulled a chair out for," and honestly, I felt that in my bones.

It reminded me of something I keep forgetting:
It’s actually okay to focus on myself sometimes.
I don’t always have to make everyone else happy at my own detriment.

Wild concept, I know, because I know so many of you will feel the same way as me! 

So… moving forward into 2026

From Moving House to a New Baby: How to Spend Responsibly on Big Family Changes

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Sooner or later, every family hits a big milestone. It could be moving house, preparing for a new baby, changing jobs, or expanding your household. And these events inevitably require you to make some big purchases. If you think that time may be coming for you soon, it may be the time to make some smart buying choices! However, the emotional and stressful side of these shifts makes it easy to get swept up in the urgency of it all. 

To take control of costs during these big family moments, here are some simple, realistic ways to plan ahead so that large expenses feel manageable rather than overwhelming.