20th September 2024 By Miss K L Slomczynski

 Oh what a day!

Oh what a week, I have had one child in sick bay and I am still home schooling my SEN son!

I was planning on doing so much over the next few days to help surport the art and media industry but will now stay home again!

So I will take this time to sort out my own health and welbeing again and get all of my ducks in a row for my PIP Tribunal I hope it happens before the end of 2024.

I will also take this time to udate my socil media profiles and decluter my life.

Fingers crossed xx

WHAT PRODUCT(S) DO YOU USE FOR CLEANING?

 

“When it is not Lemons?”

People say “we are what we eat.” but how can this be “when it is not lemons?”

One of the things that I started to do last year was reading the packaging of what I buy, this 

made me look at where I buy things from and how much I spend.

For my main shopping I have been using Tesco's on line and have signed up to a fixed

monthly delivery service that means that I can have a delivery 3 days per week every month

providing I spend £40.00 per delivery.

This year I will shop around and see if I can cut my spending and only buy “lemons” and

 not be Sold a “LEMON.”

So last year I started looking at items and tried to STOP but any thing with Palm Oil in,

 

MSG and Artificial Sweeteners.

I am all for sugar and do not feel comfortable with eating a Chemistry set every meal so the 

more basic the ingrediency the better. (personal chose)

So back to the Lemons, I hate it when something claims to have Lemons in but then it says 

on the packaging, lemon flavouring, lemon essence.

I can not stand in the super market all day reading packaging so I do it at home when the 

boys are a sleep. I also look at who things are packaged to try and reduce the amount of 

products that I buy that have load of packaging that they do not need.

This year I aim to cook more at hoe form fresh so in January 2019 I will do my first shop of 

the year and by December 2019 I aim to reduce the amount of LEMONS I buy, sugar, Palm 

oil, MSG Artificial Sugar and packaging I use.

So the amount I will be spend on my January Shop is…

What Will Happen to Your Body If You Walk Every Day

Burning Sage: Benefits (Purify Your Home)

https://youtu.be/BuFHaBaiOZ0

Can burning sage help cleans your home?

You can sage cleanse your house when you feel the need for it. If the feeling of uneasiness, tension, sadness or nervousness linger in the air, burning sage helps expel negative energy creating a neutral space or brings in positive energy. You may even consider cleansing on a weekly basis.

Should you burn sage to clean the air in your home?

Whether the season is summer, spring, fall or winter, it is a good idea to clean the air in your home regularly to get rid of germs and all the other unhealthy things you don’t want your family to breathe in. One great way of cleaning the air around you is by burning sage.

What is sage burned for?

Burning sage was used for many purposes, such as energy cleansing, ritual ceremonies, and healing. Today, burning sage is used by medicine people all over the world to help restore vitality and health. It has the power to neutralize negative energy by burning away any unwanted energy and carrying it away with its smoke. How to Burn Sage

10 Hours of Relaxing Music • Sleep Music, Soothing Piano Music, Sleeping...

Winter 2021 moving forward

 

https://savings4savvymums.co.uk/feeding-family-four-2-50-day/

Once again child poverty is on the new and how parents are unable to feed their children and them selves.

With so many family services clothing and Covid 19 on the rise it is not like you can even knock a friends or family door for something like a cup of sugar.

https://www.gov.uk/apply-free-school-meals

https://www.gov.uk/types-of-school

Their is also pupil premium.

https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/pupil-premium/pupil-premium

I have include a budget sheet with this link.

https://www.moneyadviceservice.org.uk/en/tools/budget-planner

One thing that I believe need to be done is that people need to clearly know how much their income and experiences are so that they can clear budget them selves.

With winter just around the corner more of use will be spending money on heating our homes and lighting, not just food and other key times or bills.

Many people today are also forced into the rental market and are paying more in rent than what you would for a mortgage.

I am still a strong believer that everyone with children under 5 should be given healthy start vouchers.

https://www.gov.uk/healthy-start

You can also look at applying for the Big Different Scheme.

https://bigdiff.co.uk/login.php

I also believe that any child of school age under the age of Seven should be given a free school meal, if the school is closed then that should still continue. I believe that every child can claim this up until the end of Year 2 at school.

October 2021 Nest Egg Ideas, should I have for the future?

 October 2021 Nest Egg Ideas, should I have for the future?

This is a question at I often ask me self and one that every month I try to think about.

You can not go a day without hearing something about saving and investments.

Most of the time adverts are about death and life after death, for your family and loved ones.

They are about planning for your referment and also your funeral.

For me personal may saving and investment adverts never seam to be about the now.

When Covid 19 hit everyone was effect in one way or another.

In many ways those with saving and investments that could not be easy accessed or liquidated into cash I believe struggled the most.

It was these people who may have had to have made the decision about keeping their savings and investments and not looking at claiming government aid or seeing if they could "cash out" so they could.

This was due to the basic rule that if you had savings/investments over £6,000 you could not claim benefits from the government during lock down.

What a believe is that a lot of people forget about the now!

Yes in the past I did look at the future, I looked a ISA's, Help to buy my first home property schemes, yet they all seamed to have a lot of red tape wrapped around them.

So for me they where like the perfect Christmas gift, but it was like playing the "Chocolate game to get it"

Now the chocolate game for those who do not know what it is is this.

You have a block of chocolate wrapped up on a table.

To get to it you need to roll a six on a die.

You them need to put on a hat

Put on a scarf

Put on a pair of gloves

You them must run/walk over to the table that is about 3 feet away froj you.

You then must use the knife and folk to open the warped up chocolate with.

In the mean time everyone else's who is playing the game, can take it in turns to roll a six on the die too.

If they roll a six you must hand over every thing to them so that they can try to open the chocolate , you have to go back and start all over again.

Once the cholate is opened you are only allowed to eat one piece at a time, in full.

I have played this game may times ion my childhood, the winner is the one who gets to eat the last piece of chocolate and they won a full bar.

So in many ways it paid to not get a six and to let everyone else do all of the hard work for you.

Another game was a flour hill with a chocolate on top.  For this one you had to make sure that the chocolate ever fell, if it did you have to eat it.  So a bit like life, being a house of cards so to speak.

So one thing that I posted "gear change." was making sure that before anything else's that maybe you look at your budget first.

I try to do this once a month, and then if you have time look at how to save money, cut bill costs, spending costs and then maybe savings and investments.

One website that I do use and have found to be helpful is I have listed below along with some others.

https://www.gov.uk/

https://www.moneysavingexpert.com/

https://www.turn2us.org.uk/

https://www.citizensadvice.org.uk/Global/Migrated_Documents/adviceguide/d-budget-sheet.pdf

Good luck.

MDF MY “Pet Hate!” By Miss K L Slomczynski

 

MDF MY “Pet Hate!”

One item that I always said that I would never work with during my art work is MDF! 

But what is MDF?

(MDF) medium density fibreboard.

What is it Made of?

It is a manufactured (engineered) wood product composed of wood fibres that are mixed with resin and wax and pressed into flat panels under high temperature and pressure. It is used much like plywood as a building material in residential and commercial construction. 

What are the advantages of MDF board?

MDF board has many benefits besides the low cost. For one, it's stronger than particle board (which is made from compressed sawdust) and is often made with a veneer to create the look of a solid wood board. Compared with hardwood, MDF is lighter, the chemicals within repel termites, and it doesn’t warp much in humid weather.

What are the hazards of MDF?

MDF contains a substance called urea formaldehyde, which may be released from the material through cutting and sanding. Urea formaldehyde may cause irritation to the eyes and lungs. Proper ventilation is required when using it and face masks are needed when sanding or cutting MDF with machinery.

The pros and cons of using MDF Wood over solid wood while building your green home - Ecofriend

Why do I hate it so much?

Eco-friendly quotient

MDF can be considered Eco-friendly in the sense that it is made from recycled wood. But the amount of chemicals it holds will disqualify it from being considered as green. The urea-formaldehyde used in its manufacture is poisonous to the respiratory and digestive systems. Especially, if there are toddlers at home, they should be kept away from MDF so that they do not chew at it or lick it.

MDF is definitely a convenient material to make use of for building homes. But if you wish to make a green home, it may be best avoided due to health, cost and durability reasons. It would be a good idea to use MDF for making some parts of the home which does not involve exposure to either water or children.

Is MDF safe for children?

This is my main concern and always been the main reason why I have not wanted to use MDF when making and designing things for children.

Please look at the links below for more information.

https://www.childrensfurniture.co.uk/mdf

https://childrensfurniturecompany.blogspot.com/2009/03/mdf-is-safe-right.htm

Due to MDF being so cheep and a lot of the items are mass-produced overseas in places like China, you know that the Health and Safety Laws have probably to been followed or the same that we would have to abide by in the UK.

Now that the UK is no longer under the EU it is even more important to know what guideline we must follow when selling and product or service to the general public from 2021.

So this is something that I will be looking into so that I can hopefully set up Self Employment in April of 2021.

My aim is to sell finished products where ever possible and not for under 3 years old.

Over the Covid 19 Lock down I have been looking at using up all my art supplies with my family and have brought MDF Precut shapes to achieve this. However this is not what I will be looking at using in the long run I get my business established I will be looking at creating my own library of Computer Aided Designs (CAD) that I can then look at have cut into any type of Materials and not MDF.

Thank you for reading.

Winter raised the gardening By Miss K L slomczynski

Winter rising the gardening

One of the thing that I still have not done yet this year is to winter raised garden and to plant my bulbs for next year. I always keep saying tomorrow and then it rains or the boys need me.

So my aim is to wineries the garden by 1st December this year and to make sure that I am ready for next year to start all over again.

Home grown Rosemary By Miss K L Slomczynski

For about three years now I have been growing my own Rosemary in pots.  I have done this due to never truly having a fixed abode. That way I can take my plants with me when I move.  It also makes watering them more manageable if there is a drout.

What I am planting to do this summer is split the plant and see if in can grow it on. That way I can look at possibly selling on the offspring or seeping them for another plant that I would like in the garden.