3 ways you can use your 'My Little Box' bags

3 ways you can use your 'My Little Box' bags

Wednesday, February 15, 2017

I've always been a bit of a hoarder. Not one of those yoghurt lid collectors that end up drowning in their own filth, but the kind of person that often says to themselves 'I might need that' and adds yet another trinket to their endless pile of bits and bobs. Surprisingly, that means that I have rather a lot of items lying around that may not be all that useful. One that shows a lot of promise, however, is my collection of cool little fabric bags that you get included in the My Little Box monthly deliveries. As a long time fan of this hugely creative and versatile beauty and lifestyle box, I've collected quite a number of these cute little bags and have come up with a few ways in which they serve me well. Let's take a look, shall we?  

Use them to contain all of your chargers when you go on holiday

These little sacks are the perfect size to contain all of your wires and chargers when you're off travelling, whether for a long weekend or a month abroad. Wrap us your USB cables with a plastic band and shove your adaptor plug in there and you're good to go! There's no satisfaction like a neat and organised suitcase - for me, anyway.

Use them to store sanitary products

Bulky boxes - who needs them? Pads and tampons (that I like, anyway) always come in bulky cardboard boxes that take up far too much room in my bathroom cupboard than I can afford (it's a cupboard for ants, I'm telling ya') These bags, however, are quite literally the perfect size for hoarding all of your sanitary products in and they take up much less space, as well as being generally less awkward to squeeze into tight spaces.

Use them to organise your handbag

One way that these nifty bags have really come in handy for me is when it comes to adding a bit of order to my handbag. Whenever I switch my preferred handbag around, I often end up just throwing my bits and bobs in willy nilly, which ends up in a huge, unorganised mess and I usually forget or misplace something. As of late, I've been collecting all of those little things that plague any normal handbag - Nurofen, plasters, lip balm, etcetera - and gathering them up into one of these little MLB sacks. This makes for much easier bag switching as I know my basics will always be in the right place. 

What would you use these bags for? Any suggestions? Do let me know!

Isobel x

Want to see what else comes in the MLB deliveries every month? Make sure to follow me on Instagram, where I share the contents of each box every month.

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Tips for being extra productive when working from home

Tips for being extra productive when working from home

Wednesday, May 4, 2016

I'm lucky enough to have a pretty flexible work schedule, meaning that I'm able to spend a few days a week working from home. This is great in terms of eliminating time wasted commuting and not needing to dress up, but working from the comfort of your own abode can be detrimental to your productivity levels if you become too comfortable. Below I've collected a few of my favourite ways to keep myself on track when I'm lucky enough to roll out of bed at 9.29 and be ready to work by 9.30.

1. Create another user on your computer

I'm not going to lie to you, this is by far the most useful tip of this post, hands down. When you create a new user on a computer it's set up like a new computer, meaning that you don't have access to any of your files on your personal account, including your Buzzfeed-plagued bookmarks, cheesy music library, all 6 seasons of GoT and your Twitter app. What's more, your browser is completely clean so you aren't logged in to any of your time-sucking accounts like Pinterest, YouTube or Bloglovin'. Creating a new user is great because you can switch between users according to your schedule (which I'll talk about next) which has been great in helping me keep on track - I log into my work account in the morning and don't switch back to my personal account until my lunch break, and the same again after lunch. Separate users are also really useful for file management because your work documents are on your work account, so when it's time to log out and call it a day, you won't be tempted to go back to something once your account has been switched! It works both ways people, it works both ways.

2. Stick to a schedule that works for you

Different schedules work for different people so the key is finding out when you work best and when you might as well be dead to the world. Personally, I'm usually a powerhouse from 9.30ish until about 2, at which point I take a break for my lunch and then usually hit my mid-afternoon slump and am next to useless. Instead of forcing myself to work when I know I won't be productive, I use this time to run other errands that need to be done and come back to finish off a few more hours of work once my brain is switched on again, which is usually after dinner. Once you know how your body clock functions, you can start to use that knowledge to your advantage and optimise your work day.  

4. Get yourself a 'uniform' and refrain from sitting in your bed

At one point, many of us that work from home have fallen into the unhealthy and extremely unproductive habit of working in our pyjamas under the duvet all day. There's a time and place for this kind of behaviour, like when you're feeling sick but still have work to do or perhaps a rainy Sunday morning, but on a day-to-day basis, it's just not going to cut it. I don't know about you, but if I get in bed when I'm trying to work I'm guaranteed to be fast asleep within the hour and if I go for more than 2 days without changing out of my pyjamas then I start to feel low and just a bit 'meh'. The great thing about working from home is that you don't have to get all dressed up, so I have a set of clothes that I consider to be lounge-worthy that I like to wear when I'm working from home; they're comfortable so I don't feel restricted, but they're presentable enough that I can pop to the shops without feeling self-conscious and, most importantly, they never get worn to bed. Your uniform can be as simple as some plain tracksuit bottoms and a jersey top, but there needs to be a distinction made between these comfy lounge/work clothes and your pyjamas so that you don't snuggle into bed at the first chance you get and you focus on getting things done instead.

So there we have it! Remember that these work well for when you need to revise for exams which I know are coming up for a lot of you. What do you guys think of these tips for working at home? Do you have any other useful tricks for keeping you productive? Share your thoughts below. 

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3 little things to help improve your wellbeing.

3 little things to help improve your wellbeing.

Monday, April 25, 2016

(1) Practice mindfulness
I'd never heard of mindfulness until I was introduced to it when dealing with a severe bout of anxiety and although it's not something I go to on a daily basis, I have witnessed just how effective it can be. Now before you scoff and scroll onto the next post on your blog feed like I would've done a few months ago, hear me out. Mindfulness is about bringing your mind back to the present moment by focusing on your breathing and your body, and it is supposed to help those with stress/anxiety/ any mental issues. If you'd like to give it a go, just to see how it works, I'd recommend downloading the app Headspace - it's offers paid content but there are 10 free 10-minute tracks to introduce you to the concept. This time last year I would have laughed at myself for suggesting this app, but if you give it a go you might find it to be a useful tool.

(2) Get enough sleep

Now this isn't a department that I need much help with, but when I do have trouble sleeping it is extremely evident how important a good night's kip is. I'm not here to give you 'twenty ways to fall to sleep in 5 seconds' copied straight from Google, but I will say what helps me nod off. Firstly, I can't give in and go to sleep too early. No matter how tired I am I pretty much always get a second wind between 11 pm and 3 am, so If I go to bed before 11pm, I will, without a doubt, wake up a few hours later and be up for an hour or so. The other thing that always helps me is to read. I know, groundbreaking right? Again, unless I practically fall into bed, I try to force myself to read at least a chapter before calling it a night. The difference it makes to my sleep is noticeable, so whenever I realise that I've got out of the habit of reading for some reason, I make sure to pick it back up again to help my sleep.

(3) Train your brain

When I was looking for a job and staying at home a lot of the time, I could literally feel my brain cells shrinking from lack of stimulation. Going from a full-time final year student to an unemployed graduate drifting through life definitely had a massive effect on the way my brain was working, and I couldn't stand the feeling that my intelligence was deteriorating before my very eyes. That's when I decided to look into finding a few apps to challenge myself and keep my mind working rather than letting it wander all day. One of the apps that I found the most useful was Peak, an overall mental performance game which tests and helps to strengthen areas like memory, language, reaction time, etc. As a language student, I also think that Duolingo has been a great help to keeping my mind active and sharp, especially as I don't always have time to practise anymore. Not only did these apps give me something to do every day, but I could definitely feel them working to restore what mental capability I felt I had lost in my unproductive eight months of unemployment. This, in turn, helped to boost my self-confidence and kept me from being so hard on myself, all of which has been essential for me when maintaining my mental health. Now that I'm back out in the real world working full-time, I like to use these apps during my morning commute to help me wake up and to give myself a productive start to the day.

What little things do you do to maintain a healthy life? Let me know!

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My updated blogging process

My updated blogging process

Wednesday, April 6, 2016

Back in 2014 I wrote about the steps I was taking when creating a blog post, and you guys really seemed to like my step-by-step walkthrough from brainstorming to hitting publish. A lot has changed since then, from updated technology to preference changes, but the bare bones of the process still remain - just with a few more steps added. Today I thought I'd go through my current process so that you guys can get a better idea of what goes on behind the scenes here at IR. Who knows, you might pick up some tips for your own blogging process, or if you've never blogged before, you should be able to get an idea of how much work actually goes into running a blog in this day and age!

The Process:

Brainstorm → Filter + add to Notes → Editorial calendar (paper) → Confirm ideas → Google calendar → Draft/bullet point ideas → Photograph → Edit and upload photos → Collect any (affiliate) links → Compose post → Proofread/double check → Schedule post → Schedule tweets, Instagram post, and FB Page post.

Here we have the typical steps I take when taking an intial idea for a post and making the final product that you see on your screen. Not every step is taken everytime I create something; sometimes I get carried away with an idea and it will never be added to my notes or even my editorial calendar, and other times I completely blank out or am too busy with work to schedule all of my social media, but these are the steps that I like to take when possible.

The Resources: 

APPLE NOTES // EDITORIAL CALENDAR (link) // SHOPSTYLE (link) // HOOTSUITE (link)

When creating a post, there's a few different programs/websites that I tend to use. Apple Notes is great for jotting down ideas wherever I am because it syncs to all of my tech, and I love the new(-ish) checklist feature they've added to it because it makes keeping track of things so much easier. 

Next we have a very basic editorial calendar that I whipped up in Photoshop one day. The main reason I made my own is because I find that most of the nice calendar templates I've found online have the week starting on Sunday which drives me crazy because I'm not used to that! I always found myself screwing up my calendar because I would put things on a Sunday that I meant for a Monday (I like to print these out and work out my month's content by hand) which frustrated me greatly, so I eventually made my own so I would stop messing things up. Download a PDF of my editorial calendar here. 

Something else I tend to use a lot is Shopstyle, the site where I create my 'Shop the post' widgets that you see in the majority of my beauty posts. This is great because you can keep track of what links get clicked and even make a little money (although not much in my case, still going strong at £4 after using it for 4 months!) I mainly like it because of the widgets which I think finish off my posts nicely.

Finally, I find myself using Hootsuite, a site/app where you can schedule social media posts, a hell of a lot more than I used to before my relaunch. This tool has become extremely valuable to me now that I'm a working girl because I can get all of my posts written and social media scheduled at the weekend and know that when I'm busy during the week that everything will go up when it's supposed to, where it's supposed to. It's a bit like setting everything on autopilot - it really takes the stress out of trying to work full time and juggle a blog!

So there you have it, a fairly detailed look at how I go about running IR on a day to day basis! The only resource that I haven't really mentioned above is Photoshop, which I use to edit all of my photos, but I think I'll leave that for another post. I hope you got a better idea of what goes on behind closed doors, and if you have any questions do feel free to leave them below!

If you're a blogger, do you use many of these steps? For you non-bloggers, did you know that this much work can go into a single blog post? Leave me your thoughts in the comment section below :)

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Dealing with Jet Lag

Dealing with Jet Lag

Sunday, October 11, 2015

All the time I spent travelling around the world in my younger years has really come in handy as I've grown older because I've learnt from experience and picked up some pretty handy tricks along the way. 

Start as you mean to go on:

The first thing I do whenever I board a plane, no matter how long the flight may be, is to change my watch to the time at the destination. By doing this, you're giving yourself extra time to start to adjust to the time difference, which means that you shouldn't be affected by it for as long when you get there. They key to this is not just to change the clock, but start to live by it as well - try to sleep and eat when you should according to the watch, not your biological clock. This can be a bit tricky, but the earlier you start the transition, the earlier you'll adjust.

Listen to your body, but know when to ignore it:

One thing that I've learnt time and time again along the way is knowing when to push your body, and when to reward it. I know this sounds bad, but if you're fighting jet lag then sometimes you have to go against your bodily instincts and keep trucking - especially when it comes to sleep. It's super important when travelling to make sure that you're constantly fed and hydrated, so if you're feeling hungry or thirsty then top up whenever you need (but stay clear of alcohol as it is dehydrating and can mess with your energy levels). This is when you need to listen to your body - it's better to keep yourself fuelled than try to limit yourself. So what if you eat an extra few calories? You can burn it off by following my next point. The only thing that you need to be strict with is sleep - if you give in then you can add days to your adjustment period, so if you're dying for a nap then make sure to keep it under an hour (as hard as it may seem) or better yet, try to forgo it all together and push yourself to restrain until it's an appropriate time to sleep. Trust me, the stricter you are, the quicker you adjust! One thing that usually helps is exercise, although it's probably the last thing you want to do. Exercise will help top up your energy levels immediately and will help to tire you out in the long run, helping to aid sleep when you are eventually allowed to go to bed. I'm not talking marathon training or anything, but even a 30 minute routine at the gym or walking to lunch and back instead of taking the metro will help. 

Keep busy:

One of the things I found the hardest when I was younger was flying from HK back to the UK for Christmas because the adjustment was just so difficult. First off, we would usually land at about 4 am, when made the day SO much longer, and when you add that to the eight hour time difference and the shorter days, you can imagine how tired I felt once it got to about 4 pm. This is where keeping busy comes into play - no matter how tired you are, you'll always feel it more if you're sat doing nothing. If you get out and about, keep yourself occupied with a shopping trip or a dinner with friends, you're much more likely to keep yourself awake. Same goes for if you've flown from west to east and you're up late at night with jet lag - if you're not doing anything during the day you won't be that tired, but if you go out and keep busy you're much more likely to wear yourself out and are therefore more likely to get a good nights sleep.

What are your best tricks for dealing with jet lag? Have I missed any out? Let me know!

I x

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