Whether you are starting a small or medium business or you are already established, it is important to keep a keen eye on business costs. I used to have my own jewellery shop so I know how important this is. You may only break even for the year at Christmas time and it may be a fine line between profit and loss. Here are some tips for cutting your business costs and making sure you go into profit.

Use your time wisely

As they say, time is money, so stop procrastinating and be more productive. Simple things like using a diary,  using a pay stub generator, delegating responsibility to the staff so you are free to do more important things, planning your time effectively and setting goals to establish what you want out of your business can all help you use your time wisely. 

Use your space effectively

If you work from home or work in an office environment it is important that your workspace is organised and clutter-free. There are different companies that provide effective storage solutions such as warehouse storage solutions in Harrogate offers this service to its clients all over the UK. Being efficient with storage space means you can fit more supplies in the same cubic footage, allowing you to bulk order thus saving money.

For small businesses, this may mean a trip to Ikea, whilst medium and large businesses may mean utilising shelving and racking solutions for your office and warehouse. Buy a wall planner and put it in a prominent place so you can see your diary at a glance enabling you to plan better.

Shop around for the best deals on utilities

You probably compare the cost of your home utilities like electricity and water but why not shop around for the best deals with your business utilities? Also online sites such as Go Compare allow you to compare your business and electricity costs at a click of a button thus finding you the best company for your needs and saving you money. 




Consider taking on an apprentice

Apprenticeships allow staff to take on-the-job training whilst gaining a qualification. You get staff trained to your specifications, and the cost to the employer is less than a regular member of staff as they are on an apprenticeship wage. Taking on an apprentice is a big time commitment, however, so you have to factor that into the equation when deciding to take one on.

You can also apply for funding to cover the costs of the apprentice’s qualification if you’re providing their formal study as well as being their employer.

Outsource workers

Whether you are looking for payroll services or an admin assistant, it could be worth outsourcing these responsibilities. You could even outsource the running of your IT systems by hiring one of these managed IT services providers. Sites such as People Per Hour or Elance are excellent for sourcing these skilled people. As you are not taking on a permanent member of staff you will only need to pay the rate agreed for the task, thus cutting out holiday and sickness costs.

Summer is upon us and it's time to go clothes shopping! Here are some of my favourite fashion items that are in the shops now.
You can never go wrong with a classic black swimsuit. This one from Vix has a deep V neck and exposed sides for a modern and sporty look. Teamed with ancient Greek style sandals by Clio that are flat but still stylish and glamorous tortoise shell Rayban sunglasses, you will look tres chic equally lounging by the pool or sipping cocktails on the beach.
A classic wardrobe staple, these authentic soft stretch denim jeans from J Brand are in a deep blue indigo. Teamed with a flattering loose fitting top in a tribal print design by Paige and an on trend fringed suede shoulder bag, from Zatchels this relaxed weekend look has a hint of 70's retro. All you need now is some over sized sunglasses and you're good to go.

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With the recent heatwave lighting barbecues across the country, the weatherman predicting an oh-so hot summer and those long six week summer holidays for kids just around the corner it’s, believe it or not, just about time to plan a summer of adventure and excitement.

I love using wet wipes - they are so useful to remove make up, mop up spills, freshen up and even cleaning leather. I buy flushable wipes often especially when I go on holiday as you never know what the toilets are going to be like in remote places. That's the responsible thing to do, isn't it?  I was therefore surprised to find that flushable wipes aren't as environmentally friendly as I first thought.

Summer is nearly upon on, and here are my favourite Summer dresses from Quiz Clothing.  With Quiz you can always rely on high fashion, competitively priced clothing, aimed at forward-thinking, fashion loving ladies. Quality is excellent too and staff are customer-focused and friendly.

Going Out





Here are some of my favourite going out dresses. From body con dresses to skater and maxi dresses, Quiz has a great range of going out dresses for everyone. The dresses I have picked above are cute and sexy at the same time. The cream lacy dress is truly gorgeous whilst the simple two-part dress with white cami and black skirt on the right is classic and chic. My favourite of these is the middle dress with the black flower waist detail. Although it is a body con dress it is demure too yet still hugs your curves.

Occasion Dresses




If you have a prom or wedding to attend or want a dress for a day at the races, these dresses will 'knock em dead. The variety of occasion dresses from Quiz clothing is large, from flowery designs to floaty chiffon numbers these occasion dresses are pretty and perfect for that big event. The blue flower print skater dress is so much fun and the pale blue chiffon number is simply beautiful.


Maxi Dresses




If you want to feel glamorous, or pretty as a princess, a maxi dress is a perfect choice. Whether sipping cocktails in a beachside location or attending a day at the races, you really can't go wrong with a maxi dress. The maxi dresses I have picked above are all similar in subtle blush colours, with exquisite bodice detailing, and a loose-fitting skirt that skims your curves. 

Tell me which of these dresses do you like? What is your favourite style of dress for an occasion? 

* PR collaboration 

Cheerz is a photo website and app that allows you to print your photos and personalise your gifts. You can even have your photos printed as if they are Polaroids.

The company got in touch with me recently to see if I wanted to review one of their new products - a photo album that you can personalise.

Now it's no secret that I love to travel and I also love to take photographs. In days gone by (now I sound old!) I used to keep all my photos as prints and spend ages putting them in an album. In the last couple of years I have become a convert to the personalised photo album like the type Cheerz sells.




Firstly you upload your photos to the website or app. Depending on how many photos you have and the size of them this can take some time, but it's a straight forward process. As you are waiting for the photos to upload comments come up on the screen such as,  'Whoa! Your photos are really lovely', which is a nice touch. 

Now the software will allow you to alter the effect of each photo and move the positioning slightly but it will not allow you to do heavy editing of your photos. I would suggest you edit your photos before the upload in software such as Picmonkey or Photoshop.




When you set the occasion it has pre set designs to add to the cover and you have a choice of 6 colours. Picking a name and number prints it on the spine of the book. Some of the pages allowed you to add captions to the page - this may depend on the size of photo you select.

Today in my Meet The Bloggers series I am talking to Rachel from the blog umeandthekids. The idea behind Meet The Bloggers is to find out about bloggers you love or discover new blogs you haven't heard of before. 

Can you tell my readers about yourself and your blog.



My name is Rachel and I blog at umeandthekids, a Parenting and Lifestyle blog. I love to feature party ideas for kids and teen advice posts.

What inspired you to start blogging?

I had to stop working due to getting M.E and still wanted to communicate with the world. I started reading other blogs and thought why not and I started my own blog and haven't looked back.

Tell me your proudest blogging achievement.

When I have been approached by big brands who want to work with me and my blog, the comments I have received from my lovely readers and how my competition linky has gone from 10 people joining to over 150 every week!

What brands have you enjoyed working with?

I loved working with Coca Cola, Lush, Yankee Candles and more recently L'Oreal. 

What brands would you like to work with in the future?



I would love to work with more beauty brands like Benefit and MAC as I am a massive fan of their products.

Do you have any tips for new bloggers?

Don't compare yourself to other blogs and be proud of the small steps you will take at first.

What is your most popular blog post to date?

My fear on having my second baby and would I ever love them the same as my first child http://umeandthekids.com/second-baby-can-love/ . I got some great feedback and didn't realise just how many people felt the same.

What is your favourite blog post of 2015 and why?

In 2015 I started doing party posts and love coming up with themed party posts, It makes me want to be a kid again!

Do you have any specific goals for 2016?

To be more organised and attend more blogging events like Brit Mums again.

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In this technological age, access to computers and wi-fi is almost a basic human right. In fact, many people feel the right to Internet access is important in order to exercise freedom of expression. 

Sometimes you just need a break, we all do from time to time. Perhaps things have got on top of us, work has become very busy, family life has become increasingly hectic and it feels like ages since you've been on holiday. Maybe you have had a health scare or a death in the family and you think, 'What is it all for?'

On our recent road trip to the American 'deep South', we took in New Orleans, Memphis and the last stop was Nashville. 


Nashville is the capital of Tennessee and primarily known for its music, especially country music. It's a place with a happening vibe (whatever that is!), and has live music bars everywhere, playing mainly country, but also blues, and rock and roll. This is our 48 hours in Nashville.




Day 1

We arrived at the Loews Vanderbilt hotel in the morning and as our room was ready we settled in and unpacked. Then we decided to walk to Broadway.  This is where all the live music 'honky tonk' bars are. Big mistake, it was just that bit too far, so we came back and took a taxi down. After exploring some of the souvenir shops we decided to visit the Johnny Cash museum.




The Johnny Cash museum is a great tribute to 'The Man In Black'. Packed full of memorabilia, it tells the story of Johnny's life and really is an excellent but compact museum. From classics like 'I Walk The Line' to 'Ring of Fire', his deep voice and rebellious nature appealed to many and some say he became a bigger star now after his death.  

My father loved Johnny Cash and my husband does too, so recently I have been listening to his music more and more. Walking through the museum, listening to his music and watching his videos, I felt quite emotional. He really was an amazing songwriter and watching his videos in the museum, especially his cover of the 9 Inch Nails song Hurt, had me on the verge of tears. 



He had a strong relationship with his wife June Carter Cash, and seeing the poem he wrote for her at her funeral and the heart he laid at her grave was another emotional point. Highly recommended.




After the Johnny Cash museum, we stopped at one of the bars on Broadway for lunch. There are lots of well-known bars here like Tootsies, Legends Corner and the Tin Roof. All the bars play excellent music day and night and the singers really are of a high standard. Working for tips you can imagine how good they are. We ate at The Tin Roof. Food was simple but perfect - a great burger, and fabulous hot chicken - moist chicken in a really spicy hot chicken coating for which Nashville is known. 



After lunch, we thought about visiting the Country Music Hall of Fame or The Ryman Auditorium. We decided on the Ryman Auditorium as we couldn't pack both in, in the time we had. 




The Ryman Auditorium is a historic live music venue in the centre of Nashville. Formally a tabernacle church, it was made famous as being the venue for the Grand Ole Opry, a live country music show that has become a Nashville institution. The show is still held here on selected nights in the Winter, whilst the rest of the time is held at a purpose-built theatre at Opryland. The history of the building is incredibly interesting and if you pay for the tour you are shown a presentation of how it became an iconic building, the lady that managed it for years, the stars that have played there and how it became the official birthplace of bluegrass music.

After the tour, we returned to the hotel for a rest. 

That evening we decided to stay in one of the restaurants close to the hotel as there was a big basketball tournament on. As we were staying slightly out of the centre in the Vanderbilt area, we decided on eating at Maggiano's. This great Italian chain restaurant is always super value and we can never fault the food, as we have also eaten at their Orlando branch. What I like is that it is always full of families enjoying the food, giving it an excellent vibe, and they also do smaller portions of the mains and desserts so you never feel stuffed.

Day 2

On day two we woke up refreshed and excited about our second day. After a lovely breakfast in the club lounge, we decided to visit the Parthenon.  Yes, you heard correctly, Nashville has a replica of the Parthenon from Athens in their Centennial Park, 10-minute walk from our hotel.