I love being a Scentsy Consultant for a lot of reasons, but getting emails like this actually make me a little misty eyed.

Here's what the testimonial reads if it's a bit small to see properly:

"Hi Karen,
I met you at the Baby Show at the Excel Centre a few weeks ago, where my little boy, Sebastian spotted Mollie the Monkey. After purchasing Mollie and filling her with the scent of lavender (in an aim to get Seb to sleep better) she has not left Seb's side!!! Mollie is without a doubt my little man's favourite toy and has hugely improved his sleep patterns! Since having his new friend, he now goes down for sleeps awake and just snuggles into Mollie instead, also sleeping longer and better; he is a happier bunny and I am a happier Mummy!!! Please see attached pics of the adventures of Mollie and Seb x I would just like to say thank you for a wonderful, quality product!!
Love Liz & Sebastian xxx"

I met the yummy mummy (yes you are!) Liz at the Baby Show, like she said. I just don't know if I can add anymore to the testimonial. It makes me so happy. Seb is possibly the most gorgeous baby I've ever seen- after my own of course.

Liz has recently told me that Seb is now taking Mollie the Monkey to nursery with him and she's a great comfort to him there as well. The scent is probably helping him feel relaxed like he does at home.

Buy Mollie or any of her friends and YOUR CHOICE of scent pak here: BUY HERE

School has started! Thank heavens! I love my boys more than all the grains of sand in the desert. But I love it when they get out of my house too. The only trouble I'm finding is that the money is flying out of the door. There's money for school lunches, backpacks, uniforms, after-school activities, new shoes, more new shoes after the first pair don't last but a week, milk club, birthday party invitations, and we're only a few months from the holidays. Ack!

However, being a stay-at-home mum, I am learning to cut corners. I've recently discovered that I don't have to place a Sainsbury's order for £80 once a week, but can instead shop smarter at discount supermarkets.





The inspiration for this post comes from the Channel 4 program about Poundland I saw last night. You have to be careful when using discount shops. Which we all knew. I thought the program was a bit reactionary and didn't tell me anything I didn't already know about Poundland.


Here are my Top Ten Tips:

1. Know what things cost. Know the major supermarkets prices.

2. What is the cost per unit? This is written on the price tags, usually in small print under the cost of the item. Not sure if buying the pasta on sale 2 for 1 is cheaper than the store brand pasta in bulk? LOOK at the cost per unit!

3. Get a Costco card. Costco are a beautiful company that set the bar for ethical practices. So you can feel good going there too. Bonus! Be careful at Costco. Often times buying in bulk doesn't beat the supermarket sales. Avoid the butchers and bakery sections. While it is utterly delicious, it is priced at a premium.

4. Plan your weekly menu. Plan what your family will eat for the week based on reading the sale ads. There are hundreds of great meal planning websites to get your started.

5. It's not a deal if you don't use it! I have a teeny tiny house. To help get some perspective, I think about the cost of the rest of items stored.

6. If it is a deal and you use it, store it! 8 packs of wholegrain pita bread? Insane? No! freezeable and never out of bread for a school lunch box.

7. Pay with cash. It's easy to use your card and lose track. A good method my Dad taught me when money was tight, was to separate the budget into marked envelopes and use the cash directly from there. You can see your savings and play a game to try and have some cash left over at the end of the month.

8. Store brands. Try 'em. They are markedly less and often times manufactured in the name brand factory, just packaged under different labels. My kids go through yogurt like it's going out of style. Tesco brand children's yogurts don't have any cartoons on them, but they are less than 50p for a 6 pack.

9. Make your own. Muffins can whip up with anything from sausages to pumpkin to oatmeal. If you have a good pantry, you can whip up muffins (and freeze!) and always have a snack or meal ready.

10. Eat well! Enjoy your meals, make things you like. Saving money and watching the budget does not have to feel like deprivation.


What does this have to do with Scentsy? Well. Scentsy ounce for ounce and gram for gram comes out MUCH more economical than buying scented candles. Even if you are buying grossy cheap ones. A warmer costs anywhere from £25-40 but you KEEP it. It's home decor. A bar of wax that last for approximately 80+ hours lasts for only £5. If you buy more, you save more. So 3 for £14 and 6 for £25. BUY HERE

Check out the comparison sheet:

While it's still quite chilly, I'm dreaming of Summertime. Having the heating on, even if it's just to "take the chill out" is for the birds. Apparently, the birds seem to thing it's springtime with all the blasted racket at 4a.m. Really birds? 4?

I digress. In an effort to get into the spirit of summer, I'm shopping for a pair of white linen trousers which I will basically live in from now until September. I've clearing more junk out of this house on a daily basis. It's like a clown-car of debris. My poor children are sharing 6 dresser drawers for all of their clothes and 2 are entirely filled to the brim with cloth nappies. My youngest hasn't worn a nappy in about 2 months. Again digressing...

So I've got on the best summer-smelling Scentsy wax, Coconut Lemongrass. Ahh, Coconut Lemongrass is one of those complex fragrances where you can sniff it and get something different everytime. First waft: "Oh! That's very lemongrass-y." Second sniff: "Oh, I can REALLY smell the coconut! It reminds me of holiday!" Oh yeah, it's what I'm talking about.

Buy Me Here!

Then I decided I need an old school push-pop after I found this recipe on Pinterest: http://www.loveveggiesandyoga.com/2012/01/orange-pushup-smoothie.html It looked delicious and I couldn't stop thinking about it.

So I decided that since I was watching the calories, and I was obsessing over orange push-pops, I would try a not only low-cal, but a British modification. (we don't get the frozen juice concentrates here)

Here's my recipe:

Gobs of ice. That's an exact measure, you know!
2 cups of skim milk
1 cup of No Sugar Added Squash
1/2 cup Splenda
3 tablespoons of Light Coffee-Mate
1 teaspoon of Vanilla Extract

Throw it all in the Blender until it's smooth. The boys and I had some straight away and another couple of cups are sitting in the freezer.

Happy Summertime... I promise it's coming!

I had the absolute HONOR this week of listening to the 7th ever Scentsy Consultants speak about the experiences she and her husband had when starting Scentsy way on back in 2003. She disclosed that she was in attendance at what was very likely the first ever Scentsy party and she joined as a consultant then and there. The stories she has about how the company and her business grew were so inspiring. At one point during the call, her husband said that when the public started to really want to buy Scentsy, they were working as fast as they could and that "we couldn't have failed even if we had tried!". I love this. I love that an ordinary family only 7-8 years ago were able to take a chance on something that has changed their lives. I'm cheesy, I know. So, I remembered why I wanted to be a consultant. I wanted to be one of the first people in Europe to share this product with others... and I continue to want that. There is nothing better than seeing someone find that fragrance that makes them remember Mum's kitchen or Grandad's garden. And there is NO better feeling than helping someone start a business that I know (although they may not!) that his could very well change their life. This was definitely the best £85 I have ever spent and as my team continues to grow and achieve, I can't help feeling that I'm building my own family and also building a Scentsy family. I love this! Check out what's involved in the Starter Kit and get in touch if you want to jump into this crazy ride with me.

So simple even a child could use it!

This is my son, Thomas, demonstrating how he likes to use Scentsy. Not that he's a ham or anything.
Seriously, my boys are 2 and 4 and they make a perfect little team. They help me label my bars, bags my samples and tell me what smells nice. And they are VERY good at carrying their Roarbert the Lion (with a Camu Camu scent pak) and Lenny the Lamb (with Sweet Pea and Vanilla Scent Pak) and letting people smell whenever possible.

We had to take a trip to pediatric emergency when Thomas has a virus a few weeks ago. His stomach was causing him a lot of pain so they wanted to rule out appendix going bad. So he had Roarbert for company and made the doctor smell him as he was being checked. Thomas only had a virus and has made a full recovery.

So I guess the point is, I love my kids. I love being a Scentsy Consultant. I love that I can be a Mum and do Scentsy and involve my children- even if I do have to pay them in chocolate buttons sometimes!