Rechargeable Batteries - Review

I'm hoping over the last month or so, you might have noticed a slight improvement in some of the photos on my blog. I decided to treat myself to a new camera, as my old one was heading rapidly towards both obsolescence and the point of no-repair.  I love my new camera and all its flashy settings, but for one thing. My old camera had a single solid rechargeable battery, similar to the ones in mobile phones.  The new one takes AA batteries, and seemingly eats them at much the same speed I eat chocolate digestives.  So when Rechargeable Batteries got in touch, offering me the chance to review some of their rechargeable batteries, it was like Christmas had come early.

I received a charger with 4 batteries included, a second set of 4 batteries, both sets designed for high-use items like cameras, and sneakily a little bit of chocolate.  They definitely know the way to make me smile.  Guess which I opened first!

Once I finished tucking in to the Dairy Milk, I opened up the packages.  Cleverly both sets of batteries come already charged, so you can just pop them in to your camera & away you go.  I was quite impressed to notice the difference in battery life between the rechargeable batteries and the standard alkaline batteries I'd been using before.  They seem to last about twice as long, though it can be hard to tell when I'm taking random snaps around town.  And unlike the rechargeable batteries I remember from my childhood, the power doesn't diminish in time, with over 85% power still available after a year's use.

The charger comes with both a standard UK plug, and a car charger, so there's no risk of running out of batteries on a big adventure.  A simple idea, but so effective.  How many more items should come with a car charger as standard?  Rechargeable batteries may look expensive in the initial outlay, but think about how many packs of batteries you'd get through otherwise.  In our house the simple answer is LOADS.  Even at discount store prices, you'd make your money back within half a dozen battery changes, beyond that, you're in profit.  Plus, rechargeable batteries aren't contributing to landfill or environmental damage.  I know that shops that sell batteries now have to provide recycling facilities, but how often do people really remember to take the batteries from the tv remote back to the supermarket?

I like the way the Rechargeable Batteries website is laid out - you can easily search for the items you're looking for, by type, by brand, or what you want to use them for.  The prices are clear, and there's no hidden extras.  Unless you count the chocolate!

Disclosure: I was provided with the batteries and charger detailed above free of charge for the purposes of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme and will not receive reward for their use.
 

Our Bluestone Break

A couple of weeks ago, I spotted a competition on facebook to win a short break at Bluestone, a holiday park situated in the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park.  It's somewhere I've been dying to visit for ages, so I was ecstatic to win, even though I then had to persuade my boss to let me have the week off work!

Home Sweet Home

Now, when you hear the words "holiday park", what springs to mind? Caravans?  Ancient chalets like something off Hi-De-Hi?  None of that here. Our home for the week was a log cabin!  Not just any log cabin though, one with all the mod cons, a dishwasher, freeview telly, wet-room shower, a heated towel rail (you know my thing for heated towel rails!) big squishy sofas, an oven that puts mine to shame (and stumped me the first time I tried to use it).  And just in case, like me, you don't have a dishwasher at home, and didn't think to bring detergent, a starter pack with a short-break's-worth of dishwasher tablets & washing up liquid.  Forget log cabin, this is more like a log palace!

No Keep Off The Grass here!

Now, Bluestone is a very family orientated resort. Not just family-friendly, it's really set up to make sure the kids have a great time.  There's banners all the way up the drive with "Lots for Tots", "Where kids can be kids", "Free Range Children" and things like that.  It's not cheesy, in your face, traditional holiday camp style entertainment, club dances & creepy stuffed characters, but more like the wistful memories of the childhood you *think* you had, the one you read in an Enid Blyton book.  Lashings & lashings of ginger beer.  Rather than being encouraged to follow strict rules & stick to the paths, quite the opposite.  I love this sign, it sums up the spirit of Bluestone, for me it was all about adventure & nature, and just getting outside & enjoying it.  We were blessed with fabulous weather, which made it all that much easier, but in these surroundings, we couldn't help but enjoy ourselves.

If you go down to the woods today...

Squeaky was a bit frightened when we first spoke about staying in a log cabin in the woods.  I think it was the woods bit she was more concerned about, but I can't be sure.  I managed to talk her round though, with promises of a Teddy Bears' Picnic, and too much singing of "If you go down to the woods today...".  So she was absolutely determined that we should have a Teddy Bears' Picnic during our stay.  All other toys were left at home in favour of Tower Teddy and an un-named white Teddy.  According to Squeaky, teddy bears eat cheese, so I prepared a picnic of ham sandwiches for her, cheese for the teddies, chicken wings for the grown-ups, and crisps & pop for everyone.

Mummy's lego house.

Even if the weather hadn't been so good, we would have been fine.  The Adventure Centre had all sorts of undercover activities, including miniature golf, a lego room, where I might have got a little bit carried away and forgot that I was meant to be an adult now, a Circus Zone for the under 5's, a massive adventure playground with slides & rope bridges, and the Big Four activities - high wire swings, climbs, rope trails & bungees, though this last one had an additional fee.

There's a full programme of activities daily, some are free of charge, but others are paid for.  We didn't take part in any of the paid activities, because we found more than enough to occupy ourselves without doing so, and because Squeaky's still young enough to not know what else is going on.  I can see though, if you have older children that there's the potential for things to get very expensive.


We visited the swimming pool every day, another activity included free in your break.  There's no photos of this, mind, for obvious reasons.  The pool was great fun, as long as you're not a serious swimmer, as there's nowhere you could swim lengths.  Daddy spent much of his time on the slides, with 4 to choose from, he was occupied for a while.  Squeaky alternated between the children's pool and the shallow end of the big pool, and I bobbed about in the waves and around the lazy river.  I couldn't believe the lazy river went outside, and we were happily basking in an outdoor pool, in the UK, in April, at 5 in the afternoon.  Unbelievable!  There's a spa bath outside as well, for the over 12's.  That was a bit of an experience, dashing from a warm swimming pool to a hot spa bath, when the air between the two is a bit on the nippy side!  Made me enjoy the warm water all the more though!

Mmmmm, wine

Kids aside, I think Bluestone were expecting me.  Just take a look at one of the shops I spotted in the Village!  I've seen an off-licence on holiday sites before, but normally just a Spar.  I love the idea of a Wine Store on site.  It was part of a larger convenience store, but the whole of this storefront side was just wines & beers.  Lovely!  Just what I needed at the end of the day.  To be fair, even though we took a 3 year old Squeaky along, and there were a lot of children there, I'm pretty sure you could still have a great break at Bluestone if you didn't have children.  There's masses of woodland to explore, cycle, run, walk, however you see fit.  There's a High Ropes adventure course, adrenalin activities in the Adventure Centre, a glorious pool with slides.  And if there's not enough on site to occupy you, it's literally next door to Oakwood (seriously, you can see the rides from the site) for all the high-adrenalin rides you could ever need, and half an hour from the beaches & shops of Tenby.  I spent a lot of time thinking about which of my friends would love it the best, and came to the conclusion that all of them would, for different reasons.

The Treehouse

New for 2013 is the treehouse in The Village.  A series of inter-connected treehouses, linked by wobbly bridges, tunnels & slides.  This was where you'd find Squeaky, and lots of other children at every opportunity.  Over the course of our stay we saw her confidence increase on the bridges & she explored more & more on her own.  Which meant we were able to watch from the sidelines and have a little break ourselves.

Move over Ray Mears!

We took off for a "short" walk in the woods, following one of the nature trails.  We went a bit further than we'd really planned, but it did mean we got to see an area of the site that we'd not otherwise found.  Camp Smokey is a BBQ restaurant (sadly it was only open one day during our stay & we missed it), deep in the woods, and surrounded by the High Ropes adventure course, where we had the chance to watch one of the staff team zipping around above our heads carrying out his daily safety checks before any of the guests took part.  Part of me would love to have tried it out, but I can imagine myself getting stuck, dangling from a wire 30 feet up in the air, with everyone laughing at me.  And let's face it, those harnesses are hardly flattering!  Fair play to Squeaky though, she walked the whole way, which was probably about a mile & a half.  Because there was so much to look at, she didn't have chance to get bored & demand to be carried.  We followed numbers on the nature trail signs, found creatures, picked up interesting sticks, and collected tiny pine cones, for reasons best known to her.

Give us an "S"

I really appreciated the environmental ethics of the park.  All the accommodation has solar panels on the roofs, the pool is heated using biomass (believed to be the first in the world!).  You're encouraged to sort your waste into recyclable and non-recyclable sections.  The gates to the main site are only open on Mondays & Fridays, to allow cars to the cabins for checking in & out.  Outside these times, cars are parked in the main car park.  There's a few ways to get around the site though.  There's bikes (with baby trailers) and golf buggies available to hire, a free land train which circles the site hourly, or good old fashioned foot power.  We opted for the latter two.  There were times, especially in the afternoons, where the land train was incredibly welcome, after a hard day's adventuring.  The lack of cars on the site meant I had a bit more confidence in Squeaky's safety, after all, a golf buggy with a top speed of 5 mph might hurt if it hit you, but it'd do a lot less damage than a car.

And for my next trick

After our walk in the woods, we rewarded ourselves with a cuppa, a huge chocolate muffin, and a trip to the Circus Zone.  The Circus Zone is bizarre, it's free in the mornings, and then you have to pay in the afternoons.  So we went in the mornings!  Squeaky had a great time being a cheerleader, putting on a circus show in her tent, and being a caterpillar.  Again, reasons best known to herself.  I don't ask.

A caterpillar. Possibly Very Hungry.

Newton North Church

And finally, I'll leave you with one of my favourite pictures.  There's a ruined mediaeval church in the Village, which has been slowly reclaimed by nature.  I'm fascinated by the way nature takes things back bit by bit, and the church stood out so beautifully against the evening sky.  There's also the remains of a mediaeval manor house elsewhere in the site, but too far to persuade Squeaky to walk to just for me to take artsy photos.  Maybe when she's a bit bigger?

Disclosure: I won a four night break at Bluestone, free of charge.  I was not asked to write this review as part of my prize, but I have chosen to do so. I have not received anything for writing this review. I have not been told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

LED Hut LED Lighting Review

Sometimes a review opportunity comes along that speaks to you so much, you just can't help but get a little bit excited about it.  It may not be the most glamorous product, but you know, sometimes it's genuinely an item you really need and can get behind.  This is one such time.  I was, and still am, honestly excited by the chance to review LED Hut's LED lighting range.

Five! Count them!

Let me explain.  The people who built my house thought it would be a great idea to fit spotlights in the kitchen.  Yeah, they look great.  But really.  Who needs five 60watt bulbs in a room that is only 3m x 4m?  Honestly?  It's like walking out on stage at the London Palladium, only without Bruce Forsyth.  And the cost?  Well, you don't want to know.  Seriously, it's been costing me a fortune.  So when the opportunity arose to try out some LED lights, I knew which room I wanted to concentrate on.

The good people at LED Hut have a bulb selector on their website, so even if like me, you know nothing, they can direct you towards the right bulb, just by matching the fitting of your existing bulb, and then choosing from the range.  And if you're really stuck, they've got a telephone helpline, and I'm sure they've been asked far dafter questions than "What bulbs do I need?"  I had to ask, because none really looked like the ones I was replacing.

Picture courtesy of LEDHut

With a bit of help, I selected these High power spotlight bulbs to screw in replacing my old incandescent bulbs, which I seem to have spent a lot of time replacing over the 8 months since we moved in here (I don't know how old they were when we got here, but I'm guessing they weren't new).  The new bulbs have a 5 year warranty, and should last around 25 times longer than my old bulbs, which means they should last me a good 20 years.  No more climbing on chairs for me!

More importantly, we've gone down from 60watts per bulb to 4.6 watts.  That's more than a 90% saving, which in reality means I'm looking to save around £80 a year, for changing the lights in one room.  Imagine if I changed the rest of the bulbs in the house!

Don't get me wrong, there is a very slight difference in the amount of light, but it's actually an improvement.  While it's not quite as bright as before, that's not at all a bad thing, it's less blinding, less migraine inducing and far more comfortable.  And a big, big thing I've noticed is that it's a lot cooler and more comfortable to work in the kitchen.  With incandescent bulbs, and spotlights in particular, an awful lot of the energy is converted into heat rather than light, which is wasted in most cases.  In my kitchen it felt a bit like being under a sunlamp.  Now none of the energy is wasted and it's all converted into light, which means I only get hot from the cooker, not from above as well.

Squeaky is quite amused by the spotty lights.  They do take a little bit of getting used to, but you don't really spend a lot of time looking up at lightbulbs when they're off.  Or I don't anyway, maybe I'm strange.  The new bulbs are a little bit smaller than my old incandescents, but that again is a good thing. The old bulbs were a very snug fit in the fittings, and extremely difficult to remove, whereas the LED bulbs have enough space for me to grip them to turn in & out without risking breaking the bulb.  There's much less risk of breaking a bulb with this particular one, as there's a lot less glass, the body of the bulb is metal.  There's also no toxic materials inside, so even if the bulb did somehow get damaged, there's no risk to your health like with other bulb types.

My brightly lit kitchen

LED Bulbs aren't a cheap option in the beginning.  The bulbs in my kitchen cost £11.62 each, meaning it would have cost me £58.10 to replace all the bulbs in the kitchen myself.  But looking at an £80 saving per year on my electricity bill, I'm in profit in 9 months.  And if they last twenty years, well, I'm laughing. No more bulbs to buy, cheaper bills, cooler kitchen.  It's just a case of balancing out the initial outlay with the saving.

The rest of my house is fairly awkward lighting-wise as well, they had some really strange ideas when they built this house.  Sadly, the bulbs that feature most heavily in the rest of the house are a fitting that LED Hut don't stock at present.  I'm keeping my eyes open for the future though, as I'd love to upgrade the rest of the house.  LED Hut have converted me to LED lighting.

Wondering whether LED is right for you?  Well, here's some facts that might help.

The average household lighting bill in the UK is around £300 per year.  Replacing existing halogen bulbs with LED bulbs can cut lighting costs by up to 90%, or an average of £270 a year!


LED light bulbs last 25-30 years, so no replacement costs.


LED bulbs use 90% less energy than traditional incandescent bulbs.


A typical home switching all its halogen lights to LED could also save 6 tonnes of CO2.

Disclosure: I was provided with LED bulbs for one room free of charge for the purpose of this review. I was not told what to write and all opinions are my own.  Links are provided for your convenience, I am not a member of any affiliate scheme & will not receive reward for their use.

How Clean Is Your... Beach?

No, I haven't caught a dose of the Kim & Aggies, don't panic. I'm still me.

With the financial climate not looking like it's going to get a great deal healthier at the moment, more & more people are likely to be staying within the UK for their holidays this year.  It's like the 1970's all over again.  We're actually really lucky in the UK, blessed with around 11,000 miles of coastline, according to Ordnance Survey (the map people).  OK, not all of that is accessible, and even that which is, it's not all the white sandy beaches of our dreams, but they're ours, and need our help.  I was lucky enough to grow up on the coast, and spent many happy hours on the beaches nearby, swimming, climbing, collecting shells, and generally being a kid.  I'd like Squeaky to have the same privilege.

My parents still live by the seaside (I moved, boooooo), but in a fortnight's time, Squeaky & I will be off to one of my childhood haunts, Sand Bay, near Weston-super-Mare, to join in with the Marine Conservation Society and their Big Beach Clean Up event, sponsored by Marks & Spencer.  There are Beach Clean Ups going on across the UK over the weekend of 11-13 May 2012, so there's bound to be one near you.  We were already planning to visit my parents, so we're going to their local event, rather than one closer to home (in case you were worried that my carbon footprint would be bigger than the impact of my beach cleaning).

It's been a good while since I've been to Sand Bay, I'm interested to see how time has treated the area, as well as seeing what interesting items we might find on the beach.  Apparently, during a similar clean up event, Marine Conservation Society volunteers found all sorts of things, including a plastic skeleton & a portable toilet!  Not to mention the cans, bottles, and plastic bags you'd expect.

The Marine Conservation Society are making quite a day of it, with children's activities and a barbecue for volunteers at our location, but each location varies.  Take a look at the map and see if there's a beach clean up going on near you (nowhere in the UK is more than 70 miles from the coast, so you stand a chance), and join Squeaky & I in cleaning up our beaches.  If the weather's nice, we'll get an added dose of vitamin D, if not, I'll just introduce her to the delights of a British seaside holiday!

Oh, and I've had confirmation that equipment will be provided on the day, just bring suitably outdoor clothing - wellies/boots, coats & clothes you don't mind getting a bit mucky!

If you can't make it, or you can, but your children can't, why not visit School Of Fish, the children's website for the event? There's games, downloads, "codcasts" (I love that!), and all sorts of info so you and your family can get involved even if you can't make it to the beach.  See you there!

Squeaky Goes Green

We're learning our colours, bit by bit, in Squeaky Mansions at the moment.  We can positively identify "red", find red things, and say "red" at the appropriate time.  We're not bad at "blue", though it tends to be said "bue". Yellow is a bit more tricky, and Squeaky's still getting that one a bit confused.

However, today, we're interested in "Green".  Ten Green Bottles, and all that.  I've put together ten hints and tips on how to save energy, money and the environment, with simple ideas from the mind of a simple mum (me), and a bit of help from La Squeak.

1. Close Doors.  I'm forever on at Daddy to shut the door behind him when he's leaving a room, even if he'll be back in a minute ("I'm only going out to the bin" is his usual reply)  Warm air from the house rushes out through an open door, to be replaced by cold air, which needs heating, and increases your heating bills.  Keeping doors closed means you keep the rooms you're in at a reasonable temperature, and you're not paying to heat the street.

2. Turn off the things you're not using.  Again, this is something I nag Daddy about all the time.  He'll put the radio on in the kitchen when he washes up, and then forget to turn it off when he comes back to the living room. No-one is listening to Radio 2, or whatever nonsense he's put on, and if no-one's listening, it's burning unnecessary power.  Flick the switch.

3. Dry outside.  Make the most of the wind and the sunshine (yes, I know), and put your clothes outside on the line to dry.  They'll get that lovely clean, crisp feeling, and you haven't paid a penny, just used what nature gave you.  And if the weather's a bit rubbish, get the clothes airer out & dry them on there.  Forget the tumble dryer.

4. Wear clothes that don't need ironing!  OK, I admit it. I'm lazy.  I hate ironing with a passion.  That's why, if you ever meet me, I'm likely to be wearing jeans & a slightly crumpled t-shirt.  But ironing takes more power, and that's what we're trying to avoid, right?  I know, there's times when you have to, and times when you want to, but think before you iron.  Do you need to iron teatowels & undies?

Doing very well on egg water, thank you!

5. Only boil as much water as you need.  And offer to make everyone else a cuppa when you go to the kettle.  There's nothing more wasteful than boiling a kettle, then someone adding a mugsworth of cold water to it and boiling it again 2 minutes later.  Make your family think you're kind & thoughtful, and save a few pennies.

6. Reuse water.  Yes, share a bath if you like, but that's not what I mean.  Boiled eggs for brekkie?  Let the water cool, and use the egg water to water your houseplants.  The tiny bits of eggshell & chicken poo are good plant food, and your plants will thank you for it.  Likewise with your washing up water - out on the veggies in the garden.

7. Get thrifty.  I'm sure you've seen some of my Magpie Monday posts, so you'll know I can't walk by a charity shop without a quick peek inside.  By breathing new life into someone else's unwanted items, you're reducing the number of new clothes made, stopping something going to landfill, saving yourself money (there's some real bargains to be had), and giving money to a good cause.  It's even better if you can donate some of your unwanted, outgrown, or otherwise unloved items too - makes space for something else.

*Click*

8. Buy refills & economy sizes.  They're usually better value for money (but watch for special offers), and particularly with things like coffee, they're more environmentally sound.  The cardboard tub of a catering size tin of coffee takes much less energy to make than the glass jar, it weighs less so uses less energy to transport to the store, and mug for mug costs less.  Everyone's a winner.  Heck, you can get milk in plastic bags now, if you shop in certain supermarkets!

9. Turn off the lights! (Not the Nelly Furtado song, but if it's a reminder, then yeah)  Much as with my earlier point, if it's not being used, it's wasting power.  Squeaky's added this simple tutorial if you're unsure of the process.

10. Keep an eye on what you're actually using.  We won an energy monitor last year, it clips onto the cable by the electric meter, and feeds back to a display you can put somewhere else in the house, and it's a great way to remind you to think about what you're doing, and where you could save.  The way the use rockets when you switch certain appliances on is scary!

Along the same lines, British Gas are introducing Smart Meters, which have a monitor so you can see what you're using, and make your own choices.  I use the phrase "informed choice" a lot in my day job, but this is one of those times where it applies to real life as well.  If you know you're burning cash, you can choose to do something about it, and decide what matters to you the most.  Maybe you can't wash up without the radio on, but you can stop ironing those socks!

This post is my entry to the BritMums & British Gas Watt Loss Challenge.