5 Ideas for Your Guest Room

Having guests stay over is a lovely way to be able to spend time with your friends or family and share your home with them. Once you’ve got a nice space set up as your guest room, hosting your loved ones becomes easy and pleasant for both parties. Here are a few great ideas to help you do just that. 

Colours and Pleasant Perfumes

To leave a good impression and ensure your guests feel comfortable in their temporary room, the space should be welcoming and pleasant. Neutral shades accented with splashes of warmer colours or striking bright textiles will help to create a space that is neither too dull nor too bold.
Make sure it’s a nice space for sleeping and for spending a little down time during the day – it should be well lit but able to be kept cool, dark and quiet at night. Subtle, soothing aromas are a homely touch that also create a calm and inviting space.

Creature Comforts

When your guests are staying with you they’ll want a little time to themselves. In order to create a space in which they can feel comfortable they should be provided with a few creature comforts that can be enjoyed in their room.

A mirror in the room means guests can ready themselves without having to wait for the bathroom, it helps guests feel a little more self contained. This can be complimented with a nice dresser where they can keep cosmetics and toiletries rather than in their travel bag.

A tray with tea cups, tea bags and a kettle is another lovely touch. Some spare towels and blankets should also be accessible – if your guests get up earlier than you for a shower, or are cold during the night, they won’t want to wake you up to ask for a towel or blanket.

Books and Magazines

A few recent magazines or simple, short books by the bed give guests something to pass the time when they need to escape for a few hours and just relax, or to wind down at night. Try opting for gender neutral magazines and books that make for an easy read.

Towels and Toiletries

A dresser for toiletries, towel hooks, a small desk for the laptop and a chair in the corner are all nice ideas for furnishings. Necessary items like towels and face washers should also be placed in the room. You might also like to provide a small cake of soap and some travel-sized shampoo, conditioner and body wash, so that your guests don’t have to share the family supply. They’ll feel as though they’re at a five star resort.

Futons and Foldaways

If you’re a little stuck for space in your home, why not combine purposes for your spare rooms? When there’s only one room to spare, have your office space or games room double as a guest room when you have people come to stay.

The easiest way to do this is by having furniture than can easily be stowed away, moved or transformed. You might like to have your room as primarily an office space or a play room for the kids, with a stylish futon or fold-out sofa bed included in the room so that when guests come to stay you can simply convert the seating to bedding. You could also use a desk that folds away and can be stored in a small space. Make sure there’s plenty of spare cupboard space so any office items, toys or electronics can be neatly tucked away while your guests are present.

If your guest room is mostly used by your children’s friends or younger family members, you could search for any bunk beds for sale to include in your spare room, maximising sleeping space while leaving plenty of room for an office desk or a play space.

By following these basic tips you’ll create a lovely in-home respite for your guests to sleep, relax, and recharge for all the day’s activities. They’ll be back in no time!

5 Tips for Living Without a Credit Card

For many people, credit cards symbolise a trap which continues to keep them in debt. While they can be very handy, credit cards often cause more harm than good. If you’re looking to shake your debt for good, here are 5 top tips for living without a credit card.

Get Your Finances Sorted

To ensure that you can really get the best start on living without a credit card, you should take a good look at your financial standing first. Without a solid foundation, you may end up having to revert to credit once more just to get you out of a difficult financial situation. If you are experiencing difficulty paying your bills, meeting your loan repayments and balancing your credit cards, it might be a good option to seek professional help.

Professional debt solutions specialists such as Fox Symes provide a range of support and advice to help you to consolidate and eliminate your debt, as well as alleviate financial strain. Fox Symes is one of Australia’s leading debt solutions specialists, and their team of professionals can help you to regain control over your finances for good. With this sorted, you can focus on living life without your credit card debt and take charge of your finances.

Update Your Budget

If you’ve been living off your credit card, chances are your budget will need a serious adjustment before you can get rid of your card for good. Sit down and work out exactly what your weekly expenses are, and weigh them against your income. Focus as much of your leftover funds into paying off your credit card as soon as possible. Once the card is paid off, allocate the money you were using into a separate savings account. Now instead of using your card, you can work with your own savings and stay debt free for good.

Resisting Temptation

The simple thing to remember about living without your credit card is this: if you have to use credit, you can’t afford to buy it. Don’t let the temptation of bargains or a special deal ruin all of the hard work you have put in to becoming debt free.

Cut Up Your Card

The reason so many people advocate cutting up your card is that it is a simple and effective way to remove the temptation of using credit without actually harming your credit rating. If you cancel your card, you run the risk of damaging your credit rating and undoing all the hard work you’re currently putting in. When you cut up the card, it is a physical as well as psychological commitment to living without credit.

Use Debit Instead

The majority of debit cards issued by banks can be used just like a credit card. They are designed to work with internet transactions as well as over the phone, so you can use your own money to pay bills and buy online rather than putting it on credit.

Breaking the cycle of credit card debt isn’t easy, but it can be achieved with a bit of hard work and determination. Credit is designed to be easy to access and hard to pay off, so you need to put all the odds in your favour if you are going to get rid of your card for good. Remember to seek professional help if you feel like you’re struggling with your finances, and find a reputable company such as Fox Symes who will work with you to eradicate your debt. Following these top tips will have you well on your way to enjoying life without the financial stress of credit card debt.

Feeding the Bookworm in You on a Budget

It is no secret that I am a voracious reader. My desk is a happy mess of piles of books that I’ve just read and about to read (or read again). I probably spend more on books than on clothes and shoes. Even my bag is never without a pocketbook that I read whenever I’m out. I definitely am a bookworm through and through. Books aren’t the only thing that feed my insatiable hunger for written words. Magazines also dominate a good part of my desk and bookshelf.

Reading a dozen different magazines a month takes a hefty chunk of the budget though. With my little girl starting school and our new home still under construction, I had to find a way to sustain my love for reading books and magazines without having to spend too much. Not wanting to sacrifice my reading pleasure, here are several ways through which I now feed the bookworm in me:

1. Find A Local Library. You are lucky if you have a local library that’s well stocked with the latest publications and book titles. You can simply go there to spend your free time poring over your favorite magazines and books. Most libraries are open to the public, while some charge a minimal fee that allows you to borrow books for a limited time. This small expense is nowhere near the amount of money you will spend buying magazines and books from newsstands and bookstores.

2. Second-Hand Book Shops. You will be surprised to find treasures in these quaint shops. Some books are a little tattered, but most of the stocks in these shops are still in great condition. Be patient in scouring through the shelves for your favorite titles and authors. It’s really just like going through the library shelves. Your book budget will go a long way with the great discounts on these second-hand books.

3. Magazine Subscriptions. Subscribing to your fave magazines would save you more than 10% from newsstand prices. If you search hard enough, you may even get to save up to 90% on your magazine expenses from sites such as Subscription Addict. If you think about it, that’s like getting 10 magazines for the price of one. Even if you have the same budget, wouldn’t you want to get more magazines for your money?

4. Magazine or Book Swap. Favorite books deserve a permanent place in our book shelves but others can be passed to other book lovers or traded for a different book. There are magazine or book swag groups online and offline. Joining these groups will allow you to get new titles without spending any money. At the same time, you can also get rid of some of the old reading materials overflowing from your shelves.

It is not impossible to indulge in a reading frenzy even if your funds are limited. While I have found ways to save on my expenses for books and magazines, there is also a way to earn more funds to spend for your reading materials. If you have more than enough magazines and books lying around, sort through them and pick out those that you are already willing to part with. You might want to think about the fact that magazines may lose their novelty over time. But, there are still those who find use for old magazines. You may want to make some money out of your old ones by selling them. Have your own book sale to build your “reading fund.”