Poundland Christmas gift ideas.

So where does this Scrimpy Student look for those last minuet Christmas gifts? Poundland of course! Now I have to say Poundland have really upped their game this year and there's actually some really good quality stuff so if you've left shopping a little last minuet Poundland is the perfect place.

Firstly how cute is this Pug money box? I just love it, he would look great on a desk and he encourages you to save a few pennies, he's literally so awesome, I would love to receive him as a gift.

This photo frame is beautiful, it just love the detailing, although it looks great as it is it could be spray painted any colour to match your home. As a gift you could give it as it is or just slip a photo in for a lovely personalised gift.

I've been frequently surprised by Poundland's selection of DVDs, they've got some awesome titles in there and there is defiantly something for everyone. You could pair this with some popcorn and some slippers and a facemask for an ultimate night in set.

These measuring cups are great for any Mary Berry wannabe, I admit the packaging lets them down a little but in all honesty it doesn't really matter, it all ends up in the bin anyway. Pair this with some cake mixes or a mixing bowl for any budding baker.

Now I posted about Rimmel London Apocolips a while back and when browsing the make up section for this post I found some more, this time in a neutral tone which I loved, it's a perfect colour and paired with a few other Poundland pieces or nail polishes would make the perfect make up gift.

Finally one to the gadget lovers, phone cases can be really expensive but Poundland have a great selection of cases for a wide variety of makes. There is a great mix of styles as well, some simple designs and some more out there ones, like giant pink fluffy cases but we shan't say too much about those. I currently have a rubbery case but I shall now be switching to this harder plastic one, I just love to pattern too, it's really simple, yet classy (a little like myself). Poundland also offer Ipad cases and screen protectors, annoyingly though, not for the Ipad Air! Sort yourselves out Poundland! You could pair this with a charger or some headphones for a gadgety gift.

They also do some awesome travel mugs that I sadly couldn't find for this post, I have one back at uni and I love it. It's hardly left my hands since I had it and everyone has been asking me where I got it, even one of my lecturers wanted one!

Where do you head for last minuet presents?

Keep it Scrimpy
Laura.

Digital detox with Endsleigh*

A couple of weeks ago Endsleigh, the student insurance specialists, contacted me and invited me to take part in their digital detox. After a long 12 weeks of what feels like constant essay writing I thought I could probably do with the break from the computer. The detox meant that after 9pm I couldn't use my laptop or beloved iPad and I turned off wifi and mobile data on my phone.

I began my detox a week ago which was also the Geography Societies Christmas ball. This actually made the detox a lot easier, there was no need to be checking Facebook or updating Twitter, also I had no signal at the place anyway!

Coming home for Christmas

Yup, I've made it through another semester (yay me!) and after several Christmas meals I'm finally home. The heating is on and my mum has done my washing, she's such a star. Here's a run through of my Christmassy moments of the past few weeks

It took me a good while to start feeling christmassy this year but it began with a trip to Cheshire Oaks 

10 Reasons why I'm a rubbish blogger

My top 10 reasons why I'm a rubbish blogger and why I should probably just give up now...

1- I always forget to take photos of my food before I start eating

The starter was so beautiful but I forgot the main! 

We were at a really fancy meal the other day and I only managed to instagram the first course! Disaster!

A weekend escape to Pwllheli

After a very tough few weeks Richard and I decided that we just needed a break, so we had a look online for a weekend getaway. We found a beautiful cottage in Pwllheli on a working farm, we booked quite late, and Richard even found us a code for a free cottage pie. Our weekend was spent cuddled in front of a log fire watching James Bond, and food network, eating roasted chestnuts, popcorn and home made stews and lazing around in the spa. It was a perfect weekend.

Sal's kitchen- Pull-apart pizza bread*

Okay so I've been a naughty and very disorganised student and I've had no time to blog, I'm sorry, I hope this offering of awesome pizza bread makes up for it. Just look at how amazing it looks!

  

Reading week in Barcelona

So it's currently reading week at Bangor and this year I'm very lucky to be spending the week in Barcelona carrying out field work for my course. We didn't get off to the best of starts, the bus to take us to the airport wouldn't start but they sent us a replacement and we were soon on our way! 

Blending style and technology, a lesson from Logitech*

Well most of my friends will tell you, I'm not the tidiest of people and my desk is probably one of the more cluttered areas of my room, there's wires and chargers everywhere!. So when Logitech got in touch recently and asked me to take part in there latest project of blending technology and style I was curious. Could this be the inspiration I need to pull my socks up and get organised and restyled at the same time? Here are Will Taylor's tips on how to blend technology into your home

Harry Potter Studio Tours- A truly magical experience.

September marks many things for me, one of the more important dates in september is the 16th. It's my very good friend Jo's birthday. We've know each other for ever and until this year I don't remember a birthday I've missed. So in order to celebrate early we headed of to do what we do best, fan girl over Harry Potter. We headed down to London for the Harry Potter Studio Tour. It was freaking awesome!

I donned my Hufflepuff t-shirt and Jo sported a Gryffindor hoody and t-shirt.

Cooking with Jane and Richard. Mission 1 Burritos.

So a few weeks ago the lovely people at Heinz got in contact about their new range of beans. However, after a recent disagreement with tomatoes, I couldn't test them luckily I have some very hungry friends who were keen to help me out. 

Making a room feel like home with Dunelm*

After a busy freshers' week I'm finally back into the swing of things. When I moved back to uni this year I decided that my room just was not homely enough, so with the help of the lovely people of Dunelm Mill I set about making my very magnolia room feel a little more cosy.

Firstly, I wanted something practical and money saving, Bangor gets blooming chilly in the winter and I've always wanted a massive fluffy blanket that I can wrap myself up in to avoid putting the heating on. When I found this Teddy Bear Throw I was just in love. IT'S SO FLUFFY!

The double size that I got cost £19.99, the smaller size is £9.99

Cancer: We Beat You- A free ebook

I want to share something with you all, my friend Andy has written his own book, it's currently free on amazon and we would both really appreciate it if you could download it and have a read. It's a great book and I'm super proud of him!

This is us last Christmas 

10 Things I love about September.

So we are well into September, it's almost Fresher's week and I'm loving everything September has to offer, here's my top 10 things that I love about this month...

Richmond University Pre-Fresher's Guide*

It's a mega busy few weeks for us students and many people are wondering what to take to uni, how on earth they are going to pack it all in one car and who their new flat mates will be, but that lull between results day and acutally going to uni can drag, so what can you actually do in that time? Well, Richmond University got in contact with a post with some ideas for exactly that. So I present you all with my first ever guest post on Scrimpy Student!

Are you off to uni in September? Follow our guide to what you can do this summer to help you prepare.

Go Shopping

One of the fun bits of preparing for uni is compiling the shopping list of things you really need to take with you. Of course, what you need to buy depends on where you will be living, which could be halls, self-catering or private accommodation. You’ll need a duvet, pillow, cooking utensils, plates, bowls and cutlery unless you are going to be in halls. And how about that reading list? Don’t assume that you’ll find all those books in the library. You almost certainly won’t, but don’t despair at the cost of buying them all new. Check out student websites: you are bound to be able to buy most of them second-hand.

Unleash your #MeatLust blogger challenge*

So the people over at Flava-It must know how much I love food because the recently sent over some of their new 'Meat Lust' 10 minute marinades for me to try! Also, because they know that I'm a student and it's been so long since my last student loan installment, they were very kind and sent me a Tesco voucher so I could buy some meat to marinade. They were good to me.

Logitech T630 Touch Mouse Review*

Okay, so if like me T630 means sweet FA to you, basically the lovely people at Logitech have sent me a very snazzy looking bluetooth mouse to review from the perspective of a student. I was a little hesitant, I've never bothered with a mouse or keyboard for my laptop, they come with one, why would I? Well I've been pleasantly surprised by this little beauty.

Gnat Styling - A shirt so bad it's good*.

You probably haven't heard of Gnat Styling before, they're new to the market but boy have they entered with a bang! Not content with being the quiet kid in the corner Gnat Styling have taken centre stage and really are attracting attention and in shirts like these it isn't hard to see why!

It's so bad it's good!

Poundland finds: Rimmel London Apocalips

A trip to Llandudno last week took me into my beloved poundland. Initially just for a packet of nerds but I always check out the makeup section and to my amazement I found these little beauties!

These beauties at only £1 each!

A-level results day advice

So tomorrow is the big day and there's no more denying it. But there's no need to panic, here is my guide to surviving results day.

Avoid social media.
Especially the night before, just turn it off. Twitter especially will be rife with speculation over when track will be open and what the grade boundaries will be for that Politics exam and you just don't need that extra stress in your life right now, remember, no amount of worry will change your grades, they were decided a long time ago.

Get a good night sleep
Whatever happens tomorrow it's going to be a long day, as hard as it sounds try and sleep. Run yourself a bath, grab a book and relax. You're going to need a lot energy for tomorrow.

Sticker Food Sunday

Sunday is by far my favourite day of the week, lazy mornings afternoons in bed doing puzzles, bacon oatcakes and watching cooking programmes. There are few reasons to get dressed on a sunday but one thing I do like to make an exception for is to go sticker food shopping. While I'll always pop in and have a look for bargains in the week Sunday seems to be by far the best day to go and grab some stickered bargains.

Scrimpy days out: Wheelock Farm

Wheelock Farm is located just outside Crewe and is an entertaining day out for ages. I'm speaking from experience here, I've been going to Wheelock farm since I was a little'un! What started off as a barn with a few animals is now a large petting farm complete with adventure playground and a maize maze!

Part of the fun of Wheelock farm is that it is free to get in, it always has been. All you have to do is buy a bag of animal feed at the very reasonable price of 50p and off to toddle for a great afternoon feeding the animals (or nanimals as a 5 year old me would say). In the past there was a small play ground for the little uns to enjoy but that was long since demolished and there is now a huge adventure playground that I wish I could play on! The only catch with this shiny new playground is that it's £2 per child, still not bad compared to other places.

Now, back to the important bit, feeding the animals, even Richard got involved! 

They had sheep, goats, donkeys and horses that you could feed.

Scrimpy days out: Little Moreton Hall

So this is the start of a new series of blog posts. Like most students this summer I'm pretty broke but I still want to have fun and visit places with friends and family so came this series of posts, fun days out for prices that make you smile.

Malta 2014

On thursday I landed back in England, I'm back at my parents house for a while before I head back home to Wales. I can't move into my house until the 1st September and I'm counting down the days! I had a great time in Malta though, it was a great experience and I've learnt a lot.

I was primarily there to complete a 4 week placement on a Permaculture research farm. Permaculture is a merger of the words permanent and agriculture, even now I'm still learning exactly what it is but basically permaculture is a way of living where you work with the environment to fulfill your needs, so you don't over exploit the land. One person summed it up as the organic gardening revolution.

The farm was a pretty awesome place to be, the views were quite beautiful.

A Malta update.

So I'm half way through my stay in Malta, the tan is building well and we've had some great adventures. I'm not going to lie though I'm missing home, yesterday was a particularly low point, I wasn't feeling well and I just wanted to be at home. I'm feeling a little better today though so onwards and upwards!

Work at the permaculture farm is going really well and I'm beginning to realise that permaculture isn't just about producing food in a sustainable and eco-friendly way it's a whole way of life. It's about working and living with the land. The farm is a very calming place to be and I wish we could spend some more time there. I'm working on a research report about the health benefits of wheat grass (if anyone has ever tried it please let me know!). Also we've been working on a few projects including trying to perfect the method of making biochar, on our 4th attempt we finally did it! A full barrel! It's probably my favourite project on the farm. We've also been working on the micro greens that are grown here and are the farms main source of income, the greenhouse is partially underground meaning it's always nice and cool in there.

Biochar- This is mixed with compost (which is made on the farm) and it created a nutrient rich soil that plants love.

Just a quick note

So I may have forgotten to mention that I'm heading to Malta for a month, and by heading to I mean that I'm already here. It's been an awesome week so far.

My first view of Malta from the plane!

The struggles of summer

I've just got back from a really lovely catch up with the beautiful Alex,I haven't seen her in ages and it was great to finally sit down and talk. Alex has just finished her first year at uni and you can tell she loves it there, she's like my little sister and I'm so proud of her.

One of the things we talked about was adjusting to being back home after being away all year and it got me thinking about how I adjusted last year and how I'm coping now. Truth is, after my first year of uni I didn't and to be honest I'm still struggling now.

Bangor- Year 2

So today I'm heading home, second year is done and because I really don't want to pack just yet I'm going to take this time to reflect on the year just passed.

I'm 2/3rds of the way through my time here. This year actually counted towards my degree. This time next year I'll have to be a proper grown up and get a job. Those three things are a little scary.

Latest bargain buys

It's been an amazing couple of weeks, exams are now over and I'm now finished for second year! Over the past few weeks I seem to have refreshed my wardrobe due to a considerable amount of procrastination shopping and some amazing sales. Today, partly to cheer myself up after a disastrous exam yesterday and partly because I've been dying to for ages, I headed to Upper Bangor to my favourite vintage shop and spoilt myself with even more new clothes, then on my way home I popped into a charity shop and found myself, once again indulging myself in new books, here's a quick tour of my favourite purchases from the past few weeks.

SENRGy Love

Warning, this is a long one!

Last week was a very stressful one for all, we've all been working hard getting the last few bits of work done for the year and third years are getting dissertations done, now it's just exams to tackle! I took a couple of evenings out this week to attend two awards ceremonies, firstly, Tuesday night was a Peer Guide awards ceremony and Wednesday was Course Representative and Student Lead Teaching Awards. Come Thursday I was so proud to be a member of the School of Environment Natural Resources and Geography (SENRGy). We kick ass!

The Peer Guide Awards was to celebrate all the hard work that peer guides across the university put in not only in welcome week but throughout the year, we are already working hard on freshers week 2014. It was also a chance for us to say thank you to those that won't be here next year, either because they are graduating or because they are taking a year out.A special mention goes to our lead peer guides from last year Tom and Chloe, two of them took on the role that would normally be taken on by three people, quite frankly they were amazing, we couldn't have had such a successful welcome week without them. For 2014 the baton has been handed to Richard, Chris and Jane, I know they are an awesome team and will be amazing lead peer guides!

Just a small section of the SENRGY Team. I'll be genuinely sad when some of them don't return next year.

A much needed break and some desperately needed cocktails.

So life has been a little quiet on the blogging front, every other bit on life has been far too busy! Easter came at exactly the right time this year, frankly it has been an awful semester and I was in desperate need of a break so I took a week off from my mountain of work and hopped on a plane to Corfu with Richard.

We booked about two weeks before we went,we found the deal on icelolly.com and I spent the whole day calling various companies trying to get us the best deal possible, we added transfers and insurance which we found ourselves (NEVER get this through the holiday company, it's way more expensive) and ended up with a week in an all inclusive hotel in Gouvia, Corfu. We stayed at a lovely hotel called the Aquis Park Hotel, I would definitely recommend staying here, some people were complaining about the food but we thought it was lovely! Also the cocktails were amazing!

A little cloudy (and wonky) I know but a decent size pool, always sun beds available! 

Things I've never really gotten used to in Bangor

I love Bangor, honestly I do, it's an amazing place but there are still some things that I really can't get my head around!

Paying for carrier bags

It's not so much the price of them that bothers me it's just that when I go home and I find myself binging on carrier bags, even if I don't need one I grab one, or I do the exact opposite and attempt to carry all my shopping home with no bags at all, a common sight in Wales, not so much in England!
A few weeks ago we were driving down to the South-West for a Geography trip and I wasn't entirely sure where we were (Ironic for a geography student I know but in my defence I had been asleep!) so when we stopped at a service station and the lovely man behind the counter asked me if I would like a bag with my magazines he looked rather bemused when I responded with ' Depends, are we in England or Wales?'

Golf, Planes and Penny slots!

Well shit, it's been a while.

Massive apologies everyone!I hope everyone had a good Christmas and new year and any January exams anyone had have gone well.  It honestly feels like I haven't posted in months, life has been getting to be lately and I needed a break but that's that and I'm back now so onwards and upwards!

With the stress of January exams finally behind me (but with even more work looming) I took the opportunity to take a break from it all this weekend and catch up with friends.

Thursday was the day of our last exam which evidently meant a night out to celebrate. GeogSoc put on another amazing social, PUB GOLF! We donned our visors, hideous polo shirts and tacky socks and off we went for quite the night!