If there’s one thing I love, is getting pampered! And we all know that already, thanks to the endless list of ‘how to pamper yourself‘ guides I’ve written for this blog… But let’s be honest: there’s a reason why we keep trying to recreate the perfect spa at home, and that is because the most of us can’t afford spa treatments, facials, massages and hairdresser touch-ups on a weekly basis.

So yes, today I’m sharing another pampering guide, yet again, but this time it’s for anyone who loves to treat her/himself but has an attention to her/his limited budget too. What if you could afford the random spa weekend a bit more often than you think? 😉

Your SPA at home

This is probably foregone and obvious, but I couldn’t do a budget friendly pampering guide without encouraging you to do it all at home. Because yes, if all you need is an evening for yourself, a hot bath, some relaxing music and some aromatherapy, that’s totally something that shouldn’t be expensive at all and that you can do yourself at home.

Of course this would still be quite far away from massages, saunas, muds and all that jazz, but I can assure you sometimes it’s just what we all need. You could buy yourself fancy bath salts or oils that, although might be a little pricy, will last you a really long while; and then maybe enjoy a face mask or two but only after having lit your favourite relaxing candle(s).

Any long term reader might remember our daytrip to the lake from last Summer – in that exact occasion we decided to spoil ourselves to 5 hours at Sirmione’s beautiful spa thanks to a great deal we found on Groupon, and, now that I think about it, I should plan another day just like that for the two of us only! As well as a proper haircut for yours truly… because it has been a while… ops!

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Would love to know how you pamper yourself on a budget and if you ever use Groupon too! x

This post is sponsored by Groupon. All opinions and love for the service are 100% my own!

You might remember last year I wrote a feature on Brother and how to implement one of their labellers in your daily life, and today I’m pretty excited to collaborate with them again to bring you four new ways to use a labellers as a personal organizer and try and be creative with it in the meanwhile!

But, really, don’t know if it’s just me, but as soon as I started brainstorming some ideas for this post, I couldn’t really stop! There are just so many things in life that could need labels on, isn’t it?!

As I said, I could have found an endless amount of ways to put my brand new baby blue labeller into good use (think creating little flags with toothpicks to put on top of cupcakes, or labels for your home-baked biscuit tins or to create categories for your beauty storage…) but I’ll limit myself to only show you four creative ideas to transform a Brother labeller into your own personal organizer!

So, if you’re curious, please read on…

Create Your Own Recipe Journal

I have this vivid memory of child-me and my mum in the kitchen, having fun with cake batter and a few recipes from her hand-crafted recipe journal. She always used to say she will pass it on whenever me and my sister will have our own places, to have her recipes always handy!

I’ve always wanted to start my own recipe journal too, and what better occasion to get started than a shiny new labellers to add little notes and fun details to what once was a plain notebook and now is turning into a beautiful custom recipe holder!

I’ve printed a few pictures of my recipes and glued them to their pages to remember what the results look like, and then started writing my very own recipes by hand (because that’s the only way possible!!), taking my time to compile my journal and promising to myself I’ll keep coming back to add more and more! I had so much fun adding little comments with my Brother labeller, or use it to create a fun rating system with its symbols function!

Customize Your Parties

Let’s say you’re throwing a party, whether it’s a grown-up party or something fun for your children and their little friends – you could use your labeller to add little flags with names to the paper straws, to help the guests remember where they left their glass (especially if you’re using actual dishware, you’ll love this little trick that will avoid you to wash an endless number of forgotten glasses)!

Maybe it could be a fun idea to also add a little something to someone’s breakfast in bed or romantic dinner for two! 😉

Organize Your Notes

I don’t know about you, but although my phone has the biggest amount of list-making apps installed, I always find myself grabbing the random piece of paper instead to write down my notes and impromptu ideas whether I’m at home or on-the-go. That’s probably the reason why I love notebooks so much (or not?).

I’ve been using my labeller as an actual personal organizer to create sections in my notebook: with short texts like ‘to-do’ or ‘don’t forget’ or ‘business-related’ quickly printed under my eyes, I can stick random pieces of paper where I’ve written down my notes in a hurry and organize them in my notebook of choice!

I also do love to add pictures in my planners, and of course couldn’t resist adding some more labels with cute little notes and comments!

Organize Your Tech

Sure, the previous three ideas were fun, cute and useful, but this last one is… smart!

I bet you’ve all at least once experienced the drama of looking for a cable to charge one of your (insert infinite number) of mobile devices and cursing at yourself for not being able to find that Kindle charger you are sure you remember how it looked like! Or the annoying situation when your cables all look the same but you have to spend 15 minutes to actually find the one.

The solution is so simple! Use a labeller to print your mobile devices names and stick them to their corrispondent cables, so that next time you’ll be instantly able to identify the one you’re looking for in the pile! Simple, right? Still I don’t know how I haven’t thought about it before!

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Hopefully by now I’ve convinced you you’re desperately needing
a labeller as a personal organizer in your life, ah!
Would love to know if you use labels to organize your home/life/business and how! x

The other day I was going through some pictures of Rome from earlier this year and got caught by an extreme (slightly delirious – as I was sick as well!) case of wanderlust, and quickly started planning my travel bucket list! You know that feeling of wanting to get out and about and discover new places, new backgrounds, new histories and cultures?! I bet you do!

There’s just so much of the world I’d like to visit, that it feels pretty useless to list places down at all, but I surely have a couple of places I’m planning to see in the upcoming few years! I always like to save for travels, as if there’s one thing I believe it’s worth investing in, is the pleasure of discovering new places and the way those enrich your own personality and culture each time!

So far we’ve been lucky to travel a couple of times per year already, and I hope to be able to set sail one more time this year as well, just for a few days, maybe even if not going very far away, as I’m concious our beautiful Italy has plenty of places to surprise us too. But in the meanwhile, here are a few places I keep being fascinated and I hope to visit very soon…

Top 5 In My Travel Bucket list

01. Amsterdam – I’m not quite sure what it is that makes me so fascinated about Amsterdam really, but I guess it’s a mix of the view of the beautiful canals and boats, the picturesque cafes or maybe the Instagram-friendly bikes dotted around in every corner, or just because it’s so full of history and art you can see with your own eyes!

02. Copenhagen – Or Denmark, or even Scandivania, just in general! It’s probably all down to the scandinavian interiors, I’ll admit, but there’s no quite a thing I’d love more than be surrounded by pretty minimal-looking cafes everywhere, or small independent shops and boutinques selling unique design goodies, making shopping for souvenires just the best, I’m sure!

Not to talk about the extremely photogenic colourful houses and canals… A dream of mine would be to explore more of Denmark as well, as it seems full of amazing legends, green and breathtaking views!

03. Paris – Although I’ve already been in Paris years ago, I feel like I’ve missed out on much of it and am very sure I’d see it with different eyes right now! I’d love to savour a freshly-baked baguette or munch on creamy cheese while sipping French wine, or immortalize the feeling of passing by a Parisian bakery bringing out fresh croissants on a winter morning! Yes, I’d love to see Paris in wintertime, covered in scarfs and coats and getting warmed up by all of the art and romantic atmosphere.

04. Florence – I’m pretty sure it will be one of our very next destinations, as we’re super lucky to be able to just hop on a train and be there in only a few hours. I guess Florence it’s perfect for some long-weekend impromptu travelling, so extremely full of art and history – the kind that link you back to your own country and traditions. I’ve heard so many good things about it, that I really don’t know why we haven’t visited just yet..!

05. Edinburgh – Scottish castles have pretty much always fascinated me enough, for this one to be a destination that’s been on my list for years! I’d also plan a lot of streets-strolling and a visit to Cramond’s village for sure!

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Would love to know what’s on your travel bucket list! x