Giveaway | Win B&S January Package

It’s easy to lose track of how much you’re spending when out shopping for things you love. Whether it’s a jacket you’ve had bookmarked since before Christmas or an impulse purchase on the way to the till, your tightly controlled budget can quickly be forgotten – and this happens just as much online as it does in shops.

With months of darker, colder evenings ahead, it can becomes all too easy for your energy bills to rise far beyond the expected – especially as there’s no price tag to keep you in check.  So, I wanted to show you how difficult it can be to keep a track of your spending without any idea of how much things cost.

With a little help from E.ON we've chosen a selection of items from across several of our favourite brands, for our latest giveaway. But what we want you to do is tell us just how much you think the total price comes to?

 How Much Is All This Worth? The Monocle Guide to Cosy Homes, Honest Skincare candle, Field Notes note pad x3, Form & Thread socks x3, Aesop handcream, Timex Weekender watch, Coco Chocolatier bar x3.

The closest to the correct total will win all of the goodies while, for everyone else, it may be a good time to start thinking about ways to keep an eye on your spending. Thankfully, for those of you wanting to get a grip on how much you spend on energy, help is at hand. E.ONs smart pay as you go meter allows you to keep tight control on how much you spend on energy, by showing exactly how much you’re using in real time. 

All of which means you’ll have some extra cash to spend on the things you really love. This one is open to UK only. Good luck!

a Rafflecopter giveaway

This competition is brought to you in partnership with E.ON. See if you could save money with their gas and electricity deals today. You can follow them on Facebook and Twitter.

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Introducing Glints London Eyewear

Generally speaking, the first thing that attracts me to a product is the looks. The rule doesn't always work (the need for a function pays a big role), but most of the time that's what I'm thinking about; be it clothing, food, cars or things like DIY tools + cleaning products. But when that nice looking product is all potatoes and no meat it soon leaves you looking for something else to replace it.

When buying glasses I'm attracted the frames first, and lenses are an after thought. Why is that? Surely the lenses are the most important thing - after all it's our sight we're talking about here. Well, that's not something I'd considered until I visited Glints' newly opened studio in the heart of Mayfair, London.

The idea of having high quality lenses, to go with your well made frames, is something I hadn't (maybe naively) considered. But after discussing with the Glints team about consumer buying patterns, brand loyalty and where quality + price plays its roll, it began to make more sense.

Having spent the afternoon being "schooled" on the art of frame and lens making, and the reasoning behind why Glints decided to aim at the quality-over-trend-driven customer, I was left with the option of trying a pair out for myself.

Wearing - Gresham Glasses c/o Glint | Shirt c/o Triplstitch x Nutsford | Daniel Wellington Watch | Uniqlo Tee | adidas Trainers c/o Mainline Menswear | Albam Socks

The frames are handcrafted in Japan, but the lenses are produced much closer to home, in a small town in Wales. But what makes these lenses better than others? That is a tricky question, and one probably best left for the experts - but I can tell you that they have been manufactured by a company that produces lenses for hi-spec camera + surgical equipment.

The Gresham frames have far surpassed any other pair of glasses I've worn previously. Where the lenses in my Ray-Ban glasses have left me feeling slightly off balance + overly-aware of my surroundings, the Glints' correct my eyesight to a comfortable and sharp level.
 

I was invited to visit the Glints team, and offered a complimentary pair of frames. This isn't a sponsored post and all opinions within this post are honest and impartial.

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Open Road Essentials | Road Tripping With Enterprise

Alright folks, this is a easy one for you. The fellas at Sabotage Times have teamed up with Enterprise to bring you this super quick competition. All you have to do is take a photo of your gear all laid out, as neat or as messy as you fancy and share the image on Twitter or Instagram, with the hashtag #OpenRoadEssentials.

It's a breeze to enter seeing that most of us do this stuff daily anyway, may as well try and win something for it? The prize is One of Two road trips worth £1000! You've only got until the end of this Friday to enter so get your swag together quick-sharp. Here's my #OpenRoadEssentials entry, it's an image from a few months back but hey, I could get lucky.

For more info click here.

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Weekly Round-Up #4

Clockwise - Nike Free Run 2 c/o Scotts (now on sale), Banana Republic Leather Gloves, "Crest" Jumper c/o Reiss, 13 Guns IPA, ASOS Wooly Hat, Christmas Chocolate Leftovers, Tintin The Calculus Affair.

A new year brings a new Weekly Round-Up, let's call this the "Post-Christmas Edition". I thought I'd take the opportunity to pick out a few essentials from the first week of 2014 (cheating a bit, more like the past two weeks, but who's going to tell?). Here's some things I've been enjoying:

13 Guns IPA - This beer came with its own swing tag stating, "...to try before you die". These lists are always subjective but I thought I'd give it a bash anyway. It was pretty decent, light, very hoppy and smooth. IPAs are generally my favourite type of beer, just incase and beer big wigs are reading...

Reiss Jumper - This has been my absolute favourite jumper all Winter, it's made from felted wool and design-wise it's pretty unusual. It was kindly given to me by the super lovely Steph, when I attended their Press Day back in November. If I was given the chance to design a jumper it would probably turn out a bit like this; a bit of navy here and some oddly placed grey there. Plus it's currently in their Winter sale, if anyone's interested.

Leftover Chocolate - When you receive an email saying, "Do you want loads of free chocolate", there's really only one answer. My buddy (now best buddy of course!) Sally aka The Cafe Cat bunged a load of premium Lindt chocolate in the post just after Xmas. I opted to eat 85% of it, so if anyone comes round for a cuppa you may get one of Sally's special leftovers.

So what's been on your list this past couple of week, was there any interesting presents under your tree?

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Weekly Round Up #2

Clockwise - Jack Purcell via atoo, J.Crew Shirt, Jacket + Socks c/o TK Maxx, ASOS wooly hat, British J.Crew 
Catalogue, Station to Station by David Bowie.

The Weekly Round Up #2 - Here's some good stuff from the past week. The chill has hit so it's all about the layers game.

TK Maxx Tiger Print Jacket - Anyone that knows me will know I'm partial to a rummage in TK Maxx, it takes a certain kind of person and I guess I'm that guy. This tiger print jacket has not left my back all week, the style is hard to describe but I'd have a go at saying it's a cross between a 90s skate jacket and old man steez.  Love it. Along with a set for my mate I decided to treat myself to an early Christmas present, I found these polka-dot socks in their gifts section. A 3-pack of socks for £6.99 ain't a bad deal at all.

J.Crew - The American retailer opened its doors on Regent Street last Friday and I for one, along with lot of others can't wait to check it out. I just hope the customer service is as good as it is stateside though. Hands down, this J.Crew blue chambray shirt is my favourite shirt, it's probably my most worn too. Their new catalogue also landed on the mat this week, certainly some tasting looking suits, with wedding potential.

Converse Jack Purcell - In my opinion white leather JP are the perfect AW sneaker. They stand up well in the rain and are as comfy as they come (in terms of simple trainers) and look great with everything.

What's been on your radar over the last week? I'm heading down to London tomorrow morning, so I've scheduled some posts in for the next couple of days. You'll be able find me on Twitter and Instagram as usual.

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The Start

So Christmas is still in full swing, I got some nice treats and I'm also figuring out what I'm going to treat myself to with some cash I got(I desk clock). But sadly I can't celebrate too much as I still have a mega amount of work to do other xmas. As I have previously mentioned I'm currently working on my portfolio, I won't post too much of it on here as I'm sure I'd get told off but seeing that I've currently got loads of typography books in my room I thought I'd just post the design for my contents page.

Now I have no idea is anyone else who reads this blog is interested in this kind of stuff, so if it seems a bit boring please just say and I won't bombard you with stuff like this. But anyway, this is the sort of thing I'm working on, but when I started I said to myself, "don't repeat myself", so I'm trying to make every piece and idea look different.

I will be showing and telling about my xmas treats soon, plus I bagged another Marks & Spencer lambswool in the sale today, along with a heavy duty desk stapler. Exciting!

New Design & Layout

Fresh design/fresh fruit

Two things are fresh this week, Buckets & Spades finally has a new design and layout, which is all thanks to Hollie(I'm naff at things like that and she did it all from scratch). She was kind enough to put the hours in and sort it all out for me, I'll take her out for a meal as a thank you. 

What do you all think? If there is anything wrong in your browser please let me know and I can sort it out, I know everyones is on different settings ect.

The second fresh thing is fruit, I've been at my local fruit & veg shop taking close up snaps for my current uni project. Thank you for all the nice comment, you will be glad to hear I am very much less stressed than I was a week ago.