Competitions and Reviews

Do Good With Your Period and Use Reusable Pads

I am past menopause so I no longer have to worry about my periods. I do however have three daughters and each month I witness the amount of waste that sanitary products cause. And that’s just our house. I was sent an e-mail with the title, Do Good with Your Period and I was instantly intrigued about their reusable pads.

The e-mail was from Trade to Aid Who offer reusable sanitary pads. At first I was a little horrified, the though of having to wash the pads. But I was happy to find out more about the products and to be honest, washing them is a lot less horrifying than emptying the bathroom bin and adding all that waste to landfill.

Disposable sanitary products contribute millions of tons of plastic to landfill every year. Each woman can use between 5 and 15 thousand pads or tampons during their lifetime, the vast majority of which end up in landfill or polluting the oceans.

I was sent a box of six pads which I decided to give to Boo, my 14 year old.

Trade To Aid Reusable Sanitary Pads

My first thoughts were how lovely and colourful they were. The pads were well presented in a box which contained detailed instructions for use on both the box cover and in an enclosed leaflet. It also gave information as to why it was important to switch to reusable sanitary products and how they help the environment.

Inside the box there was also a colourful bag. This is to put your used pads in ready for washing. I can then pop the bag into the wash with her pants which I always wash separately anyway. If you wish you can run the bag through some cold water before washing in the machine. Or you could simply hand wash in warm soapy water. It’s really not as bad as I first imagined.

The pads them selves are very soft and colourful. They have a 100% recycled plastic waterproof membrane and are constructed from bamboo charcoal which is free from synthetic and nasty additives that are found in disposable pads. So not only are they good for the environment, they are kind to your body.

Boo was a little worried at first, but when she used a disposable pad she wraps it up in a plastic wrapper and puts it in the bathroom bin. With these reusable pads all she has to do is fold it over and fasten it,(instructions enclosed but it’s real easy) and pop it in the washing bag instead. The washing bag has a zipper to lock it away.

Personally, I think they are amazing and I’m almost jealous that I no longer have my periods!

The box I was sent for review had 6 pads, two light flow, two medium and two heavy (Great for overnight.) Also included was one waterproof bag. You can pop this in your handbag for pad changes away from home. The cost of the box is £29.97 but they are used over and over and they help save the environment too. But there is more!

Trade To Aid – End Period Poverty

This piece is a statement from Trade to Aid:

Our mission is to alleviate period poverty around the globe.

No child missing school because of their period.
No woman missing work because of their period.
No girls or women banished to separate huts or outhouses when on their period.
Alleviating the taboo of periods and myths surrounding period products.
Providing menstrual hygiene education.
Providing education for men and women to better understand what periods are and why they happen.
Facilitating easy, low-cost access to sustainable period products.

Emergency Kits for Refugees

We provide women and girls in refugee camps with sanitary products to support them on their periods.

For every pack of pads you buy from Trade To Aid, we give a free pack to someone in need in a refugee camp.

Doing Your Part

So, by buying reusable pads you are not only protecting your body and saving the environment from unnecessary waste, you are also helping women in need to get the products they really need.

Would you consider using reusable period pads?

New Vertical Blinds for My Kitchen from Blinds By Post

by Anne Sweet 1 Comment

I was asked by Blinds By Post if I’d like to review some blinds in return for my honest review. Buying things like blinds online is a lot easier than you may think. I chose some lovely vertical blinds for my kitchen.

Kitchen Blinds from Blinds By Post

The Blinds By post website is really easy to use. The difficult part is choosing which blinds you want, there are so many options and the colour ranges are really extensive. Once you have chosen which colour and style of blind you want you then have several options to make sure they fit your window and your needs completely.

There are video guides which help you to measure your windows correctly so that your blinds will fit perfectly when they arrive. Measuring is really important so it’s good that there is plenty of help with this. Once you have your measurements and have chosen your type of blind and pattern you then go on to choose your options. These are in the form of drop down menus and the whole process is made really easy for you.

I like vertical blinds in my kitchen because it’s a large window and at the front of the house. I like to be able to look out of the window but also have a little privacy. With vertical blinds you can completely control how much you want to filter. Closing them completely blocks out everything for full privacy or shade. I can move them from side to side depending on which side the sun is shining so I can control the amount of sunlight or shade I need. The beaded chain, which is child safe, can be used to adjust the blinds to exactly how you want them. The second control can pull the blinds completely to one side which is great for cleaning the windows, or letting in more light.

I chose Carnival Ivy for the colour of my vertical kitchen blinds. I wanted something slightly darker to fit in my green kitchen. I’m really pleased with them. My husband took about 25 minutes to fit them which is so quick and easy. After putting in my sizes I chose a recess fitting because I wanted my blinds to fit inside the recess rather than on the outside of it. I then chose which side I wanted the controls for the blind which for me it is the left hand side. For the controls you can choose a wand, a plastic chain or even a silver or brass chain. You can also choose whether or not you want your blind slats to be chained together or not. For the first time ever I decided to go for chainless and I’m please with how well they hang and work together.

For my blinds which measure 150cm wide by 200cm long and my other choices of chains and fittings the cost is £71.81 which I think is a great bargain. I’m considering getting some blinds that open in the middle for my patio doors.

I also want a new roller blind for my bathroom but there is so much too choose from…I will have to paint the room first before decided which will match. But as it’s a small room the cost is amazing and now I’ve seen the quality of the blinds I won’t hesitate in buying from Blinds by Post again.

Have you ever bought blinds online?

Personalised Mugs and Fridge Magnets from Printster

by Anne Sweet 5 Comments

I’m such a huge fan of personalised products and I was really happy to review some treats from Printster, I chose two mugs and some fridge magnets. I received these products for free in return for my honest review.

Personalised Mugs

Printster offer all kinds of personalised mugs, you can choose a photo mug with your own photos, a personalised message mug (good for business,) named mugs and heat sensitive mugs. We love our hot drinks in this house and all have our own mugs, but it was nice to get ones with our names on. I chose the hearts for mine and purple stars for Graham.

I love them! They are really good quality and the perfect size for decent mug of tea or coffee. We also had matching coasters. The mugs came filled with treats, Graham had jelly beans and I had chocolate balls. It was a nice touch and altogether they make a lovely gift package. (Although, to be fair, I think the mugs are nice enough) I’m planning on making a special mug for the kid’s Grandma for Christmas.

two placements to match the mugs with the names Anne and Graham on them

The mugs arrived in a sturdy box with sentiments on the outside, which was a nice touch. Inside the box was the mug filled with treats and the coaster alongside it. The boxed mugs were packaged in a very sturdy postal box so they arrived safely.

packaging box with 'enjoy every sip' written on it.

Overall we are really happy with our new mugs and will be using them for a long time. If you don’t fancy hearts or stars there is literally over a hundred designs to choose from! I think Grandma will be getting a photo collage mug from the kids. She’ll love it I’m sure.

Mug information

11oz (330ml) Personalised & Dispatched in 48 hours.
No Minimum Order.
Express service available.
Dishwasher & Microwave Proof.

The personalised mugs shown here cost £6.99 but are currently on offer for £5.99 The matching coaster is £3.50 and you can fill the mug with jelly beans or chocolate for £2.99. A gift box costs £1.50.

Fridge Magnets

I wanted to choose a photo gift from Printster too, and there are plenty to choose from, wrapping paper, cards, keyrings, mousemats even socks! I decided to go for Fridge magnets. My niece has recently had a baby and I thought it would be nice to have a selection of 12 photos of my great nephew (And family) made into magnets. I put them all on my fridge to show you, but I’ll be sharing them out amongst my family because everyone is going to love them.

There are a few of my original fridge magnets included in this photo, so don’t be confused. I know I’m biased but isn’t my great nephew just adorable. He’s going to be adorning my families fridges from now on and they will always remember what a cutie he is.

Magnet information

Approx 75mm x 75mm
Pack of 12
Personalised & Dispatched in 48 hours.
Express service available.
Wipe Clean Only
Perfect for your fridge!

12 Fridge magnets cost £12.99 you get to upload each photo individually and crop it as you wish/need. You can choose 12 different photos or repeat some of the photos. It’s completely your choice.

Printster

I found the website easy to navigate, choose my gifts and add my photos. The hardest part was choosing what to have. The prices are very reasonable and my chosen gifts arrived within two days which is great. They were well packaged and arrived undamaged. It’s definitely a company I will be happy to use again. I’m already planning Grandma’s Christmas mug. I’m thinking some personalised keyrings would be nice too. The personalised company wrapping paper would be lovely for my Etsy business. (I wish I’d noticed that sooner! I need to start working on a business logo.)

What do you think? Do you like personalised gifts like this?

Fancy a cup of coffee?

Printster have created a host of products in aid of Brain Tumor Support and will donate to the charity for every purchase. Please check out their Sparkle products here. You can read more about the charity here.

You can also get cashback on your purchase if you are a member of TopCashBack Get a £5 sign up bonus for using my link.

Affiliate Programs Guide, What Works Well For Me!

by Anne Sweet 10 Comments

If you read my blog then you see I will include ads and advertising links on my site. I’m not in favour of sticking an ad in the middle of my posts because I like to focus on my writing first and foremost. But something has to pay for my web presence and to keep Raisiebay running. I do this by using affiliate programs and you’ll find them in the side bar and at the bottom of my posts. Or occasionally I might single a program out and tell you more about it.

I’m going to break my rule for no advertising in the text for this post because I want to give some examples of how the ads work.

What is an Affiliate Program?

Basically, it’s just advertising for someone. But by putting their products and links on your site they can be tracked so that when someone makes a purchase you get rewarded. Often the rewards are small, but they can add up. I generally make enough money to cover the costs of my hosting so thank you to everyone who has even clicked a link. It never costs you any extra and I can often bring you special offers and codes to make your purchase even cheaper!

I use a couple of programs but my favourite is Awin. Here’s an affiliate link 🙂

Awin is one of my preferred programs because it’s easy to use and there are many advertisers to choose from. You get to choose how and when you get paid. For example I get paid monthly so long as I’ve earned more than £50. You can also get paid in Euro’s or Dollars if you advertise from other Countries.

Awin has a plugin on WordPress which automatically changes all your links from them to affiliate links. You can also have them highlighted or with a little asterix after them but I chose not to do this as it seems to affect all my none affiliate links. I do always tell my readers if I am including affiliate links in my post. There was a time when this was not necessary, but readers need to know when they are clicking an advertisement.

How to Use Affiliate Links

There are a few ways to use affiliate links. One is to place ad images (creatives) These are generally available from the affiliate site and you just copy the code and the ad appears on your site. Which is what I did with the Awin banner above and the ads in my sidebar.

You can also include a link in your text. For example, look at these gorgeous baby shoes I found at Dotty Fish. When you include links like this you really need to tell your readers that it is an affiliate link. Some companies usually pay for click throughs to their site too, but the amounts are really small, you need a LOT of people clicking through to make any money.

One of my favourite ways of using affiliate links is to write about the site and the lovely things you can find there. I do this quite frequently with Etsy which has to be one of my favourite sites for quirky and beautiful gifts. Sometimes I will write a shopping guide for a special events like this special Valentines Post. I tend to do one for Mother’s Day, Father’s Day and Christmas too. I can’t help myself, I love browsing the site and sharing what I find. These posts can be incredibly time consuming, but I enjoy doing them and if they make me some money then it’s worth it. Plus, I like to think I’ve helped someone find a perfect gift for someone else, or even themselves.

You can also do a competition post from your favourite affiliate program. Sometimes they will provide you with a little something to give to your readers in return for a dedicated post. I find chocolate does really well and I love to run a choccy competition, like this one here. (It’s over now, I’m just sharing an example.) But giving something away attracts a lot of visitors, and a few will click through and buy something which earns you commission.

My Favourite Affiliate Programs

I think that affiliate programs that fit in with your site are often the best ones. If you write gift guides a lot then think about making them pay, if you have a hobby or particular interest then look for a program that will work for you. You don’t need a niche blog but carefully placed ads will bring in a little extra cash.

Sometimes, writing gift guides and dedicated posts can become dated. Someone might come across one and click through to find that the item has now sold out or is not longer available. However, by clicking through from your site if they go on to find something else to buy from the site you will still earn commission from it.

I tend to do really well with my gift guides and dedicated posts. There is always something that gets a click or two. But I often think carefully about what ads to go at the end of my posts too, because these get clicked a lot especially if they have some relevance to the post.

The ads in my side bar I like to keep refreshed. I check the affiliate program site regularly for new ads and ideas.

I also think carefully about which programs I want to join and check through them often. If I haven’t used a program in a while then I’ll drop it. If I see something doing well, I’ll use it more. I also check that the program is still collecting clicks and paying it’s bills. (You do have to be careful that the program has a good history of paying, some just disappear and you never get your money.)

I’ll now share with you my top five advertisers for this year, remember, these are the ones that work for me and my blog. Choose carefully who you decide to advertise for.

The Centre of Excellence do many different courses for adults and kids. I wish they’d update their creatives (ad images) though! I do really well with people signing up through my ads, and I also have a code RAISIEBAY466 which gives my readers 70% off any course.

I just love Etsy so much, and they even run competitions for their affiliates, I won a £500 voucher last year! I think when you love a site you advertise it more, which is probably why I earn more from it. They are also pretty good at updating their creatives.

I love to crochet and Deramores is my go to store for wool. I guess this is why it gets a little more promotion, but probably more on my other blog At Home A Lot where I talk about my passion a little more. I love that Deramores creatives update by themselves.

Who doesn’t love chocolate. Cadbury’s feature a lot in my posts and I feel a special connection seeing as I live so near their original factory. (I can log in to Cadbury World on Facebook from my sofa!) The Gift shop online is a great place to order gifts and I do so often when I should get off my sofa and go to the shop! Their creatives are not updated often, but they do have ones for most special occasions. This one above is from 2020, but appropriate this year too! (Darn it, I’ve just added the link and now I’m on the site drooling over the new Caramilk, quick, hide my debit card!)

affiliate programs, this one is for cadburys new Caramilk and shows a bar of golden caramel chocolate. — https://www.cadburygiftsdirect.co.uk/

A pair of very cute baby shoes with whales on them from the Dotty Fish Affiliate program

Dotty Fish sell gorgeous baby shoes, shimmy shoes (For toddlers) and baby slippers. They recently kindly gifted me some of their adorable shoes for my great nephew which proved to be popular with some of my readers. Sadly, they don’t have any creative banners on the affiliate program so I’ve just included a picture of one of their new arrivals.

Thank You

I hope you have found this post on affiliate programs interesting. Feel free to ask me any questions you may have in the comments and I’ll do my best to answer them. I’d also be interested to know what affiliate programs work for you.

I think it’s pretty obvious, but I’ll state it anyway. This post contains affiliate links that may earn me a little money if you click through and purchase something. There will be no extra cost to you so thank you for supporting my blog.

And a BIG THANK YOU to everyone who has ever purchased anything from any of my affiliate links.

Affiliate programs, what works for me. A poster with a plant and yellow background.

Dotty Fish baby shoes, a Review

by Anne Sweet 1 Comment

I was asked by Dotty Fish if I would like to review some of their baby shoes. Well, it’s been a long time since I had a baby, but I thought of my gorgeous great nephew and decided to try some shoes for him and let you know all about Dotty Fish.

I am an affiliate of Dotty Fish so any links used may earn me some commission at no extra cost to yourself, thank you for supporting my blog.

Dotty Fish Baby Shoes

Dotty Fish is a small business selling shoes and bibs and run by a Mum of two, Helen. The company has a passion for creating beautiful affordable shoes for babies which are podiatry tested. The shoes all have a soft flexible sole which is just what is needed for babies and toddlers taking their first steps. It’s the next best thing to bare feet and the shoes are very well made and incredibly cute.

I asked my neice what shoes she would like and she chose these gorgeous Nya the Elephant Shoes.

Nya the Elephant baby shoes from Dotty shoes. Image shows two little soft leather shoes with an elephant motif on each one.

I was really impressed with them. They not only looked good, they felt really soft. As my Great nephew was born a little early his tiny feet are still not big enough for the shoes, but he’ll be wearing them soon seeing how quick he is growing.

The shoes arrived in a shimmery bag which was a nice touch. I like that the packaging is kept to a minimum but still looks very sweet and a treat to receive. The postage bag was covered with Dotty Fish doodles (great for colouring in!) and the address label pealed off so it was nice enough to give as a gift.

Also in the parcel were some matching bandana bibs.

Dotty fish bibs, one grey, one red and one white with Nya the Elephant printed on.

There were three bibs, one grey, one red and one with Nya the Elephant printed on it. They were such good quality and together with the shoes would make a perfect gift for a new baby.

For the toddler in the house, Dotty Fish have a superb selection of toddler shoes with rubber soles for extra traction. These are called Shimmy Shoes and are really very cute as well as great value.

You can buy a pair of soft sole shoes from Dotty fish for just £12.99 and the Shimmy shoes are only £16.99. The bibs start at £3.49 but you can get a deal if you buy a pack of three for just £6.99. Package and postage is free to the UK and all packaging is sustainable (And very cute!)

I honestly think Dotty Fish shoes are the cutest baby shoes at such a reasonable price. There is a lot more to see over the website so do take a look and let me know what you like best.

How many times have I said ‘cute’ in this post…can you tell I’m in love with these shoes!

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