Mummy Treats and Treasures

*waving* hi there, remember me?! You'd be forgiven if you don't, I've been somewhat missing these past few months! My much loved, although often cursed, mobile decided to give up on me and that, along with my germy kids, has led to a pretty unproductive me. I am, however, back! And today this blog post comes courtesy of my brand new Google Pixel 2 (the small one!) So it seems fitting that I dedicate this post to my first impressions of the phone itself 🙂 A post shared by Amy Elizabeth (@mummytreatsandtreasures) on Oct 30, 2017 at 1:52pm PDT Forgive the dodgy photo, I couldn't take a picture of my new phone with my new phone! A caveat, this is a none scientifically analytical post. There's loads of them around already, you know the ones with all the benchmarks and snazzy technical language? Yeah, you won't get that here. This post is purely my impression and how it's fitting into my life so far. After ordering just before the phone was...

I've uhmed and ahhed about posting this one, you know, if you haven't got something nice to say then you shouldn't say it kinda thing, but after seeing others be really disappointed with Birchbox and frequently seeing their offers designed to entice you in I've decided to put this out there. Maybe I'll return to them one day but this is where I'm at right now... I had a really bad month in July (seems to be a running theme at the moment, life is very trying right now) and, in a moment of weakness, I’m ashamed to say I fell for one of Birchboxes two for one offers.  These involve you purchasing their box of the month and them sending you a mystery box with another five items.  I partly justified this to myself because I fancied trying one of the products in July’s box and partly because I had a plan for the additional two drawer boxes they send their product in. I won’t be making the mistake again (seriously, I’ve even hidden them from my facebook feed beca...

I'd hoped to have been writing this to you at the beginning of the August but, as is typical, my Spoilabox was delivered about an hour after we set off on holiday! So disappointing as I'd been expecting it several days earlier but a nice surprise to return to after the holiday blues set in! A post shared by Amy Elizabeth (@mummytreatsandtreasures) on Sep 1, 2017 at 1:54pm PDT This is actually my last box from them for a while, as one of the more expensive boxes (when you take into account the hefty delivery fee) I just can't justify the outlay in the run up to Christmas. I had thought I would keep this one and unsubscribe from Glossybox but I'm actually really enjoying their boxes at the moment (and they're cheaper!) So, as an aside, I can confirm that unsubscribing from Spoilabox is nice and easy (provided you turn your mobile browser to desktop view!) Handy if you're dipping your toes into their water's as it comes with no hidden hurdles....

You may have noticed I've been a bit quiet of late... read non-existent on the blogsphere!  Nothing to worry about, we've just been on a much needed family holiday, a cruise no less (I didn't tell you about it because, well, you never know who's listening do you?!)  We're now back and I'm lovely and refreshed.   The break gave me a good opportunity to think about things and it turns out I didn't really like the way this account was going!  I think there's a whole lot more I can give to you that the restrictions of "BinksBzz" just wasn't allowing.  So it's time for a bit of a change, starting with the name, my blog and instagram will now be known as Mummy Treats and Treasures which I think better reflects the direction I want to go in.  I hope you're as excited about the new possibilities as I am!   Now just to find the time to write all my ideas down!

Super excitement this month when I won a raffle!  I never win these things (well I didn’t!) and to say I was flabbergasted was an understatement!  The prize?  Well a subscription box of course! For the cost of my ticket (£1) I won a £20 box from Latest in Beauty! A post shared by Amy Collishaw (@binksbzz) on Aug 8, 2017 at 1:07pm PDT I’d heard of this box a few times through a group I am in on Facebook ( BoXession , definitely check it out, it’s fab!) but had always dismissed it.  It’s one of a rare breed of subscription boxes that lets you chose the items you’re being sent.  This has never appealed to me, surely the point of these things is the surprise? My mind has most definitely been changed! The first thing I needed to do was chose from their subscription plans, 3, 6 or 9 items (at increasing prices) and then browse down the list to choose the products I wanted (this bit is a bit clunky on a mobile, I think I’d head there on my laptop...

As I ordered last months Glossybox so late it feels like this months has come super early! I actually uhmed and ahhed about opening it today when it arrived thinking that I should probably save it for later in the month, but I am weak willed and in need of a treat so that resolution lasted no longer than a few minutes! Being my second month into the subscription, money was automatically taken for this box on the 1st of the month with no intervention from myself (remember, if you order Glossybox make sure you do so before the 15th of the month and cancel by this date if you don't want to have to pay for next months as well).  Dispatch was reasonably quick, a week into the month, and delivery painless from Royal Mail - complete with tracking details which is always a nice touch. The box was well packaged with a strong cardboard outer postage box (it has glossybox written all over it so you can't really conceal what it is!) and a sturdy inner box.  This month is...

I can hardly believe it's July already, well 7th July as I write this! The months are really flying by this year and as they do my monthly treats are stacking up.  It was with great anticipation that my Spoilabox arrived again this week, particularly as it arrived amid a truly challenging day! This is the second month of my subscription to Spoilabox and also only their second month so I'm still very much surprised by what they contain.  It's lovely having absolutely no idea what's coming (bar the odd spoiler of course!) and, yet again, I'm thoroughly pleased with both the contents and the service.  The box was dispatched on almost the first day of the month and arrived without hassle via My Hermes who this time left it in my meter cupboard (a whole day earlier than they had estimated, bonus!).  Again the contents was well packaged with a sturdy cardboard outer shell and a pretty tissue paper wrap inside.  All the products arrived intact with no damage which...

Through a series of events I won't go into I got a chance to give Glossybox a try in June.  I've been eyeing this box up for a while.  On paper it looks similar, if not identical, to Birchbox, which you'll remember I wasn't too bothered about (but feel free to use my sign-up url if you want to give it a go!) and I'd pretty much decided I wouldn't bother with it.  Then June's box came up and I became a little more interested due to them featuring some products I fancied giving a try. Ordering was easy and the 50% off offer they're running in June an absolute bonus, especially as they've also bunged in a couple of other products for new sign ups!  Delivery too was fast and thankfully the Royal Mail delivery guy had no problem with leaving it in a safe place (unlike a recent DHL delivery which saw me trekking across the village to pick up from a random depot!) First impressions were also heightened by the considerably bigger box than Birchbox and a...

Let's talk teeth shall we?  One thing you hear about a lot when you have young babies are teeth.   The go to question whenever you mention upset is "is she teething?" "Is it her teeth?" "oh those silly toothy-pegs!"... You quickly learn to put every sniffle, every cough, every grumpy day down to those annoying white things popping through your poor childs' gum! And then, with the questions, come all of the advice, and boy is there a lot of advice surrounding teeth!  The thing is though, when you're faced with a screaming, miserable baby, you'll take any advice you can get!  Which is why, when a BzzAgent campaign was launched recently in association with Calpol , offering tips to ease teething pain, I jumped at the opportunity to sign up! My BzzKit arrived yesterday and I was eager to look through it.  It contained a large dribble bib (actually a little too large, it swamps my monkey, but is useful all the same, drool city right n...

When it comes to toys in our household we've always tried to keep the number we own down.  Don't get me wrong, we have a lot of toys!  Many of these have been inherited from an older cousin and others, like the lego collection have grown because we get just as much enjoyment from it as the six year old does!  With the baby I'm trying to make more of a conscious effort to limit what we get her, specifically the plastic tat.  She has a lot from the boy obviously, but most of her new toys have been chosen to stimulate imagination rather than directed play with flashing lights and limited functionality. I'm also more conscious these days of the impact throw away toys have on the environment and also on their effects when children are exposed to some of the nasty chemicals they can contain.  With this in mind, recently most of our toy purchases have been of a wooden nature: peg dolls, balls, eggs, puzzles... you get the idea. Unfortunately, a lot of these ...

June is here, how did that happen?!? Half way through the year and month five of my subscription box journey. This month I decided to take a punt on a brand new never seen before box called Spoilabox . A bit of a risk as you can never quite be sure if the quality is going to be worth the hype but I was reassured slightly by the partnership the owner had with a Facebook group I'm in. A post shared by Amy Collishaw (@binksbzz) on Jun 3, 2017 at 1:00am PDT I wasn't disappointed! First I think I should mention the fantastic customer service which I think is just as important to these things as the contents, if not more - a box can be the most wonderful box in the world but if you don't have a good experience dealing with the company when you have trouble it can seriously tarnish your whole experience.  Due to a slight mishap with the address my box went on walkabout during delivery.  I feared the worse, that not only the delivery service had stuffed it some...

When it comes to technology we tend to be a household of early-ish adopters and one area we've really been exploring recently is home automation. Sonos and Hue feature throughout our rooms and are certainly put through their paces at times - even more so when you factor in our dodgy broadband! I guess it stands to reason really, both my husband and I work in the computing sector, him at an international software house, me, on a smaller scale in a secondary school IT department. Therefore we find it much easier to purchase technology than all those more mundane household expenses we really should be looking into! So when a colleague of mine reminded me about the MagPi magazine and drew my attention to their home automation edition my interest was piqued!  Even more tantalising was the fact it was out of stock!  We ended up spending a couple of weeks waiting for more to come in and having a mad scramble to order one before they all went again before we finally secured an iss...

So, in my quest to find the perfect subscription box, this month I decided to give a little known box called Artemis and Xena a go. At first glance I'd dismissed this one as it appeared to be aimed more at a younger teen market and, sadly, I'm very much not in that demographic these days! However I kept coming back to it as it looked like it might meet my desire for a little bit of everything. My experiences with Treatbox and Birchbox had taught me that I don't like just getting makeup (which rules out so many boxes!) but do like getting a bit (which rules out Treatbox); I like getting a little something to eat, a bit of jewellery, a bit of stationary... Yeah, I'm pretty fussy really aren't I?!? A & X looked like it might have this heady mix. It didn't disappoint! At the beginning of the month I have to admit I got a little nervous, my box was late despite a prompt dispatch notice on the first of the month and I began to wonder if I'd been draw...

As I headed back to work after maternity leave with my daughter I decided a monthly subscription box would be a great way to reward myself for the effort of getting us all out of the house on time each day and keeping the house in an (almost) fit state to live in when we returned!  My first subscription was to Treatbox , a lifestyle box centred around well-being and taking a little time out for yourself.  Here are my thoughts: My First Treatbox - February 2017 When the first box arrived I did wonder whether I'd made the right choice :-/  Whilst the items were nice: a dish to pop your jewellery in, a bracelet (which is actually really cute and I'm still wearing several months later!), a keyring, some lovehearts, a rose garland, some rose wipes and some motivational cards, at the time it felt like a bunch of things I didn't really need.  I did however post the dutiful " I love this box " photo on Instagram, I think partly in the hope of winning a small subscripti...

Like most mum's, I found the run up to going back to work after maternity leave with my little girl a huge wrench on my heart. The bittersweet mix of wanting to get back to a job I love tinged with the guilt of having to leave my baby for several hours a week. There was also the dread of having to juggle everything (although my husband keeps reminding me I really shouldn't be juggling the kids ;-)) getting everybody out of the house on time in the morning and tea on the table of an evening, tackling the ever growing washing pile, making sure we were all clean and well turned out.  The list seemed endless and I was mindful that I needed to remember to take time for myself and part of this was to reward myself for all I was achieving. I heard about subscription boxes a while ago but had never really looked into them properly as they seemed a bit frivolous - paying a chunk of money every month for something just for me. However, they seemed a great idea a this point in my life,...

Welcome to my brand new blog, thank you for stopping by for a look! This site accompanies my instagram account binksbzz to give more in-depth reviews to the products, items, places I consume, use and visit. BinksBzz was conceived upon my successful application to become a Bzz Agent. I realised that I'd started to unconsciously review and recommend things on my instagram account before I'd signed up to Bzz and this wasn't really what I wanted that account to be for. With this in mind separating out to a different account seemed a good way to go. So I hope if you've wandered over here you like what I have to say and want to hear more about my experiences. I'm truthful to a fault so everything you read will be my own experience, good or bad (although most likely in a diplomatic way, I will never be mean about anything or anyone!) Please do introduce yourself to me, I'd love to hear your experiences with the things I review too :-)