JD Williams My New Favourite Shop!

For some time now, I've been toying with the idea that I need a new favourite shop. In days gone by it was mega easy, I just bought all my clothes in Oasis. I still buy the odd thing in there, but truth be told, it's a bit young for me now. For a while now I've been all about Baukjen, but of late I've been buying Baukjen clothes as and when on ebay to save money with varying degrees of success. Shoes are something I continue to struggle with, due to my enormous clown feet, but I think I may have found the answer - in the shape of  JD Williams! Not a brand I am that familiar with, but when I was offered the chance to review some of their clothing, I jumped at the chance, and I must say I was hugely surprised and impressed. 

"JD Williams has an emphasis on contemporary women's styling ranging from sizes 12-32 and we're constantly developing our collections to bring you the latest looks that will keep you on-trend throughout the season. With our brand ambassador Lorraine Kelly choosing her favourite pieces, we're making shopping for plus size clothes, lingerie and wide fit shoes and boots fun, easy and enjoyable regardless of age, size and shape."

Even though I'm a size 10, I still found plenty to choose from, and my massively huge feet were in seventh heaven as there were so many sizes and widths - I've never seen anything like this before and I like it! I decided to choose some knee high boots and went for the best seller - Heavenly Soles Boots priced at £50. I had a huge choice of sizes and fittings, and JD Williams even have a handy sizing guide (which actually works incredibly well) to ensure you get exactly the right fit, as it can sometimes be tricky buying boots online. As you can see from the buckles, the boots are fully adjustable to fit the size of your calves, and are also amazing comfortable and warm. I have already worn these boots loads including on a cold and wet rugby pitch, doing the school run, and also to the office - they are truly a multi functioning boot. They look great with skinny jeans but also kilt style skirts or leggings. I can see no signs of wear so far and I have a feeling they will last me ages.

Heavenly Soles £50

Here you can see me going for a casual stroll in our front garden wearing not only my boots but also my new denim jacket from the women's winter coats range - or should I say one  of my new denim jackets - but more on that later. Funnily enough, the jacket looked a little different to the photo on the website in real life, but I love it anyway. I think that this colour denim is really smart and looks great with a dress and boots. 

Western Style Denim Jacket £30

To keep super warm, as you can see in this picture I am wearing a black polo neck jumper underneath as well as my trusty Warehouse dress. The jacket doesn't hinch in at the sides like it does in the website photo but that might just be down to sizing.

Jacket £30, Boots £50

I like doing up the top button to make it look really smart.

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Aha and here you can see the stone wash jacket - same style, different colour. I like this for a more dressed down look, and it actually has a slightly different shape to the indigo version. For £30 this is incredible value, you would be hard pushed to find a jacket of this quality for the same price elsewhere. In this picture, you also get a sneaky peek of my second pair of boots from JD Williams...

Western Style Jacket in Stone Wash £30

I was lucky enough to be able to choose a second pair of boots so I went for these Cushion Walk Ankle Boots which were also £30.  Again, these came in wide fit, so I was able to choose my size really confidently knowing that they would just fit - which they did. I've had brown boots in this style before so I decided to go for grey this time, and I'm glad I did. They go with everything, and are as comfy and cosy as slippers whilst looking so stylish as well. I've already tried these in wet weather and they held out really well - unlike another similar pair of boots I bought a few years ago that instantly collapsed at even a sniff of rain.  I am thrilled with these! I like nothing more than having super warm feet and these really fit the bill. Whoop! I keep having to remind myself that these boots are only £30, they look like much more expensive boots - definitely something to think about.

I noticed that JD Williams do lots of offers for new members, so I really recommend that you take a look.

These look brand new but I've already worn them loads, I'm impressed with how well they have lasted.

Jacket and boots total cost £60

I've been really impressed with JD Williams and the huge range they have. Definitely worth a look, especially if you are over a size 12 (or even if you're not) or have larger feet, like me!

I was gifted these items by JD Williams in order to write this post, but all thoughts are my own.

Every Day is Black Friday

It's definitely Christmas shopping time. As a person who once loved shopping,  I now find doing it in person, in actual shops and exhausting, fruitless experience - mainly because I got really hot, my nose runs constantly (no idea why this is but friends report the same experience), I hate queuing, I can never find my size and I dislike carrying heavy bags. Add three children into the mix and a distinct lack of time and you've got a recipe for disaster. So, for the past few years, I have done ALL my shopping online, every single bit. Even down to wrapping paper and sellotape. It's far more restful, I spend less, I get exactly what I want and I save money by shopping around and comparing prices.

Speaking of comparing prices, it can take the fun out of things a bit, and these days there are so many great price comparison and sale sites you can save even more time - and money.

Today I want to show you a new site called, Every Day is Black Friday - they say,

"There are hundreds of web shops that have very good discounts every day, sometimes even 90% off, but the problem is that a normal person will never have enough time to visit all websites and check whether the product they are looking for is on sale or not. Therefore, I have created a clever, powerful software that can do all the job in the background - it visits the retailer websites on a regular basis, and checks the prices of their products every 24 hours."

You can sign up for email alerts, premium features and more - what a great idea, especially for busy parents. Not only that, but for relevant retailers, you can also see current offer codes. The beauty of this, is that if you want to get a great deal, you can now find all your favourite retailers in one place, which saves you from going from site to site. 

I had a look at the Argos sale, as it has something for everyone. Here are my favourites picks:-

VTech Track was £14.99 now £11.99 - great fun!

Soulet play set - was £199.99, now £156.99 - maybe one to save for the Summer

Motorised bike - £39.99 - push the pedal and this drives itself along!

Table football - was £69.99 now £39.99 - great value AND fun!

There are absolutely loads of online retailers on Every Day is Black Friday - and this is the perfect time of year to try it out - you could save loads of money and time - win/win!

This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts are my own.

Savvy Shopper Find - Love The Sales!

Even though I have been able to curb my shopaholic tendencies in recent years - it never really goes away.  I do comfort myself though, with the thought that even now, with an insanely hectic life. I would never NEVER pay full price for anything. I find it hard to believe that there are any shoppers out there as savvy as me. I go to great lengths to find working offer codes, use cashback websites and whatever else I can find, even if it just means getting free delivery. Two things that I have found useful recently - messaging the facebook pages of the shop simply asking for a free delivery code, this works more often than not. AND, though this is slightly more time consuming, sifting through the past posts on the facebook page of whatever shop I want to buy something from, looking for when they had discount codes/sales launching from a similar time last year. Most shops follow the same processes year in, year out. Though not for the impatient...

A recent find of mine where you can ALWAYS be guaranteed a good deal, is Love The Sales - and I am especially excited about their Black Friday deals - not one to be missed!

What I love about this is that it saves me so much time. I don't have to go sifting through each site individually looking for their best deals, as everything is found in one place. Here are my top wish for items from Love The Sales.

I thought this white leather clutch from Michael Kors was incredible value at £55 (with 50% off) and a great Christmas pressie too.

Michael Kors White Leather Clutch £55

If you're after something a bit smaller, this purse is also good value at £67 (reduced from £95)

Michael Kors clutch £67

Another 50% off bargain is this tan purse, also Michael Kors, now £65.

Michael Kors purse £65

Now it's been quite a while since I have had enough spare cash to shop at Karen Millen - but again, Love The Sale comes up trumps! Take a look here.

I thought this black dress was incredible value at £50, reduced from £190 - great for work and drinks out - especially at Christmas time. A bit of a wardrobe staple!

Karen Millen Dress £50

Karen Millen do really good quality knits - most of them are hand wash only, but I would keep them for best and make them last! I love this cardigan - £65 down from £99.

Karen Millen Cardigan £65

Another lovely cardigan from Karen Millen, down from £110 to £65.

Karen Millen Cardigan £65

Definitely a site to keep an eye on in the run up to Christmas - save time AND money - what's not to like?

The TV Programmes of Christmas Past...

I remember many years ago when I was a child, Christmas was all about TV. Every year we would dutifully buy the Radio Times and TV Times (do they still exist?!) and sift through, looking for what we wanted to watch. If we were well prepared, we would even set the video to record things. The video tape would have things written on it like "DO NOT TOUCH ON PAIN OF DEATH" after bitter past experience of having multiple episodes of Neighbours taped over - possibly on purpose - by my brother. Then of course, the teenage years, Christmas was more about showing off your pressies to your mates, riding your new bike and later - going out. Going out become a much loved pastime at Christmas especially during Uni when it was a good chance to have a catch up with people you actually liked. Even if they showed off a bit and appeared to have had a total change of accent - lilting every sentence up at the end so it sounded like a question - know what I mean? 

Anyway, back to Christmas. Since having children, for me, Christmas is now about forking out for plastic tat, wrapping it in an angry mood, filling the fridge, going on walks (they are after all, free), eating, drinking, spending time together, playing games and of course - watching TV. These days, TV is pretty much our only vice. We don't really go out, we certainly don't drink much (!) and we don't smoke - we've got to have some enjoyment after all. Every month we look at our direct debits and think - what can we cut down on, what don't we need. The Sky bill has come up in conversation many times,  but we just can't bring ourselves to cull it. After all, without that, we'd actually have to talk to each other! 

But to be honest, watching TV together is preferable to starring at our iPhones together, or in the boys' case, starring at an iPad, so I think it's something that is definitely worth investing in. When it comes to TVs, we've never been big spenders, but hubbie keeps hinting that our Sky vice is a bit pointless if we have a tiny screen to watch it on, and I have to admit he has a point. Thus my eye was caught by this Panasonic Ultra HD 4K TV - and what's not to like?

Featuring a Studio Master HCX Processor, Professional Cinema Display for out of this world colour clarity, contrast and brightness, as well as a beautiful Art & Interior design, this TV is truly a masterpiece in television - and the best time to test this out - Christmas of course! 





Now I don't know much about Televisions, but 50 inches of cinema quality sound and screen sounds awesome to me! And it's like anything, buy cheap, buy twice. If we had bought a decent TV years ago then we probably wouldn't need to keep rebuying...know what I mean?

This is a sponsored post, but all thoughts are my own.