Organising the Expedit

Over the summer holidays I had a bit of a drive to make the flat prettier and more organised. I finally got around to tidying up the massive Expedit we have in the living room. Since we moved in (nearly a year ago) it has been a dumping ground for anything that didn't have a home elsewhere. That was not an ideal solution as it was on full show in our main living space. I had been feeling a little overwhelmed by trying to sort it but when I got started it was actually pretty quick and easy.

Unfortunately I don't have a before photo (I am so bad at remembering to take those!) but just imagine a jumble of random things, no organisation, no coordination etc.

And now it looks like this, tada:

In terms of how I went about tackling a daunting organisation project, I decided to make a list! I wrote a big list of all the things we had stored in the 3 areas I was tackling (under the stairs, the Expedit and the spare room cupboard) and then I marked which would fit in the Expedit, where each thing was mostly used and whether it was pretty or not (the last was a criteria for most of the items on the Expedit as it is on show and the other storage areas are not). From this I decided which things to store where and could then organise each area.

I have known for a while that I would like the living room colour scheme to be based around this blanket that I bought from Primark a couple of years ago (as much as I can control the colour scheme in our rented flat on almost no budget). I absolutely LOVE this blanket, I wear it all winter and it is so pretty as well as warm!

I thought that I wouldn't be able to style the Expedit with the right colours but then I realised that these boxes that I already had tie in nicely with the red, as does my knitting bag. That gave me enough inspiration to try to make it work with the colour scheme and I think I succeeded (I don't like things to be too matchy-matchy).

I made cut some paper to go inside the clear drawers I store our first aid in (that took a bit of trial and error to get the right shape). I didn't have nice paper with red or navy tones in it so I went with some pink patterns that are close enough for now. I might change them at some point to fit better.

I also found this tissue box at Aldi which I think is really cute and was the perfect colours. And I added that pink box that had been hanging around in a cupboard (little secret: the box doesn't have anything in at the moment, it's just there cos it looks nice and to fill up a cubby!).

I'll post about the transformation of my magazine files soon.

The only thing left now is to find some nice fabric to cover the boxes at the bottom. That will have to wait for a trip to Walthamstow I think...

5:2 Tips and Tricks

Fasting isn't easy. As much as I love the 5:2 diet and what it does for my waist-line and my health, I don't always (or often!) love the fasting days. It can be really hard, but there are some tricks that will help you get through the day.

Tips:

• Water, water, water - drink as much water as you can, it fills your stomach and keeps you hydrated, it can also distract you from wanting to eat. For flavour you can add some mint leaves or a small amount of lemon juice.
• Tea - if you can't drink any more water, tea is good. Strictly it should be black or herbal but I do often have tea with skimmed milk and ignore the calories (naughty I know, but it's only a few calories!). Find a herbal tea you like (I like mint green, or peppermint or camomile) for some variety. I also like to make fresh mint tea with mint from the garden, this makes a nice ice tea too for summer fasting days.

• Fizzy drinks - not the ones full of sugar, plain fizzy water is good if you like it as it seems to fill you up a bit more than still water. I don't like plain fizzy water so I have it with some no added sugar squash. If I'm really struggling, like if I have a long day or am being extra active, I might treat myself to a diet coke.
• Although it feels counter-intuitive, I find fasting a lot easier if I don't eat much the night before. It's very tempting to stuff yourself the evening before a fasting day but I find a small dinner and no snacks after really helps. I am much less hungry the next day and hardly notice that I'm fasting.
• If none of the above work and you're really suffering, eat something low calorie. There's no point killing yourself over this. If you can, take the calories from a later meal, but if you have to go over your 500 (or 600 for men, lucky things!) it's not the end of the world. The book suggests that you shouldn't regularly go even a few calories over but I think that even if I end up eating a couple of hundred more calories (I very rarely do) then I'm still eating a LOT less than on a normal day, and I've still had my 16 hours fasting period.

Things to remember:

• Hunger comes and goes so try to ignore it or drink one of the above and it should go away within an hour, I find my hunger patterns are the same on fasting and non-fasting days, I just don't get to satisfy them by eating on a fasting day
• YOU CAN EAT TOMORROW!!! I find this really helps, especially when it gets towards the end of the day when I'm most hungry. Once it's evening, it feels like I've nearly succeeded so it's a waste to give in and it's only a few hours until I can eat (not counting the hours I'm asleep as I'm not conscious of hunger then!)
• Be flexible - 5:2 is a lifestyle rather than a quick fix diet, so it needs to fit your life. I have 2 standard days (Monday and Thursday) but often move one or both to fit around my week. I also miss days if I can't fit them around what I'm doing or if I'm on holiday. Sometimes I do half days where I fast until the evening then have a normal meal (for example if I am going out for a meal and can't move my day). I have been known to do a normal fast day and then eat a cupcake in the evening (I had to test them to check they were edible!).

If possible, it's probably best to be as strict as you can manage for the first month or so whilst you get used to it, but then, be flexible. If you are fasting 2 days a week, every week, an extra few calories every now and then, or a missed day, isn't going to be a problem.