Dear reader it's head shot month at Mandy Charlton Photography so this is just a very quick blog to let you know all about the offer I currently have.

Lots of us know the benefit of a great professional portrait, it's the thing that sells your business, it's the photo people see of you which makes them click to contact you because it tells them a little about you, it's something so important and yet lots of business owners make it a lower priority than they should.

So for the next month, until 10th of March I am here to help, I usually charge £295 for a 30 minute session with all of the edited images on a disk for unlimited commercial use but until 10th of March I am offering the same 30 minute session (at Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park, Heaton Park or Tynemouth Longsands) for only £100, that's a startling £195 saving!!!!

Over the last week I've photographed these 2 lovely ladies proving that just because you are having a business portrait it does not mean that it has to be boring with no personality and shot against a white background.  In fact I am urging all of you lovely business owners to break free from the white background and have some photos you actually love of yourself so you can use them on social media, your website, conference brochures, press releases, the possibilities are endless!

So BOOK NOW and send me an email to set up your session.

Lets talk about how crap Valentines day is!

Wednesday dear reader, hump day, all down hill into the weekend and I feel I couldn't let this week pass without some kind of mention or reference to Valentines day.

Now I've never been a big fan of the day when we all feel an enforced pressure to tell the people we share our life with that we love them, all of those years being married and it always felt way too forced even if we could usually share those feelings on other days.

It'll be easier this year, I plan to spend the day with Holly the beagle and I'll tell her I love her and she'll give me a wet nose and a snuggle, it's the way forward I feel.

The thing about love though is it's a daily commitment to try to make each others lives better, more wonderful, it'a almost certainly not about garage flowers, crap cards and enforced sentiment.

I've taken the decision no matter where I am or if I am lucky enough to be loved or indeed not loved that I will never celebrate this Hallmark day with crappy tokens of over priced tat ever again.  I'd rather have a day out doing something wonderful and plenty of time together because that's worth 1 million Tesco Valentines cards.

I'm all for showing love and being in love and embracing love but please don't do it just because a card company tell you that you have to!

There's another point here dear reader, imagine if you will, all of the people who might not have a romantic love in their lives, doesn't Valentines day just gesticulate a huge pointy finger at the lonely? There's so much smugness around and I know that I may have been responsible for that myself so I just want to say sorry. I took the decision a while ago to never share my relationship status on social media again, to never even comment on that aspect of my life because really the reality of the situation is that it's a private thing and in the days where we didn't have Facebook we didn't go around in real life with a note on our head saying "It's Complicated" or other such statements.

You know what I hate seeing on Facebook?  When Facebook comments that someone is single again with a broken heart emoticon, how crappy and absurd that is and does anyone (who actually understands what it means) display on their Facebook that they're in an open relationship?

I realise aspects of this blog post may seem, well a little bit ranty and a tad grumpy but you know what?  It is my blog! ha!  The truth is that I have tons of love in my life for which I am truly thankful, I'm happy and content with my lot and generally when I'm not happy you dear reader know about it anyway!

So go forth and love the one you are with and be with the one you love as often as you can be, show them that you love them with kind words and deeds instead of a mass produced card from Morrisons!

14 things you can do to start saving money right now!

It's no secret that I've been building towards a better life both inside and out and helping lots of lovely blog readers do the exact same thing, we've looked at how to get control of our lives, we've looked at how we can respect our bodies a little more and today with the help of our resident financial expert Stephanie Pickering of Verity Wealth Management we're going to look at ways you can give yourself a financial makeover.

Anyone who knows me will know that I'm a complete spendthrift and money management is not my strong point so I asked Stephanie for her top tips to put our finances in order right now, here's Stephanie's guide to better financial management which can save you money right now!

1)      Draw up a household budget – many people have NEVER done this and have no idea of the actual amounts of income coming into a household, let alone the expenditure going out.  If you have no idea of the Income/Expenditure of your household, you may never know where your money goes to!

2)      Keep all shop/restaurant receipts and use these to review all Bank and Credit Card Statements, checking off every entry individually – should there be any amounts you fail to recognise or disagree with, ring your Bank or Credit Card Company to ensure you find out what it’s for in case it’s a fraudulent entry.  Many fraudsters start with little amounts and when not spotted they then go for larger amounts in the hope they can achieve their fraudulent transaction before being stopped.  This will also help with household budgeting (see point 1 above).

3)      When food shopping try to draw up a list and stick to it – check what’s needed in your cupboards before going shopping – try planning the weekly menus before setting off.  Make a pan of fridge soup at the end of the week – I do this by using all the vegetables wilting in the fridge and throwing them in a pan with some vegetable stock – red lentils, Garlic, Chilli, Onions and a bit tomato puree – its amazing how good it tastes for such ease in making! (I love this tip Steph, I did this with Christmas leftovers and the soup was amazing)

4)      Pay off debts – always make the minimum payment on debts on time and wherever possible with any spare money overpay the debt with the largest interest rate – once this has been paid off, review debts again and pay all spare money off the debt with the current highest rate of interest.  Keep repeating the task until all debts are repaid!

5)      Even if you think you cannot afford to save any money, start small either by saving a favoured coin in a jar, such as the £2 coin – you generally don’t get many and their big and bulky, so put them in a jar….you’ll be amazed at how soon they add up.  Do a separate one for copper if possible…again they are annoying in your purse or wallet.  I wouldn’t suggest £1 coins here as we get too many of these and we need to keep something in our purses/wallets.

6)      Set up a standing order to make a payment into a different bank account each time you are paid…you will miss it initially but within a few weeks/months you will not miss it!  The amount you save no matter how small soon adds up.

7)      Review the cost of your utility bills– if you have never switched providers or have not switched in a long time, you could save quite a bit by moving to an alternative provider.  Switching to paying bills by direct debit rather than quarterly cheque payments also helps as many providers offer discounts for paying by direct debit and often charge a lower tariff for the service provided.  There are many online websites to help carry out switching such as Uswitch.com and others.

8)      If you need to get Cash back on an in store purchase ALWAYS use your Debit Card NOT your Credit Card.  Your Debit Card takes the money straight from your own bank account and generally costs nothing – by using a Credit Card you will be charged both for the transaction and also interest will apply from the day you receive the money.

9)      If you or your child are a student or in 6^th Form college – you can purchase a NUS Student Union/ NUS Extra Card.  This does cost £15 per annum however it provides money off many good and services such as Cinema entries, some restaurants, Clothes Stores, Amazon purchases plus many more.  The £15 although an expense initially not a  saving, should soon recoup its cost many times over!

10)   Sign up to Cash Back Websites, such as Quidco and TopCashBack.co.uk and get money back on your purchases or Voucher savings sites such as My Voucher Codes to get money off vouchers to use on purchases – it may not be huge amounts, but it does add up over the year and you would have been spending the money on items even without using these sites.

11)   When buying something – ask yourself - Do I need it?, will I use it, have I already got something similar…….if in doubt – do not buy go away and think about it first!

12)   Get a professional to carry out a Financial Review – it may cost you money to have one carried out but they can potentially save you money sometimes substantial amounts!

13)   Ensure you have a Will – many people plan all their lives only to be undone on death by not having a valid Will.

14)   Check your Tax Code – are you paying too much Income Tax?  If you are a non-Tax Payer are you paying Tax on your Bank/BS Savings – if so speak to the Bank and they will be able to provide you with a form to have interest payments on your accounts paid Gross.  Also if your partner is a higher rate Tax Payer than you – look to switch savings to the partner who pays lower rates of Income Tax to save tax that way.

I want to thank Stephanie for taking the time to compile that list for us, I shall be getting an NUS card for Iain post haste!

If you would like to speak to someone who really knows their stuff and can carry out that all important financial review why not speak to Stephanie at Verity Wealth Management, if she can write this list just off the top of her head can you imagine how much money she could actually save you with a proper financial review?

Those 3 Questions, Valentines Portraits and Zero Procrastination

I hope you've spent the weekend working on those 3 questions I asked you last time dear reader, some of you have been in touch and it's interesting to note that so many people have a huge problem with question 3, that's "How are you going to achieve that?"

Now obviously it was always going to be a challenge but what I think we need to do is try to simplify, if you can't come up with any kind of lucid answer and your mind is rambling (mine does often) think about breaking things down into stages.  They don't say "baby steps" for no reason.

Also when thinking about the questions do write them down, in coloured felt tips if necessary, I find that I can rule the world as long as I have a packet of felt tips and some kind of jotter to make notes on, do you know I hate to-do lists but once I actually make one I am pretty unstoppable.

This weekend was just lovely, I worked on Saturday with a day off yesterday, the light was wonderful and did you see that sunset on Saturday?  I only wish that I had been on the Quayside to catch the sun going down behind the Tyne bridge but even from my house I could see the most gorgeous urban sunset.

Next weekend I am working on Sunday (that's the 15th) as I realise that many of you love birds have plans for Valentines day.  I'll be down on the beach at Tynemouth and if you would like an appointment I have from 1pm onwards available.  As you know by now it's £25 for a 30 minute session and that includes a web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first week your gallery is live and a complimentary 7x5 print.  Further prints start at just £10 for a 7x5, to book your session you can email/fb me or click through to mandycharlton.com and send me an enquiry.  If the weather is as good next week I will be delighted and you know what?  If you haven't bought your love a Valentines day present then why not get them a gift certificate for a couples/family portrait photo shoot?  It's the gift that keeps on giving.

This week I'm going to be very productive so if you see me dilly dallying around just remember to shout "Stop Procrastinating" at me in a very loud voice, actually in saying that I have a newborn lifestyle at home shoot right up in Northumberland and a portfolio shoot with a young and talented actress who needs some head shots so throw in some album design and work on my new business idea plus a couple of lovely dog walking days off and it doesn't really leave much time for anything else.

The 3 most important questions you'll ever ask...

I'm working on a new business plan at the moment and so dear reader I find that I'm asking these questions of myself and when someone comes to me for help or advice I find they're the questions I firstly ask of them - 

1. Where are you now?
2. Where do you want to be?
3. How are you going to achieve that?

They're not particularly long questions just short, sharp and to the point and if you can answer them all fully then you're on your way to achieving your goals!

Of course it's not quite that easy is it?  I found that I could answer question 1 fairly well and I could answer question 2 fairly well but it's question 3 that's the hard part I guess.

Question 3 can take months and years to work out, it's certainly not straightforward but if you can come up with some kind of answers and plan then you're at least half way there.

So go get your paper and your pens, pencils, Technicoloured paints and just ask yourself those 3 simple questions, see if you can come up with answers to 1 and 2 at least and then we can all work together on answer number 3.

You can apply these questions to any situation big or small, business or personal and this is about getting stuff done, finding the stuff you need to achieve your goals.

Think of it like this example - 

1. In the house with no food

2. Having a delicious dinner

3. There are multiple ways to achieve what you want, you could go to the supermarket, buy ingredients, go home and cook, you could call a takeaway or you could go out to dinner, they're all going to get you to your goal just in slightly different ways.

So now we've applied those 3 things to the simplest of situations think about how you could use them in different parts of your life or business.

So that's your big question for over the weekend, I won't answer the three big questions I'm asking myself at the moment because it's going to detract from you and your questions and I don't want to influence anyone but I'll share them later I promise.

If you want to share something with me privately please do get in touch via email mandy@mandycharltonphotography.com and if you don't mind other people reading them please do leave a comment or join in the conversation on Facebook.

Sweet Poison and Davina's 5 weeks to Sugar Free

Ever since I joined Slimming World and started to respect my body a little more dear reader i've become fascinated with trying to understand how my body works and why I've always had a problem with my weight, it's only in the last couple of years I've really got to grips with that and that's why I'm more than 2 stone lighter than I was in April 2013.

Just lately as I've really been changing my life in all aspects for it I've taken a really hard look at what's going on inside my body as much as I've looked at all of the external things which affect me, my life and my business.

Last week I tentatively started on Davina's 5 weeks to Sugar Free and I'm actually really enjoying it, I've not cut out all sugar yet as it was my birthday, I went out for drinks but it's around a week since I started putting most of it into practice and I'm 2lb down, feel a lot brighter and definitely have more energy during the day.  I am also reading "Sweet Poison, why sugar makes us fat" by David Gillespie recommended to me by a friend and it's a good (although quite heavy in places) book  all around the same subject that refined sugar isn't good for us at all but we're all blooming addicted to it and if we can just restore our bodies to the way they're supposed to work we'll feel and look a whole lot better.

Now obviously I'm not a diet guru just like I'm not a life guru and actually it's probably more the case that if I can do it anyone can but we're all in this together right?  We made it through January and came out of the end better people because we took control, well this is one of the next step because we need to love ourselves and respect ourselves in all areas and that includes what we're putting in our bodies.  I love cake, i'm sorry, I do, it's not my fault!  I've just experimented by making a Victoria sponge using a recipe from Davina's book which substitutes the sugar by using Maple Syrup and which swaps white flour for wholemeal spelt, I can tell you that it was so delish that Looby asked for more!!  Ideally I think no maple syrup or honey would be the ideal but none of us are perfect so if we can just cut out most of the sugar, swap white flour for wholemeal spelt (yes I know, spelt, it sounds hideous but I promise it's not, I made a loaf, I didn't die and I didn't suffer from bloating, I didn't even have middle aged lady night sweats)  I also made our Yorkshire puddings with it yesterday and Iain (yes the one with aspergers who doesn't like anything and won't try anything) didn't notice the difference, obviously I didn't tell him until after he'd eaten them!

So if like me you're on a path to changing your whole entire life for the better why not give it a go, you can still have pies (wholemeal spelt crust) and you can still have pizza (home made with wholemeal spelt) and you can still have bread and the changes you need to make are minimal, it's actually a lot simpler than I thought and I was doing a lot of it with Slimming World anyway, the one thing I wasn't doing was I was having a lot of low fat things and they seem to contain some not very nice things and some hidden sugars in some cases so now I'm making sure I'm moving back to basics, I'm a pretty good cook and I really enjoy baking and cooking, I find it's actually relaxing, especially if you can put on the radio and dance with your beagle!

So now we're into February, I hope you're continuing on the path to being a better you, you know what I'm working on, well lets just say by the end of the year I hope I'll be able to help you be a better you in person and online, more about that coming up soon...

A Tuesday Cornucopia

I sat down to write this post yesterday in the kitchen in the afternoon while I was cooking a chicken dinner (my sons favourite) and doing 43 things at once dear reader, well it's now Tuesday morning, bit late but we got here eventually.

So todays post is a real cornucopia really, lots of things to tell you about!

Firstly on Sunday I celebrated my birthday by spending the morning in beautiful Alnmouth on the beach with Looby, Holly and Petunia.  Holly was also celebrating, she's a whole 8 months old now and she's just the best dog in the whole world, I might have mentioned that once or twice in the past ;)

She's pretty much off lead all the time now in safe places, I do have to say that her beagle deafness was pretty bad on the beach though and I had to go and fetch her from the middle of the golf course at one point, she's a bit spaniel obsessed and easily led once she finds them!

Whilst I wouldn't want a birthday portrait, I think it's essential to have one when you're as cute as Holly the beagle

Have you noticed that Petunia who perpetually has a silly smile on her face actually makes Holly look very serious and a bit grumpy?

In the afternoon we enjoyed the last light of the day in the park at Morpeth, it's one of my favourite Northumbrian places and I love a walk along the river.

The moon had just popped it's head out as I walked over the bridge and caught this with the reflections of the trees in the river, very pretty I thought and a lovely way to spend a birthday!

Business News

due to a cancellation I have availability this weekend for a kids/family/couples photo shoot anywhere in the north east, please do get in touch, it's only £25 for a photo shoot in Jesmond Dene, Saltwell Park or Tynemouth Longsands or at other locations from £40 and you get a complimentary print, web gallery for 30 days, 15% off for the first 7 days your gallery is live and further prints start at £10 for a 7x5, £13 for a 10x8 and £15 for a 12x8, the light is lovely in February and as print and session prices are due to rise at the end of February it's a great time to take advantage of the availability.  Also if you would like to have a photo shoot over the half term holidays could you please book your session quickly so then I can plan my diary around them!  I'll be available on Mon/Wed/Fri/Sat or Sunday depending on when bookings come in so pick your place first and then you get the choice!

Mothers Day Sessions

I announced these late last week and there are only 6 sessions still available, for all of the details about this day of very special sessions on Saturday 14th March at Tynemouth Longsands please see this lovely gallery and post all about them but be quick, I don't think there'll be many sessions still available by the end of the week! 

Right then, bit of a jumble but back tomorrow as usual with hopefully some quite exciting news about the future.