5 YouTube Videos to Watch Before Converting Your Camper
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Living in a camper comes down to what you make of it. It all starts by converting your chosen base vehicle into a camper. Regardless of the type of camper, you can afford, camper living is about making the most of your freedom.
You get to live according to the terms you have set for yourself as you continue to rebel against the norms linked to everyday living. Before getting started with your conversion, there are a few videos I would like you to watch.
1. Wandering Bird Motorhome Adventures
Anyone thinking of doing a campervan conversion should begin by watching this video by Wandering Bird Motorhome Adventures. It applies to all campervan enthusiasts, regardless of whether they’re abroad or in the UK. It features campers who have done conversions on their own and touches on the lessons they have learned along the way. In it, you’ll learn the pros and cons of undertaking a transformation, including the layouts to consider in your build. You should learn some essential tips to help smoothen your conversion.
2. Van Clan DIY Camper Conversion
Are you interested in learning about some of the best conversions available right now? Van Clan is pretty enlightening as it highlights the top 10 Best VAN LIFE DIY Camper Conversions to date. The twelve-minute video looks at the best do-it-yourself campervan conversions you’ll find on the road today. They’re conversions undertaken by seasoned and renowned campers, many of whom have been living this life for years.
3. Rickyvanman
Rickyvanman takes you through how to make a campervan from the ground to completion. What’s more, he provides tips on how you can do this on a budget, ensuring you don’t get to go out of pocket. I highly recommend this video as it captures the mistakes made during the conversion process and how not to make the same mistakes. You’ll find some great tips on how to go about with your build.
4. Gabe and Pau
Gabe and Pau take you on the journey to making a full van conversion. The one thing I like about this video is the fact that Gabe and Pau are complete amateurs and are making their first-ever build. It should prove interesting for all camper fans looking forward to completing their first build.
5. Vanlife Sagas
Are you planning to live the rest of your life in a camper? Well, there’re a few things you ought to know before beginning the van life. Vanlife Sagas details some of the things you should know before beginning this life. It provides an accurate depiction of what to expect, including the challenges you’ll face and how best to prepare yourself.
Getting Campervan Conversion Insurance
It can sometimes feel impossible trying to find a suitable insurance policy to protect the upgrades you intend to make to the campervan. Additionally, the rules used to cover a conversion can vary from one insurer to the next. For this reason, there’s a need to conduct detailed research to find campervan conversion Insurance policy that best fits your DIY camper conversion.
How to Raise a Science Lover
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Many children enjoy science because it is such a diverse subject. Science helps to fuel your child’s curiosity, build their knowledge, and give them a better understanding of how the world works. Science can also help children to develop certain skills, such as problem-solving, communication, and investigation. If you would like some advice on how to raise a science lover, here are some great tips from an independent school in London.
Encourage questions
There are many ways you can teach your child about science; however, the best way is to explore their own questions and ideas. For example, if they ask you questions about night and day, you could demonstrate the positions of the sun using a globe and a torch. If they ask where rain comes from, you could demonstrate condensation using hot steam from the kettle.
Teach through play
Building blocks and modeling clay are both great ways to encourage science learning through play. For young children, you can also experiment with water and observe how different materials sink and float. As your child grows, you can introduce them to construction toys, such as Lego and K’nex. These toys encourage children to be creative and problem-solve, which are both incredibly important academic skills. Puzzles are also ideal for encouraging older children to problem-solve, plus you can enjoy them together as a family.
Explore Nature
Exploring the great outdoors is one of the easiest ways to teach your child about science. Encourage your child to explore plants and wildlife and discuss how trees produce oxygen for us to breathe. By exploring nature together you will also be teaching your child to respect the environment and all living things. Children can even be encouraged to help in the garden. Get them planting seeds so that they can learn about how things grow.
What's In My Child's Travel Bag
We go on a couple of holidays or short breaks away a couple of times a year. Our next adventure is going abroad to Majorca again so I thought I would put together a post all about what I'll be packing in Noah's flight bag. I struggle with boredom in the airport and on the flight so I always make sure to pack lots of different things to keep a four year old occupied and happy on our journey!
Lots of snacks:
First of all, and most importantly it has to be snacks! I've packed a variety of Noah's favourites; Goodies fruit and oat bars, Goodies raisins, Fruit Bowl blackcurrant yogurt flakes, Little Dish Go Go's and Bear Paws fruit shapes. On the morning we leave I will also pack some savoury snacks like cheese sticks, crackers and a flask of water.
Activity bundle:
Next we have an activity bundle and a soft toy. A sticker book, find and seek book, soft toy and lotto mini game. The sticker book cost next to nothing and just had to be included in our bag as stickers are always a hit with Noah. The Things to Spot book is something I hope Noah will enjoy to do whilst on the plane as he loves anything like that. The Little Bus Lotto game is one of the many Orchard Toy games that we love and the Little Bus Lotto will be a game that Noah can enjoy both at home and on the go. Lastly, we have the little soft toy which Noah has recently become very fond of and has named Mouse? Lucky Mouse gets a free trip to Majorca!
Thomas & Friends goodies:
Then we have a bunch of Thomas & Friends goodies; a sticker activity book, carry along colouring set and mini train surprise bags. I won the sticker book and carry along set a while back but luckily discovered them this week when sorting the house! I picked up a couple of Thomas & Friends Mini's too because Noah like most toddlers is obsessed with surprise eggs and blind bags so I know they'll keep him occupied on the flight.
Small toys:
As you can see I'm trying to cover all bases by packing everything that I know Noah plays with often so if he gets bored with one thing we can easily switch to something else. I've packed four of his favourite cars, a small Buzz Lightyear and a couple of different surprise bags.
Noah's prized possession:
Now we couldn't travel anywhere without Noah's favourite thing in the whole wide world, his Kiki. He will be packed in his hand luggage to be at hand for snuggle time and I so hope we don't lose him while we are abroad! And if all this fails I will have my iPad at the ready!
What do you like to pack in your child's travel bag?
CanvasChamp - Review & Competition
Like most other parents out there, I take countless of photos of my children. Not a day that goes by without me snapping away and I have taken thousands of photo's since the day they were born. With taking so many, most being stored on my phone or on my laptop I'm always looking for different ways to display and show them off. This is where CanvasChamp comes in.
CanvasChamp offers so many different solutions when it comes to having your photographs printed and displayed. From photo collages and wall displays through to metal prints and mosaics, there's so much choice available.
When I was recently contacted asking if I'd like to review one of their 12" x 12" personalised photo pillows I was delighted to go ahead. I knew which photo I was going to use right away, a lovely shot of the kids that I took a few weeks ago on our break away to Centre Parcs. I simply changed the photo to black and white, to match the decor of our living room and then I was ready to go.
Although there are so many options to explore on the website, I found ordering my cushion very easy and straightforward to do. I simply clicked on the cushion size, uploaded my image, aligned it and then placed my order. It took minutes and I couldn't wait to see the final result.
I didn't have to wait long, the cushion was delivered within a matter of days and on opening, I was so impressed with the quality. The image I chose was just perfect and there was hardly any quality lost upon printing. The cushion is very soft and luxurious and I've already had so many compliments from visitors, all asking where I'd ordered it from. Prices usually start at £62.50 for this size of cushion but it's currently on offer for just £8.75. That's a saving of a staggering £53.75! I'd recommend that you place an order soon if you'd like to take advantage of that huge saving.
It's no surprise that CanvasChamp that 94% of their customers recommend them, I wouldn't hesitate in ordering with them again and I'm already recommending them to friends. To spread the word about CanvasChamp and the wonderful photo printing service that they provide I've teamed up with them to give away a 10" x 8" canvas print to one lucky winner! To enter simply use the Gleam form below and don't forget to enter my other blog competitions!
Terms & Conditions.
1. There will be 1 winner who will the prize mentioned above.
2. Prize sent directly by the PR.
3. Competition ends 17/06/18.
4. Incomplete entries with be disqualified.
5. UK entries only.
How Much Does Where You Live Affect Your Home Insurance?
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Home insurance: you might be convinced you don’t really need it. According to the Association of
British Insurers (ABI), about 7.5 million households in the UK do go without home insurance – but, if
your home is struck by damage or a burglary, you could hugely appreciate having such cover.
After all, the average UK household has roughly £35,000 of possessions, says the Money AdviceService – and contents insurance, one of the two types of home insurance, can cover the loss of these. The other type is buildings insurance, which can fund repairs to the building itself.
However, when you approach an insurer to apply for a home insurance policy, you could be startled to realise that even where you live can, for better or worse, affect how much you end up shelling out for this cover. So, to what extent is it a factor – and could you do anything about it?
Your risk to the insurer ultimately determines your premiums
The statistically likelier you are to need to make a claim on your insurance, the more the insurer will charge you for that cover – it’s a pretty simple equation. What’s not quite so simple is what boxes your residential property needs to tick in order to land you the lower premiums. It’s generally known that homes at high risk of flooding incur higher premiums, as do homes located in wealthier areas – presumably as, if you live in any such area, your architecture and belongings are likely to be high-value and so the insurer could have to foot a relatively large bill for replacements. Of course, perhaps the best way to discern how your choice of habitat could affect your insurance premiums is by getting it from the horse’s mouth... or, rather, the admiral’s. Yes, leading insurer Admiral has provided a lengthy list of factors it considers when calculating home insurance prices.
How will an insurer assess your home’s flood risk?
Admiral says it will do this by looking at whether you reside near water. You probably live closer to water than you realise; according to research by another insurer, Aviva, 67% of people living where the flood risk is especially high don’t realise they are running this risk at all. This is worrying given how, even just in the UK, extreme weather events have increased in frequency over time – and Aviva’s research also suggests that one in seven UK properties face a flood risk. Today, flooding is the leading cause of weather-related damage to homes.
Is your home really in a “safe” area?
You could easily be led into thinking it does – especially if, before you chose to move into your current residence, you pored over crime statistics in a bid to see how dangerous the local area seemed to be. Still, this data might not have told the whole story of the crime risk to your home. Admiral says that, for calculating premiums, it looks at what home insurance claims are made in the area where the applicant lives. If the insurer to which you apply notices that burglaries seem particularly common in your area, you could be hit with heftier premiums as a result.
How many claims have you made yourself in the last five years?
According to Admiral, this is the time period it considers when it looks at how often an applicant has recently made a claim on their home insurance. As a general rule, the fewer such claims you have made over that period, the less you will likely need to pay for your next home insurance policy. Naturally, the more dangerous your neighbourhood is, the more often you could have had to make a claim in recent years. However, even if you live in a dodgy area and can’t move away from it any time soon, you don’t need to entirely lose hope of trimming your home insurance premiums. This is because you could always equip your home with an array of security technology that, once in place, could potentially stop an attempted burglary in its tracks or even prevent it from happening at all. You could, therefore, with time, increasingly lessen your need to make home insurance claims.
How we can help secure homes in London and the South East
By phoning us on 01708 470351, you can arrange for us to visit your home and, while there, install a custom-designed security system. Even if your home already has a burglar alarm, we can easily service it – and we can also fit various commercial security systems in London.
After all, the average UK household has roughly £35,000 of possessions, says the Money AdviceService – and contents insurance, one of the two types of home insurance, can cover the loss of these. The other type is buildings insurance, which can fund repairs to the building itself.
However, when you approach an insurer to apply for a home insurance policy, you could be startled to realise that even where you live can, for better or worse, affect how much you end up shelling out for this cover. So, to what extent is it a factor – and could you do anything about it?
Your risk to the insurer ultimately determines your premiums
The statistically likelier you are to need to make a claim on your insurance, the more the insurer will charge you for that cover – it’s a pretty simple equation. What’s not quite so simple is what boxes your residential property needs to tick in order to land you the lower premiums. It’s generally known that homes at high risk of flooding incur higher premiums, as do homes located in wealthier areas – presumably as, if you live in any such area, your architecture and belongings are likely to be high-value and so the insurer could have to foot a relatively large bill for replacements. Of course, perhaps the best way to discern how your choice of habitat could affect your insurance premiums is by getting it from the horse’s mouth... or, rather, the admiral’s. Yes, leading insurer Admiral has provided a lengthy list of factors it considers when calculating home insurance prices.
How will an insurer assess your home’s flood risk?
Admiral says it will do this by looking at whether you reside near water. You probably live closer to water than you realise; according to research by another insurer, Aviva, 67% of people living where the flood risk is especially high don’t realise they are running this risk at all. This is worrying given how, even just in the UK, extreme weather events have increased in frequency over time – and Aviva’s research also suggests that one in seven UK properties face a flood risk. Today, flooding is the leading cause of weather-related damage to homes.
Is your home really in a “safe” area?
You could easily be led into thinking it does – especially if, before you chose to move into your current residence, you pored over crime statistics in a bid to see how dangerous the local area seemed to be. Still, this data might not have told the whole story of the crime risk to your home. Admiral says that, for calculating premiums, it looks at what home insurance claims are made in the area where the applicant lives. If the insurer to which you apply notices that burglaries seem particularly common in your area, you could be hit with heftier premiums as a result.
How many claims have you made yourself in the last five years?
According to Admiral, this is the time period it considers when it looks at how often an applicant has recently made a claim on their home insurance. As a general rule, the fewer such claims you have made over that period, the less you will likely need to pay for your next home insurance policy. Naturally, the more dangerous your neighbourhood is, the more often you could have had to make a claim in recent years. However, even if you live in a dodgy area and can’t move away from it any time soon, you don’t need to entirely lose hope of trimming your home insurance premiums. This is because you could always equip your home with an array of security technology that, once in place, could potentially stop an attempted burglary in its tracks or even prevent it from happening at all. You could, therefore, with time, increasingly lessen your need to make home insurance claims.
How we can help secure homes in London and the South East
By phoning us on 01708 470351, you can arrange for us to visit your home and, while there, install a custom-designed security system. Even if your home already has a burglar alarm, we can easily service it – and we can also fit various commercial security systems in London.