Yes I know, spring should be about new trends, planning summer getaways and spring cleaning your wardrobe – yet cast your mind back ladies (and gents!) to what spring cleaning really means: It’s time to don those rubber gloves and #oustyourhouse.

No one said spring-cleaning was glamorous, but unless you have an army of cleaners (I’m still praying for that one on a daily basis) odds are you know your way round the cleaning cupboard at home. I’m an expert when it comes to speed cleaning it may have been said that I can achieve more cleaning (not to mention tidying) in the 15 minutes before we have guests due to arrive; all good and well but a quick blitz won’t deal with more maintenance heavy issues such as limescale. And it doesn’t take long for limescale to build up and before you know it not only does it look pretty darn nasty it can have serious implications for your appliances even causing them to sometimes break.

OUST sent me an #OUSTyourhouse box containing loads of their products to help eliminate limescale from both the kitchen and bathroom.

The whole purpose of OUST products is to descale appliances and taps in next to no time leaving everything shiny clean and limescale free.

I got started with the OUST kettle descaler drop-in-bag and it really is as simple as it sounds; a few cycles of boiling/emptying/waiting and your kettle is as good as new – trust I was horrified to see how bad the limescale was and my kettle is pretty new.

Next I tackled the washing machine and dishwasher with the machine descaler; again super easy with minimal effort and it’s one of those spring cleaning tasks that your really shouldn’t neglect as although limescale may be invisible not only can it reduce the effectiveness of you machine but rack up your energy bills.

I also tried out the OUST tap and shower head descaler. I’m super lucky to have an amazing shower/bath combo with two shower heads and waterfall type bath tap but that means some serious limesclae build up, but with the handy applicator brush the gel clings to even the most stubborn limescale and it’s gone before you know it.

Spring cleaning is never going to be the most joyous of chores but with OUST you can get it done with as little as fuss and as quickly as possible so you can get back to the sussing out the perfect spring shade nude lipstick!

For further tips and FAQs on getting rid of limescale please visit OUST.

Disclosure: We were sent a box of OUST products for review. No payment was received and all opinions are 100% honest.

When it comes to diets, you name it and I’m pretty sure I’ve tried it – yet I’ve never chosen a meal replacement plan as if I’m completely honest they looked more like an expensive way to be hungry than a serious route to sensible weight loss. So when Exante Diet got in touch to see if I wanted to try out their Total Solution Diet Plan I was intrigued to see what it was like.

They sent me a surprise box for five days with a real mixture of shakes, soups, bars and powdered meals to give me as much of a taste (pardon the pun!) of what the plan has to offer. I decided to do it from Monday to Friday as I wanted to stay on track as much as possible and as many parents know the weekends are a law unto themselves when it comes to planning meals!

The Total Solution Diet Plan is classed as a very low calorie diet using meal-replacement food packs instead of normal everyday food to lose weight. The food packs provide 100% of your recommended daily allowance so you know that you’re getting all the nutrients you need and regardless of you what your brain is telling you, you do not need that chocolate bar or biscuit come the afternoon.

Exante Diet do offer diet plans that incorporate additional everyday food however seeing as I was only doing the plan for a short period of time I thought it only fair that I give it everything I’ve got. The Total Solutions Diet Plan consists of a combination of three shakes/bars/meals/soups any which way you like limiting you calorie intake to 600kcals.

Day one came and I have to admit I was slightly nervous; what happened if I had my first meal and hated it? What happened if I was ridiculously hungry by 10am?

I started off with scrambled eggs which come in the form of a powdered sachet which you add water to whisk and then cook in a pan, and hey it wasn’t fine dining (that’s probably not helping my waist line!) but once you get your head round you being on diet it tastes surprisingly good. Lunch was a smoothie, which was ridiculously filling – yes I know I sound like a model but it took me nearly 15 minutes to drink it and I didn’t suffer any huger pangs throughout the afternoon. The following days on plan consisted of soups, meal replacements, bars and shakes; some I liked more than others but there was nothing that I couldn’t eat.

So down to the important part: the weight loss. In five days I managed to lose 5.4lbs and that includes two cheeky mojitos at a press event! I’m really impressed with the weight loss, it’s often hard to see a tangible weight loss in less than a week and it was definitely weight I’d shifted in the five days and not water as it’s drummed into you that you must drink two litres of water each day.

Another part of the Exante Diet Plans is that they seem to be one of the most affordable with meals starting at £1 if bought as part of bumper sets which is amazing value – especially when you consider that adding a diet to a family food budget can often be a contributing factor to not continuing.

Of course we all know that nothing beats a sensible balanced diet with at least 150 minutes of cardio exercise a week. Exante Diet is in no way a quick fix it’s about helping you on your healthy weight loss journey and reeducating our eating habits; in my eyes anything that gives you a helping hand in our busy lives is defiantly worth a try.

Disclosure: We were sent Exante Diet Total Solutions Plan for review. No payment was received and all opinions are 100% honest.

Seeing as it’s Election Day let’s get political, don’t worry not too political – I’m not going to urge you to vote for a particular party or berate you if you’re vocal about who got your vote, however last month I was invited to an exclusive Mumsnet Q&A with Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, and what better day than election day to tell you about what I learnt.

The room was made up with a cross section of Mumsnetters from the length and breadth of the country and each and everyone of us had an idea of our top three questions we wanted to ask. Some of the questions had been prepared in advance and there were small bursts of quick fire rounds, which were supposed to give Clegg the chance to dazzle us with his one-word answers… Let’s just get it out there: he along with all politicians is incapable of giving one worded answers never mind a simple yes or no!

The Q&A lasted just under an hour and there were lots of questions asked with lots of answers offered by Nick Clegg, and not all the responses were either welcomed or agreed with.

Policies aside, I felt that Nick Clegg made a few key points. When asked what he learnt from the 2010 general election he said that politics had become and are still very much plural and diverse, meaning coalition governments are here to stay (let’s see if he’s right in the morning!) and I think that’s one of the strongest messages to come out of this – if coalitions are the government of our times then surely we have to find a model that works for our country? The egos of each party never mind individual politicians surely cannot be allowed to play such a big role as they have for the last five years.

With coalitions comes the inevitability of compromise, and no one party will willingly give up keep manifesto pledges, but instead of the machete style hacking of party policies to create the Frankenstein of governments; surely it is better for us to acquaint ourselves with the art of coalition-ing, creating etiquette on how forming, managing and sometimes most importantly the distancing in the dying months of a coalition will help the country get the best from this.

Coalitions are like blended families; they’re not what you learn about at school, and if we’re being brutally honest, it’s never what you’d wished for. However they are the reality of 2015 in Britain and just like families which come in all shapes and sizes as do our governments; it’s not what you’re given that counts but what you do with it.

Who knows, only time and a fair few governments will tell.

Today the nation take to the polls and whoever gets your vote, there will inevitably be changes; for me a general election is a chance to stop and take stock of where you are and plan for the future.

I’ve always been a fan of a five year plan and funnily enough I made one back in 2010 – at that point I was still at university, childless and having loads of fun. Looking back I’ve in theory achieved my goals: I wanted to be back in London, which I am. I wanted to be settled in a career, never thought it would be blogging but it works perfectly and I love every minute… Oh and now I have a Boo – the cherry on the cake!

The last five years have been eventful, probably the most formative of my adult years. Becoming a mother is such a monumental (not forgetting hard but oh so rewarding) part of your life that for me there won’t be any major plans – instead I find my aspirations for the next five years to be much of the same; by that I mean stability for me and Boo. As I approach thirty there are of course the inevitable questions from friends and family as to when I’ll find Mr Right (Jeez I sound like Bridget Jones!) but I know things like that can’t be forced they simply happen when the time is right. Anyway I’m more focused on continuing to grow my blog and career to secure my family’s future.

I’ve made no secret of my hopes to move abroad and I’d like to think that if it does happen it would be within the next five years; a decisions as big as moving continents is one that takes time and lots of planning.

I have lots of friends who regularly have Psychic, clairvoyance, and astrology readings to try help map their future. Whilst I’ve never had a reading I can’t help think how much clarity they can give people as they’re helped to understand what the future holds for them. People are increasing turning to online services as they fit in with their busy lifestyles, whilst still offering the spiritual guidance they want, with a popular destination for many being TheCircle.

Overall my hopes and dreams for the next five years aren’t really related to material gain or career – whilst they are deeply important to me, what really matters is the happiness of Boo and as long as she’s healthy and happy then I’m on plan.

Post in association with TheCircle.