





With the cost of a university education rising, more young people are asking themselves if it's still worth it.
Not every graduate gets a graduate level job and the advice from some graduates is think hard before you apply, because unless you're really interested in your subject or you're taking a degree course that is fairly certain to result in a good career - medicine, dentistry, engineering, computer science, nursing etc - then it could be that an apprenticeship would make more sense.
Online retailer The Electrical Guys has been looking into the university v apprenticeship debate and it's produced an infographic that compares the cost of a university degree against the merits of training to become a skilled tradesman. Obviously when you sign up for an apprenticeship you start earning straight away. Buy over the long term what are the rates of pay you can expect to earn as, say, an electrician comparied to someone in the world of high finance, for example.
If your son or daughter isn't academically motivated, nor do they want a job in an office, then learning a skilled trade could well be a better option for them than coming out of university with a £40,000 + debt to the Government..





For a touch of colour, flower filled hanging baskets can frame a front door, while a few bedding plants will work wonders. If you don't have much front garden space, pot plants on window sills look lovely. Flowers really make a statement and provide a focal point for the outside of the property. With back gardens, decks or terraces, again clean them up. Mow lawns, take rubbish to the recycling centre and have flowers in abundance - either planted out or in containers. If fences or garden sheds are looking dilapidated, mend them and paint them.
Make sure that windows and doors are clean and in good condition, are clean,with latches and handles are in working order.


Hence it makes sense to compile a list of all the minor repairs that need doing and either doing them yourself or getting a handyperson in for a day to sort things out. Broken cupboard handles, kitchen tiles or holes in walls are the sort of thing that can be easily fixed at fairly low cost. Things such as threadbare or well-worn carpets are more expensive to replace prior to selling but find some inexpensive rugs and runners to put down on top of areas of carpet that are particularly stained as this could put off potential buyers too. And note that all carpets will look a million times better after a deep clean. You can hire good carpet cleaning machines and using them will be well worth the money.

Interested in feng shui...the Chinese system of laying out interiors for the flow of good energy? Priya Sher, London-based feng shui expert, has some tips:

Online market place Onbuy says there's no doubt the UK has been enjoying an arts & crafts boom, with some craft sites seeing a more than 8,000 per cent increase in members over the past decade.
86 per cent of sellers are women.
'Now my Etsy shop is full of one-of-a-kind, hand embellished, vintage pieces, as well as the opportunity to commission ‘the jacket of your dreams’. I choose to sell on Etsy as it is arguably the most well-known of the handmade marketplace sites. It’s likely that otherwise customers wouldn’t find you.
'I think the interest in handmade crafts can be attributed to the fact people are far more interested in provenance than they used to be, which is great for a business like mine that tries to be as sustainable as possible. People love having something truly unique and buyers like to be able to tell the story of an item. I think we’ll see a huge surge in bespoke fashion over the coming years, people are buying less, but buying right and I think that’s a really positive step away from the destructiveness of the fast fashion market.'



If moths are the bain of your life because they eat your jumpers and cardigans, and quite possibly your wool carpets and rugs, you need more lavender in your life. And before you complain about the price of lavender bags, there is a much more obvious and cheaper solution.
Which is to keep any little fabric bags you get when you buy jewellery or make up and to fill them with loose lavender...which is widely available of course - I like the organic lavender offered by Greenfibres in Totnes..
Or make your own lavender bags using spare bits of fabric..just sew two squares together by hand, leaving the top open of course for the lavender, then tie it shut with string. Simply tuck bags into drawers, pockets of cardigans, or hang them on the tops of hangers and munching moths will be thrown off course. A few drops of lavender essential oil on the bags can ramp up the scent which moths find so loathesome - and also remember to squeeze the bags each week to release the perfume.
Then in a year's time, empty the bags, compost the old lavender and fill with new fresh strong smelling lavender. The highly fragrant Lavendula X Intermedia is the best for this purpose as the fragrance contains elements of camphor which is what moths object to. A softer fragrance such as Lavandula Angustifolia will be less effective.
250g organic French lavender from Greenfibres cost £15.90
1kg lavender costs £30 at Shropshire Lavender

Recent research shows a worrying dearth of young people coming into the trades, as our skilled workforce of plumbers, electricians, builders and carpenters are ageing and will be retiring in the next decade.
So young people, if you don't have that Oxbridge first in maths needed to get into Goldman Sachs and you worry about robots taking over loads of desk jobs, just as they've taken over many of the roles in car factories, the trades still look like a good bet for fairly long term employment. After all, try to imagine robots building the Shard, plumbing it and fitting out its electrics.. Exactly.
Top five regions with the highest salaries for electricians:
Education is important to start a career in this industry. Qualifications you might need:
Plumbers in the UK
Carpenters in the UK
The average salary for carpenters falls between £25,000 - £40,000 — those who work as team leaders/project managers can earn considerably more though. However, those who begin as an apprentice will usually have a starting salary of around £16,000.

If your home is eco you're no doubt zealous about wearing eco-friendly clothes too, non? So organic cotton, organic wool, linen, hemp.. and, er, dare we ask about your underwear?
Natural sustainable yarns are brilliant, but you could also introduce ocean plastic into the mix when it comes to buying pants. Because ocean plastic is being heavily fished and turned into pellets that can be extruded into fibres that make super softy silky fabrics - among them one called Smoothshell.



I am at my desk as I write this...but I'm not sitting, I'm standing. After a morning of sitting, my restless legs started driving me bonkers so I've put the desk that sits on my desk into stand up mode and now I'm happily typing away as I stand. So much more comfortable than sitting.
Here at the Deco offices we're all clamouring to work at the Varidesk desk. It's a substantial piece of kit that sits on your desk and looks like a desk. But it's got a lever on each side which you pull forward and the desk rises to standing height.
It's not often we go mad about a product but this desk is a fabulous thing and a wonderful addition to the office. Because sitting all day is uncomfortable and we now know, unhealthy. With the Varidesk you can be up and down like a yoyo according to how you feel... legs feel tired, pull the levers and lower the desk. Legs feeling restless..pull them again and you can work standing up.
Standing up desks are becoming easier to find and we've tested only the Varidesk. But boy do we like it!
Varidesk is based in Texas and its products are manufactured in Southeast Asia. Desks are made from wipeable PVC-coated MDF with metal hinges and the company says the materials are recyclable. They expect with daily use the desk will give decades of use.
My own feeling is they're not kidding when it comes to longevity. It's a really strong product - you can lean on it and there's no sense at all that it could buckle. In fact when it arrived I was here alone and could barely lift it into place.. so if you're a tiny lady, or indeed chap, you may need a strong person on hand to lift it onto your desk for you.
In short...if you find sitting at a desk all day a nightmare because your legs get restless and your bum goes numb and by midday you just want to run out of the office screaming, then get a stand-up desk. Thumbs up, smiley face... it's time to join the stand-up-to-work revolution.

Formal v casual dining: the waiting's over
Food on the street