2017 New Years Resolutions

I'm pretty certain most people you ask will say that 2016 wasn't the best year for them and some of the decisions made hold a lot of uncertainty. The last few months of 2016 I was focusing on minimising what uncertainty I was subjected to in my own life. I decided to start bullet journaling, look into finances and declutter my space to try and instil some semblance of order to my life. That being said a lot of these new ideas and habits I want to continue into this year so I thought I would share with you all what my resolutions or goals are for 2017.

1) LOSE WEIGHT/ GET HEALTHY. 

• Workout 3 or more times a week
• Drink 2L of water a day
• No more snacking.
• Track my steps and calorific intake.

I understand that this is probably the most common resolution that 99% of people have as well but it's still something I want to work on. There is a little competition in my family at the moment because a few of us want to lose weight. What we've done is each put in an amount of money and then whoever loses the most weight in terms of percentage of weight lost wins all the money. The final weigh in and results are in July as my little sister decided she wanted to start it and that's when her birthday is. I'm also on the Nike+ Run Club if any of you want to play along too to see how many miles we can all do. I'm under miszgamer@gmail.com.

2) TAKE A CALLIGRAPHY CLASS/LESSONS

This one I feel is a lot less common but is mainly to do with my bullet journal and how I get jealous of everyone else's beautiful cursive writing. I have had a quick look and there aren't any local to me and the online ones are SO expensive. I think for now I'm going to look at a few blog posts and online resources as a few I've seen come with free printables for practice. If you have any suggestions then please let me know!

3) SAVE MORE A MONTH TO MOVE OUT. 

This one is something that goes hand in hand with another resolution I have which is to create a budget and stick to it the best I can. I'm saving some money monthly in a Help to Buy ISA which is designed with a higher interest rate and government incentive which aims to help first-time buyers to get on the property ladder. The only issue with this is that there is a £200 a month limit to what can be put in a month. That being said I have another savings account that I'm not using so any extra money I have at the end of the month should really be going in there. This is probably something I will write a separate post on once I've done it.

4) READ A BOOK A MONTH

Reading used to be my favourite pass time when I was younger, I managed to read 3 of the Twilight series in a few days over the summer holidays one year. It's something that I really want to get back into because it's still something I like to do I just choose to do other things instead. I was thinking about limiting this to 1 personal development book a month and then any other genres would be a bonus. The reason I haven't is because a few years ago I never would have thought about reading self-development books and in a few months time my taste in books may change again. I plan on doing a review of a few of the books I'm reading at the moment.

5) BLOG MORE

This one is also something I have been trying to do more in the last few months but thought that quantifying it would make the goal more achievable. I want to aim to do a minimum of a blog post a month. I have been planning out what sort of posts I want to do in my bullet journal and by writing this post I am already a twelfth of the way to achieving this goal!

This is going to be a part 1 because I have quite a few more to mention and don't have enough time at the moment to finish writing this essay!

What are your goals or resolutions for 2017?

Kayleigh B

Twitter: @TheKBBlog
Facebook: /TheKBBlog
Email: thekbblog@gmail.com

Could A Dating App Kill You?!

There is rarely a day goes by that I don't hear someone mention Tinder or "swiping right". The Grindr app boasted in 2014 that they had had over 3 million photographs being sent a day (of cats i'm sure!) and over 10 million downloads. The popularity of this app has no doubt grown since. The app serves as a way for gay men to contact each other and meet up for intellectual conversations. Dating apps like this one, however, have a dark side.

I am sure that for every person with a darker ulterior motive there are several more with a perfectly innocent reason for using the app. A freedom of information request was sent to the Police in England and Wales and 30 forces revealed their statistics. There were 55 incidents of crime directly mentioning Grindr or Tinder. These incidents include reports of violent and sexual crimes. This begs the question: how long will it be before a dating app is used to arrange a meeting that would end in murder?

There have been documented incidents where murders have taken place following hook ups on various dating sites that went wrong. Dating apps look good on paper as does most things until they are abused by people who can see room for exploitation. The police report mentioned above shows that in 2014 there were 204 incidents of crime linked to the two apps and 412 last year alone. This may be because the apps have become more popular therefore the probability of users with criminal intent would naturally increase.

The real worry here is that the "sextortion" that takes place on these apps and websites is easily accessible by children. There are more children that ever before that have a smart phone or access to the internet that is not monitored. It is easy enough for someone to sign up for these sites and pose for a provocative picture. Most of these sites and apps also request access to the location of the user. This is something I would strongly advise against. If you want to put your location on a profile that strangers can see then I would say it is best to use the nearest large town or city to stay as anonymous as possible.

I can understand why people would use these apps and sites; most of the people I have spoken use the sites for their ease of use when they are looking for particular company. Each to their own. These apps can be used for meeting friends and like minded individuals but caution is definitely advised.

So, could a dating app kill you? Certainly. There have been many crimes that have implicated the use of Grindr and Tinder to lure victims to secluded areas and then mug the individual or do much worse. Meeting strangers presents a very real risk and if you want to meet someone then do it in a public place (and stick to public places) or with a friend or someone you trust. Doing a search of the individuals name in Google should also be a good indicator of whether this person is real or a "catfish". Catfish are a totally different topic that requires it's own post entirely.

What are your experiences of dating apps or websites? Let me know in the comments or contact me at thekbblog@gmail.com / @TheKBBlog .

The New Year Post. Hello 2016!

 I was scrolling through my Bloglovin' feed and saw that everyone and their pets were writing this post (albeit this one is rather late.)

I thought I would include some of my own. Just as a disclaimer I haven't ever really written New Years Resolutions as such so they might be totally rubbish.

1) Write at least 2 blog posts a month. 
This may seem like a seriously low target but I have never written for a blog before and it's something that I have wanted to do but have never plucked up the courage before. I seem to have stuck to this so far and hope to do so in the future. If you have anything you would like me to cover then please feel free.

2) Take the first steps in becoming a Counsellor.
I did a BA hons in Management and Leadership and have since decided that I'm interested in counselling. As stupid as it sounds I have always wanted to help people as much as I can. I've found an introductory night course locally. I'll let you all know how that goes.

3) Exercise and drink more water.

Notice that this doesn't say exercise more. So yes. I don't really do exercise unless you count my 5 minute walk to and from work. I doubt that counts. I've tried to work on this by going for a run when I can (putting a number on it would put me off I think..). I've also purchased a  Brita water bottle which filters the water as you drink it, The part of the world i'm in has very hard water which makes it taste strange so this helps with that. 

4) Make more of an effort with my appearance.

This might sound like a weird one and it's kind of embarrassing to admit. I've been feeling a little down lately and my appearance has suffered as a result. It sounds a bit vain but I work at my best when I feel like I look my best. Odd I know. Enough of that anyway. 

5) Start writing my novel.

I've had various ideas for a novel and I have been documenting these ideas in a rough format. I want to start tying these ideas together and think I want to aim for a novel in roughly a year. That means roughly 1400 words a week and I haven't started yet so I had better get to it. Updates on my novel will be sent through via my mailing list here. 

Do you have any resolutions for this year? Let me know below or tweet me @TheKBBlog. 

Kayleigh Bella 

2 Ways To ACTUALLY Make Money Online (+ One Extra For The Google Play Store)

I want to start by saying Happy Christmas/Holidays. I hope you all had an amazing time, relaxing and seeing your families. (and playing with new presents maybe!) The holidays are an amazing time of year but they can leave you slightly short on cash. I found two ways that have actually paid out for me into my PayPal account and one that credits a Google Play account.

Opinion Outpost UK

The first method I have found is Opinion Outpost UK. This website allows you to answer surveys in exchange for points which can be redeemed for money into a PayPal account, Amazon gift certificate/code or a £10 iTunes gift card. The minimum to redeem for PayPal and Amazon is 50 points and 200 for an iTunes gift card. Most surveys will earn you between 5 and 20 points depending on how long and involved they are.



Above is a screenshot of my reward history so you can see that it actually worked and paid out. Every 1 point is worth £0.05 or 5p so it this method isn't going to make you rich over night but if you need a little extra cash and have time to kill then this is certainly a way to fill your time. Generally I watch YouTube videos and have a survey on the other half of my screen.

TOP TIP!

Always have a different email address to sign up with because many of these sites will email you specific surveys which can yield more points for your time. These are definitely worth keeping an eye out for but I would make a separate account for surveys as some can be excessive/spam. 

Swagbucks

Swagbucks is a website that offers surveys in exchange for a large selection of gift cards and also charitable donations. An example of the points system (SB) exchange rate is 999SB = £5 Paypal gift card. Surveys take around 20 minutes to complete and will grant around 60 points. It is worth viewing all surveys available to you as there are some today that pay out 80SB for 20 minutes. 

Swagbucks also offers other ways of earning points such as daily polls, watching selected videos and shop to earn. I have yet to use the shop to earn feature but it comes across as a cashback feature where you earn points for buying things online from retailers you may regularly use.

Below is a gift card i received. I have removed the order number. I also forgot to mark my gift card as used.

TOP TIP 2!

There is an app that I have found on the Google Play Store is SBTV which allows you to watch videos to earn minimal amounts of SB (2 or 3 per 5 videos typically) but you can plug headphones in and leave it running if you have the internet access and battery power.

The Extra Option For Google Play Credit

I found an app reasonably recently called Google Rewards which features multiple choice survey questions that are between 3 and 8 questions (I know, takes a minute at the most!) and allow you to earn money for answering them. This money is in the form of Google Play Store credit. Most surveys offer between 12p and 52p and some don't give any money at all. In the last month or so I have earn £5.43 so for someone like me who downloads paid games this is definitely a plus!

Do you have any money making websites you swear by? Let me know in the comments below!

Find me at: @theKBBlog on Twitter or email me at theKBBlog@gmail.com

A Lot Has Changed...

Hello there beautiful people. As you can tell things have changed for me. For starters I haven't posted for 3 years to this blog and recently have been thinking about what really makes me happy. I spend a lot of time on YouTube and Twitch watching a handful of people and have found myself thinking about "YouTube fame" and how a few people that have reached this status don't deserve it. That however is the negative view of the situation and I want to promote the positive by helping smaller blogs and channels get the recognition they deserve. 

This amazing photograph above is from a website that I came across called Gratisography and features copyright free images taken by Ryan McGuire in stunning high-resolution. These pictures will be featuring heavily on my blog in the future so please do feel free to check the site out and his links and tell Ryan I sent you!

Something A Little Personal... 

Just a quick update on me: I'm now 22 and have finished a degree in Uniformed Public Services and now work full time. I still sing and play guitar but my YouTube channel has taken a backseat as I have been very busy with my new job, degree and saving to move out. While I was between my old and new job I had a few weeks that I decided to take as a break and found a few ways to make money online so expect a post on that very soon!

Lets be friends!

Find me on Twitter or Email me at: TheKBBlog@gmail.com