The Spoon Drawer

Opportunities for young people are in abundance in London. The capital has loads to offer in terms of education, internships and careers, with offices and connections to hundreds of internationally recognised brands; but only if you can afford it. London is becoming increasingly autonomous from the rest of the UK due to its inflated cost of living, the result of highly concentrated spending in London which has left other major cities in the country wanting the same treatment. Governments have been highly criticised for focusing growth in London, which has resulted in families being priced out of the area. Students and young professionals in London must be resilient, cost effective and efficient about their living situations if they are going to survive the high price-tag of the enviable London lifestyle. Here are some tips for living comfortably on a low income in the capital. Accommodation Housing is very expensive in London, especially if you’re in a highly popular p...

During my time working in a Wetherspoons I was invited to attend the Association of Licensed Multiple Retailers ( ALMR ) conference. As a supervisor, I was told it would be beneficial to bolster my understanding of the industry’s future direction. For some reason, the immediate image that struck me was an old-school town meeting, in which someone has the floor and votes are counted in yays and nays. What I discovered was an industry dominated by a peculiar mixture of anxiety and excitement, unsure of the future but excited to help shape it. I already knew at this point that pubs were changing drastically to meet the expectations of younger crowds. In my adopted home town of Brighton, traditional establishments are being closed to make way for chic pubs with attractive interior designs and craft beers on tap. This is a winning situation for all but the landlords whose pubs are being closed; consumers can expect superior quality establishments in the future, and the hospitali...

That time of year has come around so fast once again. Creating that dream luxury Christmas may seem like a rather daunting task, but with quality gifts to be found online and on the high street with greater ease and with more variety, you’re actually spoilt for choice when it comes to finding the perfect presents and stocking fillers... photo credit: wwarby   So I’ve compiled The Affordable Luxury Christmas Gift Guide 2014 , a great collection of everyday luxurious items that can also be found on your local high street, with something for everyone in the family, as well as covering your friends and colleagues.

I reflect almost every Christmas on how lucky and thankful I am to have my friends, my family and my health. I've been looking into ways the more fortunate amongst us can help the less fortunate without disrupting our own lives and budgets this Christmas. From what I've gathered, people really do wish they could do more for others during the Christmas period, but it’s tough when there’s so much happening in our own lives during this time, taking on more could just cause us to spin out of control; and what about our budgets? Christmas is a very tight time regardless, so how can we afford to spend more? Donate Contraband Got a loft full of old toys? Pass them along to Barnardo’s who give them to children in need. You could even give blood this Christmas and help the fight against blood disease; it costs nothing to give, is quick and can help save someone’s life. Got an old computer or Mac lying around? Computers for Charities will take your beloved old machine...

The way we live today dictates that businesses are open longer, more frequently and in more places at once in order to surpass competition. Even the companies previously considered more independent and bespoke are known to have up to, and often over, at least ten branches across different cities around the UK. Such fast-paced demand means that more traditional methods of bookkeeping, accounting, management and customer service have all had to be improved and updated as companies up their game. News has emerged that the popular café, EAT , has replaced its age old spreadsheets with cloud-based financial planning tools in order to keep up to speed with the pace of twenty-first century business. This conversion illustrates the need for much more sophisticated account management and financial reporting software that was previously reserved for the serious big time players in the finance industry. Now that high street companies are making this transition, chances are that much o...

Most of the first world uses the web but how many people know basic web design skills? Website design skills are now just as important as knowing basic mathematics or science. Almost every company has a website and most people now use social media daily. Basic coding and web skills can increase your job prospects and can even help you maintain your own blog.  http://mrg.bz/ohJ7O2 HTML (Hyper-Text Markup Language) is the language or code behind every website. It contains all the information about a site, such as the text, images and links on a webpage. A website would simply not exist without HTML. It is the ‘back office’ of every website you visit and one of the most important skills every web designer needs. The versatile HTML can be used to design websites of all varieties from huge eCommerce businesses such as Amazon to personal blogs such as my own. But HTML does not work alone, you might have the content but how do you want it to look? This is where CSS...

Source: Flickr I had always forgotten about essays during the summer when I was at university and it is probably the same for some other students. The first few weeks back are always slightly relaxed and the work load is not as bad as it will be the rest of the year. Fresher’s week will be great and you might start to forget why you are at university, I know I did. Essay deadlines will soon begin to stack up towards the end of the term. You might find yourself snowed under a lot of deadlines at any one time and the stress that comes with it will not be too far away. I remember feeling like my work load got too much towards the end of each year at university and I often considered paying someone to write my essay for me. It would have made life so much easier but I never went through with it. If you are anything like I was, your student loan will be spent on bulk buying beer at the beginning of every term and you might have to live off plain pasta for a few weeks bu...