- Hey, everybody. Welcome to day six of
vlogging occur and yes. I'm wearing my wedding dress. So let's address the dress first. This video is all about my
best and worst purchases of 2020, and my wedding
dress is my best purchase. So I had to get it out of its bag to show you for this video. And I thought, well, whilst it's out, I might as well put it on. The only issue is that I can't actually fully get
myself into this dress. I do up all the buttons
on the back by myself but I did manage to do up the top button. So it could at least like
fully form around my body but now I'm really worried that I'm not gonna be
able to get it back off. So if I can't do that, I will just have to sit in
my wedding dress all day until Dan gets home and
can help me out with it. But yes, I wanna do a video all about my best and worst
purchases that I made this year. I love these kinds of videos. You know I love talking about
money and spending habits. And maybe if we look back on the purchases that
we've made this year, maybe we can learn
something about ourselves. Maybe we can learn from some
of those mistakes that we made but also become more aware of, Oh, that really like brought me joy. And I just love watching
these kinds of videos as well. I love seeing people being
like, I regret this purchase but also like, this one was worth it. Like I said, this dress is
my best purchase of 2020. Hands down. It is the most expensive item on my list. It comes in at around 1,400 pounds. It is a lot, but if you want to hear more about the dress and
how I got it custom made then I did a whole video about the dress. So you can find out all about the body and the details of the dress. In that video. I actually have more items on my best purchases list than worst which I'm just gonna
give myself a pound back for like, well done, making
some good decisions this year but I'm actually gonna start
with my worst purchases and then we'll move on to the
rest of the best purchases. My first worst purchase
is this teleprompter slash auto cue thing. So frustrating. Basically I was doing a few more videos that required scripts
and having like my script on my lap and just like
looking down and trying to like remember it sentence by
sentence to deliver it to the camera is really difficult. And I was like, maybe if I get an autocue I'll be able to like deliver
the lines seamlessly naturally. And also remember because
I'm reading what I wrote. And so I bought an autocue
and it costs 160 pounds but I have never used it. And that's because I just couldn't get the whole setup working properly. I got the autocue working but it was just like how it
all fit together with the rest of the process and how I
sit down and make videos. So it works with an iPad. I have an iPad. And so you put that in with the script and then it shows up that
was all working fine. However, the autocue, the body of it covered up my view finder. So I wouldn't be able to see if the camera was still recording. If it had like cut off, if
my memory card was full, like if I was in the frame and like
showing something properly. So I was like, great, I don't
have my viewfinder anymore. And also I film all
these videos by myself. I don't have somebody behind the camera who can like watch it and keep check for me. So I downloaded an app on my phone to be like a
second monitor for the camera. So I was like, okay, good. I've got this on my phone. I can see what's going on. But then I realised, I often
need my phone in videos. I often need it to read
Instagram questions or like I've taken screenshots of stuff that I need to reference. So I often need my phone like to be able to use
as a phone in videos. And then I realised I also
often need to use my iPad as an iPad in videos because I sometimes screen
record what I'm doing on the iPad in the video. And so it just all crumbled from there. And I was just like, I just don't think I'm gonna find a way to like fully make this work
with the setup that I have without like building a
bigger studio for one. 'Cause when I put the
audio cue on the camera, I had to kind of like
change the positioning of where I sit and where the camera goes. And there's not a huge amount
of space in this corner. And then I would also
have to get extra monitors and like figure all that stuff out. And I just couldn't be bothered. Could not be bothered. And I did kinda find a
solution to the script problem which we will come onto later. But yeah, this has never been used. I didn't return it in time. So now I just have this autocue. My next worst purchase is
some refresher driving lessons because after our wedding, Dan and I travelled around
the country for our honeymoon but also we visited some of our grandparents who we
couldn't have at the wedding. And we were driving around
the country and Dan was like, I'll do it if you do some of the driving. And so I immediately booked myself on some refresher lessons
because I do have a licence. I just haven't driven in 10 years and I'm not confident at all. So I paid 200 pounds and did
my lessons and it was all fine. I like remembered how to
drive and change gears. Still not confident, but
I was like, I can drive. I can remember how to drive. I've still never gone
above 40 miles an hour. And I've never been on a motorway though. So when it came to the day
when I had to drive, we were in Scotland and we're going
to be driving to Yorkshire. And I did a little test run of Dan's car. I'd never driven it before around the little village
that we were staying in. And that was like, okay,
I'd never driven before with Dan as my passenger, it was fine. Just went around the village a bit got out the car, burst into tears. Full meltdown, panic. And I just was freaking out about it. And then I got back in the car and I was testing,
feeling the biting point. So I could get used to the biting point, sat behind the wheel. I was like, I'm fine. Okay, yeah, I've got this. I can feel the biting point in this car but out the car, burst into tears again. So Dan did all of the driving. Thank you, Dan. I did one drive that
was about 10, 15 minutes between Dan's mum's house
and his granny's house. But that was it. And I actually wrote about
this in my newsletter and loads of you replied
with really encouraging words and some tips about how to
kind of like slowly get back into driving and building confidence. And I was like, yeah, I'm
totally gonna do this. And then we got back from that trip and the car is just on the
road and don't know driving. So that 200 pounds was well spent. Maybe in another 10 years time, I'll spend another 200 pounds
on some refresher lessons. And who knows? Who knows when I'll
actually feel like a driver? The next one is the cheapest one but it is so frustrating to me. And that can happen where
it's not necessarily about the price tag that
makes it a best purchase or a worst purchase. But like other factors involved. This thing was only eight pounds. And yet I honestly, I
regret it to my core. I regret it more than the driving lessons. I can maybe try and find a positive spin to the driving lessons thing, but this, there is no positive spin
and it is some oven gloves. Wasn't that anticlimactic? Basically our old oven gloves just got completely wrecked and ruined. Needed some new ones, bought these online. Didn't think that they
were two separate mittens. That picture looked like
it was like all one thing. So had to add a string to it so we could actually hook
it around our oven door. But my main issue with these
is that they are too thin. If I grab a hot dish out of the oven you wanna be able to grab you wanna be able to hold onto something coming out of the oven. Burns through, it's too thin. So I'm mad about that. I was honestly livid it at myself for not like fully checking
the product's description and making showers buying
the right oven gloves but also just like at these oven gloves for not being functional. Mad about it. Only eight pounds. I know, but I can just so mad about it. Where's it gone? Where's it gone? Oh God, I can't find my next thing. Found it. (laughs) So my final worst
purchase is this epilator. So an epilator removes leg hair. Maybe all hair, I don't know I'd be scared to use it
anywhere else, other than legs but it basically works
like little tweezers and it's electric and it
goes (imitates buzzing) and like pulls out all of your leg hair. The reason why I got this is because I used to get my
legs waxed a lot and I loved it because hair would grow
back really fine and smooth. And I would just let my hair grow out. And then like when I felt
like it, I would just like, go get my legs waxed again. Probably like every two to
three months or something. But I didn't like how expensive that was. Then after my surgery, I
stopped getting my legs waxed because I was just really weak. And the idea of like hoisting myself up onto like one of those salon bed things and having someone
rip hairs out of my leg which would make me tense and like tensing and everything
like really hurt my abdomen. So I was like, right, that's not gonna be a
thing that I do anymore. And so I started shaving, which is fine. Like I don't mind
shaving, but we can't deny that the legs grow back like
faster and like spikier. And my sister is a big fan of epilators. And so I was like, why do you like them? Are they any good? And she loves them. So I thought I will give it a go. This was 83 pounds. So not cheap, not cheap, but in my head I was like,
well, it's not front cost. And in the long-term it
will be cheaper than waxing. And my hairs will grow back smoother. I used this once. One time, and even that one time, it didn't really work properly because my leg hairs were too long. This thing works at a really
specific leg hair length. And I like to let my leg hair
grow out way longer than that. In order for this to
like work for your legs you would have to use it more regularly. I can never say that word, regularly. You'd have to use it more
often than I would like I actually did end up
getting my legs waxed for the first time since
surgery for my wedding which was in early September
and I still haven't shaved them or epilate them or gotten them waxed again since the winter fuzz is
really coming in strong and I love it. So I wouldn't even be
able to use the epilator. Like it wouldn't work because
the leg hairs are too long like I would probably have to epilate like every three weeks or something. And I'm just not about that life. So not a good purchase for me. Doesn't work with my leg hair, hair removal, lifestyle preferences. If I was someone who preferred smooth legs all of the time and could be
bothered with epilating often, great purchase but it just
doesn't suit my needs. Right, now we're on to best purchases. Things that I'm happy about buying. Obviously, wedding dress we covered that. My next best purchase
is the Nintendo Switch and the Ring Fit Adventure, which is like an exercise
game that comes with it. Honestly, this has helped
so much through lockdown. In the first lockdown we were doing like semi-regular Mario kart nights with some of Dan's work friends as well, which was just so fun. So fun. Obviously I got into Animal
Crossing, not so much anymore but it served its
purpose when I needed it. All in all the, Switch, the Ring Fit and the extra set of
controllers that we bought, it came to around like 430 pounds. And I'm saying, this is
the best purchase of mine. Technically Dan bought the Switch and I bought the Ring Fit
and the extra controllers but you know, what's
mine is yours, legally. Literally, we own the same stuff. So yeah, this is definitely
up there, worth it. The next one I wanted to talk about is another one that helped
me through some of lockdown. However, it's such a good purchase I wish I'd purchased it earlier. And that's my deck chair. Like my sun lounger. Remember that heat wave. Remember that lockdown heat
wave and we're all at home and it was so sunny. Well, we're really lucky
that we have a balcony. So we had like some outdoor
space and I bought a deck chair. I was like, I want to lie down in my bikini on my
balcony and read my books. And that's what I did for a solid two days before the heatwave left us
because I purchased it too late. Here's the thing. I do not regret it. I do not regret that purchase just because I bought it too late and couldn't
like, maximise its usage. I now still have it. So next time summer rolls around. I know I'll probably be
out and about a bit more but I still will have it. So I'll be able to use it when I want. The deck chair was 100 pounds, but I had an Amazon voucher. So I technically paid nothing for it. 'Cause I had a gift voucher but it was worth 100 pounds. So maybe that's why it
also feels really good. 'Cause I'm just like,
it was a gift voucher. Yay. It has this thing over the top as well. So you can put it over your face. So the sun isn't like shining
directly into your eyes which I love all of that touch. And when it's folded up, it
fits perfectly under our sofa. It's like it was built for that sofa. And so that was just
like the cherry on top that it had a perfect
storage place in our home. So I mentioned about
finding a sort of solution to my video scripts and being able to like,
remember what I'm saying. And that came in a like
bundle thing that I bought. So the main thing that I
was currently looking for was an overhead tripod. And I was actually watching
like loads of YouTube videos of like the best setups for
like filming directly overhead. And I knew that I wanted
to be able to film overhead on my kitchen table. And I've done that for
like a couple of videos like the situationships letters, video, and then they're like flowers video and then the cupcakes video. So there's been like a few
times that I've used it. Granted I've not always used it very well. I'm still getting to grips with it. Like sometimes there's the weight of it. I've not like positioned it properly and it's like the camera's
like all falling down. So my usage of it is
definitely not perfect yet but I'm still really enjoying
having the option to use it and like trying to get better every time. I honestly think that shoot the first time I used it was the best setup
that I managed to create but we'll get there. This is it. So it has this really great
weighted thing on the bottom. So that goes on my kitchen table. And then this is the arm and each one of these
things is adjustable. And then my camera, I use
my little Sony camera. Oh, did I buy that this year? You bet, another best
purchase to add onto the list. Let me grab it. So many came out with this
new camera called the ZV1. And it's like specifically
designed for vloggers. And I had the old Sony RX100 mark three but the microphone on
that just wasn't great. I did not like the internal
microphone on it at all but this one is so much
better and I just love it. And I've been filming a lot more like days in the life and like little
bits and bobs and yeah, this is what I use for that. And this is light enough to
stick on the end of this. That's what I use. But basically, when I
was searching for this, I couldn't find this on Amazon. I couldn't find it like anywhere online except for this cake decorating website. I know. It basically came in
this like creator bundle. So it's designed for, if
you are making content about baking and so you can
like film what you're doing but this is like literally
that was the only website where I could find this
thing, but it came in a bundle the bundle was 135 pounds
and included this tripod. It came with this like phone selfie light, which I haven't used a whole
bunch, but what I have, I like really enjoy it. And I just love that I
have it as like an option. So it has a white light and
then it has a mixed light and then it has a yellow light as well. And then the final thing
that the bundle came with, I can't show you because it
is on my tripod currently is it's like iPad stand. It's a clamp, you put it on your tripod. And then I can sit my iPad on my tripod. So my notes for what I'm talking about, my notes about every single
thing and the price that it is, it's just like, it's just there. Previously, I would sit
with my iPad and my notes for the video on my lap,
but now it's right there. And honestly, it has made
filming so much easier. I feel like I can switch between each point much
faster when I'm filming rather than me like, okay,
what's the next thing. Right, boom. Whereas I'm just like, there it is. I forgot to say how much
the Sony camera costs and it is 600 pounds. One more quick technical thing
that was a best purchase. And this one only cost me 10 pounds. And it is a selfie stick. Not for the purpose of
it being a selfie stick. But basically, I was looking for a phone tripod that
wouldn't just do a landscape but dah, dah, dah, it can do portrait. And I basically wanted this for anytime. I was doing like an IG Live with someone but also anytime I'm FaceTiming a friend and I can't be bothered like holding up the camera
with my hand, you know? So I just kinda go. There we go. Hello pal. It was a Tenor. It's very flimsy, but
it serves its function. But it has this other thing
that I didn't know that it had that I was like, this
makes it even better. It comes with this like
Bluetooth remote control. And I know that you can
just like buy Bluetooth remote controls but I bought this because I wanted something to be able to like vertically hold my phone. And then it also had a remote control. And so that has been really handy for like taking pictures for Instagram and just like doing bits
and bobs of content creation with my phone. So Tenor and it proved its worth. We love it. All right, if you're not
interested in tech stuff, you'll be happy to know that
it's the end of the tech stuff. If you're into interior
design, you're in luck. The next best purchase is some legs we got from Ikea for our Calex unit. I was just feeling uninspired
by our living space. You know, being like
trapped in there for months and just like spending more
time than I'm used to at home. I was just like, I'm just
not feeling inspired. And we have this Calex unit underneath our TV and it's
usually sits on the floor. And I was like, do you know what? I think it needs some legs. And so we got some legs for it. And also I did a big clear out of all of the board
games at the same time. So kinda like tie-dyed up
that section in general, and honestly, I'm vibing with it. I love it. I love now like hanging
out in my living room. Lighting some candles on the Calex unit, watching something on the TV. I just, I love staring at it. It's great. And they cost like 20 quid or something. I don't know, cheap. The joy that those legs
have provided for me very much exceeds how much they cost. So that is why they are
one of the best purchases I've made this year. This next one, I actually originally put on my worst purchases list
cause I was mad about it. But then it moved onto
my best purchases list. I know, controversial. What changed? Well, it is the resin supplies. The art supplies that I bought. So I've got these like
resin coaster moulds and then also like the resin itself. I don't really wanna get it out of the box because I'm
wearing my wedding dress. So if you watched the video of me trying to do some awesome crafts with my wedding flowers, I
attempted to make a resin coaster and this is what I created. It wasn't like the right size. There wasn't enough resin. Bits of the flowers are like coming out. I mean, I use this, it's like a coaster for one of our candles,
but it's laughable. I think I spent around 50 pounds on all of the different supplies and I was ready to put it
on the worst purchases list. 'Cause I was like, what a waste of money? Like this is shit. I'm never gonna do this again. But then I did do it again. And I actually really enjoyed the process. And I'm planning on making some more. So just for that reason, I
was just like, you know what? This is good. I enjoy it. The next two that I made are better in terms of best shape,
like the actually full. And I did the right amount of resin but there's way more air bubbles in these, like a lot more air bubbles. And I don't know whether that was because I just wasn't
as patient with these two as I was with like the
original one where I was taking like loads of time and
being really careful and would be I was just like, it doesn't matter. This one came out really well. You can see that it's a flower. Look at that, it's a flower. And then I used some of
the other like petals that I caught off to kinda like sprinkle. This one was meant to be a love heart. But then when I like
added the extra resin, it just all moved apart. So my next strategy is to put in half of the resin, put in my pattern let it set, like half set,
like a little bit set. And so then when I put in
my second load of resin, nothing moves. I don't know if this is a good plan. We'll find out. I also remembered that
I've got lots of glitter. And so I'm like, I can make some like a glittery resin coasters. But basically, the plan is to try and make some half decent ones to
give to family for Christmas. And they better appreciate it
because it's home made baby. I mean, they are pretty shit. And also it's still really bumpy here Like it's all kind of like
come through out the top but I'm hoping that that won't happen if I use my new technique. But yeah, that's why it's
made it into best purchases because I've actually
been really enjoying doing like the crafting of it. And I'm like, Ooh, it's
like, what if I tried this? Will I improve? The only thing that still
frustrates me is the air bubbles. And I'm like, do I need to buy a heat gun? Like, do I just need to buy the bullet and purchase another thing? Like, especially if I'm
gonna be doing more of this and I might actually need
to get some more resin and gloves and sticks and parts. Oh, boy. All right. Well, those are some of my best
and worst purchases of 2020. If you care to share, please let me know what
yours are in the comments. And we can all try and
encourage each other to make better spending decisions in 2021. Sometimes, you don't know though. Sometimes you don't know that something is gonna be a disaster until you buy it and try
it like the epilator. Like, nothing I can do now. I didn't know. Actually, no, I could
have done my research and found out that it
only works on short hairs. So actually that is my fault. Thank you so much for watching and I'll see you tomorrow
for another vlog and a video. Bye. Okay, I'm seeing if I
can undo that one button that I did up so you can see top one. I do think I'll be able to. Yeah look, come on. Hannah's not gonna be stuck
in her wedding dress all day. That would be awkward.
