Worried about your kids spending too much time on iPads?
I haven’t found the perfect solution for setting time limits on an iPad yet. I was hoping for an app, that as soon as my 7-year old picked it up and started playing a timer would start and lock her out after a set period of time. In an ideal world, I should be monitoring her use more closely, but like all busy parents I get distracted and lose track of time.
However, I have found a work around that will suffice until I find something better. You will have to manually set the timer and it’s App specific. In my case I wanted to limit the amount of time that she spends on Minecraft.
How to Set Time Limits
1) Firstly, you will need iOS 8 as it has the Guided Access Feature. Go to Settings>General>Accessibility and turn on the Guided Access feature.
2) Now when your child is in the game/app/website, if you triple click the Home Button on the Device a menu for setting the time limit will appear in the bottom right hand corner. Simply choose the amount of time you are happy for them to have.
3) They will be given a warning when they are about to run out of time.
4) Then a black screen will appear letting them know that they have run out of time.
5) At this point, it’s up to your discretion whether you want to give them more time.
Do you have any other solutions to this? Are there any good apps you have used that would be better? Please do leave a comment below.
‘I can’t remember the last time I saw the bottom of my laundry baskets’
For the last few weeks I’ve been reviewing Beko’s Large Capacity EcoSmart Washing Machine that can do a 9kg load in less 39 minutes! I was able to do all of my laundry in the fraction of time and I can confirm that both of my laundry baskets are now empty and I’m managing to keep more on top of it.
Washing more in one go means that you have more time to do the stuff you love
If I’m honest I’m not a hundred percent sure how much 9kg is, but just imagine the weight of 9 bags of sugar. Apparently it will wash 45 shirts, but we don’t own that many between us so I couldn’t test that out!
Save Money on your Energy Bills
As a family we are dreadful for wearing things once and then chucking them in the laundry basket. This is especially true for my daughters pyjamas and school uniforms. The clothes aren’t normally ‘dirty’ and just need to be freshened up hence why I like the ‘Quick Daily’ wash cycle.
It was incredibly easy to install and unlike our old washing machine it only requires a cold water feed. We have now capped off the hot water feed. Even though the drum is probably twice the size of our old one it slotted perfectly into the same dedicated space in the kitchen.
Larger drum but still fits into standard opening
Wash an Entire 9kg load in 39 minutes
When it first arrived I was a little intimidated by all of the buttons. But it’s simple really. All of the options are presets (e.g temperature, spin speed, time, etc).
It’s simple really!
So, if you choose the Daily Quick wash it will run for 28 minutes at 30 degrees and spin at 1200 rpm. However, you can also increase and decrease the spin using the + and – buttons if you like.
A load in less than 30 minutes!
My Toweling Robe, which is very bulky, needed more than just ‘Quick Wash’. In the past it would barely fit in the drum and I had to use force to get it in, but this time I found that it easily fit and I could chuck a few more things in with it as well. I washed it on ‘A Class 40’ but increased the RPM to 1400 to get a bit more of the water out.
For those slightly tougher jobs!It’s a Tardis!
Automatic Half Load Programme
I was a bit stumped when I wanted to do a half load, I spent a few minutes looking for a smaller load button, but worked out that the washing machine automatically adjusts the amount of water by the weight of the loaded laundry. Genius!
Silence is Golden
The Beko is also noticeably quieter than our old one. In the past when our old one was running, especially when it hit the spin cycle, it sounded like it was going to take off, we had to close the kitchen door if we were trying to watch TV in the lounge and wouldn’t dream of putting it on before going to bed at night.
Here is the washing machine in action. I could have put a lot more in but still need to retrain my brain that I can!
Overall, we really like the washing machine and it’s made a huge difference to keeping up on chores. The only thing I would like to see is a way to control it via an app on my phone so I can turn it on when I’m out!
Disclosure: The washing machine, installation costs and delivery fees (£350) were compliments of Beko for purposes of this review.
When I first saw this app I thought ‘how ridiculous, who on earth would need that?’ but apparently I do. It’s brilliant. I’m forever googling cooking times for different cuts of meat then digging out a calculator to work out cooking times based on the weight.
It’s dead simple, simply choose the type of meat (e.g beef, lamb, chicken, pork), enter the weight, how you would like it cooked (rare, medium or well done) and presto it displays the exact instructions, including time to sear. There’s even an alarm but I didn’t try that.
