all about busy life
The origins of Busy Life
At the tender age of 50, I found myself with lots of qualifications and 30 years of work experience. My first career, as an Environmental Scientist, had been rewarding. I had tried to forge a career in teaching special needs in Higher Education. I nearly made it, but luck was not on my side.
So, I began to think about what made me tick. I have always had a conscience in terms of being kind to our planet and challenging social oppression. I enjoy the act of giving to family and friends. I love a bargain from a quality shop. I am also told that I buy very thoughtful gifts. My mantra has always been, “buy cheap buy twice” and I don’t.
I believe that communities have the power to act together to facilitate positive changes to the environment and society. I think that we need to think, speak, and act in the best interests of others, who may not be as fortunate as ourselves, and use our resources wisely to conserve our planet. In doing so, we can all make the world a better place for us to live today and for our children tomorrow.
For me, what society needs are more little acts of kindness that can collectively result in the power to do good. I decided, therefore, to start an e-commerce business based on selling gifts to consumers with a social and environmental conscience and using their collective purchasing power to do good. This is the ethos of Busy Life. Looking for gift ideas? Our shop page has lots!
I am a person who enjoys doing a lot of different things, and yet I don’t always enjoy being busy. If you feel like this, maybe Busy Life can help!
Learn More
Want to learn more? Then please, visit our Shop page and see what we have to offer!
Values and aims
The Company Ethos
Busy Life sells quality gifts, at reasonable prices.
I donate 10% of my sales to charity.
Therefore, every sale will make a difference to someone, somewhere. Whenever I buy a gift I want it to make the recipient smile! When researching what to buy I am, therefore, guided by the following principles of:
1) I would like to have this bought for me; or
2) I would buy this gift for someone very dear to me.
If the gift doesn’t meet at least one of these criteria, I don’t buy it. The Busy Life shop is full of gift ideas. Gifts are listed daily and once they are gone they are gone! It is very unlikely I will be able to get more of the same, so, if you are interested in an item, please, buy it now to avoid disappointment.
At the end of every quarter, to do good by using the collective purchasing power of my customers, I make a donation to a charity based on 10% of Busy Life's sales. Every few months, I publicise how much I have donated and who to.
The key to doing more good is, therefore, to sell more gifts or to have more consumers perform more little acts of kindness. If you are looking to buy a gift and you would like to contribute to making our world a better place for today and tomorrow, please consider a purchase or two from Busy Life.
more about us
What I do and don't do!
I don’t believe that anyone generally needs to spend more than £50 on a gift. If you do, that’s fine but, I don’t think you will find the gift you are looking for on the Busy Life website.
Unless I can identify a need for a new product or range, I don’t commission or design my own gifts. There are already so many lovely things to buy! In addition, replicating what is already available in the market place doesn't support my company ethos. All it does is use more of our planet’s resources and generate more waste to be disposed of.
You will not find embellishments on my gifts. There is, therefore, no personalisation of gifts and ribbons, bows, tags, or thank you cards etc. are not included with purchases. Please, remember that I am very thankful for each and every purchase that someone makes!
Packaging is optimised to preserve gift quality during transit and delivery to the customer. All gifts are posted to the customers packaged as I receive them. In supporting my company ethos, I do not make or supply gifts in Busy Life packaging.
I endeavour to source recycled packaging materials that can also be recycled. I ask all my customers to consider reusing their packaging or to recycle it. (I also reuse or recycle all the excess packaging my products are delivered in).
Barnaby, the Busy Life mascot.