Affiliate Disclosure

Let’s be clear about money because you deserve transparency. Claire Lives is run by five people with regular jobs – I do part-time care work after leaving the NHS, Sarah’s doing home content after leaving retail management, Raj writes code for a fintech company, Marcus teaches geography, Aisha works part-time admin while looking after a toddler. None of us are making a living from this site. We do it because we’re into home design and want to share what we’re learning, but keeping a website running costs money.

To help cover hosting fees, domain costs, and the occasional expense without this becoming a proper business that requires serious income, we use affiliate links and show some ads. Here’s what that actually means:

If you click a link on our site and buy something, we might earn a small commission. You pay the same price whether you use our link or find the item yourself – the commission doesn’t add cost to you, it’s just a cut from the retailer. We’re talking small amounts. Nobody’s quitting their job over affiliate earnings from a home blog.

We work with or may occasionally use these affiliate programmes:

  • Affiliate Window (Awin)
  • FlexOffers
  • Commission Junction (CJ)
  • ShareASale
  • Webgains

We also use Google AdSense for ads. If you run an ad blocker, we understand – we all do that sometimes too.

Here’s what matters: we only link to things we actually have experience with or genuinely think are worth considering. We’re not writing articles because certain brands pay better commissions. We’re not getting paid for positive reviews. We’re not accepting money to say nice things about products.

When we link to something, there’s a real reason. Maybe I bought that paint from B&Q and it actually worked well in my terrace. Maybe Sarah used those tiles from Topps Tiles in her bathroom renovation and they were good value. Maybe Raj found that furniture on Made.com and it fit his small flat perfectly. Maybe Marcus got that fixture from Screwfix and it was decent quality for the price. Maybe Aisha discovered it on Facebook Marketplace and it survived toddler chaos. The point is, there’s actual experience behind recommendations.

Our basic principle: if we wouldn’t honestly recommend it to a friend working on their house, we don’t link to it here. We’re not trying to maximize affiliate income by pushing whatever pays best. We’re trying to share genuine advice about making homes work, and sometimes that includes pointing toward specific products or places that actually helped us.

This definitely isn’t a sales site pretending to be content. The goal is writing honestly about home renovation and design from five different real situations. If that occasionally involves affiliate links to help keep things running, that seems reasonable without compromising what we’re doing.

If you’d rather not use our affiliate links, that’s completely fine. Search for products directly wherever you like. We’re not going to make you feel guilty – we just appreciate you reading about our home disasters and small victories.

You can also ask about specific links. If we’ve recommended something and you want to know more about our actual experience with it, why we chose it, whether we earn anything from it, or what alternatives might work, just ask. We’re happy to explain.

Running a website costs money. Renovating houses costs money. We’re balancing both with regular jobs and real lives. Affiliate links help offset costs without turning this into something that requires business plans and compromises about what we can say.

Bottom line: we use affiliate marketing to cover expenses. We only link to things we actually know about or believe are useful. We’re not here to sell you stuff you don’t need just because we get a small cut. And if you do use our links, we genuinely appreciate it – those small amounts add up and help us keep sharing what we’re learning from our own home projects without having to turn this into a proper business.