Moving away from Lush products – Lush responsible for building on Greenbelt land in Poole, Dorset

There are many reasons to move away from Lush products, most commonly you will read about their continued use of Sodium Laurel Sulphate (SLS), glitter and other unnecessary ingredients in their products. I have another (little known) reason to add to the list! So read on, dear readers….

Lush is an easily accessible place to start going zero waste, since they are available online and on the high street. I’d been a little bit annoyed about Lush’s fairly regular price hikes of late – their shampoo and conditioner bars can go about £1-£2 per year. At least they have since I started using them. That’s a significant increase to bear, especially when you have very long and thick hair, like me! It’s also been annoying to buy their metal containers, only for them to change the shape of their products yet again.

Most recently, they changed the formulation of one of their soap bars- yet didn’t feel the need to advertise the fact. It literally burnt the skin on my face! I did get a full refund, but all of this combined with the fact that around here – Lush are responsible for building their factories on greenbelt land.

I live in the same town where Lush creates all their products and where they were founded. I was proud to support a local company, but the more you get to learn about them – the more you learn that they hardly employ any local people. The majority of their workforce are Eastern European and they bring them over to work here, claiming that they are better workers or more reliable. However, local people who have worked for them will tell you it’s more down to their poor working conditions. Their founder – Mr Constantine, demanded recently that Poole Council (now BCP Council) allow him to build another factory locally, or he would move virtually the whole operation to Eastern Europe. Let’s put this into context – Lush makes up around 50% of the Nuffield Industrial Estate in Poole – a significant loss if they were to go!

So, not only are they getting their new factory on former green belt land within the Borough, part of the deal was that also a number of homes were built on this farmland too. Thus resulting in even more concreting over, loss of wildlife habitats on our precious heathland, increased traffic on our roads and so on. You can read more about all of this, should it interest you in the Poole Local Plan. All of this is to say, that was the nail in the coffin of my support of this local company. They proclaim so loudly to support the environment, sea birds habitats and so on – but for all their so-called ethics, it seems they will very much pick and choose to suit themselves. Apparently the quality of life of local people, local air quality, local wildlife – they are just not their concern, but their profits are. So, I am taking my business elsewhere.

I’m pleased to say that a quick internet search turned up a Yorkshire Company called Friendly Soap. They have a certification from the Ethical Consumer Organisation. Their prices are beyond reasonable – less than a third of what Lush charges and their P&P was lower too. No SLS, no triclosan, no plastic, no parabens and cruelty free. A wonderful smelling package bursting with the scent of rosemary, lavender, orange and lime has just landed on my doorstep. I look forward to reporting back 🙂

Why Thermos Flasks and other glass vacuum flasks are not Zero Waste!

I’m publishing this post as a warning to all that purchasing a Thermos brand or other brand flask, with a glass vacuum liner is just about the WORST choice you can make when trying to live a Zero Waste lifestyle. They are promoted as an alternative to buying drinks out and will potentially save you money.

I grew up with my parents taking them everywhere – in fact they still do! It always used to be the case that you could buy a new glass liner, if yours ever broke. I chose a glass lined one because they are known to keep drinks hotter for much, much longer than metal walled flasks and I thought I would be able to replace the parts as needed. But be warned- not any more! You have to buy a whole new flask – you cannot buy a replacement branded or otherwise, not anywhere! This means your entire plastic flask has to go in the bin. Let me tell you that I am completely horrified at this state of affairs. I hope that Thermos gets bombarded with complaints which forces them to bring back the replacement parts.

So, you can expect to be shelling out for the entire cost of a new flask every time yours breaks and having to live with the knowledge that you are adding non-recyclable plastic to the World’s landfill sites. I wonder just how many perfectly good flask shells are sitting in the bin, for want of a glass liner. Honestly, the thought makes me feel slightly sick!

I’d love to hear if anyone knows of a truly Zero Waste flask – one that you only have to buy once!

Get 300 bonus SB when you sign up for Swagbucks in April

Spring is here, and there’s no better time to start earning free gift cards through Swagbucks!

All throughout April you can earn large bonuses when sign up as my referral on Swagbucks. Swagbucks is a rewards site where you earn points (called SB) for things you’re probably doing online already, like searching the web, watching videos, shopping, discovering deals, and taking surveys. Then you take those points and exchange them for gift cards to places like Amazon, M&S, or PayPal cash.

When you sign up through me this month, you can earn a 300 SB bonus! Here’s how:

1. Sign up using this link

2. Earn 300 SB total before May 1st, 2019. You’ll get a 300 SB bonus for it!

3. That’s it. It’s super easy, and Swagbucks is for real. I use it myself, and I’ve earned almost £3,000 to date. I use Swagbucks to buy gift cards for my favourite stores, like: M&S, John Lewis and Amazon. Then I can treat myself or my family at no cost!

Reusable cloth nappies

I’m always aiming to be zero waste, and had thoroughly researched cloth nappies on the internet from probably my whole pregnancy! About 5 months before my baby was born, I spotted a cloth nappy bundle on my local Facebook selling group. It was the works – nappies, covers, liners and boosters for £45. In the few days it took me to arrange a time to meet up with the seller, she was so desperate to sell them as she was moving house – she’d dropped the price to £25! It turned out they were brand new, she’d bought them from another lady who’d never used them. Then she’d been gifted a year’s supply of disposables and never used them. I couldn’t believe my luck! All in all I got:

4 small Motherease Airflow wraps in white (RRP £12.99 ea)

4 medium Motherease Airflow wraps in white (RRP £12.99 ea)

4 large Motherease Airflow wraps (RRP £13.99 ea)

10 Motherease snap-in booster pads in natural (RRP £2.50 ea)

14 Motherease one size cloth nappies in natural (RRP £10.99 ea)

4 rolls of paper liners (RRP £7.99 ea)

TOTAL Price new £370.70

So, I’ll be saving money against disposables in no time at all! I also picked up a Tots Bots lockable nappy bucket (RRP £12.99) and 2 mesh bags (RRP £8.99), plus about 10 white Tots Bots Bamboozle nappies (RRP around £15 ea, which we haven’t even tried yet!) off eBay for 50p and got another on Freecycle. I use one for nappies and cloth wipes and one for disposables.

I did write in this post about how the cloth nappies weren’t working for us all in the first 6 months until weaning started. Motherease are meant to be one size, but you have to fold them over initially. This makes them incredibly bulky and my baby is very slim. They were absolutely huge on him in the first few months – really looking quite ridiculous on him. Looks aside, he couldn’t seem to bend his legs properly and every time we tried them, he wouldn’t sleep. We couldn’t cope with no sleep and it wasn’t doing him any good, so we stuck with disposables regrettably. I cringed every time I had to look at the plastic piling up in our bin. We had to request a larger bin 😦 It was a very hot summer here in the UK and he seemed to overheat in these bulky nappies, which I’m sure was a contributing factor too. All that aside, I can safely say that I wouldn’t have fancied having to scrape all that liquid newborn poo off them either.

Basically, we started using them at about 7 months; prompted by the terrible smell coming from the so-called ‘Pampers Pure’ disposables. They smelt like pine disinfectant straight out of the packet and worse once my LO had wee’d in them!!! When he got a combination fungal and eczema infection all over the nappy area, I decided it was time to try the cloth again and we haven’t looked back! We do still use one disposable every night, as it’s not recommended to put them in cloth at night, whilst they’re still having a night feed. So this may change in the future – although he seems to be a heavy wetter, so I think it’s going to take a lot of boosting.

I actually love the cloth now, they’re so easy to wash and require no rinse cycle at all. I just follow Motherease’s own instructions and wash them on a 60 degree ‘hygiene’ wash in my Miele machine. They come out perfect every time and I sometimes tumble dry them in the winter, to get them dry in time. We also live in a very hard water area, so I think if I didn’t tumble dry them sometimes they’d end up like cardboard, as the towels do. Although, I’ve just bought a heated airer which is pretty miserly on the old electricity, so I’m hoping this will possibly eliminate tumble dryer use.

14 nappies could last up to 3 days, but once they’re wet – 2 days worth is about all I can fit in one cycle in my machine. So we basically wash every 2 days. The wraps dry almost instantly. They come up perfectly every time; I wash using a spray stain remover where needed, Fairy Non-Bio (because it suits us and eco detergents are NOT recommended), 50ml white vinegar as a fabric softener and 1 tbsp soap crystals as a water softener and stain remover in wash.

We’ll have to see where this cloth nappy journey takes us over the next year or so!

How I got a free heated airer from John Lewis worth £100! Thanks to Swagbucks

Yes, I got this £100 heated airer free all thanks to the website Swagbucks! It’s my most recent purchase from John Lewis, to make my life easier with all the extra washing that’s around since having my baby. I figure that running an airer is cheaper than running the tumble dryer so much. It’s winter and there’s so little daylight, so much bad weather and with a North facing garden – it’s a waste of time putting washing on the rotary line. I’ve been relying on my indoor airer, but it just couldn’t cope with the volume of washing being produced, plus with everything needing 2 days to dry – it’s just impractical. I figure a heated airer will also reduce condensation in the home, making it healthier to live in too. From a zero waste point of view, it comes with a 2 year guarantee – quite a rare thing these days! It’s also mostly comprised of lightweight aluminium metal, except for the feet and top hinges. The whole things folds down for easy storage and it is surprisingly compact when up.

More Shocking Truths About Frugalwoods!!!

The Truth about Frugalwoods is one of my all-time highest read blog posts. As this is a topic you all like to read about, I’ve been doing some more digging. I have even shocked myself with what I’ve pulled up about them this time – hold onto your hats people!!! I share this because I want to warn others to be very careful where and from whom you take advice, not just on the internet but in real-life too. Some close family members were recently duped out of their entire retirement and inheritance from someone purporting to give ‘financial advice’. Not only should you check out what you are being told, but also their background. Do they have qualifications to advise you? Insurance? Does it all add up?

I had heard some rumblings on the internet that the Frugalwoods are not being truthful about their income. All you ever read on their blog is that they had good jobs when they were working, in the not-for-profit sector and they make out that they are now ‘retired’ in the country. Well, everyone knows about working for a charity in Britain – most people would be lucky to be paid the National Minimum Wage. But even higher up the career ladder, you will not be getting rich. I guess we could probably lump together the Public Sector as not-for-profit, as the NHS for example, certainly does not pay most of its staff well either. A nurse starts out on around £21,000 a year here in the UK.

So it was a little bit shocking to dig around for Mr Frugalwoods tax returns online, (thanks to this MrMoneyMustache forum thread) and find out that he earnt a mere £209,735 in the financial year ending 2016, as the Executive Director of a company. Not retired at all! According to what I’ve read online, that would make him amongst the top 5% of US earners. But here in the UK that kind of income is only paid to the top 1%. Let’s put it this way – the Prime Minister of Great Britain only earns £150,402! Gosh, it must be nice for all those people who think they’re donating to a not-for-profit company in the USA – to find out how much they are paying their staff. Claiming only to exist to do good and then having people taking home salaries like that!!!! Mind you, there was recently a shocking episode of Dispatches on Channel 4 which uncovered similar ridiculous amounts that Housing Association bosses are making, whilst plenty of people are going homeless. We do live in a very unjust world.

Frugality, when one half of the couple is bringing home that kind of money is a very different thing from the likes of say….Jack Monroe (a single mother trying to exist on benefits with her child and struggling to feed herself). That’s 7x the average £30,000 income for men in the UK. And then Mrs Frugalwoods earns money on top from writing for various sources. I stopped following their blog a while ago, as it just didn’t seem to ring true to me and this confirms my gut feeling once again. Let me know in the comments whether or not you’re going to continue reading their blog.

Nappy Changing Tips & Zero Waste Fails

I read a lot of Zero Waste blogs, social media groups and websites before my baby was born. Lots of them wanted to tell me to stick to all-natural, plastic free, even homemade items. But, reality bites once your baby is here and you’re seriously sleep-deprived! The truth is you don’t have time to make your own anything, barely even a cup of tea! That said, I had been prepared with a tub of coconut oil as I’d read that this was ‘the best’ thing for nappy rash. What a load of bull!!!! Thank goodness that Bepanthen decided to send me a little surprise in the post. The timing couldn’t have been better!

Bepanthen rescued my poor little baby’s bottom in under 24 hours! It comes in a handy tube with a flip top lid, which is even manageable with one hand – very handy at nappy change time! You can buy a smaller tube which is ideal for your changing bag on the move and I also keep the large tube at home. It lasts for ages, as you only need a very small amount at each change. In my experience, it’s worth applying it at every change to keep a barrier between the nappy contents and your baby’s skin.

It spreads easily, no matter what the temperature outside and it really does work, unlike the stupid coconut oil. It also helps to change your baby’s nappy every 3 hours, or immediately once they have pooped. Try to give your baby some nappy free time each day too, if you can.

Not only is Bepanthen clinically proven to protect babies delicate skin, unlike coconut oil! It also contains natural ingredients, like Provitamin B5 (Panthenol), Beeswax and Lanolin to soothe and protect. I know what I’ll be reaching for from now on.

(Disclaimer: I was sent a free tube of Bepanthen for the purposes of reviewing. However, all opinions are my own and I had already chosen to use this product, based on the strength of other peoples positive reviews online).

Resuable Vs Disposable Nappies – Pampers Pure

I was all for cloth nappies before I had my baby – good for my pocket, good for the environment, right? Well, that may be true but then the realities of parenting hit – the lack of sleep, being out and about, not being able to leave the room long enough to hang out the washing, let alone the fact that our baby seems to hate cloth nappies. The first time we tried them he went from being a normal, contented baby who took regular naps –  to being sleepless, hot, uncomfortable and generally extremely grouchy. For no other reason than the nappy!

We’ve tried them again several times, but the wraps seem to cut into his skin and they’re so bulky, he can hardly bend his legs. They make him hot- granted we have had an extremely hot summer, but I really don’t get all these people who say that they’re breathable. And then there’s the fact he’s literally sitting in urine for hours, you have to change them much more frequently than disposables and that’s before we even get to the washing of them all! This is also all complicated by my health conditions which mean I have limited energy. I have very quickly realised that I want to spend the best of my health and time with my baby and not completing household chores (which have gone out of the window anyway, since I simply don’t have time nor energy to complete them).

So I was happy when Pampers sent me a packet of their new Pure nappies and wipes to try. We haven’t been using wipes, but I recently bought a packet of Water Wipes for our holiday as you can’t be out and about, trying to mess around with cotton wool and water, when your baby has had a poo’splosion!!! I’m certain from writing this blog, that there are plenty of other parents out there who want to choose a more natural option for their family, but practicality has to come first.

The Pampers Pure nappies are really thick and good quality, even more premium than their premium protection which is what we had been using. That’s a big deal, as so many natural nappies and similar products just don’t hold up in use, breaking apart. They have these cute little designs on them – there are a couple more which I didn’t have the opportunity to photograph, I’d describe them as abstract art. Pampers say they contain less chemicals than their standard or premium nappies, which I’ll have to take their word for as I’m not a scientist. I’ve had absolutely no leaks whilst using these which I know isn’t always the case with other nappies. They also don’t leave any red marks on my baby’s skin which is a major concern for me.

The only major downside for me, is that it’s really hard to tell which is the front and which is the back, so I keep putting them on backwards. The tabs are white which make them hard to see and these are just really difficult, compared to their standard or premium nappies which I’ve never had this problem with.

The Pampers Pure wipes are easy to use; aren’t all wipes?! Whilst remaining tough, durable and don’t irritate my baby’s skin. As with all wipes, I keep these for cleaning up poo and when out and about only because I don’t want to be putting a lot of these in the bin to respect our planet.

Overall, these nappies are made from cotton, plant-based materials and other ‘thoughtfully selected’ (not sure what that means)! materials. I like the fact that there is an easily available option out there on the high street, for those of us who want a purer option but for whom reusables are just not going to work. There isn’t a perfect option out there and whilst I’d prefer not to be clogging up landfill with disposable nappies, we have to choose something that works for both us and our children.

William Morris – A Minimalist or Perhaps Not?

        “Have nothing in your house that you do not know to be useful or believe to be          beautiful” Willam Morris.

I have often seen this quoted as inspiration for Minimalists or aspiring Minimalists. How enlightening then, to learn today that the original context of this quote meant nothing like this!

William Morris was trying to encourage the lower classes to aspire to be like the rich, to acquire possessions and thus he felt, better themselves and their lives. Although he apparently rebelled against his Father’s wealth and Capitalism in some respects, it still clearly coloured his thinking.

If you want to listen to the full programme, then you can click here . Thanks to ‘In Our Time’ on BBC Radio 4 for telling the full story.

Things That Have Gone – 23

I said that I’d probably still manage to get rid of a few more items! Well it amounts to a cardigan and a pair of shoes sold on eBay, 2 bags of clothes returned to their original owners and 2 books sold on Amazon Marketplace.

Yet more things that weren’t actually needed! I expect the odd item will still sell on eBay in the coming months, as I have a handful left listed.