Natural Update

This is my 100th post and I would like to take a second and thank everyone for reading my blog, the counter at the bottom of the page stands at over 46,000 visitors. I would also like to thank the many websites around the world that have featured our crafts, and all of you who have been inspired and have inspired me in return. Thank-you again, the children and I have some exciting crafts lined up and we will be sharing here soon.

As so many of you have asked how we are getting on with the natural cleaning and cutting out the chemicals I thought I would give you a quick update.

We are still using and loving the soap nuts, (these are dried berries not nuts) it has been over a year now this is my original post, in fact we still haven't got through the 1 kilo bag we purchased, this cost around £10 delivered to our door with a bottle of free essential oil and has lasted more than a year. There are 300 grams left, and not buying washing powder and fabric softener has saved us a lot of money and decreased the amount of household waste we throw out. I also love the fact that you can add the essential oil of your choice to the washing, I have been adding lavender to the bedding wash to enhance good sleep and citronella to the wash when there are lots of biting insects about. No harsh washing chemicals have also meant no itching and sneezing.

All general purpose kitchen cleaners, window and floor cleaners have been replaced by white vinegar, bicarbonate of soda, lemon juice and essential oils which we make up ourselves. I really haven't noticed any difference in the cleaning ability, it just smells far more natural. We are still loving the home made toothpaste too.

The natural crystal deodorant is absolutely still being used, I bought it in July last year for about £5. I am just as happy with it as I was then, no armpit smell at all. My husband was so impressed he now uses it and there is still over half a stick left, so definitely a good money saving purchase there.

Another money saver for me has been the purchase of a menstrual cup, initially expensive but it pays for itself after a few months and it can last for years. I have been using one for quite a few years now and can honestly say I have never felt so free and comfortable during a period, so this has eliminated the need for any sanitary protection.

I have stopped using shop bought moisturisers and now use either pure coconut oil or a block of shea butter, both of which smell incredible and and make my skin feel amazing. So no more nasty chemicals absorbed through the skin. I have also stopped using hair conditioner, oils to stop frizz and all the other stuff we tend to put on ourselves after washing our hair, I now add a little coconut oil to my hands and work it on the tips of my hair.  One thing I have noticed, bizarrely, is the condition and softness of my hair has vastly improved.

As you can see we have managed to get rid of loads of the chemicals from our daily lives and I am still working on more and will let you know how it goes. Not only have we saved a lot of money... I mean...How many of you can say you have done your entire family's washing for less than £10 for more than a year or less than £5 for deodorant for two people?... but we also feel much better, no sneezing or itching and I am happy that everything we now use is a change for the better for us. I may be adding some of our natural recipes here now and again if anyone is interested.

Soap nuts!

I am writing this post as there has been a lot of interest in how we got on with the soap nuts trial. We have been trying lately to rid ourselves of as many of the everyday chemicals as possible, in an attempt to make our lives more natural and greener of course. One of the things changed is the way the laundry is done, we were originally going to make our own environmentally friendly washing powder but in the end decided to give soap nuts a try.

So, here they are.... they don't actually look like they will do the laundry do they?

But it is so simple, just put a few soap nuts in the little bag and I usually wet the bag with hot water and give it a squeeze to give the saponins a head start and toss them in the machine, you don't even need to add fabric softener. We have also been adding a couple of drops of essential oil to the fabric softener drawer to give the laundry our choice of smell but this is not necessary. Each batch of soap nuts can be used for a few washes and composted when finished with, so each wash works out at just a few pence.

More importantly though the laundry has been coming out clean and soft, with absolutely no chemical smell at all. It has been a lovely surprise really, as I wasn't expecting it to work. Things just feel different, in a good way and there has been NO itching what so ever. The big test for me was the the towels, I love to have a soft fluffy towel when getting out of the shower and the soap nuts didn't let me down! While I can't say they clean better than washing products, they definitely do not clean any worse.

The soap nuts can actually be made into many cleaning products including shampoo, but we have not tried this yet. My husband has washed his hands with them after working on his bike and in the garden and they did come up very clean and soft but that's as far as the testing has gone. He was also excited to find some black seeds in our bag of soap nuts which he is now going to try and grow...I'll let you know how that comes along too.

If you would like to find out more about soap nuts you can read more here, or just search yourself.