Naturally Goode

Category: Top 5

  • Killing it in the Kitchen

    Killing it in the Kitchen

    5 eco-friendly tips to save hours of time, stress and mummy-guilt each week.

    Time for me to let you in on some secrets about how I kill it in the kitchen.  In our house, meals are my responsibillity.  This is, at least in part, by my design.  If it were up to my partner, we would be eating store-bought meatloaf with a side of two-minute noodles every night.  I was raised on a lot of veggies and salads and I wanted my kids to have the same, so I took over meals.

    I work 3 days a week in my job, a least another 2 days a week on my business, volunteer for canteen duty and school excursions where I can plus try and keep on top of the rest of the housework for a partner, 2 kids and up-to 4 part timers.  In other words, I’m as busy as every other mum out there.

    My kids have been in childcare since they were 7 months old, when I had to go back to work full time after each of them.  My job back then demanded long hours and we were often not home until after 6pm for the dinner/bath/bed routine.  We were getting up at 5.30am to start the next day so they really needed to be in bed by 7pm.  Frozen, ready-to-eat meals were a staple.

    While things have improved sightly over the years there was still a large amount of pre-preared foods involved.  I have still been wracked with mummy-guilt that I don’t give my kids enough of the right foods, that I don’t prepare their food from scratch so that I know exactly what’s in it, that I am contributing waaaaay too much packaging to landfill, etc. etc.

    I made some big commitments to myself for this year that I would cook from scratch, eliminate as much pre-prepared food and packaging as possible, feed my kids more veggies and the right kinds of foods.  I have had to make some big changes to achieve those goals.  I’m pretty happy with how things have turned out so far.

    1. Meal Plan

    I know, I know.  Super nerdy and one of those tasks that sounds like just one more thing on the never ending to-do list.  BUT I spend less than half an hour on this once a week and it saves me at least that much time on a daily basis.  I know what we are having for dinner each night for the next 7 days.  No more getting home from work and spending ages staring into the fridge or pantry trying to figure out what I’m going to make for dinner.  The decision is already made so I can just get on with it.

    I have thousands of recipes.  For someone who never really cooked much before kids, I seem to have accumulated quite the collection of cook books.  Each week I pick 3 books and I flick through and choose our week’s meals.  I generally go for some meat based meals, some with eggs, beans or lentils, one from another country (my youngest “visits” a different country in her class room each week so we talk about the food and which country it came from) and, especially in winter, a soup.  Friday night usually involves something easy and not necessarily healthy like home made pizza or sausages.

    2. Shop to a list

    I make my shopping list while I am doing my meal plan.  “Hello Fresh” love telling everyone how much their food packages save wasted food.  Well, so does meal planning and shopping to a list and you don’t have to pay extra for it.  I reckon I have knocked between $50 to $100 per week off the cost of our weekly shop just by meal planning and shopping to a list.

    I used to go to the shop and wander the aisles while I tried to remember what we needed plus work out what we might eat for the week and what I needed for that.  I would always end up forgetting something, spending too much time in the store and getting frustrated and just grabbing whatever was easiest because I didn’t want to think anymore.

    With my list, I buy only what I need to make the meals for the week.  I don’t end up grabbing stuff off the shelves “just in case”.  It saves wasted food, it saves wasted money and it saves me so much time in the store because I know what I need to get.  Having a list also stops me impulse buying a bunch of stuff that we will never use, just because I was hungry while I was in the shop.

    There are a couple of exceptions worth noting here.  I will sometimes buy bulk or a whole item instead of just what I need, to save getting additional packaging.  For example, if I need 500g of pumpkin for a recipe, I will buy a whole pumpkin so I don’t have to deal with the plastic wrap and the styrofoam tray (not to mention the additional cost per kg).  I find that the produce I buy whole seems to keep much longer than any pre-prepared produce from the stores.  There are also some great reusable produce bags you can get that make your fruit and veggies last even longer in the fridge.  Then I’ll make sure next week’s recipes include those ingredients so nothing is wasted.

    3. Tools

    4 years ago, my uncle and auntie bought me a 5in1 multicooker.  It does slow cooking, pressure cooking, rice cooking, steaming and soup.  I don’t think I really appreciated the value of this little gem until this year.  It is bloody fantastic.

    The 3 days I work, we generally have slow cooker meals.  I can’t tell you how good it is to come home after a day of work and an evening of rushing kids between dancing and karate to a cooked meal ready to be served.  The amount of stress this has taken out of my life is huge!

    I have a bumper womens weekly slow cooker cook book ($20 from the book man at before school care, thanks very much) and another slow cooker 365 cook book.  Between the 2 of them, I haven’t run out of new meals to try yet.  There are so many amazing things you can do.

    On my non-job days, the pressure cooker function still lets me whip up a risotto in less than half an hour including prep.  I also have a Thermomix which has been a terrific complement to my kitchen and helps me cook some amazing meals from scratch in under half and hour.

    If you can’t afford to splash out on the 5in1 or a Thermomix, a plain old slow cooker is a must have.  I would also highly recommend a good food processor.  You can save a lot of time, money and waste by preparing your own veggies.  For example:

    • chopping up your own tomatoes instead of using tinned ones
    • growing your own herbs, drying them and blitzing them and keeping them in old vegemite jars for whenever you need them

    Blitzing onions in the food processor has also saved me many tears and cut fingers.  If you want to get even more eco friendly, Tupperware have the Smooth Chopper, which is a people-powered food processor, no electricity required and you can work out while you’re cooking!

    4. Re-purpose the left overs

    I have 2 kids of my own plus between 0 and 4 part-timers.  Especially in the 4 years after my first daughter was born, my partner would turn up with up at dinnertime with any or all of them without notice.  I got really good at the fishes and loaves trick, making a meal for 4 into a meal for 8.  Perhaps as a hangover from then, I still tend to over-cater for dinner most nights.  This actually works out really well because we re-purpose our left overs.

    Generally, my partner and I will take some for work at lunch for at least one day.  Where there is a lot left over (like when I make soup), I divide it up into portions in containers and freeze it.  That way, we have ready meals for days when there are no leftovers for lunch and for times we may be away for the weekend and come home to no food.  This also gives me a backup options for the nights I can’t be bothered fighting my kids to eat on the meal I have cooked.  If the freezer ever starts to get too full, I just plan a few less meals for a week and use it up.

    5. Use your Dishwasher

    I know I say this often but honestly, if you have a dishwasher, you’d be mad not to use it.  In our house, everything goes in the dishwasher.  If it doesn’t survive the dishwasher, it has no place in our kitchen.  The dishwasher saves time and is more environmentally friendly.  Dishwashers use less water than hand washing dishes, as long as you don’t rinse the dishes frst.  Scrape food off into the bin and load the dishes up.  Use an eco friendly powder like Tri Nature Citrus Dishwasher Powder (then you don’t need to worry about toxic residue on your plates or killing the fishies).  I also use Tri Nature Rinse Aid. I have solar power so the dishwasher goes on one the eco cycle right before I walk out the door each day.  By the time I get home, the dishes are clean and dry and ready to use again or be put away.

    So there you have it!  My top 5 on how I get through the days and weeks without totally losing my mind over meals.  I would love to hear if any of this helps you or if you have any other tips you would like to share.  Please feel free to comment or get in touch and let me know!

  • 9 ways to be a more eco friendly Gift giver

    9 ways to be a more eco friendly Gift giver

    9 ways to be a more eco friendly gift giver

    It’s that time of year when we are all in a gift giving frenzy.  The shops are designed to entice us to buy with all things shiny and new.  It’s also a great time of year to put on the eco responsible hat and look for some little ways to help reduce our contribution to landfill.  Here are a couple of suggestions about how you can be a more eco friendly gift giver this Christmas.  Of course, these tips apply any time of year for any gift-giving occasion.

    1. Use your kids’ artwork or the local newspaper as gift wrap.
    2. Make your own gifts such as food or something from recycled materials
      1. truffles,
      2. cupcakes,
      3. fudge,
      4. shortbread or for kids,
      5. gift the dry ingredients and a recipe in an old pasta jar with some home made labelling
      6. Make the kids’ artwork into a book showcasing some of the highlights from the last 12 months
    3. Choose gifts that are useful and will be used quickly rather than something that might become clutter
      1. body wash
      2. shampoo & conditioner
      3. Moisturiser
      4. Bath Salts
      5. Skin Care
    4. Gift an experience instead of “stuff”.
    5. Gift something pre-loved.  Opp shops have some amazing things in them that you cannot find in other shops.  You may find a beautiful old tea set that’s just right, or that you could use to make your own candles in for gifts.  You just never know until you look!  Gumtree or FaceBook Marketplace can be great for a scroll too.  Opp shop tea towels make great wrapping paper or you can turn them into a replacement for cling wrap with some beeswax and an iron.
    6. Stick with brands that won’t harm the earth and who tick some or all of the below list:
      1. non-toxic ingredients
      2. recyclable packaging
      3. ethically sourced ingredients
      4. ethically made goods (workers paid fairly and have good conditions)
      5. locally made.
    7. Give a gift that helps someone else become more eco friendly such as eco safe personal care, a reusable cup or water bottle, reusable grocery bags, etc.  Tupperware or reusable containers are especially handy for Christmas leftovers and help people cut down on waste.
    8. Gift your time.  This could be in the form of volunteering at a charity instead of a gift, or blocking out a day to spend with a loved one where the day is all about them. This works especially well as a gift for kids.
    9. Gift a donation to an eco charity such as wildlife conservation.

    If you have some tips you would like to share, please get in touch or leave them in the comments below.  I would love to hear from you!

  • 7 cleaning hacks to get your house holiday ready in a hurry!

    7 cleaning hacks to get your house holiday ready in a hurry!

    I think we have established by now that I am super efficient (lazy) when it comes to domestic duties but I lack the financial ability to hire someone to do it for me.  Plus they wouldn’t do it the way I Iike it done.  So, here are some of my favourite cleaning short cuts to help you get and keep your house Christmas/Holiday/Visitor ready this summer!

    Fridge and Pantry

    Use old tea towels and pillow cases to line shelves in your fridge or pantry.  If something spills, you can just throw the pillow case or tea towel in the wash instead of going through the trauma of cleaning the shelf.  Fabric will soak up the spills on the shelf where they happen so you have a better chance that only 1 shelf will be dirty, instead of the back of the fridge and every shelf below it as well.

    Tea towel fridge shelf liners
    Tea towel fridge shelf liners

    Upcycle your old jar lids and use them upside down as coasters for new jars in the fridge and pantry.  These will catch any drips before they get to the shelves. This comes in especially handy in the pantry if you have an ant invasion.  Just put some water in the lid before you place the jar in it and the ants can’t get across the water and into your honey or jam!

    Recycled Jar Lid Coasters
    Recycled Jar Lid Coasters

    The Loo

    Keep a little disinfectant concentrate in the bottom of the toilet brush holder to keep it as germ-free and odour free as possible. If you choose Sphagnum Moss or Sanazone Lemon Myrtle, you get the added bonus of an air freshener as well!

    If you need to clean the limescale out of the bottom of the toilet bowl, don’t worry about scrubbing or bleach.  Tip about 50ml of descaler into the water and let it sit (the longer the better so overnight at least).  Then flush and you’re done!

    Disinfectant in Toilet Brush Holder
    Disinfectant in Toilet Brush Holder

    It’s amazing what you can put in a dishwasher!

    Your dishwasher is much more of helper than you realise.  There are so many things you can throw in the dishwasher for cleaning and sanitising.  It saves a whole lot more water than washing the old fashioned way in the sink.  It uses much hotter water than your hands can stand for improved germ killing power.  And you don’t have to stand there while it’s on.  What’s not to love about that?

    Here are just some of the things you can toss into the dishwasher for a clean and freshen up:

    • the sponge!
    • plastic brushes
    • stove knobs
    • mop heads

      Dishwasher Crocs
      Thongs and crocs go in the dishwasher no worries.
    • kids plastic toys
    • soap and toothbrush holders
    • plastic flowers
    • light cover fittings
    • potatoes and root veggies (don’t use detergent in this cycle)
    • plastic or metal gardening tools
    • thongs and crocs

    For any metal or glass that needs an extra boost, add descaler to the load.  This is a great way to get rid of some rust, calcium and limescale build up in your machine as well as on your stuff.  You can do this with:

    • the shower head
    • cloudy glasses
    • the shower caddy
    • metal gardening tools

    Shower

    If you can’t get the shower head off to get it in the dishwasher, put some water and descaler into a strong bag and tie it over the shower head.  Leave it there for as long as possible (overnight or a day or two if you can).  This will clean up the outside and inside so any little holes blocked by calcium, limescale or rust buildup will clear up as well!

    Showerhead bagged with descaler and water
    Showerhead bagged with descaler and water

    Microwave and Oven

    Nuke a glass of water in the microwave for 2 minutes to get everything damp and steamy for an easy clean, then wipe it out with a cloth.

    Half fill a deep baking tray with hot water and bake it till the inside of the oven is damp and steamy.  Wipe out with cloth.  For extra dirty ovens or microwaves, spray with multipurpose or oven cleaner once it’s all steamy, then leave for at least 10 minutes before wiping out.

    steamy microwave
    Nuke a cup of water to steam up your microwave for an easy wipe out

    Food Processor/Blender/Thermomix

    Clean your blender or food processor quickly using this trick I learned from my Thermomix consultant.  Once you’re finished using it, add drop of dishwashing liquid and half fill it with water.  Then turn it on full blast for 3 seconds.  The quicker you do this after you have finished using it, the better, especially if you have been making dough.  Then whoosh the scrubbing brush around inside to get any extra sticky bits off and rinse.  If you use eco responsible Dishwashing Liquid like me, you can tip this water on your garden instead of down the sink!

    Rangehood Filters

    Put a couple of inches of hot water into the bath and mix in some dishwasher powder or pre soaker.  Throw in your rangehood filters, jiggle them around a bit and then leave them for a few hours.  You will come back to sparkling filters.  Rinse off, let them dry and put them back in the rangehood!

    If your filters aren’t that bad, you could put them through the dishwasher instead, provided they are not too big to fit.

    Citrus Dishwasher Powder Rangehood cleaning trick
    Citrus Dishwasher Powder Rangehood cleaning trick

    Got any tips?

    If you have any cleaning hacks you don’t mind sharing, please leave them in the comments below!

  • 6 Ways to Save Money at Home

    It’s the time of year where all our car insurances are due.  I have an annual process I follow and it occurred to me that it would be nice if I shared it and several other ways I save money at home. Here are my top 5 tips.

    1. Insurances

    I thought I would start with the inspiration for my post.  Insurance is a very competitive market and prices change and get reduced all the time.  Your needs can change from year to year as well, so I find it best to do a review of most insurances every 12 months.  This can be a little time consuming but well worth the effort.

    Every year I get a renewal notice from my insurer with my new insurance rate for the upcoming year.  Every year I get online and get quotes from a range of other insurers and my current insurer.  Every year my current insurer comes in as the cheapest quote (for me) and they generally beat their own price by at least $150.  So I cancel my existing policy and take up the new, cheaper one.

    No one at my insurer has been able to explain it to me as the product is exactly the same in terms of excess and what the policy covers.  It would seem that my insurer prefers to reward new customers over existing loyal ones.  I have checked with several other people and this seems to be the standard across the industry.  Well worth the 30 minutes spent online getting quotes (and the 10 minutes spent unsubscribing from all their email databases later).

    Another thing worth noting is that if your circumstances change during your insured period, you can call your insurer and tell them of the changes and you may get a reduced rate.  For example, if you pay off your car loan, let your insurer know and your premium should reduce effective from the date the loan was finalised.  Don’t wait til next year.

    The life insurance market is similarly structured and it’s worth a review of your policy at least every 2 years.  The same goes for your health insurance, with some potentially big gains.  I have used iSelect to find a new health insurer and been really happy with them, even though their ads annoy the daylights out of me.  Changing over health insurance is pretty easy, as long as all your waiting periods are waived.  This change saved me about $50 a month!

    2. Electricity

    I managed to halve our electricity bill in the space of a few months using  a couple of different strategies.  The first thing I did was a review of our provider and their rates.  This isn’t always an option but if it is, you should be doing it once every 2 years as a minimum.  It’s really important to ignore claims about percentages and do the maths on what the bottom line prices are.

    What I mean by this is, company A may be offering a 50% discount and company B may only be offering a 5% discount.  What they don’t make very clear in most cases is that company A charges you $100 per unit and company B only charges you $50 per unit.  Company A will be pushing the point that their discount is bigger BUT 50% off $100 is $50.  5% off $50 is $47.50.  So even though company B has a lower discount, they actually cost you less.

    The best thing to do is get your hands on the rates for the new company, get an old bill and go through and work out how much that bill would have cost you with the new company.  Then you have a solid comparison.

    I called EnergyWatch to find out who the cheapest providers were in my area and then got the rates for those people and did my comparison.  Switching providers saved me about $150 per quarter right off the bat.

    The other big thing I did was switch our electric hot water services over to heat pumps.  This saved another couple of hundred per quarter.  You can read more about that here.

    There are, of course, lots of little things you can do as well.  These include:

    • replacing all globes in the house with energy saving globes
    • getting the TV attachments that turn the TV off properly instead of leaving it in standby mode
    • getting the special adapters for plugging other appliances (such as the DVD player, DVR and XBox) into so they are also turned off properly instead of sitting in standby more
    • turning off lights when you leave the room (it is worth noting here that we have flouro tubes in our kitchen light.  I know it uses roughly 1 hour’s worth of energy to power that globe up, so I actually leave the kitchen light on when I know I will be back there in less than an hour).
    • daylight harvesting, which is a fancy term for leaving your curtains open and letting in as much natural light ass possible

    On their own, these things don’t save much but they all add up.  The fact that saving electricity helps to save the planet as well as some cash is the icing on the cake!

    3. Mortgage Review

    I have literally just completed one of these and it has saved me around $400 a month.  That’s $400 a month that can now go towards paying off my house faster!  I was well overdue, not having done a review since before my first child was born over 7 years ago.  Ideally you should do this every 2 to 3 years.  The best part about this is, it’s free!  Any good mortgage broker can conduct this review for you and make sure your mortgage product meets your needs and you are getting the best possible deal for you.

    Personally, I can highly recommend Lisa from The Loan Room.  She made the whole thing so easy, and obviously got me the results, that I am totally going to give her a shameless plug!  You can get in touch with Lisa on 0418 174 003 or lisa@theloanroom.com.au.

    I honestly can’t believe I waited so long to do this.  Don’t make my mistake and get onto it today.  You have nothing to lose.

    4. Cleaning

    Okay so this one’s not a surprise to anyone.  I save an absolute BUNDLE on cleaning products using Tri Nature.  It’s one of the many reasons I switched to these products 7 or so years ago.  Of course, once I realised I was going to keep using these products, I joined so I could get the bigger discount and save even more money.  Many people do this with Tri Nature and just buy for themselves.  Now, obviously, I have ended up selling the products so my products pay for themselves and then some which is just a bonus.

    Product wise, the big ticket savings for our house come from these products:

    Dishwasher Powder

    Tri Nature directions on the Dishwasher Powder say to use a full scoop but my dishwasher always leaves about half behind so I only use half a scoop and that’s plenty.  So at full retail price, this costs about $0.23 per load.  Compared with supermarket brands it’s a saving for me of roughly $10 per month.  $120 is a night away (or two if we’re camping) for us.  Happy days!

    Laundry Liquid/Powder

    Again, I find half of what Tri Nature recommend is all I need to get great results so this also costs me around $0.23 per load.  This is at least half the cost of using the supermarket “sensitive” brand I was using before.  With 8-10 loads a week, I save roughly $100 per year on laundry powder/liquid too.  Both the Tri Nature liquid and the powder are equally effective and thy both work out to roughly the same cost per wash.  I am fundamentally a lazy person so I mainly use the liquid.  It’s easier to pump the liquid into the machine than to fiddle around opening the bucket to scoop out the laundry powder.

    Multipurpose Cleaner

    I buy the concentrate and mix it up myself.  At full retail price, a 500ml made-up bottle of Supre works out to $1.25.  Supermarket equivalents are roughly $5 to $8 for the same amount.  We use this spray a lot.  I use it on the bench, stove, walls, bathroom bench, shower, oven, the outdoor table, getting bug guts off the bumper bar and even for cleaning the patio tiles.  It still takes about 2 months to use a whole bottle.  A modest saving of around $22 per year but that’s still 4 or 5 take away hot chocolates.

    Disinfectant

    Again, I buy the concentrate and mix it up myself.  At full retail price, the Sphagnum Moss works out to $0.65 per 500ml made-up bottle.  Again, supermarket equivalents are roughly $5 to $8 for the same amount.  In our house, Sphag Moss is used for cleaning toilets and bins and as an odour killer in shoes, teenage boys’ rooms and in the bathroom.  I also add the concentrate to the mop bucket for the indoor floors for yummy smell, germ killing power and odour neutraliser.  This saves me around $50 a year.

    Handwash

    I keep a 5L of the Tri Nature handwash in the shower and my partner and kids use it as a body wash.  I have Cuisipro Foam Pumps on the sinks in both bathrooms and the kitchen and laundry.  These things are the BEST!  You put in a small amount of handwash and then fill up the rest of the bottle with water and it turns your handwash into a foam.  It saves 75% of handwash, according to their label.  if you have a high traffic area, or you have young kids, these foam pumps will save you a mint.

    Moisturising Hand Wash and Foam Pump
    Moisturising Hand Wash and Foam Pump

    5. Food

    We take our own food absolutely everywhere we can.  With up to 6 kids on any given day, buying food for everyone gets pretty expensive pretty quickly.  Any time we go out and I know we are going to be out past meal time, I pack a ton of sandwiches.  Everyone must take a water bottle with them (we have lots of reusable ones from various sports groups and associations).  Obviously I am happy about not putting more plastic into the environment wherever I can too.  If we find ourselves out without the necessary preparation, I will always try and find a supermarket to grab a roast chicken and a loaf of bread.  $15 at the supermarket beats $50 on sandwiches or $150 on dinner for everyone.

    Examples of places I take our own food include sporting events, day trips, adventure parks, long drives, the local park and even if we are just going to the shops for the day.  I also take our own snacks to the movies.  I make popcorn at home.  Not microwave popcorn but proper “old fashioned” popcorn that I make in the saucepan.  A big bag of corn kernels costs around $1.50 from the supermarket and makes the rough equivalent of about 6 large serves of popcorn from the movies.  If you don’t have time to make it (although it literally take about 6 minutes), again, the supermarket has pre popped bags for a lot less than the movies.  Chocolates, lollies and even ice creams are all much cheaper from the supermarket than at the cinemas so I stock up and take them in with me.

    “Old fashioned” popcorn is a cheaper and healthier alternative for a movie night snack than a bag of chips and is also a great playlunch snack in the kids’lunchbox.

    The rule is that lunches get taken from home for work or school.  Lunch orders or take away are the rare exception.  This also helps me improve food choices.  A lunch made at home in advance is always much healthier than any choices I make on an empty stomach in the take away shop.  The kids will always choose “sometimes” foods for their lunch orders, instead of healthier options.  Ultimately I am sure there’s a benefit in less money spent on doctors and medication flowing on from this.  I find I save roughly $40 a week by taking my own food to work, compared with what I used to spend before.  That’s over $2000 a year!

    Popcorn
    Home cooked Popcorn

    6. Water

    Obviously a great way to save money spent on water is to use a little water as possible from the water company. Cathcing rainwater  is a great way to supplement and reduce any dependence on town water. If you can’t afford a rainwater tank, it doesn’t hurt to use whatever containers you have to capture as much as possible from the sky.  Buckets and containers under downpipes or even left in the open when it’s raining can help.

    Recycling water you do use is another great way to reduce your need for town water.  Some ways I do this are by re-using as much “used” water as I can on the garden or in the compost heap.  This includes:

    • any part finished drink bottles of water that have been sitting around for a few days
    • water from steamed or boiled veggies
    • cold water from my hot water bottle (yes, I totally have one and use it ALL the time in winter)
    • bailing the bath water out
    • having buckets on the floor in the shower to capture whatever I can before it goes down the drain

    This house was built long before we got here and is on a concrete slab, so there’s little I can do about the shower and bath water that runs down the drains without spending a fortune.  My neighbour’s house has all the grey water running onto the garden which I think is terrific.  If you have the luxury of designing your house from scratch, it’s definitely worth considering.

    What I have done with the washing machine is have the outlet hose running straight out the window into a wheelie bin.  The wheelie bin has a hose attachment on it down the bottom.  This allows me to wheel it around the garden and use the water where I need to.  In reality, it’s always full and too heavy to move so I find a long hose to attach and drag the other end to wherever I feel is best.  I just leave it to dribble out.  This has been especially great for encouraging grass to grow back where we had nothing but dirt in the backyard.  I plan to follow suit with the dishwasher soon.

    Here’s a quick video showing you what I did:

    So there you have it.  Hopefully I have given you some simple ideas about how to save some money around your house.  If you have any suggestions, I would love to hear them in the comments below.

  • Everyday Essential Oils

    Everyday Essential Oils

    When I say Everyday Essential Oils, I want to be clear upfront.  I’m not going to be telling you how a splash of clove oil will magically re-attach a severed limb or drinking 5 drops a day of Frankincense will cure cancer.  I have actually been a bit reluctant to write this post because there is just so much “mythinformation” out there about Essential Oils.

    I was slow to embrace EO’s because there seemed to be a fine line between Camp A preaching how dangerous they are if used incorrectly, and Camp B renouncing all western medicine and claiming all ailments can be cured with them.

    To be honest, I am not even sure what it was that got me over the line in trying them initially. It’s just that I was packing the other day to go bush for the weekend and I realised that I now pack a couple of EO’s as part of my travel kit. While I would never use EO’s instead of a first aid kit, there are 3 oils that I tend to bring along as a complement to it.  I thought it was time to share these oils and what I use them for.

    Lavender Essential Oil

    First up is Lavender EO.  This is THE BOMB for dabbing on mozzie/midgee/insect bites, itchy rashes and general skin irritations.  It takes the itch away and soothes inflammation.  It might sting if there’s broken skin but the upside to that is that Lavender EO also has antibacterial properties so it helps to prevent infections.

    Lavender EO is one of the few essential oils that properly qualified aromatherapists will tell you can be applied neat, directly to skin and I absolutely use it this way, as well as in the diffuser and in a spray.

    My daughter is allergic to mozzie bites and if I leave them untreated, they turn into big, angry, infected welts.  If I rub a bit of lavender EO onto them whenever they start to irritate her, they are usually gone within 2-3 days and without any major scratching.

    Also super handy when bushwalking to dab a bit of lavender EO onto any ankles that are itchy from brushing past irritating plants and grass!

    Another thing I have used Lavender EO for is burns, including sunburn.  I know!  It sounds counter-intuitive to put oil on a burn.  Let me tell you, I have had first hand experience on more than one occasion that it works. You put it on ASAP after the burn has occurred.  Lavender EO takes the sting out of the burn faster than anything else I have ever tried.  That was a blessed relief the time I spilled the boilingest boiling water ever down my back (cup of tea in a travel mug with a loose lid chucked into my handbag and slung over my shoulder….I have special talents….).

    I think most people are aware of Lavender EO’s calming, comforting, relaxing properties.  It is excellent to spray or diffuse in the general vicinity of restless insomniacs of any age to help them get to sleep.

    Tea Tree Essential Oil

    Tea Tree EO is another essential oil that properly qualified aromatherapists will tell you can be applied neat, directly to skin and I make full use of this.

    Tea Tree EO also has antibacterial properties so it is great for dabbing onto cuts and wounds if they need a clean out and you don’t have he facilities to clean them properly.

    One of the things I like to do with Tea Tree EO is dab it onto random skin conditions.  For example, several years ago my daughter got a little lump on her back.  Sort of like a pimple crossed with a wart.  A couple of months later it hadn’t gone away and off we went to the doctor.  It turned out to be a molluscum contagiosum.  A highly contagious skin condition that you have to leave alone or it will scar and that can take 2 years to go away.

    I would like to congratulate myself here for not squeezing it even though it so desperately looked like it should be squeezed.  I thought I would have a go with tea tree EO.  I started dabbing some on each night after the bath.  Within a month, the lump had dried up and fallen off.  I was pretty happy with that result!

    Tea Tree EO can also be used to help combat colds and flu and inflammation, particularly in the lower back.  It is an excellent oil to add to blends for diffusing or massaging into the skin to ease congestion and pain caused by swelling.

    One of the most common uses for Tea Tree EO in our house is as a deterrent for nits and lice!  Whenever we are coming into lice season or a case has been reported in someone’s class, I spray some of this into the kids’ hair each day for a week or so as a repellent.  I put about 10 drops into a 50ml bottle with some dispersant (to mix the oil and water) and then fill with water and spray away.

    Peppermint Essential Oil

    Last but not least is Peppermint EO.  This is such a handy one to carry around all the time (unless you’re pregnant, breastfeeding or less than 3 years old).

    Peppermint EO is brilliant for combating fatigue, headaches, shock, respiratory colds and nausea.  A couple of drops on a cotton ball is very handy for sniffing:

    • when you need a driver reviver
    • when studying, to aid concentration
    • for relief from a headache
    • when you feel like you are going to vomit
    • to help with travel sickness
    • if you have a chesty cold and need to ease the congestion
    • Sunday morning when you have a hang over and you need to get on with your day!

    Although not recommended during pregnancy, peppermint EO is fabulous and safe to use during labour to help with the nausea.  Peppermint EO is the quiet achiever and I am amazed at how often I use this one.

    Mixing it Up

    The suggestions I have made above are mostly ways you can use these 3 oils in their own.  You can also blend these oils with other oils to increase the impact on whichever condition you are trying to combat.  There are recipes for each of these oils in the photo gallery for that oil.  You can follow the link from the oil headings above or head to the Aroma section of my website.

    If you have any questions at all about these oils or any others, please get in touch.  I don’t bite and I love to help.

  • 5 ways to save time in the Laundry

    5 ways to save time in the Laundry

    It’s what we all want right?  Less time spent on boring domestic chores and more time for fun.  Since hiring a housekeeper is out of the budget, and sadly this stuff doesn’t do itself, laundry is the never-ending story of my life.  I was recently listening to a couple of good friends moan about having piles of washing that needed folding and it dawned on me that I don’t really have that particular problem.

    Courtesy of the way my brain works, I am constantly finding ways to refine processes and cut out unnecessary steps.  Always looking for the short cut.  Some call it lazy.  In a work place, it’s called Continuous Improvement.  I’m going with efficient.  I forget that everyone’s brains work differently and what’s obvious to me may not be to everyone else.  So I was surprised at my friends’ moaning and realised that if I shared my laundry process, it would help them.  Then I realised I could probably help a few other people too.

    So here it is.  My laundry process.  Prepare yourself for a trip through the part of my brain that clearly has too much spare time…

    Get everyone to turn their clothes in the right way and put them in the washing basket.

    The amount of time wasted turning kids and partners clothes in the right way to check for stains does my head in.  If it’s not in the basket, it doesn’t get washed.  If it’s not turned in the right way and it’s stained and doesn’t wash properly, bad luck to the owner.  The hardest part about this one is standing your ground until everyone gets it through their heads.  I struggle to walk past dirty clothes on the floor and I also struggle not turning them in the right way to see if they are stained.  I can’t stand it when things don’t wash properly. I just keep reminding myself that it’s my job to teach the kids life skills and one day they will thank me for it (HA!).

    Get people to spray their own stains.

    I keep a bottle of my pre-wash stain remover spray in the bathroom. I get the kids to spray their clothes, if needed, as soon as they take them off each night (and turn them in the right way).They love it! They think it’s great fun.  If only they knew!  This also saves hours of sitting on the floor in the laundry sorting through clothes and spraying.  Plus, I find, the sooner I get the spray on, the more effective the stain remover is.  I generally don’t need to soak much at all!

    Since I use a natural pre wash spray that doesn’t contain any petrochemicals, I can leave it on the clothes for as long as I want before I wash (usually around a week) and there’s no damage to the fabric.  It also means I don’t have to worry about the kids breathing in anything they shouldn’t.  Click here to see what I use.

    Pair Up!

    Don’t put single socks in the wash or on the line.  I always make sure I am putting in pairs only.  When I am pegging out the washing, I peg the pair together too.  I do this for two reasons.  One is so that I don’t go mad looking for missing socks.  If I can’t find two to go into the wash, the one sock goes back to the owner to locate the missing one and resubmit to my laundry.  The other reason is so that I can roll them up straight away once they’re dry and I don’t have to sort through the washing and pair them up later on.

    Paired up socks
    Paired up socks on the washing line

    Fold as you take down.

    A little bit of extra time while you are at the line saves hours of ironing and a pile of folding later.  You are already touching the washing, you may as well fold it while you have it in your hands.  Otherwise, you have to double handle it (touch it again later when you didn’t need to). If you fold neatly, you will find you have way less wrinkles (especially compared with scrunching into the basket) so ironing won’t take anywhere near as long!

    Sort as you fold.

    This is where we get into the truly dark and twisty part of my brain.  I sort all my washing as I fold.  Actually, I take down my washing in a very specific order, fold it and then put it into the relevant basket.  I take it down in the reverse order of how it gets put away.  Get it?

    No one else does either.  Ha ha.  For argument’s sake, lets say I only have the kids’ stuff on the line.  I have a pile for each child.  First I take down the pyjamas, then the pants, then skirts and shorts, long sleeved tops, t-shirts, and finally jocks and socks.  When I get into their bedrooms, jocks and socks go in the top drawer, t-shirts in the next, shorts, skirts and long sleeved tops in the next, pants and then pyjamas.  Anything that needs to be hung up goes on top of the basket but my kids rarely wear dresses so they don’t often go through the wash.

    Since my kids are small, their washing fits into 2 piles in the one basket.  When there’s gown ups’ washing as well, I start taking that down and folding it first, then kids’ clothes on top.  Once the kids’ clothes are put away, the grown ups’ clothes are in the bottom of the basket and ready to be taken to be put away at the other end of the house.

    Folded Laundry
    Folded Laundry ready to be put away.

    So there you have it, a wander into the corners of my mind dedicated to making my life just a little bit easier. I hope it helps you too!  It does take a bit of a commitment to do this for 2 weeks and change your current habits.  Getting “helpers” (kids and partners) to follow this process is a whole other set of training. But if you can do it yourself, you will find that it saves you time and your sanity.

  • 5 Suprising but Common Causes of Eczema

    5 Suprising but Common Causes of Eczema

    Anyone who has ever suffered from Eczema, Psoriasis or Dermatitis knows how quickly the cost of doctors, specialists, lotions and potions can add up to a small fortune.  Here’re 5 triggers to eliminate from the home environment that can help you stop the rash before it starts:

    1. Bubbles and washes

    Many body washes, hand washes, bubble baths, shampoos and dishwashing liquids contain soap and Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS, a known skin irritant that is often used to make bubbles). Both soap and Sodium Lauryl Sulphate (SLS) will de-grease your skin.  This involves the removal of the fatty acid layer of protective oils on the skin (acid mantle), taking away the skin’s natural protection and leaving it exposed to other potentially harsh and toxic chemicals in these products, as well as the environment.

    For a safe alternative to soap, click here.

    For a skin friendly dishwashing liquid, click here.

    For suitable alternatives for kids wash and bubble baths, click here.

    1. Greasy Moisturisers

    I love a good moisturiser as much as the next person but I have never been a fan of feeling like an oil slick. Particularly where eczema is concerned, my experience has been that greasy moisturisers can make things worse.  My skin likes to breathe and my eczema clears up when it can.  Also, application of greasy moisturisers over an extended period, can lead eventually to skin deciding it doesn’t need to make its own protective oils anymore because that’s already covered (literally).  So these oils can interfere with and potentially even break the skin’s own self defense system.

    To see what I use, visit here.

    1. Antibacterial Gel

    Personally, I am a big fan of germs. We live in a society where people are very concerned about getting rid of them.  I think washing hands should be enough. However, there are times when I can’t get to a tap and there are also plenty of people out there who don’t agree with me. So anti-bac gels exist. The drying agent in these (so you don’t need a towel) is alcohol which also strips the skin and leaves it dry.

     

    1. Cleaning Products

    If you bath, and you clean your bath with bleach, you are essentially bathing in bleach residue. If you shower, you may be standing in bleach residue or any other number of toxic chemical products (depending on what you use to clean with). Your babies and pets are touching your floor cleaner residue. Your hands and arms are touching your bench/table cleaner residue….you get the idea. And if you think stuff can’t be absorbed through your skin, check out how morphine can deliver a whole day’s worth of pain relief in one tiny, convenient wearable patch! Granted, not everything absorbs through your skin, but plenty of stuff does. And if you have just showered with soap you may have washed away your body’s first line of defence.

    To see my favourite non-toxic cleaning products, click here.

    1. Laundry Powder

    This is a biggie and the right products can make a MASSIVE difference.   Supermarket laundry products are full of exciting things like chlorine, bleach, fillers & extenders.  Fillers and extenders are included to dilute down the active ingredients, the laundry product equivalent of watering something down. They can be up to 60% of what you’re paying for and there’s no regulation around what’s used.  Often it’s stuff that doesn’t dissolve.

    These little undissolved particles get stuck in your fabrics and irritate.  When you sweat (like in the creases of your elbows and knees) or wet any fabric you are touching, they crystallise and irritate even more. Consider that you are touching clothes, sheets, towels, pillow cases, and so on all the time.  And if you have just showered with soap or SLS and washed away your skin’s first line of defence, you may particularly susceptible to irritation.

    To see the only effective laundry power I have found without the nasties, click here.

    If you want to learn more about external triggers of skin irritations, you may find my book helpful. You can download your copy here.

  • 5 Reasons to give up Supermarket Laundry Detergents

    My good friend and colleague, Kirsty Malone of Be Inspired Naturally, was stirred by a facebook post she saw where someone had asked for recommendations on what to use in the laundry.  Being a mother and a lover of Mother Earth, Kirsty was concerned by the number of people recommending supermarket brands with toxic chemicals in them.  So she wrote this post and I am very grateful to be able to share it with you here.

    5 REASONS TO GIVE UP SUPERMARKET LAUNDRY DETERGENTS

    So you have just walked into the laundry aisle at the supermarket, now which detergent do you choose? Liquid or powder? A concentrated formula or not? Top loader or front? What if I told you to stop wasting your time and ditch the supermarket brands for good? Yep, that’s right. Here are my top 5 reasons to stop using supermarket laundry detergents:

    1) They have damaging effects on our environment.

    Most supermarket brands contain phosphates and when they claim to be ‘phosphate free’ they contain zeolites. When phosphates and zeolites enter our waterways, they can cause foaming, mutated aquatic life and eutrophication which can lead to algae blooms. Zeolites are considered worse because, unlike phosphates, they cannot be removed from the water. Unfortunately even commercial brands that claim to be more eco friendly still contain one or the other.

    2) They are not family safe!

    Many brands do not disclose all their ingredients so sometimes it is hard to pin point exactly what makes them poisonous. Some contain artificial fragrances, caustics and bleaches which can be fatal if ingested by anyone, especially small children and pets. Not to mention the fact that we will be inhaling them and, if you use a dryer, you could also be polluting your own home.

    3) You only get half, or less, of what you pay for!

    You know that ripped off feeling when open a packet of chips and half the bag was full of air, well laundry detergents are exactly the same just not so blatantly obvious. Laundry liquids can be diluted with water and laundry powders with fillers and extenders. Fillers and extenders are designed to bulk out the active ingredients so they can be made and therefore sold cheaper. Some fillers are made up of salt and even crushed egg shells. Those little white marks you have seen on your clothes from the powder – are in fact the fillers and extenders because they don’t dissolve. They build up in your machine and stay in your clothes. The muck that makes it out into our waterways never breaks down.

    For a visual demonstration, click here and watch my 10ish minute video showing you how to test your current powder.

    4) They are not good for our skin.

    Especially for those who are sensitive or have irritations already. Due to a combination of toxic ingredients and being filled with the fillers, your clothes, towels and bed linen are filled with toxic residue. This can cause flare ups of eczema and irritate sensitive skin, even when you choose the sensitive detergents, they still contain these nasty ingredients, just less of them.

    5) They’re expensive!

    Not only are you paying for a product that has all the above issues but it’s costing your hip pocket at the register every week. Not only is it expensive to buy, but they are harsh on you machines and fabrics and will shorten the lives of both. When you factor in your personal health, the safety of your family and the impact of our environment, the cost becomes higher.

    So what should you choose instead? I personally use Tri Nature in all areas of my home because you can’t beat a laundry powder that has won best Eco Friendly Product Award twice at the Australian Business Awards.

    Tri Nature laundry detergents are made from 100% natural ingredients that are free of phosphates, zeolites, fillers and extenders. They completely dissolve and rinse free meaning no residues left in your machine or clothes. Being plant based they are eco friendly , grey water and septic safe as well as being child safe if they were to be ingested or inhaled.

    As for cost – a 2kg bag will last my family of 4 over four months, not to mention the peace of mind I have knowing I have a safe product in my home that is environmentally friendly. What about performance you ask? Did I mention the Laundry powder won best Eco product on the market at the Australian Business awards twice……