the more natural and cheaper side of life...hopefully?!

So for quite some time now whenever I have rubbed copious amounts of moisturiser all over my face and body, washed and conditioned my hair or put yet another load of washing through, I couldn't help but think of all the chemicals my skin and the skin of my children was coming into contact with.

DISCLAIMER:  I am not a chemist, pharmacist, scientist, doctor or expert of chemicals and beauty products in any way shape or form and this is purely my own thoughts and trials and results!

One day I showed up to the work and the boss lady had brought in some books of hers that she thought I may enjoy.  With three daughters , two being teenagers, our grocery bill was going nowhere but up!  One of the books she brought in was a strange little book called 'Pig Tits & Parsley Sauce' by Lyn Webster.  I had never heard of it before but one Saturday picked it up and ended up reading it cover to cover.  Very easy to read, inspiring and thought provoking.  You can find out more about her here and she also has a Facebook page here

And my journey began...

Now to be totally honest the journey began as I tried to find ways to make our limited funds stretch further so that we have a hope of one day owning our own home.  However my back up plan are the three expensive investment projects we currently fund and the not so subtle training programme is already in place as I frequently tell them all they need to do well at school so that they can buy Mum and Dad a house in the future!  Something like these is on my wish list...girls do you think you can swing it??




Anyway after my mind set changed from reading Pig Tits & Parsley Sauce I began searching recipe ideas for household cleaning and beauty product recipes that weren't freaky deaky weird, used regular ingredients that I could easily get hold of in New Zealand and still left me clean and hygienic (not so keen on the chemical free, environmentally friendly, budget friendly but leaves you stinky and dirty products - side note with a name like Kelly you can imagine the fun nicknames that came my way...smelly Kelly being the one I was regularly tormented with and not because I was!  But all my life I have had a particular obsession with never being smelly so as never to give any truth to that horrible nickname.).

WOW what a wealth of information is out there when you look and sometimes it has been overwhelming and confusing and lots of people have lots of ideas and opinions!

I began with the simple ideas and gave them a whirl like...

• body wash - a mixture of 1Tbsp baking soda dissolved in 1 cup of hot water and left to cool and then placed in bottle and put in the shower as body wash instead of soap - now your first thoughts may be that how can that possibly clean, well it does!  I was even using this as face wash (but using everyday made my face a little dry - will expand on this later) and I tell you no other facewash has removed makeup and left my face feeling that clean!
• deodorant - baking soda used as deodorant - that's right just baking soda!  We have a container in the bathroom and I just pinch a bit of baking soda and smoodge under my arms and away you go.  It is incredible, no smell at all!!  And no deodorant stains on my tops anymore.  I have been using only this for 4 months now and won't go back to deodorant.  I was a solid Mitchum user as I sweat a decent amount and no matter what deodorant there was always some odour (not strong but I could still smell it because of my earlier mentioned preoccupation with how I smell) but with the baking soda no smell at all!!  It's amazing.
• washing powder - this is a recipe from Pig Tits & Parsley Sauce and it uses washing soda crystals (bought from your local Binn Inn) put in the food processor with a Sunlight Soap bar and whizzed up.  I use 1.5kg of washing soda crystals to 1 bar of Sunlight Soap and have to chop up the soap first then do the processing in two batches.  I have been using this for three months and love it.  The washing has no smell which is weird and challenges our perception of clean as we always associate clean with chemical laden scents so you may feel like nothing is clean but you just need to re-programme because it is clean.  Whites will probably still need the odd Napisan soak but overall it does a great job and seems to be softer on the clothes - but not an expert just my own thoughts.

Now I have been experimenting more with things like facewash, moisturiser, toner, liquid soap and shampoos and conditioners but I will save that for another day as this post is already a novel.

The coolest thing about this little journey is how quickly and enthusiastically my children have embraced these changes and recipe trials.  Sometimes they really surprise you, one day you're wiping bottoms and snotty noses and cutting up never ending apples and then the next they show a glimpse of the independent member of society they are becoming and it's...silence inducing, leaving me stunned and biasedly proud!! 

Now I am not claiming or trying to portray that our house is all roses and light and never ending moments of proud mummyness.  Only that when those moments come I grab tight and try to absorb as much of it as I can from them because it is those moments that get me through the 'teenage' moments that sometimes make surviving seem luxurious!

Anyway I'll leave it there tonight but will continue my discoveries over the next few posts and I promise to try to get some actual photos of the stuff I've made.

Take care and till then,