Back to basics: the humble soap

We have recently started using soap again. This is no big deal to anyone who has always bought it. I find it hard to believe many people do still buy it though. I can't remember the last house I visited that didn't have liquid soap in either a plastic or ceramic dispenser.

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Clearly we have all been attracted to the ease of squirting liquid soap. It is definitely easier to store in a presentable way. 

Soap can get dirty, with hairs and dirt sticking to it.

Soap gets slippery and can easily be dropped, which can be annoying in the shower particularly. This is, of course, something that also frequently happens to plastic bottles, which often breaks the lid.

Our sink has a very shallow groove to put soap on. When the soap is dry it works well. As soon as the soap is wet and slippery it slides off into the sink. Sometimes I have to put it back 3 or 4 times.

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So why am I sharing this apparently archaic decision to buy soap if it is so inferior to liquid soap?

There are a few reasons:

1. It has barely any packaging (none if you buy local artisan soap).

2. Turtle loves washing her hands with it, which has saved a whole lot of drama everyday.

3. It contains less chemicals because it is a simpler product.

4. It is cool to go retro and use older products that work- there is nothing wrong with soap. We've just been convinced by clever marketing that the other more expensive products work better. This leads me to one of the big benefits..

5. It is really cheap! You can get two bars for under half the price of a bottle of liquid hand soap.

Since I'm very happy with my first soap purchase in many, many years I'm determined to find a nice soap holder to put on my bathroom sink. I'll let you know when I find one.

When was the last time you used soap? Can you imagine welcoming it back into your home?

Secondhand Baby Market

I often feel like I live under a rock. This is especially true in relation to keeping up with the news. I've always been guilty of it but with a baby I am so completely in the dark about current affairs it's quite embarrassing. I just never find time to watch, read or listen to the news. After I finish writing this I will surf the news sites (well maybe :-)).

Generally I do feel pretty "in the know" with sustainability type things though (since that's what I do, isn't it??). Recently, however, I found out about secondhand baby markets from a pregnant friend and couldn't believe that I had NEVER heard of them. It's devastating really since Turtle is now 20 months old. Although I don't need much baby stuff anymore I really wanted to check it out and right this wrong in my life.

I was too busy shopping to take a photo of the market - oops! Image Source

As market day approached I considered bailing on the event since I didn't need that much and life was busy. I'm so glad I went along. Apart from seeing what it was like I also wanted to buy size 2 winter clothes for Turtle.

The markets delivered. We rocked up at 9am and entered the hall. There was a variety of clothes, toys, shoes, bouncers, and general baby "stuff" across the stalls. The first stall I saw was Booty Crawl, whose nappy packs for beginners have been highly recommended to me by cloth nappy users. Apparently they make finding the right MCN style much easier and could have saved me a lot of stress had I known.

Turtle rocking her new purple jeans from the market with a secondhand raincoat I bought off Gumtree.

I bought 2 gorgeous dresses (ok, so one was a summer dress), 2 jumpsuits or onesies, 2 jumpers, 3 pairs of jeans, two very nice long sleeved tops, 4 basic singlets, a pair of flannelette PJs, two pairs of tracksuit pants, gorgeous floral shoes (that Turtle is in love with), and a toy mobile phone. All for the bargain price of $80.

It was a very successful shopping trip. These warm, cosy (cheap, secondhand - woo hoo!!) basics will make life so much easier when we are changing her 2 or 3 times each day. She is constantly covering herself with food, or playing with dirt, or... or... whatever else takes her fancy.

I just wish I had known about the market earlier!

Can you relate? Have you come across anything lately that made you feel like you live under a rock?

Today I'm joining With Some Grace for FYBF!

Cut my costs in half for the dog food recipe!

I'm pleased to share that after writing Lizzing Lightly's Homemade Dog Food Recipe I was motivated to buy the dog's kangaroo meat from a pet shop at half the price.

Freshly made dog food

It was only a ten minute drive each way and instead of paying $20.00 for 2kg I paid $22.00 for 4kg of kangaroo.  2kg was bought freshly cut and ready to cook.  2kg was purchased (also cut) frozen so I have put it in the freezer ready for when I need to make the next batch.

This is my first real changed behaviour from reviewing and sharing my day to day activities through Lizzing Lightly.  While it is not really a win for the environment I think it is worth celebrating as a win for my weekly budget :-)

The gorgeous pooches again - Zac and Chile

Thanks for reading and helping to motivate me to try and be as sustainable as I can be - I really hope some of my thoughts and ideas are motivating you too!

Lizzing Lightly