The Snow Came and Changing Product Suppliers

Well, snow paid us a visit last night (Thursday).  I was hoping we'd miss out, as we are camping on Saturday night for LB's birthday sleepover.  We must be crazy.  We will be staying in heated wooden camping pods on a site on the outskirts of London, but it's still going to be cold.  I can't honestly say I'm looking forward to it, but LB and OH are.

Today, I'll be spending the day trying to get organised and make preparations for it, including checking out the camping gear we keep in the shed, to decide what we need to take with us in order to stay warm and cook our food, and then there's the job of buying said food at the supermarket. It would be so much easier if LB had a summer birthday, but there you go.

Last night after supper, I had to venture out in the snow, well, sleet to be more accurate, to walk the dog. She wasn't too impressed at having to go out in it and punished me by dragging her feet and making me stay out longer than I wanted to. It did make me appreciate being back inside when we finally got home though. There were quite a few children out getting very excited about the snow, bless them.  I don't mind it, so long as I don't have to drive anywhere in it.

Later the same night, I watched my new favourite TV show, Unforgotten, a crime drama on ITV.  I love the actress who plays the main investigating officer, she's just so watchable.

In other news, I found out the date of the next Give or Take day yesterday, it's on Saturday 28th January. I'm so pleased that it's not far off, as I can't wait to clear the spare room again. I might just do another sweep of the house next week and see if I can find anything else that needs to go.

Today, I'm expecting a delivery from a new to me online ethical/organic products retailer that I have ordered from for the first time, on account of not getting a satisfactory response from Ethical Superstore after the fiasco of the leaking washing up liquid all over my last order.

I wasn't being greedy or grabbing and wanting any money back or anything in compensation (other than for them to replace the litre of liquid that leaked out and soiled the rest of my order). An apology and some indication that they believed me would have been sufficient, but instead I got the distinct impression that they were sceptical and thought I was grasping, as they just did not seem interested in the slightest in my experience, which was disappointing, so I'm taking my business elsewhere.

It took a whole evening of research on the internet to find a company that stocked all of the products that I like to use, in bulk, but I think I've found one that I can order most of my bulk household and some toiletry items from. It's a little more pricey, but I'm prepared to pay the extra as a matter of principle. On the plus side, their delivery seems to be a lot quicker, so there should be no repeat of ekeing out the dishwasher tablets, as happened previously whilst waiting for the last order I made with my previous supplier to arrive.

As a consequence of placing this order, I will probably bust my household budget this month, but I will have a good few months supply of most of the products I use regularly in the house, which means that I won't have to order anything else online for quite a while.  I managed to bulk buy my usual brand of laundry liquid and almost a year's supply of our usual bar soap, plus I was able to order a 3kg bag of organic brown Basmati rice and a couple of kilograms organic wholewheat penne (which is hard to find in the supermarkets) at a very reasonable price. This should keep us well stocked up in essentials for a good while. It's not the best month to do this, but it's done now.

I'm disappointed to have to change supplier, as I found it very easy to order from the previous company, but sometimes you've just got to make a stand against bad service, especially when you've been a very regular and very uncomplaining customer for nearly two years.  I'll keep you posted with how the new company Goodness Direct fares with regard to customer service and will probably do a short post on the order once it arrives.