Back to Where I Started

Last year, after participating for a year in a £100 per year Beauty Challenge, that I instigated in order to bust the stash of beauty products I had built up and wasn't using, I decided that I wanted to try out some new beauty products. 

Whereas I'd always tended to buy the cheapest products I could find (within reason), I now wanted to explore the possibility of forming a beauty routine based on some new to me products and I was happy to look at some of the more expensive brands and possibly try them out, something that I would never have done previously.

After watching lots of YouTube beauty bloggers over the last few months, I had gleaned lots of tips about certain products from them and from bloggers too, which I was hoping to use in shopping for new products.  Then, I decided to change the goal posts and I made the decision to go down a more natural route, using organic/vegan products where possible.

Once I'd made this decision, I then started looking around at organic and natural products online and happened upon some Neal's Yard products, one of which was their Witch Hazel Water for toning.  I used to regularly use distilled witch hazel as a toner for many years, and to be honest I liked it and I liked the way it made my skin feel. In fact, I've more or less constantly used some kind of product on my skin that has had this ingredient in it for years now.

The Neal's Yard product I found wasn't an organic product, but was made from 100% natural ingredients, which was good enough for me. The ingredients were simple, so simple in fact, that they seemed very similar to my old favourite distilled witch hazel, that I used to buy from the chemist for a few pounds. (I must admit that the bottle from the chemist's is, however, nowhere near as attractive as this lovely Neal's Yard one).

At £10.25 it seemed a bit steep to pay over 3 times the amount I used to pay, for a similar product.  I thought about it though and decided to take the plunge, mainly out of curiosity and because I liked the bottle. (The frugal me can always decant regular distilled witch hazel into it when it is finished and get the best of both worlds). The irony isn't lost on me, that sometimes you can go all around the houses looking for a new skin care product and end up almost right back where you started.

Anyway, whilst shopping this brand, I also splashed out on a Neals Yard Rose and Mallow moisturiser, as I was almost completely out of moisturiser and had resorted to using up samples until I purchased a new one. At £10.50, it was on offer at half it's normal price (on Nutricentre's website), as were the two Neal's Yard Remedies to Roll (Energy). These are mixes of various essential oils that are supposed to help you feel more energetic.  I can always do with a bit more energy, so I bought a couple of these at £3.13 each and I am going to use them as a more natural fragrance alternative, as I've now also run out of perfume and haven't yet researched more natural/cruelty free products. They're also great to pop in my handbag on days when I'm going out and about and want to freshen up.

All of these products got delivered just before we went away last weekend, so I took the roll on remedy and the moisturiser with me and have been using them.  I must admit that I do find the texture of the moisturiser quite strange.  It feels almost chalky on my skin, but as I don't seem to be having a negative reaction to it, I'm going to continue using it.  I'm not sure it is something I'd purchase again though.

Whilst we were away in Yorkshire, I also spied a magazine in the supermarket for just £2.50, which had a free Neal's Yard Wild Rose Hand Cream inside it. Needless to say, I couldn't resist it, and the magazine (with hand cream which is normally priced at £10), got put in my basket. It has now been added to my current stash for future use.  In the magazine, there was also a voucher for 20% off  their products, which I may use for any future purchases, should I want to try out any other products in their range.

Although I do like this brand (the packaging for many of the products is a beautiful blue glass and I'm a sucker for beautiful packaging, especially if I can keep and reuse it), I'm not 100% convinced by some of the products I've tried so far and and as a consequence, over the last few weeks, I've come to the conclusion that finding new more natural skincare isn't necessarily going to be that straightforward. It can definitely be a bit hit and miss, especially if you don't have samples before purchasing and are buying online, regardless of finding good reviews.

I guess everyone's skin is different and the search is fast turning into a natural beauty holy grail.  It's a steep learning curve, but one I am enjoying thus far, even if my purse doesn't necessarily feel the same way.

You Beauty Discovery Box - May

I was very excited to received the list of products that you could choose from for May's You Beauty Discovery Box, when it dropped into my inbox at the end of the April.  The main reason was that one of the choices was a full-sized jar of Dr Organic's Gel.  As I've mentioned in a previous post, I was considering trying this, as I'd heard good things about it and there'd been quite a lot of positve press about it and celebrity endorsement.

Anyway, fast forward to the first day that you could choose two of the items to be included in your box and by 8.30 am the Snail Gel was 'out of stock'.  What compounded my disappointment was that I had clicked to put it in my basket and whilst I was looking for a second choice, it was taken out of my basket and was out of stock when I tried to add it once again.  I was pretty irritated, as this was the second month running that I haven't been able to order my first choices with this box.

Although some of the remaining products that were available this month were full sized products and some were quite expensive products i.e. a full size Body Shop Wild Argan Oil Solid Oil, a Benefit Better Than Sex Mascara and a Benefit eye liner, plus various other options, none of them appealed that much to me, especially now I'm sticking to natural and organic products. I ended up choosing a couple of skincare samples and a natural face cloth. With hindsight, I would perhaps have been better off ordering these full sized products and giving them to Little Bird as she would have loved them. (If only hindsight could be translated into foresight and action)

A week or so later, the box arrived.  As expected, most of the contents were sample sized, and I didn't really feel that I'd got value for money this time around.  The one full sized product was the Natural Vegetable Face Cloth from the Konjac Sponge Company which may or may not be useful, but which in any case lasts between 1 and 3 months only.

The sample skincare products I chose were these by La Roche-Posay.  The factor 50+ sun protection sample will be particularly useful though, now we are coming into the summer months, even though it is small.

I did receive a sample of the Snail Gel in this box, so I will still get to try it out, which was one positive, but if I had received the £20 jar, I would probably feel like I had got a much better deal.

The other items in the box included a Jimmy Choo men's fragrance sample, which I'll have to pass on to OH, or even wear myself if it smells nice as he's not a great wearer or aftershave,

and a 20% off voucher for selected beauty and fragrance at M&S.

Frankly, this was a thoroughly disappointing box for me this month and I spat my dummy right out of the cot and decided to cancel my membership. After a second month (out of 3) of not being able to order the products that I wanted, due to them being out of stock so quickly, I decided that I was really not interested in a monthly race to get the best deal, which invariably seems to result in my feeling frustrated and disappointed and opting for products that I don't really want.  I'd rather spend my money on things I definitely do want.

Getting Tough on Stuff in 2015 - April

This challenge, to declutter and remove 1000 things from our house in 2015, started off pretty slowly this month and took a while to gather any sort of momentum.  This was mainly due to the fact that I got distracted and procrastinated over starting my kitchen spring clean and declutter.

I did eventually get started and found a few things to declutter, but a large part of this month's items actually came from Little Bird, who completely off her own back decided to have a bit of a clear out of her room and part with about half of her soft toy collection and quite a few things from her wardrobe.

In addition, I carried out an impromptu attack on the build up of clutter in my sewing room, which has got progressively worse this year and I managed to find a good number of books and magazines that I no longer wanted to keep and that could be donated.

Many of them were quite old, from the 1970's or earlier, that I'd picked up at jumble sales and charity shops and were therefore a bit dated.  In addition, some weren't really crafts that I am actually interested in, so I decided to streamline my collection a little.

At the end of last month my total number of items decluttered so far this year stood at 412.  After collecting together another 96 items in April, the total now stands at 508 and I have reached the half way mark in this challenge, which is very satisfying indeed.

April and part of May's donations won't actually be going to the charity shop, however, as I'm taking them to a local Give and Take day this Saturday, where people can take them for free.  Hopefully, they will all go to a good home.

Next month, I intend to continue with the kitchen declutter, sort through the garden shed, which is full of things that came out of the house and generally just keep decluttering as I go along.  I'm enjoying the less cluttered feel of the house, and it is making it much easier both to clean and live in.

April Round Up

April has been a bit of a budget buster for me.  Mainly because my budget is in a period of transition, especially since I've decided to completely change our dietary habits and beauty/bathing habits and follow a more natural/organic path.  I think I've been mulling certain aspects of this over in my mind for quite a long time now and have now finally taken the plunge and committed myself.

I have to say that this isn't a cheap option, finding natural/organic alternatives to anything is invariably expensive, if possible at all.  I'm slowly making changes in an organic way, i.e. when I run out of a product I will look for a more natural alternative if I can, that is within my price range. Sometimes, I have to admit, it is not easy, but there is so much more out there these days compared to 10 or 12 years ago when I last took a good look, especially online and I feel happy that I'm now finally taking this path.

Other than these major changes, April hasn't been too startling. We had a lovely week in Yorkshire, which wasn't particularly expensive, but was very relaxing. As I've already mentioned, the budget hasn't gone too well, which wasn't helped by my spending some money on a couple of items of footwear in the sales.

I have now changed over from my autumn/winter to my spring/summer wardrobe and I do need to add a couple of things to my summer wardrobe in the next few months, i.e. some vests and a new swimsuit (that is flattering), but not much else.

I have also made a major purchase of this pair of prescription sunglasses. I tend to wear my glasses most of the time and I've been struggling whilst driving on the sunny days that we've had, so I indulged in a nice pair that I will enjoy wearing.  I collected them from ASDA Opticians the other day. I was a bit short sighted (excuse the pun) in November when I bought my new glasses, and didn't get reactalite lenses put in because of the £40 cost. I'm paying for it now by having to buy a separate pair, but I really like these and am now just waiting for a sunny day to be able to wear them.

One very positive thing I'm happy about this month is that with OH's very kind help, (financial and otherwise) I've managed to rebuild the beds at the allotment and for once I'm on top of it this season, with lots of seeds sown, potatoes, onions and broad beans sown too.   I'm just waiting for everything to grow now.  There's still a bit more sowing to do next month (beans/peas) and some weed clearing to do at the back of the plot, but one visit per week should keep on top of things and make a bit of progress with that.  Although the vegetables I grow aren't strictly organic, I know I haven't put anything on them, so they are as natural as I can grow them, which is good enough for me.

On a different subject altogether, I eventually started on my Kitchen Declutter and Spring Clean in April, albeit towards the end. It's progressing at a fairly slow pace, so I will be continuing through May until it is done.  My 2015 challenge to declutter 1000 things is progressing okay.  I had a bit better month this month. (More in another post)

In May, aside from finishing the kitchen declutter, I'm aiming to sort through the garden shed, which is full to the brim with 'stuff'. I think I can class this as part of the challenge, as it's mostly stuff that came out of the house in the first place.

It is also OH's birthday next month, so it is going to be a slightly more expensive month on account of needing to buy his present.  We do buy birthday presents for each other in our household, but tend to stick to practical things that we need or consumables such as chocolates/coffee/alcohol.  Not particularly romantic or much of a surprise, but it suits us just fine.

Home Again

After a weekend away in Yorkshire watching the Tour de Yorkshire and visiting family, we are now back in London and getting back to normal life.  As usual, it was a lovely break.  We rarely get good internet access where we stay, so tend to stay off the computer and my phone (phone signals are problematic too).  Three computer screen free days followed (I did watch some TV though) and I'm now feeling very relaxed and ready to get back to it all.

We arrived in Yorkshire quite late on the Friday evening due to the long drive up, and then sat about drinking tea and catching up with everyone's news before heading off to bed.  Saturday morning and everyone was up early, as several members of the household were off to set up some jumps for a local Pony Club show.  OH and Little Bird went along to help and after dropping them off, I headed into a nearby market town for a little mooch around.  (It would be the only chance I would get to go out and about, as OH was disappearing with the car the following day to enter a Tour de Yorkshire cycle sportif in Leeds). I enjoyed a couple of hours on the high street, popping in and out of the shops.  I did a bit of shopping in Wilkos, mostly household items.  I got a few treats for us all for the weekend in Tesco (fruit, wine and chocolates) and treated myself to a magazine with a free gift attached, before heading back to pick up the others and return to our hosts' house.

Later that afternoon, the Tour de Yorkshire cycle race passed very near to where we were staying, so we all walked up to the main road to watch it pass by in the blink of an eye.  The remainder of the day was spent relaxing, eating, drinking and enjoying the company of family members.

Sunday was the day that OH was heading off to his cycle event and he was getting up early to get to Leeds to be there for his alotted starting time.  We didn't accompany him, due to it being such an early start, and instead stayed behind and spent a quiet, but nice day hanging out around the house and garden.  It rained torrentially for most of the day, so I was quite pleased I hadn't gone to watch. By 4 pm he had returned, tired but happy.  He'd met up with more family members en route, so had had plenty of support for his efforts.

Monday, the sunniest day of our stay and half the household headed off to the Pony Club Show, whilst we had a leisurely breakfast, packed up the car and headed home to London.  Despite having had a good time, it's always lovely to get back home and after unpacking everything, I ran myself a lovely hot bath, climbed into my pyjamas and dressing gown and settled down for the evening to catch up with some blog reading.  Normal business resumes.

Approved Food Organic/Natural Food Order

Following on from my post about last week's food shop, I also took delivery of an Approved Food order last week, which was made up of virtually entirely organic and natural products.  I was very disciplined and the only other items I bought were multiple packets of SnackaJacks, which are a very low fat rice snack (albeit a very salty one), that I like to eat with my salad's for lunch.

Here's a couple of pictures of the order before I put it all away.

In this first picture, it is mainly healthy snacks.  I got a great deal on 16 Organic Doves Farm Apple and Sultana flapjacks for £3, making them less than 20p each.  I had one for lunch on the day they arrived and they are very nice indeed.  These will go down well as an alternative to a dessert or for packed lunches.  Also, I managed to get 8 Nak'd Banana Crunch bars for £2.  I tried a little bit of one of these and they are really sweet.  (I bought some Nak'd date and cashew bars from Asda the other week and liked these a lot.) They are a good snack to have with a cup of tea when I get back from a dog walk.  I also got some organic wholewheat crispbreads (very tasty with peanut butter), gluten free breadsticks, organic wholemeal wraps, organic linguine, hint of lemon corn chips (seriously scrummy as a treat), bran flakes, digestive biscuits and white chilli beans, which will all be very useful store cupboard items.

In this next picture, you can see that I also bought a few household items such as toilet rolls and natural cleaners, which I will use once my current cleaners run out.  I did also buy a couple of natural medicinal products, which you can see in the first photo, namely some arnica cream and some Nelson's tea tree antiseptic cream, for adding to our medicine cabinet.  These are much more expensive in the Health Food shop.

I also bought some Bach's Rescue Remedy chewing gum, which I'm interested to try, as I love Rescue Remedy and have bought the chewy lozenges in the past. Not, however, since Little Bird kept eating them as sweets. Fortunately, as they are pretty natural, no harm was done, except to my wallet. I was very interested to try the gum and was very pleasantly surprised, as it has a lovely subtle taste. I really like it. It will be nice to keep a pack in my handbag for those stressful moments and days when I feel a bit gloomy or just fancy chewing a bit of gum.

These are a fairly new product in the range, with a liquid centre (although the centre of these didn't seem particularly liquid) and an orange and elderflower flavour. Have you ever tried Bach's Rescue Remedy?  I would recommend them as a pick me up tonic, if you're feeling a bit down.   I first used the drops after having Little Bird.  I remember them being recommended in a pregnancy magazine, for use if you were feeling stressed or anxious. They are definitely worth trying for the price, which is £6 or £7 per bottle for the drops.  The chewing gum is supposed to be £4-£5 or something similar, but I bought these for £1.49 per pack. Definitely a bargain.  I will be checking out AF's healthfood and organic lines in the future from time to time, as I was very pleased with everything I bought in this order.

The Cleaning Bug

Do you ever have days when your house looks so dreadful that you can't settle to anything until you deal with it?  Thursday this week was such a day in this household.

Now, I don't like to admit that my house wasn't looking it's best, but it's true.  I don't routinely clean on a weekly basis.  I tend to wash up, wash clothes and tidy daily, try to keep clutter at bay constantly and then deep clean the house when we have guests coming to visit or if a particular room is getting me down.  As a consequence, the house doesn't look too bad most of the time.  Sometimes, however, you just can't ignore the dirt any longer and you've just got to tackle it.

I've kind of neglected the house lately.  I've been more interested in getting on top of the allotment, decluttering, keeping on top of washing and ironing, watching YouTube and Netflix and doing other stuff.  I was long overdue getting on with some serious cleaning.

On this particular day, it was the kitchen floor and the stair carpet that were the final straws that triggered the cleaning frenzy.  After tidying Little Bird's room (following a big declutter she did at the weekend - Good girl!), putting away the ironing, hanging out some washing, collating all the recycling and rubbish to put out for collection and clearing the pile of paperwork on the kitchen table, I finally set to and hoovered through the whole house, mopped most of our wooden floors and more particularly the kitchen floor, wiped down any dusty surfaces I found, cleaned the patio door windows so that the sun could come streaming in and then cleaned the downstairs toilet.  I didn't quite get around to cleaning the bathroom which was on the list too, but I will tackle this today, before we go away for the weekend.

It felt great to get this done.  I still haven't continued any further than posted with the kitchen declutter, and it probably seems a bit strange cleaning the kitchen floor first, but I think I was mentally blocked from doing any more decluttering, by the build up of dirt all over the house.  In addition, the fact that we are going away this weekend helped me to finally knuckle down and do it, as I hate to come back to a dirty house.  I think that when we do come back, I should now be able to properly get stuck into the kitchen and get the job done.  I hope so anyway.

Another thing that is now motivating me to do this, is that on the Saturday after we return, there is another local Give and Take Day, where you can give your unwanted stuff for other people to take for free.  I am going to donate all of April's decluttered items and however many of May's that I've accumulated by this time, to this cause.  Part of the reason for this is that on recent visits, the charity shop that I usually donate to, they have seemed completely overwhelmed with stuff and I've almost felt guilty dumping more stuff on them.  I think everybody must be decluttering or spring cleaning. Maybe everyone around here has joined the Minimalists or been reading Marie Kondo. Anyway, I'm going to give them a break from my stuff and take it elsewhere. Besides, I like the idea that people can take it for free too, as it's hopefully less likely to hang around as a consequence.  Any things that aren't taken are saved for the next event, so they don't get thrown away, which is reassuring.

At least now I can sit down at my computer or in front of the TV and not feel as guilty about the mess around me.