My doorbell ran out of batteries over a year ago and after 8 months of not having a doorbell i decided i didn’t want one, instead i am investing in an iron door knocker. The best thing about these is that they do not need batteries (which is a pet hate of mine). There are a lot of websites out there which sell door knockers and the range of them is amazing. I really think they look a lot better than a plastic doorbell, i gave my doorbell to the charity shop for someone that does not share my view.

I have just purchased my door knocker from the door knocker company.

I have found a very easy recipe for a soap nut soak which can be used as a laundry liquid.

• In a heavy saucepan with a lid add 4 cups of water and 7-8 soap nuts.
• Bring to the boil and then gently simmer, covered for about 15 minutes.
• Remove the pot from the heat and let it sit, covered at leaset until cool. (leaving the liquid over night will result in a stronger solution).
• Strain the liquid with a cheese cloth (or you can use your wash bag) to remove any pieces of shell.
• Add your favorite essential oil if you would like a sent to your soap nuts.

This batch will last for about 8 loads of laundry. (use 1/4 to 1/2 a cup for each load). Your soap nut liquid will keep for about 4 weeks. If it is kept covered, and away from direct sunlight.

I have found a really nice website called the laundry tree were i found the recipe and there are different things you can use this recipe for with alterations to the recipe to suit the type of cleaning you want to do

Our diet is changing but i think this is a hard area to tackle because there are so many foods out there that are packaged all wrong and there impossible to recycle. I do buy organic were ever i can but supermarkets wrap there organic food in plastic. So when this is the case i go British (which would be my first option) and packet free (i have my onya bags for that),

My Best option is Able and Cole for my fruit and veg. I like there boxes but there organic boxes are packed in hard plastics which can not be recycled. For my meat i am going to do a weekly meet shop at my local butchers, this way i can have it weight to my likeing and then they use less packaging.

This is still a learning curve but a fun one because i get to decide and really healthy nice meals instead of keep going back to frozen things.

In the past i have survived of drinking tea and coffee and now realizing that it has not been good for me I’m cutting it out altogether. I have been cutting down over the last 28 weeks but now i am 29 weeks pregnant i have cut it completely. I am not completely selfish i do have it in for visitors. Coffee is my biggest pain becaise they all come with plastic lids which can not be recycled.

At the moment i am drinking fruit and herbal teas from twinings because the tea is really nice but you have to be careful with the packaging most of them have a cardboard seal which means it all can be recycled but on the occasion the bags are individually wrapped and the box is sealed in plastic (these are the areas i am cracking down on in my cupboard). My view is though that if you can make some boxes recyclable why not make them all the same way.

I would just like to make a comment about my delivery from ecotopia, i placed my order on Thursday afternoon and it was here by 8 on sat morning. I thought this was great. i had updated emails every time something new happened on there behalf i was really impressed. I will be using them again especially for my christmas presants.