Ditch the plastic...

One of the ‘green resolutions’ I have actually managed to keep this year is not buying bottled water. I use to buy a bottle of water pretty much every day and I have managed to cut that right down. As an incentive to make sure I stuck with my vow not to buy bottled water, I bought this SIGG water bottle from http://www.onyabags.co.uk/. Obviously I could have just used a glass but that didn’t seem as fun somehow!

Apparently in the UK alone the plastic bottles generated by our bottled water habit in one year would fill the Wembley Stadium 3 times over. Which just seems so unnecessary considering our tap water is safe to drink…

Loving Lovelula.....

My first purchase from online beauty store Lovelula.com (‘the organic apothecary’) arrived last week. I bought Burt’s Bees Pore Refining Mask after reading its many rave reviews on make-up alley (my own review to follow later once I have been using it for a while but first impression was a good one!). I must say I am really impressed with Lovelula. Their range of natural and organic beauty products is excellent. They provide a great deal of information on a product’s ingredients and organic/natural credentials and are extremely helpful if you have any further questions about a product or range.

My order arrived quicker than I thought it would and best of all, with each order you can also choose up to 3 free samples of certain products. I opted for John Masters Organics Honey and Hibiscus Hair Reconstructor and Reconstructing Shampoo. John Masters Organics are quite a pricey brand so it’s great to be able to try them out before purchasing. I also chose a sample of Elysambre Organic Pre-makeup Base Cream which is a brand I have never tried before.

Pssst....

Ethical online retailer Adili.com are in the midst of a sale with certain items up to 50% off. My favourites are:

Colourful embroidered dress

£66.50 [was £95.00]

Chenna's quilt pumps

£45 [was £90]

Silk mix button waist coat
£63.70 [was £91]

Second-hand style....

As an ardent shopper one of the things I really battle with in my bid towards greener living is the idea that I shouldn’t really be buying stuff I don’t need. And to be strictly honest, at this point in my life, when it comes to bags, shoes, clothes and jewellery I don’t actually need anything. Even if it is fairtrade/ethically sourced/organic….or any of the above. It is one thing acknowledging this and another trying to live by it so in the meantime, one of the ways to assuage my conscience somewhat is charity shop shopping! Because if I’m buying something pre-owned then I am really just contributing towards the recycling process….right? Don’t disillusion me please, I am sure this theory has its own flaws, but let me just have this one for now….

Historically I’ve only really scoured the charity shops for books. But recently I’ve broadened my outlook somewhat and realised that with a little patience and regular check-ins they can be the source of all sorts of goodies. I bought a gorgeous striped-glass jug with two matching glasses recently for £2. So effectively what I’ve bought is recycled glass, I’ve just cut out the middle man!

I have also just ordered my first purchase from Oxfam’s online second-hand shop. The beauty of this option is that you don’t need to keep visiting a shop (which is a necessary component of an effective charity shopping strategy if you want to find something great) which can be time consuming. The online option means you can easily narrow down your search to your size, price range and/or category. And even better, you can then narrow it down by the condition of the item. So you can just search the Used: As New category if you so choose, or if you’re exta fussy, there is also a ‘with tags’ category so you’re essentially buying a new item. As an added bonus, all purchases from the second-hand store come with free delivery until the 20th of July. So check it out for some guilt free shopping that is also easy on the wallet……

Enjoying London doesn't have to cost the earth....

I agree so much with the general premise of this article ‘Bargain London’ [guardian website travel blog]. Check out the comments to this as well for a whole lot of ideas on what to do in London when money is tight.

London can be incredibly expensive, as can most major cities, but there is also plenty to do on a budget. I am just too lazy to get out and do these things most of the time but as this article mentions, there are a host of websites and guides that can offer inspiration. On a ‘green’ note (just cause I can ;) Visit London even has a ‘green’ section of their website: www.visitlondon.com/people/green which not only has ideas on where to go and what to eat, but also tips on how to make sure you’re a ‘responsible tourist’ (which doesn’t sound particularly exciting I’ll admit but is more along the lines of throw away your litter and respect your environment rather than prohibiting any wild behaviour!).

Keep one Onya (groan....)......

I am truly appalling at remembering to take my own bags with me when I go grocery shopping. Although I generally do manage to take my own bags along when doing a ‘big shop’, I tend to forget when it’s just a general popping in to get a few groceries, or when it’s not for groceries at all but clothes or books or toiletries etc. And I have all manner of cloth/hemp/plastic shopping bags but the issue is just that I don’t take them with me when I’m not anticipating a major shopping trip.

Hence my purchase of an Onya bag. It’s the best ‘fold-up’ bag I’ve seen/bought predominantly because it’s made out of parachute material so it can be stuffed into its own little pouch in a couple of seconds (I used to have another synthetic fold-up bag but it seemed to require advanced engineering skills to return it, folded and neat, into the little pouch it came with). Visit www.onyabags.co.uk. to check out their range. I have the original Onya which is the perfect size to keep in my bag for general purchases.

Plastic bags just seem such a ridiculous way of causing environmental damage when really, they’re so easily avoided. I still forget to carry my Onya bag with me sometimes, and have to use plastic ones, but I’ve definitely cut down and managed to avoid unnecessary leftist environmental guilt! ;)

Kind of cool....

Chicza, organic rainforest gum, is now available at Waitrose. I haven't actually tried it yet but as a sporadic gum chewer I am definitely intrigued.

Chicza is not only biodegradable (the lifespan of a wad of ordinary chewed gum is anything up to 5 years where as Chicza apparently dissolves in about a month, causing no environmental damage) but it is also the first certified organic chewing gum and is produced by 56 cooperatives with the sustainability of natural resources of extreme importance. Visit http://www.chicza.com/. for more information on how the gum is produced.