Walking the walk :)

I'm still over here on my mission to make my life much greener, and still educating myself on animal cruelty and using products that are cruelty free and products where the ingredients are safe and non toxic to the body.
I am determined to live the life I have pictured in my mind, not hurting the earth more than I have to and certainly No harm to animals, that was my big motivation.
The love I have for my fur babies, my three kitties and two dogs, I could no longer look them in the eye and not change my life around.
It is one thing to eat meat and another entirely to condone horrendous vivisection practices, they are very shocking, terribly inhumane and so upsetting to me that I had to get my head out of the sand and look into it and make changes once and for all and not carry on in ignorance.

I urge you, if you have any humanity to please look at sites that give you cruelty free companies and the companies to boycott, great links here;
uncaged
naturewatch
idesa
honesty
biodegradable


OK, so what have I done?
Well I went online and researched for hours and hours!
I looked up cruelty free products and companies to replace what I currently have.
I found what is ok to use on my face make up wise, I found some great natural beauty treatments and I found out what will clean my house in the most Eco friendly way and came up with tons of great recipes online with mostly the ingredients below, so i went out and stocked up!


I bought;

white vinegar
bicarbonate of soda
lemons (real)
soda crystals
orange essential oil
fragrance free laundry detergent called surcare (want soapflakes, so I can make my own laundry detergent but couldn't source locally, only online)
ecover washing up liquid but had no idea they were on the "bad" list so will be changing to bio-d (cruelty free and green) washing up liquid next week.



with these ingredients I can clean mostly anything i want!

I still need to buy;
soapflakes
reusable razor
bio-d furniture polish
kingfisher natural toothpaste and natural mouthwash
honesty natural shampoo and conditioner
honesty natural shower gel
honesty hand wash
(The only reason I don't have these products yet is purely because I am using what I have first and then I will replace with the above)


Things I do;
Another way to be green is to use reusable cloth menstrual pads which I have done for years now and love them so much! I am ok with my body and not grossed out by the natural monthly cycle so it works for me :) Better for the environment and better for you as they are non toxic, work out a lot cheaper over the years and other reasons that I will leave up to you to find out here;
menstral pads

Oh and some of my friends have pointed out in the comments, there is the mooncup or divacup
mooncup
divacup

Lately been washing my face with honey, I use Rowe's honey as it supports the honey bee.
Great to use honey for all skin types, it is moisturising to dry skin and balancing to oily, great for zits as it is antibacterial, your face feels so clean afterwards but do wash make up off beforehand.
I also use honey on my face as a face mask! I pop it on and leave it for 1 hour to do its magic, healing my zits and making my skin super duper soft.

I make my own body scrub with olive oil and sugar!
make your own by using a clean empty glass jar with a lid, the bigger the better and I use around 70% sugar to 30% oil, get in the shower, dampen your skin, turn the water off, scrub all over, including feet but not delicate areas such as nips, your lady business and neck:) Then rinse off, you will feel amazing and it is so cheap too!

I remove my make up with a simple face wash ,which is cruelty free and wash with or avocado oil, or honey


I moisturise my skin with either one of my weleda moisturisers or avocado oil

My deodorant is by weleda and it is called wild rose, or I use ice crystal deodorant
Both of which keep me smelling great :)

I shave my legs with olive oil and a razor (need to buy reusable razor but I do use my disposable for over a month)

I recycle paper, glass, plastic and tins.

I made my own antibacterial kitchen spray with 50/50 water and white vinegar!
I use soda crystals in water and it is amazing stuff, gets though all food and grease, great for cleaning SO MANY THINGS.
soda crystals

Vinegar has so many uses, check out this site for 101 ways to use it!
vinegar uses
i found a great recipe for a carpet cleaner made from vinegar, bicarb of soda and a little washing up liquid too, which I'm going to try next week!

I clean my windows and mirrors with vinegar and water, they come out great.
There are an abundance of great recipes online from making your own dryer sheets to making your own laundry detergent, don't you just love the Internet!!

OH and I really want to crochet some pretty reusable cloths soon, hehe!!


My hubby and I make our own pet food with fresh veggies and turkey and brown rice and olive oil.
We are changing the dry food that our fur babies have from james wellbeloved (after finding out that they were bought out by a company that is , as far as I have read conducting vivisection procedures.)
I wrote to james wellbeloved to ask them about this, with no response as yet.
But just incase that is true, I looked online for an alternative.
so we looked for a holistic cruelty free food for the cats and dogs and came up with burns,
Burn's pet food

I use a cruelty free shampoo to bath the dogs and cats (don't worry, my cats are so chilled out and don't mind a bath at all, Oreo, my long haired kitty cat, will even let me blow dry him :)

We have a water filter in our kettle and use a water filter for all cooking water and drinking water to save buying mineral water (better for environment and cheaper too)

we use our washing machine at the coldest temp it can be on to wash the clothes.
btw, great way to soften your clothes is to use a tablespoon of bicarbonate of soda instead of fabric softener, fabric softener actually harms the fabric of your clothes!! If you still want them to smell nice though, add some essential oil, I use orange!

When buying anything at the supermarket, me and the hubs go for the fair trade items etc.
Also, the plastic bags that you put your apples in etc, they can be re-used over and over again, just take hem with you to the supermarket, along with your reusable grocery bags, so much greener, try to avoid items with loads of plastic polystyrene packaging too!

Right now I can't think what else I do, I'll edit this post if I remember anything else!


So, as you can see, Ive made a start, I'm on my way to being who I want to be and it is so exciting!!!
I know this will sound dorky but I have a huge smile on my face whenever I use my natural cleaning recipes or beauty treats that I have made myself from cruelty free and natural ingredients, it feels so empowering and great!!!

This blog entry wasn't not bragging or being on a soap box, I'm simply sharing myself and my experiences and thoughts with you, hope you get something good from this, do let me know, I'd be thrilled if I have inspired even one person to make a change. I'm sure loads of you are doing lots of good where you are too and if you're not and you would like too, you can't make steps to do so right now!

I still have lots to learn and if you have any info you would feel benefit me or my readers, please do share,

do comment and let me know what you think xxxxxx