Welcome to day 5 of the blog series…YES, i’m still here! Today we are focusing on outwear, something I am so glad to say we won’t (hopefully) be needing this bank holiday weekend. Outerwear is probably the weakest part of my wardrobe and one that I will have to most probably look into for next winter as I noticed this year my vintage jacket is a little small and my Everlane jacket (a company I rated when I bought it and since have had some concerns over) is in need of some repair/some way of making it a bit warmer. With that in mind, I will be looking in sales of some of the brands below to make it work for our budget, second-hand and saving up and selling on what I already have to find something that works!

Welcome to day 4 of the blog series. If you’re still here well done! Today we’re taking a look at denim. The denim industry takes one of the biggest tolls on the environment due to the washes, dyes, chemicals and overall water usage needed to create one pair of jeans- it’s thought that it takes around 2,000 gallons or 7,600 litres of water! That’s a lot! Good on you wrote: “Over 10% of the world’s population is currently deprived of access to clean water, a staggering statistic which puts an alarming perspective on our thirsty denim purchases.”

Welcome to day 3! We’re taking a look at sustainable and ethical loungewear and sleepwear today! Take a look below at some of the best companies I found below some I have bought from and loved and some are new to me! Let me know any you know of! If you missed why this is all going on and want to know some more details about buying ethically why not head here…

Welcome to day 2 of the series where we’re taking a look at footwear! Incase you missed it, the aim of the series is to introduce you to a bunch of brands doing great things for the people and the planet and to empower you to buy well when you need to. My priority in shopping is always that those who have made my clothing have been paid fairly so you will see that all of these brands mentioned here, and across the whole series mention explicitly on their website or in answer to my questioning on emails or Instagram that they pay a fair wage, a living wage or above. Feel free to dig into these brands yourself though and ask them the questions you need to ask that allow you to feel comfortable in buying.

Welcome to day 1 of the series! Below are some incredible underwear and swimwear brands! Most of these brands aren’t limited to only these things, while some are! My priority in shopping is always that those who have made my clothing have been paid fairly so you will see that all of these brands mentioned here, and across the whole series mention explicitly on their website or in answer to my questioning on emails or Instagram that they pay a fair wage, a living wage or above. Feel free to dig into these brands yourself though and ask them the questions you need to ask that allow you to feel comfortable in buying.

‘How do I know if a company or brand is ethical?’ is one of the questions I find myself answering the most in my private messages. That question often comes hand in hand with other questions about the cost of ethical clothing, where ethical clothing brands can be found and where on earth to start with creating an ethical wardrobe. While I don’t have all the answers- (I’m very much figuring things out as I go) I wanted to create a space on here for those questions to be answered, looked over, and to hand you a bunch of resources to make buying ethically and in turn buying well so much more accessible.

As with most things, living more sustainably often takes a mindset shift. With the switches below, it’s unlikely that in a year 4 craft competition Heppy won’t have a shiny, glittery, luminous green offering (there’s nothing wrong with this), but she certainly will have something just as cool made from things we can find, probably cost less and is way kinder to the planet.

I thought I’d write a quick blog with some ideas on how it’s possible to reduce waste with art supplies. Before you know it it’s so possible to have a cupboard full of googly eyes, glittery craft paper and plastic glue sticks. I’ve found some really simple solutions that will mostly save you money but more than that, cut down on plastic and toxins too!

I remember the days when TRESemme took off. I was in high school, straightening my hair between classes in the girls’ toilets whilst applying lancome lipgloss. I was washing my hair every day because somehow it seemed that overnight it got greasy; I had no idea that was probably because of the particular products I was using, and I gave no thought to how many bottles I was throwing away every few weeks.

I’m a secondhand geek. There’s a running joke in our family that if you want something, anything…i’l be able to find it second hand for an absolute bargain price. Like the Kayak we got from facebook marketplace for my father in law’s Christmas present, the le creuset frying pan my dad really wanted but was way out of budget new and the cashmere ‘Caramel coat’ that I got from ebay for £5 but was on their website for £200- oh and let’s not forget the double medela pump I needed whilst in New Zealand because mine had stopped working and after scouring multiple used sites found a lady on the other side of Tarunga selling one barely used.

I was a little surprised when I saw how captivated Heppy was by the simple act of hanging up scraps of fabric with a peg, taking them down, folding them and putting them in the basket, only to then repeat the whole task again a few minutes later! All you need is some string, some pegs, some scrap fabric (old t-shirts or towels)- you could even go as far as cutting into the shape of items of clothing, and then maybe a little bag or basket for it all to be kept in.

I love advent. I love the anticipation and the preparation and I’m not even gonna pretend that I’ve not peaked too soon this year? Anyone with me?

Before I had my own kids I was a live-in nanny and I remember each year their mum would put slips of paper into each pocket of their calendar and they would run down the stairs each morning with squeals of delight, fending each other off to be the first to see what the activity for the day was and I remember my own delight as a kid as my mum handed me the dairy milk calendar. I’d always dreamed of the rituals and traditions I could bring into our home when we had children and have loved hearing of others, especially traditions from different cultures like Parols, bright and colourful lanterns placed inside the home in the Philippines, and those in Poland cleaning their homes from top to bottom to make it perfect for the arrival of Jesus.

I LOVE giving gifts, anyone with me? 15 years ago you could find me in a queue at Woolies or WH Smith excitedly buying my mum something with the ten pounds i’d saved up from my weekend job- probably something plastic and probably something completely unnecessary- and six years ago I would have had no problem ordering all my gifts from Amazon with no idea how or where they were made or what harm I could be causing in the places I chose to invest my money. A few years later and with the exposure to some hardcore facts and realities, and mainly with a strong conviction to know those making my products were paid fairly, I chose to start shopping differently even though I didn't really have a clue where to go or where to start.

On the 7th September at 6.51am we welcomed sweet little Moses Archippus into the world. How you even capture a birth story in writing I don’t know but I’d love you to join me as I try. Ps. You can read Hephzibah’s birth story over here.

I started contracting at 2.30am on the Tuesday morning, 5 days past our due date. I’d experienced a ton of braxton hicks in this pregnancy, something that I believe is more common with multiple pregnancies, so when I started contracting that morning it was hard to know if I truly was in labour. The contractions were coming every 6 minutes, so I began to track them with an app, but then there would be a pause and I wouldn’t contract for 10 minutes then they’d come every 4 minutes then I’d have a contraction 20 minutes later?! While they were irregular, the contractions were intense enough to need to focus and breathe through them so Joseph took the day off so he could be with me whilst Heppy was taken care of by my hero of a mum-in-law.

Thank you so much for joining me for the non-toxic home series. I had so much fun preparing it, and it was so encouraging to hear everyone’s responses and to get product recommends and tips from you guys too!

The message I probably received most in response to my posts was something along the lines of ‘this is great, where on earth do I start?’ and ‘how do I do this on a budget?’

I thought I’d write something quick (she says…three weeks later) just to address those questions.

You may have read it in the intro, but my journey with clothes really started over 2 years ago after watching a documentary called ‘The Trust Cost’. It made me re-question a lot of the things I was buying; who had made my clothes? Was I buying on impulse? What effects were my purchases causing to people and the planet? I’d already bought a lot of second hand clothes at that time, but the 20% of clothes I did buy new were from Zara mainly, and though hard, I decided the night of watching that movie that I would never shop there again. Dramatic I know.

Let’s say my level of makeup knowledge is so so basic. I have no idea how to successfully achieve a smoky eye or contour, and as it stands I’ve probably worn makeup for all of one day during lockdown and it’s never felt better so please don’t take makeup advice from me- i’m very much learning.

Makeup was one of the last areas of our home to move over to becoming cleaner. Maybe it’s because makeup is low on my agenda list anyway but, as I’ve switched to green beauty I’ve come to take more of an interest in it and really become excited and curious about what’s in the makeup I’m using and the fun and quirky ingredients that often make up green beauty!

When it comes to having babies there is a lot of information thrown around and a lot of product suggestions too. Many brands sell many things making many claims and usually at an increased cost. There is often a-lot of unnecessary ingredients in those products and just because it says ‘baby’ on it doesn’t even necessarily mean it’s safe.

I remember seeing Heppy’s newborn skin and feeling such a responsibility to treat it well, and govern well what passed into it! It felt so pure and untainted- so that’s what I committed to do; to do my research to make sure I could look after it, and in turn teach her how to too.

An article in the Guardian stated that: “American women use an average of 12 products a day – nearly 200 chemicals – according to a 2004 study by the Environmental Working Group (EWG).” I can’t imagine that’s much different for us here in the UK... scary huh? These chemicals are not needed when there are so many products that are as good, even better available, and don’t contain them. Plus, many of these are often cheaper too, containing less plastic, and can be made with things you can already find in your home!