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October 17th, 2011
I’m currently exhibiting at my second trade show in 6 weeks at Olympia (thankfully close enough to home for me to get back to give my littl’est one her bedtime bottle tonight).
Attending trade fairs is always a bit of a mixed bag. On one hand it’s a great showcase for Cheeky Wipes, and a fantastic way to network and get new ideas / gossip. On the other hand it’s time-consuming and can be a bit boring, but you have to put up with it!
One of the things I like best about these shows are the ability to have a good nosey around and see what’s new from old competitors / friends or new to market. Of course, I always like to let you, my faithful readers share in what’s hot or what’s not – from my perspective anyway!
This time a couple of products have caught my eye. Firstly the lovely people from Naturally Cool Kids were nearby with their funky range of Hair & Body Wash / sunscreen, lip and cheek protector and my personal favourite, the Vapour Stick.
All their products are completely free from nasties, so brilliant for my sensitive, eczema prone skin. They also use my favourite lavender & mandarin essential oils (sound familiar?) in the hair and body wash, which comes in a handy pump bottle so you can operate it one-handed.
As I said though, it’s the Vapour Stick which is my personal favourite. Less messy than Vicks, less eye-watering than Olbas oil and just chock full of goodies, like sunflower seed oil, cocoa butter and beeswax which moisturise the skin, whilst helping you breathe more easily. Love it.
Naturally Cool kids products are available from major retailers including John Lewis, or online at www.naturallycoolkids.com, priced from £3.95 for the DEET free bugbands…
Tags: naturally cool kids, naturally cool kids review, product review, vapour stick review
Posted in Buying For Baby, Green Living, Product Reviews | No Comments »
October 6th, 2011
Bless me Father for I have sinned…it has been 6 months and 2 weeks since I last used cloth nappies, I have been using dirty disposables.
I feel that I can admit it, now that I’m back on the wagon again. My Itti Bitti nappies have been languishing in the hall cupboard since Aerin was born in March. Every time I opened the cupboard to get some Cheeky Wipes they’ve winked at me and waved ‘Hello’ before I slammed the door shut on the nappies and my guilty conscience.
You can imagine what it’s like when you’ve got a newborn and 3 other children. If you’re not feeding the baby, you’re getting the others ready for school / lunch / swimming practice / bathtime /bedtime. Staying on top of the washing was already a mission with my washing machine being on at least once daily never mind adding nappies into the mix.
So I ignored my nappies and used eco-disposables instead . And my Cheeky Wipes of course. But then I saw the lovely Norma from Itti Bitti at the recent baby trade show in Cologne and I had to admit that I hadn’t used my lovely Itti Bitti for a while, but couldn’t quite explain why not!
Now Aerin is 6 months old and at nursery a few mornings a week, I have a bit more time and things aren’t quite as hectic, so that definitely helps. And she’s gone past the pooing 10 times a day stage too, which also helps.
So I dug the Itti Bitti out and introduced Aerin to them and she just loves them of course and looks super cute with her little fluffy bum. But I thought it was worth doing a quick blog post to all the Mums who have their cloth nappies lurking in the cupboard rather than on your baby’s bum (I know you’re out there!) Remember the good thing about cloth nappies is that once you’ve got them, any use you make of them is going to save you money and help minimise your environmental impact through landfill.
It doesn’t have to be all or nothing, you can mix and match if you need to and it suits your lifestyle and circumstances. Dip in and out as you need to and don’t feel bad. Your nappies will welcome you back with open arms when you’re ready…
Tags: cloth nappy, eco disposable nappy, itti bitti nappy, using cloth nappy
Posted in Green Living, cloth nappy | No Comments »
August 18th, 2011
It seems that I’ve reached an age where make-up is now a necessity if I want to avoid looking like death warmed up. I’m not talking full-on ‘make-up counter girl’ slap but concealer, foundation, mascara and a touch of blusher mean that the effects early waking pre-schoolers aren’t majorly obvious when you look at me. Well, not THAT obvious anyway.
And with everyday make-up use there is obviously the need to remove it. My skin is super-duper sensitive, ridiculously so. And I have sneaked a clean Cheeky Wipe now and again, but don’t like scrubbing at my eyes to remove the mascara.
After a bit of googling, I came across a fabulous solution. Olive oil. You’ve got it in your kitchen cupboard, it costs pennies and it doesn’t leave your skin greasy, just supersoft and gently cleansed. Apparently oil dissolves oil (removing sebum and mascara etc) and this is actively recommended for people suffering from acne.
I know that sounds to good to be true but it really works and there’s a whole load of people who have tried it and loved it enough to blog about….Here’s how:
What you need
Clean Cheeky Wipes (I keep 5 dry ones in the bathroom and use to order)
Olive Oil
Hot Water
Few drops of mandarin or lavender & Chamomile fresh wipes oil (optional)
Method
Put a little olive oil on your hands – about the size of a 5p piece
Rub all over your face in an upwards circular motion
Wet a Cheeky Wipe with nice hot water – not scalding, just hot from the tap
Wipe the olive oil off. You might want to rinse the wipe out once or twice, again with nice hot water.
Wipe again until all trace of oil is gone.
Splash with cold water.
You’ll find your skin feels great, soft and clean with absolutely no tightness at all. And it will save you LOTS on expensive make-up removers….
Tags: cheeky wipes, olive oil cleanser, olive oil makeup remover
Posted in Frugal Living, Green Cleaning, Green Living | 2 Comments »
July 21st, 2011
 Top Tip 1: Buy Classic rather than Quilted / Velvet
Part of me thinks that I shouldn’t post this as it’s crossing too far into the realms of frugality to be almost called penny-pinching. But you know what they say, ‘Look after the pennies and the pounds look after themselves!’
So let’s talk loo roll. You know, the stuff you wipe your bum with. And kids’ snotty noses too. In our house we get through about 6 rolls a week (my kids poo a LOT). I used to buy whatever was on offer – in my local supermarket that tended to be the premium versions, like ‘Quilted’ or ‘Velvet’. I *thought* that I was getting a bargain, but one week there were no offers on, so I just bought the bog-standard (ha,ha) supermarket own brand. Not the value range as that would be a bit too scratchy on their wee bums, but just the normal own brand.
To my surprise it lasted a lot longer – something I only realised the following week, when I bought more loo roll as usual and then realised that we hadn’t used up everything from the previous week, in fact there were two rolls left.
It turns out that the quilted / velvet versions have much less paper on each roll – around 160 / 200 sheets compared to 240/260 sheets for standard. And, in our house anyway, we seem to use the same amount of sheets whether it’s quilted or not?
Comparing standard Andrex to their quilted version at the moment – both fromTesco, both on offer at 8 rolls for £3.50, you’d save £60 a year by using the standard Andrex. And of course, if you switch to an own brand you’ll save even more…
Top Tip 2: Squish your loo roll
Saddo that I am I was discussing this with friends yesterday and the lovely Sally had a top tip for those of us whose kids like to tug the bottom of the loo roll and then go ‘wheeee….’ watching loads come off onto the floor. If you squish your roll a little bit before you put it on the holder, it doesn’t roll quite so easily, so they’ll use less.
Any more top tips to share, please leave a comment!
Tags: frugal tip, toilet roll
Posted in Frugal Living, Green Living | No Comments »
March 1st, 2011
I’m delighted to announce that we can now take pre-orders for our fantastic new Cheeky Wipes Kits!
We listened to feedback from you and we’ve made the boxes ‘pop-top’ and easy to open with one hand, which is always helpful if you have a wriggly baby in the other hand! We’ve also included extra functionality on the boxes, such as fill water levels, number of wipes indicator and mucky bag clips.
The new kits are now available for pre-order only (to be posted w/c 21st March) with a special opening offer of £35 including UK postage (normal price will be £36.95 plus £4.95 postage)
The new boxes will be available to buy separately from the end of April which is when the bulk of our shipment arrives.
Clearance on mini kits, exclusive to existing customers  – £15.95, save £6
To make room for our new stock we want to clear our warehouse, so we’re offering mini kits for just £15.95 which include:
- 25 terry towelling wipes
- fresh wipes container
- fresh wipes bag
- 10ml of either lavender & chamomile or mandarin fresh wipes oil
They’re available using this link: http://www.cheekywipes.com/baby_wipes_kit_mini_offer
Stocks are limited so grab them while you can!
And finally…..we’ve got a new baby on the way at Cheeky Wipes, due to arrive around 20th March which is the same time as our new stock! Rubbish timing obviously. But around this time, the easiest way to contact us will be via email to Helen@cheekywipes.com – please be patient, it might take us a day or two to respond!
Tags: mini kit clearance, new cheeky wipes kits
Posted in Buying For Baby, Cheeky Wipes News, Green Living | 3 Comments »
January 4th, 2011
Back in February last year I first blogged about the Amazon Kindle and Sony Ebook. At the time I was tempted, attracted by the fact that I’d be helping minimise the environmental impact of book production.
Then in September we moved house. And when we moved we took boxes upon boxes of books with us. Literally enough to fill about 4 good sized, floor to ceiling book cases! It was this (and the clutter on my bedside table) that persuaded me to ask my friends and family to club together to buy me an Amazon Kindle for Christmas.
I chose Amazon rather than any other brand partly because they’re a brand I trust. I buy from Amazon a lot and their customer service is excellent. There are also thousands of customer reviews of the Kindle so before you buy you can see if there’s any drawbacks / irritations you need to be aware of.
So it was with great excitement on Christmas morning that I unwrapped my lovely new Kindle. Firstly I was surprised at how light it was (247g apparently), which is MUCH lighter than most of the books I read.
It was really easy to set up. It was literally 5 minutes to connect it to our home wi-fi (which I didn’t have to do since mine is the 3g version) and then deregister it from my husbands Amazon account and onto mine.
Later on Christmas Day I got a chance to steal 20 minutes alone and have a proper read and play. I was relieved and pleased to find that it really was as easy to read as a paperback. Because it isn’t backlit, it doesn’t tire your eyes in the same way as reading from a computer screen (or the Kindle iphone app). It takes a fraction of a second for the page to turn but you soon get used to that.
I downloaded quite a few free ‘classic’ books including Dracula and Sherlock Holmes which seemed to download almost instantly. Plus I took advantage of an Amazon deal on new authors, randomly picking a selection of books for just £1 each.
The real test however was how it would perform in bed….
And it performed with flying colours! I was able to prop the kindle against my duvet, meaning that I only had to press the button to turn the pages, I didn’t actually have to hold it. When I fell asleep reading it therefore it just stayed on the side of the bed rather than dropping to the floor. And it automatically switched itself off after I had fallen asleep which is great as it doesn’t run the battery down.
I’ve now been using my Kindle for 11 days and it’s telling me that I need to charge the battery. Apparently if I’d switched off wifi (just switching it on again when I actually want / need to use it) the battery would have lasted twice as long, up to a month which is good going.
As I think I mentioned before, I’ve got the Kindle iphone app. Although I’ve used it a little bit previously, I found it tiring on my eyes, so definitely not an alternative to the Kindle. However the other day when I was waiting for a midwife checkup I thought I’d have another quick look, to see if the new books that I had bought were available on the iphone. I was VERY chuffed to find that my iphone app had synced to the exact place where I’d fallen asleep reading the night previously. I had a quick read for 10 minutes, then when I got home and switched my kindle on, found that it had synced to where I left off that morning. Brilliant.
Anyway, in summary my updated list of Kindle / Ebook Reader Pro’s & Cons:
Pro’s
- Minimises storage space needed (holds 3,500 books!)
- Minimises environmental impact of book production
- Very easy to use and enjoy
- Light to carry around
- Books tend to be cheaper
Cons
- Can’t read in the bath!
- Book sharing is difficult (although if my husband decides to get a Kindle I’ll register it to my Kindle account and we can share the books)
- Not all books are available in Kindle / Ebook format
So far, I’m really pleased with my Kindle and would recommend it to anyone who’s thinking of buying one. One of the few gadgets that it is (IMO) worth shelling out on.
Tags: amazon kindle, amazon kindle review, ebook reader review, greener reading
Posted in Green Living | No Comments »
November 9th, 2010
Brr. It’s starting to get cold again and if you’re like me and work from home, it’s time to layer up. After all, there’s no point in putting the central heating on and heating the whole house just for one person? Or am I being especially frugal?
Don’t get me wrong. Our house isn’t particularly cold (about 18c at the moment without the heating on) but sitting still at a desk makes it feel colder. I’ve layered up already with three top layers and two pairs of socks, but this morning still found me making endless cups of tea just to warm up my hands.
It was while I was making one cup of tea that I had my ‘Eureka’ moment. Although I always fill the kettle to the minimum fill level of 500ml, that’s too much for one cup of tea, so I always have hot water left over. I never re-use water which has already been boiled once as it gives tea an oddly metallic taste, so essentially I’m wasting 200ml of water each time I make a cuppa.
But no more. I dug out my trusty hot water bottle (or Piggy as I used to call it when I was little, possibly because it was pink and rubbery, who knows) and I now refresh it with the excess hot water each time I make a cuppa. It keeps my feet very toasty and, as everyone knows, if your feet are warm, you’re all warm!
Tags: cup of tea, hot water bottle, save on central heating, save on heating bills
Posted in Frugal Living, Green Living | No Comments »
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