Day 2 summary, wow what an eye opening day so much plastic in my house.

Day 2 summary 2nd July 2019

Wow what a day, I have just sat down at 21.30 after going crazy on my cupboards today.

Making lists of what I have, how I’m going to replace these items once I’ve used them and pricing up what spends I will be doing.

I’ve decided to take the month of July 2018 as my starting point, calculate  what was my total amount spent in supermarkets over the month of July 2018 and compare this to July 2019.

For July I’m keeping all my receipts and tallying up at the end the difference between each month. If there is a real difference in price as feedback is plastic free is more expensive. I beg to differ at the moment but I could be wrong.

But the real test will be my recycling bin and general waste bin. Once they have been emptied from June’s waste I can wash them and start what I hope will be an recycle tins, boxes and cans. (No plastic)

Making items like dishwasher tablets, toothpaste, washing powder, soaps and shampoos will be an exciting messy fun thing to do with the kids.

Today (as a summary) though really opened my eyes to the amount of unnecessary stuff I own, wasteful too and what can be  up-cycle in my community.

The car  boot was a success as I brought up-cycled equipment I need to help me with this challenge.

The whole idea is that I don’t support the unnecessary single plastic industry, I maybe only one person trying this out but my money will be spent on alternatives.

If you have any ideas that may help me please comment on my blogs, like and share please and of course follow my journey through July 2019 by pressing the follow button. Your support will keep me going on what I know is going to be a tough time consuming challenge.

Car boot cordial alternative £1 per bottle and my kids love it, plus I can  use the  bottles  after. 

An easy change made today

Just some ideas from today. Day 2

Simple and easy changes

Today I went to a car boot sale, everything I brought was second hand and that means I recycle it.

This is an easy change for me, take away plastic ice bags for reusable trays. Trays brought at car boot for £2 for four trays. Bargain. 

Two oil bottles that I can take to be refilled at the eco shop and another jar which I will put to good use. The ice pops are silicon And I  will now make homemade ice lilies, plastic free wrapping and reusable options. Cheaper too. 

My old yogurt pots have been made into moulds for winter bird feed and I use my fat dripping from the pans and grill to hold the feed together. 

My cleaning cupboard is full of plastic what can I do?

So it’s only fair that I hit the cleaning cupboards to find out how simple it would be to go plastic free.

Once again BOOM too must stuff already there that I’m not prepared to waste. Therefore plastic free for July will mean that I am not purchasing the plastic agin but finding refillable or homemade cleaning recipes and reuse the bottles I have.

Once I find the alternatives I will of course share my finds on this blog. 

This is an amazing amount of cleaning products, I need to reduce my usage and box a bit cleverly. 

Toilet rolled are cheaper in bulk but after this pack is used I won’t be able to buy plastic again, so I’m  sourcing an alternative and will update this post in due course. 

The laundry products once again I have too much already that I am not going to waste. I will find an alternative even if I make them myself. There must be something. Ideas always welcome too please. 

Day two 2nd July 2019

Feeling empowered

So today our house used up the last of the hot chocolate powder,  I have a house full of kids that loves hot chocolate as most kids do. So I felt empowered to go and replace this item with a plastic free alternative. But guess what? no chance, all the hot chocolates have plastic lids. What to do????
I shall be sorcing this item somewhere else, google may have to help me on this one. Once I find a solution I will blog my find.

plastic lids

No other options but plastic lids

My usual Brand

So a couple of things the kids have asked is that we still buy biscuits and chocolate as they feel these snacks they cannot do without. So mission two today was to find the alternative and guess what no ultenative but to bake myself. I can see why people are not keen to change or reduce the purchased plastic impact at home but to find recycled alternative like Terracycle. However after the BBC documentary War On Plastic i'm sticking with plastic free July. The one thing I have found out is that packaging does not state if it’s plastic free, for intance the chocolate bars in box packages states recyled for box but wrap in side states check locally. ?? IS IT PLASTIC OR NOT ???

Issues that I have around the bathroom and my dressing table. Ouch

 So today I’m letting you see deeper  in to my home life. The kitchen food  cupboards went plastic free on Sunday. So today it was only fair that the rest of the house goes plastic free. Quite simple you would say? Turns out NOPE. Once I emptied the cupboards you can see from the photos just how much plastic I use in my house normally. The products are not empty and I’m not going to waste them but find a plastic free alternative.

 So July plastic free will have to mean no more buying plastic, July means using what I have and sourcing alternatives in the bathroom areas for the future.

I cannot waste these products that would be silly. My overall goal is to be plastic free.

 So I thought, then BOOM how is it going to be possible.

Make up glass and plastic
Nail varnish plastic stick and brush.

Where is the supply chain for me to choose an alternative??

 I know what people say about bamboo tooth brushes and if I want to achieve my goal of a plastic free family, then bamboo it will be. Homemade toothpaste is also popping up so I will have to make my own after I’ve used up the products I have that is.

 So I emptied everything thing out, makeup brushes, eye shadow, mascaras, lipsticks, foundation all in plastic.

My prescriptions for my skin Plastic.

Everything but my perfume is plastic but hay I’ll smell nice at least.

 Husbands cabinet plastic plastic plastic

I’m going to be very busy saucing alternatives.


Once I find alternatives that are plastic free I will share them on the blog.