Homemade Laundry Powder.

I've been meaning to get this down for what seems like an age, I'm already on my second batch and it lasts a loooong time.
I've seen lots of posts of people making their own washing powder so I decided to make my own, I was a bit dubious as to how well it would clean especially on a quick wash as that's my go to cycle I was worried the soap wouldn't dissolve but it did! The clothes came out as clean as they would with shop bought power so I was really impressed. I used some left over Karma soap from LUSH but I've since used other soap and it's worked just as well.

What you need:

Oxy powder 50p per 500g

Soda Crystals 50p per 500g

1-2 Bars of Soap (depending on how perfumed you like it) 50p+ (depending on what soap you buy)

Grater

Total cost: £1.50

Measure 500g each of Oxy and Soda Crystals into a large tub and grate your soap into it.
Mix together and use 2 scoops per wash.

It's really that easy. I've used the lager sized grater and it's worked just as well, the oxy and the soada crystals are 1kg each so enough for 2 batches, each batch have lasted me just over a month which is pretty good going.

Give it a go :)

Quick Chickpea Curry.

Or Chana Masala.
We all have those days when we want something really tasty, but we just can't be bothered, right? Now I love curry, but most of the time I really can't be bothered marinating the meat, then Mr Badger decides he wants raita, naan, chips, the works! This meal is so quick and easy it's usually nearly ready by the time he asks what we're having. If you wanted to you could make it really special and do the works with it, but for me I like to keep it simple and serve it with brown rice and a big dollop of greek yoghurt.

Ingredients:
400g tin of Chickpeas

400g Chopped tomatoes

Onions

Mushrooms

1Tbsp of Curry Power
1Tsp Coriander

1/2Tsp Cumin

1. Chop your onions and mushrooms into bitesize pieces, fry gently for 5 minutes or until they're soft.

2. Add a splash of water and add your spices, stir until your veg is coated.

3. Add the tomatoes and chickpeas and simmer for 15 minutes or until cooked through.

Serve with boiled rice and a big dollop of yoghurt, it really is that simple.
Enjoy x

This Thing That's Wrong With Me.

I'm so so very tired, much more than usual, some of you may remembering me saying that I have suspected Lupus, well what ever it is is absolutely knocking me senseless right now, one minute I'm absolutely fine and the next I feel like an octogenarian arthritic Snorlax, you know those fat sleepy (but very cute) Pokemon.
It's been beautiful here over the last week, the sun is shining and the birds are singing, I however am not, I didn't realise that if I do have Lupus, I should totally with out doubt stay out of the sun, I was only when I felt my joints starting to hurt, needing to sleep as much as humanly possible and that my skin came up red patches, itched and felt like it was about to fall off did I realise that I should really stay inside, it's like I've reached some level of ultra goth, I may even invest in a pretty black parasol to go with my melancholy when it comes to daylight.
I'm just waiting for my appointment with rheumetology to get to the bottom of this, my GP is pretty sure that it is Lupus, part of me hopes it is so I can take steps to deal with head on but until I know for sure there's not much I can do. Hopefully this flare won't last long and normal business can be resumed.

Pom Pom Sorting!

This is one is so simple but really fun.
All you'll need is some coloured pom poms and some coloured cups.

Throw them all in a bowl and let your toddler go crazy, sorting them into the right cups, we had lots of fun putting the wrong colours in the wrong cups, Little Badger thought this was hilarious and took great delight in showing silly Mama where they were really supposed to go!
This is great from colour recognition and fine motor skill.

Big Art! Wallpaper Drawing.

Today is rainy and dreary, we've spent the last few days puddle splashing and Mama Badger would really like to stay dry this morning before we visit the Grandbadgers this afternoon.
Little Badger loves to draw, he's really getting the hang of colouring but once he's finished a picture he wants more paper, this means he gets very bored, very quickly. I recently saw a post somewhere about getting your child to lie down on some left over wallpaper so you could draw around them, well this didn't go down very well, he wanted to look at every line I drew and got a bit stressed out so our person ended up with a massive head, weird feet and no hands, luckily this didn't bother Little Badger, I taped it to the door and let him colour it in, he took great delight in announcing that he'd drawn Tree Fu Tom!

This kept him occupied for a good 30 mins before he'd finished colouring, We also drew some little ladybirds and caterpillars on a length of paper and taped it to the floor, he had so much fun colouring, it's definitely something we'll do again!

The Trouble with Face Cream.

I suffer from combination skin, no matter what moisturiser I try on my face it either dries it out comepletly or makes it feel like I've been head first in the butter dish! Over the years I've spent a fortune on trying to find something that suited my skin, nearly everything makes my face sweat within minutes of applying. I've tried budget, organic, light, night, you name it I've bought it.
With money being tight I was having a look to see if there was any deals in ASDA when I decided to give their own range aimed at "young skin". I bought these two for £1 each.
                                         
I won't lie, I didn't think they we're going to do anything special, in fact I didn't think they were going to be any good at all.
I was absolutely blown away by just how amazing these little beauties are!
The face scrub has tiny little bits of walnut shell, it smells nice and leaves you skin feeling soft and clean, it doesn't leave any residue and it doesn't dry out your face.
The moisturiser is just awesome, I really can't get over how much I love it, it soaks in really fast, it's not like the usual moisturisers I've tried, this leaves a matt finish, it doesn't leave your face feeling slippery or oily, it just leaves it soft and cool, they have a lovely smell that isn't at all over powering.
I've noticed a massive difference in breakouts since using these and my face doesn't seem half as red, overall I think this is a great range and will be trying the other products too.

The only thing that isn't too great is the tubes aren't widely recycled, but ASDA are against animal testing and fund research into alternatives which is awesome!
For anyone that has trouble with oily or combinations skin I really would recommend giving this a whirl.

We've Been on Holiday!

And it didn't cost a fortune!

In the last few years, we just haven't had the money to go on holiday, we'd decided we'd like to go on our first family holiday this year so started looking around, I was gutted when I realised just how much it would be for a short break in the UK, it wasn't till a friend mentioned they were going on a "sun" holiday, you've all seen them advertised, you collect the vouchers each week from various papers and get a heavily discounted holiday.

We really wanted to go to Cornwall so picked a caravan holiday at Parkdean in St Minver, the online prices were around £300 for a 4 night stay, our stay cost us £70, we saved a little bit of money by taking our own bed linen. I knew we would have to stop at the services on the way there but wanted to avoid the steep prices they charge for food so we made a bunch of sandwiches, squash and a flash of coffee, we travelled down early and reached the beach for 8am, the weather wasn't great but we went for a nice walk and just sat and watched the waves.

There was lots of things we wanted to do but we didn't bank on Little Badger getting so tired. A lot of the time we needed to come back pretty early for a nap and sometimes he'd need one before we even got out! We made the most of the small soft play on site and the amusements.

Keeping this holiday low cost has been far easier than I thought, we did a full shop the day we arrived so we wouldn't be tempted to order takeaway or eat out, checking the weather forecast for the next day was essential, we didn't want to stay stuck inside so the days it rained we took advantage of the swimming pool or the local villages with lots of shops to duck in and out of, on the sunny days we went for long walks, hit the beach or took advantage of free attractions.




I was just so lovely to get away and spend some proper time together after how crappy the beginning of the year has been, we all feel lovely and recharged.

Cost breakdown:
Accommodation: £70
Fuel: £100
Food: £60
=£230*
*plus £200 spending money.

We did splash out a little and came back with no spare spending money though, the thing that caught us out the most was change for parking, we ended up getting cash back quite a few times because we'd not stopped to get change which soon added up, but all in all we managed to have a break away for under £500 which is fab. We will definitely be doing the same next year!