Eco Friendly House And Garden

Reusable bags are all around us these days – but what are the pro’s and cons?

I myself use several types of different bags for different occasions – but my friend thinks that they are the worst thing ever! Why are there so many types and why wouldn’t you like them?

Their Purpose In Life:
After listening to my friend discussing why he didn’t like my reusable bags – I asked him why they were invented in the first place. He went for the eco friendly angle – but in reality, they are just a replacement for a plastic carrier bag.

photo credit: Rachel Medina

Now I really don’t like plastic bags from supermarkets as they have no real shape, they are noisy, they tear easily, they are painful to carry if heavy and you can’t put them over your shoulder to carry. However, my reusable bags are the opposite to all this.

Bulky Jute Bag:
My bulky jute bag has great shape to it, even when set on the floor. The handles are soft and wide and just long enough to sit over my shoulder if I want to shift the weight.

It is larger than A4 so I can keep books and notes in it, and being open-topped I can easily get things out and find things as and when needed.

It does have its downsides though; firstly this open-topped feature means that security is low when I am in a crowd or when I take a rest and place my bag on the floor, and if I don’t have anything in the bag (like on the way to the library) you can’t fold it up and it tends to flap about in the wind.

Flimsy Cotton Bag:
I have several flimsy white cotton bags with various different companies advertising on the side – but all are basically the same shape and size. They are very easy to shove into my rucksac or other bags so that when finding something extra to carry they can flap open and be filled with goodies.

They are a light as a feather and so I can take all 4 out with me without them becoming a nuisance – and I am not too bothered if I carry them around all day and don’t use them.

And they can be washed.

Their downside is that they have no structure whatsoever and loading them up 1-handed can be a bit of a pain sometimes. With the extra long and thin handles (perfect for over the shoulder action) they can get all tangled up when trying to unfold and carrying them by your side is impossible – as they drag along the floor.

The Result?
Well, I just love my reusable bags (including the fact that nearly all of them were free with a promotion) and although they each have their uses – they are a zillion times better than plastic carriers – and much easier to use than a bulky rucsack with zips (and the fact that it is on your back!).

I mean, if you get them any bigger, they would just be holdalls – which are of course – reusable bags too!

I think that small reusable bags have filled a niche that needed filling – with or without their perfect eco credentials – and I would be just as happy to use a non-organic material reusable bag over a carrier anyday.

photo credit: New Internationalist

What is this eco friendly living method that is creeping into our lives?

You have probably heard of the Permaculture movement, but aren't really sure what it is all about.  The prefix 'perm' doesn't immediately sound eco friendly or green, but suggests permanency – long term goals and aims.

But long term 'culture'?  The word doesn't instantly connect with your changing lifestyle – but it could.

Define Permaculture:
Well, there are plenty of definitions all revolving about the same point but emphasizing the particular niches within it:

"Permaculture is an approach to designing human settlements and agricultural systems that mimic the relationships found in natural ecologies."

"Permaculture is about designing ecological human habitats and food production systems. This synergy is further enhanced by mimicking patterns found in nature."

"Permaculture is sustainable land use design. This is based on ecological and biological principles, often using patterns that occur in nature to maximize effect and minimize work."

"A system of perennial agriculture emphasizing the use of renewable natural resources and the enrichment of local ecosystems."

Basically, permaculture can be seen as a way of living and farming in synch with the way that nature would do it herself.

In the way that natural cycles in weather, plant distribution, human activities and so forth carry on regardless when unaffected by humans – why can humans fit into that system rather than change it?

Forests grow from bare rock in nature; each plant or animal finding the best way to fit in to the changing habitats – so why can't humans exploit that natural series of events to help them survive – and without affecting it adversely.

Change Isn't Always Good.
We know that over time, a heath will become overgrown with scrub plants which will eventually turn into trees and so a woodland is born – and this is the way that nature works best. 

But when humans want the land to stay free of trees – they have to go against that very natural pattern – and this takes time, energy and money.  For example, large scale farmers have to plough the land regularly to stop other plants growing, kill insects with chemicals, kill wildlife by other means and basically fence off the natural habitats long term and feed and water it excessively in order to grow the 1 thing they want.

However, permaculture looks at growing crops that are naturally occurring there – or can grow well in that location without draining on resources or getting rid of natural plants and animals as a result.

It still isn't an easy job as you need to be able to survive on these crops and make a living from them- but you use nature to help you farm and grow them instead of chemicals and a life-long battle!

The Basic Plan:
Permaculture is a working science with some very technical examples - but its principles can be easily understood.

Ideally a working system would use less energy, increase productivity and help restore or balance the natural environment.

For example housing the duck pond near your flower garden or veg patch so that these ravenous feeders can eat all your garden slugs for free (saving you food for them and chemicals to kill your slugs).  Or growing mature trees over your water source, so that less water evaporates from it and the plants can water themselves. 

photo credit: george.schon

Much of this you might think is common sense – yet we still buy white bread (which has most vitamins and minerals bleached out of it – with man-made vitamins and minerals added back in afterwards) and we sell all our home-grown milk to other countries and then buy milk back from yet more countries to make up the difference!

And the principles of permaculture are just applied to farming methods – they can be applied to almost any human environment including cities!

But that's a whole other story……

Your garden might be green – but is your gardening schedule so eco friendly?

Your garden my well be edging on the eco-friendly side with careful planting, reduced disease and greater wildlife balance – so now look at some of the little things that could reduce it’s environmental impact that you might not have thought of.

By understanding how your plants work; you can reduce water use further, create a greener lawn and reduce pollution.  And by learning about garden processes; you can preserve natural landscapes, improve society and improve your health!

Below are some great garden facts for your plants and garden:

Control Your Water:
Many plants actually grow just as well with reduced watering.  They hold more in their leaves and flowers ‘waiting’ for the next watering.  And too much water can lead to rotting anyway.  Try to halve your watering and see the improvements.

Also, by only watering the actual plants rather than all the mud around them – they will make better use of ground nutrients and grow a better root network. 

If you just empty the entire contents of your watering can over the whole plot then not only are you wasting a lot of that water to evaporation – but the plants roots don’t need to spread far to get that water (and seeds could rot where they sit!). 

And if roots don’t spread far enough to take advantage of available ground nutrients this will result in weaker plants or increased feeding requirements.  So try putting small markers in the ground to mark the exact location of seeds and only water the ground right around your plants for best results.

Also, slightly longer grass will allow it to survive longer in dryer weather and the blades can hold more water.  Really short grass will be the first to die in dry sunny weather – and the dry mud left behind won’t absorb water as well – and will only cause localised flooding when the rains do come!

Mulching Makes A Difference To:
Just as the nutrients in the soil are used for your plants – they are also used for your weeds!  Why spend hours every week pulling out all the weeds – when you can virtually stop them growing in the first place?

Germination and all the growth that take places beneath the ground uses valuable soil nutrients that cannot now be used by your plants!  Each seed needs a certain balance of warmth, moisture and sunlight to germinate – so by covering your beds with at least 10 cms of mulch you will prevent these ‘ideal’ conditions from forming for most seeds. 

No germination – no weeds!

photo credit: jeffreyw

And that thicker layer over your earth will also reduce evaporation and help to keep the soil cooler and less parched: perfect for reduced watering and reduced effort from you weeding; both of which could save you the time to be doing something far more useful!

Save Resources:
By actively making your own compost, growing green fertilisers and maintaining your eco friendly balance (attracting natural predators to kill or outcompete the pests) – you can prevent all that growth, processing, packaging and transportation or man-made fertilisers and pesticides as well as limit the destruction of natural environments like peat bogs and wetland landscapes.

Your compost – reduces demand for water and chemicals to be used in fertilisers
Your compost – reduces the transportation of waste to polluting landfill sites
Your compost – reduces demand on peat cutting and packaging of plant materials
Your compost – offers the perfect home for invertebrates, snakes and birds

Green planting – increases the nutrients in your soil for your plants
Green planting – reduces the land available for weeds to grow on
Green planting – reduce the demand for chemical requirements for maintenance

Eco balance – reduces the need for chemical insecticides and treatments
Eco balance – reduces the risk of disease and plant damage
Eco balance – increases the biodiversity of life in your garden
Eco balance – increases your knowledge of ecosystems and climate change
Eco balance – increase your enjoyment of outside space and wildlife

Do you wish you could grow oranges in your garden instead of apples?

Well, you will be happy to know that there is an easy answer: do nothing.  Just continue on with what you are doing today – and your garden will be transformed!

By carrying on as usual, everyone in the UK can make sure that they will never have a patchy lawn again, no dirty pond to clean out in the winter, no leaves to sweep off the drive in autumn and all round sunshine!

How On Earth?
Well, climate change will raise our global temperatures by 2-4 degrees and most of our native plants will die out (along with most of the wildlife) and be replaced by drought-resistant plants (which don’t shed their leaves).

photo credit: a.dombrowski

Higher temperatures will mean less water – and more hosepipe bans – so your lawn won’t be able to get enough water to survive.  You will then have to replace it for a gravel or stone surface, and watch those delightful ornamental lawns disappear and large grassland fields turn to dried mud.

There will be such a demand for drinking water that fountains, ponds and lakes will either dry up or be turned into reservoirs – so all the native wetland plants and animals will have to go – as we don’t want them to pollute our drinking water supplies, do we!

It’s all part of the Earths plan though – as due to the other effects of climate change, sea level rises will mean that there will less land available for farming, housing, leisure and agriculture – so we won’t have too much of a garden to worry about anyway.  We will all live in flats or terraced housing without plants or grassy parks – think of an Egyptian or Moroccan landscape to get the idea.

Make A Change:
I know we are still hearing the advice to ‘turn of your lights’ and ‘don’t leave your appliances on stand-by’ – but we still aren’t doing it!

Honestly: out of your 10 closest friends – how many haven’t even turned down their thermostat by 1 degree?  How many still leave the tap running while cleaning their teeth?  How many still wash a half empty load of clothes?  Or a 60 degree wash?

At the moment I can safely say that I do not do any of the 4 things listed – but I know plenty of people who still do all 4.  Ironically it is the people with kids who are the worst ‘because they are too busy’ – but they should be the most interested in the future of the planet as their kids are going to be living in it!

Knowing what a plant loves best can make your eco friendly garden tick over nicely!

Eco friendly gardening isn’t all about using organic chemicals and using cold bath water – it’s about eco thinking too.

Yes, by reducing the chemicals you use and using ‘old’ water – you can make a significant difference to the energy demands of your garden – no matter how simple it is.  However, by thinking ahead you can reduce these even further without too much effort!

Just as an overflowing desk results in lower output and the fridge at the wrong temperature wastes food – a plant in the wrong place or with too many other plants around it can be a waste too!

Try planting 10 healthy plants into the same pot.  Even if you water them properly and they are all in the right light – they won’t all grow.  Plants have requirements just like people, food, animals and the Earth – so find out what they like best and you are on to a winner!

photo credit: brockvicky

Good Plant Husbandry:
Here are some simple things to consider with your garden – whether it’s existing or you are planning for the spring. 

A few minutes now can save a lot of time next year – for example with having to re-pot a fast growing plant, water a plant in direct sunshine more, treat a sick plant for disease, increase feeding for plants in the wrong soil etc.  It’s all your time wasted – and its wasted energy and resources too! So;

1) Plant the right plant in the right place according to it’s needs – not where it ‘looks best’!  If you don’t have space in direct sunlight for your sunflowers – then don’t plant them this year – plant something less sunshine dependant instead.

2) Use mulch to prevent splashing onto delicate foliage – not only will this make ornamental plants last longer by increasing the time the leaves are beautiful – but it reduces the water needs of the ground and will offer a haven for helpful invertebrates in your garden. 

3) Plant at ideal distances from other plants to improve ventilation- as every fruit tree grower knows; if you don’t have enough space between branches you will get less fruit in the first place and that any fruit you do grow could rot on the branches anyway!  Just as a crowed train gets sweaty an unhealthy – so do overcrowded plants.  They lose leaves, grow too fast (to try to out compete the neighbouring plants) and are more susceptible to disease.

4) Clear away dead leaves and dying plants when spotted- as the decaying matter can harbour fungus, encourage unwanted insects to the area and get to damp over the winter.  Rotten or dead leaves can be good for composting or mulching – but not while attached to the live plant!  Damp and disease can spread up the dying leaf from contact with the ground and infect or damage the healthy part of the plant in the same way that your arm in a bowl of cold water could make the rest of your body catch a chill! 

And, organic waste can be harmful too! Fallen leaves should be composted rather than left on garden plants as they can stain or damage flowering plants. Yes they are all over woodlands – but trees dont usually have leaves at ground level! A even grass cuttings can be a problem for certain plants as large amounts of cuttings can alter the ph of the soil – and could put certain plants under too much stress as a result – so make sure you are not going to imbalance your soils if growing delicate plants.

5) Keep land and paths even to prevent puddles and flooding- by decreasing the chances of surface water collecting in your garden, you are increasing the chances of this ‘free’ water being used by your plants rather than evaporating away!  Also, puddles forming in badly draining soil could in fact rot your plants where they sit!  Either way – make sure that you watch the way the water flows when you water the plants yourself, and aim to ‘fix’ any areas that hold water for any length of time before there is a real rainstorm!

6) Prune and shape plants well to maximise their growth and appearance – by knowing how each plant likes to grow and being aware of it’s ‘mature’ shape, your pruning could help it to grow more efficiently.  If your plant wants to grow in a ball and you keep trimming it in a square – you could be causing the plant to use more nutrients from the soil to keep throwing out new shoots all the time.  If you want a square plant – then try to plant one of them instead to save time and retain the nutrients in the ground! 

Also, if you grow a plant for it’s flowers – then make sure that you have pruned the stems and shoots to offer the most flower heads on stems that can actually support the fully developed flowers in the first place!  Imagine after several months of growing the flowers – they are too big and make the plant droop, or the stems to snap under the extra weight of a huge dahlia or something!

7) Learn which plants are invasive or likely to grow faster than others - this will help you do be quite ruthless with the pruning and planning for next year.  It means that you can plan to keep them in check during the growing season so as not to cover over or crowd and annual plants; let them grow more over the winter to cover more ground; or remove them completely if they take too much time to control or they are actually a ‘pest’ species that are sprouting up new plants from the cuttings – like buddleia or bindweed!

Planning ahead is always great for eco thinking!

Make some time to go to a show to get some top tips for your eco friendly house and garden!

The whole show doesn’t have to be uber green – just on the right theme, and then you can go and pick out the bits you like and put pressure on the companies that are not offering what you want!

Many tips and tricks for home redecorating or garden landscaping don’t have to be new-fangled and complicated – there are many things that we can do that are eco friendly without even trying!

Also at shows, you get to see products that aren’t found in supermarkets due to their ‘rules’ on listings, like biodegradable toiletries, organic foods and fair trade supplies.  You just won’t find these on the high street – so they bring them to the shows so you can get hands-on experience with them rather than blindly ordering things off the Internet!

1) The National Home Improvement Show - Earls Court, London
With over 18 exhibitors being from energy efficiency companies and talks and seminars from environmentally active lecturers and TV presenters – you know you could be on to a good thing here!

Take your pick from all the departments including renovations, kitchens, bathrooms and gardens as see if you can get some great advice on using the right resources, getting eco friendly appliances and other homewares as well as sustainable produced garden furniture and buildings.

2) The National Wedding Show – NEC, Birmingham
If you are even remotely thinking of getting married – then you must consider a trip to a wedding fair.  Weddings can cost at least £20,000 for a simple affair – so if you are after an eco friendly wedding, then you had better plan in advance to make sure that you get the best products and services booked up in advance – rather than have to settle for second best when you run out of time!

And, there are bound to be things involved with a wedding that you hadn’t really even considered looking in to like car hire and tablecloths!  At a show like this – they have already done all the thinking; just turn up with a notepad and pen and comfy shoes!

3) Mind, Body & Soul 2010 - Olympia, London
Take a day out to unwind from the stresses of life – and try out some of the great relaxation remedies, complementary therapies and practical sessions.

Find yourself surrounded by experts on stress, therapy, yoga and many other well known and well used techniques that could help you realise your potential and make some serious changes in your life, your work or your free time.

Raised Garden

4) Grand Designs Live – NEC, Birmingham
Covering everything from food to flowers, lofts to landscaping and from sash windows to sustainable sheds!

Seriously, it’s not just about buying a plot of land or derilict church and building a massive monstrosity on it like the earlier Grand Design TV Shows – its all about making things better, more eco friendly and long lasting – and not just for 1 home – but for whole communities.  

5) The Baby Show - Earls Court, London
Come here and find out about everything you will need for your little one before they arrive – and for your growing ones who need some new inspiration and equipment – or for yourself to help cope with the new lifestyle that is shaping your every day life.

Not only will your get the chance to try out all the existing products that are new to you – there will also be innovative products and companies out there with something new to the whole world!  Whether it’s a new eco friendly material, new biodegradable toiletries or organic baby foods – you can bet that it is all here!

So, what are you waiting for - make some space in your diary….

I know that net curtains are a bit old fashioned these days – but they protect what’s inside!

So, how about a modern alternative: Blinds.

In winter, an uncovered glass window is just asking to let heat escape 24 hours a day.  So why let it?  Here are some great benefits and tips for modern window coverings – and it’s not just about heat either, but we will start there:

1) Escaping Heat:
If your window isn’t protected from the inside, all the heat from your room is going to head for the outside.  Nature likes to keep everything equal, so if the nice warm air can get outside and mix with the colder air – it will, just like cordial mixing into the glass of water.

If you don’t give the warm air a chance to get cold – all the warm air will stay in your home and keep your fuel bills down.  Blinds and curtains are the equivalent of insulation in your roof: without them the heat just escapes!

Close your blinds as soon as it gets dark outside to trap most of the daytime heat inside.  

2) Letting In The Sun:
In summer it is quite the opposite!  You want all the sunshine you can to come in the windows – flooding your home with warmth.

A net curtain in the way could be a hindrance to this – so blinds are perfectly designed to roll completely out of the way – allowing you room to fill with the sun’s rays – and keep your home warm into the evening.

Use natures power when you can! (and it’s free!)

3) Security:
Closing your window blinds when it’s dark outside is also essential for good security.  Once you lights are on and it’s dark outside – everyone can see straight into your home – with all your electrical goodies on show.

Walking in the streets when it’s dark is a great opportunity for thieves to ‘case the joint’.  They can see everything you are doing – and more importantly – they will know when you are not in!

4) Privacy:
Linked to above, but for those people who have a window actually on the street front – you don’t want people looking in, but you don’t want to shut out the sunshine – so why not fit a half-blind at head height. 

Alternatively you can now order blinds that open from the top rather than the bottom.  Ideal for letting in the light without letting in the nosey parkers!

5) Conservation:
Sunlight and UV rays can damage precious materials and paintings over time, so sometimes you would want to block out the light when it is directly shining onto a certain piece of furniture or art work.

Net curtains won’t do the trick and full curtains will make the whole room pitch black – however blinds can be adjusted to cover only the articles you want to protect, letting the rest of the room stay in sunlight!

6) Style:
And finally – why should saving energy be boring?  It isn’t, you just have to look in the right places.

There are many suppliers of trendy, fashionable, traditional, plain, black-out, bamboo and wood blinds, either fitted into the frame for extra heat and light control, hanging loose – so you can still peak around them, or top opening for privacy.

So, maybe consider using blinds to save money, save energy, protect your property and look great!

I just took my nephews out on a fungal foray in the local woods!

What a great idea for a day trip with the family that is only a short walk from home!  And, as mushrooms only really come out for a few weeks of the year – chances are your kids will see something different every year.

And, mushrooms are so bright – particularly the wax caps – that they are great to photograph too!

Bright Yellow Mushrooms

Where To Look:

Well, you don’t always need to head out to the woods – as many mushrooms prefer old lawns, particularly lawns that haven’t been treated with chemicals or have been dug up a lot.  So maybe you know someone with a large ornamental organic garden you can trawl for fungus!

They are not a easy to see as you might expect from afar – so don’t just look across a lawn of woodland and expect to see them sticking out – you have to walk the land and look at the ground.

You can come across all sorts of delights, including bright pink, red, orange, green and even blue ones – and there was more than one occasion where I thought a lawn was clear until I quite literally stepped on them!

There are also ‘mushrooms’ that look like little yellow, white or pink worms coming out of the lawn which you definitely can’t see from afar.  And of course there are plenty of mushrooms that only grow on trees and old logs – great for the kids to find!

Yellow Finger Mushrooms

And, the fun thing is you don’t even need to know exactly what type they are – you can just enjoy them as they are – and take only pictures home with you.

So, get yourself a camera, a basic guide book, a warm thermos of coffee and go get wet knees taking some great pictures!

Give your kids the chance to become involved in their future.

I know this blog is mainly about your home – there is no reason to think that the outside world isn’t connected to that. You chose your home for it’s location and everything that came with it – but you don’t want to just live in your house for ever.

You want to go out to the local parks and woods, even travel further to other regional areas and zoos – maybe even to the other side of the world to see wildlife and natural landscapes that are unique. And that’s where the biodiversity comes in.

Without this variety, there would be no beauty in the world. Imagine if all animals were either cows or dogs, or only brown or white in color. Imagine if zoos and nature reserves only had squirrels and rabbits in them! It would be awful – and it would not inspire kids to explore the world around them.

The world needs the kids out there discovering things for themselves – as this is how things happen and changes are made. If young people don’t become involved in their surroundings and the amazing variety of wildlife and plants that it supports – then they cannot have a say in their own future or that of their own children down the line.

This Is Biodiversity.
The way that animals and plants interact to survive keeps the status quo. The classic example of ‘the plants feed the herbivores and the herbivores become food for the carnivores’ follows the basic principles but it is not a chain so to speak – it’s a web.

So add to the above that insects are needed to pollinate the plants – but they in turn need other plants for their young to live off and those plants might need to be in a certain location to thrive. They may also (in the case of bees) need to nest in tunnels dug by mice or voles which survive by eating certain other plants and insects.

The list of connections goes on and on through animals and plants of all shapes and sizes – and they all have their part to play in the natural world that we see every day. Everything has changed it’s appearance or shape of needs to fit into a gap in the web so it can survive.

The Competition:
So, why not help your kids to get active and try to capture these connections and these differences with a great photo.

You don’t even have to travel anywhere to get involved as your garden could be home to mini-beasts of amazing colors, butterflies feeding on your plants, birds looking for an easy meal and even small mammals creeping around your garden furniture.

Of course, the further afield you travel the more variety you can find. Bold patterns and bright colors are found in the tropics and larger mammals need a lot of space to thrive – but a simple brown bird can steal the show if it has a specialisation – something about it that makes it different from other birds – like really long legs or a really long beak.

Take a look at the short video on their website to get the finer details - and to find some photo-taking tips – and to see some inspiring shots that have already been added. Your entry could mean that your image is spread across the globe as the best of them all. Not only winning the first prize – but also inspiring the next generation of wildlife protectors.

Something our world is in great need of.

Here, we continue from yesterday, with the final 3 tips on making those small steps to running a healthy eco friendly house!

5) Don’t Do Disposable!  Try to reduce your consumption of disposable items – they are everywhere.  Pens, sticky note pads, razors, toothbrushes, cotton-buds, cotton wool balls, facial pads, tissues, baby wipes, hygiene wipes, even personal ‘lady’ items.

Try to find the longer lasting equivalent – it’s not less hygienic if you do it properly.  For example facecloths instead of wipes or cotton wool is perfectly clean and gets the job done – then gets washed – and does the job all over again!

Toothbrushes with changeable heads and razors with replaceable blades all go towards reducing waste – and reducing your consumption of new materials.

Feminine hygiene products now come unbleached, and in smaller sizes to help reduce waste and resources – but now even come in washable versions.  There is even the menstrual cup today (a small insertable item that will ‘contain’ rather than ‘absorb’) that does away with the need for cotton products altogether!

Similarly, the contraceptive device known as The Coil (an IUD) works perfectly well as a contraceptive device for most women – reducing the need for wasteful alternatives.

In sexually active individuals and couples, one Coil could reduce the need for a continual supply of ‘the Pill’ – filled with either/or both oestrogen and progesterone (which eventually leave our bodies and enter the water system and affecting animals and plants) and could stop the rising tide of used condoms filling landfills or floating down the beach!

6) Buy Big!  Make sure that you buy the largest pack size of your products that you can.  Not only does this reduce packaging per unit – it should also save you money and reduce your weekly trash pile! 

Therefore, not only will you need to shop less as a result, the container is more likely to be re-used for storage.  (You can keep a smaller bottle for decanting into if space is an issue).

Don’t be tempted by promotions or buy-one-get-one-free offers for the smaller products.  They usually work out the most expensive way to buy your products, weight more with the extra containers, use more ink and labels with their individual wrapping or information, take up more room in your house and create more waste.  Therefore their overall ‘cost’ is not actually any cheaper!

And Finally (7):
Try something new if it’s eco credentials impress you.  Remember that advertised brands in commercials and magazines, pay $$$$$$$’s to advertise – and it’s you who pays for it.

You pay for that model to walk along tropical beaches for an ice cream, or that famous person to fly a plane for some anti-aging cream, or a mountaineer to climb a high mountain for a washing powder.  That must mean that they are making a huge profit from you somewhere – and that means that their products are made a lot cheaper than the price you pay!

Unadvertised products usually put a lot more into their products as they sell by word of mouth saving advertising costs.  And, in all honesty – noone recommends a product that doesn’t work, taste good or fit properly. 

So trust a brand that has been recommended by people you know sometimes instead of just believing what you are told on the TV!

Let me know how you get on, or have any other tips…….