The Rubbish Diet Challenge, Week 6: Up close and personal

One of these bottle is made from 100% recycled plastic.  Can you spot which one?

Welcome back to the Rubbish Diet Challenge.  It's week 6 already and if you've been busy sorting out how you can reduce waste in the garden, you'll be grateful for an opportunity to relax and pamper yourself indoors.

And there will be the chance to pamper yourself this week, plus time to browse the shelves for some beautiful cosmetics that are kinder to your bin as well as your complexion.  However, there are some hard decisions to make too, thinking about the kinds of things that would normally make you blush.

This week's guide discusses all sorts of things from make-up, to toilet paper and even sanitary products.  And for any guys who are looking in, don't worry, it's not all girlie business: if you have teeth and need to shave,  there are some ideas that might appeal to you too.

Indeed, there should be something for everyone, including tots, kids, the middle-youth and elderly.  And as ever, if you can't recycle it, this guide encourages you to find a reuse for it.   

You'll be surprised what you can reuse these days.  Even toothpaste tubes can be reused, as Mrs Green over at MyZeroWaste discovered recently.  She's even launching a collection point at her local Sainsburys and Tesco this week and will send them to a charity called the Philippines Community Fund.  See her blog for details.

And did you know, surgeries across the UK have the opportunity to collect unused and unopened medicines for medical aid in Africa?  It's all above board and will keep valuable drugs from being buried or burned.

You'll find details about this and lots more in the new online guide for Week 6, called Up close and personal, which is available now at:

http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek6

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Kids in a Fizz: Just in time for Christmas

This weekend, I took the children to their favourite cafe in Bury St Edmunds: Coffee 'n' Kids, in Langton Place, where we went to road-test their latest and most exciting party activity ever...making bath bombs! And my goodness, I would never have thought that making those fizzy things would be so blimmin' easy, or indeed so much fun.




All they had to do was gently rub a bowl full of bicarbonate of soda, which had been combined with a little citric acid. Then adding a couple of drops of yellow and blue liquid, they watched the colour of the powder gradually change before their very eyes.



They added a scent of their choice. The mixture was then sprayed with some water and scrunched together as if making dough, before being pushed into a mould, where it was left to harden. A process that didn't take long at all.




And eh presto! No sooner said than done, the kids had a couple of solid bath bombs to take home with them!


And don't they look great!

As you can probably guess, I had no trouble getting both of them in the bath that evening...or indeed the next!

Now that they are smelling a lot more fragrant than normal, the boys can't wait to have another go and experiment with the different moulds, to make hearts as well as the traditional ball.

And with Christmas around the corner, we've got just enough time to get cracking on some very special hand-made gifts that'll make a nice change from their home-made invisible bogie biscuits. You know the ones I mean...fingers in dough one minute - and when you're not looking - up the nose the next...

So you see, there's no doubt about it that these gorgeous bath bombs are a healthier option and much more pleasant too. Dried flower petals can also be added to make an extra special gift for all the aunts out there. So huge thanks to Jo, the lovely owner, for introducing us to this fizzy adventure and giving an extra special touch to our weekend. We will most definitely be back very soon.

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