Reflections on camping with toddlers

Arriving at the campsite, playing with the boys while the dads set up the tents, having a tasty dinner together, putting the boys to bed the sitting out in the setting sun, drinking wine a chatting with friends till we take ourselves off to our cosy tent for a restful nights sleep.  Have you read the blog Junkaholique?  This is the vision I had in mind. 

This was the image I had in my head of camping with my family and some close friends for the first time.

Ok you can stop laughing  now!

Of course it was nothing like this!  The reality was somewhat different to my imaginings.  To begin with putting up the tent was an absolute nightmare.  It took about two hours, and our children lost their patience long before the tent was erected. The problem? We borrowed a beautiful bell tent off a kind friend but failed to do any research on how to put it up.  This combined with me thinking the tent needed to perfectly even all the way round, no sags or unevenness, was a recipe for a very stressful tent erecting experience.
Because it took so long to get the tent up, dinner was eaten in a fragmented, disjointed way, not the coming together, laughing, joyful event I had fantasised about.
Bed time was another issue, we decided that we should try to get the boys to sleep in the same way we would normally at home, (mistake) so I laid down to feed Biscuit while my husband read stories for Boris.  This started off ok, but soon Biscuit got restless and started wandering round the tent distracting Boris who then decided that he wanted to go home and sleep in his own bed and didn't want to sleep on the floor in a tent after all.  After something like an hour we gave up trying to get them to sleep and decided to just sit outside with them on our laps watching cbeebies on my husbands tablet.  Why didn't we do this to start with?  It would have saved a lot of stress and tears.
The night was fine, we were warm and cosy and dry in the bell tent though bizarrely in spite of my tiredness I couldn't get to sleep?! Waking up in the ethereal light coming through the thick canvas in the morning was a beautiful thing and everything else went well that morning even though we had to get the tent down in the rain.

So lessons learnt from this camping trip:

Be prepared -  As the scouts say, and by this I mean plan ahead.  Find out the arrangement of the camp site (is it fenced in, can a gate be closed or is it always open etc), research how to erect your tent, (maybe even have a practice run in the garden), plan what activities you want to do during the day so you have something to look forward too, and one added stress removed, Find out what the showers and toilets are like so there are no hidden surprises when you are expecting a flushing toilet with all mod cons and you are presented with a porta loo and a hose pipe, or when you are expecting free showers and find you have to pay 20p and you have no change.

Be well equipped - Roughing it can be fun when you are a young single at a festive or a couple biking it round the uk for the summer or such like, but when you are camping with children there are a few pieces of equipment that I highly recommend packing with you.  A table - (thankfully our friends had the foresight to bring one as it didn't occur to us,) it keeps the stove, knives, raw meat (not that we would be eating any of that but you know what I mean) etc out of children's reach and clear from the ground, something to hold water, (three small drinking bottles is probably not enough), chairs, because when you are old and creaky (and just spent 2 hours erecting a tent) sitting on the floor is no fun at all. Wine of course needs no explanation (did I mention it took 2 hours to erect the tent?),

Good enough is good enough - Regardless of the type of tent be it bell, dome or teepee, it doesn't have to be perfect, so long as it doesn't let in any rain or wind the odd wrinkle or fold here and there is completely fine.  The same applies to meals, sleeping bag arrangement, washing and so on. Perfection is neither necessary nor does it add to the enjoyment of the experience, if it's good enough then that's good enough.

Manage your expectations - (read; lower your expectations) The children aren't going to behave in the way they do at home, everything is different and exciting and tiring to them, if they resist washing, eating, going to bed etc don't fight it, go with the flow, maybe your children go to sleep in ten minutes and maybe they won't and if they won't that's ok, one night of no teeth brushing isn't going to result in any teeth falling out, and a meal of marshmallows instead of the delicious pasta dish you prepared in advance isn't going to do any harm as a one off.

Bring entertainment - (and don't feel bad about using it) Be it games like cricket, football or throwing a Frisbee, some toy cars, colouring books or the trusty tablet with some pre downloaded episodes of Charlie and Lola, entertainment for the kiddos is important, and there is no need to beat yourself up for letting them watch cbeebies on the tablet if it helps them calm down of an evening or keeps them safe whilst dinner is cooking.

Be there for your children:  Camping for the first time can be both exciting and scary for a small child.  They may get upset for what seems to be the most irrational reasons, but it's important to remember that their feelings matter especially when they are in a new and strange setting.  It is more important to be present for your children than to get the tent up in record time, even if it means stopping for a cuddle now and then (did I mention that the tent took two hours to erect?? TWO HOURS).

All my own work

In spite of this somewhat pessimistic sounding reflection of camping with toddlers, I would actually go again because the camping side of it I really enjoyed.  There is so much freedom in leaving behind your worries and possessions and being much closer to nature, it is easy to leave your problems behind when you can watch a sunset or sun rise and enjoy the peace of being surrounded by trees and the feeling of grass underfoot. I didn't even mind the midnight walk to the porta loos (thanks tiny bladder) or the three minute shower (the motion detector light went off halfway through), there is a certain novelty to be found in cooking on a single ring camping stove and drinking wine from an enamel mug, I hope it doesn't wear off and I hope that there will be many more camping trips for our family in the future.

Special thanks to Neill and Hannah for being so kind, patient and organised. And to Charlotte for lending us her beautiful bell tent.

7 Days of Vegan Breakfasts - Cinnamon Porridge

Since I have been eating a plant based diet people have been asking me what I am eating.  I know how hard it is to imagine eating meals without meat and dairy ( I used to eat them remember?) but there is more to being vegan than tofu and kale.  I love food, I didn't become vegan because I don't like meat, I used to love meat, and cheese and butter!  So it is important for me to eat meals which are really tasty.  

If you are looking to move to a plant based diet or reduce the amount of meat and dairy you consume then breakfast is a really good place to start because more often than not people don't tend to have meat for breakfast, and dairy and eggs are really easy to switch out.  

So I have put together a weeks worth of vegan breakfasts which are all really tasty and (mostly) healthy.  I hope you will find something that you can enjoy and maybe some which will surprise you.  This is of course not an exhaustive list of breakfasts, virtually ANY breakfast can be made vegan, so get on those veggies, get those carbs in and start enjoying your life without causing suffering to other beings, low fat and full of energy. 

How amazing does this porridge look?  I want some right now! 

Porridge is my go-to breakfast, it's tasty, filling, gives you energy and is full of nutrients such omega fatty acids, calcium, magnesium, potassium and folates.  

Couple the oats with a delicious plant milk such as Almond and you are getting a good hit of calcium and vitamin E, plus it's low in fat, WIN!! 

I add a teaspoon of cinnamon and them drizzle (probably a bit too much) golden syrup on top.  Yuuuuum!!

Here is the recipe:

1/2 cup ground oats (you don't have to grind the oats but I like the ground because it makes a nice smooth porridge)

1 cup of a plant milk of your choice.  (I usually use rice milk because it makes a really smooth porridge, if you use soya It seems to work better with half water.)

1 tsp cinnamon,

1 tbs golden syrup.

Grind the oats in a blender, the mix in a saucepan with the milk,  cook on a low heat and stir frequently (continuously is better but who has time for that?)  Add the cinnamon, and stir it in.  when it reaches your desired consistency pour into your favourite bowl and serve with the syrup.  I also like to have a cup of lady grey tea with my porridge.  

Hope you will pop back soon to see another tasty vegan breakfast recipe.  You can keep up to date with posts by subscribing via email (right hand side near the top of the blog)  or by liking my facebook page. 

My Skincare Routine

If you have met me you may be wondering why people might be interested in learning my skincare routine, I'll be honest, my skin doesn't look great, it's not especially smooth (I am 31, there are wrinkles) and I get the odd spot.  But the reason I wanted to share it with you is because for years I suffered with terrible eczema, particularly through my teenage years, it's sensitive, flare-ups of eczema still happen from time to time, but I know how to deal with them now without a load of toxic chemicals and I wanted to share my routine and the products that I use so that if you, or your child has a tendency towards eczema you can have some ideas of how to treat it without the use of prescription medicines.

It all began a few years ago when I read a book called Skin Deep by Pat Thomas.  Until then I had been using Nivea soft as my main moisturiser and rather shockingly (but at the time I didn't think that much of it) after applying it my skin would burn (why did I think this was ok?!)

After reading the book I realised the damage I was causing to my skin and body by slathering it with chemicals, and not just my moisturiser but also toothpaste, deodorant and shampoo.  I immediately switched to using natural oils on my skin and gradually changed all my other toiletries to more natural products too.  There was definitely a transition period with my skin where it felt dreadful, it lasted about a week but once I got through that, I haven't looked back.  

Commercial skin care products contain many ingredients that can be harmful to the body.  One of the most commonly occurring being mineral oils such as paraffin oil.  According to Pat Thomas mineral oils can "Impede the skin's ability to breathe, attract moisture and detoxify.  It can also slow down cell renewal and promote premature aging".  This is just the tip of the iceberg, and moisturises that claim to access deep layers of skin contain chemicals that drive the moisturisers further into the skin which therefore drives the nasty, sometimes carcinogenic chemicals further into the skin (and the body) too.  And that's before we even start to talk about ingredients like perfumes, preservatives such as parabens and foaming agents like Sodium Lauryl Sulphates which can all be harmful to the body.

So I began by using natural oils on my face initially olive oil, then wheatgerm and jojoba oil.  I found a fantastic website called Akamuti that sold natural oils and moisturisers made from natural oils that suited my skin perfectly. I also found you could buy some natural oils in bulk such as shea butter (which is fairly traded with Ghanaian women)  and coconut oil.

Before I shower in the evening I do a quick bit of body brushing, it exfoliates, gets the lymphatic system moving, it improves circulation and releases stress.  I wash with just water and a bit of organic soap where I need it.  I wash my hair about every other night.  I have had about as many problems with an itchy scalp as I have with eczema and have tried many many shampoos.  At the moment I am using Avelon organics scalp normalizing shampoo and conditioner, and inbetween I am treating my scalp to an overnight coconut oil mask which also includes a few drops of lavender oil, eucalyptus oil and tea tree oil.  All of which have anti-viral, anti-fungal and antibacterial properties.  I wash it off in the morning with the shampoo.  It has really helped a lot, though I don't feel like my scalp is totally normal it is much better.

Sometimes I have a detoxifying bath using pink himalayan salt (or epsom salts if I am out of the pink stuff), bicarbonate of soda and fullers earth clay.  This treatments is really good for drawing out toxins and heavy metals and soothing irritated skin.  It's also really relaxing and just feels like such a treat.

After my shower I use the Akamuti Avocado Night Cream on my face and coconut oil on my chest where I also get dry skin from time to time, which I buy from a website called Real Foods. Coconut oil is an excellent moisturiser because it is the most similar to the skins natural sebum, the small molecular structure of coconut oil allows it to be absorbed easily into the skin.  I also use Shea butter on particularly dry areas such as my heels and lips.  Shea butter is a rich, creamy, hard moisturizer when unrefined and melts into a smooth oil on the skin, is rich in vitamins A, E and essential fatty acids.

I begin my day using Akamuti Evening Primrose Day Cream on my face.  If my skin is going through a bad patch I might use some of their Replenishing Rose Face Cream or another natural oil such as Pomegranate Seed Oil. I also use some organic unrefined coconut oil as a moisturiser on my chest.

As for deodorant, I stopped using them years ago in favor of a deodorising crystal.  Weirdly I don't get too much body odor now, compared to when I was teaching anyway.  I think I am a bit like a skunk; if I am put in a particularly stressful situation my body reacts like a skunk does in the presence of a predator and releases a ghastly odor from my arm pits to scare off the predator.  I don't face the same stresses as a fulltime-mother as I did a teacher (still stressful but different types of stress) so I find I don't even need to use the crystal deodoriser.  I do use some coconut oil and if it's a special occasion I might use a dab of essential oil such as lavender. I also use a bit of coconut oil on my armpits in the evening before bed.

Millions of plastic toothbrushes end up in landfill every year here in the UK, so my teeth are now brushed with natural bristles held a bamboo tooth brush (I bought this one) and I brush with a non-foaming (slight phobia of bubbles) fluoride free toothpaste called Sarakan which I also buy from Real Foods.

So there you have it.  That's how I roll as far as my skin goes, it's working for me at the moment, and I feel good about the fact that I am not using nasty chemicals, which are harmful to me and the environment, they are also all vegan.  I highly recommend switching over to more natural skincare products, many of which can be made at home which also minimises packaging. Check out Trash is for Tossers' home made tooth paste and whipped body lotion.  By the way I am not affiliated with any if these products. I just genuinely love them.

Fun Things to do With Toddlers - A Week of Activities!

We've been busy!  it's been a fun and activity filled summer, here are some of the things we have been doing in a bumper week of fun toddler activities. 

There is nothing like a walk in the woods, there is so much to look at smell and touch.  We often walk in woods but on this occasion I was more purposeful with out intention.  We would collect some woodland stuff and make it into a woodland/nature art piece. 

Boris got very excited about picking up different sticks and pine cones and putting them in the bag.

He looked more carefully at things and showed me things more than he normally would because he knew he would be keeping it for something special later.

We explored the beautiful light that seems to always be present in the woods and talked about how tall the trees were.  We noticed the way the texture of the ground changed and we off the beaten path to explore under, in and around the trees and bushes. 

When we got home I did have a go at encouraging Boris at join me in making some sort of hanging art piece but he wasn't interested so I just laid out the pieces we had collected, for him to explore. 

A Walk in the Woods

A couple of days ago, the sun was out (rare) so I decided to take the kiddos for a walk in some lovely woods near me.  The land which houses my allotment is directly next door to these woods and I am reliably informed by one of my allotment holder friends that the woods used to be an arboretum for a large manor house that used to stand nearby. There is a huge variety of trees in the small area of woodland which is fascinating and provides a fantastic learning environment for little ones to explore.
Here are a few snaps of our visit, even in the winter the place is beautiful, there are so many interesting textures, patterns and colours to stimulate the senses.

Puddles offer endless enjoyment to toddlers

Textures

Reflections

Beautiful vistas

The sun through the trees

I am much more relaxed when walking in the woods with Boris because I know he isn't likely to knock his teeth out if he falls, unlike if we are walking on the pavement.

Fascinating twisted trunk

Popping bubbles on the surface of a puddle

Feet photos

Lots of picking up of sticks and leaves

The all important selfie!

I really hope that as my boys grow up, visiting the woods becomes a part of our weekly routine, I think there is so much to learn from the forest and it makes me feel calm and grounded.  I hope they will find the same peace and tranquillity from the trees that I do.  I am so thankful that we have spaces like this near our home to enjoy. 

Do you have natural spaces near where you live?  Do you have children who like to explore the forest?

40 Soups - Mushroom

Over on my old blog Serendipity Child I started a series of posts call 40 soups based on a theme on a blog I follow by Elise Blaha, although I didn't get far with it, I loved it and have decided I would like to carry it on on this blog.  I really love soup and as it is coming into Autumn and winter when soups are the perfect warmer I thought I would share them with you.
Not only are soups easy to make they are also nutritious, enabling you to eat a few portions of your five a day in one easy meal.  My toddler usually likes them to, I give him the unblended version so he has pieces of food to pick up with his fingers and leave out cream because he has a dairy sensitivity.
This week I made mushroom soup for the first time. I didn't follow a recipe (I rarely do for soups) I just thought about what I would like to do and went ahead.  It isn't the cheapest soup to make because it required a whole pack of mushrooms, but was very very tasty.

I used:
One pack of organic chestnut mushrooms,
One large organic onion,
Three cloves of allotment garlic,
One kallo chicken stock cube,
1 tbs organic olive oil,
A dash of organic double cream.

To begin I chopped the onion and garlic and fried it in the olive oil.  I then chopped the mushrooms and addded them till they went soft and watery.  Next I added enough water to cover the mushrooms plus a bit more and added the chicken stock cube.
After cooking for about 15 mins I blended the whole thing and added the cream.
Served with crusty white bread it was absolutely delicious and tasted just like a bought fresh mushroom soup.
What soup recipes do you love?

Allotment Update

Or - What went down at the allotment in 2013:

I originally took on my allotment from the local council about 5 years ago, shortly after we moved into the area, things have changed so much there over the years, but I am still not on top of it.  I wonder if you can ever be "on top" of mother nature?  This year I knew that I didn't want to over do it by planting loads of different, exotic vegetables, so stuck with what I know works and what I could manage.  With it being such a dry hot summer things didn't flourish as much as they could have if I had watered on those dry days but I still
harvested a modest amount of food considering how little work I put in.  It is so difficult to get down there with a toddler in tow, he is so curious and loves to explore so I have to either go there and hope he falls asleep in the car on the way or wait until I can go there with someone else who can watch him while I get on.  I am still so thankful to have it though it will be wonderful when Boris is a bit older and I won't have to worry about him eating something he shouldn't or wandering into other peoples' plots.

So now I am just starting to shut everything down at the allotment in preparation for both winter and my impending childbirth, covering the ground in plastic and picking the last of the harvest, a few small beetroots and, some runner beans and a couple of courgettes.  My mum helped me a couple of weeks ago, tidying the edges, tucking everything under the plastic and laying more plastic to keep the weeds at bay.

So I thought it was a pretty good time to do a little review with some photos of the allotment I took a few weeks ago.  I can't believe how much the weather has changed in such a short amount of time!  We were in the heart of summer what seemed like yesterday and now it seems like everything is closing down.
So here is what went down:

The last of the courgettes

The last of the rather straggly looking runner beans,

Small harvest

View of the whole allotment, my mum helped me put down the black plastic. 

What are you currently doing at the allotment?  Are you putting anything in?  Or just taking things out and covering things up? 

Washable Wet Wipes

This post was first published on Serendipity Child on 27/07/2012

If there is one thing that most parents seem to not be able to live without then it has to be wet wipes.  I often hear other mothers lamenting the cost of nappies, formula and wet wipes and I sigh thankfully to myself and think how glad I am that I am not having to spend money on two out of those three essentials.

Don't get me wrong, I am no saint, I was using cotton wool and water for this first five months of my son's life, and still use disposable nappies but I realised that I needn't be filling up our dustbins with yet more detritus, that, although admittedly will eventually bio-degrade, will take a long time under all that plastic.  So in order to eliminate that little bit extra waste I decided I could make my own wet wipes.  This idea struck me after reading the chapter about babies in The Self-sufficientish Bible, they suggest cutting up polyester fleece to use as wipes, but seeing as I had a lot of cotton flannelette left from the neckerchief/bandanna bibs I thought this would be a better material.  Not only is cotton more natural that synthetic fleece, but I figured it might also be more absorbent.  Also small particles that end up in our waterways during laundering would not cause harm to aquatic life like a synthetic fabric would.

To begin with I tore up my flannelette into long strips which were the width of a sheet of toilet tissue.  I then cut these strips into smaller toilet tissue sized rectangles.  Initially I thought to make them wet-wipe sized, but decided that toilet paper size was sufficient, and should I decide they ought to be bigger in future I could just make more.

Next I stitched round each edge with a wide zig-zag on the sewing machine.  I don't think that this step is essential, but I thought it might make them last a bit longer as it will stop them fraying in the wash. 

Then just keep going until you have as many as you need.  I must have made about 50 initially, but may  make more depending on how many I get through in a day.

To store them I put mine into a plastic tupperware type box with a slosh of water to keep them moist.  You could also add a few drops of something like grape seed oil which is the only other ingredient in waterwipes, or soak the water in chamomile tea before putting the wipes in. 

Better for your pocket and better for baby's bottom too because they don't contain any of the nasty chemicals found in commercial wet-wipes.

Once used place them into another plastic container with a tight lid which will not only keep in any smell but will keep them moist making them easier to wash.  (much harder to get out dried on poo than the soft wet stuff) You can wash them as you would washable nappies.  I will be washing them at 30 degrees with Bio D Laundry Liquid.

Using my voice regarding supermarket waste

In recent times I have become more and more concerned about the waste that my small family of three have been sending to landfill, or rather to the waste-to-energy incinerator that disposes of the waste in my borough  (which still produces toxic air pollution and toxic waste that goes to landfill).  Perhaps it is having a child and one on the way that makes me think about what the world will be like for them when they are grown up, I really don't want to leave a planet filled with toxic waste, pollution and mountains of non-biodegradable plastic.
I recently read that in America one ton of waste per person is disposed of every year and that so much rubbish has been discarded irresponsibly that there is a massive floating gyre of plastic the size of Texas swirling around the Pacific Ocean.  In fact 25% of all plastic ends up in the sea*. 
We are lucky enough to be able to buy a lot of organic food from the True Food Co-op, where we can buy most of our groceries loose and thus take home no plastic packaging to put out with our rubbish, unfortunately it isn't always convenient to go there and I often end up doing my weekly shop in a supermarket, more specifically Sainsburys.
Obviously some waste is recyclable, our local council recycles paper, card, tin cans and plastic, but only plastic in the shape of bottles which was the main focus of my dilemma, so much food, particularly organic food at Sainsburys comes in plastic wrapping, bags or trays and the only thing for it is to send it to the waste-to-energy incinerator.  I felt so unhappy about this that I decided to collect a weeks worth of plastic and return it to the supermarket because I read that supermarkets have a legal obligation to dispose of their waste responsibly.  It would also be sending them a message that I am not happy about the amount of waste that surrounds their food.
By the end of the week I had a good carrier bag full of non-recyclable plastic waste including things like fruit nets, plum punnets and cereal bags and today I took it back to the store.
I was really nervous because I didn't want to be laughed at, but also didn't want to be thrown out of the store!  I asked to speak to the store manager who came down and I expressed my concerns to him (Martin), I expressed particularly how the bag contained the waste from just a family of three and to think about how much there must be from all his customers combined, he listened carefully and took my name and number so that I would get some feedback after he passed on my complaint to their head-office. I told him that I realised that my small action probably wouldn't have much effect but I felt that I needed to say something.  I was polite and calm and didn't get aggressive or angry. 
I am really pleased that I did this. I know that I am only one small voice but if someone doesn't speak up then who will? 
I intend on emailing Sainsburys with further comments to reinforce my message.  I really do want someone to take note of this issue as it really can't continue.
Have you ever taken peaceful action against an organisation that has acted in a way that you disagree with?  What did you do?  What was their response?

 

Just some of our non-recyclable waste

*Revolution in a Bottle - Tom Szaky

Eco-friendly Bathroom Cleaning

This post was originally published on Serendipity Child on Sunday 17th March 2013

Let me just make things clear from the start because some people do get confused, I don't like cleaning, what I like is things being clean, there is a difference, and this is key to what follows.
Before I have a bath, I always give it a clean, I don't like that soapy scummy thing than stays on the bath after it's been used to shower in, so why would I let my lovely baby wash in a bath with scummy sides if I am not willing to? With that in mind I wash the bath before he uses it.  To maintain a bed time routine we wash him every night so, therefore, I wash the bath every night.  I realise this may sound excessive but it has actually made life a little bit easier easier and happier, so that can't be a bad thing.

The process of cleaning itself has also received a transformation of late, in the past I used ecover cleaners, or when that ran out I used whatever shampoo or shower gel we had lying around not being used.  But I was never really happy with how clean it was, there were still water marks and lumps of limescale here and there.  I started to use vinegar and bicarbonate of soda to clean the bathroom initially because I had run out of anything else and this was a last resort, (I had read about it somewhere)  to my happy amazement the more I used it, the cleaner the bathroom got, it is so much shiner than it ever has been.  I realise this may sound like a really dull thing to share, and I am not telling you to say "look how wonderful and eco-friendly I am" (clearly not that eco-friendly or I would have been doing this all along) or "aren't I amazing, I clean the bathroom everyday"  but we use the bathroom a lot and it being clean and tidy makes me happy, and knowing I am harming the environment and my health less also makes me happy so it might make you happy too (sharing the love).

Bicarbonate of soda and vinegar are far safer for the environment than the medley of chemicals that most bathroom cleaners contain which contaminate the waterways and use of valuable fossil fuels to extract, not to mention the risk of skin irritation and potential lung damage from toxic fumes and perfumes.  There is also less waste afterwards because I am buying less packaging so throwing less away, and it is waaaay better for the purse as well because bicarbonate of soda and vinegar are super cheap.
Here is what happens:
I go up to the bathroom at Boris' bedtime and hose down the bath and walls,  I then spray round the bath and walls with a solution of distilled malt vinegar and water (about half vinegar to water) then I sprinkle bicarbonate of soda on a loofah.  I then scrub round the bath and walls of the shower and the tap and shower fixings.  I do the same on the basin and spray the bowl of the toilet.  I then hose down the bath and walls and rinse round the basin with a cotton cloth. I sprinkle some bicarbonate of soda into the toilet bowl and scrub round with the loo brush, I then wipe over the whole of the toilet with a wet cotton cloth, then again with a dry cotton cloth (top to bottom with the bowl the last thing). I then run the bath and while the bath is running I do one of the following each day - spray the window and window sill with the vinegar solution and wipe with a cotton cloth, do the same on the mirror and shelf above the basin, spray and wipe the shelf behind the toilet, clean the walls, wipe the floor.

This whole process takes no more than about 7 minutes and means that every time I or a guest go in the bathroom I know it is going to be clean. Gone are the days when I would spend over an hour once a week cleaning the bathroom, an experience I used to dread, because it is cleaned so frequently the dirt doesn't get a chance to accumulate so it wipes away much more easily that is it has been festering for a week.  Quite often my husband will do the cleaning instead of me so that's even less work.  He was worried that the bathroom would end up smelling like a chip shop but the smell goes within a couple of minutes.

I get a big tub of bicarbonate of soda and a big bottle of vinegar from Makro because it's really cheap.  I think the bicarb was about £1.99 (1.15 kg) and the vinegar about £2.99 (5 litres).  I could get organic vinegar and bicarb from the True Food co-op if I was going to be really ethical, but it is more expensive and cost is more of a priority for our family at the moment.  I use a loofah to scrub with because I don't like the thought of the small pieces of plastic breaking off a conventional sponge and entering the waterways and I use cotton cloths that I cut from an old, thinning towel and hemmed.
I really hope I have encouraged you to have a go at using bicarbonate of soda and vinegar to clean your bathroom because it is far better than any conventional cleaners I have tried.
Let me know how you get on.