Is Your Shopping Shocking?

Being the generally nice person that I am, I offered to be a Good Samaritan to one of my friends recently when her car had broken down and was in the garage for repairs.

I offered to take her to the supermarket for her weekly family shop that she very sensibly does while her kids are at school and her husband at work. This way she can stick to her budget and only buy things on her shopping list of essentials without the pressure of pester power from her children, or her husband sneaking in extra packs of beer or bottles of wine.

However, I could not help to notice the things she was adding to her trolley that I would never buy myself in a million years!

I think I could have halved her shopping bill if I was allowed to remove all the stuff I considered unnecessary.

I am talking about things like cans of air freshener, car freshener, plug in air fresheners, furniture polish, window cleaner, bleach, deodorant, anti-perspirant spray, body spray, hair spray, hair mousse, anti-wrinkle cream, and shaving foam to mention but a few.

Now please dont get me wrong, I do not live in a filthy house with grime line around the bath, or smell of BO while flies buzz around my head in circles. OK most days my hair looks like it has been dragged through a hedge backwards, but no amount of hair product could ever make my unruly locks look any different, and I refuse to waste my hard-earned money on these expensive and unnecessary items that you can certainly live without.

Then there is the very real health risk of using so many aerosol products in a confined space. I know that these days the harmful chlorofluorocarbons (CFCs) that were once used in aerosols have now been removed from practically every country because of the damage they were doing the environment, but the replacement gasses used are a very potent and volatile mix of hydrocarbons. The downside of this is that these gasses are very flammable, and also inhaling them into your respiratory system could potentially add some very nasty toxins into your body that your immune system will constantly have to fight to keep under control.

There have been various reports in the medical media over the years about links between aluminium contained in anti-perspirants with breast cancer and altzheimers. I know there have been just as many reports refuting the links, but you could say there is no smoke without fire, so to be on the safe side, if you do not use these things in the first place, then you will never have to spend time worrying about the possible risks.

Less worry = more fun! Plus more money in your pocket from not having to buy any of these things.

Maybe if my friend stopped buying these items and switched to more natural alternatives, she would be able to find the extra money for more treats for her husband and children?

As for me I am quite happy to keep on using my natural crystal deodorant, coconut oil for my wrinkles, damp dusting my house, vinegar and bicarbonate of soda for cleaning, and I really do not mind if my house smells of fresh ground coffee or the food I have been cooking. I am a pretty good cook, and my food, and therefore my home, smells delicious thank you very much!