It's a Giveaway! Who wants some soapnuts?

Soap what? Soapnuts! That's right, and they are also known as soapberries. Here they are in the nude (tee hee!), but seriously these little ones do wonders when it comes to laundry.  They have saponins, which is a natural surfactant. You may remember that a friend had given me some to try -  a sachet with ground up soapnuts inside - let's just say the ground up soapnuts didn't leave me impressed

So, ever since my hubby has had his skin rashes, I've been using SLS-free Earth Choice with my laundry, but my thinking is that if something is processed there are still chemicals involved in the product so why not go for something even more natural?  AND then I came across thediysecrets and decided to try the soapnuts again! I ordered the 500g bag and waited patiently....

.... and the package came!!!

DIY T-shirt slippers

My son loves slippers but he only wears the ones that hook on between your big toe and middle toe (These are very common in Singapore!). We decided to make t-shirt slippers - refashioned t-shirts !  I've made 3 pairs so far, and I'm planning on making two pairs each per family members so that at least we still have one to wear while the other's in the wash! Yeah, they are washable!!

[Update in Oct 2012: some bloggers have requested for more detail on the DIY weaving. Hope to have that out soon!]

Greeny Crafters 19 - Recycled, Purposed, Renewed

It has been boiling hot over here, and rain has been long overdue!!  Please give us some rain - but not too much!


This week's Greeny Crafter is Mezzy of Recycled, Purposed, Renewed.  

Green Singapore Sale starts today!!!!

The Green Singapore Sale starts today until 22 Jul! Pop over and find the eco-friendly product you need with the map :-)  Only buy what you need! 

Bin-spotting

Bin-spotting - maybe that's what I should call it. I've been on the look out for bins!  I snap a photo when I see a cool looking bin - one that says "Please feed me with your litter, now! 

Here are some I saw in Penang - 

Don't they just add colour to your life?

At least you can see where they are.....

And they have messages on them when you get up close to them!

Beans, beans, beans

Did I say beans? Yes, I did!  But somehow, I think they have a bad reputation because of the stinky odour that gets released after a few hours. Ahem! But they are more affordable than meat and have a very high fiber content.  

Beans come in all sorts of shapes and sizes.  Did you know that beans make & keep us full, and India produces half of the beans on Earth? Beans were featured in the Bible, so they must have been a very important part of our diets a long time ago - in Genesis, Esau sold his birthright to Jacob for bread and a bowl of stewed beans.

Spot the bin

Hmmm....this was at KKH.  I was amused at how well the rubbish bin blended in with the wall (top pic). Was that on purpose?  If I was looking for a bin, I would not see it from afar!!   Compare that with the bin I had seen at Khoo Teck Puat Hospital - who am I going to feed?

They also had two sets of recycling bins .  I like how they had windows (bottom left) so you can see what's inside and also it's a good indication when to empty them!  Seen any good bins lately?

Donating Your Glasses

After I blogged about making pendants out of my old glasses, many friends asked why I had not donated the glasses to charity instead so that those that could not afford to have them could benefit from my donation.  

Well, I found out that the Singapore Medical Group has a Campaign Against Poor Vision - all types of frames and lenses are accepted whether they be sunglasses or short-sightedness specs.  All donated spectacles will be cleaned and classified according to prescription before being distributed to the needy.  You can drop  your old glasses off at  The Lasik Surgery Clinic, Paragon, #13-01/06.  

Greeny Crafter 18 - Trash to Treasure

Hello there! I'm back, or may be trying to be back.  Things have gone crazy at work  but I have managed to find some peace in all the mess. Hopefully, it won't be happening again but on the other hand I can see it will.  I also read this article @ TODAYonline. Our Prime Minister recently posed the questions "Do we want Singapore to be up among the global cities, or do we want to remain where we are today, while the world moves ahead?" and that "If we are content to be average, we will fail".   While I agree that economic growth is important, I really think there needs to be a balance, not just with the environment, but with our health too. I know of friends who literally live out of there small suitcase and doesn't get to go home until Christmas for one week! What life is that?

A cute pj bag from a pillow case!

Green Singapore Sale!

For all of you who don't know Singapore, we have a lot of retail therapy on our small island.  In fact we have over 60 malls (if you include the small ones) in Singapore. They just sprung all over the place.  Anyway, every summer we have the Great Singapore Sale - lots of discounts and lots of people buying things they don't need either.  Why not get yourself ready for the Green Singapore Sale and buy something ethical, sustainable and eco-friendly instead? :-)