After spending the last year and a half going back to basics, as per a previous post, it is time to push myself a bit more. What do I want to do for work, how will I challenge myself, what are the things that are important to me and fit with my values, and how do I want my household to look and run?

To start the thinking process I am writing an ongoing list of what I like doing (now and in the past), what skills I have, and what interests me. This is helping me to channel what I like and am good at, what I want to learn or improve at, and what is really important to my values. And there are definitely some common themes. If it is something you have never done I recommend it as it really gets you thinking.

One thing that is important to me is animal welfare. I have been vegetarian for 26 years, buy cruelty free, have rescue dogs etc.

As I get older , and especially since I’ve had kids, how we look after the planet and being sustainable is also really important. I also like to support Australian made and owned where I can. I cut down waste as much as I can (as a side note my neighbour puts more in my rubbish bin than me as it is never full). We did have a worm farm, although they unfortunately didn’t survive the hot Australian summer so we need to find a better location.

Quite a while ago I swapped my skincare routine all to Sukin which is an Australian company that make beautiful, natural skincare. And at my hairdressers recommendation I use Eleven Australia hair products.

However there is a gap between my cleaning products and my values. This may come from a time a while ago when money was extremely tight and I was watching every dollar, or maybe because I was time poor and took the easy way out. However financially I am in a better position now, and time is not a good enough excuse.

So I started researching and there are so many new companies out the doing great things in this area.

• Reusable packaging from glass, aluminium or recycled plastic.
• Refills that come in compostable packaging (note to self – must bring back the worm farm) or in packaging you send back to be refilled.
• Natural cleaning ingredients and fragrances
• Programs implemented to ensure they are carbon neutral and helping the environment through planting trees or cleaning up oceans

It made me so happy but it was so overwhelming, and hard to know where to start. So I narrowed it down to those that provided all of my key criteria – reusable initial containers, refillable product that comes in recyclable/compostable packaging, Australian business, natural ingredients and still cost effective. This got me to two companies. One was having a great one day sale on slightly imperfect containers as they didn’t want to waste them and that got me over the line.

Pleasant State seems to tick all the boxes for me apart from one – they do not have a hand soap. However like many of these companies they are relatively new so that could change down the track. And there are other companies I can buy that from anyway. I am starting with the starter pack and will review once I have used the products.

I feel good that I am starting to make more changes. I will use up the products I have here first of course as I am trying not to be wasteful. Over the rest of the year I want to start introducing more eco friendly products into my house. Let me know if you have any great recommendations from products you have tried.

• Thoughts on life