Simple Things: Homemade Lip Balm

I whipped up a new batch of lip balm last night. It's not the first time I've blogged homemade lip balm but it's been a while. It's been years now since I bought any commercial lip balm and I really couldn't bring myself to do it any more. Even when my own pots of balm have run completely dry and there's not a sliver of balm to be found, I'll put up with dry lips for a few days until I get a chance to make up a batch rather than buy a commercial product. I probably need to work on keeping my supplies up before I run out but that's for other days.

There are so many good things about making your own (if you're a lip balm addict). For starters, you know exactly what goes into your balm, and that usually means no nasty chemicals (I have seen recipes around that suggest putting some favourite lipstick in for a colour tint, but to my mind that just introduces chemicals which are what we're trying to avoid). Then there's the cost difference, which is huge. I produce five small pots of balm for a couple of dollars, max. I don't even know what a lip balm costs these days, last I saw they were around the $4 mark for a tube. So for five of them, that's roughly $20. I mean, it's probably not going to break the bank but still, paying a lot more for a lot more chemicals is not a win in my book. Then there's the packaging side of things. Making balm at home, you can use pots and lids that you just wash and re-use - no waste. Buying commercial usually means buying plastic that ends up in landfill somewhere. All good reasons to do it yourself!

There's millions of lip balm recipes online but this time around I used my recipe that I adapted from one in the book Down To Earth by Rhonda Hetzel. The only sticking point for me with this one is the use of beeswax and honey - and I say that as I'm tending towards vegan living these days, and well - bees. This time around I just went with it as I was desperate for lip balm and I had all my ingredients on hand, but perhaps next time I will look for some non-animal-source ingredients. Which is one of the important things that helps make the shift from buying commercial to making your own with lots of things, having the ingredients on hand. It's so easy to just keep doing what you do, keeping the status quo and promising 'next time' to yourself (as I have done here). Having the ingredients you need within easy reach just means there's no excuses. And from there it's literally a 5 minute job to whip up a batch of lip balm. Anyway I'll share this simple recipe as a starting point, it does make a lovely balm (don't ever be tempted to use coconut oil in lip balm - I thought it would be great but no, it's not so great in warm weather).

Simple Homemade Lip Balm (makes 5 small pots like those pictured)

3 Tbs beeswax
3 Tbs Sweet Almond oil
1 Tbs honey
2 drops lavender essential oil (optional, or whatever you like that you're comfortable with)

Melt the beeswax in a small saucepan over very low heat. When it's melted, remove from heat and stir in Sweet Almond oil, honey and lavender oil. Pour into clean pots and pop on lids. Allow some time for it to cool and set, and that's it. Super easy!

There's something so completely rewarding in making your own products, whatever they may be, rather than buying them. And each little product that you make feels like only one small thing, and it probably is, but over time and as you make more and more of your own needs at home, you start to rely less and less on companies and manufacturing, and more and more on yourself. And that is always a wonderful thing.

A few of my favourite things, lately.

Some of these are from a while ago now and some are more recent.

A beautiful old door and flowers at the place we stayed at in Port Fairy recently.  Those flowers sum up how my stay here made me feel, when everything was turned upside down in my world.

Simple Natural Living: How To Make Your Own Natural Lip Balm
I don't have a lip balm recipe I'm happy with yet, and I make it so infrequently that I forget in-between what to do. So this is where I will go next time I'm making lip balm. Such simple ingredients, and so easy.

Schooling the World
I saw a link for this over on Owlet blog last year sometime, and I was completely blown away. It was a real eye opener, for me especially when thinking about what I saw on my travels in Nepal and Tibet a few years ago. I would love to write more about this one.

Tiger Iron Star
This is just my favourite thing on Etsy this week. I put it in my favourites and every time I see a little image of it, I just love it all over again. Tiger Iron is one of my favourite crystals to work with and this star shape just really appeals, for some reason.

{A Meaningful Garden} Sophie Isobel Asher
I love this meaningful garden series that Bec at Think Big Live Simply puts together. This piece from Sophie Isobel Asher is just beautiful.

Om Reiki
This is the place where I did my reiki I and II certificates and I could not recommend it highly enough. The founder, Jeremy, has such an amazing connection to energy and is such a great communicator. The two courses I've done with him have just been amazing.

Moist Chocolate and Zucchini Loaf
I've made this one a couple of times now, and my only change is to reduce the sugar and add some cranberries, just for something extra nice. This recipe is has become my go-to recipe for a chocolate zucchini cake kind of thing. It is very yummy.

How To Live A Simple Country Life

I was having a look at where a lot of my traffic here on the blog comes from, and I'm always intrigued at the words used in a google search that finds my blog. Sometimes I google them too, just to see what else comes up, and where my blog sits amongst that. But this one, 'how to live a simple country life', kinda stuck out for me. And so I thought I'd share my completely blunt and honest answers to the question. Take it as seriously or not as you please. And obviously everyone's circumstances are different, and there is sometimes a lack of work available in the country, but to offset that, the cost of living is much cheaper too.

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How To Live A Simple Country Life.

1. You need to actually move to the country. You need to stop googling about it, stop reading blogs about it, stop number crunching about it, find yourself a cheap little place in a country town somewhere and start living it.

2. Once you get there, start growing your own food, as much as you can. But be realistic about how much you can actually grow, especially when starting out. Be kind to yourself if your ideals of bountiful harvests of home grown produce don't quite turn out like that, at least for a few years.

3. Get rid of your commercial cleaners. Keep a few must have things, then start making your own cleaners. It's amazing what you can do with a bit of velvet soap, bicarb soda and vinegar. And be kind to yourself once again when realise that you can't actually do it all, and worse, you realise that you don't want to do it all (so you choose a good eco option).

4. Make your food from scratch. Just like getting your vegetable garden established, it takes time to become accustomed to dealing with more food coming from your own garden. It takes longer. There is more generally more work involved. It tastes amazing. It is worth the extra effort. Wean yourself off prepackaged foods as much as you can. It's a process and it will take time.

5. Get involved in the community. Shop local as much as you can, if there are shops available. Make use of community facilities. Go along to community events, be involved in community events. It can be daunting at first moving to a small community where faces are familiar when you're used to being anonymous in a crowd of people. That's why being involved in the community is so important.

6. Realise at some point that you were completely mad to think that you wanted to move to the country, and think seriously about moving back to the city.

7. Slow down and start to enjoy the pace of country life. Stop to talk to locals in the street. Listen to a story from the lady at the post office, drive a bit slower, say hello to the man who delivers the gas bottles. It's addictive, once you developing a liking for a slower pace of life.

8. Get chickens. Chickens are amazing. They need a secure place to rest at night, and a decent sized chook run if you aren't letting them free-range. Watch them and be entertained. They can be messy if they get into your garden. Marvel at how good your frittata's taste using eggs from your own hens.

9. Write a blog about it!

Basically, if you're thinking about moving to the country, there comes a point where you either decide that you will do it, or you won't. I'm not saying don't do your homework about it. It's a big decision, a life changing decision. It seems there a lot of people living in cities wondering about changing it all up for a simple country life. It can totally be done, but like anything you think will make your life better - it looks glittery from the outside and may not sparkle quite how you think it should. But it sparkes, alright.

What do you think it takes to live a simple country life? I'd love to hear your thoughts.