Definitely one of the best parts of my job is the people I meet. Whether it’s a local chatting to me about eco-living in my home town, getting to know my ecourse participants well through my closed Facebook communities, or bumping into one of my many fabulous “mumpreneuer” friends at a business event, the buzz is still the same – it’s always amazing to talk to people and hear how they are taking steps to live an ecoceptional life.
I ran one of my Home Detox Boot Camps earlier this year and as usual, a great group of people from right around Australia (plus a few other countries scattered across the globe) jumped on board for eight weeks of education, information, tips, tricks, recipes and most of all, encouragement and support, to help them break up with the toxic chemicals in their homes.
As you can imagine there’s a fabulous range of people from many different backgrounds taking part, and they’re all at different stages of their eco-journeys. The group is totally supportive and non-judgemental and whether your laundry cupboard has more synthetic products in it than the cleaning aisle at your local Woolies, or if you’re already well on your way to embracing essential oils and natural products, you’ll be welcomed.
I’d like to introduce you to one of my Home Detox Boot Campers, Jodie Wakefield, and let you hear a little about her experience on my course …
Jodie Wakefield
Jodie lives in Perth, Western Australia with her “gorgeous Englishman” husband and two young children.
The last 10 years have seen some big changes for her both career-wise (trading an enviable corporate wardrobe worn as an Executive Assistant to more recently, a uniform of tracky daks as an administrator at her local children’s gym), and also beginning what she calls her “urban-hippy” lifestyle.
From making her own cosmetics with mica powder and essential oils, to buying fabric cleaning gloves (using them on and off for 6 months, switching back to chemicals, throwing the fabric products away, then re-buying them all over again later on and finally deciding to stick with them), giving up plastic shopping bags, and embracing some “token eco-friendly gestures” like buying her husband a reusable coffee cup for work, Jodie says she has always tried to “choose green” when given the option, but admits she hadn’t really ever put her consumer habits under the spotlight during this time. Until my Home Detox Boot Camp popped up in her Facebook news feed, that is.
“After reading reviews and with the early-bird offer closing, I decided to take the plunge,” Jodie says.
“I had to think long and hard about the up-front cost as my own income had become so reduced; however, after participating in the free essential oil webinar the day after enrolling, I was certain that I’d made a wise decision. Already, there were so many toxic, store bought products that I could replace – instantly I was mentally counting up the savings from even this small amount of information passed on by Laura.”
Heading into the Home Detox Boot Camp, Jodie had some key things she hoped to achieve – and admits learning to make her own products to save money was a priority, with the environment initially a secondary concern (that did change and moved up her priority list pretty quickly.)
“I was also hoping that the health of the family would improve by lightening our chemical load. My son has always been sensitive to many environmental factors. Via skin testing (after lots of health scares, eczema, constant hay-fever/ allergy symptoms and lethargy) we confirmed allergies to basically the entire range of nuts, dust, grass, and mould,” Jodie explains.
“Both he and I have sat through too many naturopath consultations to mention; as I do believe that most things can be treated via lifestyle choices, however we were still not achieving satisfactory results. The course was another avenue.
“Also I wanted the clean, fresh-smelling house and uncomplicated lifestyle that Laura sold as part of the ‘package deal’.”
While admitting that she knew she was living a “chemical, toxic-filled lifestyle”, Jodie was still stunned almost straightaway at the start of the course when learning about dishwashing products.
“It shocked me to think that we were eating off items that I had covered in toxins, which was being directly ingested. I had never considered this area before.”
As the course unfolded, Jodie came to realise that there were so many other areas of her family’s life where eco-improvements could be made.
From replacing all of her laundry, kitchen, and bathroom products with home-made non-toxic ones; to getting rid of all her perfume and most cosmetic products, using a natural deodorant paste, bathing her children in homemade liquid soap, being mindful of WiFi technology, ‘misting’ beds everyday to combat dust mites and shopping with the Chemical Maze app and almost completely cleaning up the family diet, Jodie has made some major eco-achievements during the Home Detox Boot Camp.
“My oven is clean for the first time in years, and I didn’t have to evacuate the children and the dog during the process!” Jodie adds.
And the results?
“My children S-L-E-E-P! My son just turned 8 and never before had he slept through the night, every night. Needless to say, my 5 year old daughter was following suit with the bad habit. I believe that reducing their chemical load has calmed them down and enabled them to sleep soundly,” Jodie says.
“My son would sneeze and sniffle every night getting into bed, which we treated with medicated nasal sprays (and believe me, I was tough on getting rid of dust-mites with the information I had before the course – but it was all ineffective). He doesn’t do this any more, ever.
“The eczema on both of their skin has gone! It was proven to be the effect of the home-made bathroom products when my husband used naughty shop-bought soap in their bath one night and the eczema immediately came back. We no longer lather them in steroid cream and dose them up on anti-histamines.
“*Touch wood* none of us have been ill over winter. We are enjoying better health than ever before.”
And the benefits also extend to the family’s budget.
“In just one month I saved $450 in groceries (enough said – it’s a miracle). I put it down to not buying any cleaning products and also making soooo much of our food now. I had always done a LOT of home cooking (having a nut allergy in the house dictates this, plus my keen interest in healthy eating) but learning even more about the chemicals, preservatives, colours and additives from guest expert Bill Statham made me reassess our diet further than before.”
Thanks for sharing your journey (so far) with us, Jodie – I know you have some other great learnings and improvements that I’d love to share with my community, so we’ll come back and talk to you again in the near future.
In the meantime, if you’d like to join the fun and detox your home (and like Jodie, maybe even clear up your children’s eczema, improve their sleep, enjoy better health and save money), head over to my Home Detox Boot Camp registration now and put your name down to join us when we kick off again very soon. Doors close this Thursday!
I’d love to have you join us!
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Laura Trotta is one of Australia’s leading home sustainability experts. She has a Bachelor of Environmental Engineering, a Masters of Science (in Environmental Chemistry) and spent 11 years working as an environmental professional before creating her first online eco business, Sustainababy, in 2009. She has won numerous regional and national awards for her fresh and inspiring take on living an ‘ecoceptional’ life (including most recently winning the Brand South Australia Flinders University Education Award (2015) for the north-west region in SA and silver in the Eco-friendly category of the 2015 Ausmumpreneur Awards). With a regular segment on ABC Radio and with her work featured in publications like Nurture Parenting and My Child Magazine, Laura is an eco thought leader who’s not afraid to challenge the status quo. A passionate believer in addressing the small things to achieve big change, and protecting the planet in practical ways, Laura lives with her husband and two sons in outback South Australia. 
