Let’s be honest, this lockdown is bearable but when it messes with our holiday plans I feel like being annoyed is totally justified. Unfortunately, our 4-week lockdown period clashes with Easter, a time we usually all spend travelling to the bach or catching up with family. So check out some of our top ‘lockdown-friendly’ ideas for celebrating Easter at home!

The COVID-19 virus has reached New Zealand so to help stop the spread we’re currently self-isolating ourselves. Rather than binging my life away on Netflix, I thought it would be best to come up with a few productive ideas of things to do to help pass the time. Check out my ideas below:

These days, purchasing food isn’t as simple as it should be. Often, most of the food we find in our local supermarket has been internationally imported. While this can be great if you’re searching for produce which is out of season locally, it can come with lots of unknowns. Check out this list called ‘The Dirty Dozen’ which collates 12 foods you should definitely be buying organic wherever possible! We also share a super handy DIY fruit & veggie wash! 

We're focusing on trying to find ways to minimise our waste and over-consumption this Christmas season. Here is a super simple DIY idea which is perfect to give to your friends and family!

The Christmas season can leave our bins overflowing and our land fills stocked to the brim. Whether it’s the wrapping paper from the gifts under the tree or the plastic plates from the New Year’s barbecue, it’s no surprise that Christmas is often labelled as the most wasteful time of the year. Check out our tips below to help reduce your waste this Christmas season!

When trying to minimise the number of chemicals you let into your home, essential oils are a great start. We love using ours to support our general wellbeing as well as for general purposes around the home whether that’s in freshening up a room or in homemade cleaning products. Check out our top ways to use essential oils during your Spring Clean this year!

Everyone loves that Spring Clean feeling, it’s like getting into bed with fresh sheets. However, everyone seems to dread the process of decluttering, detoxing and reorganising the home. We’ve simplified the process into a ‘Spring Cleaning’ Printable so you can easily tick off each task as you go. Check out the printable and our Spring Cleaning tips below!

We’re lovers of minimising the products and chemicals involved in our household cleaning and maintenance. In a perfect world, we wouldn’t have to worry about the contents of our cleaners or the confusing ingredient lists on the back of products. However, these days it’s getting more and more difficult to clean our own homes without having to worry about the health of ourselves and our families. Keep it simple and look towards wonder products like vinegar to help you around the home! Check out our list of amazing uses below!

I’ve only recently fallen in love with snickerdoodle cookies! However, little did I know that they’re an American classic! There is something irresistible about the cinnamon-sugar coating. “They’re like cinnamon sugar donuts,” my boyfriend says - which is as much approval as I’ll ever need. Check out this dairy and gluten-free recipe below and give this a try for a sweet baking treat!

WD40 is an amazingly versatile product which most people have in their garages, sheds or workshops. However, most people don’t know some of the other awesome uses for it other than fixing squeaky hinges or chains! Check out our full list of WD40 uses around the home below!

​Inspired by my Pinterest feed, I really wanted to share my latest DIY creation with you all. This is a lovely gift idea or an easy DIY for a child’s nursery/bedroom. However, I will shamelessly admit that I love having one hanging above my bed too! The opportunities are endless to customise this by shape, colour or even to add letters to spell out a name!

Check out the step-by-step tutorial below for the full rundown!

Essential Oils have so many wonderful uses. Here and Live Lively, we love using essential oils to supplement a healthy lifestyle. Whether you pop a few drops of frankincense into your bath or roll lavender on the skin before bed, essential oils can be a wonderful way to incorporate a little extra self-care. When it comes to children, we have to be aware that a baby’s skin is significantly more sensitive than ours and while essential oils can come in handy, we need to be careful in how we use them.

The following blog post outlines some of our favourite ways to use essential oils for both mum and baby!

As one of my main goals for January, introducing homemade cleaning products to our household is a step in the right direction, reducing the waste we consume, produce and the nasties we allow into our home. Being a burden both physically and financially, store-bought cleaners with a long list of unknown ingredients have always worried me. Keeping your home clean should be a rewarding and encouraging process, as finding motivation to get the cleaning supplies out can be half the issue. I've also added a great printable with daily, weekly and monthly tasks to break everything down!

In celebration of our first Lively Workshop tomorrow, here's a little sneak peak at what we'll be making! We're all about essential oils here at the moment. From incorporating them into our meal prep to experimenting with using essential oils around the home, we love showing you amazing ways to really get the use out of your essential oils. Today, we're looking a 5 DIY's which totally align with this concept, while also being amazing stocking fillers or cute gifts for friends for Christmas! For all of you planning on heading out to our DIY workshop tomorrow, we cannot wait to see you and have a fun morning together! 

Roses may be beautiful, but have you ever considered the many others ways you can use their gorgeous scent while also creating more healthy benefits? Rose water may be a little more familiar to you, however let me add Rose Oil to the mix also. Here I’ll show you some simple ways to turn your favourite rose petals into both Rose Water and Rose Oil - oh and I’ll throw in a few amazing ways to use them too!

Hey Honey!
Moving from dairy to dairy free never seemed like a massive change in our household. Firstly, we knew that it would only be mum and I making the switch - trying to convert dad was going to take a lot more effort. But all of a sudden we were faced with having to find alternatives which we enjoyed in all of our foods. We needed something that tasted great in our warm drinks, that was good with cereal and didn’t alter the result of any of our baking. 

At this stage, all I knew was that I didn’t want dairy anymore - as a naturally lactose intolerant person I had been denying the obvious switch for years. However, sick of the horrible symptoms and encouraged by the fact I wouldn’t be transitioning alone, we threw out the dairy milk (well, leaving a little for dad - ruining the dramatic effect) and started the testing process of finding the new soulmate to our morning cereals and afternoon cups of coffee - albeit decaf.
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That’s when we fell in love with nut milk. Nutritious, low in calories and low in cholesterol. Not to mention the wide variety of different nuts to choose from, each with their specialised flavours and benefits to suit you and your priorities. Now supermarkets are usually pretty good at offering dairy alternative milks in their long life aisle, but other than oat milk and almond there is so much nutty-goodness left to be discovered.