Skip to main content

Newspaper in your wet shoes

We have had a lot of snow lately in Tromsø and since we are kind of in a twin season, that snow does not behave as it should: that is to say, not melt before a few months!

After waiting (a lot - bus chaos!) and walking (a lot too) in that 10 centimeter melting snow slightly solid water, my feet, socks, inside of shoes were really really wet.

This is what to do to make your shoes dry (I didn't want to try the hair dryer because I don't think it's good for the leather/it consumes electricity/it's not very efficient):

- put crumpled newspaper in the shoes; it definitely absorbs the water.
- replace the paper as often as necessary. I thought it was OK after three times but the paper was still slightly wet after 5-6 times.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Eco-take care of your skin, that's easy & cheap

Oil is your best friend! (see below) Are you sick of using creams you don't understand half of the ingredients (usually not a good sign), and which your skin does not seem to appreciate? Here are easy solutions to replace them. You can first decide to buy organic cosmetics, but since it's rather expensive I understand why many people give up. But at least you know that stuff you put on your skin are healthy.  You can also decide to make your own cosmetics yourself ; it is not that hard to find raw material but it doesn't mean it's easy to to make a high quality cream. That requires knowledge on your type of skin, on the ingredients you use, on chemistry (a cream is an emulsion) and on hygiene precautions. The great advantage is that you know exactly what's in it and choose the ingredients according to what you really need. On this blog I will only speak of easy stuff to make, like lip balm for example. But as regards skin care, I like simplicity, wh...

Home-made toothpaste

Initially published on 21/09/2011 Have you ever seen the movie Recipes for disaster ? This is about a finnish family who tries to live without petroleum and products made of it: no more gasolin, plastic package (probably the hardest part), etc. The problem is that petroleum is a very small part of the picture and some efforts they make, like using biofuel or buying some kind of carbon offset to compensate their carbon-emitting electricity, are counterproductive. The worse to me is still the father's conclusion: "it's impossible to live without petroleum because you cannot replace toothpaste"... WRONG!! And maybe he thought he was only talking about plastic but the paste itself contains petrochemicals. Another good reason to prove him wrong. Our current toothpastes did not exist a century ago. They actually appeared at the same time as dietary excesses and food with a high rate of sugar. Extra fluor toothpastes were made to compensate ...

Why and how to make your own soap?

As I explained it in a previous article, I came to home-made soap because I wanted to control the ingredients (no palm oil) and their origin (as few kilometres as possible), so as to use the most ecological soap for my laundry liquid . But there are other valid reasons to make soap for yourself: some oils are naturally soft and good for the skin, others you will choose because they give extra lather and foam to the soap, or even because they just give a special colour you like. In a word: home-made soap is very good for the skin (also because it naturally contains glycerine, which is otherwise removed from industrial soaps) and it's even better because it's customized to your needs. Another good reason to make your own soap is the price. Finally, it's a very creative (and addictive!) activity, which may explain why soap makers make more soap than they can use. Soap making is a complex and very rich art. It’s a great hobby, and you probably won't offer anyth...