Tiny Tub
This post was sponsored by The Honest Co. (All opinions are 100% my own.)
When Adam and I decided to have a baby, we did so with the plan of staying in our tiny house as-is for years to come. We had no desire to move or expand any time soon. But, at 14 months old, our son suddenly has a little room and full bath of his own. (View my blog post on this unexpected tiny house expansion here.)
Since we’re renting the “new” front cottage, we didn’t want to invest too much money into redesigning it. The bathroom is the perfect example— there are so many things that I would do differently if I could start this room over from scratch, but I decided instead to save that chunk of money for West’s future. Rather than reworking the room, I diverted my energy to carefully choosing the products we will use while in it.
When the previous tenant moved out, he left dozens of bottles behind. As I cleaned out the cabinets in the kitchen and bath, I took time to inspect every item, in case there was something we could use, rather than wastefully tossing it out. But, in the end, I couldn’t keep a single item. I threw out THREE trash bags of partially-used cleaning and personal care products. Some of them came from brands that I know test on animals. Some had ingredients containing potentially questionable chemicals. And frankly, others simply smelled and/or looked completely awful.
As much of a downer as it was to toss/recycle so many products, it was refreshing to stock the space 100% for our son. Now that he’s a toddler, we know what he likes and needs (versus when he was a newborn and we had to figure it out by trial-and-error).
For months, we’ve been using The Honest Co. products exclusively to care for our little one. They’re easy to find (we bike over to our local market to pick up some of our favorites,) and they actually work. Plus their line of products is simple yet extensive. We use everything from their baby multi-surface cleaner, to their “cheek to cheek” wipes, to their shampoo + body wash combo for West, because it’s ACTUALLY tear-free.
One of the biggest joys of expanding in to the neighboring tiny house was that we now have a tub! (The timing couldn’t have been better— Sophee punctured a hole in West’s duck bath the same week we got the keys.) West is super into bubbles, so we’ve been using the lavender-scented hypoallergenic bubble bath. He loves the super-foaming bubbles, and is now even excited by the bottle, because he knows what’s inside.
On a bubble-related side note: we also started making our own non-toxic bubble solution for West’s enjoyment. (I keep it in a travel-size tube so we have it on-hand nearly everywhere.) Directions: Mix 1 cup of warm water with 1 teaspoon of white sugar. Stir in the sugar until dissolved. Mix in 1 teaspoon of glycerin. Gently stir in 2 tablespoons of Honest Liquid Dish Soap. Voila!
For me, small space living is all about being practical, mindful, and keeping things simple. This allows me to maintain focus on my family, rather than on my stuff. At the end of the day, there’s nothing more important than keeping Adam, West, the pups, and myself healthy and happy. Using easily-accessible, safe, and beautiful products helps me effortlessly achieve that goal on a daily basis.
