Smol Review. Small changes big differences?

When you buy something using the retail links in our blog posts, we may earn a small commission. This money goes towards fuelling further content. If you want to support us, you can also buy us a coffee

I’m always looking to reduce my plastic footprint and live a more sustainable lifestyle. Smol have us sorted for all of our dishwasher and laundry needs whilst being totally plastic free, and we have also more recently tried out their eco-friendly surface cleaner. Here is our Smol Review!

Why choose Smol

If it’s one thing that comes in plastic packaging that could easily be swapped its dishwasher and laundry tabs and, put simply, Smol have it sorted. A simple subscription platform, with tabs posted through the letter box means you never run out and never see a plastic tub again.

With one child that always gets messy and another who’s 2 months old and loves to throw up, its handy knowing we never run out and use a formula that works every time.

It is one step further on our journey to reduce our eco-impact.

Their claims

Smol claim to make high performance, sustainable swaps effortless, accessible and affordable. They say they cut carbon by 35% whilst keeping prices fair. Big bold claims.

So how does it work?

How does Smol work?

I’ll use laundry tabs as an example, but its a similar process for any of their products.

Click this link, tap ‘get started’ and choose the first product to switch, so for this example we picked laundry.

Take a free trial and then tell them:

  1. What type of capsule you need? Bio or non-bio
  2. How many capsules you need in a wash (some cases require two)
  3. How often you run a wash

And they will then send them at the frequency matching your use. Consequently, you never run out.


But what happens if you do run out?

It’s inevitable your dishwasher or laundry use changes from time to time so sometimes you do need more. You can pop back into your account and adjust your usage or click ‘send now’ to be popped in the next post collection.

How environmentally friendly is Smol?

I originally chose Smol as they are 100% plastic free (for dishwasher and laundry). AlI in sent in a clever cardboard child-proof case too.

A child proof case that albeit is clever it’s very hard to master mind you.

Smol review

However, it turns out they do a lot more. The packaging is fully recyclable and compostable, they use vegetable based inks so there’s no nasties there and their cardboard is from sustainable managed sources (Forest Stewardship Council approved). They are also cruelty free having never tested on animals and save chemicals, water, animal fat and carbon.

How do they stack up in terms of cost?

Probably the most important question aside ‘do they work?’ is will they cost me more? It’s disappointing that most eco-friendly swaps are not that economical.

To compare, let’s look at the maths for the laundry capsules. 24 laundry capsules come in at £5.30 or 22.1p per wash.

Top leading brands, Ariel, Fairy and Persil rank in at 23.5p, 28.2p and 21.7p (according to Tesco.com on 05 Jan 2023 for similar quantities). So against the top brands they do rank well.

For the more money savvy though, own brand and buying in bulk can save money? However, that comes with the mountain of capsules for bulk buying, the less acceptable performance for own brand and lack of totally plastic free alternative for any shop bought alternative.

Do they work?

If you need any evidence of how well they work I’ll tell you this. I have kids.

Kids who come back from nursery caked in dinner, love jumping in muddy puddles and generally making a total mess.

Kids who like a fresh bowl with every snack and like all children get pasta sauce caked all over the plate and cutlery resulting in many many dishwasher runs.

If they didn’t work, I’d be looking for an alternative.

Surface cleaner

The surface cleaner is a new addition which I thought I’d try the trial to give my thoughts.

This comes as a reusable plastic bottle which you can keep and reuse forever (It’s seems well built but I imagine the odd replacement spray nozzle will have to be ordered resulting in a little plastic waste over time).

It has a simple process. Fill to a the bottom of the coloured grip. Pop in the tablet. Wait to dissolve and then top up with water again. Very simple. (This is a big improvement on others such as Splosh (see our Splosh Review here) as they require a vigorous work out style mixing.

It couldn’t be easier. The tablet quickly dissolves and I appreciate avoiding the shaking. It smells pleasant and cleans perfectly, tackling our kitchen with ease.

It’s so good we’ve subscribed ?

Verdict and those all important stars

Smol have an easy to use subscription platform, handy email updates to check your stock and the simple system to push it back, order more and never ran out process.

They are moderately expensive being only comparable to top brands, however are fully support our eco-conscious lifestyle being 100% plastic free, recyclable and compostable. You never run out and they are effective for our messy family.

For us its worth every penny.

Grab a free trial by clicking here.

Rating: 4 out of 5.

Thanks for reading,

Daddy, Munchkin and Sprout

Continue reading…

Subscribe…

Splosh Review

It’s time for ‘another way to reduce plastic product review from me with a Splosh Review.

I have already swapped out my general cleaner/ window cleaner/ toy cleaner/ floor cleaner for Koh (which you can find the review here), and my dishwasher tab and washing tab for award winning provider Smol. These are all changes we have made as part of our more sustainable lifestyle.

These changes still left the problem of buying soap bottles, washing up liquid and toilet cleaner. Whilst these are all fully recyclable by combining general curbside recycling and Terracycle, I thought there could be a better alternative, and for that I turned to Splosh.

Splosh seem to have solved the plastic problem in a different way. Rather than producing and supplying endless plastic bottles they send you one (or as many as you need, like soap and toilet cleaner as you may want one per bathroom). That one bottle lasts and with that, you’ve saved 95% of plastic waste. They do hand soap, washing up liquid, laundry detergent, surface cleaner…. and more.

But you want to save 100% plastic?

Well you can. You can then get refills to resupply the original bottles. These refills are concentrated, so supply a number of refills before they are empty. You can then, save up the refill pouches and send them back for free. Simple, and then its 100% plastic free with an endless reuse and recycle system. The fact the refills are concentrated too also saves on the environmental costs related to shipping, so that’s another win, oh and they fit through the letterbox!


Looking for other eco products. We have reviewed Koh – The universal cleaning solution ➡️


For this review we tried the grapefruit washing up liquid, rose and lotus blossom and blackberry soap and mint and eucalyptus toilet cleaner.

Both the soaps are foaming and moisturising leaving your hands feeling fresh, the toilet cleaner smells lovely and fresh and the washing up liquid is tough and smells summery and fresh. Overall, in terms of scent and effectiveness, the Splosh products work exactly as the standard alternatives (like Fairy washing up liquid, and Carex soap).

But Isn’t refilling a pain?

It’s simple. For the soap, just fill to the line on each bottle with hot water, top up to the neck with the refill solution and shake. in this example, one refill refills the soap bottle 6 times, although others are simply refill and use.

It must be expensive then?

Compared to leading hand soap providers, this does clock a little higher at 8p per 100 ml more. However, if you subscribe you save 10% and with big refills you can save even more. As the website says, ‘With each refill, you get that flicker of satisfaction you’re doing something good for the planet’ which makes up for the tiny price increase.

Overall, its a keeper for me and I thoroughly recommend it.

The ratings

If you’re interested in Splosh, I have a referral code you can use below. To use it visit Splosh.com.

Referral code: IPQMARYYX6

Daddy reviewed, Munchkin approved.

Thanks for reading,

Other Ways to Reduce Your Environmental Impact at Home in 2023

Given the the cost of living crisis and the environmental issues that plague us, I’ve recently looked further than just plastic pollution which was my previous focus of our Journey to a more sustainable lifestyle.

There are many other changes you can make to reduce your environmental impact. Here’s some other switches we have made, which may inspire you to change.

1. Chose Renewable or Carbon neutral Energy.

This is simple. When you look to change your energy supplier each year (which is good to save some pounds too), also look for green energy companies. We switched to Bulb last year with 100% renewable energy and carbon neutral gas.

2. Reduce the amount of energy you use. Use less energy led bulbs, power saving modes

Using less energy doesn’t always seem simple but there are a few easy things to switch. Next time your light bulbs need changing, get longer life, lower energy LED alternatives. Really need your games console on ‘always on’ or your TV on standby? Look at smart plugs, which can turn it all off completely or activate power saving or Eco modes.

3. Compost your waste

If you have a spare corner in the garden, consider home composting and if not, consider getting a ‘brown’ bin subscription, Food waste can be easily composted, producing nutritious compost to help grow food for next year. (I’ve got half this sorted, composting for years but still need to build a planter to grow food, thats one for this year!)

4. Save heat with insulation

We recently got our loft boarded, which meant checking their was sufficient insulation. This keeps our carbon neutral heat where we need it.

5. Consider reducing your emissions

If you can, walk or cycle instead of driving. When you change your car, consider hybrid, plug in hybrid or electric options. I’ve recently gone to Hybrid with my latest upgrade.

6. Recycle recycle recycle

Recycle what you can. Terracycle what you think you can’t. Reduce buying the things you can’t recycle where you can and consider buying second hand. You can find out about Terracyle here.

Thanks for reading,

Continue reading…