July 29, 2008 at 10:33 am (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: sales
It is amazing that, given enough time, life begins to become ‘normal’, no matter how bizare. So we are reaching that point. It has been a month, which is around the time at ‘actions’ are transferred into ‘habits’.
But having said that there are still things I am getting used to: I am still working my way through shampoos. Right now, my hair is kinda frizzy and smells like a pharmacy as all we have left is anti-dandruff shampoo – yummy! My Aveda cleanser has run out, so I am now on a battered bottle of Clearasil from school (help – skin SOS!). My foundation has been turned upside down to eek the last few drops out. I am also using the most bizare toothpaste, which oozes out the split in the side of the tube.
My real bite my arm moments are reserved for the Summer Sales. The bargain hunter-gather comes out to play, as somehow, if it is cheap it cant hurt surely? I am saving the stores from all the stock they don’t want………
Therein lies the danger. How much of sale stuff do we really need? I cant count the times I have come home with slightly ill -fitting clothes that were a bargain. Oh the allure of the bargain! It can be used to justify so many crimes!
So the bargain hunter in me slopes off to the Second-Hand shops. Whilst desperately thinking – do I need this? Really? Really!!????!!?????
- Tammy
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July 27, 2008 at 9:54 am (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: diamonds, kent county show, leo hickman
Described as
The rush of guilt that tells you what you’re doing – buying, say, a small pack of mangetout that’s been air-freighted out of season from a field in Kenya to the supermarket shelf before you – is somehow a negative force on the world
Leo Hickman – A Life Stripped Bare: my year of living ethically.
Well my Mangetout Moment happened when I started wanting an Eternity Ring after the birth of my daughter. I started to look at rings, on the highstreet and on the internet and started to feel more and more uncomfortable. For a start we really couldn’t afford it, but I want, I want, I want! The other major factor was realising the impact buying a ring has: there are the environmental impacts on mining precious metals: especially gold mining; and the health <physical and economical> of the workers; let alone the much publicised issue with ‘blood/conflict diamonds’.
Trying to find an “ethical” ring turned into a quest (for the One Ring my Precious!). I finally found an excellent company who made rings with re-cycled gold and diamonds from Canada, and they were fabulous darrrrrling. But they were even more expensive, had to be shipped from Canada, get whacked at customs, and you-better-make-sure-you-got-your-ring-size-right.
I then had my Mangetout Moment. Stopped: thought: “What am I doing”? Now I am craving diamonds? What has happened to me? That moment was one of the major background events that spurred me into creating this ‘project’. To get a grip on what is important in my life.
Now its confession time – all sitting comfortably? (oh, thats story time, sorry!)
At the Kent County Show, I was delighted to find the antiques tent. A whole tent full of what is essentially second hand bits and bobs – heaven! At the front were several tables groaning under the weight of sparkerly golden objects. Yes dear reader, I was seduced! I came away with a very sweet, very understated white gold ring with ten teeny tiny diamonds (one for each year I have been with hubby before the birth of Megan) from 1973 (mother-in-law smirked when I claimed 1973 was ‘vintage’!). At £90 hubby was understandably delighted.
So that is my confession, please suggest penance in the comments…..
- Tammy
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July 20, 2008 at 10:28 pm (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Electricity, Waste
Tick, Tick Tick, Make it stop!
There are some things I’ve been nerdy about for a while. Well since 1 December 2006 to be precise. Every Sunday at 10pm (ish) I take an electricity meter reading. Our average use has been 11kWh (Kilowatt Hours) per day. It goes up in summer when we use the electric immersion heater overnight to heat hot water. In winter the daytime power goes up (lighting in darker evenings and mornings etc) but the night goes down as we use the gas boiler for heating and hot water.
So this week: 39 units/week of off-peak, 42 units/week of peak, which comes to 11.6kWh/day, which is a bit above average. That was probably the roast I just did. At Tammy’s suggestion I cooked a gammon joint at the same time as the chicken, that way it won’t need a full cook later in the week…goes the theory.
I use timer switches to make the most of off-peak power. The most common is the dishwasher, which I have set to come on about 5 in the morning. We’re doing quite well at maximising off-peak power but not so good at reducing our overall consumption. Megan didn’t help over the winter because we needed an electric heater to keep the temperature over 17 degrees.
Hello? have you stopped reading yet? No, ok well I’ve finished.
Oh, no, I just remembered. From this week I’m going to weigh the bin bag before I put it outside. The inaugural reading was 3.2kg, but there’s a fair degree of uncertainty in that because the scales were very small and the bag was very big and needed support. Nearly all our rubbish is plastic food packaging and a small amount of cooked food waste.
I’ll stop boring you now and go to bed…
- Sean
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July 19, 2008 at 8:01 pm (Wye Community Farm)
Tags: Lambs, Land Rover
An edible lawnmower
Arse. I’ve dented the back door of the Landy and bent the rear ladder. Not too bad though but it was my own fault. I was picking up the livestock trailer to move the sheep between fields and I didn’t secure it to the tow-ball properly. It popped off and the trailer gave me a metallic slap on the backside. Oh well. At least the trailer is ok (which is just as well as we’ve been borrowing it).
Oh, and another thing. You wouldn’t believe how long it takes to clean out a trailer after sheep have been in it. Flipping dung just welds itself to the chequer-plate. I’m beginning to understand why farmers’ have a reputation for being grumpy sods – even the simplest tasks seem end up being twice as much work and take twice as long as you think they ought to. To those who have romantic notions of a small holding and self-sufficiency, be prepared for some hard, smelly graft.
Anyway, the lambs have been weighed. The biggest are around 35kgs so still 5 kilos to go before we take them to the abattoir. Yes, folks they are cute and fluffy (and greasy) but as a meat-eater I have to face the reality of where my food comes from.
- Sean
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July 19, 2008 at 9:49 am (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Buy Nothing New, eco-driving, meat reducing, plastic, veggie box, Water Saving
Well we told you what we were doing before we started the project: About Us Sean reminded me that maybe I should write about what we have done so far on the project, from the small to the slightly less small!
- Eco-Driving
Sounds strange, but it is re-learning the way you drive to be more efficient and save fuel/CO2. Can be summed up as smoothly changing gear way early, anticipating the need to brake, so slowing down on the gears and keeping the revs below 2 (for a diesel, 2.5 for petrol). Our car seems to have an amazing ability to glide around in 5th gear without any acceleration. Read the rest of this entry »
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July 18, 2008 at 9:24 pm (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Climate Camp, Climate change, Kingsnorth Power Station, Local Food, Water Saving
It’s Friday, hurrah. Have I bought anything new….weeell that depends on definitions: Lunches over the week (about £15), a haircut (£7.50), a tank of diesel (£70!!!) Jeez. I must get hold of some biodiesel soon. Otherwise I think that’s it.
Yesterday I was in Chatham giving a short presentation on climate change. We’re helping out the World Development Movement on the campaign against the replacement coal fire power station at Kingsnorth (that’s Kingsnorth on the Hoo peninsula, not the village just south of Ashford). I’m humming and harring about going to the climate camp in a couple of weeks. CPRE won’t be involved directly, but I’d be interested in going along for a day. Though, if I get locked up without charge for 42 days, Tammy won’t be happy.
Today, I had a meeting with a project manager involved in the new Making Local Food Work campaign. It’s a 5-year project funded by the Lottery and I think it’s going to be brilliant.
Right, today’s top tip! Tammy had the great idea of using one our spare (clean) nappy buckets to collect “warm-up water” from the shower. Our shower is on the far side of the house from the hot water tank so there is quite a long dead leg of cold water that has to come out first. It’s not a total waste if it goes to the drain because it just passes through our septic tank and irrigates our lawn. ANYWAY, the warm up water fills about a 1/3 of the bucket, which is quite a lot of water over the year given the number of showers we take. So far we’re using the water on pot plants, topping up the rainwater tank and I suppose we could use it for flushing the toilet.
- Sean
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July 17, 2008 at 8:51 pm (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: chocolate, eBay
This is on two counts:
1. My “selling” total on E-Bay is now larger than my “buying” total! The buying is all second hand…..but its getting smaller…..it is like being slowly weaned off an addiction – it takes time, has some pain, but ultimately the benefits far outweigh the negatives.
2. Just made my own raw chocolate from Choc-a-lotta-love who pounced on me with much exhibitionist joy at the Kent Show. I loved them, Megan was scared of the funny hats (she doesn’t understand Chocolate yet, and if I have my way, won’t for quite a while) and their chocolate was out of this world. So, I now have my first batch of raw chocolate with organic blueberries (my addition), cooling in the fridge. Licking out a bowl hasn’t been this much fun in years.
- Tammy
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July 16, 2008 at 10:24 am (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Buy Nothing New
I have been researching on the inter-splat, and have been finding all types of fabulous people who are doing very inspiring things. I have added a handful of them to the links on the sidebar. One of the sites: http://unstuff.blogspot.com/ has this wonderful quote, which summarises what I was trying to say in the Round and Round post:
It is not enough simply to abstain from theft…We must remember that nothing in this world really belongs to us. At best, we are merely borrowers. It is our duty, therefore, to borrow no more from the world than we absolutely need, and to make full and proper use of it. Taking more than we need, and wasting it, is a form of stealing from the rest of humankind.
~ Commentary on Sutra 30 The Yoga Aphorisms of Patanjali
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July 13, 2008 at 9:55 pm (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Buy Nothing New, Farming, kent county show, Land Rover, Solar
I was working Friday and Saturday at this weekend’s Kent Show. Got a few new members for CPRE and generally had a good time. Our stand was in the ‘eco-village‘ so we were surrounded by purveyors of rainwater butts and solar heating systems.
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One day I will build a house of straw
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Combined Solar & Wood Stove system on a Kent Peg tile – I want it!!!
Read the rest of this entry »
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July 13, 2008 at 9:46 pm (Buy Nothing New)
Tags: Buy Nothing New, eBay, wyecycle
On Saturday I went to Wyecycle’s monthly swap day. Kind of like a physical Freecycle. So I bought a bag of things we no longer needed (three rolls of bin bags that dont fit our bin, free samples of stuff, cuttery draw and many other totally fascinating things) put them on the floor and then had a look at all the other things people had also put on the floor.
Read the rest of this entry »
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My real bite my arm moments are reserved for the Summer Sales. The bargain hunter-gather comes out to play, as somehow, if it is cheap it cant hurt surely? I am saving the stores from all the stock they don’t want………
