Simple Living Wow, you have made it! You have reached Day 21. Well done! Apologies for not getting these posts out everyday, but we hope you have found this advice on how to live your life eco-friendlier helpful. Now, we don’t expect you to have accomplished them all, but we do hope you have read the advice and it has made you think about how you can make some eco-friendly changes into your life. Over time if you keep attempting to follow these suggestions, you will find you

Drive Less, Walk More Tonight I am going to be short and sweet, as this is one you have to think about and plan. A simple and yet more effective ways to live eco-friendly is to either take public transportation for your daily commute or try car-pooling with your work colleagues to save fuel and reduce your carbon footprint. If work or school is not too far away, why not walk or ride a bicycle. All of these changes have great benefits for your well being – public transport tak

Grow your own So, are you going to compost? If you are, you might like to put it to good use. Now this may be a bit daunting for some, but gardening doesn’t have to be. You don’t have to be an expert gardener to grow your own herbs, fruits, and vegetables. All you need are a few pots or a small garden bed, but if your game for more set up a veggie patch. Growing your own means you have fresh and healthy food on hand, while reducing your carbon footprint. If you grow organica

Start composting Yes, start composting. This can be as simple as getting a small composter for the kitchen or setting up a compost pile in your backyard. Even if you don’t have any of these, you can collect your veg and fruit scraps and dig them into the garden. Make sure the scraps are covered with soil, to ensure they do not attract pests like rats and mice. Composting is a great way of recycling and it will reduce the amount of waste heading into your rubbish bin. When veg

Washing your Clothes 90% of the energy your washing machine uses is for heating hot water. By changing your setting on your washer to cold you will save energy, money and extend the life of your clothing. Although hot water can help in removing grease, it can also weaken fibres, fade colours, destroy elastic and contribute to shrinkage. With improved technology many detergents work just as well in cold water. So, give it a try and wash cold. If you are game for more: When sho

One person's rubbish is another's treasure If you are going through your clothes or the kids clothes don't make the waste dump your first stop. When you want to ditch old items even toys, kitchen utensils, tools, etc., first try to recycle. Bring them to your local op shop or better still, contact a charity like St Vinnies, Smith Family, etc. They will come and collect them from your home. And if you are in need of cash, why not sell them. Other people are always on the looko

Avoid convenience food Like pre-packed fruit and veg, convenience foods are not great for your health and they are among the worst offenders for excessive packaging. Often, they come wrapped in plastic and packaged in plastic lined cardboard. If your serious about ditching plastic, you should avoid convenience food. The foods I am talking about here are things like your pre-made meals, chilled and frozen foods, pastas, noodles, soups, etc. Where possible buy items in glass, a

Avoid pre-packaged fruit and veg I know as a busy Mum it can be handy to buy pre-cut vegtables and fruit, that look clean and ready to go, but they come with lots of plastic packaging. there are a few factors that might make you avoid buying these foods the next time you shop: Fresh is always better. When vegetables and fruit are cut, they lose some of their nutrients to the air. The longer the food is cut and allowed to deteriorate, it loses more. Food waste. Often too much

Move to Electronic bills. Yesterday we talked about recycling paper, but there is another way to stop wasting paper. No one likes bills, but paper bills are adding to the tons of carbon dioxide and greenhouse gases produced each year. Reduce the number of trees cut down each year by asking for your bills and also your bank statements to come electronically. It will be far easier to file too. If you are game for more: Once you have converted your bills to electronic format, th

Recycling Paper Today’s task is about recycling, but I thought I would stick to one item - paper. When you recycle paper, several things happen. For every tonne of paper recycled 13 trees are saved, as well as 2.5 barrels of oil, 4100kWh of electricity, 4 cubic metres of landfill and 31,780 litres of water. It is worth thinking about. Look at all the places you can find paper in your household – the kitchen, the study, the living room, etc. What paper can be recycled: Newspa

Switch off Tonight’s task is easy and it is probably one you are doing already, but it is worth reminding people of it. Switch off power points and limit gadgets on standby, when you are not using them. I know it can be hard to keep a tabs of when you have kids, especially teenagers who love their electronics, but it is all about reminding them to switch off. Remind them that they are wasting energy, but if that doesn’t work talk about the safety hazard associated with leav

Dont't waste water So how can you not waste water in the home? You know how you need to run the hot tap to get hot water. Well, instead of wasting water why don't you collect it. In our household we use an old juice bottle (and I mean old - we have had for over 4 years) to collect the running water in the kitchen and we use it for our pets and watering potted plants. In the showers, we leave basins to collect the cold water before it warms up and we use this water in the gard

Refuse to buy bottled water Sometimes I see people buying packs of bottled water and I wonder why, when we live in a country that supplies good drinking water. Bottled water is less regulated than tap water, it is expensive and it uses a massive amount of resources to get the water to you (in the collection, bottling and shipping). It results in plastic waste that’s usually not recycled. It definitely should be avoided. With so many types of reusable water flasks/drinking bo

What chemicals are lurking in at your Kitchen and Laundry cupboards Cleaning comes naturally to some and for others it can be a real chore, but for most of us all we want is a clean house as quickly as possible. Many companies producing detergents, cleaners and sanitisers will tell you that their products will get rid of all the dirt, stains, mould, bacteria and viruses without too much rubbing or soaking. How can they do this? Of course, most have to include a concoction of

Bring a shopping bag Bring your own bags when shopping. Yes, some of the plastic bags can be recycled, but believe me you need a lot more of those throw away bags to carry your groceries. What a waste! I know one of the problems people have is that it is easy to forget them. Always keep a bag handy, next to your front door and in the boot of your car. I even carry a foldaway bag in my handbag, but I have still been known to forget a bag. When this happens, if I am getting a s

Ditch the disposable coffee cup Who doesn’t like having a coffee or a hot brew in the morning? However, many of us use the convenience of buying our drinks from a café or bistro, but with these hot drinks (and many cold drinks) comes single use disposable cups. Each year millions of disposable cups ends up in landfill. Each of us can in our own small way can do something to rememdy this problem, by switching to reusable cups. Why don’t you invest in a reusable, refillable op

Apologies everyone for the delay in posting this. It was one of those weekends where things weren't going to plan and something had to give. But we're back with more suggestions on how to lead a green life. Pack a Nude lunch For many of you, I am guessing you bring lunch to work or you need to pack lunches for your kids. One thing you can do to be more green is to eliminate as much packaging from your lunch. It means out are plastic bags, throw away cartons and boxes, like cr

Make the switch to refillable products This is something a lot of people forget about. So, what I would like you to do is to choose one product in your household like a laundry detergent, hand soap, shampoo, shower gel, sauces or even baking items like flour, baking powder, salt and much more. Then look for a refillable option and switch to this. By doing this, you will help reduce the amount of packaging, particularly plastic that ends up in landfill. Once you have got use t

Make a meal plan and grocery list If you are custom to dropping into the shops after work or after the school run, then deciding what to cook, you probably find you buy more then you need and you tend to buy things that can be cooked quickly – processed food. Not good for your health or your bank balance or the earth. Plan your meals for a week and do a weekly shop. You will be amazed at how much you save, but how organised your days will be. With some thought you will buy he