Going green in November - my stuff has overhead!

Moving towards a simpler, greener lifestyle is fraught with obstacles, setbacks, and hard decisions. Building new habits is difficult at the best of times, but when illness strikes, or there is a change in career, it's even harder. Over the last several years I have been paring down the amount of stuff that I have, partly because as a renter, I move fairly regularly.

Moving a lot of stuff requires a large truck, many boxes, a lot of time, and effort. Often multiple trips are needed to move the contents of a household. That is the first obvious overhead of my stuff. Also, my chronic illnesses do not like a lot of effort! If I'm lucky, I can scrounge cardboard boxes for my stuff, but otherwise I have to buy them. Unfortunately, in my current house, the garage has flooded multiple times, and ruined our story of cardboard boxes.

I need space to store my stuff, large rooms plus loads of cupboard space. The rooms need to be really large, so that I don't feel closed in by my stuff. The larger rooms require more effort and time to clean, and I have to clean all my stuff, as it tends to accumulate dust and cats fur. The kitchen is one area where I haven't managed to control my stuff accumulation habit. But I am doing better, the appliances that have been bought recently are used almost constantly.

One section of the kitchen stuff (foodstuffs), is another constant battleground. Unfortunately it is also a rather nasty money drain, as foodstuffs can go off. Bathroom products also, especially lotions, and scented oils. My collection of essential oils is also suffering from being a collection rather than being regularly used.

Accumulating books I can well understand, as I have a tendency to reread, over and over again. But I have a collection of books that I don't like, and they are sitting on my shelf gathering dust, taking up room, where I could move them on to someone who would appreciate them more. I don't need to keep things I don't like, just because they add to a " collection ".

I am glad I kept my old clothes as I gained weight due to illness and medications. Now that I have finished the medications, and I am successfully managing my illnesses, I am losing weight. I now fit into all my old clothes, and am delighted to pass my larger clothes on to other people in my family. It is liberating to purge my closet of the clothes that I can no longer wear. There seems to be a psychological weight to my stuff, which lifts as I get rid of it. I'm sure it adds to my stress levels. I wonder how much more liberating it would be to pass on the stuff that I no longer love, but they keep hanging around.

So my challenge for the next six months, is to drastically reduce my stuff, paring down to the stuff that I really love, and use regularly. This is even more important, as I am aiming to work overseas for a year 2010-2011. What stuff can you do with out, that would be appreciated more by other people, that you no longer like?

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going green in October - reducing emotional consumption

It has been a tough several months for me, and my old habit of spending when in pain and depressed has started to reappear, and this time it could have a double impact as I have been purchasing (and eating) poor foods. This blog post is a reminder to myself (or rather me telling myself off!), of the other good habits and activities I can do, and avoid shopping.

• Go for a walk, take my camera - I love photography, and live near a state forest, full of wildlife, ferns and walking tracks. Exercise helps relieve stress, and in the long term, reduces pain for me (in the short term, it increases pain). Also, I can use my stockpile of exercise DVDs when the weather is nasty.
• Get out in the garden, take cuttings and plant them. I have soil, compost, healthy plants, a stockpile of seeds, as well as a bunch of larger plants that need to be pruned. I also have newspaper (weed matting) and straw, so I can look after and improve my garden without purchasing anything new. Gardening is also exercise... hurts in the short term, but there are long term benefits - fitness, flexibility, reduced pain, and fruits/vegetables from a happy garden.
• Pre-cook and freeze meals and snacks. I can make my own cookies, knowing what goes into them, I can make them healthier, or make small batches. To use up what I have bought, I can bulk-cook meals and freeze them, making it easier to choose something for dinner. I have a bunch of veggies that I can make into soups, and have salad greens waiting to be eaten. I should use what I have more often, reducing the number of times I 'have' to go to the shops, and ensuring I don't eat junk. This is something I must focus on at the moment as this is my weakest area.
• Craft and sew more. I have a huge stockpile of quilting fabric, cross stitching floss and pattens, sewing stuff and clothes waiting for repair. As I have lost a lot of weight recently, I also have a bunch of clothes that I could alter to fit. I should make this my mantra - use what I have. I don't need to buy more clothes.
• Play more. I have a bunch of games, including several fitness games. Games reduce stress, and although the fitness games may hurt in the short term, they will do good things long term. I also have access to a massive pile of board games, and always want to play more, but never seem to get around to it. I'm sure my cats would also appreciate me playing more with them!
• Read and study more. I have always been a book worm, and have a pile of unread books. Instead of adding more to that pile, I will read what I have. I also have piles of more difficult Japanese books and magazines, which I may be able to start to read if I used the Japanese text books that are gathering dust on the shelves. I am within easy walking distance of three libraries, and the online catalog allows me to put a hold on any book in a much larger library network. I am using the libraries much more often at the moment, which has reduced the urge to shop for books.
• Sleep more. Being a night owl is difficult, even when not working. Staying up till very late does not work well with appointments. Sleep is so important for pain control, health and depression. I never seem to get enough. If I got more sleep, I would feel better in myself, and the urge to shop would be less.
• Write to friends more often. I have fallen out of touch with many of my friends. I have a stockpile of lettersets, and a few pre-paid envelopes and stamps, so it would be easy to write a letter to catch up. Or I could send an email, and attach some photos (seeing as all my photos are electronic!) I don't need to buy anything for this!

Enough blogging, I shall go and actually do some of these things, and find my way out of my funk, without spending!

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going green in September - downshifting

Recently I've had both the good and bad fortune to stop work. It's bad in that there is less money coming into the household, so I need to focus on reducing costs, reusing and repairing items. But there are many good (and green) aspects:

• I can walk to many more places - as I now have the extra time, I can use the car less, which saves petrol, increases my fitness, and gets me out into the sunshine (I'm vitamin D deficient). I recently completed a 20km walk from the city to home!
• Spend time in the garden and grow my own food - unfortunately, I start my non-working stint by house-sitting, but once I get home, I will get stuck into the garden and put in loads of vegetables for the spring growing season. All from seeds that I already have.
• Cook from scratch - although cooking from scratch takes more time, it is more rewarding, makes me a better cook and costs less. My meals are more healthful as I am using less packaged foods with 'numbered' ingredients.
• Repair my clothes - many of my clothes are wearing very thin, instead of throwing them away and buying new ones, I can spend the time repairing my existing clothes. Both my partner and I have lost weight, so there are a number of clothes that can be 'cut down', providing I have the time to do so. Not working will give me the time (and hopefully the energy) to repair our wardrobes.
• Focus on my health - decreasing medications, trips to the doctors and specialists and the number of tests I have to undergo to treat numerous chronic illnesses is the main reason I have stopped working. I am using this non-work time to focus on regaining a lot of the health, energy and motivation I have lost while spending my few spoons on my career. To add an incentive, I will be participating in a 50km walk in November!
• Use the library - I now have the time to read and increase my knowledge, so the library (and the internet) is beckoning to be used as a resource. When walking, I can listen to educational podcasts and ebooks on various topics, as well as free music provided by various podcasts.
• Declutter - I will be selling or giving away many of my less-loved possessions, partly to help on the financial front, but mainly to reduce the clutter around home, and simplify my life. Often I have found that these possessions will be loved by others more than I currently love them, so it's time they moved on.
• Finish what I started - I have so many craft projects that are part-way through, now that I have some extra time and energy (after completing my studies), I will be able to spend some on completing some (all!) of my unfinished craft projects.

Ceasing work was my choice, and it wasn't an easy one. In the last few years, my health has taken a back seat, difficult with many worsening and difficult to treat chronic pain conditions. Although I am mainly focused on improving my health and completing my studies, not working will have a positive impact on the environment in many non-obvious ways. I have been given a chance to slow down and simplify my life, to focus on looking after my health and my family, and in the process, to improve my impact on the environment.

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going green in August - more digital tips

I am still very taken with my various electronic gadgets, and finding that they replace a lot of traditionally use once and throw-away resources.

• Notes - I have notes on my phone, laptop, and web in various formats, including digital sticky notes. I rarely write things I want to remember on paper any more. Although paper is recyclable, reducing such waste is a win.
• Apps - yes, I'm another iPhone convert. I have a shopping list app (don't have to jot down shopping lists on paper any more, and can share the lists with my partner), goal/food/budget/fitness and health trackers - essentially eliminating a journal. My calendar is synchronised with Google so I can access it from anywhere, and I have Japanese flash card apps (so I don't have to cart huge sets of kanji and vocabulary flash cards around). I record when the car is filled with petrol in a shared Zenbe list (although that one is a fairly low feature app). Even the TV guide and weather information is readily available. I display emergency medical info on my phone's background picture and an emergency phone number, so I don't even have to purchase a bracelet / necklace or carry a diary. 'Eco' apps have been slowly gathering momentum.
• Music - I am finding that I am buying music through iTunes that I already own, because it takes less shelf space to store. As I'll be moving overseas next year, reducing the amount of stuff I have to store is a good thing. I then sell the physical CD, and recoup a tiny fraction of the costs, and the CDs go on to other people who will appreciate them.
• Movies and TV series - we used to collect loads of DVDs (and still do, to a lesser extent), but we've started downloading 'rental' movies, and buying TV series (by download). I am not quite used to this just yet, but I can see myself doing this more and more as the variety increases in online stores. I only wish there were more regional releases from around the world available in Australia - it's a little too America-centric at the moment.
• Podcasts - I listen to a huge range of podcasts online - they are almost always free. Saves me money, resources and entertains me! I'm not a big audiobook fan, as I like hearing my own internal voices reading dialog, but I know a number of people who love them.
• Maps - Google maps on my phone and computer has replaced the street directory. If we are going into the bush though, we take along a really old street directory, just in case there isn't phone coverage.
• News - I don't read magazines or newspapers anymore, unless the content is viewable online. I now read news from around the world - not typically available in print, where I live.
• E-books - awesome when they are in PDF format - I have an excellent PDF reader that allows me to bookmark and annotate all PDF files (Skim for Mac). I will be purchasing a couple of mobile Lonely Planet travel guides when I travel next year (more apps), and not have to purchase and lug around the physical books!
• Recipes - there are a huge number of recipe archive websites, some with extensive ratings - the best test of any recipe! These days, I rarely purchase recipe books, because usually, only a few recipes from the book are repeat-worthy.
• Patterns - there are a huge number of free craft pattern sites available, I don't purchase patterns or tutorial books now, but just following instructions I found online. One of my favourite costuming sites is an amazing resource, especially for detailed LoTR costuming!
• Printed references - as I often document bits and pieces of software, or pull documents together from multiple sources, having more than one monitor has been wonderful - I don't need to print copies of documents to refer to - I can display them as I am writing. I'm also fairly comfortable with editing digitally, saving me a lot of printing! However, when I do have to print something, I usually print double sided, two pages per page.

I catch myself wondering fairly often these days - what else could go digital, freeing up resources and clutter?

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going green in July - some gardening ideas

• Compost or use a worm farm instead of throwing organic waste into the rubbish bins and landfill.
• Offer to rake your neighbours' leaves, and add these to your garden beds or compost - excellent mulch.
• Collect fallen bark and tree fern fronds and use these as mulch to protect moisture in the soil.
• Clean out your gutters and add the soil, leaf and branch litter to the compost pile.
• Create home-made potting and seed raising mixtures by mixing sand and heat-treated garden soil with a little compost and coir.
• Create newspaper, toilet roll, egg carton, or cardboard seedling pots - reduces transplant shock. Cut the bottom of the 'pots' open for root growth.
• Create soil blocks for starting seeds, using a home-made soil blocker.
• Recycle normal containers for growing seedlings.
• Instead of placing thick prunings or logs from cut-down trees out for rubbish collection, use them to edge garden beds, or as a pot stand.
• Use newspaper and unwaxed cardboard as weed matting or under a no-dig garden.
• Sew, tack or tie together small bags out of fabric that lets some light and air through, but not moisture or birds. Perhaps pantyhose? Use these little bags to collect seeds to start next season's veggie garden.
• Reuse broken broom handles (or other cleaning equipment), as garden stakes.
• Look for free garden supplies on freecycle. Many freecycle groups have a 'chat' group that encourages plant or seed swaps.
• Grow comfrey, lucerne or smart clover as a green manure crop, to reduce or eliminate adding fertiliser and large amounts of compost to the soil.
• Use lawn trimmings on the garden, or in the compost, rather than giving them to the local council in a green rubbish collection.
• Collect cuttings from plants around the neighbourhood (best to ask for permission first). Take a lot of cuttings and the strong plants will survive. Perhaps ask schools or libraries for their permission to take cuttings from plants on their grounds - the plants are usually very hardy!
• Set up a produce/plant/seed swap with friends / family. Each gardener has his specialties and weak points - swap the produce/plants/seeds that you are good at growing, for ones that you struggle with.
• If you don't have garden space, offer to maintain a friend's or family member's garden, perhaps swap for tutoring, house cleaning, sewing, cooking, or other services?
• Spend time actively maintaining your garden - free exercise. Rope in exercise buddies for extra help and company in the garden.
• Reclaim your lawn - turn it into a food garden (unless you need it for your family or pets).
• Grow flowering shrubs of various types to encourage small to medium sized birds - they eat garden pests.
• Use left over or flat beer to drown happy snails (in a special snail drowning container with a lid), or sugar water with yeast. This only works for small areas though.
• Make a bug spray using garlic and chilli in water. Add a few drops of pyrethrum oil or soap.
• Preserve surplus produce so it is not wasted - make it your specialty!
  
  • freeze it
  • dry it (in an oven or a dehydrator)
  • cook it! (many cooked dishes freeze well)
  • make home made fruit jams and cordials
  • eat it!
• Buy local ripe produce in bulk (or at reduced prices), and preserve it.
• Buy good quality gardening tools - they may cost more initially, but they (normally) last much longer.

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going Green in June - Chronic illness

nifwlseirff on flickr

One of the main problems with chronic pain or illness is the lack of energy. It saps you of motivation, enthusiasm, and more often than not, easier, less green options are more appealing. It takes energy to make changes, to maintain a garden, to cook from scratch, to sew and clean, to walk to places, etc. Usually, money is prioritised to medicines and treatments, leaving less to spend on local organic foods (that are typically quite expensive).

As a chronic pain sufferer, dealing with multiple, complicated illnesses¹, my green journey is slower and more gradual. Many times I have been a little less eco-conscious in one area, to enable me to work on another area. For example, Melbourne has very low water levels, but I will take an extra long hot shower to reduce pain levels enough so I can apply mulch to the garden. The Spoon Theory is an excellent description of the challenges that the chronically ill face every day.

Going greener while chronically ill is a complex balancing act. Work and studies can also greatly tip this balance, especially when there are massive deadlines that require a lot of overtime and energy to meet. Usually, energy is prioritised into work, family, friends, self, hobbies and then any other projects. Physical work (like gardening), is often one of the first casualties. Sometimes, medications can also decimate energy levels and the immune system².

I find it useful to focus on some of the smaller changes when the pain flares, and deal with the bigger projects when the energy is there. Unfortunately, this means the bigger projects keep getting put off as I'm one of those who prioritise work first - which currently takes all my energy and more - going into rather a bad spoon deficit at the moment.

• Use a compost bin - the tub in the kitchen doesn't get emptied each day (lots of steps - steep block), and sometimes when it's full, a small amount of organic scraps do go into the normal rubbish.
• Collect rinse/shower water to use on potted plants - I take out the jug/bucket when I am capable of lifting it. When it's full, some water does go down the drain.
• Use eco-friendly cleaners - sometimes I am not able to make my own, so I spend (quite a bit) extra to buy eco-friendly products from the supermarket (Ecover, Seventh Generation, Earth Choice are my typical brands). A bonus is that these products are usually low irritant, something that is important for many chronic illness patients.
• Repair/re-purpose clothes - I have a growing pile of clothes that are awaiting repair, or re-purposing as quilts, rugs or rags. As my hands are one of the worst hit by my health conditions, sewing and crafting are often put off, typing for work is higher priority. But, I don't throw out clothing made of fabrics that I can re-use elsewhere.
• Wear (good quality) clothing out - I purposefully choose not to follow the fashions, and instead buy good quality clothing. It's winter now, and I have previously invested in good quality merino layers, a hat and some scarves, and a good, warm coat - excellent for cold weather to maintain little warmth - necessary to manage one of my illnesses. It means I don't need to have the heater on as high. Merino wears extremely well, which means I need to do fewer loads in the washing machine.
• Cook in small-but-bulk-quantities - but only on days when I have enough energy, and it usually takes me a few days to recover. But I have a freezer stocked with dinners and lunches that I can reheat as necessary. Therefore, I rely less on take away, and produce less waste (dishes are frozen in reusable glass or plastic containers).

I believe that every little bit counts - a bit is more than nothing at all! Small changes add up over time!

1 - Some of my chronic and severe medical conditions: adenomyosis, endometriosis, fibromyalgia, costochondritis, Raynaud's syndrome, Moreton's neuromas, migraines, sciatica, bruxism, kidney disease, chronic sinusitis, and more.

2 - I am currently on a nasty anti-cancer medication to hopefully shrink the large (but benign) adenomyoma growth, which has a host of awful side effects, further denting my greening plans. Most of my illnesses are nerve or inflammation related, but due to the kidney disease, it is not safe for me to have anti-inflammatory medication.

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going Green in May - Useful resources

nifwlseirff on flickr

Personally, I find my energy increasing as the colder weather sets in. Autumn is typically the time for me to take stock, plan, declutter, clean and refocus on my goals. Unfortunately, this year has thrown a few additional hurdles my way, and my energy is rather low.

When sorting through a huge list of bookmarks, I pulled out this small collection of links that you may find useful!

Gardening and sustainability

• Australia specific, but containing many fact sheets, Gardening Australia is a useful site, with an active community forum.
• Backyard poultry aims to keep alive the art (and enjoyment) of your own chooks to provide fresh eggs and help around the garden.
• Linda Cockburn's blog details their family's journey in sustainability, previously based in Queensland, but now building a sustainable home in Tasmania: Living the good life
• Self-sufficientish recognises that it is unlikely anyone is ever 100% self-sufficient. The forum on the site is very active.
• Along with gardening information, recipes and book talk, author Jackie French keeps everyone updated on the local wombat population. Planting-times are Australia specific, but can be adapted to other climates.

Simplifying and anti-consumerism

• Updated 2-3 times a month, Finding Simplicity writes about retreating from consumerism.
• Zen Habits is a great resource for simplifying and greening your life, covering productivity, motivation, health and more.
• Think Simple Now has thoughtful articles about simplicity, productivity, breaking habits and chasing your dreams. Not quite a green blog, but may be useful in helping you implement your eco-changes.
• Also writing about gardening and cooking, Choosing Voluntary Simplicity has a bundle of useful posts.

Information, activism and multi-author blogs

• The United Nations Environment Programme collaborates with governments, communities and companies to publish information packs on a wide range of environmental topics.
• Covering design, blunders, activism and much more, Tree Hugger is a high volume, multi-authored blog.
• Eco-Chick is another multi-author blog with a feminine touch.
• Although this blog has more of an activism slant, Green-blog also covers green design, and current events.
• EcoGeek covers innovations and products aimed at saving the planet's resources.
• The Sierra Club and World Wildlife Fund both have resources to help you be greener.
• Learning for sustainability has a variety of resources that could be used when proposing changes at work, or for designing school curriculum about sustainability.
• Frugality and sustainability typically go hand in hand, Wise Bread has a huge amount of information on frugality.

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.

Going green in April - Go electronic

nifwlseirff on flickr

Several years ago, offices were proclaiming that they would become paperless, but very few paperless offices really exist, let alone homes. Also, I know electronic devices use electricity (which would be much better if it came from renewable resources, but this is also currently rare). But, you can often save money, save space, save resources and time by going electronic where possible.

If you need to keep a photocopy of a form for your records, scan it instead (most scanners can create a multi-page PDF document, and most modern multi-function photocopiers can email the PDF file to you.) Try not to print documents to paper, use the tracking tools in word processing software (or even just different colours) to mark documents for editing. Store documents online with a version number (even using a date in the filename), rather than keeping a physical printout of each version, keep multiple electronic versions. There are PDF readers available that allow you to annotate PDF documents, such as Skim (Mac) or Xournal (Linux), useful for those who prefer to scribble notes all over their documents. Graphics tablets are becoming more common and less expensive, and there are even pens that allow you to record what you write in ink!

Use an online street directory like the most popular Google Maps. Many modern phones have map functionality, and some even have GPS capabilities. Use online phone and business directories (Yellowpages) and cancel delivery of the printed ones. Although it is a good idea to note down important numbers on paper just in case you lose electricity and/or phone coverage.

Most mobile phones have a calendar function, and can store notes. The newer phones have even more bells and whistles, replacing paper based diaries and notebooks. Usually, phones come with software that can synchronise this information with other programs on your computer.

Read e-books instead of purchasing the latest paperback, that you are unlikely to re-read. You can purchase these from many online websites. High school and university textbooks are much more searchable in electronic format - you aren't limited to the book's table of contents and index. Depending on the electronic book's format, you may be able to make annotations like in PDF files as described above. There are e-book readers for many mobile phones, and fantastic advances are being made in 'digital' paper devices like the Kindle by Amazon.com (unfortunately not available in Australia yet).

Email can contain much more information than physical letters. Photos, pictures, documents, animations, audio files, video files, etc. can decorate or be attached to emails. Online email providers typically give you a lot of space to store and archive your email. You can use these to keep an up to date backup of email that you also download to your computer.

Looking past the obvious paper based alternatives, movies can now be rented, bought and stored electronically from some websites. Some require devices like a TiVo, AppleTV, or subscriptions like Foxtel in Australia, or software like iTunes. TV shows, movies, audiobooks, podcasts, phone applications, and more can be bought through iTunes. There are so many different music websites selling music, audiobooks and e-books that you can download, either as MP3s or in proprietary formats. There are also many free alternatives. For example, Project Gutenberg for e-books and audiobooks, Librivox for audiobooks, Podsafe audio (royalty free music that you can use when making your own podcasts), and a world of free, informative, self-help and music podcasts. I've even found free sheet music available online in PDF format.

Electronic alternatives may save you some money, they will definitely save resources, and they usually require less storage space! You still have to clean the dust from your computer, but you'll have fewer shelves of books, maps, boxes of records, CDs, and DVDs to clean. It is important to take regular backups of your electronic data, and store the backups somewhere safe, especially in case of fire or other disaster!

Each month I am posting a 'Going green' tip for a year long electronic swap.