Being 'green' on a budget...?

uf353432

We recycle as much as our local council allow and then try and recycle a little bit more by taking bottles to the bottle bank.

Our washing machine died last year so we bought a really expensive one (just under £1000 eek!) but it came with a 10 year warranty and its also enviro friendly as it alters the washing powder and the water that it uses depending on the weight of a load.

We drove a Smart Car (up until a couple of weeks) but we had it for 3 odd years - because it there was only the 2 of us and it was ecomic on fuel and low emmissions. We've now upgraded to a diesal which has emissions about the same as the Smart were previously driving. We also share a car instead of having one each.

We buy recycled kitchen towel roll and try and buy essential products in the ecover range - though where possible I make my own cleaning products from the kitchen.

We use our waste paper as fuel for the fire as appose to needlessly burning solid fuel. We also gather kindling from the local forest when we go for walks to save paying through the nose for shop bought ones.

We do buy organic foods - because I think they taste better. But we will where possible buy from our local farm shop as appose to the supermarket as its cheaper. We always reuse the carrier bags and egg punnets rather than taking new ones.

I also have 2 abondoned veg plots in our new garden which next year I hope to be growing veg all year round.

We have a compost heap, man made not shop bought.

We have water butts in the garden.

My husband and I are a right Tom and Barbara - but we balance being green and being thrifty. The things we save on allow us to spend on the areas which are more expensive.

debs

Sarahsaver

That's great. Barbara was my role model as a child, i longed to be like her. Now sitting here in my crocheted poncho just having had some homemade cheesecake i wonder if in fact i am turning into her slowly ;D
We were self sufficient as kids as far as vegetables were concerned, but then we did have a big garden. By the wat did u know that Council houses used to come with 1/4 of an acre of land so that the occupants had enough land to produce food to feed a family.
Still I have to insist i can not afford organic unless its in sainsbury's reduced section. ;D

uf353432

If i'm on a tight week I tend to only buy the organic produce where I eat the skin. I thought I'd died and gone to heaven the day I ate an organic apple - it was so full of flavour - now I eat them because i'm worth it!

Things you peel like oranges, potatoes, swede etc - any chemical residues are removed with the skin and I have not noticed a great deal of difference in flavour either.

I stopped buying organic meat per se - but I do buy all the meat from either the local organic farm - which is cheaper than the supermarket or non organic but locally produced meats from the home farm shop - which I have to say is just the business.

I insist on only eating green and blacks organic 70% dark chocolate. A £1 bar last all week for 2 of us (its so rich you can only manage a couple of squares) and we don't buy any other chocolates or sweets - so I see it that we save money!

I love organic wine as well. You can get a nice one from tesco for only £3.99 - I think I have spent more on a non organic wine many times over.

debs

sheenagh_2

What a great thread!

Only tips I have is to grow food in your garden, I used to have an allotment but just didn't have time to go there so I put stuff in my small garden. Scattered amoungst the flowers I have had sprouts, onions, garlic, peppers (chuffed about that one in our climate) potatoes, beetroot, courgettes, tomotoes and this year I planted gourds which was a mistake as they buried everything. I have planted a dwarf cherry tree and an apple tree and have a grape vine growing up a south facing wall. I don't plant loads of things but share the seeds with friends, you only need 2 courgette plants to be swamped.

A friend of mine gets her ecover stuff from the market in bulk. At school there are consortiums for survival foods where bulk orders are placed and shared out, I haven't managed to join so I can't post more details.

Janice

If you're a woman and you want to be both mean and green, check out https://www.mooncup.co.uk

No connection other than being a very satisfied customer.

Yoga_Girl

I grow some fruit & veg in the garden, garden not big enough to supply us in fruit & veg for the year but every bit helps and I think its good for my children to see how produce grows, rather than assuming it comes in a cellophane wrapped package from the supermarket. My boy loves picking raspberries from the bottom of the garden.

I've got a greenhouse and grow tomatoes every year. Grew some chillies in there this year as well!

I have 2 compost bins in the garden and get loads of good soil from them, and I compost practically everthing - veg peelings, tea-bags, used kitchen towels, scrunched up cardboard.

I've got 3 water-butts in the garden as well.

I prefer to buy organic veg and I also try to buy veg when its in season.

I recycle, our local authority does a 2-weekly house collection for glass, newspapers and plastic.

I use Ecover and I find you don't actually need to use much of it to wash dishes, guess this depends on water condition wherever you live.

My mum has an allotment and we get regular supplies of organic, fresh veg from her.

Janice the mooncup looks interesting but I would be concerned about leakage!

Lillibet_2

Another satisfied Mooncup user, they are worth investigating if you can get past the "yuck" factor

Plumpud_3

Mooncups don't leak, and I have heavy periods. I was very pleased with it, and you do have the 3 menstrual cycles to try or return.

Give it a go.

Sarahsaver

The only way it seems of finding out about a veg box scheme is BUYING a book from the soil association, this is the advice given on their website >:(

John_M_Business

Firstly, as I said before, they won't help with 'soiled' washes (especially if you're dealing with reusable nappies), but they vastly improve the efficiency of the wash.

It means that you should use about half the detergent you usually use (and only in the 'soiled' washes!), but you probably will also need to use stain remover as well from time to time.

I think we got ours from https://www.spiritofnature.co.uk which were much cheaper than Green Baby.