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Usually I post these types of posts on Lightening’s Blogworld and I have this one but as it’s something very relevant to the types of things I post here, I’ve decided to include it here as well.

Save Water Today is giving away free water saving shower heads.

I know some of you have already tried this type of shower head (and I can’t attest for how good these particular ones will be) but I do urge you to give them a try for an extended period of time (as they take a little getting used to).

One thing that being on only rainwater (as opposed to piped water) during extended years of drought has taught me is that we CAN make quite a big difference to the amount of water we use if only try.

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One of the regular features of our local Field Days event is the Artyculture Fashion Parade. Entrants design and fashion a garment from recycled materials.

What people came up with absolutely astounded me. And the creativity didn’t stop with the garments. Some of the titles of the garments were fabulous and very clever.

Here are a few of the entries:

Because You Can Can

This was made by Lleyton’s class (year’s 5 & 6). They have been studying recycling so this fitted in well with what they were doing. It’s been made using coke cans, chook wire, weedmat. The hat is made from carboard and the chook bag from tin.

Bouncy Bikini Babe

Made using tennis balls and an old basketball net.

Shearing Bros

These garments have been made from old sacks and decorated using a wool classing stencil (used to label wool bales).

Blind Warrior

Made from curtain rings, wooden blind slats and bamboo blinds.

Political Statement

This kid was SO cute. Each model had their own little dance moves to go with their outfit and he carried his out so well. He’s dressed in a green shopping bag (with holes for his legs). This designer wanted to make the statement that green bags aren’t really green at all. They’re made from polypropelene which doesn’t break down. Instead we’d be better off making our shopping bags out of a fabric that will break down.

These are just a few of the many entries. I won’t try and show you them all but I will do another post (next week?) with some stunning evening and wedding gowns.

Image by E01 via FlickrAre you tired of posts about netball yet?

Today the netball club I’m now involved with hosted a mid-week netball carnival.

I’m not sure I really understood what I’d be in for when I said I’d like to play.

It’s a bit of a fun, social kind of day which is designed to encourage non-netballers (or retired netballers) to get out on the court (as well as seasoned players of course - as long as they don’t try TOO hard ).

In theory it sounded like a LOT of fun.

Until someone decided to calculate that each team would play around 2 and a half hours of netball throughout the course of the day.

Games were made up of 2 12-minute halves and you played 5 other teams (of the 8 we ended up with in the carnival).

3 games into the day I was seriously wondering if I would make it through 5 games.

That’s quite a LOT of netball for 1 day.

But it was HEAPS of fun. We laughed a lot. Those who are “good” at netball mixed up their positions a lot as a bit of fun and to help even things up a bit.

Until the finals of course. That’s a little bit more serious.

There were only 2 finals games played. Team 7 & 8 played one another for “bottom” position. Then the “Grand Final” between teams 1 & 2.

The competition was so close that 2nd place had to be determined by percentages.

And we nearly fell over in SHOCK when it was announced that WE were the 2nd team.

No surprises who the top team were. They were SERIOUS netballers (or at least appeared that way) and went through the day undefeated.

So most of us were less than enthusiastic about having to play them again. We even joked about handing the game over to the 3rd place getters (who we thought possibly had a better chance of defeating this top team).

I was very quick to put my hand up to sit off one of the halves. I also made it quite clear I wanted to play the FIRST half and not the second half. I HATE playing the final quarter when we play. Too much pressure.

Anyway….

WE WON!!!!!!!

I think we nearly all fell over ourselves in shock. None of us were expecting to win!!!

So, I just won my first netball “Grand Final” (as an adult that is).

And I’m having trouble walking.

I think I might be just a tiny bit sore tomorrow.

Image via WikipediaI think that one of the biggest mistakes our society is making right now is the attitude of “disposability” when it comes to our STUFF.

I’m not sure if our “throw away society” can be blamed on consumers or manufacturers. I suspect it’s a combination of the two. Consumer demand for products at the lowest possible price leads to manufacturers cutting corners in their product quality. It also goes in the manufacturers favour to have items that require replacing more often.

So, who is the loser here? The environment. We’re chewing through resources at the rate of knots and throwing it all into landfill just as quickly.

To be honest, understanding the whole landfill issue was something I remained blissfully unaware of (well, to a certain degree at least) until we had to start dealing with our own waste. We don’t have a convenient garbage pick-up service here. We have to deal with our own.

And it can be quite a SHOCK to the system to have in front of you a couple of years worth of landfill that has been generated by you and only you.

However, here is where I find a certain amount of conflict. Often-times, frugality and environmentalism go hand in hand.

That isn’t ALWAYS the case though.

Anything that involves technology may well create a conflict between frugality and environmentalism.

If you buy the cheaper model, will it end up in landfill quicker?

If you buy the more expensive model, will it’s technology be outdated faster than it wears out? And do the more expensive models really last longer?

Farmboy and I were caught in this dilemma about a year ago. Our television died. Do we repair it or put the cost of repair toward a new television?

We thought we’d done the “right” thing when we purchased it originally, opting for a Sony rather than a cheaper brand.

However, it was only a 51cm television and with Farmboy’s failing eyesight, was this a prime opportunity (ie excuse) to purchase something larger, with newer technology?

After discussions with our local electronics store, we decided that perhaps it was worth fixing. And spent around $100 repairing the television.

A couple of days ago, the television died again. Making us question the sensibility of having spent money on it 12 months ago, only to have it now no longer working again.

I guess this time we’ll replace it. I feel disappointed that our efforts to do what we felt was the “right” thing haven’t paid off. And now we’re left wondering what we’ll do the next time we’re faced with the decision of “repair or replace”.

What would you have done in our position?

Are there certain things you would repair rather than replace?

Do you find it easy to put environmental considerations ahead of frugal ones?

Can anyone recommend a television brand for under $500 (we haven’t decided on a size yet but preferably larger than 51cm - not that we fully understand the way the sizing works these days)? We’re thinking it’s not really worth spending extra money for a “better quality” brand but there are so many alternatives out there, it’s hard to know which way to go.

I have a confession to make. While I LOVE my reusable shopping bags (including my new one), I tend to be a bit forgetful when it comes to actually taking them shopping. I USE them for all kinds of things. Like transporting my knitting, taking stuff to the gym, packing travel snacks in. And I use them at the supermarket. Most of the time.

The good thing is when I forget to take them to the supermarket, I am able to make use of those bags for rubbish and other things. So I don’t feel too bad, as long as I don’t collect too many plastic bags.

Where I feel like I’m letting the side down environmentally is department store shopping. Small boutique style stores (which I don’t actually shop in that often anyway) still provide some wonderfully sturdy plastic bags that can be used over and over again. But stores like Kmart and Target (etc of course) tend to provide really flimsy bags that tear easily and don’t have handles that make them very convenient for rubbish disposal. So they really DO end up as useless landfill.

I keep thinking it would make sense for me to take my own sturdy bags. I know I *should* keep them in the car. Part of my problem at the moment is that most of my “shopping” bags are in use!!!!

Anyway, I’ve been thinking it would be handy to have a reusable bag that I could easily carry around in my handbag. Then it would always be with me. Now, if you’ve seen my handbag (and what mother doesn’t have an overflowing handbag????), you’ll understand that fitting something into my handbag is no easy feat!!!!

So I was pretty excited when I saw these an article on these Ecosilk bags on Australian Women Online recently. They have a range but the ones that caught my eye were the rosette bags that come in my FAVOURITE colour!!!!

I took one for a spin while we were away and it was FABULOUS!!!! I used it 3 times (so saved 3 plastic bags so far) and felt quite glam walking down the mall/shopping centre with my bag. And no horrible plastic cutting into my fingers either. It certainly made me smile!!!!

I’m thinking these might make some nice Christmas gifts for hard to buy for people this year.

Shall I get to the GIVEAWAY part now?

Well, I do happen to have one of these bags in my favourite colour to giveaway:

Isn’t it beautiful?

All you need to do to enter is fill in the form below answering the question about what other colours the rosette ecobags come in. They have some fabulous names for some of their colours too! Why the question? Well, ecosilk bags were kind enough to donate this bag for me to giveaway (no, they are not paying me to write any of this and I contacted them because I LOVED their bags so much).

Entries for this giveaway will close Wednesday 7th May and I’ll announce the winner as part of my Smiley Saturday post on Saturday 10th May. And yes, you can enter no matter where in the world you live (as long as Australia Post will allow me to send there). They will also ship overseas (if I understand their site correctly) so if you don’t win, you don’t HAVE to miss out.

Let me know what you think. Do you like the look of them? Is this the kind of thing you would find useful?

cforms contact form by delicious:days

Inspired yet again by Rhonda Jean I have decided to make my current “cut our spending” challenge the electricity bill. As with most frugality projects, this also has an impact on the environment so there are lots of benefits all round.

In timely fashion, our latest electricity bill arrived in the mail yesterday. As expected, it was quite a large bill. Thankfully, our usage was a little down on what we used last winter. But it was still quite a shocker. The total of the bill was $762.94!!! Our average daily usage was 45.5kWh.

I know…. Thankfully winter is our worst month for electricity usage by FAR! Our usage over the rest of the year hovers closer to the 20kWh per day mark.

Interestingly enough, the topic of electricity bills has come up on a yahoo group I’m on. So there’s been lots of talk about electricity usage around the place of late. So yesterday, as part of that discussion, I was contemplating why our winter electricity bill is so high.

We don’t have any gas here so ALL of our power usage (other than the solar hot water system which is at it’s lowest effectiveness during winter) is electricity.

The tumble dryer is 1 culprit. Once upon a time I would wait for finer days to do my washing. But now that I wash 7+ loads a week, I just don’t find that practical. I need to keep up with a load a day or I get overwhelmed. We do have plans for an undercover clothes line but with starting from scratch with our own place, these things all seem to take time (and money) to get established.

By far though, I think our biggest problem is heating. We built our house in such a way that we get a wonderful lot of winter sun through the north windows during the day. Unfortunately with the bedrooms on the south side, we struggle with the temperature in the bedrooms overnight. We don’t heat them all the time, only when one of us is sick. We seem to have a tendency toward asthma and croup so whenever someone gets a cold they get a horrible cough during the night and the only thing that helps is warm air. With 2 column oil heaters and a fan heater for heating the bedrooms during this time, I think that’s where our biggest usage problem lies. I’ve seen some bedroom heaters that are very economical that I’ve been wanting to get for the kids rooms. Looks like I need to bump them up to a higher priority on my “to buy” list (for next winter).

While this all sounds really bad (our electricity usage I mean), we have made HUGE improvements in our electricity usage since we moved house. It used to cost us around $3000 a year in electricity. Around $900 in winter and summer and $600 in the in between seasons. The reasons for it being higher were partly due to paying for many of my FIL’s older appliances (he had an outside room at our house for his own use). Installing a solar hot water system and purchasing our own fridge (we had an old one on loan at the other house) have also helped as has going to a single meter. We were paying for multiple meter readings at the other house with a separate meter for farm usage. Here the farm is all on our house meter (but it’s actual usage of electricity is fairly minimal).

The first year we were in our own home, our usage dropped by almost half. Since then the bill has been creeping up a little - partly due to increasing electricity prices and partly due to the fact that I just haven’t focused on trying to keep it down.

We’ve made a start with the $$ side of things. DH rang our electricity provider yesterday and asked if we were on the best deal they could give us and they’ve offered us a 5% discount on all future bills. So that’s $$ in our pocket for very minimal effort.

For the purpose of this challenge though, I’m going to focus on kWh’s rather than $ as that seems to be the best comparison to be made. Our electricity costs, being rural, are higher per unit than some so the easiest way to compare is to focus on our actual usage in kWh’s. It’s also a way to measure in between bills as I can read the meter as often as I like.

So, I talked to the kids the other day about doing an electricity challenge and they are all excited about the fact. We’ve decided that we’ll begin next Monday when I’ve taken a second meter reading and we can use that as a comparison as to whether we’re making progress with our efforts. I’m focusing on the environmental benefits rather than the $$ benefits with them. They discuss the environment quite a bit at school so it fits well with what they’re learning.

For the past couple of years, we’ve continued to budget the $3000 that electricity was costing us at our old home and have been using our electricity savings toward paying for our solar hot water system that we installed when we built this house. Now that the costs for that
are covered, DH and I had a conversation the other day about what we might do with our electricity savings. For some time now, I’ve been interested in installing solar panels for our electricity use. The cost has been somewhat prohibitive for us. So DH suggested that we earmark these savings for saving up for this. I was so excited that he seems to be finally on board with the idea!!! So, that’s what we’ll be doing. Another “compounding” effect for both our finances and the environment!!! We save money and energy and those savings go toward the possibility of saving more money and energy in the future!

Now there’s a line that might sound a little familiar to some of you. That’s cos I’ve pinched it from Cindy (www.cindysporch.net). She sends out some really inspiration emails if you join her email group (it’s free). This month she’s issued a challenge for us to all take a fresh look at what we’re disposing of and see if we can cut down on buying things just to use them once and throw them away.

For some time now I’ve been trying to cut down on the amount of waste we add to landfill. It’s so much more obvious, when you don’t have a weekly garbage service, just how quickly garbage accumulates. I have to admit, at times I feel like I’m fighting a losing battle with “stuff” and in particular with how much we throw away but I figure the real loss is only if I stop fighting and trying to improve in this area.

So for June I want to look at our garbage with fresh eyes and make an extra effort to cut back on how much simply goes to landfill. Not spending money unnecessarily is one benefit of not buying too many disposable items. Considering the environmental impact of all our waste (wasted resources as well as our landfill problems) is just as important if not more important than any dollars we save. Isn’t it wonderful how many of these things go hand in hand? What’s good for us and our pockets is often good for the world we live in as well.

I’ve recently taken one small step with my deodorant usage. Up until the end of May I’ve been using a Rexona spray can. I finally bit the bullet and bought myself a crystal stick that I’ve heard others talk about. It prevents body odour by inhibiting bacteria growth. So far I’ve found it wonderful. It’s possible that come summer I may have to reassess what works and what doesn’t as it doesn’t stop you perspiring. But I figure even if I only use it for half the year it’s got to be better than never at all. There are so many benefits on many levels from this change. For an outlay of $7 I have a product that’s expected to last me at least a year. I have cut back on the nasty chemicals I’m placing on my skin (which tend to get absorbed into the body) and there is a LOT less packaging ending up in landfill as a result (1 small plastic container over the course of the year instead of numerous spray cans).

Another small change I made yesterday was to not use fruit and veg bags in the grocery store for things that really didn’t need it (like the single large sweet potato I bought and the 2 fresh corn on the cobs). I do actually resuse these bags in my toilet bins but generally we only need 2 a week (1 for each toilet) and most weeks I accumulate more than 2. Just a small habit change really (I tend to reach for a bag out of habit more than anything) and not one that will save me any money. But a small step toward reducing our rubbish all the same.

Throughout the month I’ll try and blog more about my progress in this area of “reduce the trash”. If you feel like sharing what you’re doing in the comments section that would be great - we all love to read new ideas and be inspired by what others are doing!

As a side note - Cindy now has the menu plan form up on her website for the month of June. It’s very easy to print off and use if you’re interested in menu planning - click on Treasures in the Kitchen and ít’ll take you to a page which includes a link to the current month’s menu plan. I’ve just printed off a copy and filled it in with my new pink pen (my DH bought me a set of coloured pens as one of my Mother’s Day treats - he knows me well, I’m a big stationery fan. I LOVE, LOVE, LOVE having lots of coloured pens to choose from - and they’re soooo nice to write with as well).