Selfsufficientish.com

Buying less food at the moment as the allotment is well on stream this year.

I'm also going to have an inventory on cooking habits and see if a microwave would improve the electricity bill. It would make a change from one pot meals to be able to do things like jacket spuds - but only if the price is right. Thinking to come here.

I've been a bit of an annoying eco-warrier hippy (according to many of my friends!) for some years now but since coming onto these forums and buying the Ish Bible I now:

1) Use wee wipes
2) Am phasing out the use of disposable baby wipes in favour of reuseable ones
3) Am waiting to get "recharges" - as OH calls rescued battery hens!
4) Use every teabag twice
5) Instructed OH to pee on the compost at least every other day!
6) Am on a smallholding estate agent's books for suitable properties & have visited some!
7) Continue to encourage/hassle everyone to reuse, reduce and then recycle, the first two being very important and often over-looked!

Milims wrote: 2 Stopped using shampoo and conditioner and use simple olive oil soap and olive oil instead (Went to the hairdressers for my annual shearing a couple of weeks ago and they commented on how soft and wel conditioned my hair was!)

Tell me more please! how do you keep the oiliness away?

I would love to ditch the shampoo and conditioner, but i'm a frequent dyer, so i need them still to clean up dye...i also have oily hair at the roots, and dry tips, so i end up using a different conditioner on the ends.

Hi,

We already,

1.Recycle all we possibly can i.e. paper, cardboard, tins, glass, plastics.
2. Have reduced rubbish by3/4s.
3. Grow veggies and herbs.
4. Compost and use guinea and chook waste to activate.
5. Make jam etc and recycle the jars for ourselves and people we give it to.
6. As of Sunday eggs from chooks.
7. Switch tap off whenever teeth brushing, hair washing etc.
8. use grey water for the loo when available.
9. Yellow to Mellow as much as can stand.
10. Low energy bulbs.
11. Try to walk rather than drive.
12. Freecycle.
13. Car Boot.
14. Try to build what we need in garden gates etc. Plus good wood.
15. Don't buy into doing up house redecorating constantly.
16. Cook from scratch except occasional chips and icecream. (Do have maker though so should use it more.)
17. Shop locally/walk there for the dailies i.e. milk etc.
18. Do one shop a month to save petrol and packaging where can. Some is frozen i.e. meat but lot stored.
19. Try not to use tumble unless essential. (Minimum rather than put heating on for radiators.)
20. Jumpers not heating.
21. Water on timer.
22. Kettle only for what needed.
23. Try to bulk bake. (then you freeze it though otherwise oven on every day, defrost naturally.)
24. Solar night light for kids.
25. Try never to throw foodout. (Dogs and chooks useful for that.)

Think that's it.

Have recently:
1 Stopped buying cleaner stuff and use bicarb and vinegar with essential oils.

1. reduce packaging further.
2. Buy any new furniture needed second hand not chemical full.
3. Planning to make those eco gell air fresheners and wood polish, plus any health and beauty stuff we canover the next 6 months.
4. Increase only buying scottish/british/fair trade/ ethically.
5. Get a mooncup - are they good?
6. Try..... not to die my hair every six weeks with a 24 wash one and use a green one instead. I've reduced make up to when out and it's so old, chemicals probably died anyway!!!
7. Only G &B chocolate. That should reduce overall intake as well!!!

Plum Jam wrote:Hi,
7. Only G &B chocolate. That should reduce overall intake as well!!!

I only quite recently realised that G&B is mostly not fair trade - so I now only eat the genuinely fair trade, organic chocolate that you get in very few shops... That has definitely reduced my intake!

Have discovered a pile of friendly green soap loafing around - present from last Christmas. Now that calls for more strip washes and less baths to use it up. Could be green saving on the water and gas as well as penny wise in using up instead of buying more not so green bath bubbles.

Re G&B...

****** I love that chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

the.fee.fairy wrote:

Milims wrote: 2 Stopped using shampoo and conditioner and use simple olive oil soap and olive oil instead (Went to the hairdressers for my annual shearing a couple of weeks ago and they commented on how soft and wel conditioned my hair was!)

Tell me more please! how do you keep the oiliness away?

I would love to ditch the shampoo and conditioner, but i'm a frequent dyer, so i need them still to clean up dye...i also have oily hair at the roots, and dry tips, so i end up using a different conditioner on the ends.

Sorry it's taken me a while
I just buy Oliva soap - it's been mentioned on here before - it's about 79p a bar. I literally just rub it on my hair and rinse it off. As to the olive oil, about once a month I put a drop of rosemary oil into about tbsp olive oil, massage it into my hair and leave it on over night. The next morning I just give it a thorough wash. I've noticed that since I stared using the soap my hair isn't half as greasy and I can wash it less often.
It's also been mentioned somewhere that you can use bicarb as shampoo - I must try it!

Plum Jam wrote:Re G&B...

****** I love that chocolate!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

I know it's good - and what's more, the local village shops both sell it

Just wish they were fair trade!

Have you tried the Swiss made organic fair trade stuff? They have some nice varieties, too. Not as many as G&B.

I don't think so, whats the chocolate called? I'm vaguely thinking of the fair trade one called Pucca??? With twirley pretty wrappers but I may be totally confused. (Chocolate withdrawel!!!)

I have converted to 'divine' chocolate... it is much nicer than G+Bs (possibly because you can taste the guilt in G+B ) and the co-op sell it as own brand too - well it is practically the same stuff.
It isn't organic but it is fairtrade and they use fewer chemicals than regular chocolate manufacturers (I read that it is part of the fairtrade agreement that workers can't be exposed to certain chemicals...so IMO it is a step in the right direction)

Annpan wrote:I have converted to 'divine' chocolate... it is much nicer than G+Bs (possibly because you can taste the guilt in G+B ) and the co-op sell it as own brand too - well it is practically the same stuff.
It isn't organic but it is fairtrade and they use fewer chemicals than regular chocolate manufacturers (I read that it is part of the fairtrade agreement that workers can't be exposed to certain chemicals...so IMO it is a step in the right direction)

Definitely is. I still think the traidcraft stuff is nicer (probably more expensive, too ).

Well, I'll give this a go but there's not much as I've only just started:

1. Put the fish tank lights on timer so we don't forget to turn them off... better for the fish and plants / better for our electric bill
2. Recycle almost everything (even if Greenwich Council are making it stupidly complicated and wretched)
3. Started to grow my own herbs in window boxes and hanging baskets... neighbours think we're insane but we have no garden
4. Turn off lights... my OH was a one for leaving all the lights on but I have trained him well and now he turns the lights off when he's finished (and he just said "OI don't blame me") :D
5. We don't have a TV
6. We got a water butt in the front concrete postage stamp sized thing at the front of the house downstairs (probably a brave move in London but we shall see)
7. Use the water from the fish tanks on the herbs
8. Are in the process of turning 4 car tyres off of our car into planters which will join the water butt downstairs and have herbs in them (probably and certainly a Bay Tree)
9. Cut out un-necessary trips in the car (maybe forced on us by the fuel prices but it's a start and we need a car because I have a bad back and can't walk very far at the moment)
10. We had a condenser boiler fitted
11. we only turn the central heating on when we really need it, otherwise it's jumpers and even blankets (which I will be knitting soon)
12. Keep the freezer full to reduce dead space being kept cold and making it un-economical even though it's an A rated fridge freezer.
13. All the simple things like turning off taps when brushing teeth
14. Stopped throwing away food (unless it's totally un-usable) and now plan meals to use extra left over items (such as when you buy a pack of peppers and always have one left)
15. Freecycle
16. Look in charity shops for pretty much anything (more a budget thing really but second hand stuff is just as good if you pick out the gems)
17. Gumtree (we bought our fridge freezer from there for £30)
18. E-Bay (for practically anything and everything and our car was only £10 from there... seriously!!)
19. Use practically anything for craft purposes or DIY etc... I always ask myself if something else can be made from it before I recycle it etc
20. Don't eat processed foods and cook everything from scratch (lately anything passed the mince form is off the menu completely)
21. Cook from scratch and freeze leftovers
22. Bake our own bread (rarely buy from the store and only usually reduced to clear items)
23. Showers instead of baths

... woah... a little more than I initially thought and I'm sure there's much more but it's something we are still working on and especially of late so I'm sure the list will grow month on month!