Friday, October 03, 2008

My Better Life List


i posted this list in May & i thought i would revisit it to see if anything has changed


i think that i have always been a little bit Green, have always been a country girl, even when the country was far away.
i have felt my life changing over the last year or so.

i feel i am turning into the woman i new that one day i would become.




My Better Life List


1. living a better life is at the top of my list. :o)


2. saving water- with my front load washer {only washing 2 days a week}, a bucket in the shower to water my plants, only washing up once a day, rain water barrel.
i have also added a bucket to the kitchen sink to catch all the rinse water from my fruit & veggies

3. buying eco cleaning products-washing up liquid, washing powder.

4. cloth shopping bags- always.
also added cloth fruit & veggie bags

5. recycling everything possible.

or finding a new use for it, like juice bottles i cut them up to make garden veggie tags.

6. Saving electricity- changing to energy saving light bulbs, turning off the lights when we leave the room, turning off appliances at the power point.

spending less time on the computer.

7. Only buying Australian fruit & veggies, this also goes for dried fruit & nuts, bread, dairy products & meat.
it is getting harder to find Australian grown dried fruits & nuts, the market is flooded with inferior imports.

8. Australian food stuffs- i have spent quite a lot of time in the supermarkets reading labels, now i pretty much only buy products made in Australia.

if the label says Local & imported the item goes back on the shelf

9. Changed from an electric kettle with a stand by light to a gas kettle.

lov my kettle

10. Bucket as our garbage bin- have never purchased garbage bags, i use to use the plastic shopping bags but i cut those out in 1998 when i sewed my first calico cloth bags.


11. Baking from scratch- have always done this- cakes, biscuits, pies sweet/savory, slices, bars, chocolates, pizza, yogurt, pasta- plus 100 other from scratch meals.

i have add ice cream/frozen yogurt & condensed milk

12. i will be trying out cloth pads instead of disposable ones, as well as cloth wipes.

the cloth wipes are great i wont be going back, also going to try out a Mooncup.

13. we are building a hen house & i will keep 6 to 8 hens for their beautiful eggs & meat & in return they will eat up all our kitchen scraps.

well the house is finished :o) just waiting for the next hatch, for some Silver Laced Wyandottes. not much success on the other breeds i am after.

14. Line drying our washing- i have always liked hanging out the washing & love the smell of fresh clean clothes straight off the line.

the weather is warming up so ill be going back to hanging the wash out at night.

15. Freecycling items we no longer need.

it is also a place to find treasures

16. Fruit Trees- these are something i have wanted for a very long time & now i have a few in really big pots, i cant wait till my lemon tree gets its first crop.

no fruit yet but my list is:
1 Lemon

2 Oranges {full of blossom}

1 passionfruit

1 raspberry

1 blueberry {tiny fruit forming as i type}


17. pots of herbs- nothing like fresh herbs to cook with.


18. Growing flowers from seed- i never new how rewarding it would be, seeing their sunny faces smiling at me.


19. Planing my first Veggie Garden- i have grown veggies in pots before but making a garden is much more exciting.
4 veggie gardens harvested:
Peas

Silverbeet

Lettuce
\quite a few seeds growing too many to list :o)

20. Composting- having a go at a compost heap.
still cooking, with lots of lovely worms

21. Sewing- i have always sown things but i have stepped it up giving new uses to old towels, clothing & sheets.
making a rug from old t-shirts, skirts, nighties, Pj's, aprons, bath mats & quilts just to name a few.

22. thinking about what i spend money on- do i really need it, can i do with out it, do i have something else that can do the same job.

this is stuck in my head :o)

23. i have pretty much stopped buying processed foods.

24. added knitted dish cloths to my kitchen.

i am very passionate about all these things & i find my self thinking about other things i can do.

Changing your life for the better takes time, but it all starts with the first step.

2 comments:

greenfumb said...

Hi Nicole,

your list in very similar to mine although I have never actually written it down. I think the idea of the fruit and vege bags is inspired. My husband complains though because there are never any plastic bags to pick up dog do - LOL

Nicole and Andrew said...

hey Greenfumb
you can use your bread bags for the dog poo, if you would like some veggie bags let me know, pics & price are on my blog