Five ways to cut out plastic from your life

Plastic is a very useful, durable, long lasting material. If you can utilise plastic items for a lifetime, it is more eco-friendly and economically friendly than having to buy a wooden equivalent every 5 years.

However, if you don't like plastic here are my five ways to cut out plastic from your life. 

1) Use glass. Glass jars are great, especially if you can buy a lot of stuff in bulk. Take the jars to customer service to have them weighed first. We buy all kinds of stuff this way, including stuff you wouldn't expect like peanut butter and flour.

2) Use wood alternatives. I got a bamboo dish rack. When it starts to develop black spots every few months, I soak it in a dilute bleach solution, brush it with an old toothbrush and let it dry in the sun. It looks much nicer than a plastic dish rack, too.

3) Take a reusable shopping bag on your grocery trip. The amount of plastic bags we use is disgusting. Cut the habit and take your own reusable bag.

4) Stop buying bottled water. Seriously, paying for water should be a crime in the first place.  Disposing of the plastic bottle on every purchase is damn right evil. 

5) Don't put plastic on your face! Much of the plastic that’s polluting the oceans is microplastics, tiny chunks that are next to impossible to filter out. These little beads are intended to be exfoliators. 

Quote of the week

"The price of anything is the amount of life you exchange for it." - Henry David Thoreau

Enjoying the simple things

One of the changes I have made this year is to enjoy simple hobbies that take me out of the grind of life. For me, that has meant hiking my local park around Wellington. 

I have also bought a kayak to spend the beautiful weather (so rare around her) out on the water. On the plus side, I also get to bring home a feed on occasion. 

You'll be amazed at what you find out there. Hiking around the central plateau earlier this year I came across a majestic Kaimanawa stallion. He was protecting a mare with foal. 

What do you do to chill out?

Emergency skill - opening a can without a can opener

Okay, so we have had an earthquake, tsunami and a flood in New Zealand the past week.

Here's a skill everyone should learn.

Understanding and differentiating your intrinsic motivations: 'Should, want, and need.'

Like many of you, I've quested to simplify my life. I'd just like to quickly share one thing that has been a governing base-level thought for myself that's helped me make decisions easier about what's important to me.

Whenever a potential option, small or large, comes up for me, I simply question where this comes from and how I think about it using the above metric. I have made a conscious effort to be very very critical if something comes up for me that evokes the phrase "I should do this."

One example for me is volunteering (very light example but it has extended to heavy situations too). I like the feeling it gives me, but it has sort of devolved into feeling like 'I should' go do that, not because I want to. Recognising that, I have honoured my wants and have passed on opportunities to help out there. It seems the fear of not doing things you feel like you should do drives people crazy because people think they will do nothing, thus becoming lazy, or worthless to some extent.

I can say with the time that I have saved by not continuing this activity and placing more trust in my gut, my wants in the moment, I have had a much happier quality of life and have taken interest in things because I've had free time to do what I feel like doing in the moment.

Keeping a cleaning routine

Keeping a cleaning routine need not be a chore. 

The first step is to not have a million and one cleaning products.

Keep only the basics - vinegar, bleach, rags. You'll be amazed how far these go.

'Reset' the kitchen and living rooms every night. In the long run, this means putting pillows on the couch, no stuff on the floors (wrappers, tissues, shoes everywhere, blankets that slid off the couch), and a clean surface on the coffee table. Coasters stacked and TV remotes in their places. Any dishes should get brought to the kitchen.

For the kitchen,the sink should be empty and dishes are drying on the rack or dishwasher.

If there's a lot of packaging from grocery shopping, try to break it down right after unloading groceries so it goes into the recycling right away and doesn't clutter up the space week to week. Try using reusable grocery bags to avoid having tons of cheap thin plastic bags flying around the house. They're a plague.

Try to clean bathrooms at least once a week. Wipe down the sink, mirror, and toilet tank. Floors are vacuumed and mopped.

Now, none of this is perfect but it helps to keep things relatively orderly all the time to over the overwhelming doom feeling of having giant messes everywhere.

Twenty tips to reduce your energy bill in New Zealand

We all know that the power bill can come as a massive shock. But what are you supposed to do when winter drags on well into October? Here are the top 20 tips for cutting down your energy bill from Energywise. 

1. Draw those curtains! - They're not just a pretty decoration. If you don't already, consider investing in some nice thick curtains to lock in even more heat.
2. Stop the draughts - The old saying goes 'better a gale from the front then a draught from the back'. 
3. Turn your heaters off if you don’t need them. Don't leave them on all day. 
4. Close your rooms so you are only heating the spaces you need. I'm sure the washing machine doesn't care if it's cold. 
5. Stop the rot. Fix any leaks and clear your gutters - leaky pipes and blocked guttering can cause moisture inside your home, which can lead to mould.
6. Insulate under your floor. This sounds complicated but it really isn't. Lay down a ground vapour barrier - this is basically, a giant piece of black plastic sheet that sits on the dirt under your house, keeping dampness away.
7. Clear the vents - You know those vents on the outside of your house? Well, check the outside of the house to make sure they are clear of plants or other blockages. This helps to move damp air out from under your house.
8. Open a window when cooking. Cooking introduces moisture to your home. The best way to get rid of this moisture is with externally vented extraction fans and vents. If you don't have these, open windows during or after cooking, showering and washing up.
9. Dry clothes outside or in a vented clothes dryer - try not to use indoors airing racks. The moisture in the clothes will end up in your home.
10. Air your home - open windows and doors at the same time once or twice a day to air the house and let moisture escape, even in winter. Don’t forget to open wardrobe and cupboard doors.
11. Ventilate your bedroom - sleeping with your bedroom window open a crack lets out the moisture that naturally builds up over the night.
12. Air your bedding - especially in winter. Duvets, pillows, and other heavy bedding absorbs moisture over time, so air them outdoors when it’s sunny.
13. Avoid unflued gas heaters which release toxic fumes and make your house damp. Cheap portable electric heaters are safer and cost less to run.
14. Turn lights off when you're not using them.
15. Replace incandescent light bulbs with energy efficient ones and save $100 or more a year on electricity in your house.
16. Use an efficient showerhead - it still gives you a great shower, but uses much less water. To check the flow rate of your shower, put a 10 litre bucket under the shower - if it fills in less than a minute, your showerhead is wasting water. An efficient showerhead has a flow rate of 9 litres per minute, or less.
17. Reduce shower time - a 15 minute shower costs around $1, a 5 minute shower around 33c. A family of 4 could be saving around $18 a week just by taking shorter showers. That’s $900 a year.
18. Use cold washes - unless you have an especially dirty load. Modern washing machines and detergents clean well using cold water. A hot water wash uses 90% more electricity than a cold wash.