Ideas From Our Family Meeting.

We held a family meeting last Monday to look at our lifestyle. The boys ( 6 and 8 ) love the idea of an eco challenge.

Here are the areas we will concentrate on:
Energy
Water
Transport
Garbage
Consumption

Here are the ideas that we brainstormed:

1. Energy
a) Turn off lights when not in use
b) turn off appliances at the wall
c) Have shorter showers
d) install energy efficient light bulbs
e) use re-chargeable batteries

2. Watera) shorter showers and water saving showerheads
b) catch cold water when waiting for hot to come through – use this to fill water bottle and kettle
c) wash up in the small sink
d) flush when necessary
e) install water tanks

3. Transporta) Ride bikes to school and work
b) Limit trips to town – by planning and grouping trips
c) Get Dad to ride motorbike to town for smaller items/ errands
d) Walk
e) Find cheaper fuel, drive more economically

4. Garbage
a) Compost Food Scraps
b) Stop Getting Plastic Bags
c) Buy items with less packaging

5. Consumption
a) Don’t buy unnecessary things
b) Work on a cash budget
c) Use things sparingly-
d) Do instead of buy – make it yourself.

We will add to these ideas as we go.

What I find interesting is that everytime I think along these lines I think of living like my Grandmother on her property in 1940. There was no ' trendiness' about living self sufficiently it was just the done thing. We need to return to the old fashioned way of living for health wealth and happiness reasons.

The other thing that hubbie and I discussed when we were making this list was memories from our childhood. What struck us was - that the garbage bins we had were those tiny metal ones with the round lid - but today - people fill a giant wheelie bin every week. We also remember the butcher wrapping meat in paper and having paper bags or boxes when you did your grocery shopping. The bags and boxes were then reused a number of times then burnt in the fire. I don't know too much about carbon emissions and perhaps an open fire isn't now considered environmentally friendly - but in my opinion it was far better than shifting and burying tonnes of plastic rubbish around our garbage tips every year!