I have neglected this blog lately, although I have a lot of ideas in the pipeline. My health has been up and down, which of course affects blogging as well as my ability to be as actively eco-friendly as I’d like. I don’t beat myself up over it – what’s the point? If you’re not well, you’re not well, but you do your best and that’s good enough (why is that such a hard lesson to learn?).
I have, however, begun gardening for the first time in my life (seriously – I didn’t know a weed from a rake), and gobbling up gardening books. I was dead chuffed when I planted my first potatoes earlier this week. I highly recommend Geoff Stebbings’ Growing Your Own Fruit & Veg for Dummies, along with a book about tackling and identifying weeds, which are a big problem in our neglected Victorian garden, though even in its neglected state it is gorgeous. The cat which used to poop all over the garden seems to have gone, which is a relief. I am not a cat lover and I think anyone who is serious about the environment should give consideration to the fact that domestic cats are responsible for the deaths of millions of birds and thus have a huge effect on ecosystems.
I follow FlyLady and am making good use of her decluttering system. The first thing you need before you can declutter is a home for an item. This is rule no. 1. The home can be a shelf, a box, a wardrobe, a box of items for charity, a box of items for recycling or, as a last resort, a bin bag for things that have no use for anyone and cannot be recycled. Of course, decluttering only works if you then take the donations, etc., out of the house. I spent a long time thinking that putting things in charity bags or in boxes ‘for recycling’ was good enough. They still didn’t grow legs and walk out of the house! Decluttering is, in essence, deciding where something belongs. If you declutter for 15 minutes a day, as FlyLady suggests, you will soon see significant results.
While decluttering, I realised I have many items that are useful and reusable, but only at certain times of year, e.g. children’s birthday party items. It suddenly dawned on me that it would be useful to have all ‘birthday’ things in one place. I didn’t want to go out and buy more boxes, and was inspired by Alejandra’s tips on creating storage boxes from things you already have.
I do try to get the whole family in on the eco-friendly/FlyLady act. It’s no good if Mum is busily tidying and everyone else thinks there’s an invisible cleaning fairy who picks up after them and cleans all their messes. Hey, kids! There is no invisible magical anyone. You need to learn to pick up after yourself. I began by taking a used but sturdy cardboard box and sticking strips of colourful tape to one of the sides. It was then time for the school run and my excitable, creative 9-year-old, when she came home, wanted to help. I reassured her that it doesn’t have to be perfect to be useful and ta daaaa!
I plan to do a Christmas box as well, using washi tape with a reindeer design.
She finished off our very own super-duper upcycled ‘Birthday Box’ which now contains plastic birthday tablecloths, a ‘happy birthday’ door banner, some plastic cups and some cardboard plates and bowls. I admit these are not the most eco friendly items, but at least we will reuse them rather than disposing of them.What else could go in, I wonder?
NB. If you’re thinking of having a go yourself, I’d recommend gaffer tape or duct tape. I used washi tape and it’s really not very strong, although I won’t store anything heavy in this box. Gaffer tape would strengthen the box.
The Un-paving Paradise Project 