Sleepy Green

http://bookofrubbishideas.co.uk/2008/08/05/my-fabulous-rubbish-flatbreads-a-step-by-step-guide/

Tracy Smith's really inspiring blog with tips about downshifting and greening your life ;-)

http://bookofrubbishideas.co.uk/2008/11/24/my-top-ten-tips-for-downshifting-success-part-1-tips-1-5/

After looking back through my blog and my spending for the last year, I think I have done pretty well with "Compacting" my new spending.

Presents:

DVD
water bottle
recycle pencil case & notebook
transmitter for an ipod
remote control car bits
fleece jacket
aftershave
plants
gold necklace
jeans

Health and Safety items:

Carbon monoxide detctor
Power supply for router
rechargeable toothbrush

'Green' items:

blank greetings cards
folding bike
rechargeable batteries
mooncup

Repairs:

watch strap

No wrapping paper purchased - keep finding it amongst my things!

'10 items to leave the flat a day' challenge ;-)

'Wear it within a year or rehome it' challenge

I make that 20 new items bought in the last year, and with just a few more weeks to go, I'd say that was pretty good going!

Last nights dinner was new potatoes, broadbeans and strawberry's from the allotment, delicous!! (also with burgers made from veggie burger mix and carrots from the market). With the promise of loads more loverly veggies to come ;-) Some of the hard work is paying off, but oh it's too hot for weeding ;-)

I was really happy that I mangaed not to spend 1p in Tesco this week! I bought veg from the market and bread from the bakery and a load of tin stuff from 8th Day. Wine and coffee came from Co-op - hopefully as they don't have any share holders, just members, this isn't replacing one supermarket with another!

I need to buy 'butter' and tofu this week, but not sure its a good idea with the hot weather, as it takes me about an hour to get home. Here's to permanent Te$co freedom!

Ah no, add a turtle bag to my "end of buy nothing year list" - http://www.turtlebags.co.uk/

The wear it within a year or rehome it challenge has turned into more of a 6 month challenge, as with the recent 'heat wave' (read actual summer ;-) ) I have been wearing shorts and skirts. I went through my wardrobe again at the weekend and bagged up some trousers and skirts that are too big for me now - must be the cycling, as I eat loads I put in a couple of tops that are non-iron material, but they make me far too hot. I'm bidding on ebay for some more zip off trousers, but I keep getting out bid.

I picked my walking trousers up from being repaired on Saturday, I had a new slider fitted to the zip, I could do this myself I know, but the lady that did it made a much neater job of it than I would have done! I'm not sure of her propper title, dressmaker? Well, she has a little stall in the indoor markart and did mine and BF's walking trousers, as he'd split his ;-) [too much curry, huh?!?]

Today I am oh so tempted by offers on organic hankies! But I have put them on my 'one year of not buying new' list and I realised that as of today there is one month left of me not buying new! I have a couple of things on my list that are not available second hand, like organic cotton hankies and an ink converter for my Parker fountain pens. These are things that will make me 'greener' too. No more waste tissues or those little plastic ink cartridges. Then after that I will go back to not buying new for another year...

I think my previous posts show my dislike of supermarkets, but freeing yourself from them 100% is extremely difficult. We shop for vegetables at the local market, our tomatoes travel 8 miles from plant to plate and our bread comes from the local bakers.
We are also trying to grow our own: potatoes, onions, broad beans, strawberrys, currants, chives and rhubarb. I always have a plate of cress growing on the window sill.
I try to buy alot of stuff from 8th Day (Vegetarian workers' co-op, stocking stuff like Suma) but always end up back in Te$co$. There's always something I forget or can't otherwise get, how do other people avoid supermarkets, if at all???

I've been doing a bit of reading into what really is the 'best' thing to buy from an ethical / green standpoint. There were a few obvious ones, like leather-free shoes, but there were a few surprises in that some well-known brands scored pretty well. All these ranking are from http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/
Not everything listed is vegan, but things that are, tend to be higher up the ratings :-)
It is a bit biased towards things I tend to buy or I have heard of the company, but I have listed the top ranking when my usual brand slips down the list, here goes:

Toiletries
Antiseptic cream - Nelson's tea tree;
Deodorant - Green People, Jason's deo stick (7th);
Lipstick - Green People;
Perfume - Dolma;
San. Pro. - Mooncup;
Shampoo - Faith in Nature (6th);
Moisteriser - Faith in Nature;
Soap - Natural Organic Soap soap, Faith in Nature soap (3rd);
Suncream - Green People (Yaoh not listed);
Toothpaste - Green People, Kingfisher;
Vitamins - Viridian;
Showergel - Yaoh, Faith in Nature;

Cleaning products
Multisurface cleaner - Bio D;
Laundry liquid - Bio-D;
Toilet roll - Suma recycled (5th), Naturelle (6th), Velvet (8th);
Washing-up liquid - Bio-D;

Clothes and Shoes
Shoes - Freerangers, Vegetarian shoes, Ethical Wares;
Fleeces - Patagonia recycled fleeces, Polaris, Rohan, Lowe Alpine, Mountain Equipment, Rab;
Walking boots - Vegetarian shoes, Ethical Wares, Gelert;
Sleeping bags - Vaude, Deuter, Gelert, Outwell (all 1st);
Rucksacks - Gelert (1st), Regatta (2nd), Karrimor (3rd), Eurohike (4th);

Money stuff
Internet banks - Nationwide (2nd), Smile (3rd);
ISA's - Nationwide (8th) [the only one I'd heard of!];
Mobile phones - Phone Co-op mobile (1st), Virgin mobile (2nd);
Broadband providers - Virgin broadband (4th).

Chocolate
Divine After dinner mints, Thorntons boxed chocolates (4th);

37 days left of my 'buy nothing new' year. The last year has gone very quickly. Recent new purchases have been a new power supply for our router as the old one fell in half whilst plugged in! I think that this falls under health and safety exceptions as it posed a major electric shock risk! Getting another second hand router was an option, but getting the same router again would proababy lead to the same problem. Getting a different 2nd hand router could lead to all sort of computer issues - OK am I making excuses?

Another new purchase was a rechargable toothbrush - again a health exception. My old one was quite long in the tooth (pardon the pun!) and refused to recharge. I tried a spare battery operated toothbrush handle my BF had, but that gave up too! Thinking I must be unlucky, I bought a new one.

Good second hand purchases have been a large rucksack from ebay, a fleece jacket and a winter insulated jacket.

I'm avoiding the temptation to buy lots of expensive organic cotton stuff; chunky glass bead jewellery and a little 10 litre rucksack. I've had my current 10 litre rucksack for quite a few years now and its looking very thin in places and stuff is in danger of falling out. I've had a look on ebay and can't find one second hand. I don't really need any more bags after going through my wardrobe. I have a large storage box at the bottom and the lid gave way and everything piled on top fell out onto the floor!

I still have 5 storage boxes waiting for me to do another carboot - its a question of how long I will wait for BF to get organised or if I take them to the charity shop. At least I wont keep falling over them!

Today is Manchester's bike to work day as part of national cycle week.

The weather forecast was for heavy rain; but I couldn't let the side down could I?

So I put my shorts and t-shirt on and put a change of clothes in my rucksack and set off. I got to the station OK and then it started drizzling when I arrived in Manchester. Undetered, I cycled to the meeting point for 'Bike to work day' and claimed my free high-viz vest - good for "short-sighted" motorists!

http://www.bikeweek.org.uk/index.php

I was too late for breakfast; but I doubt it was vegan anyway It was good fun and a happy reminder that there are lots of people cycling to work, helping their health, the environment and people who need to use their cars.

http://www.ethicalconsumer.org/home.aspx

I've just gone through their list of household cleaning items, makeup and toiletries. Most of what I use rates at number one, but some things fall down the list. Perhaps my green halo has slipped a bit! :-)

It's nearly a year until my first year of Compacting! I decided to not buy anything new for a whole year. Well it hasn't quite been nothing new, but it has been as close as practical. I've bought new for Christmas and birthday presents and added a few second hand items too. I've thought about the presents I've bought, some have been recycled items and some have been food, so not to add more clutter to someone elses life.
I've been decluttering my stuff, but still have a long way to go. I've been adding to my "fund", probably for a deposit on a house. I've had a carboot sale and have been selling on ebay. I've been truly "compacting" my stuff! :-)
This week's big expense has been my car, but thats big expense for me, quite cheap for a car. I've had new brake pads fitted, they were in great need of doing and will hopefully get it through its next MOT.
My only really large new purchase has been my folding bike, which is keeping the miles off the car.
I came back off holiday having not added anything to my stuff except about 200 digital photos - so I am very happy about that! BF bought a model plane, model car and some other junk to add to all his clutter. I just can't seem to get the message across, but I suppose he will de-junk his life when he's ready.

Whilst on holiday last week and away from my usual supermarket (Whitby has a large Co-op, which is about the most vegan-friendly supermarket I have seen), I found Peri-Peri sauce is vegan! Even more surprising, it tells you so on the bottle. I bought some to add a kick to some BBQ veg kebabs and LM sausages. Now my BF is requesting LM sausages and Peri-peri sauce, he's doing a very funny impression of the advert, which I seem to be the only person who hasn't seen it ;-)