The Rubbish Diet Challenge: Week 2, Retail Therapy

My favourite fruit & veg stall at Bury St Edmunds Market.
I can't believe I never used to shop there before.

Welcome back to the Rubbish Diet Challenge, where this week it's time to hit the shops with a good dose of retail therapy.

However, this is a retail experience with a difference, introducing a range of steps that will help you find ways to reduce rubbish before it gets anywhere near your kitchen bins.

So having worked out your local recycling options in Week 1, the tasks in Week 2 will challenge you to become more familiar with the choices you have in the shops and make you aware of the pitfalls of packaging.

You'll learn the key principles to shopping with waste in mind, find out what those recycling symbols on packaging really mean and discover how to avoid tempting offers that will just end up in your bin.

So if you are ready to find out why you should ignore this symbol and discover which ones you should look out for instead, then it's time to see what challenges are instore for you at Week 2 of The Rubbish Diet Challenge, which you can find at http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek2


And if you want to know what else to expect in the forthcoming weeks, check out the sidebar, which has a list of everything that's coming up.

As usual, it would be great to hear about any progress you're making, so please don't hesitate to let me know how you're getting on and if you've got any questions, please feel free to drop me an email, or leave a comment below.

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Bloggers for Haiti

I interrupt my usual ramblings to raise awareness of the Bloggers for Haiti fundraising page, which is responding to the Haiti earthquake by raising money to send Shelterboxes to help those affected by the disaster.

The fundraiser was started by blogger EnglishMum and several of her blogging friends. You can find more about the fundraising initiative at her latest post here: http://englishmum.com/2010/01/16/bloggers-for-haiti/

You might have already seen the shelterboxes highlighted on the news last week. They are distributed by UK based clarity Shelterbox, which responds very quickly to international disasters. And as I am sat in my very comfortable house, I can't help but be moved to tears when I think how much these boxes can help those who have lost their homes and who are not only fighting for survival but also overcoming the loss of loved ones. If you've ever been a student of Maslow's hierarchy of needs, there's no time like the present to realise how shelter is a luxury in itself.

So thank you for reading. If you are able to donate, it would be great if you could pop over to the justgiving page and if you have a blog and would like to do something to support those affected by Haiti, please consider blogging about it too.

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Getting personal: Happiness and Highlights

I've received two tags in the last couple of week, one from Alybean at Life's Laundry a high-five meme to reveal my top five highlights of 2009 and the other from Sooz, at The Last Biscuit, awarding me the Happy 101 award for listing the 10 things that make me happy.

I am normally rubbish at memes. I often forget to do them or wonder where I'll squeeze them in and before you know it something more pressing comes along. However, I've had an exhausting time of it lately and as both of these offer an opportunity to reflect on positive things I thought I'd give them a go. You get the opportunity to see what makes me tick and I get a chance to avoid decluttering.

So to start the ball rolling, I'm giving a big High-Five to the following events of 2009, in no particular order of importance.

1. My 5-year-old bin saboteur finally understood what the compost bin was for.

For two years I've tried to explain why banana skins can't go in the recycling bin, to which the reply would come "They can Mummy, look!" Finally he gets it. Hoorah.


2. Doing a bin round to raise money for Comic Relief

It was a proper shift too, not just a couple of hours. I donned a pair of steel toe-capped boots and a hi-vis vest and spent seven hours with the lads from the local council. Thanks again to all who donated. We raised over £200. You can read more and see the videos in the blogpost On the bins for Comic Relief.


3. Drinking champagne at awards ceremonies

2009 blessed me with reaching the final at two awards ceremonies. The first was the MediaGuardian's Awards for Innovation, where I came joint runner up in the Independent Media category. The second was the CIWM awards for environmental excellence where I also came joint runner up in the category of Recycling Champion. Despite not winning, they were great events and I got a chance to meet some inspirational people and see some novel toilets too. But the real highlight was my own awards ceremony in March where I gathered a fabulous group of people together to drink virtual champagne and celebrate their own achievements and the influence they've had on me.


4. Getting Chickens

What can I say! Brilliant pets, and good eggs all round! The boys love 'em and even my 8-year-old will now try to pick them up. You can find out all about them in this blogpost aptly named Cluck, Cluck, Cluck.


5. Meeting Tony Juniper

I had a chance to meet leading environmentalist and author Tony Juniper last year. He even did a video for The Rubbish Diet blog, explaining why we need to reduce rubbish. You can see it at the end of my own ramblings in the blogpost: It's not just how, it's also about why, or take the short-cut and find it in the sidebar.

TEN THINGS THAT MAKE ME HAPPY

Being a positive spirited being, it's hard to come up with a short-list, as most things make me happy but here goes.


1. My Children
When I notice they've grown an extra inch, or they've done something new I get a warm fuzzy feeling that carries me through the day. And I love it when they make me laugh and when we indulge in huggles - our very own word for hugs and cuddles.

2. My husband.
The fact that he puts up with my blogging makes me happy. He used to bring me flowers but nowadays I'm happy if he just remembers not to bring home any more carrier bags. I'm a firm believer that romance isn't dead, we're just recycling it to make it last longer.

3. Seeing my sister.
I love visiting my sister and her family in Switzerland. I also love it when they come to us. We've not lived near each other for 23 years and I miss her, so I am always happy when I'm with her. I may be the eldest, but she's the one who teaches me the most important lessons.

4. Being with friends.
I love the laughter and support, and catching up with old friends who I haven't seen in a while. I enjoy growing older together and sharing our observations on how things have changed and what we can look forward to in the future.

5. Being inspired.
It doesn't matter who it is or what they are doing, but if they're inspirational, I'm hooked.

6. Making people laugh and smile.
I love making other people laugh or smile. I buy random hot-chocolates for Big Issue sellers, give complements to bored looking staff on the London Underground and I love making grumpy waitresses smile. And if I've ever made you chuckle on this blog, that makes me happier still.

7. New challenges.
I love stretching myself with new adventures and whenever I succeed, I lenjoy the happy feeling that comes with it and the relief of overcoming the self-doubt and fear. If I don't succeed, then there's always wine.

8. Watching the robin in my garden.
That always makes me happy, and can break a bad or a sad mood.

9. Tweeting from the bath
I love it that nobody on Twitter knows that I might just be sending my updates from the bath. Having a bath makes me happy and so does seeing what people are up to on Twitter, because I'm a real nosey parker at heart.

10. Your comments!
Your comments always make me happy, unless you're a spammer of course or you write something horrible. So if you want to make me happy, you know what to do.


So that's it. Thanks to Alybean and Sooz for giving me the opportunity to stop and pause a while.

Of course the next action would be to tag others. However, instead of doing that, I invite you to take part too, whether you're a blogger or not. So even if you haven't got a blog, feel free to share your highlights and happy moments in the comments below.

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SPACE: the final frontier

I apologise for the photo. Messy eh!

Yep. I'd agree and it's got my heart rate up even looking at it. So, just imagine what it's been like living with it. Indeed the scene that you witness here is what used to be my plastic film storage area, which until quite recently resided in a haphazard manner behind our kitchen door.

Since I discovered I could take plastic film packaging, such as rice bags and pasta bags, for recycling at our local HWRC I've simply kept stuffing them into bags upon bags until I was next passing. But because I don't pass very often, my storage space got rather unwieldy.

So when a company called simplehuman invited me to road-test their recycling bins, I most definitely bit off their hand. Although I would have loved to have got my hands on a set of these lovely bins, I had to admit that I was already sorted in that area, so instead I opted for this little baby to help me with the clutter shown in the photo above.

The aim was to attach it to the inside of our kitchen cabinet, so it could stay out of sight but due to the design of the panelled doors, it wouldn't fit, so I had to wait until I conjured up the enthusiasm to tackle the area behind the kitchen door, so we could attach it to the wall.

And look, here are the results. It's like a sight for sore eyes. Simple, but very effective. All I need to do now is bundle each full bag into my car boot, ready to take to the HWRC, in an attempt to keep this area clear.



But it's not just my recycling area that's been given the decluttering treatment this month. In fact, the rest of the kitchen has been the target of heavy action too. And it is the first step to tackling the whole house, as well as my car and the kids' garden shed.

It almost brings me to tears when I say I've hit crisis point, but that's the truth of the matter. I have been so busy during the last couple of years, that I've not had chance to attend to the stuff that's hanging about and it's got so bad I've even managed to lose my new reading glasses, not to mention a book that I bought a few years ago about the benefits of decluttering. Oh the irony!

However, since recognising the problem I have worked hard to stop new things coming into the house, by reducing the amount of presents we get and by buying less, but we've still got piles of unsorted crap everywhere due to my lack of time and inclination to deal with it. Throw in a "waste-not want-not" approach for good measure and the result you get are feelings of stress and disorganisation, with a good dose of lethargy, inadequacy and numbness to boot!

Clare Baker from the ClutterClearing consultancy describes the process of managing clutter as a conveyor belt and highlights the problem of things coming onto the Clutter Conveyor Belt faster than they are coming off.

I can relate to this issue, especially with the problem zones that exist in our home. For example, with the number of toys that the children get from friends and family, the kids find it even harder to release older toys that they still love to make room for new ones they get. That's why we now encourage people to choose smaller things such as books or lego that can easily fit into their small bedrooms. Vouchers for the cinema or local attractions also work well.

But there are other areas too. For example when I cleared the kitchen cupboards the other week, I discovered so many glass jars I could have screamed. The irony is that when I started my zero waste challenge, I promised I would NEVER EVER EVER start collecting jam jars. For starters we just don't have the space (point proven). Secondly I am hardly a domestic goddess who makes chutney or jam, and finally I get frustrated that there are very few flat-bottomed jars that can balance a bloody tea-light in position. But having hooked onto the idea of "reuse" being better than "recycling", I gave into my natural inclination as a horder. In fairness, some have come in useful for food storage, loose coins and home-made Christmas presents, but the message here is to KNOW YOUR LIMITS! And once you've got enough of what you need, it's OKAY to let go of the surplus.

So the kitchen has been my starting point on my mission to declutter the house. I needed to start somewhere and this felt the most important place in the house. When my kitchen is cluttered, I feel less inclined to cook and I certainly don't want to spend any more time there than I have to. As a result, I snack more and pick up bad habits such as skipping lunch and letting chores pile up.

Of course, my aim is to get through this process without throwing things into landfill, which is a really good job, not just because of my zero waste philosophy but Clare Baker, who founded the decluttering consultancy, also used to work for WRAP, so she's the kind of person who would also discourage things being skipped just for the sake of extra space.

No doubt there will be items that I will give away on Freecycle, or drop into a charity shop, but my ultimate aim is to collect unwanted things in a box and commit to selling them off at a carboot sale in March, to celebrate Suffolk's Waste Reduction Fortnight.

Just from doing the kitchen alone I've already uncovered the following items:

1 Hand-levered heavy-weight citrus press, replaced by a juicing machine
1 Small glass juice press
Several mugs
2 Plastic egg trays, that came with the fridge.
4 espresso cups, which haven't been used in the 6 years we've lived here.
1 toddler's wash&wipe dining mat
1 party nibbles dish
1 water filter jug, which we can no longer be bothered to use
1 small wooded cutting board
1 vegetable julienne peeler, which is too fiddly.

The challenge now is to store it all away somewhere, before I have the urge to just take it to the charity shop.

So do you want to see some before-and-after-shots of how I got on during my first attempt at decluttering? If you're a nosey-parker like me, I bet you'll want to.

The Kitchen Worktop: Before

Easy-peasy! This lot just needed tidying away into the cupboard!

After

The cupboard

It won't look much to you, but it's really is a big difference to me. I cleared out quite a few things that were no longer used, including rusty old baking trays, which I took to the HWRC metals recycling. The empty jars went to the bottle bank and some of the containers have now been released for Mr A's packed lunches.

Before / After

The Kitchen Table

Having cleared out the cupboard, I created extra storage space to finally shift some clutter off this table. The broom and mop, you see to the right now fit behind the kitchen door. The kids' drawings that are balancing on top of the shelf have been recycled or inserted into their artwork folders. And the teddy-bear which had taken up residence on the kitchen table, has finally been sent to his room. So at last there is somewhere to eat our breakfast!


Before / After

It will come as no surprise that the day I did this, I felt I had more energy. And it is no coincidence that as a result, Mr A now also gets regular packed lunches to take to work, which means he's no longer nipping off to the shops to buy pre-packaged stuff. It was hard work though. It took most of the day to sort out, but was worth it.

During the next week, I'll be focusing on the dining room, which is a constant source of frustration thanks to the number of uses it has. It really is a clutter magnet in more ways than one and I'm already getting stressed at the thought of it.

If you want to join me in this crusade, you'll find some excellent tips over at ClutterClearing.net. The site has got lots of free information, including videos to motivate you along. That's the strategy I'm following for the moment, because I can't afford a consultation, but if I get stuck, I might just need one!

And if you've got any decluttering experiences of your own, please share your wisdom as I'd love to know how you got on. In fact, I need all the help I can get.

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Blimey! Even my own mother doesn't recognise me

Caricature - with a very good likeness -
drawn by the lovely Steve Hearn at Drawn4U

It occurred to me last night that there is something that I haven't done for months, which is utterly bizarre because it's been an ingrained part of my character since I was old enough to receive pocket money.

Don't worry, I'm not going to come out of the closet with news of secret poker games at the age of 9, or sneaking away from Mr A to pop into the bookies. It's nothing like that.

What I'm talking about is knee-jerk shopping. You know, the urge to rush off and buy stuff just to make you feel better.

I wouldn't go as far as saying I was a total shopaholic, but I have spent the last three decades hitting the shops whenever I've been bored, upset, dissatisfied with life, working too hard or frustrated at not being able to do something. Whenever I felt I deserved a break, I'd go off and buy new treats...and I'm not referring to the odd chocolate bar, I mean much bigger goodies like gadgets, household furnishings and expensive clothes. And many purchasing mistakes were made too, not least the result of a hefty credit-card bill.

Well I don't know what happened, but I've gradually realised I don't react that way anymore.

I hadn't particularly noticed the change until I started thinking about the last couple of months, where there have been a number of very stressful incidents that would have previously led me on a shopping frenzy. Even online shopping from the comfort of my own chair would have given me the same dose of adrenalin as visiting the shopping mall.

I can't confess to being a total non-consumer. The juicer and breadmaker that I bought recently can testify to that, but for once they were actually planned purchases that I made sure I really needed, not impulse buys. And when I set them up, I noticed that I wasn't brimming with the usual contagious buzz of acquiring something new.

Equally when Mr A arrived home before Christmas with a brand-spanking new set of dapper clothes, I didn't feel the urge to rush out to the shops because I was felt hard-done by and that it was my turn - yes that tit-for-tat shopping was once a bad habit of mine.

And then there was the rainy day back in Autumn, when I was tucked up at home and Mr A rang from an electrical store to ask how I felt about bringing home a brand new eco-TV, which we could hang on the wall and free up some extra space and connect up to the Internet. I reckon a year ago, I would have bitten his hand off with excitement at the prospect of some new technology but on that occasion, I stopped him in his tracks and appealed for him to come home empty-handed.

I've never liked our TV but it's only 6 years old and still works, so I found it hard to justify getting rid of it even on something like Freecycle. And tempting as it is to trade it in via one of the in-store "take-back" schemes, the thought of breaking it up for parts when it is in full-working order gives me a shudder.

Blimmin' 'eck! What's happened to me eh?

Is it middle age? Have we had enough years of accumulating stuff that we've got most things we now need?

And does this happen to everyone over 40 or is it that I'm simply more aware of how much energy and waste results from constantly buying new things?

It could be a combination of them all. I'd like to know because I no longer even feel the urge to keep up with the Jones...I lost that some time ago but it's definitely a turnup for the books if ever I've seen one.

So no wonder my mother recently said she no longer recognises me!

And I know what she means, I hardly recognise myself and it feels strange, in a good way of course, but still bizarre all the same.

One thing's for sure, I've saved a fortune on clothes and the other usual suspects and not buying that flashy TV has kept £1000 in our pockets. Of course I'll probably crack one day, but not for a long time yet, well not until digital TV coverage is in the bag and cheaper eco-technology too.

Is this a sign of the times perhaps or is it just little old me? I'd love to know if anyone else has experienced something similar and perhaps I'll no longer feel as strange as I currently do.

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The Rubbish Diet Challenge Week 1: Starting with the basics

A simple recycling system: a couple of bins and some hooks

So, for everyone who's resolved to slim their bins this year, I hope you've weighed your rubbish and have now got your sleeves rolled up ready to kick off with the first week of your Rubbish Diet Challenge.

This week is all about easing yourself in gently. After all Rome wasn't built in a day and neither was your rubbish, so I'll be getting you to flex your muscles by tackling some basic ideas to get you started. It's a warm-up if you like for the weekly challenges that lie ahead.

This week's mini challenges are really simple and I hope that by addressing these now, they will create a foundation to make things easier for you further down the line, by gradually changing habits and introducing small changes. So to kick-start your Rubbish Diet, I will be asking you to especially think about:

• Simple ways to reduce waste.
  
• Saying no to junk mail.
• Finding out exactly what can be recycled in your area.
• Setting up or improving your recycling system at home.

And even though the advice given is mainly for UK residents, there are also some hints and tips for readers from the US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia.

All this and much more can be found in the webpage The Rubbish Diet WEEK 1: Starting with the Basics at:
http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietWeek1.

And if you've missed the introduction with advice about weighing-in and ways to rethink rubbish, you can catch it all here at http://tinyurl.com/TheRubbishDietChallenge.

As you aim to slim your bin, remember you're not alone. There are plenty of folk who have done something similar and this week's guide includes a list of blogs by other people who have taken on their own independent challenges in the past. You may find it useful to visit them regularly and scour old blogposts for extra help. And be sure to use the relevant links in the Rubbish Diet sidebar too.

So I hope you enjoy your tasks and don't forget to "weigh-in" at the end of the week so you can measure your progress. I'd love to know how you get on and if you want to publicise your achievements on this blog, let me know, by emailing me at karen[at]therubbishdiet[dot]co[dot]uk.

In the meantime, if you need even more inspiration this week, especially relating to setting up a recycling system at home, check out this BBC report where Mrs Green from www.myzerowaste.com - aka Rachelle Strauss - demonstrates her recycling system. It makes me very grateful for my council's commingled recycling service, where I can put most of my stuff in one big recycling bin. More videos like this can be found at the MyZeroWaste website.

So happy slimming and remember to come back next week, where I'll be helping you out with your shopping.
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A Winter Carnival: Wrapping up Christmas

A Winter Scene: Sutton Hoo, nr Woodbridge in Suffolk

Ho, ho, ho! Well Christmas is now done and dusted, Twelfth Night has come and gone and Britain is now covered in a blanket of snow. It's a good job we've had to take down the decorations. At least it's been one way of keeping warm during this wintry spell.

But forget about the weather. Today I am asking how did you get on with your rubbish...or perhaps I should say....your festive resources over what is the most wasteful time of the year?

Did you recycle them, or bung them in the bin? Of course, I know you wouldn't have done the latter. Maybe you've kept a few things for re-use? After all, there are lots of free things that enter your home during Christmas, including ribbons, cards, paper and boxes and so much can be done with them before you even think about recycling.

This carnival celebrates a range of fabulous posts from some lovely bloggers, showing what they've been all getting up to, with ideas ten-a-penny. And the photo you see below is my own contribution. It's a fishtank that I made with my creative 5-year-old on Boxing Day, from an empty Christmas Cracker box, featuring bits of fir tree, sweetie wrappers, old fabrics and some crepe paper he'd got as a present.




But that's enough from me. Here's over to some of the gorgeous bloggers who have been busy with their imagination over the festive period:


The fabulous Mrs Green over at MyZeroWaste has a whole host of tips on how to recycle your festive bits & bobs. Visit How to recycle your Christmas for lots of inspiration.

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And if you have other thoughts in mind, here are some more excellent ideas from MyZeroWaste, about reusing for greeting cards, even for things as simple as notecards.

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Nixdmix never fails to make me giggle, especially this time with her post Wrapping paper: reindeers can't cross their legs. It really is a lovely story.

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I love this idea from Cathy at NurtureStore who reveals how she's used Christmas cards to make a Jigsaw and Memory Game. What a great idea to keep kids entertained when out and about in restaurants or around at friends. Free and simple!

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And last but not least, here's another creative idea for reusing cards from Jude at Artful Adventures. I'm sure you'll be impressed with how she makes some gorgeous cards from old greetings cards. Check out her ideas in her post Creative ways to recycle Christmas cards.

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I'll most definitely be keeping my favourite cards for re-use next year. As well as making new cards and games, it will save me from the drastic action I took this Christmas, which was to cut up some 2009 cards for reusing as some emergency tags. Cheeky I know, but eh ho!



So thanks to everyone who contributed to this Carnival. I apologise for it being late. With schools closed due to the snow, the children kept me too busy to blog. However, I'd like to wish you all a Happy New Year, and if anyone is interested in some other practical tips, check out this post which I published last week: Packing your Christmas Away with the R-Word.

For the reasons stated above I have postponed my decluttering posts until next week, but do come back on Monday when I will be kicking off Week 1 of the 2010 Rubbish Diet Challenge.
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