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Practical tips for environmentally responsible and cheaper living
- Thread starter ganstey
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Tip no. 5 Buy and restore old tools. They have no batteries or electric motors to consume energy and wear out, they are dirt cheap and its fun 
Yankee 131B Extended by British Red, on Flickr
Saw Set by British Red, on Flickr
28" Cruiser Axe by British Red, on Flickr
Yankee 131B Extended by British Red, on Flickr
Saw Set by British Red, on Flickr
28" Cruiser Axe by British Red, on Flickr
if you have old toilets (9 or 7 litre) this may work but a modern toilet only has 6 litres for a 'full' flush. if you reduce this it may not be able to flush away your deposits and you will need to flush again wasting water.
Don't have kids.
Nothing I do will ever compare to what it has cost in money and environment, just to get me to the point that I was born.
If just one of my ancestors had gotten a head ache, just at the right time, a whole chain of people would never have set foot upon this planet.
And if you do happen to have them, try and remember, The Good Life, was a comedy, not a documentary.......
Nothing I do will ever compare to what it has cost in money and environment, just to get me to the point that I was born.
If just one of my ancestors had gotten a head ache, just at the right time, a whole chain of people would never have set foot upon this planet.
And if you do happen to have them, try and remember, The Good Life, was a comedy, not a documentary.......
Back on track and the OP
"So I'm looking for things that most people could do, given that they probably live in a modern-ish house on some kind of housing estate, have a job to go to and so can't 'go feral', and they don't have much money to plough into replacing large bits of infrastructure. In my case my garden is only 10[SUP]2[/SUP] so converting it into an allotment isn't practical, although I concede that I could plant up one or more square-foot gardening beds."
Try the square foot gardening approach (I've an ebook on that if you want it, pm you email address), make sure your house is well insulated etc. Bulk buying may save money but do the sums before you commit to buying; 25kg of spuds down here is £4 but thats a lot of potatoes to eat before they turn etc. Forget wood burners/stoves if you live in a town or city and cannot access wood at the right price, they ain't cheap to run if you have buy wood and you'll see the years go by before you get your money back.
The best approach is to sit down and look at where your money is going. Break your outgoings down into sections and then look long and hard at each one and see how you can save.
"So I'm looking for things that most people could do, given that they probably live in a modern-ish house on some kind of housing estate, have a job to go to and so can't 'go feral', and they don't have much money to plough into replacing large bits of infrastructure. In my case my garden is only 10[SUP]2[/SUP] so converting it into an allotment isn't practical, although I concede that I could plant up one or more square-foot gardening beds."
Try the square foot gardening approach (I've an ebook on that if you want it, pm you email address), make sure your house is well insulated etc. Bulk buying may save money but do the sums before you commit to buying; 25kg of spuds down here is £4 but thats a lot of potatoes to eat before they turn etc. Forget wood burners/stoves if you live in a town or city and cannot access wood at the right price, they ain't cheap to run if you have buy wood and you'll see the years go by before you get your money back.
The best approach is to sit down and look at where your money is going. Break your outgoings down into sections and then look long and hard at each one and see how you can save.
Not really - store them cool and dark and they will last till April at least - maybe 1kg a week.
Something I've pondered for a while, what's cheaper to do - heat an amount of water to boiling in the kettle or on the gas hob? I'm guessing the kettle as there's less wasted heat whereas the gas hob has heat escaping round the side but it is a guess. 
Anyone know?
Anyone know?
Something I've pondered for a while, what's cheaper to do - heat an amount of water to boiling in the kettle or on the gas hob? I'm guessing the kettle as there's less wasted heat whereas the gas hob has heat escaping round the side but it is a guess.
Anyone know?
The electric kettle is a more energy efficient way of boiling water, it may be more expensive though, depending on the relative cost of the two.
Boiling only as much as you need is the best way of keeping the cost down.
You could always use a Kelly Kettle in the garden, notwithstanding the purchase price, it'd be a pretty cheap way of making a brew
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Light a kelly kettle every time you want a brew lol
Typical kettle is 2kw so run it for an HOUR and its costing about 30p. So boiling a couple of mugs of water should cost you about 1.5p. Boiling only the amount you need is common sense.
Typical kettle is 2kw so run it for an HOUR and its costing about 30p. So boiling a couple of mugs of water should cost you about 1.5p. Boiling only the amount you need is common sense.
I'm not concerned about the cost of boiling, was just one of those things I've pondered.
I think the kelly kettle idea is a bit extreme......
To British Red: a question!
Most of ways / kit you list are fabulous! BUT as it seems, you have a garden, a work shed, etc etc- I'd love to know just HOW you would do all this if you lived in a one bedroom flat in a block....
Seems to me that what we need are two threads - one for those with access to resources such as above then an urban one for those who do not.
Most of ways / kit you list are fabulous! BUT as it seems, you have a garden, a work shed, etc etc- I'd love to know just HOW you would do all this if you lived in a one bedroom flat in a block....
Seems to me that what we need are two threads - one for those with access to resources such as above then an urban one for those who do not.
If you don't have access to land for growing your own veg, consider any of the following;
Ask a neighbour if you can use their garden as well as yours - share the crops.
Befriend an elderly neighbour and use their garden - share the crops.
Rent an allotment or if you are semi rural, ask a farmer to rent a corner of a field.
Perform "guerrilla gardening" in roadside verges, middles of round-a-bouts, little used woodland clearings. A handful of seeds go a long way, its just up to you to remember where you planted them all.
As for workshop space, speak to people, find friends with similar interests and use their facilities, pay them in trade with whatever you make or take the milk for the days brews, there is always a way.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Ask a neighbour if you can use their garden as well as yours - share the crops.
Befriend an elderly neighbour and use their garden - share the crops.
Rent an allotment or if you are semi rural, ask a farmer to rent a corner of a field.
Perform "guerrilla gardening" in roadside verges, middles of round-a-bouts, little used woodland clearings. A handful of seeds go a long way, its just up to you to remember where you planted them all.
As for workshop space, speak to people, find friends with similar interests and use their facilities, pay them in trade with whatever you make or take the milk for the days brews, there is always a way.
ATB
Ogri the trog
Dustbins, window boxes or hanging baskets can also be used to grow things in.
Just so OTT
My daughter has a one bedroom flat in a block. She bakes, pickles, preserves etc. Clearly space is an issue (growing, working and storing) for her. There are plenty of places to get growing space, but having space to store equipment can be a problem. When she moved to a new city, she joined a cake baking club and gets offered to use the mahoosive kitchens of some of the older members. My mates son (who is military and gets moved around a lot) joins vehicle clubs 0 always ends up being offered workshop space.
Of course its easier to have space to do these things in your own place, but there are things you can do in any space. All the things I can do, I learned schlepping around the country in rented places
Red
My daughter has a one bedroom flat in a block. She bakes, pickles, preserves etc. Clearly space is an issue (growing, working and storing) for her. There are plenty of places to get growing space, but having space to store equipment can be a problem. When she moved to a new city, she joined a cake baking club and gets offered to use the mahoosive kitchens of some of the older members. My mates son (who is military and gets moved around a lot) joins vehicle clubs 0 always ends up being offered workshop space.
Of course its easier to have space to do these things in your own place, but there are things you can do in any space. All the things I can do, I learned schlepping around the country in rented places
Red
Community shopping and cooking needs more uptake I think. For example when you buy a 25kg bag of potatoes direct from a farm for £5 or whatever why not share it out between 5 families for a quid each. At the moment I buy all my eggs from a farm which is on my way home from work. I was getting a tray of 30 large eggs which are cheap and really good quality. A few months later I'm having to phone ahead and order 10 trays which are passed on to family and friends.
I seem to recall that Bill Mollison's Permaculture book had some good ideas for growing veg. in small spaces, including some sort of pyramidal veg. bed that gave you more growing space than the floor space it took up.
Some really inspirational stuff here folks. I started off thinking I didn't have space to grow anything worthwhile, but I'm starting to change my view. I need to look into square-foot gardening a bit more to see where I can fit in a bed. As for guerilla gardening, I'm not sure it would work round here - there have been reports of flowers being stolen from back gardens locally, and the council strim every spare piece of ground within an inch of its life, unless it's a footpath in which case they leave it overgrown!
Using a Kelly Kettle more often would save a little each time, and would gradually reduce the pile of broken fence panel currently cluttering up one corner of the garden
Graham
Using a Kelly Kettle more often would save a little each time, and would gradually reduce the pile of broken fence panel currently cluttering up one corner of the garden
Graham
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