Using less..

[Dorasmum]

Ok I'm looking for practical everyday tips and ideas for consuming less....as a family and as an individual.

There are lots of obvious ones like using op shops, buying bulk to reduce on packaging, reducing power usage. recycling.

But what about finding alternatives to your favourite things? Like having clothing/dvd/music swap parties.
When you have an excess of something exchange it for something else with a friend.

Look at things from different angles, I want to lose weight but if I see it as also gaining health and buying food that - uses less packaging and saves on landfill, means it helps lose weight but also has a positive effect on the environment.

But what do you do? My mother washes and reuses gladwrap....yep crazy but it's her way! and she uses butter containers like tupperware and the paper butter wrapping as cake tin liners. She takes sheets worn in the middle cuts them in half down the middle and then sews the outer edges together so the thicker part is now in the middle. Viola a reusable sheet! Personally I prefer to spend a little more on better quality high thread count sheets that last way longer, but she's happy with the recycled ones.

Em

[emd]

Great idea, there's lots of good suggestions here. Will come back when I can think clearly (not enough sleep and 3yo wants help with something).

[moo]

Yeah I wash and reuse my glad ziplock bags.

Grow some food in your garden would be my number one suggestion.

[Jakaluma]

Reuse envelopes - quite a few can be reused without looking tacky

When you buy things like coffee, take the jar into account - eg Moccona makes a great glass nut or seed storage container (and often on special)

Use the library - dvds, cds, cd roms as well as the more obvious books and magazines. (Most have a free search and hold system so you can get the most recent/popular even if not on shelf much).

Join the local LETs (barter) scheme. (So you swap hours of something you're good at for other skills you'll need.) (Note to self - take this advice yourself!)

[starbuckozzie]

My mother cut up one of my old flannelette sheets and made washable cloths for a Swiffer-type dust mop.

She also cuts up old large flannelette sheets to make baby bed sheets.

I have a stack of Pyrex dishes with plastic lids and I store leftovers in them in the fridge or freezer instead of using Glad Wrap.

I cleared out my kitchen and any pots and utensils that hadn't been used for a year went into a big bread bowl for the kids to use for cookery play. (Not sharp stuff of course.)

Oh, and my husband spent all weekend lining the holes he dug for our citrus trees with leftover bricks and pavers!

[earthmummy]

Even if you're renting, go out and buy some weather strips for around the doors/windows. It will cut the cost of heating/cooling. Huge savings for little upfront cost.

You mention you like extra-count thread sheets. But why pay more? Shop around for last years stock at a bigger discount price.

Plan your meal the night/day before. If you need to defrost meat, put it on a plate in the fridge - it will defrost and keep longer, then if you don't cook it the next night, it's still ok to cook the following day/night.

Cook large freezable meals like casseroles/curries and use ice-cream or margarine containers.

Use Dishwashing liquid to mop the floors and remove dirt/stains from carpets.

Aluminium foil - I haven't bought any for a few years. Where I would use it I have replaced need with a lid, baking tray etc.

I'll come back with more (brain freeze lol).

[emd]

There's a million and one good ideas here. These are mums doing the "Consumption Challenge" - to consume less.

[hanabi]

Put an end to excessive gift-giving. Whenever we host a birthday party, we make it clear that we don't want gifts.

In our family, we welcome 'memory presents' so that people can still feel they are giving something in birthday celebration. Recently, our neighbour took us all to Anaconda's climbing wall so the kids could experience the harness and no-gravity rope. We had a ball and nothing was consumed but a snack from the sausage sizzle stand and a bit of petrol to get us all there.

Last birthday my daughter's memory present was a trip to the cinema to see Ratatouille. We made sure we arrived with full bellies so we wouldn't be tempted to eat in the food court. Still, a tub of popcorn is essential to the big screen experience.

[Dorasmum]

My Dh family are, how do I put it, "generous" gift givers to the girls, and we have ended up with so much plastic toys with multiple bits and pieces and boxes of "stuff" from the last few years. I'm thinking of this year finding a way to say no presents just a cash amount to put in their savings account or to put towards one larger christmas/birthday gift like a trampoline or cubby house that would be better used. My SIL is the worst, she has no kids of her own so has no idea of the "trauma' i go through when several boxes arrive from the US of animal doll houses with hundreds of little plastic accessories and electronic kids gadgets that all need multiple replacement of batteries that I can't keep up with let alone afford. The one I most hated was this large brown bear that reads a book to your child when you plug in the relevant key. It moves and tries to emote the story with movement but it sadly fails. And it takes large C size batteries which I can't get recharchable ones for. We went through one lot and I haven't replaced them. aaarrghhh.

I love the memory present idea.....I was thinking you could make sure you took lots of photos and make up a small album of the day for them to go through to remember.

Em

[emd]

Oh the album idea is great! Sophia and I made one of her school holidays to show to her friends when school started again. She had a great time choosing the pictures to include, and describing what happened in each one. We cheated and made the scrapbook using iPhoto on the Mac, but it would be even more fun to do the paper cut 'n' paste.

Em, I tried to tell the kids grandmothers not to buy any more clothes. They seem to have ignored me. Every time either of them see the kids, they bring more new outfits (some of which are handwash only or require ironing). I've given up - their over-consumption is not my responsibility. Instead, I am gathering up the excess outfits once they're outgrown and selling them to fund the purchase of things the kids will use. I'm quite open about it, and as I'm waiting til the clothes are outgrown the grandmothers seem happy for me to be doing this. It also means I'm not hanging onto outfits "for future children", as neither of them wants me to have any more babies.