Zero Waste Challenge

I have decided to join the "zero waste challenge" on http://www.myzerowaste.com/ for the next 2 weeks.

This will involve trying not to put anything into my landfill collection bin for the next 2 weeks and trying to reuse/recycle/sell/donate anything we do not wish to keep.

I will be keeping a note of how our rubbish is dealt with over the time period over on www.rubbishlog.blogspot.com .

Phonebooks/Directories

I have found out that you can contact BT and they will take your name off the list for phone directories.

directory.products@bt.com

Mine have sat on the shelf the last couple of times not being used and I have had to unwrap them from their plastic sleeve to be able to recycle them.

This to me was just another item coming into the house which we did not need or use.

Zero Waste 2

Following on from the other day I have another site I have been reading
http://www.myzerowaste.com/ . This has again been both informative and interesting.

Zero Waste

I have been reading a blog today by a woman who has tried to a adopt a zero/minimum waste strategy in her household.

http://therubbishdiet.blogspot.com

This has been really interesting reading, and there a few ideas which I'm hoping we can adopt ourselves.

Found a link to this clip on You Tube, and thought it gave a fun catchy message about recycling.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dKdZYYmTT9A

CATCHING UP

Well the boys are now both finished for the school holidays, so we will be trying to do things which don't cost a lot of money or involve loads of travelling.

We are lucky in that we live only 15 miles from the beach (Mablethorpe/Cleethorpes), so a picnic and some beach games and the boys are fairly happy.

On a brighter note, the weather has been glorious the last few days, so we have been eating salads etc which don't involve a lot of cooking only new potatoes.

I am also going to do an online delivery for groceries end of next week which will hopefully last us most of the holidays, with just a few bits of salad etc picked up if needed when/if we do go out; I will also be having my veg/salad box delivered each week so shouldn't need to pick up too much.

To help on the fuel front, where I live the trees were being pruned/cut back so I asked for all the wood, now have a nice pile for Dave to work through ready for the winter.
He will also be working on fitting the shower screen so that we can use that instead of baths. Will be alot easier when the boys have been playing out all day.

FUEL ECONOMY/RISING PRICES

I have had to be even more vigilant than before with petrol usage as we have now reached £1.17/ltr (£5.30/gall), and on short trips we only get 30 miles to the gallon.

I have just been quoted 63p/ltr for heating oil whereas this time last year it was 43p/ltr.

Combine all this with the rise in food prices and people on the poverty line will be seroiusly having to consider heat or eat this winter.

As it is we only even in the winter use our oil heating as little as possible and use the open fire to heat downstairs and the boys have electric fan heaters to take the chill off their bedrooms.

I noticed yesterday when I went to the supermarket that some things have again risen in price by 4p since last week; or things that have been on offer have now gone back up to full price and the price has jumped by at least another 6p.
Things that used to be cheap options are now at a similar price to what mainstream options were last year.