*A Few Small Changes Can Make a Big Difference

I am still determined to reduce the amount of plastic we use so I have been experimenting with a few options. If you have any interesting ideas please let me know - I'd love to know what you have tried and tested.

Being a crafty sort of gal I like to make and do a lot of stuff myself. I have recently discovered this amazing alternative to plastic bags or cling wrap in the kitchen - waxed fabric! Love it. I made my own after reading up on the internet see here how to do it (where would we be without google!). It’s so simple, melt some wax on cotton fabric and viola! It moulds and folds and keeps things airtight enough. I used bite block wax instead of beeswax - what? You don’t have a pile of bite block wax laying around at home? No? Ok I’ll explain, it’s the wax used in the art of denture making.
My Dad is a dental technician and I couldn’t let those wax off cuts go to waste! The wax has a percentage of beeswax in its make up but melts at a slightly higher temp which is great for the weather over here just now. Glad I found a use for those off cuts - they have been piling up…
Or - if you’re a more normal person you might like to look at getting some professionally made waxed fabric by Abeego. The lovely Colleen Black over at Life Lived Simply is starting to import this lovely product into South Africa, along with a few other waste saving items you might find useful. Do pop over to Colleen’s blog anyway, it is a South African blog and is therefore so much easier to relate to her advice.
I’ve also started to freeze my homemade stock and soup in glass bottles. No, it’s not madness, it works! You just have to leave the lid a little loose and don’t fill the bottle to the top, leave some room for the liquid to grow as it freezes. And let it defrost naturally so the glass has time to adjust to the outside temperature. So far so good, no broken bottles yet.
And what we cant avoid we try to recycle. I use most of our snack wrappers etc in my Upcycling work. I have also started using the thicker plastic packaging from cat food or washing powder bags. We have limited recycling options in Grahamstown but we do what we can, we are about to sign up with a new, all local, company called Eco Bins Solutions and they should be able to take care of almost all our recycling needs.
Every little thing counts and it’s better to slowly change everyday habits that make huge temporary gestures. What little changes have you made to reduce the amount of plastic you use?

*Plastic - Not So Fantastic

 plaThere’s just so much of it - right? I’ve read a few articles this week and it is so overwhelming and depressing. You don’t ever want to touch the stuff again. The thought that plastic in the ocean could outweigh fish by 2050 is just crazy. More plastic in the ocean than fishes!! Whaaat?! 

Plastic now pollutes every corner of Earth and we can’t just carry on as normal. But what do we do? The stuff is everywhere. There are a huge number of people who are doing amazing things - going completely plastic free. Erin Rhoads has blogged about her two years of living plastic freeand Bea Johnston has written a whole book on her not just zero

stic but completely zero waste lifestyle!! Amazing and inspiring reads. Right - no problem. We will no longer use plastic. Ok then.

We try to do most of our shopping once a month. So off we go to the shops. I am traumatised. Here’s me - shopping carefully, aware of every bit of plastic packaging and when we get home and unload out reusable shopping bags the amount of – now useless – plastic is still overwhelming. It’s at this point that I start to feel depressed about the whole thing. How on earth are we going to do this?

Although we buy loose veggies, the few we don’t get in our veggie box from Nitarah once a week, I look for bulk bags of whatever I need (still comes in plastic, just less), I’ll choose glass over plastic bottles, I’m buying ingredients instead of ready-made meals, sauces, pickle and preserves which cuts down on the number of bottles and packets I buy – and still we have a heap of plastic. And I can’t figure out a way to get rid of the plastic layer I have to add to my upcycled products I make either. It makes it stronger and makes the product last so much longer – but still. It’s there.

It’s all hopeless! What’s the point! We’re all going to die in a heap of suffocating plastic anyway!!

                                                                 

DON’T let this happen to you. We have a long way to go and I have to remind myself that every little bit helps. We are trying to change a generation or more of habit and lifestyle. We have to stop and think each time we purchase something or think about supper. We are all working full 9 to 5 and who has the time, we can only do the best we can. And a little bit is better than nothing. It will get better, it will get easier and with the more people trying, the easier it will be to carry on.  It’s not impossible to cut plastic from our lives – it’s just damn difficult. 

We have started by making small changes at home. The first habits we try to break are the ones where we automatically accept plastic. So we take our reusable shopping bags with to the shops, and if we forget to take them inside - we have to buy a new reusable bag or more often than not carry everything in our arms. It’s easier than you think to juggle milk, eggs and a bag of cat food. Buy products that come in glass instead of plastic. Buy in bulk, thereby reducing the quantity of plastic we consume and sometimes avoid it completely if you can bring your own container.

What we can’t avoid we try to recycle. I use most of our snack wrappers, etc., in my Upcycling work. I have also started using the thicker plastic packaging from cat food or washing powder bags as materials. We have limited recycling options in Grahamstown but we do what we can, we are about to sign up with a new, all local, company called Eco Bins Solutions and they should be able to take care of almost all our recycling needs. Oh, and just today, we started a facebook group for the people of Grahamstown to swop and sell thier excess homegrown fruit and veg, free range eggs etc. so that should be package free. 

So the bottom line is - Never give up! Never surrender! Don’t let the immensity of the problem overwhelm you. Every little thing counts and it’s better to slowly change everyday habits than make huge temporary gestures. Next time I’ll share a few easy and effective ways in which we have been able to cut down our plastic use. Hopefully you’ll find it useful.

*Let's Begin Again - This May Happen a Few Times on This Journey

Phew, made it through the silly season in one piece. It’s been a bit of a crazy time what with house decisions to make, shop to close up and work space to move, along with getting through the Christmas orders and spending much needed time with family around the Eastern Cape. After that we sort of hibernated in our little house in the 35-degree-and-up heat for a while, gathered our thoughts and rested.

So now - onwards and upwards into 2016! Plans have changed a bit since last we spoke. The offer on our house sale fell through at the last hurdle and after 6 months and more than one unsuccessful offer we were starting to think the universe was trying to tell us something. We learned so much through the process and in the end I think we were lucky that the offers failed.

We started the house-selling journey in need of a change and early on we were made aware of the fact that no matter how perfect our house might be we are ‘not in the right area’. For a while I bought into the panic thinking, “Oh no! What will we do! The house is worth so little simply because it’s on the wrong side of the tracks. We need to get rid of it urgently or we will lose out.” Then time dragged on and I started to think, but what makes it ‘not the right area’ to live? We don’t have any significant crime in the area (touch wood), and I feel safe at all times in my house. Our neighbours are lovely people, even though the dogs can be a little more than I’d like from time to time or a car might be revved a little earlier in the morning than suits me on occasion - nothing out of the ordinary, right? The road is busy during the day but that’s the same as living closer to town. Houses are cared for and full of hard-working families.  

It turns out it’s more about old South African city layout than anything of any real concern. We are happy living here and so we took our house off the market and instead of buying another house and then spending more money to make that house what we want, we will stay here in the house we know and love. The house we got married in. Yup, right out there in the back yard. We’ll do some alterations and fixes that will fix this little baby right up. We might not increase the monetary value of our home but we will increase the quality of life for ourselves and really, isn’t that what it is all about?

Of course, when I decided to close the shop and move home with my work space I thought I’d have my own space in an outbuilding in the ‘new house’. Hmm. As it turns out, for now I am squeezed into a spare room in the house until we get the renovations under way. It will be a challenge working in half a small house with builders and rubble underfoot for a while but it will so be worth it in the end. And if we needed any further incentive to live more lightly, paying for the alterations will definitely do the trick. Eek! But there you go, I do like a challenge. My job now that I am at home is to work on my website and increase online sales and also to save as much money as I make. It is so easy to overspend when you don’t have time to think about things. Often little things that add up. Buying too much bread because it’s Monday and you buy bread on Monday. Throwing away the moulded bread from last week. 

Anyone who knows me knows I am a true believer in little things adding up. And if I can save on the little things it’s the same as making that money in the first place - right? I’ll let you know. Maybe along the way as I investigate methods and products I can do the legwork and you might benefit from the results. There are so many recipes, solutions and products on the internet - who has time to try them all out? And then translate them into South African practicality. Oh! Oh! Pick me! 

So I’m not 100% sure where this blog is going really, but I hope you stay along for the ride as I share my journey, recipes and musings on living lightly with you. We might all need to learn to live more lightly even more than we thought as the drought sets in and the rand tumbles faster than a tumble week in the outback!

*Life Goes On

It’s been a while, I know. I do apologize, I was so hoping to start my new installment with “The house is officially sold and we’re on our way!” But this is not to be the case, as it turns out having a willing buyer is only a small step in the sale process. The bank has all the say and our buyers’ bond wasn’t approved. So we start all over again. House selling is not for sissies. 

But life goes on. As Christmas creeps nearer I am drowning in orders, mostly wholesale at the moment so each order is large. Which is good. Every hour of every day is full up with cutting and stitching and communicating with clients, while keeping the shop going at the same time. If I was ever unsure if closing the shop was the right thing to do, I am now convinced I can’t do it all. It doesn’t leave much time for living at all let alone living lightly. And really, what is the point then?I have got a little bartering done since last we chatted. It is a hard thing to get one’s head around, especially trying to make sure the trades are fair. The way I see it, as long as both parties are happy your trade is a success. First I traded a bunch of fresh beetroot from one of my fellow Nitarah veg box customers for a bottle of pickled beetroot. Then I traded with Siobhan at Wimze - two old printer’s trays and a couple of craft mags for chain and charms for a new project I have planned for next year. I also traded a bespoke Kisma Kreative handmade folder for a stash of bits and pieces of jewellery from Sarah at      G-Town Gems. These will be used for the same project. Intrigued? Good. You should be. Watch this space!

I’m getting the hang of it but it is sometimes awkward to suggest trading to people. Not everyone gets it and would prefer the black and white simplicity of cold hard cash. If anyone in Grahamstown has green thumbs 

and you have too many potatoes, tomatoes or onions I’d gladly discuss trading for preserves, pickles, or maybe a trade from my veg box? Beetroot for onions, etc? Or maybe there’s a Kisma Kreative design you have your eye on? Let’s chat. 

I’d best get back to it. So many orders, so little time. Have a beautiful day and remember to smile - it’s contagious!