Empty bins, full recyling - does anyone else have this problem??

Nick and I have been having this discussion lately at home. You see, we only throw out probably one small kitchen-bin full of rubbish once a week. However, we seem to end up with a huge cardboard-box full of recycling multiple times per fortnight.

I don’t know how any household could fill one of those things with rubbish per week!! We recycle all we can, compost our food scraps (and not a few teabags…) so as to do our bit for recycling and reducing landfill. Not to mention sweet, sweet compost!

Now, our normal wheelie bin is collected once a week, but our recycling bin is collected only once a fortnight. Does anyone else wish these two things were reversed?

And you thought empty beer bottles were good for nothing…

I found this post on GreenUpgrader, and just had to share. Another wonderful example of human ingenuity - an entire temple made from used beer bottles. Who would’ve thought that something so inane could be used to create something so beautiful? Just think, all of this would have otherwise ended up in landfill or, hopefully, recycled.

Hey Mark, maybe you and Rosalba should have a beer-bottle wall in your new house

Winter warmers - secondhand style

A few weeks ago, we had a cold snap. This was when I discovered that my current blankets weren’t up to the challenge of winter - especially with only the cat to keep me warm! So, I decided a new blanket and some flannel sheets was in order.

I happened to be up at the shops, so I had a look in K-Mart - thinking I might find some reasonably-priced stuff in there. However, a decent blanket was $60! And a set of two flannel sheets was $40! I walked out in a huff, refusing to pay such ridiculous prices for such basic items.

I was sure that I could find what I was after at an op-shop (a charity second-hand store for you non-Aussies). So, I took the main road to work, (which I hate, because even at 1pm, the traffic is horrendous!), as I knew there was a spot where three op-shops stood almost next to each other.

Alas, in the first I was thwarted in my mission… but when I got to the second shop - success! I bought a big, heavy blanket, plus a single queen flannel sheet (they only had one, but I figured one was better than none!)… and all for under $30. I told the woman that I didn’t need a bag, at which she replied dubiously “are you sure, dear?” as I stood there just peeking over the top of the jumble in my arms. I said I was, and I marched happily off to my car.

I am currently sitting here snug under said blanket and sheet, the cat tucked in at my side, and the satisfaction that I not only saved a lot of money - but that I have re-used something, and given my money to help those in need.

Better than spending $100 at K-Mart, that’s for sure.

Praise for the Shower Bucket

I took far too long to make this one, fantastic addition to my life. The amount of water I manage to harvest from the wasted moments of a shower - like when you’re warming up the water - has been fantastic. It has been all I need to water my ornamental plants, though I’m not confident enough in my housemates’s strictness in avoiding soap getting in there to use it on the veggies.

I started by just using our mop bucket, but it was pretty small, and I didn’t like to use something that somebody (not me…) would sometimes put harsh chemicals in.

So, down to the local discount shop I went, and there I found it, in all its pink and shiny loveliness….

It doesn’t look it, but it’s quite massive - much larger than your normal bucket-size.

I would heartily encourage anyone who doesn’t already to this to start - you’ll be saving perfectly good water from going down the drain, and collecting guilt-free watering supplies as well!

Wombling

It has been a good couple of weeks in my neighbourhood. Why? Because it has been kerbside pickup time! In other words, lots of people dump their unwanted stuff on the kerb for the council to pick up. Now, while I hate the idea of all that junk going into landfill, it is a good thing in that people like me get out there and womble anything worth keeping. I found myself some fantastic pots and planters.

I caught the woman putting the green planters out and she said they were her daughter’s, who’d moved to Sydney! And these things would be worth thirty or forty dollars new!

So, my mum and I (she visited on Mother’s Day and this is what we spent an hour in the afternoon doing - do you see where I get it from?) found all of this nearby my place. We were very excited!

I’m looking forward to planting out some of my seedlings in them this weekend - when our possum-spray experiment has concluded.