10 simple ways to live greener anywhere (part II)

Today is part II of the guest post by Paul from babysitting jobs' simple ways to live greener series. Part one can be found here.  

 6. Grow your own food – If you have room, and even if you do not, growing your own food is a fun and healthy way to live greener. By reducing the burden on trucks to take food to the store and also reducing the amount of waste likes boxes and crates, your garden ends up having a big effect. Even a small backyard plot can grow enough food for a family to eat year round, or if you live in an apartment you can grow a vertical garden along an unused wall or balcony. There are many ways that you can garden, even a window garden can be a great asset and save you money. 

Homemade palak paneer

7. Eat at home – Another way to live greener, produce less waste and also eat healthier is to eat more homemade meals. Cooking your own food instead of going out to eat or eating premade meals reduces waste, lowers the amount of chemicals you are exposed to, and also is much better for you. Many restaurants offer foods that contain way more calories than you would ever need. Many premade meals contain chemical preservatives and tons of salt and fat. However home cooked meals can be made with fresh, organic ingredients and for a fraction of the cost. All together it is much better to eat at home.

8. Reduce your use – Everyone can reduce how much they use and throw away every day. From buying things without wrappers or boxes to reducing the amount of water you shower in there are all sorts o f ways to live greener. Even two minutes shaved off your shower time can save hundreds of gallons a year. Get a tank less water heater that heats only the water you need to reduce energy usage and change over to LED or other electricity saving bulbs in your home. You can also water your garden naturally with reclaimed waste water or rain water.

9. Recycle – Recycling and reusing what you do have is a great way to help the environment. Use newspaper as landscape fabric and empty wine bottles for art projects. Use yogurt containers and milk cartons for planters. Create works of art with magazines and repurpose old furnishings into modern staples. Most of the time a coat of paint or a small change here and there can turn an object from trash to treasure. It is all in the way you look at it.

10. Build right - If you are building or remodeling your home, this is a great opportunity to go green. Use recycled or renewable flooring like bamboo. Insulate your home well and use double paned windows to keep it warm in the winter and cool in the summer naturally. Paint with low VOC paints and glue if using wallpaper. You can even re-shingle your roof with recycled tires or patch your walls with reclaimed cedar siding. There are many ways you can make your home easier on the environment and also more healthy and economical for you to live in.

These are just a few of the ways to improve your live and go greener, no matter where you live. 

Thanks Paul for this great series. 

10 simple ways to live greener anywhere (part I)

Today is the first part of a great two part series that was written by Paul from babysitting jobs. Paul and his wife Julie both spend quite a bit of time coming up with ideas, blogging, and researching all things related to childcare. They take care of all the necessary information related to babysitting jobs. He personally thinks his blog will help finding information on all things related to a babysitter. 

So we all can’t live in paradise. I am sad to admit it, but as for myself I live in a crowded, overpopulated city full of pollution and cement. However I do not let that slow me down. I figured that any little bit I could do to live greener would help, but I had no idea how to go about getting started. I thought going green required a lot of time or money or inconvenience, but it really does not. All you need to do is think about your life and what you can improve in it. You can also ask for advice from other people who are going green with their lives. For myself, I discovered quite a few easy changes I could make to make my home and family live a greener, more eco-friendly lifestyle. I will share some of these ideas with you: 

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1. Avoid chemicals as much as you can – I know that my family is exposed to thousands of chemicals every day. From laundry soap to dish soap to pesticides and paints, there are tons of ways that you can cut out your chemical exposure. Some of the things I have started to do is mix up my own soap products. It is easy. Find a recipe online for non-toxic, natural, or otherwise acceptable soap and go for it. I make my own laundry soap, my own dish washing soap, and even my own version of air freshener. I also switched to low VOC paint to reduce that in my home and have started buying more organic foods to cut down on pesticide exposure. There are many ways to repel bugs naturally in your garden and flower beds too, so there is really little need for pesticides. However I do indulge in some bug spray during the summer months when the elephant sized mosquitoes come out to play, bringing diseases with them. 

2. Go old school – To really save the environment, and money on your utility bills, think back to the olden days. Hanging out your clothes instead of running the dryer, opening the doors instead of running the air conditioner, eating only one hot meal a day or cooking all your food at one time to avoid having the oven on too long, and sweeping the floors instead of running the vacuum cleaner. Anything you can do without using electricity do it. It will save you lots of money and help reduce emissions by consuming less. 
3. Eat locally – Speaking of consuming less, eating locally grown food is a great way to reduce the number of trucks on the road and support the local economy. Just think about how far the food has to travel to get to the grocery store and how much gas that burns. No wonder everything costs so much. Instead of buying from the supermarket, visit your local farmer’s market. Many times you can find great deals on locally grown foods. These foods also tend to be better tasting and better for you because they were allowed to ripen naturally and do not have preservatives sprayed all over them. You can also find fun things like heirloom tomatoes and other veggies. They may look different, but the flavor is outstanding. 

4. Eat seasonally – Beyond just eating more local food you should also try to eat seasonally. If an orange has to be flown halfway across the world to get to you the chances are it will not taste very good. Here is a clue. If it is on sale and there is a lot of it, it is probably in season. By eating seasonally you not only decrease the amount of wasted fuel and transportation costs but you are also exposed to a wider variety of foods. Eating seasonally forces you to experiment with new recipes and think about what you are eating. It can be a fun, eye opening experience. 
5. Drive less – I have a terrible commute. Worse than most. But I have tried to find the best route possible to get to and from work. I avoid the congested freeways and take the back roads, saving me time and sitting in bumper to bumper traffic. However for some people driving itself is optional. If you can, try to take your bike or walk to work. Or better yet, work from home. Many jobs nowadays can be done from just about anywhere. Cutting just one day’s worth of driving can save you hundreds of dollars in gas over the course of a year and also helps out the pollution. The more active you are the healthier you are too, so it is a win-win situation.

Come back tomorrow for the final 5 great tips. 

Introducing new baby ecochick

Introducing our beautiful little angel; Gabriel Alexander. 

Gabriel was born at 8.29 on Monday 11 February after a very speedy two hour labour! Gabriel weighed 3425 grams (7lb 5). John is dealing very well with his new baby brother. We're all very much in love. 

Growing saffron

Saffron is super expensive to buy so I've actually never bought any but I jumped at the chance to try and grow my own. From what I've read it shouldn't be too difficult since saffron is a crocus and in theory this means they are relatively easy to grow? Time will tell!  
There is a lot of information out there on how to grow saffron so I'm going to share what I've done. I ordered and bought 10 corms in October which arrived last week. There are a several places in New Zealand that sell corms; terraza saffron, Mapua country trading, or trade me. The corms need to be ordered in August/ October and sell out quickly so it pays to keep in touch with these companies.
Being a crocus, Saffron flowers in autumn and are dormant in spring/ summer. Late summer is the best time to plant your corms. It pays to keep the corms relatively dry in summer (if in a container the corms can be moved into a dry spot) but water every second day when it is flowering. Plant in full sun but they can have some shade as well as long as they get plenty of sunlight the rest of the day. 

Once the corms arrive (late summer/ early autumn) it is recommended to put them in the ground straight away or if you can't plant them straight away keep them in a dry, warm and dark place till you can plant them. 

Saffron needs to be grown in very free draining soil otherwise they will rot. Clay soils (which is what I have) is the worst type of soil to grow saffron in, so I decided to plant my corms in a laundry tub to hopefully give them maximum chance of growing and producing a good yield. I even splashed out and bought top quality potting mix (normally I buy the cheapest one). I filled the bottom 10cm or so with quarry sand (not beach sand; it's too salty) to help increase the drainage in the tub. I also figured the metal will keep the corms warmer in autumn/ winter as well. I planted the corms 10 cms deep and 10 cms apart. I then filled the holes with compost to add some extra nutrients to the soil. After I planted the corms I gave the ground a good soaking with water. Mr Ecochick made me a new spoon label for the saffron. So now I'll just have to wait.         

Rainwater harvesting system

We have finally put in our first rainwater harvesting system. I am so happy with it. I love how it looks (well apart from the sexy blue!! I might paint it at some stage?). I LOVE that once we have water in it we'll be able to water the garden with lovely captured rainwater. I find it so wasteful turning on the tap and watering our garden with treated water. The garden always looks so much more amazing after a good rainfall than it does after you watered it out of the tap.     

Our system is pretty basic and was cheap to make. I bought a 250L plastic second hand drum off trade me. The hardest part was getting a drum that hadn't had nasty chemicals in it. You could use pretty much any type of container to collect rainwater in. I really wanted to use wine barrels everywhere but they are super expensive to buy. I have managed to buy one cheaply so this will go on the deck as you will see it more than this blue drum that comes off the garage roof and is behind the chicken coop. We will be adding four harvesting systems in total all around the house plus a small one to water the chickens with.    
I bought a down pipe water diverter that was super easy to install. We chose this diverter as it has an overflow function so when the drum is full the water will be diverted back down the drain. We drilled a hole in the drum and screwed and glued one end of the diverter in the drum. We also cut a small section out of the down pipe and inserted the diverter. Easy as. 
We bought an ordinary outside tap and cut a hole in the drum then screwed and glued the tap in. The garden hose attachment screws onto this tap and so it is very easy to attach a hose to the drum. 
Mr Ecochick made a very cool water tower out of leftover wood we had in the garage. I love the tower with its cross members it looks so country. He then stained it with some leftover stain. You'll need to elevate the drum off the ground (maybe not as high as we did) to help increase the water pressure.

Mr Ecochick used a lag/ coach screw to secure the water tower to the garage. We also used metal bands to attach the drum to the garage as there is no way I want the tower falling over on one of us! Once full this drum and tower will weigh over 250kgs!  
Now just to wait for it to rain so it can fill up!!! I might need to do a rain dance as the weather this summer has been just magic! 

Cute felted owl

Look what turned up today!! Isn't he the cutest most amazing felted owl? Thank you so very much Mel from frugal kiwi. She makes loads of fantastic felted items  that you can order from her website. 

Thank you so super much Mel. I LOVE him and I'm sure Grape will love him too. When he turned up John gave him a cuddle and when we told him it was for Grape he went and put him in Grape's bassinet! Too cute. 
I just LOVE the bright colours and his beautiful eyes. He is so perfect and soft especially made for tiny little baby hands and mouth. I'm sure he is going to get a lot of loving. 

Hospital bag

As my due date draws nearer I have got everything ready for Grape to arrive. I thought I'd share what I have in my hospital bag as it pays to have a few items with you for your pending arrival.

In my bag for me:
Nightie/ PJs - mine has buttons all the way down so I can breastfeed
Breastfeeding bra
Breast pads - I have some cloth ones with a waterproof backing and some bamboo/ hemp ones for extra absorbency 
Undies and socks - several old pairs
Maternity mama pads - I love bamboo ones so soft and gentle
A change of clothes to go home in
Toothbrush, toothpaste and shower gel 
Togs for Mr Ecochick - we're going to have a water birth
Hairties 
Cell phone 

In my bag for Grape:
Nappies - I wanted to use cloth from day one but Mr Ecochick wasn't keen to start with cloth until the meconium has been passed. I did manage to get some disposables off freecycle so I didn't have to buy any 
Cloth wipes - I love bamboo velour ones
Cloth wipes solution - all natural so easy to make and use
Baby botty balm - I love my homemade all natural balm
Baby blanket - I'm using John's bamboo one I love it so much so snugly and colourful
Woolen cardigan, hat and booties- lovingly made by a family friend for John
Socks, clothes, baby vests, baby nighties 
Swaddling cloth
Burp cloths -  I have lovely large bamboo ones
Placenta pack

You'll also need a car seat of some type. You can't take baba home without a proper car seat. 
I've also made an overnight bag for John as he'll go to my parent's place when I go into labour. We have included a new toy digger for him to play with. 

Coconut body bars

I found these wonderful lotion bars on Miss Muffet by Christina and just knew I had to make them for Christmas. It was so funny that when I found this post on Miss Muffet as I have the same moulds that she used. It was meant to be! 

These body bars were easy and fun to make. 

Just a note when using silicon moulds it is best to put them on a solid tray or in a place that you don't have to move them until the liquid has completely solidified!

What you'll need:

100g coconut oil

100g olive or almond oil

75g beeswax

Optional:

Essential oil(s) of your choice - I used lavender and rosemary (yummy)

Glitter

Method:

Put the oils and beeswax in a pan and heat gently until all the oils are mixed and liquid. Stay near by as this doesn't take long. 

Take off the heat and add the essential oil(s).

Pour the liquid into the moulds and add glitter if you wish.

Leave the moulds in a cool place overnight or for a few days to completely solidify before gently removing from moulds.

These bars are lovely and smooth and make your skin feel great. The oils have a very low melting point so store in a cool place. I kept mine in the fridge before I gave them as gifts. Keep out of direct heat and sunlight. 

Linked to inspiration gallery link party,

Cheats fudge brownies

I love a good fudge brownie and one of the easiest (but very expensive) ways to make these is to buy a never fail Aunt Betty's brownies (Betty Crocker). I love these brownies they are so yummy and easy to make but boy are they expensive now, not to mention full of "extras"! I was super rapt when I found a cheats recipe on fake it frugal. 

These brownies are just like the "real" boxed thing but non of the additives/ preservatives and most of all everything was already in my pantry. My best friend loves Aunt Betty's brownies so I made up a recipe in a jar for her for Christmas.   

Dry ingredients:
1 cup sugar
1/2 cup plain flour
1/3 cup (Dutch) cocoa
1/4 tsp salt
1/4 tsp baking powder
Extras:
M and Ms or chocolate bits 

Wet ingredients:
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence

Put all the dry ingredients in a bowl.
Add the wet ingredients and mix.
Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes. 

If you are making this as a gift add the dry ingredients into a 1 quart jar layering carefully then on a card write:

Fudge brownies.
Add:
2 eggs
1/2 cup vegetable oil
1 tsp vanilla essence
Empty the jar in a bowl and add the wet ingredients. Mix together.
Bake at 180C for 20-25 minutes. 

Linked to romance on a dime, our delightful home,