Becoming Domestic

Its a new long term project that has just emerged for this family but since Bealers has been Head of Veg Gardening and really enjoying it (having never planted or grown anything before he’s now growing chillis, tomatoes, cucumbers, courgettes, peas, pumpkins, all manner of herbs and salad items, raspberries, strawberries and LOADS of potatoes!), since all the recent talk of predicted economic doom and gloom, soaring fuel prices/import costs as well as the UK’s ageing population, increased violence have lead us to believe that there may be some really tough times ahead for those not well equipped to look after their own. We have started to think seriously about becoming more self sufficient as a family and less reliant on others for food and energy requirements.

At present we’re not doing much more than a bit of idle internet research and have found a load of good sites (added to the blogroll here) but have also started to collect books on the subject of self sufficiency, allotment gardening and keeping chickens and livestock.

Bealers is now happily enrolled on a 10 week Beginners Carpentry evening course at the local college from September and I’m really keen to do the NVQ in hairdressing (but at the moment the small baby at home means I’m unable to leave the house without her). Other interests we’ve identified as being useful for those who aim to be more self sufficient are fishing, shooting, first aid, general building skills, plumbing, teaching and counselling, dressmaking, knitting, crocheting. About a lifetime ago I trained to be a primary school teacher and although I never actually got paid for doing it I do still sometimes have an urge to home educate our kids.

At the moment we are fairly close to being a typical modern family but perhaps where we differ is in our new attitude to doing things for ourselves. We are raising our children (twins aged five and a new baby) to know about food (cost, growing, preparation, nutrition), how to enjoy their free time without classes or clubs where people tell them what to do, to spend plenty of time in the fresh air and to understand that money is a finite resource which for most people is hard to come by and too easily spent. We teach them how to sweep, how to make their beds, how to hang clothes up, how to load/unload the washing machine, how to donate old things no longer required to the charity shop, how to borrow books from the library. We holiday in a twelve year old five berth touring caravan and we write letters to friends and family members. All this is fairly new to us as only two years ago we wer, like so many others, enjoying the luxuries that a two salary household could enjoy.

At present we rent a fairly big Victorian house with a good sized garden on a busy main road in rural Worcestershire but aim to one day live somewhere with enough land, outbuildings etc to grow vegetables, raise some animals for food (chickens, ducks, pigs?), to have access to somewhere to fish. We don’t know where this will be. We sold our house in London last year and now are settled and happy enough for the time being where we are taking the small steps towards a totally different lifestyle to our old city ways.

The only conundrum for me is how we will have enough time and energy to manage such a lifestyle. At present we watch very little television, have not much time for sitting and reading, I get up with the three kids early in the morning and I am just finishing cleaning, washing, drying, feeding etc by the time it is our bedtime. My hope is that as they grow older they will be more independent on us and will have their own role to play, Bealers will presumably work away from the home less as theoretically we will need less cash to pay for things and will therefore have more time to spend on managing our home environment.

http://www.selfsufficientish.com/forum/

http://www.goselfsufficient.co.uk/

http://www.simpleliving.net

http://www.accidentalsmallholder.net/

As we were fortunate enough to be given LOADS of second hand washable nappies I am really enjoying not having to use disposable nappies which I’m glad about as disposables cost a fortune (about £10 for a week’s worth of botty changes) and they also are super stinky in the household refuse bin (even when bagged in a nappy sack). The washable nappies are collected throughout the day in a lidded pail with a mesh drawstring bag as a liner and few drops of tea tree oil to keep fresh and they are washed with a load of laundry at 40 degrees each evening or every other evening if I’m feeling slack (we have so many I don’t ever run out of nappies).

Before our baby arrived three months ago I wasn’t aware that people who use washable nappies also tend to use washable wipes and I had stocked up on a box of ‘environmentally friendly’ disposable wipes. These went fairly quickly and it was just by chance that I came across a woman on eBay selling brand new washable wipes made from fleece in a huge range of cheery patterns. I bought one pack of 10 from her (£1.50) then another and now we just use lovely pure warm water to clean the baby. The fleecey squares are kept in a little basket near to the babe’s changing station.

They are so soft and really big that the task of cleaning a really nasty nappy is far less trouble with these cloths than with any thin shop-bought tissuey wet wipe which must be full of chemicals. They get popped into the nappy pail along with the nappy and being fleece they don’t colour run in the wash.

I always have a few in my baby’s changing bag and get lovely comments about how pretty, soft, thick and useful they are. When the bub starts to eat solid food I’m sure I will get through plenty as little face cloths. I shudder to think how much I spent on disposable nappies + wipes with the twins before they were toilet trained it must have been close to £2,000 during the two years of their lives.

Luckily for my purse and our bank balance we don’t live near to any shops apart from the butcher, the bakery, a small grocery shop and a few charity shops (full of old ladies’ things mainly). When we lived in East London and I worked in the City I found that the majority of my spare time was spent idly wandering around the shops with no real purpose.

I often came home with plenty of so-called bargains as we lived near to cheap shops like Primark, Matalan, Woolworths, Superdrug, Tesco and Poundland and for about five minutes I would feel great. Over time the house became full of stuff. I had several gift drawers stuffed full of things that could be given away as presents, every cupboard was full and so were all the shelves and the loft and cellar too. The things I bought cost little per item but over time the amount spent was almost certainly huge (especially as the idle purchasing had started when I was a young teenager with pocket money frittering tendancies). Buying everything cheap and new ensured that somewhere in the world factories manufacturing these good were profiting from my spending and that the goods had been shipped around the planet using unnecessary energy. More often than not the new things were broken and therefore discarded shortly after they arrived in our lives and so filled up a tiny bit more of the world’s landfill with non-biodegradable junk.

Recently (about 18 months ago) I’ve been consciously de-junking our lives a little at a time (and still the house is very far from being stark or empty). I’ve taken loads of boxes of books to our local library where they either add them to their collection or sell them for cash, loads of clothes and linens to my favourite charity shop (worth noting that I only found out last week that they will happily take bags of unsellable clothes (ripped, stained, old underwear, threadbare towels, unfashionable things) if they are in a bag marked ‘Rags’. They can sell these for money to another purchaser. We’ve freecycled larger items and sold just a few on eBay and I’ve used most of the things in the gifts stash as gifts for people.

The fantastic feeling each time I get rid of further unwanted things from our lives is very similar to the buzz of previous years after another shopping spree. It feels fantastic to be liberated of things that are neither useful nor give any pleasure due to their aesthetics. For items I have a irrational reluctance to part with I stash them away into a trunk and then several months later I am able to prove to myself that I have lived happily without it and had actually forgotten that it existed at all.

Read the rest of this entry »

Happy now… 

Our little baby daughter is now 12 weeks old but for the first 10 weeks of her life she has been in obvious discomfort/pain. She has cried an awful lot especially when put down on her back for nappy changes, naps, in the car seat. She has also suffered with what appears to be highly acidic regurgitation of small amounts of digested milk. The only time she was not crying would be the first half an hour of the day when in fact she was a very alert and incredibly smiley little thing.

Apart from be worried about her and defend her when my husband nicknamed her The Bad Baby I was pretty sure there was nothing much I could do for her as when I took her to the GP they checked her ears, throat and temperature and declared that she was fine. She was gaining weight at a very good rate, being breastfed we knew there were no allergies to cows milk causing her pain and I just hoped she would turn a corner as she grew, became more sturdy and upright and her stomach became more mature.

Every nap time was taken in my blessed sling which she was constantly carried in as there was no way I could leave her crying on her back to do even the smallest household chore. If I stopped moving for even an instant she would wake up with a start and the crying would resume. Unlike my previous babies she did not nod off instantly in the car but if she did she would only stay asleep while we were moving and traffic lights caused her to wake up howling again.

I felt so so sorry for her. My mum was concerned for her as she remembered my brother being in a similar state when he was an infant and she claimed it (a) broke her heart and (b) held him back developmentally as instead of people cooing and interacting with a baby who is crying so much they are just in their own world of distress.

I chanced upon a leaflet at the local baby weighing clinic for a local osteopath which mentioned the benefits of treating ‘unsettled’ babies with cranial osteopathy as traumas from the pregnancy or birth can leave some babies with constant chronic pain such as headaches, stomach disorders, and can even hinder them from establishing breastfeeding if their little jaw bones haven’t popped back into the position they were designed to be in.

As a complete and utter sceptic but having reached the end of my wits having listened to my poor poor baby scream in my ear for so many hours each day especially when a bit of milky sick came up I made an appointment and trundled her down to the osteopath clinic. Read the rest of this entry »

I am six weeks into using the washable nappies we were given for our new baby. I do love using them as they give me a really high sense of satisfaction - especially when reloading the wicker basket with a pleasing pile of freshly laundered OneLife nappies and fluffy pink washable fleece bottom wipes. I don’t find the extra laundry a problem. I hardly notice it as I always have a number of white things needing washing most days anyway as the baby is a fairly sicky one.

If for some reason I do get through the 16 or so shaped nappies without getting them washed and dried I do have a number of ‘emergency nappies’ ready to go as well as my trusty OneLife nappies - these consist of a pile of terry squares (small but I wish I’d bought the larger size) and a whole load of all-in-one nappies which are a fine fit for the baby but harder to launder/dry with all their layers of padding and creases where yucky stuff can stay unoticed by the washing machine.

The only trouble is that I’m not so sure about how one gets through the night without a sodden baby by morning time without having to wake up and change them halfway through the night… I do add a booster but this seems to make very little difference. If my tiny bladdered baby is always soaking by morning time how on earth do green parents of bigger babies manage?

As it is much nicer snuggling up to a dry baby than a wet one in the morning I’ve recently started experimented with putting the babe in a little disposable nappy as I dress her for bed from the packet we bought to take to hospital when she was born.. The morning wetness with the washable nappies doesn’t seem to bother her but as she is in my bed lying on my sheets it does bother me!

[This post is for the girls…Blokes - look away now as not much here in this post for you other than persuading your women to use these two fabulous new products]

The Mooncup Menstrual Cup - An Innovative Alternative to Tampons

I can’t remember how I discovered the Mooncup I think it was reading a post on the ever-wonderful www.mumsnet.com/Talk/ forum. An environmentally friendly way of dealing with monthly menstrual periods which happy users were saying were better (cleaner, needing to be changed less frequently and more comfortable to wear) than any of the disposable sanitary protection products on the market? It sounded too good to be true so I read up on the manufacturer’s website and very shortly afterwards bought one (for about £15 I think).

The claims were absolutely spot on. One small silicon egg-cup shaped product is used in place of a tampon and collects the fluid. The fluid is then tipped away down the toilet and the Mooncup resinserted. It can be washed in water and between periods it has its own discreet little unbleached cotton bag with pretty pink ribbon to store in. No more shelves of bulky sanitary protection or being bamboozled by the bewildering array of choice in the ‘feminine hygiene’ aisle at the supermarket. No more spending good money on disposables products which clog up landfill every month of your reproductive years (how much does that add up to?!) Read the rest of this entry »

Having read a leaflet entitled ‘Real Nappies’ about informal drop in sessions being held locally for people wishing to find out more about using washable nappies I went along to a ‘Nappacino’ event and saw a very knowledgeable woman who knows all about using disposable nappies as a cheaper, more environmentally friendly and altogether less stinky alternative to using costly disposables which are well documented to be an expensive, highly processed, chemical containing, non-degradable yet time saving modern phenomenon. She bought along samples of the range available to parents and took the time to explain in great detail why cloth nappies are so wonderful.

I’ve been exceedingly lucky to have been given nearly 20 brand new OneLife ‘birth-to-potty’ cloth shaped nappies by my very good friend Jane to use for our newest child when it is here. I’ve also collected another 15+ of various other brands from generous Freecyclers in response to an advert I placed several months ago.

I went along to the ‘Nappacino’ event held by the local council in conjunction with Mandie who sells reusable washable nappies at her baby shop (www.honeybees-store.co.uk). I went because I wasn’t sure whether I had enough nappies, whether they were the right size or whether I needed any extra equipment.

My friend who also came along and I were both astounded to learn that there is still A LOT of awareness building to be done as so many parents-to-be just don’t know how lovely and how cheap washable nappies can be in comparison to nasty old disposables.

When my kids were in nappies (2003-2005) there were always some evil smelling nappy sacks containing foul nappies waiting to be taken outside to the bin, in the summer the wheelie bin would reek with a weeks worth of nappies being roasted inside. We added at least £10 extra to each weekly shop to cover a packet of nappies and calculated that we probably spent getting on for £1000 on disposables before they were potty trained. It was only when they were nearly 2 that I learned that had disposable nappies been around in King Henry VIII’s time we would still be surrounded by his generation’s festering nappies today a good 500 years later as they are not biodegradable. Yuck! Read the rest of this entry »

This week I realised I have managed to gather everything I will need for the expected new addition to our family due sometime in January.

The icing on the cake was being the winning bidder on eBay for a fantastic Graco travel system/pram/pushchair/car seat (*with* senior & junior cupholders!) which is a bit of a dream come true for me as I was limited to chunky, basic twin pushchairs when expecting the twins five years ago - all my friends with solo babies were choosing lovely prams with extra added sophistication. The purchase was especially gratifying as I ‘won’ it for £17 instead of the r.r.p of £180. Definitely my kind of pram.

As I have mentioned before we have been aiming to spend as little as possible on this newbie given that so much of the kit needed to make life comfortable with a pregnant bump or a new baby is required for such a short amount of time it makes little sense spend loads buying it all brand new from the many shops selling expensive baby gear.

When we had our twins 5 years ago we spent an aboslute fortune on kitting out a nursery, a double pram, two single buggies, huge packs of disposable nappies each week, toys etc etc. I was working in the City and Bealers had a successful software business so we didn’t even flinch at the fact that within a year over £10k had been squandered on two very small beings. Yikes! It would take a long time to save that kind of money and surely there are much more fun things to buy than baby related paraphenalia?

At the begining of this pregnancy I made a list of all the things I thought we would need this time round for a baby. This was obviously much easier having gained the knowledge of what baby things we found useful last time with both kids.

I also sent a slightly grovelly message round to friends with children asking them to think of us if they were passing on any baby things to charity as we’d gladly take them off their hands. So many people have been so kind with huge bags of lovely barely used baby booty now neatly stacked up ready for action in the spare room.

Despite the desire to keep things frugal and thrifty I have still totted up a grand total of £550.

Admitedly, we did decide to buy fewthings new which I hadn’t anticipated which made the total higher than it needed to be. For example I bought a brand new Amby Nature Nest baby hammock (£180) for the young ‘un to sleep despite being given a lovely moses basket. The hammock will hopefully double up as a travel cot too when we travel to see friends & relatives. I also spent what seemed like a lot of money on six new nursing tops + two bras (about £100) as I couldn’t find the ones I wanted on eBay - I figured the amount of use/washing they get subjected to over the course of the year or so they are in action it would be wise to buy new, well fitting, well made garments.

Here is the master list of things we wanted to get prior to Junior’s arrival, where we got it from and how much money things would have been had we bought it all new from a mid-range shop (e.g Mothercare)

• GIVEN: Moses basket (Thanks Kurt & Mandy! would have been £60)
  
• GIVEN: Changing table (thanks Sam! would have been £50)
• GIVEN: [Many thanks to Nat, Jonesy, Katie and Beki! ] Cardies, jackets, socks, hats, mittens, bibs, vests & baby grow, nursing pads,boob soothers, cream x 2, blankets (would have been £100)
• GIVEN: (Many thanks to Katie) Luxury nursing pillow (’My Brest Friend’ would have been £50)
• GIVEN: (Many thanks to Katie & Beki): 2 x Pumps (would have been £50)
• GIVEN: Tommy Tippee steriliser + bottles (huge thanks to Natalie would have been £50)
• GIVEN: Monitor (thank you Jules would have been £20)
• Given via Freecycle: Reusable, washable nappies x 20 (would have been £200)
• Bought 2nd Hand: Baby swing chair [£5 NCT nearly new sale would have been £40 new]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Baby play mats [£7 NCT nearly new sale] would have been £20 new
  
• Bought 2nd Hand: Nappy soak bucket (£3 NCT nearly new sale would have been £10 new]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Bump wedge [£3 NCT nearly new sale would have been £10]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Pram [eBay £17 Graco travel system incl. infant car seat/carrier would have been £180]
• Bought 2nd Hand: Bundle of maternity clothes (eBay £9 would have been £100)

• HIRED: TENS machine (£25 hire from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: Nursing shawl wrap (£30 from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: reast milk freezing bags (£10 from www.expressyourselfmums.co.uk)
• Bought new: : Nursing long sleeved and t-shirt tops (6 x tops £69 from Jojomamanbebe)
• Bought new: : Pack of two fitted moses basket/pram sheets (Matalan £3)
• Bought new: : Nappy change mat (£7 Matalan)
• Bought new: Gym/birth ball (birth-ease eBay £14.99)

• Bought new: Wrap around sling (http://www.closebabycarrier.com [£49.50]

• Bought new: Nursing bras x 2 [£50]
• Bought new: Amby nature nest hammock + pack of 2 x fitted sheets [£180]
• Bought new: Maternity sweaters x 2 + black leggings, jeans etc Mothercare and Next clearance warehouse [£60]

£545 = Total Spend

Of which were unnecessary brand new luxuries: £267= £180 Amby nature Nest + sling £50 + changing mat £7 + Shawl £30

£278 = Actual cost of thrift pregnancy/newborn babe

£1500 = Estimated spend if everything on the above list had been bought from new

The next step will be to ensure that everything we have gathered for our little chick is either passed back to its previous owners if they have further use for it, advertised on Freecycle or, in the case of the expensive things we bought brand new, sold as 2nd hand on eBay.

About a year or so ago I discovered the FlyLady website and signed up for her daily emails proscribing what household chores were to be done each day (moving through a series of weekly ‘zones’ covering the main areas of the house). I really liked them not only because I was brand new to housewiffery and it helped me understand how to be methodical about housework but also because the site sends testamonial emails out to its subscribers which are always from some delighted person who has never before known the secrets to having an easy to maintain, ‘visitor-ready’ home.

Although I no longer follow the daily advice I still do receive the emails from the FlyLady site. I hardly ever read them but just by the subject header alone I am reminded of gems such as ‘15 mins of decluttering’ or ‘a daily swish & a swipe in the bathroom is all it needs’ a few times a week can turn what feels like a disorganised and chaotic home into one where you feel calm and in control.

One thing I’ve very recently learnt from the FlyLady which has taken a good couple of decades of adulthood to get to grips with is the concept that I am not going to save the human population from environmental disaster by hoarding various things which are no good to anyone in my loft, in my cupboards etc.

Regular readers of this blog will know how keen I am on recycling wherever possible but what does one do with things that no-one else wants (eg. odd gloves, odd earrings, odd socks, broken plastic toys, old gadgets, excess coat hangers ancient out of date text books)?

I have moved house eleven times since I left home aged 18 and so many of these items have been dragged around with me - costing valuable lifting resources and storage each time. Ithas only recently dawned on me that all of these things belong in the bin and my keeping them out of landfill sites is really not helping anyone as ultimately there will come a time when I am gone and only my belongings remain. It is my responsibility to not have our living spaces filled with unecessary clutter, to not over buy, to give away and sell on decent things we no longer have a use for and to THROW AWAY anything which is rubbish.

Luckily we are blessed with a really good kerb side recycling scheme here where old linens are collected in bags with books, cardboard and paper, plastic bottles are collected with cans and other aluminium foil items. We also have a very active Freecycle community in the local area, and my local library seems more than happy to take the books I no longer want.

I still however, have to really force myself to bin things which I know once had a use but will now clog up a small volume of land with junk instead of stuffing it back into the bottom of my wardrobe/loft.

We are considering moving house again some time in the next year and I do think that it is easier to practice a general ongoing battle against clutter for those of us who move frequently. As one looks around and is forced to consider how long it will take to pack various categories of things it does encourage a bit of action to take things to the charity shop, to post an ‘Offered’ notice on Freecycle or to bin it.

Here is a recent email from the FlyLady to her subscribers which encouraged us all to not hoard junk for fear of clogging up the planet as the alternative is living in a personal, centrally heated mini-landfill site….

I encourage you to remove the clutter from your home. I want you to
donate as much as possible, but let’s face it; a lot of what we have
is not fittin’ to give away. IT IS TRASH! Do not donate stuff that
should be thrown away. Just as you would not donate expired food from
your pantry; don’t donate things that are just trash.

Now don’t fuss at me for this. I am as environmentally conscious as
the next person. We recycle most everything in our home. I would say
that we only throw out a couple of bags of real trash a year. Now
don’t tell me I don’t support recycling. As an elected county
commissioner, I know first hand how much trash cost us for every ton
that goes into the landfill. I hate it, but trash is part of life and
we have to learn how to deal with it.

I have been teaching you for four years that giving things
away blesses others and yourself, but what if the stuff you have is
not worth giving, even to a charity. Many charities have complained
that when people donate bags of clothing and broken stuff to them, it
cost them money to dispose of them. There is no way for you know
where to donate or sell bulk clothing that is worn out and beyond
recycling. So don’t overwhelm charities with your responsibility for
putting this in the landfill. You saved it, so you should take
responsibility for your own trash. This means paying for the right to
dispose of it properly.

I am all for saving the environment, but if you have been holding on
to stuff because you don’t know where or how to get rid of it, then
your home has become just like a landfill. No one wants to live in a
DUMP! I know you have boxes of clothes and stuff that have not been
open for decades. It is time to release this stuff once and for all.
There is no sense in making your children go through this stuff after
you are dead and gone. Some of you have had to deal with your
parent’s stockpiles. You know how overwhelming this job can be.

By all means donate all the usable clothing and appliances, have a
free yard sale or give items to friends. Be careful not to lay guilt
trips on your family members or your friends, give them permission to
say, ” No Thank You!”

Your personal landfill is killing you. I want this trash out of your
home once and for all! If I can impress upon you how dangerous it is
to live in house that is filled to the brim with this unwanted,
unloved energy sucking monster, I have done my job! Not only is it a
hazard to your mental well being, it is a serious hazard to your
safety as well; fire hazards, unsanitary, toxins, structural for your
home, and attracts rodents. Now what does this sound like to you? A
landfill or dumping ground! You got it sister!

Now your home did not become the landfill overnight, it took years
and it is not going to get clean in a day! DO YOU HEAR ME! So don’t
try to do this yesterday!

This is also going to be hard to face your mountain of clutter! You
are going to want to beat yourself up about all of this stuff you
have hoarded. DO NOT GIVE IN TO THE CLUTTER MONSTER’S WAY OF STOPPING
YOU FROM EVICTING HIM! This is his evil ploy to discourage you. You
are also going to be dredging up old memories that are sometimes hard
to deal with. Let it out, cry if you need to, but purge these sad
mementos so you never have to be reminded of them again. I only want
you surrounded by things that give you joy and build you up. There is
no room in your life for those memories of sad times. Free yourself
to FLY!

Where do you start!

1. You get dressed to shoes, fix your hair and face and do your
morning routine, including starting supper! Now you do understand
this, don’t you!

2. If you are one of the people that needs to marathon
declutter, then by all means, back your truck up to the house and
start to load it up with your trash. I know you have tons of it. For
now, don’t worry about recycling, because your health is more
important to me then the fact that you will be adding one more ton to
the landfill. Do not email me complaining about my attitude.
Sometimes it take a good purge to get you started on a way of life
that includes recycling and shopping with the environment in mind.
Right now you can’t even think past your next hour, much less deal
with the problems of the world. So get over your guilt about this and
start to live. You and the world will be much better off when you do.
Besides charity starts at home, so does your environmental
consciousness. How can you save the world, if you haven’t saved
yourself first?

3. If you can afford to order a dumpster. Do it! We did this three
years ago during our remodel. It was the smartest thing we ever did
for our construction crew and ourselves. It was expensive, but worth
every penny. By this time we had recycled most everything we could
and now all we had to do was purge the junk that was in our
basement. These were things that Robert finally decided had no
useful life.

4. I am not fond of yard sales, because they have a way of
beating you up even more. You are never going to get what you paid
for it at a yard sale! This leaves you feeling defeated by the whole
process. If you give things away, you will be blessed by giving to
those in need. Try this sometime. Just set a table up with items to
give away. Just see who shows up and how you can bless them with your
excess. The stories and the lives you touch will stay with you
forever. Not only will you be helping others, you will be helping
yourself and your spirit. Lighten your load!

5. When you move items from one room to another, (the garage) in
hopes of having a yard sale SOMEDAY! This guilt will eat at you too.
The whole process becomes overwhelming. You have to price stuff and
organize it, publicize it; the list goes on and on. Where do you
start? Suze Orman taught me this. Let go of it and bless others. Just
set up a table and put a sign on it that say FREE! The items will
leave so fast your head will spin. Just wait and see.

6. What if you can’t do a marathon decluttering, then take it
one day at a time. As one member put it this morning. It is like an
alcoholic in AA. You have to take it a day at a time, control the
urge to hold on to clutter by letting go of a little each day. This
is how

I decluttered our home, one 27 fling boogie a day. Sometimes 2 or
more. We have also added 5 minute room rescues to help with the
process. Our first suggestion is to get the main areas of your home
decluttered so you can start to enjoy the peace that this affords
you. This peace gives you the incentive to declutter more and more.

7. During this process, always get dressed and do your routines
before starting to declutter. All it takes is 15 minutes a day of
decluttering to make a lasting impact on your home and life.
Establish your routines and include these 15 minutes each and every
day and before long, you will start to see major progress.

So the bottom line is get rid of the clutter any way you can;
marathon decluttering or with the gradual approach. I don’t care
which you are using; keep in mind as you bring something home, get
rid of two items. This will help control future clutter problems.
What ever you do, it is the consistency that will make the
difference. Your routines are the stability that allows your home to
come together. We have all marathon cleaned to get ready for company.

I call marathon cleaning, “Stash and Dash”! When you are marathon
decluttering, you are not stashing anymore. The clutter is leaving
your home. I have one big warning in all of this. Do not crash and
burn! Take plenty of breaks and don’t pull out more than you can put
back in an hour. THIS MEANS ONLY CLEAN ONE SHELF AT A TIME OR ONE
DRAWER AT A TIME, NOT THE WHOLE CLOSET! I hope I can make this very
clear to you! When we get into our all or nothing attitudes, this is
when we allow ourselves to get overwhelmed by the whole process and
give up!

I want you to put on your blinders and quit looking at the
immobilizing job of the whole house and only concentrate on little
bitty bites at a time. DO YOU UNDERSTAND ME ON THIS??? This attitude
is what got your home in the shape it is in! It is called
perfectionism. All of us have it! Let go of it and learn to FLY!

Be aware that decluttering is contagious!

Are you ready to FLY?

FlyLady

A slightly shocking discovery was made this week when an eBay seller told me she had been made to stop an auction of her pre-loved washable nappies as eBay authorities deem them too unhygenic to sell.

As a member of the keen-to-be-green community I had made my mind up that we would use washable nappies with our expected new arrival and, like most of the things we buy, I didn’t want to buy new as I know that there must be piles of outgrown expensive, high quality, reusable nappies looking for a new home.

I had already begun to wonder why there were no bundles of used nappies being sold on eBay until eventually I spotted the reason in this sellers description. She and I entered into a dialogue and she told me how the site had fairly recently changed its policy on the selling of reusable nappies.

My first reaction was to think ‘Oh how ridiculous! Fine then I’ll just have to set up my own auction website for the sale of 2nd hand nappies and related paraphanelia!’ but after a very small amount of research was pretty relieved to find that a woman who had made the same discovery as me regarding eBay’s rules had done just that and has set up the website

http://www.usednappies.co.uk/

A site dedicated to those wishing to sell on or buy used nappies. It certainly makes a lot of sense.

I don’t know the actual story behind eBay’s radical stance on real nappies (perhaps the eBay directors also sit on the board of Pampers & Huggies manufacturers…). My immediate reaction was one of dismay when I realised I wouldn’t able to buy them as I had planned because the sorts of people committing to using real nappies are exactly the sorts of people who are keen to save this country from being gradually turned into one large rubbish tip and to be disincentivised from recycling via passing on or selling nearly new nappies to new owners defeats the whole object.

If one doesn’t know where to buy second hand nappies despite good intentions one is forced to buy brand new stock which aside from being a huge expense (approx £200 to kit new baby out in enough washable nappies to last until it is potty trained I’m told) is not exactly following the ‘Reduce, Reuse, Recycle’ mantra we are told to chant. It is promoting the production and consumption of new goods. If one can’t sell on the £200 or so worth of nappies at the end of the infant’s babydom then they will be forced to be dumped in landfill just like the filthy disposables we are told take up so much landfill space. Also surely if there is a healthy second hand market then less people would mind shelling out the initial investment for pristine new nappies if they new they would recoup at least a small bit of cash for them in a few years time.

Grrrrr!

Before I found UsedNappies.co.uk I was left wondering where I could get my hands on such contraband and wrote a ranty ‘WANTED’ post to my local Freecyle network. A few blessed soles wrote back to me and this afternoon I was delighted to relieve a couple of women of their bags full of pretty, clean, freshly laundered nappies. The are about 20 or so nappies of makes I have heard of (Kooshies, Mother-Ease) so I figure I have already saved a good £150 by not being forced to buy them new.

The woman who originally told me that she was not able to sell her used nappies is selling a couple + liners to me privately for £7 and next week there is an NCT nearly-new sale which apparently specialises in maternity, baby and child related items. I will have a word with the organisers to see if they can promote the resale of second hand washable nappies in the absence of well known eBay’s help.