Eco Friendly House And Garden

Why Not Make Even More Out Of Your Eco Friendly House And Garden This Year?

Rather than just living in your house as normal - why not consider a few of these ways to no only improve the eco friendly qualities of your home - but to make it work for you too.

I mean, why should a house just sit there doing nothing? Make it more useful than it already is by making some small changes or concessions….

Here are a few ideas for you to consider with regards to ’sharing’ your home with others for the benefit of others - as well as your bank balance in some cases!

Empty Rooms Are A Waste:
Even if you turn of all heating and seal up all windows - an empty room is a waste of resources!

It’s already in a home filled with energy and bodies - so why leave rooms empty when you could make them work for a living and keep the worlds ‘footprints’ smaller - after all, the more people living in the same house can save on so many levels!

If you aren’t into a full time tenant and live in a busy town or city, why not consider a Monday-to-Friday tenant instead. No huge commitment, less belongings and they are usually a reliable adult too!

Or the other end of the extreme - if your house is too big for you but you don’t want to downsize for whatever reason, then why not eco renovate and create a self contained unit in the basement or whatever and rent this out as as a permanent let or holiday home depending on your location.

Hotel Rooms Even More So:
Why not treat your home as a swap for a hotel room - either as a holiday for yourself or while you are away.

Firstly, you could take a holiday swap this year instead of booking a hotel. let a family move into your home while you go live in theirs! Not everyone is looking for an equal swap either - you might get a cute cottage for your family home, or a spacious farmhouse for your city flat!

Secondly, if you live near a local attraction or event (like Wimbledon or a show ground) then why not time your holidays to coincide with a huge demand for lettings! Signing up with an agency could bring you up to £2000 a week depending on your home and the event you are close to!

Parking Spot Or Tennis Court?
Same goes for the outside of your home - why not rent out unused space to others at virtually no cost to you or really any effort either!

If you have land that people could park on and you live in a busy location - why not let someone park there? You aren’t using it - and they probably waste time and petrol every morning looking for a spot!

And the same goes for your tennis court, trampoline, pool, piano, climbing frame or anything else you have sitting around that you aren’t using 24 hours a day. You might not want to charge your closest friends - but a few quid for a game of tennis for some young kids or keep-fit oldies won’t go amiss - basically paying for it’s own maintenance.

Your Skills Too:
It’s not just physical things that can help out others and bring in a few extra pounds - what about your own skills?

Music lessons, language lessons, discussion groups, Body Shop parties and product research groups. All could use your skills and your lounge, conservatory or kitchen - and of course - you!

Or if you are on a country walk or in a cute village, why not sell cakes and tea or garden veg and flowers in your front garden for passers-by!

House In The Country

Get Your Home On TV!
If you live in a city, your home has a great garden, great views or great architecture, or you have some great internal features - you could ‘model’ your home!

Let a photo or TV agency know about it and you could rent your house and garden out for magazines, TV or even movies!

You don’t even have to do anything, they set it all up and then take it all away again - pain free and you won’t be in any of the shots - unless you want to be!

Are you up to the challenge - to live on a £1 a day? - she says….

Basically this book explains how the author decided to try to live on just a £1 a day for an entire year to save money for her sisters wedding.

And to prove it, she details every little penny she saves and how she does it.  From stealing food out of bins, to hand delivering Christmas cards, and from attending free events at the library for free drinks to hitch-hiking and wild camping!

The Book Itself:
Reading the book is very easy indeed as her writing style flows nicely - however, I did have some issues with the way she did things that really aren’t suitable for everyone.

She also listed endless ways in which she saved money - but not all were very good for the environment - such as ordering free samples of everything she could to use for herself and to give away as presents - as these small products use a huge amount of packaging in relation to the product within.

However, she did use an awful lot of great techniques that can’t do you any harm, like eating less, wasting less and buying reduced price food every day from your local stores.  She also raised a fair amount of money by simply finding it on the floor!  And many of her eco friendly tips can be put into practice immediately!

Attending all the free events did have the role of extra socialising and supporting local businesses and events - but was perhaps somewhat selfish in the fact that she would never join their club/gym/mailing list - she just wanted a warm room and free drinks (probably in disposable plastic cups).

The Author helps to explain how to get things for free - but this started to lean towards the ‘money saving at someone else’s expense’ rather than ‘homesteading and being frugal’! 

She also didn’t take into account any of her normal running costs like rent, bills and running the washing machine (although she was happy to discuss that washing clothes more often extended their lifespan - although how she thought that it washed for free I’m not sure!).  So, her money saving stopped at not spending it rather than saving it from other ‘leaky’ areas - like energy loss.

I totally agree that we can do a certain amount of things for less money - and we can certainly cut down on the amount of things that we buy and therefore waste - but maybe setting such a tight budget was unreasonable in an eco friendly sense. 

Result: 3/5
Although this book was a great read - and I did enjoy her tales and adventures - it is not really that eco friendly: hence the average score. For a general read it would get 4/5, but we are not here for just that - we are here to get eco friendly help and advice and I found myself arguing a bit with her over some of her thinking!

She still uses resources that use up a lot of energy throughout her ‘budget’ year - she just doesn’t pay for them! And in fact a lot of the things she gets for free are ‘trail size’ so are infact less eco friendly in the scheme of things. She also lives a life that is very dependant on others.

She didn’t think about growing her own food or making her own clothes, she just turned up at free local events and ate their food! She used the ‘free’ computers in the library (so the library pays), read endless books while sitting in book shops (ie brand new not paid for books that she put back on the shelf after reading) and still used her washing machine with impunity (well, she’s not ’spending’ the money in cash - it comes out of her bank account invisibly)!

Trying to find ways to be eco friendly can indeed save you money - but money-saving actions are not necessarily eco friendly - and this book proves it!

ISBN: 978-1-906593-12-4

Finally, London has put some focus on a bicycle hire scheme in the City!

Rather than focusing on trying to stop heavy traffic - they have decided to focus on promoting and supporting a cycling scheme for commuters, locals and tourists alike!

Hopefully this is the first step towards changing the way we look at cities and transport for the future - and the more of us that support the scheme - the more likely further improvements are!

Tower Bridge - London

Why Bikes?
Well, the idea behind the current scheme is to allow people to cycle around London without having the initial worry and cost of buying a new bike - and then reducing the worry of securely storing these bikes in flats and on the street.

By offering the use of secure bicycles that you can hire for a small fee - these 2 worries are eliminated - and at the same time making the streets cleaner and safer and reducing the need for increasing other resources.

Over 12,000 people have already signed up for the scheme - so that’s 12,000 bikes that haven’t had to be made!  They will all be sharing the same bikes in the scheme making great environmental sense!

And of course, it is better for the environment to have 500 bikes trundling around the streets than 50 half-empty buses.  And it’s better for the 12,000 people to be cycling themselves from A to B than to have them just sitting on a bus or tube.

Added to this - bicycles are made for 1 - whereas car hire schemes will usually leave 3 empty seats!

How It Works:
At the moment you need to sign up online to join the scheme - then you receive your ‘key’ which allows you to ride any of the bikes around the city.

There are 2 separate charges for the scheme and they are explained below.  Once you understand the difference between these, it is so simple to use.

Charge 1) Access To A Bike:
You will pay a small fee to actually free a bike up from it’s docking station, which can be as little as 12p a day if you buy an annual pass, or up to £1 a day if you pay daily.  This Access lasts a full 24 hours from release of the bike from the docking point.

Charge 2) Time-Based Hire:
You will pay a set fee for the length of time you have a bike out of a docking station.  Fees range from £1 for an hour up to £50 for the whole day (a day = a 24 hour period).  If the bike is not returned to a docking station before the 24 hour period elapses there will be a steep fine to pay!

However, less than 30 minutes on a bike (ie - from leaving 1 docking station to being secured in another docking station) if totally free!  So you only pay the Access Fee - which could be as little as 12 pence!

Needless to say that the more you use it the more cost effective it is, and using it for short distances is the key to good value.

Using it for longer bike rides might not be as cost effective as using a standard bicycle hire store - but could be more convenient.

Either way - make sure that you support the scheme in any way you can, so that the Government can see that people want less traffic on the roads, we want better pedestrian and cycling facilities and associated safety improvements - and we want greener travel improvements across the country.

If you help make London a success - it could roll out to other large cities!  Imagine all that green energy being used up on pedal-power rather than petrol!

Should you use normal plastic loads of times - or biodegradable plastic just the once?

There have been many recent developments in the plastic industry and the most controversial is the biodegradable versions that we had all waited so long for!

However, there are some unforeseen problems with these new versions - and it is a difficult eco friendly choice between them and ‘normal’ plastics.

See the 2 examples below of the 2 ways in which these plastic can be more eco friendly:

1) Buy a product in a normal plastic bottle and either re-use it forever or recycle it again and again, or;

2) Buy a product in a biodegradable plastic bottle (either HBP or OBP) that contains ingredients that will speed up its bio-degradation or turn it into compost when you dispose of it.

The 2 don’t mix!  It has to be 1 or the other!

What Does Biodegradable Mean?
If you first consider the word ‘biodegradable’ in its general meaning - it is any product (solid or liquid) that will break down naturally into environmentally safe and virtually natural products that can be used by living organisms in around 6 months.

However, there is no legal definition in terms of products in the stores - so anything claiming to be ‘biodegradable’ could be just that - or could be nothing of the sort; even if it has green pattern all over it and a picture of some wildlife on it!

So, what these biodegradable plastics are trying to do is to be better than existing plastics.  They claim that they will break down into less harmful and polluting particles relatively quickly compared to standard plastics, and so will have less of a detrimental effect on wildlife in the long term.

Don’t forget that existing plastics will also break down naturally (in the sense that if you leave a carrier bag part buried in your garden - it will eventually fall apart) but the plastic doesn’t actually disappear, it will just be in ever smaller parts.

Why Biodegradable Plastic Then?
Well, there has been an awful lot of bad press for plastic lately - what with sea turtles swallowing carrier bags and albatross feeding bits of plastic to their young - not to mention the Pacific Ocean Garbage Patch that people were looking for a way to make plastic bottles, containers and other products get a lot smaller a lot quicker.

By making a plastic that breaks down as soon as possible means that whole bottles and bags won’t be found floating in the sea killing birds and turtles any more!

Washed Up Plastic Waste

You still need to be aware of the way the products break down though to be most effective - for example the 2 types of biodegradable plastic currently available as HBP (hydro-biodegradable plastic) and OBP (oxy-biodegradable plastic).

And as their name suggests; one needs water to break down quickly and the other needs air - so bury these in bin bags in land fill sites won’t really make either of them disappear any quicker than normal plastics - but imagine they were litter in the countryside or rubbish floating in the Atlantic.

It’s a whole different story then!  They would soon disappear making our wild areas cleaner and safer for living things!

What’s The Problem Then?
We have discussed that biodegradable plastics must be the best for the environment then - as they don’t stay in the environment for ever and ever as whole plastic products - they break down fast into less harmful particles!  Right?

Well, it’s not so clear cut as you can’t recycle them. 

Adding either HBP’s or OBP’s to recycled plastic can actually be more harmful than good - as these new plastics are designed to break down - so they can actually render a recycled plastic product virtually useless in just a few months!  And many councils are actually trying to get them banned as a result!

We all know that there is only a reason to make a product if it is financially viable - so reducing the need for plastic recycling could cause an end to recycled products!

And if the biodegradable products are meant to break down - then we are actually creating a market for more and more plastic to be created.  Rather than re-use your old toiletries bottles and food containers again and again - you would have to keep buying new ones instead!

So, is the new plastic actually any more eco friendly than the old?

There are still more tips coming to me for your horse, pony or stable yard!

It is so easy to see a new top tip when you walk through the yard - either by doing something yourself or seeing someone else doing it.  Sometimes, your friends might be doing something that saves then time or money or just because it’s easier - but it could be a great eco friendly tip!

1) Learn to sew!  Putting patches on elbows, new hems on your rugs and darning your woolly socks together can all make your existing clothes last longer!  You don’t need to look perfect at the yard - especially if it’s cold or raining!  Making your clothes last longer means you get to spend your money on more exciting things! 

2) Go solar-powered for those little things like the stable radio - or you can get wind-up versions too.  Maybe buy a solar powered ‘travel charger’, so while you are mucking out - your mobile phone could be charging itself up naturally!  And make sure your lighting is powered by a green energy supplier!

3) Make sure you always muck out your horsebox or pony trailer as soon as you arrive at your destination to prevent the damp bedding soaking into the wooden floorboards.  Obviously, the longer you let the moisture soak in, the more damage it can do - and the shorter the lifespan of your trailer!

4) Learn to make your own equipment if possible, like feeding a piece of reused foam through the headband of a head collar to act as a poll guard.  This way you get to use all your old bits and bobs from around the house - and the stores don’t need to keep making more of everything!

5) If your horse eats it’s fresh bedding (or you want to make your bedding last longer) - you should mix in some of the old bedding when mucking out.  Not only will this mean that you need less bedding each time - but your horse should stop eating the wrong materials - and prevent wasted vets fees and your time!

6) Also to save vets visits, wasted treatments and last minute panics - keep a record of your horses medical information.  For example knowing the temperature of your horse before and after exercise, in summer or in winter can mean that you know for definite when there is something wrong.  Saying that your pony is ‘really hot’ isn’t the best way of judging for treatments and medication!  So if you have a definite record beforehand - you will be sure when something is wrong or when something is just the ‘top end of normal’.

7) And again - store your feed and medicines in metal dustbins or other suitably waterproof and pest-resistant containers.  That way you will keep things vermin-free as well as avoiding leaks and breakages.  This all adds up to less wasted products, no contaminated feeds and no poorly ponies - there really is no need to waste time, energy or money ever again!

8.) Use a left-over piece of plastic drainpipe to put over the top of a stable door to prevent your horse crib-biting.  By cutting it into 2 pieces, you could rest it over the top of the door to stop it being destroyed!  Not only will this stop you having to repair or buy a new door eventually - but can’t hurt the horse either!

9) Depending on the size of your own land - why not fence off a small area and grow your own hay.  Either feed as hay or make it into haylage instead.

10) Or why not go organic - and grow your own horse veg!  A few lines of carrots, some turnips, garlic and even an apple tree don’t need a lot of room - and could mean fresh organic and local veg for your pony (and you!).

Well, what do you think of those then?  Any help to you - I hope so.

Female Dogs are still being forced to have litter, after litter, after litter, after litter, after litter……..

The only way they can get to stop this repeated assault and to be freed from their small and very dirty cage or crate is to die - then they get thrown outside into a bin or hole in the ground!

And this is no lie or just some horror story made up by rescue centres - type in ‘puppy farm’ or ‘puppy mill’ in an ‘images’ Internet search - and you will see the evidence!

Basically puppy farms only exist because people are STILL buying the puppies - even after years and years of advertising and petitioning by rescue centres and animal welfare bodies!  People just can’t see sense.

So, what can you do to stop this trade in endless puppy farming without spending an extra penny?  Well if you want to buy a puppy - read through the advice below:

1) Check Out A Rescue Centre:
There are always pedigree and first cross puppies filling up rescue centres all the time.  Only this week there are 18 puppies at a local RSPCA centre; 8 mastiff cross, 6 lurchers and 4 spaniels - all cute and all looking for homes!  And there are hundreds more waiting in other centres too!

These are usually unwanted litters - basically the owner did not neuter their female dog and a free-roaming neighbouring male dog got to her when she was in season.  Hey presto - a litter of first cross puppies are born! 

By getting your puppy from a centre like this is a great way to stop puppy farm breeders - as the less puppies they sell, the less likely they are to breed more.   

2) Being Really Picky With Your Breeder:
Well the first thing you can do is not ever buy a puppy from a breeder advertising in a local newspaper in the first place.  Yes, there are some genuine breeders out there who want to sell their puppies - but it is often not easy to spot them in local publications amongst the ‘money-makers’.

You need to look out for a couple of things before calling anyone, as there are many clear signs that can tell you that these people don’t actually really ‘love’ their dogs - and are therefore probably just after the money.  Than if you do call - check out a few further details…..

Advertising More Than 1 Pedigree Breed For Sale:  
What type of irresponsible pet carer allows 2,3 or even 7 of her female pets to become pregnant at the same time?  If they are ‘pedigree’ dogs - then the owner has actually paid and arranged for the many seperate male dogs to come and do the stud work!  And what sort of ‘loving’ pet owner can keep up to 7 female dogs as pets in the same home?  No-one - so all these bitches are outside in kennels.

Giving Only A Mobile Number:
Are they saying that they are more likely to be away from home than looking after the puppies?

Saying That You Might Not Be Able To See The Mother:
By the time you can collect the puppies the female could be pregnant again - or skeletal!  If she hasn’t had the correct nutrition through the latter stages of the pregnancy (or her whole life) then she will look totally bony and exhausted by the time the pups are ready for rehoming.  No wonder they won’t let you see her!

However, you should be suspicious if you do see the mother and she hasn’t got very swollen and dangly nipples - it means that the puppy isn’t hers even if she is sniffing it or the puppy is trying to suckle.  Whelping females (females that have just given birth) have unmistakably dangly boobies!

The Puppies Are Less Than 8 Weeks Old:
In an ideal world for the puppy - it should stay with it’s siblings and in the company of it’s mother up to between 8 and 12 weeks.  Puppies younger than this are really a little too young to be rehomed - no matter how cute they look - so the secret is to not look at them in the first place!

All puppies are cute - otherwise we wouldn’t want to get one in the first place.  And if you are looking for a particular pedigree breed - then they will look virtually identical anyway as that is the idea behind being a pedigree in the first place!

Offering To Meet You ’Halfway’ Or To ‘Drop It Off At Your House’:
This plays on the ‘falling in love with the cute puppy’ syndrome.  Breeders want to be seen as kind and friendly by saving you the trip to meet them - but in fact they are just making sure you don’t see the state of their kennels and the poor suffering bitches in their puppy farm!

If you want a cute chocolate Labrador puppy and have your money in hand - and the breeders turn up with a very cute chocolate Labrador in their hands - you will take it from them.  Even if it is too young, a ‘bit poorly’ has an ‘upset tummy’ or even a sore foot or cut on it’s face!

Basically - you will be so ‘in love’ with it that you will still pay full price for a ’sick’ puppy - it even adds to the appeal - I mean how could you turn it away?  

That’s their plan - and you fell for it!  Just like the thousands of people before you that they have been supplying with puppy farmed pets!

So What Can You Do?
You need to be tough - but the only way to stop this is to make sure that you don’t ‘feel sorry’ for a puppy, and don’t buy any that fit the above ‘dodgy’ criteria.

Every puppy farmed puppy you do buy just gives the breeders good reason to go and breed a whole new litter.  If you could make around £4000 for a litter of cocker spaniels - imagine how much you could make if you had 10 bitches breeding 2 or 3 times a year?

But, if you made nothing at all from the first litter - but had spent £1000’s of your own money feeding these 10 bitches and their 80 puppies and didn’t sell any - would you do it again?

Make sure you plan your puppy purchase so that you are not cornered by these people or fall in love with a sick or badly bred puppy!  There are plenty of healthy loved puppies out there to choose from!

Can working in your local bakers be just as eco friendly as saving whales in the Pacific?

Yes, of course it can!  Just because you aren’t out there on the front line fighting deforestation and humanitarian crimes - doesn’t mean you aren’t making the best choices for your environment.

Don’t get ‘ethical’ issues confused with ‘environmental’ issues - the latter being active for the planet - and the people and communities benefiting from the ethical side of things.

How Can You Help?
Well, working closer to home is an easy one for starters.  Why travel miles to work if you can get a job within walking distance of your front door.  I mean, there will be people driving past you as they work in the offices or stores near your home, and you spend the day working close to their home!

It’s not always working for an eco friendly business that makes your individual job more eco friendly either.  I mean travelling 20 or more miles a day in your car to get to an eco friendly workplace by no means compares to someone who walks 5 minutes to work in a local bakers - even if the baker doesn’t use the most eco friendly equipment! Over a year the difference is more obvious.

And if you are eco minded - then you could help to implement changes to your workplace to make them more eco-friendly in themselves.  I mean if you could work locally to promote eco friendly practices in a locally run family business in your own community - what could be more eco friendly!

Look At Yourself Now:
Even if you aren’t planning on changing jobs - there are plenty of things you could look at in your current role and help to change.  And with the shortage of truly ‘green’ jobs about - you are probably better to become a mini activist in your current role!

However, it’s not all the same green!  Just because the charity you work for helps wildlife conservation - it doesn’t mean that everything else is a given.  For example, if you are working in a retail outlet on behalf or the many charities out there - is that really green at all?

Retail stores are a massive polluter and creator of waste - I mean you only need to look out the back of a store to see the tonnes of waste cardboard and other packaging being used.  All the pricing, stock holding and transportation add up to something huge - so can you really call this an ‘eco friendly’ job?

Ideas For The Future:
Start to think about everyday things in your job as well - rather than the large sweeping achievements of the great big companies.

I like to think that the people who are working for their community are making as much of a difference as those campaigners on the other side of the world.  It’s the people who just plod along day after day thinking of all the things they could do - but not doing them!

I know now isn’t the time to be giving up your job on a whim - but you could start to work through all those little things that have been nagging you.  Find out about local funding for certain projects that might apply to your business.  Promote communication methods that save energy and canteen options that can reduce food miles.

And, trying to find an eco friendly business improvement that can save your company money will always go down well with the boss - so try to find an cost effective eco friendly angle for everything!

Brilliant ideas to purify your lifestyle and feel good about it - she says….

Basically this book tries to cover all the organic and natural ways you can overcome the ‘evil’ or modern products and all the chemicals they contain.

And to prove it, she divides her advice up into 48 categories of ‘nasties’ including make-up and nappies. She explains in each case why we need to swap to more natural alternatives - by using scientific and medical arguments against each - and then offers organic, (man-made) chemical-free and more ‘natural’ products or ingredients that you could use instead.

The Book Itself:
I loved the layout of this book, and it was so easy to read that you find yourself reading chapter after chapter.  Each chapter is a 4-6 page debate as to the pro’s and con’s of each mini subject including for example, Make-Up, chocolate and toothpaste.

Hughes-Cooper helps to explain some of the main down-sides to the products we use today and offers alternatives.  There isn’t a full explanation of each due to the ’short’ nature of each chapter, and some of her answers or arguments are a bit vague or non-proven - but she certainly makes you think about all these issues while you are reading. 

She regularly uses phrases like ’this is totally natural’ - but remember that this is what they used to say about Arsenic, Lead and radio-active products that ‘glow in the dark’. It’s also important to remember that anything that can be found in plants, animals or in the earth is technically ‘natural’ in origin, but I doubt you will be in a hurry to use toadstools, uranium or snake venom in your kitchen or bathroom!

Due to the way in which you can read through this book relatively quickly, I found that I would stop for a moment after reading a particular fact and think ‘Oh my goodness, I should stop using that’ but then read on through to another section and do the same again. It seemed like page after page of doom and gloom, and worries about my health, but then I just carried on reading.  Almost like I wanted to find out how awful I was being to my own body, but then actually did nothing about it.

As with most of the ‘best things’ in this life, whether it’s growing your own veg, not flying, using only organic make-up, growing sprouted mung bens and seeking out the parabens free version of everything, the thought of it all just seems to overwhelm the normal working person.  I myself would love to consider doing most of the things Hughes-Cooper recommends in her book, but the time it would take and the possible financial costs just seem a bit prohibitive.  And it left me feeling like a bit of a failure!

Yes, there are some easy ones to achieve, like growing my own herbs in the window box and buying organic milk (as I do them already), but others I hadn’t really thought of doing, like buying hemp products instead of 100% cotton and un-bleached feminine products - which should both be quite easy to start doing. 

However, something else caught my attention as I read this book: Organic doesn’t automatically mean eco friendly - you might need a trade-off.  For example making your own smoothies, fruit juices, pies and vegetable noodles, all involve buying a new piece of electrical equipment - and creates a lot more washing up!  Neither of these are eco friendly.

Should you buy organic wines from Australia or non-organic British wines?  Think of the weight of the glass bottles coming from the other side of the world!  And there are constant references to using ‘natural’ cleaning products like white vinegar and bicarbonate of soda - but can you imagine what would happen if we all used these instead of all the shop-brought cleaners?  Vinegar is from grapes - so excessive amounts of water-hungry fruits will need to be grown to keep up with demand; and the soda is mined from the ground - so imaging habitats being destroyed to ‘naturally’ clean all the kitchens in the UK and US! 

I totally agree, however, that our actions can make us humans healthier and at the same time have less of a ‘chemical’ impact on the environment.  And sometimes the choice you have is so very simple.  However, there is still so much that you need to work quite hard to achieve, and I just don’t think that everything in this book can be achieved by a working family.

I mean I thought I was putting a reasonable effort in to the whole eco friendly/organic movement, but have only seemed to have achieved about a third of the things mentioned in the book. with maybe alf a dozen or so more in the pipeline now after reading it.  So, I hope that everyone who reads it (just like me) manages to get a few new ideas from it, because all those small things will soon add up!

Result: 3/5
If you were just reading this book the one time, then it might not really be of any use to you, other than making you think about how many toxins you and your children have absorbed over your lifetime, but if you were to use this as a reference book then things could be very different - and my Result would rise to 4/5 for it.

It certainly has it’s uses as a starting point for the layman, and has highlighted a few new things for me, but the thought of searching endlessly on the Internet for the right products, or reading label after label when I only have 10 minutes free time before having to collect the kids from school - or worse still, I have the kids in tow, then these things become unreasonable to achieve.

This book is part of the  ‘52 Briliant Ideas’ series, so I will be looking out for other relevant books to give me some more inspiration!

ISBN: 978-1-905940-57-8

Could you live without posted flyers - and live with super fast mobile technology instead?

Imagine reducing the demand for paper-based realty advertising - and reducing the need to keep driving into their store to pick things up - and all the ink you will be saving as well.  It seems almost criminal that we haven’t thought about this sooner! 

I have found out about a product that would allow your local realtors to provide you with all the important details about a property to you whilst you sit in your car admiring the outside view! It’s like a mobile real estate system that has multiple benefits for the environment - and for selling your home!

It’s called House4Cell, and it can help the environment in more ways than you could imagine - so why not consider finding an estate agent that uses it when you come to moving home.

There seems so much ‘eco friendly-ness’ about this technology, that you should be pestering your real estate agents to take this on regardless of whether you are buying or selling your property!  And it is a simple as text messaging.

Real Estate Text Messaging Solution?
Basically, the realtor will put a normal ’For Sale’ sign outside the property that is listed with their contact details on it - but underneath this they will attach a further sign that says something like: Text: ‘This House’ to 55535′. It’s like a modern mobile answer for today’s home buyers. No more hanging around in the rain - or waiting until Monday morning to get the details!

With this technology, it allows the potential buyer to stay outside the house that they like and simply text the given number into their phone. They will then instantly receive the property details and up to 3 internal pictures onto their mobile phone or smart phone - even Verizon phones can receive these images!

This way, no matter what time of day it is, weekend, holidays or whatever - people can get the information instantly without having to drive around town trying to find the agents store.  It also reduces the need for all that printed paperwork that comes with property searches and the extra staff needed to sort it all out!

And, the sooner your can get moving after finding the right home! How many people just miss out on the home of their dreams after having to wait for details to come through the post!

What Else Does It Do?
Well, apart from all the eco friendly things listed above - this system could make house prices lower; or at least stop them rising. I mean if a lot of their work is now done automatically, then realtors will need less staff and resources in place to keep their business running.

And with lower running costs businesses can offer more to their customers as they are spending less time on the phone and printing off sheet after sheet of images! 

The company that developed the product - Cellit Mobile Marketing - have also added a few extras for the buyers. For example, they can text or email you further details on request, and can even offer updates on price reductions of homes you were interested in as well as other similar homes in the area.

So, if you like eco friendly technology - and you want to use less paper and waste less time and energy - then you should love this!

Well, there are never just a few ways to be eco friendly around the yard - there is always something else!

So, to help you get even greener in the stable -  I have put together another 10 top tips for you and your horse or pony to help save resources and making things last longer!

1) By picking out your horses feet while still in the stable means that the bedding stays where it is needed - rather than being swept away when you clean the yard!

2)Always keep a list of all your eco suppliers to hand - not only for yourself, but also to recommend to others if they need something specific.  That way, you won’t have to resort to the easiest suppliers when you are in need!

3) Always wear an old baggy t-shirt over your jumpers when grooming or doing ‘hay’ related jobs as they won’t stick to it - whereas your jumper will just get covered in hay or hair - and need washing more often! 

4) Grow your own organic veg for your horse or pony as well.  Make sure you grow your own selection of horse-friendly veg as well as all the things you need; so turnips and carrots should be on the list!

5) When feeding hay to your horses in the field - make sure you select the least windy area to do so - otherwise you will be wasting hay as it blows across your field rather than getting eaten! 

6) Same goes for other feeds - you need to make sure that your horse is getting everything he needs and none is wasted.  So weigh out feeds and hay if necessary, as well as not over-feeding or allowing your horse to kick over the food bowl or tread on the hay.

7) And use bags or sacks when transporting hay and straw across the yard so it doesn’t all blow away for the same reason.  And noone wants to sweep the yard more than they have to!

8.) Get your horse to wear a summer sheet underneath their winter rugs, as they are much easier to wash - so making your winter rugs last longer and keep your horse warmer!

9) And for you - if your long boots have split up the leg - then cut them off at the ankle and use them as a spare pair of short boots for odd jobs around the yard!

10) And finally: If you manage to puncture your plastic boots in the yard - fix them yourself with a bicycle repair kit - making them waterproof again. That way you won’t need to splash out on a new pair! Boots can live forever - or as long as you want them to!

Yippee - that should save you some money - and save the environment from more wasted resources!

Good job!