Eco Friendly House And Garden

Ordering your food shopping online just acquired a great eco planning tool!

Online shopping always worked for clothes and furniture as what you see is what you get – you order a red top in size 10; you got a red top in size 10.

However food shopping had an extra variable – all food is different.

We all know how long we spend choosing the right pack of tomatoes or bananas – are they too ripe, too big, too small or too squished! I’ve seen people not happy with the whole top tray of melons and then heaving off the top tray and start to look underneath instead.

photo credit: edkohler

How Long Will It Last?
And what about the shelf life of the product? Surely we want the longest shelf life for most products – or at least enough time to eat them before they ‘go off’. I mean cakes or crisps for a birthday party next month will need to have a date at least that long to be worth buying.

And we really don’t like wasting food in our eco kitchens – so could you ever really trust your store to give you the best produce on your order?

I mean, it is in their best interest to give you the food with the shortest date on it, isn’t it? They don’t want everyone to leave the short-dated food on the shelf – as then they lose the money.

That’s why shops rotate their produce to sell the short-dated stuff first. And by short-dated, it doesn’t mean that it is any less nutritious or healthy than food with a longer date – it just means that they can’t sell it after that date – even though you can still eat it.

In an ideal eco world – we would all buy the food with the shortest dates on it anyway, and plan to eat it within that time.

Not only does this save on wasted food in the stores – it inadvertantly allows people who aren’t quite so eco conscious to have the longer dated foods in their cupboards and so are more likely to eat it instead of throwing it away – well they do need help to ‘do the right thing’.

Along Came Waitrose!
So imagine my delight when I found an advertisment for a UK supermarket chain who promised to only deliver food to you that had a decent shelf life in the first place.

They also say that they will print out your receipt for your online delivery with all the ‘Best Before’ or Use By’ dates clearly shown on it.

This could make your life so much more eco friendly and easier too!

It means that you don’t have to spend ages looking for all the dates on your fresh foods when they arrive to make sure nothing is short-dated.

You also don’t need to write yourself a list of the dates to help plan your eating – it is all done for you! Just stick the receipt on your fridge or pin board and you can refer to it whenever – and better plan your eco dinners.

It almost helps you to say goodbye to wasted food completely and make better use of your money; I mean by reducing wasted food, you are leaving your money in the bank!

I think planning in your eco kitchen just took a giant leap forward!

Hello, and welcome to my short post about what we think about the 'eco perfect house'.

The personal limitations that we think about when we think of the perfect eco friendly house don't seem so difficult to achieve – like less meat, less energy, more local products and make do and mend.  It all makes perfect sense in a non-selfish energy-efficient sustainable way – but does it all add up to anything worth achieving?

Of course, we know that the world is fast running out of certain community 'ingredients' like oil, land, food etc – but are individuals willing to make that trade-off?

My Home:

Let's start with a few things about myself and my eco friendly home.  Firstly – let's get the big things out the way; I live in a one bedroom flat as there is only the one of me, and I don't have a car as I can walk, cycle or use public transport to get where I need to be for work and family.

I eat very little meat, prepare many meals in a batch as well as only shopping locally and growing a small amount of my own food on my allotment.

I don't buy any unnecessary electrical goods, clothes, consumer goods or furniture, and I only have a shower.  I don't have central heating or air conditioning as my flat is south-facing so I can regulate it's temperature as necessary.

All sounds good so far – doesn't it.  However, all is not as it seems……

My Life:

I forgot to mention that I only moved into the flat because I couldn't afford anything else – and it is right by a noisy train station in the middle of town where I hear sirens and alarms every day. 

photo credit: anemoneprojectors

It is the same reason why I don't have a car, don't eat meat and why I grow my own vegetables, create meals in batches, don't buy anything I don't need and why I don't have central  heating or air conditioning.

And for the sake of more money – I would change it all.

I know that we are all too demanding these days, and that we need to stop consuming on such a large scale.  I know that we should all live in a property that is perfectly suited to our needs without extra rooms or swimming pools – but if we had the money – I bet we all would!

I know that I would definately move into a home with a garden – as my allotment is miles away from my home as there are so few spaces anywhere else.  I would also start eating more meat and replace all my worn out, home-repaired clothes that I have hung on to for so long.

I would fit central heating into that property if it didn't already have it, and would enjoy more hot and deep baths!

Your Life:

Now to you.  Did you like my eco lifestyle before you thought about what it actually means to live that way?  Would you trade down to what should be your perfect eco home?  Or if you had more money – would you trade up to all the mod cons that we come to expect these days?

Obviously I wouldn't go leaving everything on full power all the time, heating empty rooms, waste food or clothes and wash one item of clothing on it's own - but the very act of living in a larger home would create more demand on the world.

I bet if you could – you would go one more: why not buy a huge home with walk-in wardrobes, sunken baths, indoor heated pools, and a cinema room and a tennis court – and why not a few horses, a yacht and a few trendy cars.

I bet if you won the lottery – most of you would upgrade a few things, even though you know the eco consequences. 

All these things aren't eco friendly – but it is what we expect these days.

Surely if you were rich, you wouldn't choose to live in a tiny flat and give up your car? 

photo credit: Udo Schröter

Shouldn't being eco friendly be easier than not being green?

Why do so many eco friendly alternatives mean 'putting yourself out' or taking longer to get things done?  When you are a busy mum or are running a tight business – green alternatives should be making your life easier – not slowing you down!

So, I have found a few great eco inventions that could make being eco aware that much easier – and hopefully save you time and money along the way…..

Whole House Switch Off:
Why waste time checking all your plugs and appliances are switched off before leaving the house – because if you are in a hurry – you might not be so thorough!

By wiring up your whole home – or just parts of it – to 1 single 'OFF' switch your life couldn't be easier!  Obviously it won't be linked up to your fridge and freezer, or anything else you need to leave on – but all the lights, TV's and other appliances will switch off until you return home!  Easy.

Power Aware Cord:
If you don't fancy a giant one off switch, then maybe glowing power cables can make it easier to see if things are switched off before you go to bed rather than climbing behind units and cabinets to check the wall switch.

Strida 3 Folding Bike:
Rather than having to carry around your bike seat, take spare clothes to work or wipe oil off your trouser leg – you could ride a tiny folding bike instead!  Gone are the days when a bike was in 1 piece and you needed to worry about leaving it outside.  No more riding in the rain or catching your shin on the pedals when pushing your bike into the garage! 

This neat little bike folds up so easily and is so portable that you have nothing preventing you cycling to work or town knowing that you can still pop inot the shops – or catch a bus if it starts raining!  And they are thinking of making an even smaller, lighter version too….

Eco Friendly Room Dividers:
There are several different eco friendly room dividers on the market that can change the appearance and layout of a room without resorting to stud walls, re-decorating or demolition. 

Either made or felt, wood, eco-friendly plastics or strengthened cardboard and designed in a modular fashion – these 'walls' could be made, shaped or moved to suit your needs – without great cost.  And coming in a variety of colours – they could act as temporary 'wall paper' as well then changed with the seasons being used again and again over time.

Just keep them coming…. We need more like these……

Using aprons and covers for furniture isn't just something nans and great aunties do – it's eco thinking!

We all know that the key to eco friendly living is making good things last longer – rather than throwing away cheap items and buying new ones instead.

And what better way to protect something valuable or just something that you don't want to have to replace that often, than using a protective cover when necessary.

I don't mean covering your carpet in plastic sheeting all year and not letting anyone sit on your furniture – I am just thinking of the simple ways to make your household items last that little bit longer - by reducing waste, and saving you some money in the long run too.

Protect Your Belongings.

Needless to say that when you go out in the mud and rain – you don't put on your Sunday best!  When painting your home I'm sure there won't be a silk blouse or sparkly evening dress anywhere in sight.

It's because you don't want to ruin something unnecessarily when you could have worn something less valuable – or something already dirty instead.  

So why, when you cook your favourite Mexican or Italian dish, don't you protect your everyday clothes?  No doubt you are entertaining friends or have just got in from work – so why aren't your 'nice' clothes worth protecting to?

photo credit: Leszek.Leszczynski

A simple apron – whether practical or indeed comical – could stop fat, dressings and sauces splashing onto your everyday clothes.  You might even make it into 'your thing' – like 'Sarah always has some comedy apron on' – no doubt leading up to whole host of crazy birthday presents from your friends and guests! 

You might be thinking – "but I can just wash the food off" and you are completely right – but at what cost?

Wash, Scrub & Tumble:

Most outer clothes can be washed less frequently than other garments – for example how many times do your socks get washed in relation to your overcoat?

But washing comes at an environmental cost, as do the washing chemicals for heavy staining, the hot water and the subsequent spinning and drying.  So why would you want to create more work for your household appliances and add to your growing budget?

An apron can be used day after day without excessive washing – basically you expect to have a dirty apron – that's what they are for!

And you clothes stay cleaner for longer, can be worn more than just the once in most instances and you will use less energy and resources per cooking experience.

And it's not just aprons that protect your clothes of course; so raincoats, Wellington boots, coveralls, and well worn clothing that you kept hold of over the years can all be used when things are going to get dirty fast!

Protect Your Home:

And it's not just your clothes that need protecting – your furniture and fittings could do with a little help too.

Rather than replace the whole entrance carpet due to the patch of muddy wetness near the door – why not buy a nice rug that covers that area and create a shoe storage area that will keep the mess contained.  That way you only need clean, wash or replace that rug instead of the whole downstairs!

Similarly, make a cover for the footstool that can be cleaned seperately, use a table cloth, tea and plate coasters as well as investing in a pair of slippers or house shoes for everyone to keep the whole place in perfect condition.

Other kitchen tips might include things to reduce the amount of cleaning you need to do and so reduce the chemicals needed.  For example invest in proper microwave containers to prevent explosive splashes up the interior and buy smaller oven trays as and when so that you don't have to clean a whole tray to cook 3 sausages or a few leeks!

And when you choose replacement fittings, appliances and paints, etc – look for the one you like that might last a bit longer depending on your families needs.  For example, darker wall colors in homes where hallways are narrow, so that things that bang against the walls don't leave obvious marks, and coarser darker carpets and rugs in home with back gardens that lead straight indoors – especially where dogs and cats are involved, as I know they don't wipe their feet!

Even internal doorways can become worn down through repeated use, so maybe consider rugs there too, and moving the furniture around always keeps the carpets fresh in a room where a 'pathway' seems to form – like around your bed or along the hallway between dining room and kitchen or wherever.

By protecting the small part of the whole item that will bear the brunt of your actions – you can make the whole item last longer, and you will soon see the eco (and financial) gains from your actions.

A Real Guide To Sustainable Living – they say, and they mean business. 

This isn’t a book that you can take lightly – it is full of maths and equations to justify their suggestions; and some things really need explaining as they turn common eco conceptions on their head!

Basically this book explains how we should be approaching our lives if we truly want to live an eco friendly lifestyle – or to live ecologically within our ‘allotted’ means.  By ‘allotted’ they mean if we are only to use our fair share of worldly resources rather than just putting a green angle onto everything we do.

And to prove it, they open up with a look at the widely held beliefs of the world without even considering the eco consequences to see what we are expecting the Earth to do for us as we are today.  From there, they try to whittle us down to what the Earth can actually do for us.

The Book Itself:
The book is something you need to read with a notepad and calculator on one side and some strong coffee on the other!

I have a basic grasp of ‘footprints’, ‘embodied energy’ and the worlds finite resources – but the maths part was a bit too much to keep on top of piled thick, as it was, in the body of the text.

They did have a huge number of very easy to understand charts and tables of everything they were talking about (which helped make up for skipping all the equations) and I didn’t loose the thread of their arguments by not reading all the numbers and MJ’s etc.

The Authors help to explain why some of the things that we assume would be eco friendly turn out not to be based on a bigger picture – for example walking isn’t that ecologically sensible if you are getting all your energy (ie eating) processed cheeseburgers from a store.  Basically, the energy chain of land use, transport, chemicals, packaging, heating, storing and selling the burgers in the first place is so huge that the ‘eco’ effort of walking fuelled by burgers wasn’t really ‘saving the planet’.

photo credit: Bob B. Brown

Similarly a 20 minute shower in an eco friendly low-water shower still uses nearly twice the amount of water than a 5 minute shower in an old-style water-intensive shower.  Further more, sharing a bath between 2 people uses around the same water per person as that same eco-friendly – but long – shower.

They use compelling reasoning to hold this all together as well as extensive research data from around the globe.  And even though a lot of their arguments offer very simple solutions to the World’s ecological problems – much is still recommending a somewhat ‘alternative’ lifestyle, where you use hemp for clothes, buy less things, stay ‘behind the times’, somewhat, live in smaller houses with the lights off and share things with other people rather than buying your own.

Now I know that this will all reduce our eco footprints and keep our emissions down and the world turning – but these aren’t the eco friendly living tips that people want to hear.  The people that do want to hear this are probably already aware of most of their discussions already.

I totally agree that our actions are sometimes more important that the eco technology that is on offer (like flushing the toilet less times will save more water than flushing more times with a low-flush mechanism, and choosing a small basic home will be better in terms of resources than living in an enormous eco friendly house) but I think that it is preaching to the converted.

Result: 3/5:
Even if my not-so-eco-friendly friends could have forced themselves to have read this entire book in the first place, I don’t think they would be heeding much of it’s advice.

I think it is a great text-book style book and can really help to compare ecological differences between common activities and products, but I don’t think it will change peoples attitudes in the style in which it is written. 

Although I really enjoyed several section of this book, I noticed a flaw.  They spend so long working out the embodied energy (EE) of a product (or the products and activities that went into making the parts for that oringinal product) that they sometimes considered slightly different things as important in each case.

For example, in the only section of the book that I had a really good knowledge of (pets) they managed to completely write off the transport angle for the tinned food in their comparison of dog and cat food (even though they went into shoe leather replacement in the walking vrs driving section).  They say that the eco effect of tinned packaging was negligible because we are encourage to recycle tins!  Well, how on earth do they intend to get these tins to those 76.5 million hungry cats worldwide without making an ecological impact?

And secondly their argument included showing that a cat food with less meat content made less of an impact (obvious when you consider the land used for beef and the land used to grow the winter food for beef as well) – however, cats that are fed on low amounts of meat will be more likely to become ill, get dry skin, loose hair, get gum disease etc (as not enough meat or too much vegetable matter isn’t good for a cat).  As a result – you will be using your vet more often or maybe adding shampoos and supplements to your cat to ‘cover up’ all these new problems.

Now I’m sure that these cosmetics and medicines (and trips to the vets) have just as much of an impact as adding the few extra percents of meat in their food in the first place.  High quality dried pet food are fed in smaller quantities as other foods, and are known to reduce these health (and aesthetic) problems – as well as coming in bulk paper packaging instead of heavy, bulky tins filled with 80% water!

They also said that a well handled hamster will be happy to live on it’s own – where infact the most common type of hamster (the Syrian hamster) will ONLY ever live on it’s own.  If you put 2 in the same cage, they will no doubt fight to the death within just a few days!

So now, can I really believe all the other comparisons they made in areas that I know little about?

ISBN: 978-0-500-28790-3

Take inspiration from the tricks of historical homes – and reduce your impact!

If you have ever visited a historic house that retains a certain amount of it's true furnishing – then you could be inspired to try the same.

Now obviously, many historic houses have things that any modern eco friendly home should avoid – like extensive glazing on northern facing walls, trophy animal heads from overseas and dinner parties with 11 courses – but they also have some great ideas that you might need to investigate a little further to see the eco benefits to.

One recent idea that took my fancy was a room decorated with curtains instead of wall paper.  Now at first glance it seemed totally overwhelming and somewhat odd – but on speaking to the room steward it all made sense.

Eco Friendly Furnishings:
It turns out that this 'curtain' room was infact a money saving (and personal preservation) idea that incorporated great eco design – stolen from Norman castles and Tudor mansions!

Now, stone walls were no fun – and were very cold infact – so people from history used to create great tapestries that they would hang on the walls of their castles to keep the heat in!  Yes, these tapestries were beautiful in their own right and may well have portrayed a great battle or a great hunt – but they were really for stopping the cold.

If you have ever watched period dramas, they were also used to hide 'secret' doors and to create an image of wealth and prosperity!

And – the eco friendly part – could be changed to suit the mood without being destroyed.

Variety Is The Spice Of Life:
Say you wanted to change your bedroom design.  You would no doubt have to change the wallpaper, paint over existing walls and even the curtains or blinds would have to go.

Now, say you were able to 'peel off' the inside of your bedroom and keep it somewhere safe until you wanted it again – wouldn't that be a great idea?

Well, that is exactly what these wall 'curtains' allowed the home owner to do.  They wanted lighter, brighter and fun designs for the room in the summer; and maybe heavier, cosy and darker colours in the winter to help keep the place warm through the colder months.

So rather than having to destroy one interior to replace with another – and spend money and resources in the doing – they just got the winter curtains out of the loft and changed them over instead!

An instant change of room could be achieved without wasting any more money or materials.  Great for important meals, important visitors or for added wear and tear if it was a kids room!

photo credit: SimonCMason

Modern Twist:
I know you might look a bit odd in your city apartment if you started hanging curtains in every room, but you could use modern tapestries or other materials to cover large sections of wall and still look 'normal'.

Kids could have their rooms painted in a neutral colour and then have removeable embellishments to suit their fancy – like giant curtains on the window wall that don't just stop at the window's edge but continue to the floor and walls – or curtains they can draw on with washable inks.

Maybe they could have great big removable stickers that they could move around the room as and when they fancied a new scene – or even use wipe-clean pens to draw their own wall designs.

You shouldn't need to destroy a whole interior to change your rooms – and obviously any materials hung over doors and windows (and external walls) can help to reduce heat loss at the same time.

We all like change – just do it responsibly!

There is a way to save electricity that doesn’t involve any nagging!

Instead of always ‘reminding’ the kids to turn off that light and to not leave the TV on standby; and your partner to stop using the washing machine half empty and to only boil as much water as they need – nip it in the bud!

There is now an easy way to stop extra electricity being used in your home that could reduce your usage by around 10% without anyone even knowing.

They would be helping to save energy and lower your energy costs whether they left the lights on or not!

photo credit: CresySusy<

How’s That?
The standard voltage in the UK is variable – meaning that you regularly get more into your home than you actually need.

The appliances in your home work on a wide range of voltages – and they all have a minimum amount to get them started.  However, they will all keep working as normal with extra voltage – and you won’t even know they are using more electricity than they need!  

So, if they work at a basic minimum – why let them run on more? More electricity costs more money and releases more carbon……

And it would seem that too much electricity running through appliances all the time can actually shorten their ‘lifespan’ to a certain degree – so you will need to replace them more often – which is especially true for lightbulbs.

So, What Can You Do?
Well, why not limit the voltage entering your home to a standard level?

What if you could fit a special meter onto your power supply to make sure that you never got more energy than you actually needed: I mean; would you pay for 30 litres of fuel for your car everyday if you only needed 25? I didn’t think so…..

Therefore, by restricting the voltage that reaches your appliances and lights to around 240v means that they will all still work perfectly – and you won’t be wasting any energy.

And the beautiful thing is that you don’t have to worry about switches, buttons or stand-by – it basically works behind the scenes.  Once fitted it requires no maintenance, upgrades or alterations.  It just keeps saving you energy!

That way – if you do actually manage to convince your kids to switch off their Playstation – you will be saving even more!

Welcome back – and I hope the first 2 eco bathroom tips made sense!

I’m still in this holiday cottage – and in just the bathroom alone I am still finding ways to reduce their impact on the environment by making simple changes to the design and function of their bathroom.  Obviously I haven’t mentioned everything – like having a smaller sink – but I hope to have covered the main areas that could easily benefit your home if you are planning an eco-upgrade!

Needless to say all the little things added together really can make a difference if you think of them in the long term and for the whole community too. I mean 1 extra squirt of sealant in your bathroom might not seem so bad this week – but if every household in your county all went to the store and brought a tube of sealant for the same thing in the next 12 months – then it becomes a serious eco issue!

3) Proper Sealing:
The floor is tiled in this cottage – but the skirting is wood – so there is no waterproofing on the floor for cleaning purposes.  I know that it isn’t a full wetroom, but when you mop these tiles, you are going to get the wooden panels wet and allow excess water to seep down behind them and into the floor – not such a good idea really.

photo credit: Ken Doerr

Why not use tiles as the skirting so that you can virtually waterproof the room by using the same grout as the floor and so protect the walls and ground beneath from absorbing moisture.

Same goes for the sink.  Why not get a sink with a raised protective back that reaches a little way up the wall.  So, rather than the white sealant between the wall and basin holding a layer of soap or toothpaste-filled water and eventually going yellow and rotten or becoming mildew – the sink itself is in one piece so feeds the excess water back into the plughole!

It will eliminate all of the above problems and reduce the amount of cleaning and maintenance needed to virtually nothing.

4) Protect The Walls:
I don’t know about you, but I always hit the wall with the swinging light pulls – the larger the handle the more banging seems to occur! As you can imagine, each bang is damaging the wall.

Also, people can’t always find the string in the dark, so end up touching the paintwork or – as I have done if the pull string is too near the wall (as it is here) – chipped off some paint and sometimes plaster under my fingernails!

As you can imagine, it doesn’t take long for the paint to become patchy or the wall to become a bit dirty – so protect the wall with a tile. If you put a large tile or 4 smaller ones in the area where the most contact and therefore damage will occur, you can save having to repaint the entire wall for just that dirty patch!

A few tiles or a whole tub of paint?

5) More Hanging Space:
There are only 2 of us here, but the hanging space in the bathroom is virtually non-existent – so what do we do with the wet towels?

Well, you have to hang them somewhere, don’t you – which will inevitably be the backs of wooden chairs or over other wooden furniture like the stair rail. (Don’t forget that we are in a little self-contained unit away from home and without a garden so a drying horse or washing line just aren’t an option unless supplied).

Needless to say, the moisture from the towels is now being absorbed by the furniture and the room so as a result this could all be reducing their workable lifespan. And seeing as this property is designed to be used almost continually by family after family it is going to get through furniture a lot quicker anyway.

The Answer?
Well, there is nothing much I can do here as it has already been installed by the owners, but it is certainly worth considering these things when redecorating or improving your own bathrooms.

The future is looking towards sustainability and the longevity of our resources – so why not help by reducing the amount of repair and replacement your bathroom needs!

PS – it’s not quite damage to the bathroom itself, but one other thing they did is certainly a big no no and was very uncomfortable too:

6) Toilet Roll Holder:
They have put it right behind the toilet, so you have to reach right round to pull off a few sheets – but inevitably you pull off way more sheets than you actually wanted as you are bent sideways. But now they are all unrolled and in your hand – you are going to use them all aren’t you.

I mean who but the most eco addicts would leave those extra few sheets to one side and use them later?

By swapping the toilet with the sink in this room, they could have had the toilet roll holder to the side of the toilet reducing the excessive use of this already over-used resource.

Eco design should be a part of your eco living – it’s not just about the individual products.

A chipped tile, damp carpet, loose bath panel: Can all those little things really add up?

If you are talking about continued use, accidental damage, and redecorating – then it’s a great big yes!  I am staying in a holiday cottage at the moment and they have made some big mistakes in the bathroom that could save them a lot of time, money and resources in the long run; and the planets resources!

Bearing in mind they are going to get different people with different lifestyles and ethics, they should make it almost ‘normal’ to be green.  But instead, they have made it quite acceptable to waste products and to allow damage to the fixtures and fittings – and the bathroom itself in general.

photo credit: Sitka Projects LLC

Here is a general summary of the worst offenders:
And by offenders, I mean things that are not being allowed to perform at their best or are being used in such a way that causes them more ‘wear and tear’ than is really necessary.

You might think that some of these might be a bit ‘picky’ for you to consider – like preventing a broken tile in your bathroom – but don’t forget that it isn’t just your bathroom that I am thinking of.  There are probably over 100 bathrooms in the streets around your house, and 100 communities just like yours close by.  Now tell me that saving 10,000 broken tiles isn’t worth the effort! 

1) No Handle In The Bath:
They have opted for the half-bath here to limit the amount of water used (as they could have fitted a full size one easily) – however, it has no side handles.

Now although I am still agile enough to get in and out of the bath without them – I am causing a bit of a moist mess in the process!  I have to hold the side of the bath to steady myself or to get out – and as a result - all the water from my hand and arm is sliding over the edge of the bath, down the front of the wooden bath panel and down behind the wooden skirting that encircles the entire bathroom.

Needless to say, this continued moistening is gradually going to cause damage and the misshaping of the panel front until it all needs replacing.  Unless, like me – everyone who stays here dries off while standing in the bath to avoid the drips!  Which isn’t going to happen…

2) No Window To Outside:
As always, no window from this moist room means that there needs to be an electric fan running all the time you are in there – wasting energy.

They are also very ineffective, I find, over time and so the whole room will be susceptible to damp and mould growth.  And to get the best results from the fan the door to the bathroom needs to be kept closed all the time – unfortunately, this only adds to the problem by sealing it in.

This windowless room also needs a light on all the time otherwise the fan won’t work (as they are seemingly always linked together).  This also means that when you are not having a bath or the room isn’t damp but you need to use the bathroom for anything else – you have to have the fan on as well!  What if you just need to nip in to clean your teeth, or grab your nail clippers from the shelf – on comes the fan for another 5 minutes!

Even a tiny window would eliminate this waste of energy and make the whole place lighter, dryer and fresher.  I mean what creates damage more than a damp, dark, small, sealed room?

Planning So Far:
These first 2 things are so easy to eliminate when planning your new bathroom, but some people only think about working with what is already there for ease – rather than thinking ahead over the lifetime of the room.

By thinking how it will be used for the next 5 years makes eco thinking so much easier.  Yes, its easy to just replace the damp panel ‘for now’, pint over the damp or to leave the fan on for longer – but when you add up the costs of just ‘covering up’ the problem each time rather than fixing it – you are paying more in resources.

I mean, imagine taking painkillers for the rest of your life rather than having a simple filling, or replacing the hallway carpet every winter due to muddy footprints rather than just buy a large doormat!

Take a look at Part 2 of this article for more bathroom money-wasters from this holiday cottage!

Not all natural products and alternative products should be praised for sustainability.

Take for example little known herbs, common ingredients and plant extracts that we love to think of as eco friendly because they are chemical free.

But they will never become mainstream eco friendly products because anything in excess becomes unsustainable and less eco friendly.

Take the humble lemon for example. Praised across frugal networks for its cleaning ability, loved by old-fashioned housewives for its versatility around the home and loved by eco friendly gurus for its chemical-free natural qualities.

photo credit: foodiesathome.com

But what if everyone used lemons for everything? What if we all used lemons for the 101 things lemons can do?

The Requirements:
So, lets say that you have 30 apartments in your block just as I currently do. And lets all assume that they are jumping onboard the eco band wagon and using lemons as the natural alternative to everything!

So, lets say we are using lemons for the following examples:

Sanitation: Lemon juice is great for killing bacteria on everything from chopping boards to kitchen counters, and oven tops to toilet seats!

Bleaching: Just squeeze the juice on to stained wooden or cloth surfaces for food or tea stains, rub in and leave for 20 minutes before rinsing – all clean!

Cleaning: Wash white clothes with a half cup of lemon juice, rub with salt into pans for a shine, or rub on the grater to get rid of cheese or sticky foods.

Health: Heat up a half lemon and mix with honey for a cold remedy, add to hot water to ease digestion or use for a nice aromatherapy session.

Beauty: Rub direct on fingernails for a whiter tip, brush into hair for a lighter colour, or rustle up with a few other ingredients as a hair loss remedy!

Treatments: Dilute the juice for a smelly aftersun lotion, rub the peel into painful joints for 2 hours for ‘instant’ relief, or use as a bleach on your freckles and age spots!

It can also be used for polishing funiture, cleaning microwaves, washing windows, keeping cut flowers fresh, reducing the irritation of insect bites and to get rid of strong smells in your fridge!

And of course you can cook with it!

The Practicality:
Needless to say if we used lemons for all these things to be green and healthy, chemical free and ‘natural’ then my apartment building would consume around a 1000 lemons a month as a minimum.

Multiplied up for the year = that’s nearly 11,000 lemons just for my block based on 1 lemon a day per flat. Which I would say was quite a low guess-timate – bearing in mind the cold remedy alone uses half a lemon per drink – and they don’t last for ever in the fridge so many would be thrown away or composted.

Multiplied up by my home city (assuming that there were half as many households as people) this would mean that we would need over 175 million lemons a year to be totally lemon-based eco friendly chemical-free conurbation!

Now – where do you suppose we would get our 175 million eco friendly lemons from – organic, fair trade and locally sourced of course!

Probably the same place we get our billion battery chickens from or our thousands of litres of palm oil from: i.e: not a nice place!

Where in the frost-free world could we grow the 4000 chemical free, non-intensively farmed outdoor organic lemon trees just for my towns lemons? Or the 20,000 trees for the neighbouring 5 towns as well?

The Results:
As you can probably work out – using lemons for all their natural purposes will result in lemon factory farming – and the use of acres of arable land for non-food crops.

Neither is very eco friendly.

Unfortunately, this is the case for most such natural products; like bicarbonate of soda and white vinegar. They sound great for the individual but wouldn’t be practical or sustainable for the world.

This also applies to lifestyles not just cleaning products. Living in an ‘off the grid’ commune with low energy demands and only eating high energy home grown foods and washing in a river with no telephone is fine for a group of friends in their own woodland – but this is no way to run a country!

It isn’t really suitable for running a business either! If everyone lived like this, there would be no information network, no technology, no power, no policing, no imports or exports (so no coffee, chocolate, foreign natural resources) no transport network or tourism, etc, etc.  I mean who would be working in the factories and offices to power these things? 

Sometimes, eco ideals are only ‘ideal’ because we live in a world where you have choices.  What we do need are large scale solutions that will work for our growing population, not just a few people in each community.