Recent Comments

1. Organise Your Money (What You Want To Give Away) - 04 Sep 2005

   I was doing this before Generous, but I’ve signed up to register the fact.

2. Wear Your 'Make Poverty History' Band - 04 Sep 2005

   My band never comes off, since I replaced my tatty cotton one with a less environmentally friendly but durable plastic one.

   Does anyone know if they are now being sourced ethically? (there was some fuss about this earlier in the year).

3. Slow Down, Calm Down (Stick to the speed limit) - 04 Sep 2005

   Not quite as good at this as I was earlier – it’s difficult when you go up a steep hill in London at 35 and the driver behind decides that’s too slow and overtakes you on the inside. I just have to resolve to cause road rage!

4. Put Your Money Where Your Heart is (Bank Ethically) - 04 Sep 2005

   Again, was doing this before Generous – both Triodos and Co-op, plus several other ethical investments.

   Signing up for this, however, to make myself put some more spare money in something like Shared Interest, which I’ve been meaning to do for ages. We just had a large legacy, so we are discussing what to do with it. I hope I can persuade Spouse™ to put some to a good cause.

5. Stop Taking Plastic Bags From Shops - 04 Sep 2005

   Slightly lapsed here, as I use bags for life, but occasionally stock up on ordinary supermarket bags to line our kitchen waste bin (and to use for packing shoes in suitcases).

   However, since the bin has a removable bucket, we really don’t need to line it, except that means cleaning the bucket (using detergent!) and the bags are better for carrying the waste out front to the dustbin. Sigh…

6. Put A Save-A-Flush Device In Your Cistern - 04 Sep 2005

   We were given a ‘hog’ at Greenbelt, and have put it in. It remains to be seen how it will cope with Genius Brat’s multiple wipes (he doesn’t like toilet paper).

   What we really want is a proper dual flush, which means a new cistern – since Spouse™ is a plumber, this shouldn’t be difficult, except he’s usually out mending other people’s!

7. Switch To Energy Saving Lightbulbs - 04 Sep 2005

   We’re about 50% low energy bulbs at present, but have some fancy light fittings in which they look awful, and which I refuse to part with. It’s so difficult to get lights that aren’t ultra-techno-modern or retro at present, and I don’t like either much. So we end up with fittings which I like but which don’t work with low energy bulb. Waiting for a low energy mini bulb that looks good…

8. Choose to have one meat-free day a week in your home - 04 Sep 2005

   We only have one meat meal a week! I’m ‘flexitarian’ – veggie but eating fish, and free range organic chicken once a week. The rest of the time, family have to be fish-eating veggies. It’s hard, with a fussy kid – I do cook the occasional chicket nuggets for him, and he has ham or peperamis for snacks. But I’m gradually accumulating workable recipes.

9. Recycle Your Stuff - 04 Sep 2005

   We have recycling boxes provided by the local authority, which take glass, cans, paper, textiles, shoes, batteries, foil, engine oil. Green boxes for garden waste are coming soon.

   Again, this predates Generous, but I’m putting it in to remind me to put in stuff I forget, such as batteries.

10. Recycle Your Inkjet Cartridges - 04 Sep 2005

    Will be taking my old cartridges to the local Oxfam store.

    Anyone know a good (and not overpriced) source of refilled cartridges?

11. Recycle Your Greetings Cards - 04 Sep 2005

    I’ve been doing this for years – W H Smiths have boxes you can throw them in (I’m not craft-minded enough to turn them into new cards, and anyway that means you never have the right sized envelopes).

    I can’t believe no one else is doing this – it’s so easy!

12. Sign Up Online To Become An Organ Donor - 04 Sep 2005

    I can’t give blood because of the cocktail of (prescription) drugs in my veins, so this is the nearest I can get.

    Spouse™ already has his gold badge for giving blood, however, and is still doing it!

13. Give Something Away - and declutter your life - 04 Sep 2005

    I’m having a little sabbatical for the second half of this year, and one of the big priorities is de-cluttering both the house and my life.

    Charity shops in Muswell Hill will not know what has hit them!

    Our church is also good at distributing useful stuff around ourselves – two surplus electric fans recently went to good homes (there are no charity shops here taking electrical goods any more).

14. Shower More, Bath Less - 04 Sep 2005

    I’ve found it hard to keep to this, as we only have a wall-mounted bath shower at the narrow end of the wall, and it’s really hard to have a shower without water going everywhere. Also I am really dopey in the mornings and a bath lets me lie down!

    However I will try to go back to showering on Mondays and any other morning when I’m in a hurry.

15. Get Rid Of Some Of Your Books - 04 Sep 2005

    This will be a big part of my decluttering! Magazines as well as books…

    Anyone want the last two to three years of issues of New Internationalist and Ethical Consumer, still in original packaging? (actually, I am going to read the EC, but the NI are just too much).

16. Make A Special Effort To Look Out For Strangers - 04 Sep 2005

    I’ve always prayed for strangers when I see them looking worried or upset.

    But I constantly need reminding!

17. Switch off and unplug appliances and chargers - 01 Nov 2005

    I’m afraid my husband has difficulty believing this, and is very reluctant to do it, as the consequences for him would be calamitous if he forgets to switch it back on (the mobile is his main work phone as he’s a plumber and gas fitter).

    So I think it will be a case of switching mine off, but leaving his on!

    As for switching the computers off, we only do this when we go on holiday. All three of us are fairly high computer users and the time spent waiting for them to run up again would drive us nuts.

    We might have a go at switching the TV off, I suppose, but our son might divorce us!

18. Ditch The Disposable Items - 01 Nov 2005

    Our local council recycling scheme includes batteries, so it’s easy just to put them in with the papers and put the lot in the box.

    As for rechargeables, hubby already uses them a certain amount, but we could look at using more. We have a vast collection of old ones, but don’t know which are still workable and which aren’t. I will encourage him to go through them! (he has a tester, as well as two rechargers, so we ‘have the technology’!

    Please don’t ask me to give up the baby wipes, though, as this is the only way we can get our son to use the loo. He hates toilet paper. It’s hard enough having a son who isn’t 100% toilet trained at age 11.

19. Buy An Ethical T-Shirt (Support Someone In A Developing Country) - 03 Jan 2006

    I’ve ordered two!

    There weren’t any obvious problems, so I presume my order has gone through. Let me know if you haven’t had an order from me, Joe.

20. Recycle Your Old Mobile - 03 Jan 2006

    I bought my 90 year old mum a mobile for Christmas. She absolutely loved it, but has since decided that she’s never going to use it. So she has returned it to me. I am planning to put my old SIM card in it and use it as my main one, so the old one will go to the local Oxfam shop as soon as I’ve got to grips with the new one (it’s a Vodafone Simply, designed for older people, so I ought manage it at nearly 53!)

21. Phone a friend - make the effort to keep in touch! - 03 Jan 2006

    I had decided quite independently this year that I would do this with selected friends from my Christmas list. Now I find it’s a Generous action! So I’m signing up for it and making it official.

22. Buy 'Making Terrorism History - 11 Feb 2006

    I have already nudged Metanoia Bookservice (www.menno.org.uk) to stock this, so I shall now buy one from them, and send it to my MP, Rudi Vis. He’s a lifelong CND member, supporter of Conscience (the peace tax campaign) and all round good bloke, so he’ll probably read it.

23. Energy Efficient Cooking - 11 Feb 2006

    I already do this with boiled eggs (switch off gas as soon as it boils and leave for 6 mins) and sometimes with poached eggs, but I hadn’t thought of doing it with pasta.

    We eat a lot of pasta, as our son’s a pasta addict, so this sounds like a good move.

24. Recycle Your Old Mobile - 06 Dec 2006

    I finally got to the point of sending my old mobile to Christian Aid for recycling – since I last posted here I had my new one stolen, got an insurance replacement, switched around various SIM cards so my kid could have a mobile at Greenbelt, and have just now reached the point where I’m sure we won’t need the old one, as we have one more phone than SIM card. Hurrah!

25. Get Rid of Your Car - OK, ambitious, but... - 11 May 2007

    We gave our old car to a family in the church who are only in this country for a few years and who need to drive from Kingston on Thames to Wood Green (N London) to come to church (there isn’t a big choice of Mennonite churches in the UK – like… er… one).

    Then we bought a new car – decided a hybrid was too expensive and we were told a modern diesel is just as good, so we bought the lowest emissions Fiat Punto, which is considerably lower-emissions than other cars. It actually has an ‘eco’ setting (which unfortunately stands for ‘economy’ not ‘ecological’) and I leave it on that all the time.

    And I am making more journeys by bus and – horrors! – on foot! This is the best I can do…

26. Give Your Old Specs A New Life - 19 Jul 2008

    Ooh, I think I can do this! I’m sure I have some old specs in a drawer. Does it matter if they are broken, so long as I send all the parts?

27. Generous wrinkles? - 02 Jul 2009

28. Get a vest (or two) - 09 Mar 2010

    I never stopped wearing vests – I was wearing them at 25 and I am wearing them now 30 years later. Sad it may be, but it’s better than being cold!

29. Shower More, Bath Less - 09 Mar 2010

    Ignore my comment above, I found it hard to start but it’s second nature no, especially as we have a better shower thanks to my plumber hubby. I shower Mon-Fri but still treat myself to baths on weekends.