Interview Archives - Eco Thrifty Living

Interview with Jo and Leisa from Joleisa.com

Zoe — Thu, 16 Jul 2020 20:00:00 +0000

Jo and Leisa are two sisters who came to the UK from Jamaica to be teachers. After a few years of teaching they decided to switch to blogging and set up Joleisa.com – penny pinchers paradise! You might recognise them from the TV as they have been on Channel 5’s Shop Smart Save Money!

In this interview, we get to know a bit more about them, including what they miss about Jamaica, why they quit teaching, their top frugal tips and more. Plus they share an authentic Jamaican vegan-ified recipe!

1. On Joleisa.com, you share that you came over to the UK from Jamaica to teach. When did you make the move and what made you decide to come over here??

Leisa first came to teach in England in 2002 when there was a teacher shortage here. She was recruited from Jamaica by a teaching agency. Jo stayed back in Jamaica with her family and Leisa’s baby daughter while Leisa settled in to see what living in the UK would be like. At the end of the first year, Jo flew over to visit Leisa and also to reunite her with her daughter. She liked what she saw and decided to give it a go too. So the same teaching agency was contacted and an interview was arranged when she got back to Jamaica. The interviewers were impressed and so Jo also migrated with her family.

What do you miss most about Jamaica and what do you like about living here

The switch was hard. The weather was….well typical British weather and the behaviour of the kids at school was abominable and not like anything we’d ever seen before. We knew kids could be naughty, but this was on another scale!

Leaving home in the dark to go to school, and getting back home in the dark (this was in January), was depressing.

We persevered because the salary was good. It afforded us the ability to save for what we wanted to achieve in life but also to be able to help family members and friends back home too! We love to travel and explore new places and this gave us the opportunity to do that too.

We miss the more ‘chilled’ life back home where things operate at a much slower pace. The constant sunshine is also something that we miss. The food is greatly missed too and we do cook Jamaican foods here but some authentic ingredients are hard to come by or are very expensive.

2. What made you change direction from teaching to blogging and why did you choose to write about being frugal and thrifty on Joleisa.com?

After a while, the demands of teaching and running a family became rather difficult. We were spending long hours at school and only seeing our kids very little. At about that time too, there were some strange changes taking place in Education with every new Government minister wanting to put their own stamp on things. We felt that there was hardly any consultation with teachers. The goal posts kept changing according to the whims and fancies of those in charge. That compounded with the behaviour of many of the children. It made it feel like we were fighting a losing battle and not having enough time to spend with our own families.

So we had to take stock and decide whether we wanted to stay in our depressing jobs and be able to afford to pay for ‘stuff’( like the Joneses) or give up and live a happier life. We decided to go part time to test out living on a lower income. So that is exactly what we did. We were happier and got to spend more time with our families. So being frugal really did work a treat and that was why we decided to explore this more and encourage others to do the same. We both feel that this has been one of the best decisions we have ever made. So we started Joleisa.com before we totally gave up teaching.

3. How long have you been writing Joleisa.com for and what have been the highlights so far?

We have been writing Joleisa.com for nearly 4 years. Highlights include actually writing stuff that we enjoy talking about, getting to meet other bloggers, joining the UK Money bloggers group from where we have received so much help and being contacted by brands through the blog (and getting actual money for promoting what we believe in).

One big highlight too was being able to take part in all three series of the Channel 5 consumer programme Shop Smart Save Money, where we were able to give practical advice and support to families to help them manage their finance. It still brings a smile to our faces when people meet us on the streets and tell us that they saw us on tv. One lady met us in Wilkos and asked for tips and advice for redecorating her living room on a budget!

4. Do you make money from Joleisa.com and if so how?

Yes, thankfully all this work has paid off. We earn commission from Joleisa.com as affiliates, we write A LOT and we also get paid for ads on our blogs. We are paid also for working with brands and for sponsored posts.

5. I read that you tried out Veganuary. How did you find it and how has that affected what you eat since?

We quite enjoyed Veganuary and don’t always cook meat with every meal. But we do have lots of friends who are vegan and who are always asking for recipes so we adapt some meat recipes to suit them and we quite enjoy partaking too. We also did some work with a brand on developing some Jamaican recipes to make them vegan friendly.

6. Do you have any recommendations for vegan or vegetarian Jamaican dishes and any recipes that I and my readers could try out?

Sure! Ackee and saltfish which is a popular Jamaican dish can be easily adapted by replacing the salted cod with olives or mushrooms, preferably shitake for the meaty texture. Check out the recipe on our blog here: Jamaican Ackee and Saltfish (vegan version)

7. I have heard/ read criticism that sustainability movements in this country aren’t inclusive enough. Is this a problem you have encountered and if so what do you think can be done about it?

In our humble opinion, sustainability issues affect all of us regardless of anything that seems to divide us. It is in all our best interest to take part by doing our bit. We can be sustainable with our shopping habits for clothes and food and body care products etc. These are issues that affect everyone.

8. What are your biggest tips for living the frugal life?

Budget wisely according to your means
Meal plan
Spend within your limit
Avoid credit at all possible costs
Save and invest
Shop around and check prices especially online
Don’t automatically renew anything
Use voucher codes, store loyalty cards and coupons
When you’re out shopping, haggle haggle haggle
Use comparison sites like Go compare, Compare the Market and other Apps that will show you the best deal.

9. For anyone visiting your blog for the first time, where should they start and where can they follow you

Our blog is at Joleisa.com where people can read the latest posts. There is also the right sidebar which lists the latest posts, and also our most popular posts. Everyone is after something different and there is definitely something there for everyone.

I really enjoyed interviewing Jo and Leisa. I can relate to how they felt about their jobs and their journey too. Years ago I quit my job to become a blogger and also found that I prefered to live off less, but to have more time. I also did Veganuary for the first time this year and have been mainly (but not fully) plant based ever since.

Jo and Leisa are trained teachers turned full time bloggers. They hail from Jamaica and it is their passion to show others that they can live a good quality, happy life, at a fraction of the cost. They both have young adult children and currently live in Birmingham, England. Follow them on Instagram and Twitter. Read their blog at Joleisa.com

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An interview with Debbie from Wastenot – Brighton’s first zero waste shop!

Zoe — Thu, 29 Aug 2019 17:29:57 +0000

Recently I have noticed zero waste shops seem to be appearing all over the place! I think there are now at least 3 in my town. Wastenot has been here a while though – since 2014. Debbie, the owner, was a bit of a pioneer and front runner in the zero waste shop movement! I wanted to find out more about her and why she opened her shop and decided to interview her.

Interview with Debbie of Wastenot, a zero waste shop

Tell us a bit about yourself

Well one thing I like to say about myself is that I’m a life long environmentalist. I’m pretty sure it was being a tree frog in the school performance of Yanamamo that inspired 7 year old Debbie to try to protect the Earth.

Why did you set up Wastenot?

I’ve been working on minimising my waste since 2012 when I travelled to Australia. While I was there, I was introduced to bin diving for perfectly edible food thrown away by supermarkets. This really opened my eyes to the sheer scale of waste caused by the developed world. From food to packaging, disposability and convenience are destroying us. I wanted to create a space where people can shop for only what food they need, find eco friendly disposable alternatives, and purchase items that can last them a lifetime

How did you get your business started and did you get any help and support starting it up?

I am very fortunate to have plenty of skilled and kind friends around me who have helped. From the DIY shop fit, to marketing and blogging advice, and especially my partner Robin who was instrumental in building the website!

What kinds of products are your best sellers in the shop?

I would definitely say that the dried bulk foods and the detergent refills are the most popular things. They are closely followed by bamboo toothbrushes, and washable makeup remover pads.

What have been your best moments with the shop so far?

My best moments tend to happen as a result of serendipity. For example, I wanted to start stocking coffee beans. A week after I had that thought, I was approached by Chris from Brewed Roasters about stocking their beans! Collecting coffee beans is one of my favourite things to do. I take the jars from my shop to Brewed on Lewes Road, and they fill them straight from their coffee sacks. I get to have a delicious brunch while I’m there too.

What have been your greatest challenges since opening your shop?

Finding time to do everything I want, and having to learn patience when I can’t move things as quickly as I would like!

What are the top three tips you would you give to someone else thinking of opening up a zero waste shop?

Be patient, get enough sleep, and have plenty of savings! It’s a very demanding and not especially well paid job so you have to know you will really love what you’re doing.

Where do you see yourself and the shop in 5 years time? It’s a strange thing to say, but I hope to be out of a job in 5 years!

It’s my dream that zero waste shopping becomes so mainstream that all the supermarkets run bulk sections and eco friendly products become the norm. I could close the shop happy that I was part of the movement towards a sustainable future.

Thanks to Debbie for answering the questions!

Want to find your local zero waste shop? Take a look at my UK Directory of Zero Waste Shops

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Artemis the show – aerial circus, environmental issues and mythology combined!

Zoe — Mon, 27 Feb 2017 08:00:00 +0000

Alana has spent years training as an aerial artist and has used her skills to put together a thought provoking performance which incorporates aerial circus, environmental issues and mythology combined which will be debuting in Bristol in May. Alana is my cousin and when I heard about her show I wanted to know more, so I asked her a few questions about it:

What is Artemis the show about and what kind of performance will it be?

Artemis is a piece about our relationship with the natural world and currently that is a relationship that holds a great deal of grief and pain, so it’s attempting to navigate that through the medium of art and performance, as close to its raw core as possible.

The show incorporates various performance skills from aerial circus to physical theatre to butoh, as a cross form collaboration that explores mythology, ritual and the environment. It’s set against a massive industrial warehouse which serves as the perfect modern space to explore in, not only this but the space is part of Bristol’s biggest nightclub venue, a purposeful contrast to the thematic content that speaks to us about nature.

The piece is based on the goddess Artemis from Greek mythology and what she represents as the deity of the hunt, the wilderness and the moon, amongst many other things. But the story has evolved into something much more abstract than what this greek myth offers. In a style similar to Neil Gaiman’s American Gods, it sees her awake in the future when humanity has abandoned it’s relationship with the divine. It sees her flicker awake to discover the world as it could be and sees her dance to the point of resolution, whether to abandon or guide us.

Watch the trailer here:

Artemis Trailer from Alana Bloom on Vimeo.

Why have you decided to do it?

I originally decided to make Artemis during my fifth and final year of performance training, as a way to cultivate my own work, but since then it has evolved into a way to engage through art. In short it has been a journey of discovering activism through creativity and performance, using art as a tool to present other way’s of approaching the themes we are facing in our society.

It then became less about a decision, and more about crafting my tools as an artist, to dive into an expansive sea of issue’s that are integral to humanities evolvement. My research and development took much dreamtime and exploration over the past two years and was continuously present in the forefront of my thoughts until the point where I simply had to turn dreamtime into activity. Through the countless support and guidance of others, it has been possible to depart upon the journey of bringing that dreamtime into the land of the living.

What environmental message are you raising?

Artemis has messages but they are your own to decode when you watch the performance. The piece is more about engaging people into discussion and conversations that ask us to think about how we can protect our environment whilst holding a mirror up to us with the question of ‘what is truly important to us?’

There is something to be said about holding the cooperation’s, businesses and governments accountable to what is happening to our planet, which is an idea that need’s be grabbed by the horns and thrown into the limelight. Yet we have the ability as individuals and communities to alter the ways in which we have been living and lead by example – perhaps this is through nurturing communities with emphasis on environmentalism, perhaps it is being radical in your own actions towards consumption, perhaps the example is to meet each human, animal and plant with compassion, perhaps it is to actively shout LOUD about those who should be held accountable. I do not have the answers to these questions, I hope to provoke and engage people with them so that they might mobilize their own answers into action.

When and where will the show be taking place?

The show will be taking place on the 4th and 5th of May at Motion, Bristol.

Ticket’s are available through Motion Bristol

You can find out more about the artist and performance here www.alanabloom.co.uk/artemis

If this stirs you, you can also join the thunderclap (donate a tweet or a share on social media) to support Alana’s crowdfunding campaign to raise finances for the resources and collaborations that are happening with other artists in relation to the show. https://www.thunderclap.it/projects/53669-artemis-crowdfunder

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Interview with Maria Nedeva of The Money Principle!

Zoe — Thu, 26 May 2016 09:00:00 +0000

Maria Nedeva is the owner of The Money Principle where she teaches people in financial trouble how to build sustainable wealth. I recently came across her blog and was hooked. Maria’s blog is not only really informative and helpful, but is also a very enjoyable read! I asked her a few questions about The Money Principle and this is what she had to say:

1. What made you start blogging and why?

In brief, three developments came together to shape my decision to start blogging: a crisis, an opportunity and a great book.

First, in late 2009 we found ourselves in £100,000 consumer debt. Naturally, I panicked at first but then resolved to turn around our financial fortune. Started learning, thinking and making progress in paying off the debt. Deciding to write and share what I’ve learned and figured out was a natural step – we all need accountability and supportive friends and a blog provides both. (Oh, we did pay off the £100,000 worth of consumer debt in three years; and with interest.)

Second, I’ve always written. It started when I was seven years old and wrote a story about a wolf cub. It wasn’t very good story but it came from my heart and soul. The writing bug was so strong that even my high school language and literature teacher didn’t manage to beat it out of me. Later in life I became an academic and did mostly academic writing. Had to become professor to finally admit that I’m really finding it boring and limiting. I wanted to learn to write things that more than 20 people want to read and a blog offers an opportunity to do that.

And third, in early 2011 I read a book that changed me profoundly. The book is ‘The 4-hour Work Week’ by Tim Ferriss. I’d recommend it to anyone who feels like they are running very fast to stay in the same place. Also, make no mistake: the book is about how to achieve more by doing less but you are unlikely to be able to get away with working 4 hours per week. I know first-hand that Tim Ferriss doesn’t either.So, in March 2011 The Money Principle was born.

2. What topics do you blog about?

On The Money Principle I teach people in financial trouble how to build sustainable wealth. This is what I know a lot about and this is what I have achieved; so my knowledge is not simply ‘bookish’, it is ‘existential’. Between 2010 and today (mid-2016) we’ve gone from £100,000 consumer debt to over £150,000 in new investments and savings.

Such turn around comes with paying off all consumer debt, making sure that you manage your money really well and increasing your income substantially. These are the things I mainly blog about.

3. Which do you think the most useful post on your blog is and why?

There is a lot on The Money Principle and this is only to be expected form a blog that has been around for over five years. I believe that there are two particularly helpful articles for people in financial trouble who really want to turn their fortune around.

SmartPeople Choose Financial Health over Wealth: this is a blueprint for achieving financial health including links to helpful tools. It is a long post (it is almost 3,000 words long) but there is a mind-map that will help you judge whether it’s worth you reading all of it and which parts you are particularly interested in. If was in financial trouble and wanted to get out of it, I’d read all of it; but then I would say this, wouldn’t I.

How toPay off Debt Fast and Stay Debt Free Forever: this post is part of the book on paying off debt fast that I’m currently completing. It would probably be best to tell you what a reader said about it in the comments: “This is the most common sense and thorough way to get out of debt I have read, and I have read many. Thank you.”

4. What are your thoughts on being eco-friendly and saving money – have you found any ways that being eco-friendly can save money?

I am a firm believer in being eco-friendly and that it can save you money; I’m not evangelical about it though. This means that while I believe that it is our duty to leave the world a better place – or if this is not possible at least not to cause damage – I also believe that the balance can include modern amenities.

In my daily life, being eco-friendly and saving money meet in the following:

Not wasting food.
Not wasting energy.
Not wasting resources (cycling and driving economical cars, for instance).
Producing energy (we have solar panels).

5. What do have planned for the blog in the future?

I do have big plans for The Money Principle. Mainly, I’d like to transform it into an easy to use resource for people in financial trouble who would like to learn how to build sustainable wealth. The book on paying off debt fast will be finished in couple of months (and offered as an e-book); have several more ideas for books on these matters.

Apart from that, I’d like to continue to educate, provoke, entertain and inspire my readers.

Thanks so much to Maria for answering these questions – if you want to find out more take a look at her blog The Money Principle!

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Interview with Gina Caro of Gypsy Soul!

Zoe — Wed, 30 Mar 2016 19:00:00 +0000

Gina Caro is an award winning blogger, freelance writer and editor. Amongst other things she writes about parenting and thrift which I think is a great combination and I love reading her blog Gypsy Soul (formerly Cold Tea and Smelly Nappies). I asked her a few questions about her blog and she decided to change the name which you can read below:

1. When did you start blogging and why?

I started blogging back in 2011 after I’d seen an article in a magazine about making money at home. We had just moved down to Devon from Kent and I wanted to find a way to have flexible work that I could manage around the children. I have always enjoyed writing so blogging seemed like a good option so I decided to give it a go. Blogging does become an addiction and I couldn’t imagine my life without it now.

2. What topics did you blog about then and how have things changed?

When I first started blogging I mainly wrote about the children and parenting in general. Since then I have found that I write less about the children and more about our lifestyle, thrifty living and our days out. I have changed my blog to reflect this.

3. Why did you decide to change the name of your blog?

I chose the old blog name, Cold Tea & Smelly Nappies, as it pretty much summed up parenting for me at that particular time, however 5 years on and my youngest is now at school so no more nappies and as I now get a bit more time to myself I regularly enjoy a hot mug of green tea. The name just didn’t fit my blog any more. I felt it was time to make a change.

I chose the new name, Gypsy Soul, as I felt it reflected who I am as a person. The following quote about sums up…Someone who possesses a gypsy soul is a person always in need of change and/ or adventure. A Gypsy soul seeks the next best thing in any life situation. They can be very passionate and often inspired by different ideas and experiences. Their sense of identity isn’t always sure of what they want out of life but they are determined to find it.

4. When did you become interested in thrifty and why?

I have always been interested in getting a bargain, even as a child, but I think it was emphasized more when I started working for Cancer Research UK when I was 17. I started out as a stock processor in one of their high street charity shops. My role was to process all of the donations ready for sale on the shop floor. I was constantly amazed by some of the things that people would just give away, from designer coats worth over £500 to entire silverware sets. It really opened my eyes to the bargains that could be had if you knew where to look for them.

5. What are 3 of your favourite thrifty tips that are also good for the environment?

Don’t waste food has to be the top of that list. We always make meals from our leftovers and I even keep the scraps from vegetable peelings to make our own stock.

Buying in bulk can be good for the wallet as well as the environment as the products generally work out cheaper and have less packaging than lots of individual items.

Install energy monitors in your home. We had some installed and since having them we have noticed a significant change in our energy usage habits. When you can physically see the money you are spending on electricity it makes you think twice about how you use it. Not only are we saving money each month we are also helping the environment by using less resources. It’s a win win situation.

6. Do you find that being thrifty and being eco go well together or conflict?

That’s a really interesting question and something that I constantly struggle with. In some ways the two can compliment each other very well but in other ways it’s a nightmare. For example I’d like to start buying bamboo toothbrushes for all of the family to help reduce our household waste, however the bamboo toothbrushes can cost over double what a normal plastic one does. This is when the two clash and finding a balance can be hard. I guess if more people use the eco friendly products then they would be able to bring the price down but what are the chances of that happening? This question has really got me thinking. I think I might even get a blog post out of it.

7. What are your plans for the future (e.g. with the blog/ in general) and what would you choose to do given unlimited time and budget?

I plan to continue to grow my blog and hopefully with the rebrand gain some lovely new followers as well as holding onto my old ones.

Gosh if I had an unlimited budget what would I do? I’d probably advertise my blog more to reach more people, I’d also get an expert in to go through it with a fine tooth comb and cross all the t’s and dot the i’s, just to make sure everything is functioning as it should be. The technical side of blogging is not my strong point. Here’s to, hopefully, many more years of blogging to come.

A big thanks to Gina for answering my questions! If you want to find out more pop over and visit Gina’s blog Gypsy Soul here!

If you liked this post please click like on Facebook, follow on Twitter and follow on Instagram – thanks so much!

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An interview with a sharing expert – Benita Matofska!

Zoe — Thu, 09 Apr 2015 19:50:00 +0000

Benita Matofska says she saves £20,000 a year through sharing. She does a bit more than just share her stuff though, she also recently founded Compare and Share – a comparison website where you can search for people’s rooms, homes or cars to rent originally listed on various different websites. She lives in the same town as me and I just had to get in touch and find out more. She very kindly agreed to meet with me and let me interview her. I had a few questions prepared for her, but her story was so interesting that mainly I just listened and took notes.

I asked Benita to tell me about what she did before she got involved in the sharing economy.

Benita worked in broadcasting for over 20 years. She worked on radio and TV both on and off screen. She lived in New York for several years working for the BBC and eventually came back to the UK. Over the years she became very disillusioned with the TV industry. To her it seemed that the industry was locked in old more traditional ways and wasn’t moving fast enough.

Benita had a drive to make
an impact, create a difference and do something good in the world, so she left TV and went to work in the charity sector for a year. She worked for Enterprise
UK where her role was Head of Global Entrepreneurship (GE). During her time in this role she was invited to present at One Young World Congress which took
place in London in 2010 – an event all about giving young people a voice. She ended up presenting alongside Desmond Tutu and Bob Geldoff and felt incredibly inspired by her experience. In that moment she decided the
next thing she would do would be about making a big positive change in the
world.

I asked what sparked her interest in the sharing economy?

After the Congress the word that kept her awake at night was sharing. She just
couldn’t get it out of her head. Benita didn’t know what she was going to do, but she
knew it would be do with sharing. Her
friends weren’t sure what she was doing. Her dad said where’s the money in that.
Interestingly now we know the sharing economy was recently valued at $15 million globally and is predicted to rise $335 billion dollars by 2025!

One
morning she woke up and decided that one of the key problems with the world is that there is a shortage of sharing. She became excited about the possibilities this presented and felt that the situation could be fixed as each of us having unlimited potential to share.

Benita told me how her interest in sharing led to her setting up a not for profit organisation.

On Jan 17th 2011 The People Who Share (read more here) came into being. Benita set it up as a not for profit campaign to help build a sharing economy. It’s mission is to educate, raise awareness and help people discover the sharing economy.

Benita began to run events in Brighton called Crowdshare via the People Who Share. The first event was during
the Brighton Festival Fringe in May 2011, which was held in the Brighton Youth Centre on
Edward Street. They had a giant clothes
swap, had a big art share, had a big picnic, had a sharing market area which
was all the local sharing services that existed at the time in Brighton so
people could sign up for sharing goods, car share, seed swapping, skills
exchanges, time banks. There were musicians who came and shared their time and
their talents, skills exchanges – young people teaching old people to
skate. That was a great success. They continued putting on those kinds of events and did a number of those.

National and then Global Sharing Day

In 2012 Benita decided to run National
Sharing Day. She decided to do it 6 weeks
before the day, she had no money and only a few people helping. People told her she was mad – she didn’t have the resources and how on earth was she going to do that? Benita said what is the worse that can happen and gave it a go. On the 20th June 2012 it happened and it went
viral! People were tweeting from the Ukraine, the Phillipines and all over the world wanting their own national sharing day. So this led to her running a global sharing day on November 14th 2012. You can see her talking about this day in the video below.

They ran another global sharing day partnering with various other organisations on June 2nd
2013 and they had 3.65 million people sharing food. There was a big launch event with
Caroline Lucas (Green MP for Brighton) at the House of Commons who was very supportive.

I asked Benita to tell me about Compare and Share

Soon after founding The People Who Share Benita was trying to book a family holiday online. Her family like to have a local experience when they go on holiday, they like to rent from local people and get the local intel. She was tearing her hair out as she was trying to trawl through all these diffferent websites to find the info she wanted. She would get 15 millions hits on google. Friends had the same problems and she was sure there had to be a better way. She decided what was needed was a one stop shop for the sharing economy – a comparison marketplace. Benita wanted to access shared stuff in the same way that when you book a flight you go to a single site and it brings up all your options, That was the birth of Compare and Share because it wasn’t easy and she felt that people aren’t going to do it in great volumes unless it is easy.

In January 17th 2013 Compare and Share
was officially born – (it coincindentally shares the same birthday as The People Who Share). It is a social business and a for profit
company. They have ambitions to become the next big tech brand and their vision is
to open up the sharing economy a bit like Ebay opened up the secondhand goods
market – they want to make it discoverable for everybody.

They started the platform with car and ride sharing and got 90% of the UK market on the platform – very quickly you could get a
series of options to travel from Brighton to Bristol and so on. At the end of 2013 they launched accommodation and now give access
to over 1.2 million properties via a network of affiliate partners e.g.
houseshare.

Benita explained the opportunities that have arisen from Compare and Share.

Because they are known as global sharing experts, what
started to happen is that businesses would come and ask them to provide
consultancy or give talks – in London in June 2013 Benita presented at Le Web and the
whole theme was on the sharing economy. Following that she was contacted by someone
from Macmillan Cancer Support because they wanted to build a peer to peer task
sharing platform to connect volunteers to run errands for people living with
cancer e.g. someone needs the shopping doing, laundry doing etc. They worked
collaboratively with Macmillian on a year long pilot project goteamup.org.uk. It
started out just in Brighton and Hove, but they have now been scaling it up across East and West Sussex and she is sure it will go further afield. Other companies have approached them as well.

‘Business has changed forever’

Benita feels that business has changed forever now that people can trade directly
with other people using technology. She thinks that in order for businesses to future proof themselves they need to find ways to be part of the sharing economy. Companies the world over are starting to look at different
ways of getting involved and one way corporations can get into this space is by buying. Zip Car was acquired by Avis in 2013. BMW have invested in Just Park and
they also have something called Drive Now – all different forms of car clubs,
most of the major car companies like Peugeot or Daimler have all invested in
car sharing in some form. Benita feels there is a massive shift
in how we are leading our lives and that people are choosing to access rather than own
goods.

Benita’s take on why we should share

As you can tell Benita is an incredibly passionate key player in the sharing economy. To find out more you can watch her Tedx Brighton Talk on the sharing economy below.

I wanted to know how she managed to save herself £20,000 a year through sharing and asked her how she did it. Benita replied as follows:

In her TV days Benita would think nothing of spending a few hundred pounds on a top. When she left TV her salary went down to a third of what it was and by then she also had 2 kids. She couldn’t sustain her previous lifestyle and didn’t want to.

She
stopped buying new things and everything is preloved.
She does regular monthly clothes swaps at home. She has been doing them for
about 20 years – something she did even when buying designer clothes.
For holidays they do house swaps – one example was when they did a houseswap in
Italy to a beautiful restored farm house which would have cost them £3500 euros a week. It was in acres of
land and didn’t cost her anything.
Childcare – she couldn’t be a working mum if not for the swaps
that she does. On some days friends look after her kids after school and on others she looks after theirs. She feels really happy with this set up knowing her kids enjoy going to their friends after school.
She organised a street
party on Global sharing day. Before she did it she barely knew any of her neighbours, but she says after doing it she never looked back – people smile at her, say hello and it is now a very friendly street. From this other things have developed. They now have adhoc tool sharing in the street.
She uses a book swap platform – Read It Swap It (find out more here)
She has rented out a room in her home

I asked Benita how Compare and Share works with membership only sites as you need to sign up to a lot of these sites to be able to use them.

Basically Compare and Share is an affiliate link site. If you want to rent out a car listed with Zipcar for example you would click through the link to Zipcar and sign up to be a member. Compare and Share would then get a referral fee. In the longer term they are looking to implement a oneshare login. This would mean people could log in once to Compare and Share and then be logged into a variety of sharing type sites at once.

My next question was about lawnmowers – what will be the future of lawnmowers if we all share them? I asked this because it was one of the examples given in Mark Boyle’s Moneyless Manifesto – if we all share lawnmowers, ladders and so on and demand rapidly drops companies would have to completely rethink their businesses and they may not be able to produce certain items at all any more (or only at very high prices).

Benita replied that there are going to be casualties in this – e.g. lawnmowers companies going out of business. She feels inevitably what will happen is there will be more businesses built up around restoration and repair. There will be a move away from traditional manufacturing to different kinds of manufacturing, lots of recycling, upcycling and the mining of landfill sites.

I could have spent longer talking to Benita but sadly at this point we both had to end the interview.

I found it a really fascinating couple of hours talking to Benita and thanks to her for taking the time to speak to me!

I’m really intrigued as to what the rise of the sharing economy will mean for the future and am very interested to hear your thoughts on the subject!

If you liked this post please click like on Facebook and follow on Twitter – thanks so much!

The post An interview with a sharing expert – Benita Matofska! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

Interview with Polythene Pam of Plastic Is Rubbish!

Zoe — Thu, 18 Sep 2014 09:18:00 +0000

Throughout July I tried really hard to give up single use plastic, but it wasn’t easy as so many things contain plastic. Although I struggled, it was great to know that I wasn’t doing it alone and I was really inspired by other UK bloggers going plastic free too. Polythene Pam is one of those bloggers, but she isn’t just giving up plastic for July – it is an all year round kind of thing for her! I asked Polythene Pam if she would answer a few questions for me about her (mostly) plastic free life and she gave me these great answers!

1. Why do you boycott plastic and what inspired you to blog about it?

One day a plastic bag got tangled in the tree outside my house. Months later it was still there. Next year when the leaves fell there it was! Looking ragged and tatty and even more unpleasant. Which made me wonder. Then I realized that plastic rubbish, unlike an apple core say, doesn’t biodegrade. I know it seems obvious now but I had never even considered it before.

Plastic of course lasts for decades if not for ever! And yet we are using it to make one-use, throwaway and trashy, short-life items resulting in huge amounts of everlasting rubbish. Every piece of plastic trash has to be collected and specially disposed of. Which is expensive and only partially effective. Some ends up as litter. And because it doesn’t rot, once it is out there it is out for ever. Not suprisingly plastic litter is increasing exponentially with dreadful consequences. Not only does it look ugly, it is damaging the environment, polluting the sea, choking up rivers, littering up beaches and worse of all maiming and killing animals.

Surely this is a foolish misuse of plastic? Which brought it right back to me. While I might not be mindlessly scattering plastic litter I was certainly misusing plastic. I too was a part of the problem.

I got to thinking how much plastic rubbish we, my husband and I, were responsible for. In fact we monitored it – you can see how much plastic went into our bin in a week HERE. It was shocking. So much so we decided to cut plastic from our lives.

We started the blog to map our progress. On it we list the plastic free alternatives we have sourced to help others do the same.

2. What types of plastic do you boycott and why don’t you avoid it all?

We boycott non-biodegradable plastics used to make throwaway and semi-disposable items. This includes

Plastic wrapping, bags, packaging and bottles
Trashy items that have a limited lifespan
Plastic items for which there is a viable natural alternative including synthetic fibers, fabrics and leathers.
Any other plastic that irritates me.

That said, I don’t dislike all plastic, I dislike the misuse of plastic.

Strong, durable, light weight, long-lasting and cheap, plastics are integral to the development and production of products that have changed the world for the better. Furthermore to replace all plastic products with” natural” alternatives would place a huge strain on the environment. Rather than boycotting all plastics we should be discussing:

How to produce greener plastics in a manner less damaging to the environment,
What we choose to use plastic for
How we harvest and reuse all the components, including plastic, at the end of a product’s life.

So I still use a wide range of durable plastics when I think they are the best option. But they have to last a very long time and I have strict guidelines for how I use them.

3. Which plastic have you found really easy to cut out of your life?

Plastic bags because it really isn’t hard to take your own bags with you to the shops and it makes an immediate impact. And plastic milk bottles. I love having a milk man. When I found out that plastic leaches unpleasant chemicals and endocrine disruptors into the product, giving up other plastic wrapped food suddenly became so much easier.

4. Which plastic has been harder to leave behind?

Crisps. Who can be bothered making them? But I do so love them. For most other things I have sourced an alternative. You can see our huge list of plastic free products, life style tips and recipes here http://plasticisrubbish.com/a-z-plastic-free/

5. What impact has going plastic free had on you and the way you live your life? (e.g. big/ small/ positive / negative/ easy/ hard work?)

It has had a huge impact in unexpected ways but all good. I doubt I would have blogged if it hadn’t been for the project which means I would never have created a website. I might not have joined Twitter even.

I have learnt some interesting new skills. I can now make suntan lotion, lip balm and toothpaste which has been fun. It has made me cook stuff I would never have considered before like sweet mincemeat and chutney.

I have learnt a whole load about plastic, which has been fascinating. Given how much a part of our lives it now is we really know very little about it.

I buy seasonal food (far less likely to be plastic wrapped), which means cutting down on air miles. I have fun finding out farm shops and seeking out markets. I enjoy a slower more local way of shopping which feels better.

And of course I got to go to the Observer Ethical Awards and be in the same room as Colin Firth! What’s not to love?

6. What advice would you give to someone starting out on a plastic free journey?

I started by cutting one plastic wrapped product a month which gave me time to source an alternative and made the task infinitely less daunting. It also gave others in the house time to adapt. In fact I often cut more than one because it turned out to be quite easy.

Don’t be overwhelmed. When you realize just how much plastic is out there you can easily break down and weep. But instead of counting the plastic you still use, look at what you have cut.

Enjoy finding alternatives – picking your own strawberries is a great day out. For sure I can only eat lettuce in Summer when I have grown it myself but when I do get it, it is a real treat – and home grown does taste better. Homemade face cream is really pleasant to use, is infinitely cheaper and makes a great gift.

I could go on but I am beginning to sound like a plastic obsessed Pollyanna!

7. For the more advanced plastic refusers, you have highlighted on your blog that there is lots of sneaky plastic in packaging that many wouldn’t even know was there. Would you be happy to share your sneaky plastic list here?

But of course

Cans of soda and other drinks – the cans are plastic lined

Tetra Paks contain plastic

Disposable paper cups are plastic lined

Glass bottles and jars with plastic lined metal lids

Tin cans of food- they are nearly all plastic lined

Plastic coated paper and foil- a tricky one often hard to spot.

The plastic bag in the cardboard box -squeeze and listen for the rustle.

Teabags (Packaging aside), the bag itself contains plastic

Stickers on fruit grrrrr.

Tampons and sanitary towels (packaging aside) are made from mostly plastic.

chewing gum

Plastic in toothpaste – packed in plastic, contain plastic – yes some toothpaste have plastic beads added for colour

Plastic beads can be found in exfoliating creams and washes. Not just excess packaging but micro-pollution as well!

8. You recently set up www.plasticfree.co.uk – can you tell us a bit more about this site and what your plans for it are?

Plastic Free UK is a UK BASED directory of groups, people, organizations, businesses and anyone else interested in tackling the consequent problems of our misuse of plastic.

Yes I know I already blog, at some considerable length about this very problem but that’s just it. My blog, my rules – that’s how it should be. But my rules of course aren’t the only ones. For example – recycling! In the plastic free world there are those who think it is practically green washing, an excuse to consume yet more plastic. Then there are others who promote it as the answer. I want a forum on which to post both arguments undiluted by my own opinions.

Also, chatty as I am, I cant say everything that needs saying on the subject. Nor do I know it all. No, really, I don’t. There are others out there – experts in their field who I would love to feature.

As the number of plastic related projects and plastic free products increase I do not have the time to review them all, the directory is a place where people can present their own work.

As well as supporting and promoting projects, the aim is show others that there is a market for plastic free products and services and a growing concern about the problems of plastic abuse.

So blog for me, directory for everyone else: What they do in their words. And hopefully a resource for anyone who wants to know who is who and what is what in this plastically challenged world.

9. In an ideal world with unlimited time and resources what would you do next?

I’m guessing you want a plastic related answer to this not just a long list of yacht based fantasies? I would love to get a big tractor with a large trailer and trundle round the UK organizing plastic pick ups with community groups. To be run in conjunction with educational workshops explaining the dangers plastic presents to the environment.

Who are we?

We blog as Polythene Pam and Village Boy. We live oop north in Huddersfield in a small industrial town. We often shop at supermarkets, eat meat, drink alcohol, munch cheese and scoff down cake. Giving up is not in our nature – we want to do everything – just without creating a huge pile of non-biodegradable, possibly carcinogenic, lethal rubbish that future generations will have to clean up.

We don’t have pets or kids. We travel a lot (plastic-free of course), and much of the blog has been written while sweating our faces off in some backwater with limited internet access. Please make allowances.

To find out more about Polythene Pam and Village Boy and their plastic free journey visit www.plasticisrubbish.com

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Interview with Karen Cannard of the Rubbish Diet

Zoe — Wed, 12 Mar 2014 10:40:00 +0000

One of the challenges I set myself on My Year of Eco Challenges was to do the Rubbish Diet (read more here). Karen Cannard is the brains behind this brilliant project which helps people to slim their bins and reduce the levels of waste flowing out of their homes. I wanted to find out more about her and her Rubbish Diet and am so pleased she agreed to be interviewed by me – thanks Karen!

What got you started thinking about rubbish and why did you set yourself the challenge to throw nothing away for a week in March 2008?

In late 2007 I became aware of Love Food Hate Waste’s campaign. It resonated with me as food waste was definitely an issue in our household. We regularly used to throw away unopened packets of food that had gone past their use-by dates. Lots of uneaten produce would also end up in the compost. Until then, I’d felt very detached from the value of food. So for 2008, I resolved to reduce food waste along with many other new year’s resolutions that would see me also getting to grips with local recycling and finally remembering my reusable bags whenever I went shopping.

Soon into the new year, a friend invited me to sign up to the council’s Zero Waste Week challenge. Despite my new year’s resolution to reduce waste, I thought the idea of going for a week creating no landfill rubbish was totally impossible. However, I signed up knowing that it would still help me reduce as much as I could.

What inspired you to start writing the Rubbish Diet Blog and how did you get the Rubbish Diet Project off the ground?

As soon as I registered for Zero Waste Week, the council asked me if I would be their community champion. I took some persuading at first because this was a private challenge and not one that I wanted to broadcast publicly around my local community. I didn’t like the idea of becoming the ‘face of local waste’. I wasn’t an eco warrior, or a waste geek. I was simply an average mother who’d made a new year’s resolution. However, I eventually agreed, overcame my fears, and was filled with a real determination to reduce as much as we could. I set up The Rubbish Diet as a personal diary that could chart the challenge, including hurdles and successes and to also reach out to others who would be able to help. Our rubbish had reduced by around 50% within the first two weeks. When Zero Waste Week arrived, all we threw away was a plaster. That totally blew me away. When I first signed up, I’d expected we’d still have at least a small bag’s worth of rubbish. The whole experience taught me how much control we actually have over how much rubbish we choose to create and how easy it is to change habits beyond our own expectations. It was such a rewarding challenge that I started to invite others to do the same. It was great to see them slimming their bins successfully too. Meanwhile, I was keen to find out what happened to our waste and recycling and have spent the last six years researching the industry, visiting landfill sites, recycling processors as well as communities and cities where zero waste ambitions are becoming a reality.

It is an exciting time for the Rubbish Diet – can you explain a bit about what the project is, what’s happening and where it is going next?

In the last 12 months The Rubbish Diet has developed from a blog into a website, where people can now sign up and receive motivational tips to reduce their waste within just a few weeks. This is supported by a great team who are now running the challenge out in several communities with local Bin Doctors who are on hand to help fellow residents. The challenge takes people through getting to grips with local recycling, reducing food waste, discovering reusable products that help to reduce disposable waste, and learning about reuse and repair opportunities. The finale is a Zero Waste Week, which draws all the learning together. Most people who take the challenge reduce their waste by almost 50% and others by even more. We’ve seen streets signing up, groups of friends and community leaders, all sharing tips and making it fun. One of our latest projects, funded by West London Waste Authority, has involved running The Rubbish Diet challenge in the Harrow, and we are expanding this into another London borough soon.

How can and why should people get involved in the Rubbish Diet?

The great thing about The Rubbish Diet is that it gives people a perfect opportunity to reduce their waste straight away. Many people find recycling and reducing waste either confusing or have so much rubbish they don’t know where to start. It takes just a few minutes to register and just only a few weeks to complete the challenge. You’ll start receiving tips straight away, which you can adapt to suit your lifestyle. Our experts are also on hand to answer any questions. To find out more, visit www.therubbishdiet.org.uk.

Do you keep track of how much rubbish do you throw away each year? Do you know how much you threw away last year?

I used to keep track for the first year, but in doing so I found it was so easy to feel like a failure during those weeks when our waste might have suddenly increased instead of celebrating the success of reducing waste overall. However, our waste for a family of four generally averages at around two small carrier bags worth of rubbish per month.

Have you saved money by being reducing waste? If you have, do you know how much over the course of a year?

Two years after taking the Zero Waste Week challenge I calculated that we’d saved in the region of £2,500 by reducing food waste and switching from everyday consumables and disposable products to reusable solutions. We’ve also bought more second-hand items than previously, for example, children’s bikes and clothes so savings have been made there too. Consequently we’ve managed to save at least £1000 per year since 2008.

What do you think are the first five changes someone who is seeking to slim their bin can do?

Everybody’s rubbish is different, so the best way to get started is to work out the top 5 things that fill your bin and try and treat this as your priority list.
Visit your council’s website to see what you can recycle locally, including your Household Waste Recycling Centre. Don’t be afraid to call the recycling department if you are unsure. Staff are always happy to help.
Reorganise your storage at home so that you have space to store your extra recyclables.
Visit www.lovefoodhatewaste.com for great tips on how to store fresh produce and use up leftovers.
When shopping, look for opportunities to reduce waste at source.

Do you have any recommended further reading/ viewing on how to reduce waste? e.g. blogs/ films/ books??

BLOG

Many people who reduce their waste at home often wonder what difference they make and what more could they do. The Zero Waste Europeblog is a great resource, highlighting some fantastic grassroots community ideas that have succeeded in recycling and reusing more as well as influencing product design. www.zerowasteeurope.eu

BOOK

The rubbish we create is the product of everything that we buy or do. A very interesting read is Enough: Breaking free from the world of more, by John Naish, which explores the art and science of ‘enoughness’, covering subjects that include food, stuff, and happiness.

FILM

One of the most inspiring documentaries is The Clean Bin Movie, featuring Jen & Grant, a couple from Canada who challenge each other to see who could create the least waste over a year. I was privileged to organise their tour of the UK last year and I love how they tackle the topic with humour and such an upbeat manner. www.cleanbinmovie.com

In an ideal world with access to unlimited time, resources and money, how would you focus your energies?

I would love to mobilise the country to take the Great British Rubbish Diet, encouraging homes across the country to try a Zero Waste Week. Even if everyone reduced their waste by just 10%, imagine the difference that would make.

Karen Cannard is the creator of The
Rubbish Diet, the UK’s first slimming club for bins. Since taking her first
Zero Waste Week in 2008, she’s become passionate about helping others take
control of their trash. Now a local columnist and regular contributor on
BBC local radio, she has also appeared on BBC Radio 4’s Woman’s Hour, The One
Show, C4 Dispatches and ITV1’s Tonight Documentary ‘Throwaway Britain’, where
she helped a family reduce their waste by 95%. She lives in Suffolk with
her husband and two children.

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Interview with Rachelle Strauss of My Zero Waste!

Zoe — Sun, 02 Mar 2014 18:29:00 +0000

Rae Strauss a.k.a. Mrs Green writes at My Zero Waste and Little Green Blog and also runs National Zero Waste Week. She is an inspirational force in the field of rubbish reduction and I’ve been reading her blogs for a while now. I’ve asked her to tell us a bit more about herself.

When and why did you decide to start blogging about zero waste and being green?

My ‘green’ journey started when I was pregnant. I wanted a ‘non medicalised’ birth so felt I needed to take full responsibility for mine and my daughter’s health. I learned that 60% of what I put onto my skin could end up in my bloodstream, so took a good look at the toiletries I was using, learned to differentiate between healthy and not-so-healthy ingredients and changed to natural brands.

After my daughter was born we were on a family holiday in Boscastle when we were caught in flash floods. 100 people were airlifted out of the village. As I was standing with my daughter in my arms and rising flood water separating me and my husband I thought “Everything I’ve been reading about climate change is happening. Not in 50 years’ time, but NOW!” Whether that was right or wrong I don’t know, but it was a real wakeup call as to the fragility of our planet. Looking at my young daughter I vowed to become part of the solution, not part of the problem… In response I started a local Freecycle, an internet group that connects people with items to give away, rather than trash them.

A few years later I came across the Rubbish Diet and was inspired by Karen’s work, so in June 2008, I set up My Zero Waste. Our aim was to reduce our landfill waste as much as possible to have less impact on the environment and the blog was there as a personal record and to keep me accountable. Little did we know that the site would become popular, with people following our progress from across the world!

Do you have a day job as well as your online projects?

I do! I’m a web designer, social media manager and writer (and a Mum, wife and daughter), so I have a rich and fulfilling life!

Have you saved money by being eco-friendly/ reducing waste? Can you quantify your savings?

I reckon to save between £1000 and £2000 per year. You can read more about this here and more specifically about saving money on food here.

Do you keep track of how much rubbish do you throw away each year? Do you know how much you threw away last year?

I don’t keep track any more. During 2009 we accumulated just one dustbin of landfill waste. In 2010 it was slightly less. Since then we’ve relaxed our own rules and stepped into more of an advisory role. We probably throw away one black bag every few weeks now. We just live a ‘normal’ lifestyle and recycle as much as we can with local facilities, but don’t go to the nth degree. We’ve been there, done it, got the t-shirt but in all honesty I feel I can have more impact if I inspire everyone in the UK to recycle one more juice carton than we can as just one family doing everything.

What inspired you to start National Zero Waste Week and how did you get it off the ground?

In September 2008, Karen from The Rubbish Diet challenged us as a family to have our own “zero waste week “- the aim of which was to accumulate ZERO waste for landfill. We accepted the challenge, and decided to ask our readers to join in with us. Over 100 people took part and the feedback we had was staggering. Not only did people love the buzz of the week but they wanted to keep good habits in place once the week was over. From there, Zero Waste Week was born! Now in its seventh year, the week continues to go from strength to strength. Last year we had nearly 2000 people take part and this year we’re looking forward to seeing more people get involved.

How can and why should people get involved in Zero Waste Week?

It’s easy to sign up. Although the information needs updating for this year’s theme, people can get onto our mailing list on the home page of zerowasteweek.co.uk.

Why should people do it? Well it’s fun! It’s a great way to connect with others who want to do their bit, you’ll probably save some money and you’ll learn lots of new hints and tips. It’s not many places you’ll learn how to cook cuttlefish testicles…

What do you think are the first five changes someone who is seeking to become more eco-friendly and less wasteful should make?

Take a bin audit – look at what you throw away and identify the top five offenders.
Find out what can be recycled easily from your kerbside and at local bring banks.
Set up a recycling area to keep things separate and easy to manage.
Remove the kitchen bin! Make it easier to recycle that throw something away.
BEFORE you get to the checkout ask yourself what you will do with the products and packaging you are buying when you’ve finished with them – perhaps there is a better choice you could make…

Do you have any recommended further reading/ viewing on how to reduce waste and on being eco-friendly e.g. blogs/ films/ books??

SITES:

If you don’t want to wait until zero waste week you can take an online 4 week ‘Rubbish Diet’ here.
Use recyclenow.com to find out what can be recycled locally

BOOKS:

Bea Johnson has written the Zero Waste Home about her experiences and writes a blog here.
Dr Paul Connett has penned “The Zero Waste Solution” – an inspiring look at how we can reduce landfill waste across the world

FILMS:

I was in ‘Trashed’ with Jeremy Irons which explores waste and sustainability
One of the most inspiring films I’ve seen is ‘Garbage Warrior’ – it tells the story of the free spirited architect Michael Reynolds who lives in New Mexico. He takes ‘rubbish’ such as beer cans, car tyres and glass bottles and turns them into thermal mass and energy-independent housing.
Jen and Grant’s “Clean Bin Project” is a fun look at reducing waste within a household

In an ideal world with access to unlimited time, resources and money, how would you focus your energies?

Wow, what a question! I’d probably buy a piece of land and get together with a group of people who wanted to build passiv houses – we’d live together in a self sufficient way using the principles of permaculture; producing our own energy and food. We’d run residential classes to inspire others to do the same and invite WOOFFers to stay. It would be an educational community and I’d probably spend a lot of time in a wood fired hot tub watching the sunset

How would you describe yourself?

Described as “A practical visionary who inspires people to get off their butts and kick the rubbish habit” or more succinctly “Miss Whiplash of the landfill”, I sniff out dustbin demons and landfill layabouts and hold them up in a hall of shame. Other than that I like to bake, stroke the bunny and miaow at my daughter because we’re crazy like that.

You can follow Rae Strauss on Twitter @myzerowaste or @LittleGreenBlog and you can visit her blogs My Zero Waste and Little Green Blog here and here.

The post Interview with Rachelle Strauss of My Zero Waste! appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

TheFIREstarter on his no clothes challenge!

Zoe — Thu, 30 Jan 2014 20:16:00 +0000

Back in September 2013 I started a Year of Eco Challenges. I decided to take on one challenge for each month of the year and so far have taken on 5 challenges and am preparing for a 6th one! They include not using shampoo, avoiding supermarkets, buying nothing new or secondhand for myself, trying to give something away each day and doing the Rubbish Diet. On top of that I am also preparing to go plastic free for Plastic Free July!

TheFIREstarter – a blogger who writes a great blog about achieving Financial Independence so he can Retire Early (hence the FIRE) decided to sponsor my year via my DoNation page (find out more here) by taking on the challenge of buying no clothes for 2 months (or maybe even longer). He has written me a guest post on why he is doing it and how he plans to tackle the challenge, so over to him….

Having been an avid reader of this excellent blog for a while now, and after seeing Zoe’s pleas to get people involved in her DoNation challenge, I thought the least I could do was take a look to see what it is all about. To my pleasant surprise a lot of the challenges involved are actually really quite small ones, so I would urge everyone reading first and foremost to take a look yourself if you haven’t done so already, especially if the reason for not looking so far has been that you were scared that the challenges were going to be too hardcore for you. Its not all living in mud huts and washing with rainwater! The idea is far more about helping people to make small changes in their behaviour, that if multiplied over the millions and billions of souls on this planet (or in the rich developed world at least) will add up to highly significant changes for the better.

The No Clothes Challenge

The challenge I picked to start me off was the “don’t buy any clothes for two months” challenge. So why did I pick this one? Am I some sort of fancy pants fashionista with a designer hand woven sheep’s wool suit from the local haberdashery for every day of the month in wardrobe? Am I a clothes shopping addict with a credit card bill the size of Kazakhstan’s GDP who seriously needs to kick the habit? Or am I just a minimalist attempting to turn naturist? As good as a story all of those situations would have made, I’m afraid to report I am not really interested in clothes or fashion as such in the slightest (don’t panic! I still have the overwhelming urge to wear them in public). But… and I think this is a key point… I still have a wardrobe that is absolutely bursting at the seams!

How the hell does that work?!

Well it’s just the classic case of the crappy consumer lifestyle catching me out. And I am guessing many other people who have no real interest in clothes have purchased themselves into exactly the same situation as I. The amount of charity bags of clothes I have ditched over the last few years is ridiculous. At least I know they’ve gone onto a good cause, but really it was just to make way for the new stuff I’ve bought, and if I’m honest I totally didn’t need half of it. I only bought because it was there, and I could afford it (although that second justification doesn’t seem to stop a lot of people anyway!).

So there we are, that is the current situation. My wardrobes are creaking under their load and I’m fed up with it, and I needed a challenge to stop the situation getting worse.

While it is clear that I’ve chosen this challenge based on really quite selfish reasons, I also don’t think there is anything wrong with that, and if you think that way you are missing the bigger picture. At the end of the day all of these challenges will benefit you in some way, whether it be by improving your health (walking up the stairs challenge), saving you money (no buying challenges), or just generally making you feel good about yourself that you are doing the right thing (stop using plastics challenge). The way I look at it is by picking a challenge that I want to do, and can see the obvious benefits from, I am more likely to succeed and then everyone’s a winner.

Strategy

My strategy for the challenge is a simple one. Don’t buy any clothes full stop for the two months! I will inform my nearest and dearest to do the same just in case I get caught out with a thoughtful gift, but with no birthdays or anything else coming up (clothes for valentines day? I don’t think so!) I don’t think this will be an issue. The one thing I’ve noticed since starting is that my winter coat is getting thread bare in places, so i may have to try my hand at some sewing in a week or two. So again… no headline grabbing stories in this section (here I come again with my big but…)

BUT… The other great thing about these challenges is that they get you thinking. If 2 months is going to be a breeze why not try 6 months or even a year? Apparently my 2 month challenge will save 38Kg of carbon dioxide going into the atmosphere which already sounds substantial to me, so over a year that would be over 200Kg of the stuff! That’s pretty awesome! When I was starting to trim my budget around a year ago and trying to cut out the crap that I didn’t much care for I STILL made the mistake of including a clothing budget of myself. This challenge has made me realise, no budget needed pal!

If I do eventually need anything I’ll get down to the charity shop instead. (I’ll draw the line at underwear which I think is fair enough)

So to summarise, due to doing this challenge my wallet, my wardrobe joints and fixings, and the earth all come out happier, so I will repeat once again, everyones a winner*

*Ah one glaring oversight here of course, I forgot to mention the plight of the huge multinational clothing corporations who will miss out on a hundred or so pounds of profit from my missing in action transactions. Get those pocket sized violins out people!

Thanks loads to TheFIREstarter for writing this great post for me! If you are interested in finding out more about achieving financial independence, go and check out his blog here and keep up to date with his latest posts by following him here on Twitter!

If you have a moment I would really appreciate it if you would consider sponsoring me with an action on my DoNation page. Also if you liked this post please click like on Facebook and follow on Twitter – thanks so much!

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