Anxiety is a type of worrying, where it is difficult to get rid of your worries. Living with anxiety is really unpleasant. It can be very hard to relax, your sleep can be disturbed and worries go round and round your head on replay. If not dealt with it can potentially lead to panic attacks and depression. You know you are really suffering when you start worrying that you are worrying too much. You want to stop worrying, but you don’t know how to.

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I suffer from anxiety sometimes

I have been through a period of anxiety and panic attacks in the past and found a lot of things that really helped me through.

Since the virus outbreak I haven’t slept as well as usual and at the beginning felt moments of anxiety flare up. That is without anything bad happening specifically to us.

To start off with, I just felt like I was going around with my mouth wide open in shock. Then I got a feeling of building unease, next anxiety and then I took some steps to limit it before it got worse. I still don’t feel entirely normal (does anyone right now?), but I feel much better than I would if I didn’t do these things.

If you suffer from anxiety there is help out there

I imagine that a lot of people are suffering from anxiety right now, much more so than usual. If that is happening to you, know this – you are not alone. There is a lot of help out there that you can access for free, or for very little and there are things you can do to feel better.

Obviously I am not a professional and this is not medical advice. But I am sharing some of the things that help me when I’m feeling anxious, plus some further ideas in the hopes that they can be of help to you too.

If you need to speak to someone urgently, call the Samaritans at any time for free on 116 123 .

5 ways to tackle anxiety on a budget

1. Tackle anxiety by making a risk register

Back in my internal audit days, at times I audited risk registers. A risk register is basically a list of all the key risks you (or an organisation) are facing right now. Then against each risk, you work out what action you can take to reduce it and how you will deal with it, if the worst happens. Finally you take the actions and you keep updating your risk register as things change.

If you have a long list of worries going round and round your head, write them down and brainstorm what you can do about each of them. Then take the actions that you can/ note the back up plans you will follow in case of emergency.

There will be some things that you can do nothing or very little about and in that case the best thing you can do is let go of trying to control them.

2. Let go of the things you can’t control

It can be very difficult to let go of worries, because we can mistakenly think that the worrying is protecting us and that if we let our guard down then bad things will happen. In reality though that isn’t true at all. Excessive worrying is a totally unproductive way to protect yourself. Having the worry in the first place is useful because it alerts us to a problem, but once we have got to work on solving the problem, or realising we can’t do anything about it, it is time to let the worry go – it has done it’s job.

3. Get/ ask for help with your anxiety

Cognitive behavioural therapy can be helpful if you are having trouble overcoming anxiety and letting go of those worries. You might be able to get an appointment to speak to someone over the phone or online. Find out what services are available from your local NHS. In some places you can self refer to wellbeing services. Also there are free workbooks you can access online via the site of a brilliant therapist that helped me – Anxiety CBT workbooks

If you have kids that have excessive worries – this book: What to do when you worry too much* is really good and even though it is aimed at kids, it can help adults too.

Also ask for practical help too if needed with food and money worries.

4. Do exercise

Doing exercise can be great for improving mood. In China, one guy stuck in his apartment on lockdown ran a 31 miles in his living room. He reported feeling great afterwards. So even if you are stuck in doors with no exercise equipment you can still get fit.

I was training for the Brighton marathon before everything kicked off. The guy who runs the running group I go to, said he didn’t recommend doing longer runs at the moment. He said it can weaken your immune system. So I wouldn’t recommend running quite that far right now, but shorter runs will be really good.

If you are thinking of taking up running for the first time, set yourself a challenge. Start off with aiming for running 5k and once you get there see if you can run faster or further. When you are pushing yourself you have to take a break from worrying because you don’t have brain power for anything else!

Many of us, especially those with kids, have all kinds of sports equipment and activities we can do at home. Now is the time to make use of the space and equipment you have. Also you and the kids can take part in Joe Wicks 30 minute long daily P.E. lessons online at 9.00 term time.

5. Make art

You do not have to be good at art to do this one. I started doodling a few years ago and I just draw random shapes with random patterns in them. When I draw the random shapes it really feels like I am letting go. There are no rules, I just let it all out. Even scribbling all over a piece of paper can feel good! Then I slow down to make the patterns and the lack of screens or information or brain challenge involved can be very relaxing.

I was so surprised that I liked the pictures that I drew. You never know you might surprise yourself with a hidden talent! Even if you are rubbish at art, you can still benefit from doing it. Plus art encompasses a wide range of activities. See if there is one that you like.

Art can be a great way to help kids feel calmer at this time too. Take a look a this lock down post on Red Ted Art for lots of great ideas.

Don’t let your anxiety win – tell it to get lost.

I hope these tips were helpful. If they didn’t cut it for you, keep looking for ways to kick your anxiety out. It is worth it because you will be able to deal with all the things worrying you far better and have a greater chance of solving them too.

I hope you are all staying safe and well during these incredibly challenging times and that you win out against anxiety if you are suffering from it.

The post Anxiety – 5 ways to deal with it on a budget appeared first on Eco Thrifty Living.

It could be in the form of negative comments or it could be in the form of them blocking you in trying to be more eco-friendly. They might also show no interest in changing even after you have given them a load of good reasons why they should.

So what can you do about it? My answer is to consider your message carefully.

Eco – living product swaps

Let’s say for example on your eco-living journey, you have decided shampoo bars are much better than liquid shampoo. You want to encourage all your friends to try them too.

You could tell them that:

1. it is wrong to buy and throw away plastic bottles and tell them about a myriad of other problems with liquid shampoo
2. you won’t be using shampoo in plastic bottles any more, you will be switching to soap bars and you think they should too.

Some people will take your point on board. Other people may feel that you are trying to pressure them into making an eco-living change they aren’t sure about and feel totally put off by it. Although there are good arguments for switching to a soap bar, there are also good arguments for not doing it.

Pros of liquid shampoo:

1. They really like the shampoo they use now
2. They have fine hair, or greasy hair and very particular requirements about what they use on it and have discovered the perfect shampoo after years of experimenting.
3. There are no shampoo bars for sale in the places they usually shop.
4. Maybe they know something about shampoo bars that you don’t, to do with their eco-friendly credentials, or maybe they are cynical. Sometimes things that appear to be more eco-friendly options turn out not to be.

Or you could:

1. Ask them what their hair type is. Then buy them a really nice shampoo bar as a gift suitable for their hair type. This way you are letting them decide for themselves what they think about shampoo bars, by having one to try out if they want to!
2. Try out a shampoo bar yourself and tell your friends what you thought about it. Then ask them what they think of the idea without pressuring them into using one at all.
3. You could also combine point 2. with buying them a voucher for a shop that sells shampoo bars and other things, when it is their birthday next.

Although the easiest option is to tell people why you think they should change their ways, it often doesn’t work. This is because they have objections. If you don’t know what their objections are, you can’t address them. You also don’t want to make people feel pressured, because we all hate those sales people who hold us hostage and won’t let us go until we have bought their product! It often has the opposite effect to the one intended, putting people off from making a change at all.

Give people solutions not problems, that take into account their objections and that are fun! That is likely to have a far better effect in influencing the people around you.

Eco-living habit changes

Not all eco-living changes that you make are a product switch though. Some are a habit switch e.g. not wasting bread . You can’t give someone a new habit, in the same way that you can give them a thing. So what can you do in this situation?

Again in this situation action speaks louder than words. Make the eco -living changes yourself, test them out and see how you get on. Why should someone else make a change that you haven’t tried and tested yourself?

Another good idea is to take on a challenge e.g. Zero Waste Week and invite other people to join you! Zero Waste Week is the first week in September every year. Asking other people to join in a challenge with you is non-threatening, because you aren’t telling them what to do, you are asking them for company on a journey of discovery!

If you’ve done all that and it hasn’t made any obvious difference, don’t step up your efforts and don’t give up! What’s that supposed to mean? What I mean by that is don’t try harder, because you might put them off and do keep doing what you believe to be the right thing. Don’t succumb to peer pressure to go back to your old ways, stand firm and keep going.

Diffusion of Innovation

At the top of this article I have shared a picture of a bell curve, which is based on Everett Rogers Diffusion of Innovation theory. It illustrates that we don’t all adopt a new idea at same time.

• 2.5% of people are innovators and come up with an invention/ an idea/ a new way of doing things.
• 13.5% of people are called early adopters. These people hear about a new idea or product and are on board straight away. These people may include first investors and customers
• 34% of people are in the early majority. It’s becoming more mainstream now and a lot more people are doing it/ buying into it.
• 34% of people are in the late majority. Not only is it mainstream, but by now it has been widely tried and tested, it is more readily available and accessible. They can have confidence that it works/ fills a need well/ is a good idea. Or perhaps they realise that, they will soon have no choice but to make the change.
• 16% of people are the laggards – the people who are very slow to make a change. Or maybe they never wanted to make a change at all but now have no option because the old way has become obsolete.

Bear this bell curve in mind when you feel like your actions are having no effect on people. You might not be able to see the seed of change that you have planted in their minds. But it doesn’t mean it isn’t there. Keep watering it, by continuing to act! You might be surprised by them and see them making a change later down the line.

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Wouldn’t it be great if we stopped destroying the rain forests. If we removed all the plastic from the seas. If endangered species were no longer endangered and climate change was halted? So many of us are really hoping and praying that these things will happen. Hoping that we haven’t already gone too far in destroying this planet and that there is hope for future generations. 

Hoping and praying isn’t enough though. We want to do something about it too. I really want to do something about it. A large part of this blog is about being optimistic and taking practical steps towards change.

On my eco-friendly money saving journey three key themes have emerged as ways to live that can help.

These themes are:

• Veganism

• Minimalism

• Going zero waste

These movements combined seem a lot like the answer to all our problems. I can’t claim to be a strict vegan or a minimalist. However, I’ve had a good go at living the zero waste, plastic free life. I’ve also been heavily influenced by minimalism and veganism and see them as goals to aspire to.

These lifestyles have a lot of value in them and they are having a really positive influence on people and the environment.

But, they are not the right answer to everything all the time. As poster children for reducing waste, eating less meat and dairy and buying less stuff they work well. They inspire people and they make people think about their way of life. However, if followed to the letter they can go too far.

It is not possible to stick to them religiously unless you become entirely self-sufficient. This may be a possibility for an elite few, but not for the masses.

I think it is incredibly important that we recognise this. We shouldn’t get caught up in sticking rigidly to one way of doing things. We need to recognise the down sides of the alternative lifestyles too.

Too often we are sold things based on what they are not. Instead of what they are. Missing the fact that although something may not contain X,Y and Z. But has been replaced by ingredients which may be a big problem for different reasons.

I could give you countless examples of this! For one, microfibre cleaning cloths. They are sold as an eco-friendly alternative to using antibacterial sprays, but one problem is just swapped for another.

Yes we reducing chemicals in our homes. But when the cloths are washed this releases micro plastics into the oceans via our washing machines.

When we make moves towards Veganism, minimalism and zero waste we need to be mindful that some of the things we are sold come with problems of their own.  

You might think, well then we need to swap out microfibre cloths for something that is more eco-friendly. I’m sorry to tell you this, but there is a downside to almost every alternative you can think of.

That is because we do things in large volumes and we rely heavily on monoculture. I.E. farming the same crops and live stock en masse in the same fields, with no or limited tolerance for any other kinds of flora and fauna.

There may be better choices we can make, but there are rarely perfect ones.

Anyone who buys food however zero waste or plastic free or vegan they they still produce waste. Organic foods are still sprayed with pesticides, they just aren’t synthetic ones.

There are times when choosing the vegan, minimalist or zero waste path, won’t work for you. It isn’t solving you problems or won’t be the best choice for the environment.

When zero waste Veganism can not work;

• When it compromises your health. A vegan diet may not work for everyone. Especially people who have food intolerance’s or allergies to key vegan foods like beans, soya, pulses and grains.

• When it doesn’t make environmental sense. Driving extra miles to visit different places to make sure everything is unpackaged is counter productive.

• Making poor swaps. E.g. swapping plastic bags for paper bags. The paper bags may be biodegradable, but they are energy intensive to make and are still single use. Reusable is better, but it needs to be reused enough times to make it a better choice

• Swapping cows milk for alternative milks. E.g. Almond milk – very water intensive and these milks come in tetrapak cartons. The cartons are then recycled at best. Read about the massive problems of growing almonds in this Guardian article about almond milk

• De-cluttering in the name of minimalism. This is encouraged by retailers, because the theory is out with the old and in with the new. The more people de-clutter the more new stuff they will keep buying.

• Fast fashion and the rate at which clothes are flowing through our wardrobes are a massive environmental problem. Read more in my blog post here: What is the problem with fast fashion?

• When it compromises your relationships. You may or may not care how many people you offend with in the name of veganism, minimalism or going zero waste, but I think it is really important to take the following into account;

1. Most people around you won’t get it. It takes a lot of learning and changing your mindset to switch from eating meat. Or buying packaged foods and becoming a zero waste minimalist vegan . People need to want to change before they will change. Be aware other people will have plenty of reasons why they don’t want to do what you are doing. Even if they do agree with you they still might not change because no-one else they know is doing it. Due to peer pressure, being busy life pressures they might not feel that they can. Trying to push people into following your path may back fire and push them further away
2. .They also probably won’t understand all your needs. E.g. they may not know sweets that contain gelatine aren’t vegan. Or that you really don’t want a gift etc and that is reasonable.

For the reasons explained, I think it is important to set boundaries for your lifestyle.

Veganism, minimalism and going zero waste are not the solutions to all our problems all of the time. It is a bit more complicated than that.  What we really need is to consume less of everything and diversify. By diversify I mean, rely on a greater range of resources and species e.g. there are lots of different types of fish but most of us in the UK rely on fish like cod, tuna and salmon (although it is contentious that there are any types of fish that are sustainable at the moment) and you can make clothes from bamboo, hemp and nettles, but most of the ones we buy are made from polyester and cotton and so on.

Being a vegan, minimalist or zero waster doesn’t always stop you from consuming more than your fair share of resources. Remember, you can avoid one problem by boycotting something, but then create another with the alternatives. It’s important to think about what the alternatives really mean.

We put so much pressure on ourselves to be perfect and if we are not careful veganism, minimalism and zero ‘wasteism’ will become just another stick to beat ourselves and each other with. We need to take the best bits from these movements, but accept that none of them are the solution to all our problems all of the time.

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Lots of people suffer from the January blues. So before you decide to h*ll with dry January and drunkenly book a holiday to somewhere hot that you really can’t afford, take a look at this list which might help:

Note: This blog post contains affiliate links. It won’t cost you anything extra to shop through them and opinions are all my own.

1. Don’t fight it. There is no law saying you have to feel great all the time and if you didn’t have the lows you wouldn’t appreciate the highs! Admitting to yourself that you feel a bit blurgghh is better than pretending everything is ok when it isn’t.

2. Get some sleep! Everything seems worse when you are tired. Make sure you are getting a good nights sleep by turning off electronics an hour before bedtime. Go to bed at the same time each night and not staying up too late!

3. Are you eating enough and at the right times? Like lack of sleep being hungry can also make everything seem worse.

4. Try a type of acknowledging meditation – every time a negative or worried thought comes up just acknowledge it as a negative or worried thought. You don’t even need to sit down and concentrate if you don’t want to. Just try notice your thoughts (perhaps for a short period of time to start with) and when something not so nice comes into your head e.g. I have no money – just say to yourself – that was a negative thought. Don’t give it any more head space. If it comes back again, just repeat the process until it goes away.

5. Doing the above doesn’t mean you can’t do anything about your problems. Come back to them when you are in a happier, more positive mood and more able to think of constructive things to do about them. 

6. Think about everything you achieved last year. It doesn’t matter what bad sh*t went down – something good, in fact multiple good things will have happened. Make a list of them and give yourself a bit of time to dwell on how great you were!

7. Who helped you, looked out for you, did kind things for you, made a difference to your life last year, or even last week or this morning? Write a list of every kindness you can remember and say thanks to those kind people. There are a million ways to communicate these days, so there are really no excuses not to get in touch!

8. Who could do with your help? Helping feels great and there is always someone who needs help. There are such a range of things you could do. Obviously some are not possible in lockdown e.g. babysitting and dog walking. However even if stuck indoors, you can help out online and over the phone. You could volunteer to help on a help line, do zoom mentoring or help a friend spread the word about their small business. You don’t have to sign up for a regular thing if that is too much of a commitment – you could just do little things to help the people around you.

9. Give yourself some things to look forward to that are within your budget e.g. if you are really yearning after that holiday in a warm place and you own your own home, house swapping can be a really good way to save money on holiday costs. The sooner you start looking for a swap for the more likely you will be to find one.  You could also put some dates in the diary to see friends (even if it is over Zoom), or for other activities that you would enjoy that are in your budget e.g. get a takeaway.

10. Try listening to hypnotherapy CD’s/ downloads – there is one for every problem and you can listen to them whenever you feel rubbish (as long as you aren’t operating heavy machinery). You could start with my favourite one  – Learn How to Think Positively by Glenn Harrold.

I hope this list was helpful and that if you have been suffering from the January blues you are feeling a bit cheerier. I am not a doctor though and this advice is provided purely for entertainment purposes only. If you are worried about a health issue make sure you seek the advice of a register and qualified doctor. What are your tips for overcoming the January blues?

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Holidays, ‘special’ days like Christmas, New Years Eve, Halloween, festivals, parties, sports events and more can be the cause of a lot of waste. For people who try really hard most of the year not to produce waste they can be a bit of a nightmare. Added to that there is often a lot of pressure to spend, spend, spend on these occasions.

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In a deeply disappointing development for environmentalists, Mr Trump plans to cancel billions of dollars in payments to the United Nations climate change programs. He has said he would redirect the funds to pay for infrastructure projects in the US. He has also promised to lift restrictions on fracking and boost American oil and natural gas production. He would lift roadblocks to the Keystone Pipeline. Environmental activists fought hard to convince the Obama administration to stop the infrastructure project, warning against the effects of the increase in oil production. It’s path between Alberta, Canada and Nebraska in the United States was also said to damage fragile ecosystems.

The decision to abolish the Department for Energy and Climate Change has been variously condemned as “plain stupid”, “deeply worrying” and “terrible” by politicians, campaigners and experts.One of Theresa May’s first acts as Prime Minister was to move responsibility for climate change to a new Department for Business, Energy & Industrial Strategy.

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In some circumstances waste can be a good thing.

5 examples of when waste is good

1.Let your kids waste food.

It might seem like a waste every time you offer them a carrot and they throw it across the room. Kids need to be offered new foods a number of times before they get to know it. It might not work with every food type, but the wider variety of food you can get your kids to eat the better. Aside from the health benefits it means that they are more likely to be able to take advantage of the food that is in season, cheaper and needs using up the most at any particular time.

2. Try new foods yourself. 

There are foods that I really didn’t like as a child that now I am an adult I quite like. Also every so often I come across a food I have never tried before and I give it a go.  You will have the same advantages as above if you can broaden your range of food choices.

3. Let your children get creative!

Most of your kids artwork might end up straight in the recycling or even in the bin. However if your children want to make up recipes, design models or teach themselves how to knit they learn more from their mistakes than closely guided successes.

4. Make mistakes! 

There is something very powerful about learning to do things for yourself as you can control the process, ingredients, the packaging, where you get the parts from and so on. Making mistakes is part and parcel of this learning process though. For example it took me several attempts before I mastered the art of making yoghurt. Now that I know how I make it all the time. Saving hundreds of yoghurt pots from the bin.

5. Use paper to communicate if needed!

These days there are so many ways to communicate, that going paperless can make a lot of sense. However if you have got an important message to spread it might be that paper is the best way to do it. Not everyone is glued to a screen and even if they are it might be hard to get your message to the exact people you need to. For example in my neighbourhood there is a hedgehog monitoring project. I found out about it through the local newsletter. Some people would have just put the newsletter straight in the recycling, but enough people have joined in with the project and found out about other local info to make it worth while!

Don’t be afraid to waste stuff if needed. Sometimes it’s the only way to learn, discover new things and communicate good ideas. There are always ways to limit the waste so don’t let worries about waste hold you back!

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Toilet paper is an ongoing subject in my household at the moment!  Aside from my experiment with not using it, usually we buy it in bulk from Costco (if you haven’t heard of it – it is a membership based shop that sells stuff in bulk) and actually it is on special offer at the moment there (last day today). It is literally half the price of the same brand in the shops. Costco isn’t local to us, but it was such a good offer, my husband got in the car and drove a nearly 120 mile round trip to buy a years supply! It wasn’t an environmentally friendly option at all, but it was definitely thrifty. It cost us £18 in petrol and £9.48 for 40 rolls – we bought a staggering 400, which should last us at least until next year when they put toilet roll on offer again.

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1. 15 minutes before the milk has finished cooling heat your oven for 5 minutes. Then when cooled and yogurt added, wrap your pan in a towel and leave in the warm (but off) oven.
2. Put your saucepan in a thermal cooker  (homemade or otherwise – see ideas here) instead of the freezer bag
3. Replace step 4 with pouring the yogurt / milk mixture into a thermal jug which you can further insulate by wrapping towels around it.
4. Work out your own method with the stuff you have available to you!

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This is partly because I have a long to do list and I am feeling overwhelmed by it.  To be able to rent out my car or my home or my stuff I need to make sure it is clean, looks it’s best, is organised and tidy.  The walls and doors in my home could do with a new coat of paint and as I have mentioned previously my car has a whole load of little dents in it. There are so many things to do I have been struggling to work out where to begin and if I’m honest it has been stressing me out a bit!  Plus it isn’t just the practical side which is worrying me – I feel quite out of my comfort zone with quite a few of my ideas, but then I felt quite out of my comfort zone with a lot of the ideas I had for my Year of Eco Challenges and they worked out well (in the end )

Another problem I have been having is not feeling lonely exactly, because I love spending time by myself and I do see people every day  – if nothing else I have a chat on the school run, but I think I need a bit more structure to my week and to have planned time out of the house at least once or twice a week.  My main plan is to go to an exercise class, but every week I come up with an excuse not to go -I need a friend to drag me along with them!

I’ve been struggling to work out how to focus my time and because of that indecision I don’t feel like I am being very efficient at anything, which is really frustrating!

One last thing which may have been making me a little blurggh is that I have been doing dry January. I don’t drink much usually, but I starting drinking more than I should especially over Christmas and combined with being sugar free, I am getting no sugar hits at all and that can be hard at times…Even a bit of alcohol and I put on weight and need to get over the sugar addiction again.  On the upside since I stopped drinking I have lost weight again!

It isn’t all doom and gloom though.  I’ve come up with a plan to try to make my money making challenge less stressful by spreading it over the course of the year and have dedicated a whole page on the blog to it (take a look here). That should give me time to plod away at the book and do everything else I need to do (like the washing, the school runs…).  

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