I am really trying hard to live a green life, and I will admit sometimes it is a fecking struggle. I would be greener if I could be, but I feel that my home does conspire against me on occasion. We have a leasehold maisonette, ex council, and it is bloody awful really. We need a new boiler and central heating system, but can't afford to change it. We have really badly installed double glazing. So while we try to manage our heating responsibly, sometimes we are fighting a losing battle. We have a tiny, shittily laid out kitchen which I loathe. Seriously, I think it was laid out by someone that never cooked as it really isn't sympathetic to cooking. Which is a bit daft for a kitchen.
We do cook from scratch a lot though, which makes a small and messy kitchen worse, but it is worth it in the long run. It means that I know what my children are eating, how much it costs, and nothing goes to waste. We still occasionally get take-out, but it's not often and very much outweighed by the good stuff.
We recycle a lot. And it gets a bit ridiculous in a tiny kitchen. What we need is a larger kitchen with beeegbins! But it isn't really going to happen. So we have piles of cardboard, paper and plastic bottles in a corner of the kitchen. Oh, and don't get me on about fecking plastic bottles. (Evil things!)
We are on our 2nd compost bin. A big one which I am quite proud about. Just unfortunately, our garden is soggy, so don't get out there as much as I would like. We would have a waterbutt, but our gutters are enclosed and made of something very hard and unbreakable. We don't have a roof for solar panels, and a mini windturbine wouldn't work either.
Oh, another thing I don't do! Clean! LOL! Sorry, not really. But I am not so worried about keeping the place spotless. FFS, I have 2 kids, a cat and a dog, and a Hubs who teachs Tech! Tidy ain't ever really gonna happen! I am slowly decluttering the flat though. We are looking to moving in a couple of years, so the less crap we have the better. Finally got rid of our table and chairs on Freecycle, and have replaced them with my nan's old table and chairs which takes up a lot less room. I realised looking around my living room that there are only two items of furniture that aren't second hand. I really am not bothered by the "new and shiney" so will happily make do with quality second hand stuff.
I don't drive and we don't have a car. I do say that's because we are really green and worthy, but really if I am honest it is down to lack of opportunity and cost. But still, if it gives me extra greenie points I will be smug about it! :P It is a pain in the arse though sometimes, like today, when I have to get to Bishops Stortford with children in about an hour! Might be do-able. Will just have to do it and see.
We are looking into getting an allotment. We did start trying to grow stuff in our garden, but it is really too damp and dull in there. We have huge leylandii that I am trying to love. We didn't put them in, and they are so big now it would cost us an absolute fortune to get them removed.
I think that's what I am moaning about really. All the things I would like to do would cost money, we can't do since we are a leasehold, or we just don't have the space. When we move, hopefully all the plans that I have in my head will be able to come to fruition. In the meantime, we do the best we can and I know we are at least trying.
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