Wood for the Trees

Lately I've become quite disempowered. I used to have a zest for fighting against injustice and trying to make the world a better place. But with everything that 2020 has brought, the chaos, the injustices, the suffering, I have just felt disempowered. It just seems that greedy, inept people fall upwards whilst everyone else suffers.  Add into that the fact that under lockdown my responsibilities have gone up exponentially. I am trying to work, homeschool my kids, maintain my health, look out for my community, keep up with other people's expectations of me that I have no time for thinking, no time for me.  (After this experience I will never complain about being short on time ever again!) Issues which I read about I know that I should feel compassion for, and normally I would, but right now, under lockdown, I look inside and I have nothing left to give.  I have had to turn down extra hours at work which I have waited over a year for because I am struggling to...

Even in 2020 we don't often write posts about periods, but half the population experience them, and that creates a lot of waste. But slowly that is changing and reusable sanitary towels and mooncups are becoming more prevalent. I have been using reusable sanitary towels for about 7 years now. They're more comfortable, more absorbent, saves money and better for the planet. What's not to love? Well they do chafe something chronic when it comes to exercising. Long runs from home I can get away with free bleeding and stripping off in the shower. But other exercise is a bit more tricky. (And who the frig decided doboks should be white?! Not someone who has periods that's for sure)  When I heard about period pants I wondered if this might be the solution. So I ordered some. I bought the light - moderate flow one as that's the one they sold as activewear. But as my purpose would be to wear them for a only a few hours even on a heavy flow day I hoped this would be en...

It's been about two years since I started this blog so clearly by now my house is a picture of minimalist tranquillity. *laughs manically* No. Really no. I have got better at thinking about purchases, and I have got rid of bag after bag of donations but it's barely scratched the surface. I would like to do a big declutter in 2020, partly to try and get rid of some stuff which I seem to be endlessly picking off the floor and partly because January is designed for making good intentions which you will most likely break part way into February. But before I begin those posts I have started with a reflection of the things I've found most difficult so far. 1. Time restraints The hardest bit of the process isn't the identifying the item that you no longer need. It's the processing: The cleaning, the fixing, the rehoming. It's very time consuming and that's time and energy I just don't have. 2. Actually throwing things away I try to be environmental...

Writing bucket lists seems a little superficial these days but I've found writing it has helped me to focus on what I want to achieve. It's so easy to get burdened down in the hundrum of day to day life, especially as a parent that it has been good to spend some time thinking about things for ME! I wanted to write a realistic list too because though I would love to write visit Niagara falls or the Grand Canyon, unless I win the lottery in the next few years (Very unlikely given I don't play it) it's not going to happen. So here it is. Let's see how far I get through in the next 3 years!! 1. Actually write a 40 before I'm 40 list This is proving much harder than i thought it would. Apparently I don't have very many aspirations. I got to no. 10 then got stuck! Edit 27/01/20: This is now being published after reading a LOT of other people's '40 before 40 lists' and stealing some ideas, (which seems to be quite common, or more people than i tho...

I found this post drafted on my phone whilst clearing out my notes. Healthwise i am doing a lot better but i thought this deserved to be posted as a reminder about not trying to live up to what we see on social media. There was a meme that circled a few weeks back; I am a person who likes to do lots of things trapped in the body of a person who likes to sleep a lot. Never were truer words spoken when you suffer with fatigue. Cutting out gluten has helped. I have gone from a state where getting through the day was a struggle. Where merely standing up felt like gravity was crushing me. Where I was waking up tired, surviving till I was able to have a nap in my lunch break then surviving till I could go to bed normally about the same time as the kids. Where if you asked me a question it would take some time to register that it had been asked then to try and formulate an answer was like my brain was being dragged through thick soup. To a state where most days are good days. But I stil...

Buy this product it saves the planet! My Facebook ad stream currently screams at me. The words may have changed to fit in with current popular feeling but the narrative hasn't. Buy! Buy! Buy! Sure if you happen to *need* a new t-shirt, your current clothes are worn beyond repair and you have already searched all the nearby charity shops with no luck then buying one made from organic cotton, not made in a sweatshop (though the ones on my Facebook ad make no such claim) and bearing a planet saving logo is likely your best bet. But i suspect this is not the advertiser's intent. The hungry resource intensive conveyabelt of capitalism still hurtles along but now it promises us 'organic' cotton and nice slogans that make us feel better. It eases the conscience without us having to make many actual concessions to our lifestyle. You see this in Fast Fashion outlets bringing us 'eco' ranges. Clothes made from recycled plastics (which will still shed microfibres in ...

I haven't blogged for a while. Apart from a few token Christmas posts I haven't blogged for about a year. Illness and family/work pressures have stolen any free time that I had. I also lost enthusiasm for blogging. Caught up in a stream of others' stream-lined, well researched, professional posts I tried to copy what they were doing. It didn't go so well. I lost focus on why I started my blog in the first place. It was supposed to be a record of my journey, as a parent, trying to live ethically and sharing the wins but also the fails. A realistic view of what that means and sharing what I'd learnt. But I got caught up in trying to be a perfectionist. In trying to be an expert on a pedalstool, when I'm not. So I lost enthusiasm. Since then, I've seen friends ask questions on social media about aspects of ethical living. I've also changed my job to one which is less demanding of my time, energy and health. So I think it is time to re-visit the bl...

On Christmas eve this post popped up on my Facebook feed Black bin bags at the ready indeed. Christmas creates so much waste. We buy things with the sole purpose of throwing them away. Christmas cards which get put up for a couple of weeks then thrown away or at best recycled. Wrapping paper which gets torn open and scattered across your living room. Crackers. There is a Michael Macintyre skit where he asks what happened to the things we won in crackers. You don't get people saying anyone fancy a game of cards with this set of miniature cards that I won at Christmas? Because they end up in the bin that's why. To be honest, my least favourite Christmas tasks are writing cards and wrapping presents and to have an environmental excuse not to do them is somewhat of a relief. Last year we used blankets and reused paper bags to put the presents in. Were my children, then aged 2 and 5 disappointed not to come down to beautifully wrapped presents? No. They were more concerned ab...

I decided this year that now my youngest is getting to the age where she can cope with simple games that a nice family tradition to start would be to buy a Christmas board game that we could all enjoy. This year following reviews from Let Toys Be Toys we bought the cooperative game Dinosaur Escape. The synopsis is that you are helping 3 dinosaurs to escape the mainland to dinosaur island before the volcano erupts. You need to turn over a token with a matching dinosaur to the one in the same quadrant to move to the island. You each take it in turns to roll the dice, move a dinosaur and turn over a token (or add a piece of volcano if you roll a volcano picture). As a cooperative game it helps children to learn sharing and teamwork by suggesting which dinosaur to move and helping each other to remember what the flipped over tokens are. It says 4+ on the box but comes with instructions for younger players (you leave the tokens over so don't need to remember them) and with a b...

For the last few years alongside our normal advent calendar we have also been doing a Reverse Advent Calendar. If you haven't come across this before, this is where you put an item of food in a box for each day of advent for Food bank. Some Food banks issue a list of suggestions of what to put in each day like this one from Islington Food bank: Others suggest starting earlier in November to ensure the food gets to the food bank in time for Christmas. We find out from the food bank which items are in short supply and try to include a high amount of these items. Then drop some each week at church as church has a food bank drop off point. There are also often drop off points at different local facilities such as supermarkets, community centres or to the food bank themselves. Then for each day of advent the kids pick out an item each to put in the box. And they really have gotten on board with this! My 6yo was reasoning her choices. "Yesterday I picked vegetables a...

This last week we have been on a family holiday to Wales. We have had a good time bearing in mind that often when holidaying with young children is just dealing with them having a breakdown in a more picturesque location. But one thing I noticed was the huge increase in plastic waste we got through. When you're at home it's a lot easier to reduce plastic, you can gather, money permitting, your plastic free alternatives, local knowledge of the best places to shop, networks etc. It is a lot easier to prepare. When you're in a different country and you don't know the facilities, you're running on survivalist mode a lot more. Take this scenario. You are at a soft play. Child 1 is having a nice time. Child 2 is having a meltdown yelling that's she's scared and not letting you put her down but does want to go in to the soft play but not down. So you have to make your way out through the softplay whilst holding a screaming 2 year old. Kettlebell workouts h...

On twitter for #plasticfreejuly I have been sharing daily companies or ideas that have helped me reduce plastic. And follow me on  @jojolw Here is my weekly round up. Day 1 Enjoying a #plasticfree #decaf #brew with @brewteaco Loose leaf and no plastic packaging Day 2  Funky Soap Shop for my face soap and shampoo bar (mum #hack - nits don't like tea tree so this one is my shampoo bar of choice for all the family 😁) Day 3 kids bamboo toothbrushes sold by @EKOearth_ Good size of brush for little mouths #parenting Day 4 @WonkyVegBoxes for (mostly) #plasticfree fruit and veggies delivered to my door. Also 👍 for reducing #foodwaste and donating to food banks Day 5 Remembering to take a reusable bag to the shops. Keep a small fold-up one in your handbag/car/hung up by your keys. Day 6 Remembering to take your own cup or mug to places that only give you disposables. Added benefit is knowing which your cup is at toddler groups! Day 7 @Earthwi...

A few years ago I watched a programme called Hugh's War on Waste. It highlighted the crazy amount of food that gets wasted each year and has really made me think. The stats day that; UK households threw away 7.3 million tonnes of wasted food in 2015.  And before it even gets to our houses farmers are wasting enough fruit and veg to feed 2-4 million people , that's enough to feed  6 UK cities their 5 a day for a year. If you look at those stats alongside the Trussel Trust's mid-year report on foodbank use that " 586,907 three day emergency food supplies [were] given to people in crisis in first half of this year, a 13% increase on the same period last year – 208,956 to children" We are wasting a staggering amount of food, yet we have the situation that lots of people cannot afford to feed themselves or their families. It really is quite sickening. My children are quite fussy eaters (well mainly the older one, the younger one just copies her). People used to as...

I have been on my journey into a more ethical and minimalist style of living for a little over 8 months now. Something I have been wondering is whether I'm making any difference at all. With the amount of plastic in the oceans set to triple over the next 10 years, with scientists warning that the planet's sixth mass extinction crisis is under way, is there any hope? And how can buying some soap instead of shampoo or a bamboo toothbrush possibly be enough to avert this crisis? Well it's not. Not on it's own. But individuals have power, businesses want us to think that they are in charge of telling us what we should buy and how we should live, but quite the reverse is true. We decide on how businesses operate by putting our money into them when we purchase things. 15 years ago I was involved in the Fair Trade movement. As a student group we read a policy that the restaurants on campus were supposed to offer fair trade options. So off we went, and asked for a fair tra...

I've been vegetarian for more than 20 years now but quite recently I've been trying to eat more of a plant based diet. When I became vegetarian it was because I didn't really like meat anyway and I had reached the age where I discovered I was allowed to make choices about my own lifestyle. Then as I got older and more aware of what meat was, I found it even more yucky. Of course, I inevitably got the 'dont you miss bacon?' questions (no as bacon basically tastes of salt and I still eat salt) and the 'do you eat fish? My friend is a vegetarian and they eat fish' (well they're not vegetarian then are they? 🙄) But generally people accepted my choices. As the years went by eating out became easier as restaurants accepted vegetarianism as mainstream and I no longer had to construct a meal from the side dishes. I bumbled along quite happily with my cheese dishes and egg dishes. Then I discovered I was an idiot. The problem with culturally accepted norms...

1) Buy secondhand Second hand will save you money, many people sell or give to charity shops things that are almost like new. Clothes, toys, books etc. Of course there are also items which  aren't recommended that you buy new. (Article by The Balance website) 2) Wash clothes at 30 Most everyday clothes that are not heavily soiled can be washed at 30. Washing clothes too much can also damage the fibres, jeans and jumpers especially may not need to be washed if you've only worn them once. 3) Dry clothes outside if you can If it is damp outside, raining or there's frost on the ground then it is unlikely that your clothes will get any drier. However any other day then stick them outside if you have an outside space. Even if they don't get fully dry then this will lessen the amount of time they need to dry inside or in the tumble drier. Drying your clothes inside will also save you money over a tumble drier but ensure good ventilation to your home. Ideally if you...

The three ethical deodorants I've tried so far haven't ended up well. Firstly I used salt rock for a while but noticed minimal improvement and it didn't prevent me being smelly. Infact the salt rock itself ended up smelly! Given that the smell is caused by bacteria and the salt is supposed to stop bacteria growth this means that bacteria was growing and thriving on the salt which was supposed to stop it. This was problematic. Maybe I just have super strength bacteria? The next ones I tried were T'eo and The Greeench from Lush. I tried T'eo first, this was a solid bar and had no plastic packaging, it worked really well in terms of stopping me smelling but after a few weeks of use I got a bad reaction to it. I went back to Lush and talked to the staff who recommended The Greeench as this was more gentle. However this came in a plastic bottle and I still got a reaction from it. Next I tried Earth Conscious. This came in a nice tin and I was able to apply it us...

My 5yo loves to watch YouTube. (Very heavily monitored, only as a treat but still...) What she most loves to watch is people unwrapping things and people playing with toys and demonstrating them. Judging by the amount of views and by talking to other parents this seems to be all the rage for 5 year olds. At the moment she likes to watch LOL dolls. This has of course led to 'mummy can I have an LOL doll?'. If you have not had the misfortune to know what this is, let me describe some of the video to you. First it is covered in packaging layered round it and so you must remove some disposable plastic wrapping, then a bit more disposable plastic wrapping, then a bit more. This then leaves you with a round plastic ball. It has different sections which you can open. You open the first section and inside is some plastic packaging, which you open and there are some small plastic glasses. Then you open another section, more plastic packaging, inside some shoes. You continue to do t...

Shampoo soap bars can take a little while to get used to, they're different in format and nature to bottled shampoos. Firstly they don't contain SLS. SLS or SLES stands for Sodium Lauryl Sulphate or Sodium Laureth Sulphate. What is this? SLES is an inexpensive and very effective  foaming agent . [1]  SLES,  sodium lauryl sulfate  (SLS),  ammonium lauryl sulfate  (ALS), and  sodium pareth sulfate  are  surfactants  that are used in many cosmetic products for their cleaning and emulsifying properties . Wikipedia So it is added to shampoos as a foaming agent. So the first thing you will notice is that shampoo soap bars don't foam in the same way as shampoo does. Psychologically this may make you feel like your hair isn't getting as clean as we've all been sold the line that foam is good. So why don't they put it in? Firstly it is a cheap ingredient often made from Palm oils. Secondly it is an irritant, although studies have show...

So as the year winds to a close, it's always good to look back and see what you have managed to accomplish and what you would like to achieve moving forward. I haven't been able to write as many posts as I was hoping to, life and work got more hectic with less free time to sit and concentrate on writing but here is a summary of things that went well and things that didn't on this year's journey. What have I achieved? Although it has been small steps, overall the amount of disposable plastic I use in my household has been reduced;    Swapping to a veg box with fruit bag means that (mostly) my veg doesn't come in plastic bags and boxes. Thanks to  Wonky Veg boxes It helps now my youngest is slightly older and I no longer have to cook whilst holding her, so we have moved into quick home cooked meals rather than things I can put in the oven using one hand.    With the exceptions of Christmas and birthdays most of the things I have bought have been to replace ...