Posts Tagged "environmental guilt"
Review: Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management
It’s not often I get pitched decent things to review on the blog, in fact, thinking about it, this is the first time. It’s usually giant Christmas Trees or mushy baby food or an invitation to get Kai to do creative things with porridge… But THIS one? This one was bang on the money.
Last week I was sent a copy of Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management ‘The Essential Thrift Bible’ by Caroline Harris.
Described as “A Mrs Beeton for the 21st century”, Caroline’s Harris takes the view that living a more sustainable life is easy AND can save you money and has packed her book full of helpful tips and information to help you change your lifestyle habits.
Now, I have a confession to make… eco-living has always been important to me but since Kai was born I have slipped into some baaaad habits. Mostly it was just laziness, understandable as I was knackered all the time and the easiest option became the most attractive. Plus we were broke. My cleaning cloths began to get usurped by paper towels and wipes; we’d buy cheap convenience foods over ‘proper food’, the slightly more expensive eco/organic/fair-trade brands got replaced by budget alternatives. Fair enough – I don’t claim to be perfect when it comes to responsible living and understandably our minds were on other things (like why, for the love of god, will this child not SLEEP!). But for a while now, the little green chimpanzee that is my conscience has started nagging me again and I decided that I need to make some changes.
So Caroline’s book has landed in my lap at the most perfect time and I have absolutely devoured the contents in the hopes that it might be just what I need to help me make some much needed tweaks to my daily life.
First of all, let me get some things straight. I am no Stepford Wife. In fact, I am a TERRIBLE housewife. My cleaning skills (and frequency) leave much to be desired and I show about the exact polar opposite amount of creativity and imagination in the kitchen that I do in this blog. Secondly, I am no martyr to the environmental cause. If being ‘green’ means I have to dedicate all my free time to to very labour-intensive strategies that cost me a lot of money, I’m probably not going to bother. So what I was NOT looking for was some sanctimonious, preachy woman to make me feel guilty or suggest unrealistic and unsustainable changes to my lifestyle.
Thankfully, this book is none of these things. A mother herself, Caroline is all for making life easier and the tone of the book is friendly, practical, and pragmatic.Caroline herself admits to not following all her own tips all of the time (with a penchant for her power shower) and stresses that, “You don’t have to be perfect (or an austerity fiend) to be a green householder, but simply try to do what you can”. That’s my kind of message!
Divided into easy chapters, it’s perfect for dipping in and out of (helpful given my attention span of a goldfish) and covers the whole range of ‘home’ living and green household management, from the expected topics of energy efficiency and waste management, to more traditional household skills that have the added bonus of being environmentally kind, such as sewing, growing your own veg, home cooking and a cultivating a thrifty attitude. There’s also a chapter on green issues to think about when having children.
Advice is usually based on Caroline’s personal experience and extensive research and told in a style that is easy to read. Website addresses give opportunities for further reading on subjects that interest you and helpful lists and summaries mean you can refer back easily when needed.
Reading Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management has been just the kick up the bum I needed. Caroline recommends making small changes, gradually over time rather than trying to do too much all at once so that’s what I’m planning to do.
We’re already pretty good with our waste management and ‘making do’, so I’ve decided to start with two new areas for me: eco-cleaning and laundry. Kai’s eczema has flared up and I suspect our washing powder is partly to blame so I’ve got an added incentive to try and reduce the number of chemicals in our home. I like the Ecover brand and will be switching back to some of their cleaning and laundry products, but reading the book I’ve also been inspired to try out some more ‘traditional’ cleaning methods. Caroline points out that most products are simply not necessary and that most cleaning jobs can be done just as easily and efficiently with more minimalist options: namely baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice or just plain water on a cloth.
To this end I’m starting a little experiment: we’ve run out of some of our usual cleaning products so today, rather than opt for my usual brands, I went out and bought the following:
The whole lot cost me less than a fiver. Bargain! For the next week or so I’m going to try doing my normal cleaning jobs with these ingredients, following the suggestions in the book. If it’s too much work or isn’t that effective I shall probably abandon it and opt for buying eco-versions of conventional products, but considering how cheap these ingredients are I think it’s definitely worth a try. I shall be reporting back so watch this space…
Caroline Harris’s book ‘Ms Harris’s Book of Green Household Management’ is published by John Murray in paperback and costs £12.99. It is available in all good books shops and to buy online at Amazon. If you’re interested in making some simple changes to help make your lifestyle that little bit greener I would highly recommend it and would love to hear back from you if you too decide to adopt some of her ideas.
In the meantime, if any of you have any ‘green tips’ to share to help me in my new project I’d love to hear them!!
On giant toddlers, bum cracks and a whole lot of Pooh
It is official.
My son is some kind of giant child.
At not quite 17 months old he is now growing OUT of his 18-24 month clothes. Kai’s freakishly long body are giving his vests a rather slovingly off the shoulder look and revealing about three inches of bare chest which is probably not ideal in December. And although we’re still rolling up trouser legs, Kai’s enormous Buddha belly is putting serious strain on his waist line. And this is AFTER he’s slimmed down quite substantially since learning to walk.
This is not good news. I was hoping our huge bin bag of nearly-new clothes from the last NCT sale (in which I showed SPECTACULAR elbowing and bagsying skill) would get us right the way through winter. But no, Mr-Growth-Spurt has gone and bloody grew. So inconsiderate.
I have to admit though, I kinda love his little bod at the moment. He’s got all lanky, his legs have lost some of their chubbiness and gone all knobby and long. It’s not a baby body any more, it’s a toddler body, complete with requisite bruises, scrapes and bumps.
His toddler body matches his new toddler moves. He’s walking confidently now, even working up to a little tottering run. He still has a tendency to fall over and charge head first into door frames (hence bruises) but his body confidence is growing, as is his stamina and his desire to walk further and further. He’s learnt how to stamp his feet, which has resulted in some interesting new dance moves, and has perfected the adorable toddler squat as he plays his complicated car games, lining them and pushing them round, or two stop in the street and pick up whatever interesting twig or leaf has caught his eye. I could watch him all day. I really could.
One other change resulting from all the growing and moving around has been his nappies. A month or two back I finally had to pack Kai’s cloth nappies away, given that they were now revealing about an inch of bum-crack, cutting into his chunky legs, and having to be ridiculously padded out to cope with the shear volume of toddler wee.
It was a sad day. I shall miss his big bottom look and pegging them out on the line (I defy anyone to tell me a sight more beautiful and satisfying that clean nappies drying in the sunshine). They’ve now been washed (you’ll be glad to know) and packed away ready for the bambino #2 when we decide we’re brave enough to start this crazy journey all over again.
So, Kai’s in disposables full time. And I have to say, I kind of love them!! Scraping sticky excrement of cloth is something I don’t miss in the slightest, and given the potency of Kai’s poos these days it allows you to work fast: remove, contain, get it as far the hell away from you. Aceamundo. Yes I still get the little twinge of guilt when the (biodegradable) plastic bag goes in the wheelie bin, but I figure 15 month of clothy goodness is more than most manage, so I’m not going to beat myself up too much.
Anyway. I’m waffling.
In keeping with my new (guilty) love of Kai’s disposable-clad bee-hind, Sleep is for the Weak is taking part in a little Treasure Hunt run by the Huggies’ blog Enjoy the Ride. For the first 14 days of December they’re posting a clue to lead you to a parenting website or blog. Solve the clue and find Winnie the Pooh’s honeypot and you get given the chance to win one of 7000 prizes from free samples to a family break at Disneyland Paris.
Check out the Discovery Hunt webpage to find out how to play. All the clues so far are up for you to solve, with a new one everyday, and if you play along you may just find yourself back here in a day or two…
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