Posts Tagged "making changes"
Pulling Up Stakes
I have lived in the same town now for 23 years.
We moved here in the winter, just before my fifth birthday. A winter of snow, I remember, thick and deep, much like this one. It’s funny really that I should start and end my time here with snow.
For we are moving.
The little terrace house that Ant and I have made our first home is rapidly getting a little tight around the waist, our collective bulge as a family of three leaving us all feeling uncomfortable and irritable and in need of stretchier accommodation. Something with room for an extra person perhaps, of the small and loud variety, and a washing machine that isn’t in a falling-down out-house in the garden, and a hall way and a drive way and kitchen that can fit more than one of you in at a time.
We could stay here, of course, in this town. Find something nearby, in a nicer neighbourhood (of which there are some), close to friends and family and everything we know. Ant would be happy with that, he likes it here.
But I just can’t do it. It seems I have reached absolute saturation point in my ability to appreciate or enjoy anything Stafford-y. Everything about here bores me: the same streets, the same views, the same endless lines of congested traffic. The small, isolated patches of green that seem fewer and farther between than I remember. There are more featureless housing estates and unfamiliar people than ever before. The high street is drowning in a sea of boarded up shops and windows, carbon-copy brand name stores. . We are stuck in a routine of going to the same places week in week out and Kai and I have read all the books in the library.
I need a change.
I REALLY need a change.
So yes, a move it is. To greener pastures. Or rather, not-quite-the-greener-pastures-we-would-like-as-turns-out-all-the-REALLY-nice places-cost-a-bomb-but-still-pretty-nice-which-will-have-to-do.
The schools are excellent. The estates we’re looking at back on to open fields with the beautiful expanse of forest, that breathes home to me and I’m not sure I could ever leave, only five minutes up the road. There is a beautiful new leisure centre and library a short bus drive away, and towns with good shops and rail links only a ten minute drive.
It’s not perfect. Not our DREAM town. But it’s close enough. And for potential first-time-buyers slowly realising the reality of house prices vs. what we can afford to borrow and maintain, we are realising that close enough may have to do.
We went yesterday. To look around the area, get a sense of where we would want to live. We will rent first, while we get a feel for the place and while my mums sell this house that they rent out to us. And we plan to move soon, by summer at the latest.
It’s not far away. 15 miles which means Ant won’t have to move jobs and we’re close enough to family to make popping over still easy. And yet it may as well be the other side of the world in terms of my experience of settling and living anywhere new.
I’m terrified.
Completely, genuinely, metaphorically sh*t-in-my-pants, scared.
What if I hate it? What if I don’t make any friends there and am horribly lonely? What if we buy a house that falls down around our ears and that leaves us even broker than we are already? What if I’m being horribly naive and swapping an ok-but-I’m-bored-of-it town for something much worse?
F*ck it.
I will never know if I never try.
Sometimes a change IS as good as a rest, and maybe new streets to pound and new places to go to are just what I need.
I am imagining taking a big, slow, breath in of that new air and that new life, and do you know what?
I think it feels good.
Read MoreReview: 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!!
