Sustainable September 2018 Day 26

It’s been really cold the last few mornings here in Reading, England! Getting down as cold as 2*C. I know that it will get much colder in weeks and months to come but this little Aussie is already struggling with the temperature changes. That’s the problem with having two summers in a row (Australian then Welsh/English)! 
This next Sustainable September idea is completely unrelated to anything... but is one of the best changes I made to living a more sustainable life. Gents, you can sit this one out... or read through for a great kindness idea you can do...

Day 26. Use Reusable Feminine hygiene 

This can be reusable pads, a diva cup or even reusable period panties.

I have to admit I was a little reluctant, a few years ago, about how this would be so successful for me. I decided to give the Diva Cup (a menstrual cup) a go, supplemented by the reusable pads from two amazing Australian suppliers Scarlet Eve & Little Aussie Monster.

My menstrual cup is THE BEST thing I have ever had gifted to me (it was a Christmas gift from my sister). I love the fact that it only needs to be changed every 12 hours (instead of every 6 hours with a tampon) and that I can change the cup either in the bathroom (preferable with a sink right next to the toilet) or in the shower (which is my preferred method). This means I shower twice a day on my period, which is probably not a bad habit to not feel as icky anyways. When I take out my menstrual I can see how heavy my period is, as the side of the Diva cup has measurements. It is a great thing to take note of for your own records because knowing this can help your gynaecologists know how much blood you’ve lost and if its more or less than usual.

The other great thing about the Menstrual cup, is that because it holds so much blood I don’t need to wear my reusable pad for more than the first 3 days. I am one of the many who have seven day periods, so not having to wear pads for 4 of those days is bloody awesome! And I wouldn’t have to wear the pads at all if I changed the Diva cup more regularly during the first three days, but I’m too lazy to do that. Lol. So I am happy with my combination of reusable pads and diva cup.

I won’t comment here on Period Panties but I know that there are several available that are a reusable period alternative to pads, tampons or even a diva cup. I’ll leave this review for another time. In the meantime I am really happy with the system I have for managing my periods! 

I also know that this has saved me a fortune already. I have had my diva cup for almost 2 years now (Christmas is its birthday) and even though I didn’t purchase it, I know it cost about $50AUD (£25) and it can last for up to 10 years. The pads I bought cost about $50 in total too and whilst this might seem like a lot of money, it has totally been worth it. I would easily spend $10(£5) a month (pre-reusables) and I would buy a combination of Tampons and Pads each month. Sometimes I would even buy more than one pack depending on how heavy my bleeding was.

After 10 months these reusables have paid for themselves. When Christmas comes around I would have saved $140 ‘above and beyond’ the cost that I was paying for my feminine hygiene. Best investment ever. 

Lads, I know some of you are thinkin that this is not something that YOU can do much about... and you are probably right, however being open to sharing some ideas with the ladies in your life, would make a massive difference to them. And if you partner, sister, mother, aunt, cousin, friend or coworker is struggling at that time of the month, do something nice for them. Its the best kindness a girl can ask for, havng the support of someone they know and care about. I wish you all the best with this idea.

I hope this finds you all well!
Love Daena

Sustainable September 2018 Day 21

For those following along at home, you would have noticed that this Sustainable September Idea didn't go up when I usually have them ready to go up! I took some time to take care of myself today that meant limiting my screen time. So that’s what I did so two posts will be done today instead!

I can’t believe my third week of work is coming to an end. How fast has the time gone?

This next idea is one i do ALL the time.

Day 20. Take your own bags

This is simple enough. This may not save you a heap of money, but here in the UK at big stores like Tesco they charge you 5p for a reusable plastic bag. My old housemate would reuse and reuse the bags, that she had to buy, for everything, which was awesome.

I, however, have my very own reusable bags that I’ve had for the last few years. I only bought 4 with me to the UK. 3 “green” bags from Woolworths and one I made myself. I find these reusable bags infinitely stronger than any form of single use plastic bag. I carry these almost everywhere I go. I transfer them between my work bag, and day bag so I have them with me when I really need them. The only time recently where I havent had any was when I went out for a night on the town and wasnt going to be purchasing anything that was going to be leaving the restaurant or bar. 

I also have two “onya” reusable produce bags, which are awesome, I carry these with me everywhere too.

I have one I made myself last year, which I made from scrap netting I got from an op-shop/thrift shop. The are super easy to  make if you have the time, machine and fabric!

For the maths, if you bought one bag a week, every week for a year, at Tesco for 5p, you’d save yourself £2.60… which isn’t much, but it adds up fast.

I hope you find this helpful!
Love Daena

Sustainable September 2018 Day 15

Today I am back in Wales visiting my boyfriend. We were supposed to go for a walk between Cardiff and Caerphilly but its now pouring with rain. Whoops! however it gives me a bit of time to post this Blog.

Sustainaible September idea for ...

Day 15. Create a capsule wardrobe

This idea works so well with the  I have done this the last few years and its made a huge difference to not only what I buy but what I wear and how made up I look. And it also means I can be lazier, as everything in my wardrobe goes together.

This is my list of clothes and then I label them in order of what I want to include in my Capsule wardrobe for the next 3 months. 

I only buy things I LOVE and this stops me from buying unnecessary things just because they are cheap. I also make sure that I try everything I buy on. This works in great colaboration with the 30x Rule. Because only when you know it fits with your capsule wardrobe AND you absolutely love it enough to wear it at least 30x will you buy the right things for you.

This stops me from purchasing stuff that I will have to return later. Or in my case, before this, forget to return the items and leave in the bottom of the closet for too long, only for it to never get used and then eventually found and donated to charity with its tags still on.

If we are more deliberate with our choices then we can save money from buying things that will not serve us.

I originally started this by putting together a travel capsule wardrobe for my round the world trip in 2013. I cant believe that it was so long ago.

If you already have a great capsule wardobe, consider giving Project 333 a go! 33 items of clothing for a 3 month period.

I follow the hashtag #Project333 on Instagram too. which is a great source of inspiration.

I hope this finds you all well.

Love Daena x

Sustainable September 2018 Day 14

Today I had a nice day in the office at work. We spent the day labelling finds, specifically bags of pottery, ready to be taken to a local museum. Which meant I got to know a few of my colleagues a bit better. We had a nice time laughing, joking and of course working! 

This next idea is one I have only recently instigated. Since the beginning of March. So it’s pretty new in its usage. 

14. Choose the 30x rule

This is a great rule for clothing, although it could be applied to other things.

Before buying an item of clothing, you have to agree to using a piece of clothing 30 times before you are allowed to give it away.

I do this with all my clothing that I buy from now on. I record this in my little (BuJo) book so that I know how many times I have worn a specific item.



This has actually saved me money too. Now I am much more discerning about what I buy because I ask myself if I will wear something 30 times. Often the answer to the question is no. I like something but not enough to wear it so many times. Either that or I want to buy clothes for a specific one-off purpose.

I have found instigating this rule has actually made me creative because I am more likely to use what I already have than buy something that I will not use a lot.

How are you finding Sustainable September? Do you have any questions or ideas of your own you’d like to share? 

I hope this finds you all well, 

Love Daena 

Sustainable September 2018 Day 11

This month is going by fast. I just started my second week at work as an archaeologist and I have been coming home exhausted, showering, cooking food (for dinner and left overs for lunch the next day plus preparing breakfast to eat as I walk out the door early morning). I do manage to get some writing done for the blog before I write my blessings and go to sleep. 

I wanted to keep this particular Sustainable September idea short. So please forgive me for not including a bunch more information. I will do my best to recomment a few places to get more information, so hopefully that covers the huge holes in todays idea...

Day 11. Buy Less Stuff

Or simply put... stop buying into Consumerism.

We all need to eat, cloth ourselves, and be social, however what You don’t need is the newest ‘it’ thing. Sure it might be nice, but the more research done shows that the joy from purchasing the “newest” or “best” thing, is short lived and often leaves people in debt, unhappier and less satisfied.

I am not saying don’t buy anything! What I am saying is... be more discerning about what you choose to purchase. Not only will this help you save money, it will stop you buying things you don’t need, that will eventually end up in landfill.

I, personally, have a list in my journal that I use. I write down what I want to buy and the date I write down that I want to buy it. I then leave it for 30 days, particularly if it’s over about $50AUD or £25. 

This does give me some leeway if I need something in a hurry (under £25/$50). But I have found that I put all my wants on the list, no matter how small so that I assess if I do really need it. more often than not I dont really need something.

After 30 days I can choose to purchase whatever it was, but if I still don’t NEED that item, I don’t buy it. I have even scratched a few things off my list, because I've decided that I haven’t needed them. Or I leave them on the list for when I decide the time is right.

This often means not going to shops unless I have a list. This saves me a fortune because you aren’t just buying things because they are nice or cheap.

I have developed this spending strategy over the last few years as I was inspired by the work of The Minimalists. If you have time check out the Netflix Documentary "Minimalism: Live a meaningful life" as it can give people a how-to-guide to reassesing life. This often means simplifying life and only keeping those things that are the most important to you. When you figure out the why to, you can the use Maria Kondo's "Life Changing Magic of Tidying Up" (like I did) for the how to.

If buying less excites you then check out "Buy Nothing New Month" in October. Check out the "no spend challenge" or read Cait Flanders Book: "The Year Of Less". It’s on my list of books to read however I have read some of her blog posts and heard her talk about her year of less.  

I wanted to keep this post short but im sure I could talk about it for ages! Feel free to message me for more tips and tricks to help you stop buying as much stuff. 

Much love,
Daena

Sustainable September 2018 Day 10

I found myself using Paper towel today because it was just easier. It qwas a knee jerk reaction to spilling coconut oil eberywhere. I was able to throw the paper towel in the compost. However, I was hoping to make one day papertowel free. iit just shows you how much we use it and how even with thebext intentions we still make mistakes.

The idea today is simple...

10. Use a metal or glass straw

Okay, I’ll admit it will take time to have this one actually save you some money. However, this product will last you a lifetime (except the glass one if you drop it) and you can reuse it over and over again. Comparatively, a single use plastic straw will be able to be used once and then never be used again, whilst lasting a lifetime.

So in the efforts to be as honest with you all as possible i want you to know its okay to make some mistakes. I bought my stainless steel straws online from eBay for about $4 for 8 straws with 4 brushes.

I ended up keeping two of these straws for me and my mum, giving 4 to my sister for her family as part of a Christmas gift and gave another two away as gifts also. I must admit it was great in some ways because it was super cheap, but here is where i made a few little mistakes. When I got the straws they were each individually wrapped in plastic and they were also shipped from china. Not my finest moment but at the time finance was the most pressing concern I had. So I went with cheap eco products over locally produced, which is a shame as not long after I bought these cheap straws someone in my suburb started selling the ones they had made themselves. Which would have been amazing to purchase.

If you look at how much a box of plastic straws cost (Approximately) you'd need to take 10 uses of a single use straw to make your money worth spending. hich is rediculous. Not to mention saying no to plastic straws will be saving lives in the long run as a lot on sea animals struggle to survive with plastic contamination in our oceans. Sadly, there are some disturbing videos on the internet of animals with straws in their noses. It hurts my heart to look at them, but it was enough to see that i wanted to buy a metal straw and start refusing single use plastic straws almost immediately.

I hope this finds you well.

love Daena x

Sustainable September Day 8 2018

How do you make a hanky dance?

You put a little Boogie in it.

Yes it is a classic joke/terrible joke depending on how you look at it. Yet it does get us talking about Sustainable September in a whole new way.

For those reading this for a social update, I have just completed my first full week of work as an archaeologist. 

I am so blessed with this amazing opportunity. I got to work with some amazing and knowledgeable people this week and I have already learned so much from them. It is pretty darn awesome!

For those reading this for the sustainability...  then check out the idea for...

Day 8. Buy in Bulk  

Whilst I bought in bullk a lot in Australia, I havn't had as much of an opportunity to do so here in the UK.  However, I must say I am going to dedicate this one to my old house mate Beth, becuase this one is straight out of my housemates guide to saving money.



I kind of wish you could see this in comparison to the microwave it was sitting. But it’s much bigger than the microwave. So hopefully that gives you some perspective! 

Beth got this HUGE plastic wrapped bag of 16 rolls of paper towel for £5 when 2 rolls normally cost £1. Not only did she find that the cost was better but I noticed that we had reduced the amount of plastic by simple buying ONE large pack instead of 8 separate packs of 2 or 16 individually wrapped rolls of paper towel.

Why did we need so much kitchen roll you might ask?
One of the main reason we used so much was because the greedy cats (and yes that is all this turned out to be - the vet agrees) would inhale their food and then vomit it back up, all over the house. It was not pretty. 

The cats themselves are adorable (& now I’m living in Reading I do miss them a lot). 

Beth would also buy Kitty litter in Bulk too which also gave her a several £ saving.

Buying in Bulk doesn’t just apply to paper towel, but can apply to food staples (in many people’s houses) like rice. I used to buy a 5Kg bag of rice for $10-$15 every two months because we used so much. The larger 5kg bags came in Fabric but price per kilo, the amount was so much cheaper. Buying 1kg of Rice at a time would cost between $3.50-$5.

I tend to purchase things like Bi-carb Soda, vinegar (if i can get white/spirit vinegar in a glass jar), pickles, olives, pickled onions, arrowroot flour and dried fruit in as large a container as I can get so that I dont have to use as much plastic. Yes, I still buy plastic products, but a lot less than I used to. And if there is a choice i buy in alternative eco friendly packaging. If not... well I buy in bulk where possible. Often I just don’t buy those products or put it off for as long as possible. 

I like to think of the quote that says, "When you know better, you do better." And thats all i can ask of myself and you all. I hope I am giving you some useful tools to help you get more excited and creative with your Sustainable Septembers and sustainable lives. 

I hope this finds you all well.

Love Daena 

Sustainable September Day 6

It was my first day out on an excavation site for my new Archaeology job yesterday. 

It is so exciting. Well... maybe not for everyone but definitely for me! 

One cool thing is discovering what people threw in "middens" thats archaeology talk for "rubbish bin". I guess this last few days has helped me see what historical and ancient people ate, used and threw away hundreds, if not thousands, of years ago.

Todays idea combines what I have been looking at this week in my job with what we are doing now, and could do more of, to manage our own waste, and save money at the same time.

Day 6 - Compost 

Why would this save you money? Well when all those awesome veggies you will be growing from your food scraps... from all the extra veggies you would be using from Meat free Mondays/Weekday Vegetarianism... you are going to need to keep your now thriving veggies healthy and strong.

Need to know how to start a compost bin? Here is a very quick video to get you on your way.

If this doesnt have enough information in it for you, you can type in " How to make a Compost bin" into YouTube and you will find hundred and thousands of ideas to get you on your way. Just don't do what I did and fall down the YouTube hole and come out a few hours later having learned all the ins and outs of all kinds of composting. I think i still have so much to learn sharing some of the things i have learned to help others and the environment is probably the best idea for kindness today.

I admit Composting isn't a fast idea. I will take some time for your compost to be useful for your garden as food scraps break down. Once it does, however, you will be pretty pleased with yourself. Not only for making awesome soil for your garden but also for creating a simple way of getting rid of your own food waste, so it doesnt end up in landfill.

When I set up my little garden I was able to buy 3 x 20Lt bags of compost and mulch for £6 ($12AUD). I ended up not using two of the bags and giften them to someone who is building their own garden. YAY Kindness! If I had been making my own compost I could have saved some £££/$$$. Not heaps of money, but every dollar/pound you don't spend on food/compost/anything really, is money that could go towards things that really bring you joy.

I hope this gives you some inspiration!

Love Daena

Sustainable September 2018 - Day Two

Good day my lovely friends!

I shared yesterday that this week I am moving to a new town, house-hunting, starting a new job and doing my best to keep as connected to my friends, family and boyfriend as possible. So I am keeping it short and sweet for now...
 
Day Two: Take your own reusable water bottle – Seriously this is a real money saver. 

In Australia it cost about $3AUD or even £1.50 per 600mls of water in a plastic bottle here in the UK. If you average that as 4 bottles a day (for minimum water intake of 2Lts) then by taking and refilling your own water bottle you can save yourself $12AUD or £6 per day. Which if you do this alone would be $4380AUD per year or £2190. Even if you can get cheaper bottled water that is still a significant cost in a year. 

If you buy soft drinks, that is often a greater cost again, although your average person wouldn’t purchase it as regularly as water. However, if you did use 4 single use plastic bottles (600ml bottles) that’s 1460 bottles that are not going to landfill or needed to be recycled. Cheaper for your hip pocket and cheaper for the environment. 

If you drink from single use water bottles because of the taste, check out getting a water filter instead. It will save you and fortune and save all those plastic water bottles ending up in landfill. 

For Plastic Free July I did some stuff on instagram including sharing about my water bottles. 

I hope this finds you all well.
 
Sending love to you all.
Love Daena

ps. What is your best tip for using your reusable water bottle?

Sustainable September 2018 - Day 1

Sustainable September 2018

In the next few days I am moving to a new town, house-hunting, starting a new job and doing my best to keep as connected to my friends, family and boyfriend as possible. So this month I want to keep Sustainable September short and sweet. 

I want to start with something tiny, a simple digital change, that whilst you are doing very little actually make a difference…

1.    Day One: Use Ecosia.com – Use this web-browser to help the environment (not google).It is FREE and is a simple way to help the environment. Simply start using it instead of google and you can help trees get planted.

This website plants trees when you use it. I have it set up on my tablet and use it a lot of my web browsing. It’s easy to do and helps people plant trees. It doesn’t save you money but it doesn’t cost you anything either.If you want a reveiew before taking my word for it here is one from Path Around the World.

I hope this finds you all well.

Love Daena x

Ps. If you could plant a tree, what type of tree would you plant? and where?

Sustainable September 2018 - And so it begins again Q&A

It's that time of year again, where you can count on me to be here every day... sharing what I lovingly call Environmental Kindnesses during Sustainable September. 

I thought I would answer a few questions to set the coming month in motion...

Why do I do Sustainable September on a Kindness blog?

One of the things that people often forget is that kindness doesn’t have to be only for other humans. It is a gift that we can give to creatures great and small, ourselves and the environment. 

This earth sustains life. Our lives. It seems like a small thing to take one month out of every year to help give back and help preserve the environment for future generations. That is a kindness to our children too. Kindness can simply be making the world a better place for those who are yet to be born, or those who are yet to grow up. 

We can kindly make the world a better place for others and for ourselves. But most of all we can choose to live more sustainably so other people, plants, organisms and animals have a better chance at living their best lives.

How long have you been doing Sustainable September?

So for the last 4 years I have been working to create a Sustainable life for myself, and to inspire others to make simple changes for the benefit of all. It is important to be kind to ourselves, each other, other living things and particularly the environment which sustains us.

What will Sustainable September Focus on this year?

One of the things that stops a lot of people with regular old kindnesses (not that there is realy a thing as 'regular' or 'old' about kindness) but that they think it requires a lot of cash to do it. That is simply not true. However, this year I thought I would share money saving ways to help the environment AND put some money back in your pockets to save up to do that kindness that you have been wanting to do for ages. Or to, you know, help you pay the bills.

What is new this year?

So in May I moved from Australia to Wales, and I am currently preparing for a new move to England. 

I have just gotten my first job in Archaeology in the UK. And I am super excited!!!

I have been pretty lucky that I could get work in my field of study after such a long time of study.

So while we will be doing Sustainable September together, we can explore our own cities, or in my case a new city, and find eco-friendly options.

This month I will be attempting to share some of the things I am doing or have started here.

One of the things I would like to take this sustainable September to look at is how living environmentally friendly can actually save you money. It doesn’t have to be an expensive lifestyle change. In fact it can actually save you a lot of money and I want to show you how.

What have you learned in the UK?

I used my last 3 months in Wales to learn about and support the first Zero Waste stores in Cardiff. I am so excited that there will be a not for profit Zero Waste store opening in the coming months there. You can follow @ripple_living on Instagram, and i even supported their Kickstarter campaign. 

On a side note: I will be returning to Cardiff regularly (as that is where my boyfriend lives). So if you see some of the things I share it will be a mix of England and Wales. 

Where else can I find out about Kindness? 

There are literally hundreds of amazing websites, profiles, pages and people who promote Kindness in this world. I encourage you to seek them out, share them and encourage them. It will make a huge difference to them, as it does to me.  

If you want to find out about the 365 Days of Kindness Facebook page click the link here. 

You can also follow me personally on Instagram (which is pretty new for me) @daenaguest. I must admit there is a lot of posts about good books, yummy food, kindness and sustainable practices on there already. I am also on Pinterest (but not as much these days). So feel free to check either social media account out, and if it aligns with your values, please follow me, if not... Thanks for thinking about it. 

I want to thank you all for reading this far and I wish you all the best in whatever you do. I hope you keep checknig out Sustainable September though. It's pretty awesome, if I do say so myself... and I do! hehehhe.

If you have any more questions please don't hesitate to ask. 

Much love to you all,

Daena Guest