Yesterday's skip diving got me thinking about how green/thrifty I am in my lifestyle. Having come from a very poor background and then chosen to be a stay-at-home mum I may have had a head start on all those people who are now having to cut back due to the current economic climate. I'm not too good on the reduce part being such a hoarder and always thinking that things might come in useful but I think we come out reasonably well on the other 2 parts of the recycling slogan. Looking around our home I would say that most of the things in it come under those categories. Right now I am going to try and work on using stockpiled food (I got into the habit when we all thought the milleniun bug was going to reduce the world to chaos) we have in the cupboards and rehoming other items that I don't need.
Take the sitting room for example, very little was bought new. All the wooden furniture came from my mother's home and she in her turn had bought it all from second hand shops. The sofas came from eBay, the woodburner was bought secondhand, the floor lamp was handed on from friends and the exercise bike from a charity shop. My PC was handed down from Peter and the boys (I'm the bottom of the techno chain in this house), the PC table came from a charity shop and my piano bought from a lady at church. We did buy new wood to make the bookshelves and new fabric to make the curtains which leaves only a few new items; the TV but not the cupboard below, that came with our previous secondhand tv and we simply cut the back off to accommodate the new tv, books & LPs and the light fittings which were bought new as the house had been stripped bare before we bought it. Even Speedy could be considered secondhand, he came from Fred who had taken him in as a stray. We're happy with our re-used & recycled home and I don't think that we would change things even if we did have the money.
Take the sitting room for example, very little was bought new. All the wooden furniture came from my mother's home and she in her turn had bought it all from second hand shops. The sofas came from eBay, the woodburner was bought secondhand, the floor lamp was handed on from friends and the exercise bike from a charity shop. My PC was handed down from Peter and the boys (I'm the bottom of the techno chain in this house), the PC table came from a charity shop and my piano bought from a lady at church. We did buy new wood to make the bookshelves and new fabric to make the curtains which leaves only a few new items; the TV but not the cupboard below, that came with our previous secondhand tv and we simply cut the back off to accommodate the new tv, books & LPs and the light fittings which were bought new as the house had been stripped bare before we bought it. Even Speedy could be considered secondhand, he came from Fred who had taken him in as a stray. We're happy with our re-used & recycled home and I don't think that we would change things even if we did have the money. 
And the prize for correctly identifying yesterday's sheep, from the 60 British breeds, as Cheviot sheep goes to Elora.
Photo from the web.I do think there are some rabbit genes in there somewhere.
3 comments:
I didn't realize that there were so many different breeds of sheep!!
That's just the British ones. I expect there are more continental, Aus, NZ and US breeds too. I always like the curly haired ones.
Funny girl! I can verify your correct analysis on the rabbit issue: handling Cheviots may seem very similar to handling rabbits! But resembles a cross between rabbits and birds. (very wiggly and often airborne!)
I love your Reduce Reuse Recycle posts! Same with us. I, too, was ready for Y2K (millenium bug) and still have gallons of vinegar in the basement from 1999.
Elora
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