Re-use

A few years ago, my wife told me about a group of people who make a pledge to not buy new things for a whole year. There are exceptions on their list, of course; there is no such thing as used food or fuel, or other consumables, and it is expected that certain important items like underwear will still be purchased new, but for the most part, the rule was to buy it used or do without.

I hate to see anything go to waste.  I also hate to see my life cluttered up with useless crap.  After we had the exterior of our house redone in Certainteed Fiber Cement board, there was lots left over.  Lots and lots.  We found several small projects, but the most interesting was the mini-Trombe wall.

Many of you are already familiar with my on going battle with Tetra Pak.  Here is a new project for everyone.  I thought this would be a good project because I found very little in the way of recycled pencil boxes when looking for products for the eco school supply product list.  Most pencil boxes were small, kitsch and over priced.

You will need:

So being part of the riot4 austerity and just generally wanting to live a better, healthier life has led us to try and spend more time biking around.  Most of our local errands we accomplish on foot but what about errands that take us out of town but arnt so far that we need to take the car?  What about those intermediate distance shopping trips?  How to get the goods home?

Happy Holidays 2010

This year we have held true to our principals of 2009 and exchanged just a few second hand gifts of things that were needed plus a few new toys for our son from the grandparents.  I ended up needing a few new things myself while we were traveling by train in the week leading up to our holiday so I put the empty packages under the tree so I could remember to be thankful for receiving the things I needed when I needed them.