New Year's Resolutions in the Almost Average household

Good day to all you great people out there! I hope you had a wonderful Christmas and have your sleeves rolled up ready to tackle 2009 because today is New Year's Day and it's time to get cracking and get prepared for the year ahead, no matter what it will bring!I love this time of year and New Year's Day is my favourite of all. For me, it's a special day that always brings new hope, carrying a certain freshness coated with positivity and good intentions that beats Christmas Day, anniversaries and even birthdays hands down. After all, the feeling of hopefulness is one of the greatest possessions...

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My Festive Stocking Fella

I've been wondering what to do with my old laddered hosiery, which has been piling up on top of my cupboard for months. A few scraps of material and a couple of buttons later, I came up with the perfect solution just in time for Christmas...and with it... a little festive greeting.So Merry Christmas everyone. I hope you have a brilliant time and manage to keep those festive bins looking as slim as Scrooge's old dusty wallet. Thank you for a real fun year and cor blimey it was a good 'un.Well, that's me signing off for a while but I'll see you in 2009, when I'll be pondering my new year resolutions....

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Great expectations

I've had to think carefully before writing this post. After all there are only 5 days to go until Christmas Day and I've realised that this year I have been living in a HUGE state of denial.And it's the kind of denial that makes you want to run to the hills and live in a cave for a week and then come out when it's all over.Yes I know, perhaps I need therapy.Especially when you see the evidence...I've only written one card - and yes I know today is the last posting day before Christmas.I've not bought any crackers - we're going to make hats and Mr A will make up some jokes instead.Our presents...

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Today's Twitter with Working with Nature

When I've not been busy on the blog, the book or indeed preparing for Christmas, I've been having a really good Twitter. Not just twittering to myself, but twittering to others over at www.twitter.com, where everyone else is having their fair share of tweets too. And it's fab, you get to meet all sorts of new peeps or tweeps as twittering people are called.And one of those gorgeous tweeps is the lovely Allyson Proudfoot, who runs the Bellingham Soap Company, making luxury soap and skincare products under the brand Working with Nature. If the name sounds familiar, it's because as well as having...

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My Trashy Update!

What a couple of jewels I've discovered this weekend. Having spent the last few weeks indoors at my computer, it was a true delight to go out and play. And look what I've found.My first discovery was Raspberry Rascals, a fantastic children's shop that's just opened in Langton Place, Bury St Edmunds. Here's Heather, the founder, sorting out a few clothes that I decided to buy for the children.Now this shop might look expensive, but Raspberry Rascals isn't just any old new shop if you get my drift. It's a gorgeous nearly new store aimed at children under 5. With clothes, toys, books and...

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A right rubbish matchmaker

Oh...I'm feeling like Cilla Black on Blind Date...I've been matchmaking...and it's so exciting...but not how you'd think!This particular story begins with an evening out with friends at an Indian Restaurant last night. An evening of hilarity and good humour, full of all sorts of innuendos...the fun, the laughter...well you know how it is!One minute you're having a regular night out innocently enjoying your meal. Then before you know it time's whizzed by and the hot towels arrive, a refreshing treat at the end of the evening.Of course I couldn't wash my hands without asking THE question about...

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Liquid Soap Virgin

Sorry I haven't got time to blog much at the moment, busy writing book and all that. But I did tear myself away to make some new liquid soap for the bathroom.I've never made it before, so I thought I'd video it so we could all see how easy or indeed difficult it was. What's great about the ingredients is that they're all natural and don't contain any nasty chemicals and they can be used to keep refilling any old bottle you've got hanging around. And of course it's one less thing to pick up at the supermarket.So how easy is it? Well here's the videoAll ingredients can be purchased from Summer...

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The Hen Party

My weekend was so exciting. I went to a neighbour's house to meet up with some special girls. It was a Hen Party run on behalf of Omlet for people interested in keeping chickens. Truth of the matter is I've been feeling broody for years and these ones had me running home clucking with intentions.So if you fancy the idea of keeping some too and want a sneaky peek at how to handle a chicken, check out the video below. They're gorgeous! (Huge thanks to Graham for agreeing to be uploaded and featured).__________________________________________________...

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All in a Christmas lather

Blimmin 'eck. It's Sunday night and there's a bit of a lather going on in the Almost Average household.I've been falling over myself with responsibilities with the dawning realisation that the festive season is upon us and the one thing that I really want for Christmas isn't really possible. It might sound drastic but I could do with the whole thing being pushed back a few months.Blubbedyrubbedyflibbedy-woo. The tell-tale signs are starting.Take last week. Mr A went brought our Christmas tree home and put it up on Wednesday (we always do it early in our house). I had explained that it would...

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We would love you to recycle this packaging...

"....but you have to separate the cardboard from any plastic. Just pop it along to your local recycling centre, and place it in the relevant bin."Well what can I say? I must be in chocolate heaven and so close to Christmas too! Not only am I sat enjoying a box of yummy Thorntons chocolate mints, but the considerate product designers have included instructions on what I should do with the packaging.It's common knowledge that one of the problems with getting people to recycle is the lack of knowledge about whether something can be recycled. Indeed 48% of recyclers interviewed for WRAP's Barriers...

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Just look how I fell off the wagon!

Now if you'd spent a whole month trying to avoid buying nothing new, what would be the first thing to encourage you to part with your cash? Bet it wouldn't be a tub of dishwasher powder! Something with a touch of luxury would probably win the day and who could blame you.But for me it was pure unadulterated minimal packaging that broke the financial fast, a tub of Bio-D dishwasher powder, a gleeful alternative to packaged tablets that are not just fiddly to open, but make it difficult to be more economic with measures, especially those with the plastic wrappers that dissolve in the dishwasher.By...

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A zero waste lifestyle in a nutshell

THE RUBBISH DIET - EIGHT SIMPLE STEPS TO SLIM YOUR BINIf you're keen to reduce your household waste but don't know where to start, why not consider the quick start guide below and follow your very own Rubbish Diet plan. Just remember to regularly weigh-in and watch that bin get slimmer by the week.STEP 1: Set the date! Find an appropriate date when you will take part in your very own Zero Waste Week. During that week your challenge will be to avoid buying or throwing away anything that can't be composted or recycled. A week with zero waste to landfill! Just make sure you've got about 8 weeks...

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Taglicious Tangents

If you follow this blog for my murmurings about reducing waste, then look away now because today I'm going off on a tangent and it's a real 180 degrees one at that.You see I've been double tagged, by the lovely ladies Just Gai and Maisie who have been waiting patiently for me to stop talking rubbish and reveal some random photos and interesting minutiae of my life.So, the photo you see above is in response to Maisie's tag, where she asked me to select the 6th folder in My Pictures directory and then publish the 6th photo in the list. The risk...and then the relief...that it wasn't a photo of...

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Guest Post: The Clean Bin Project

I can't remember how I first came across The Clean Bin Project. It might have been through Mrs Green's site over at MyZeroWaste, but when I first hopped over at the blog, I couldn't help being impressed.I had felt utterly stunned that I had managed to do a Zero Waste Week back in March but over at the Clean Bin Project, blogger Jen had signed up to a much bigger event, a consumer free year no less. A year of buying nothing new! Well you can see where I got my inspiration for my Buy Nothing New month can't you.So as I put my feet up and consider all that I haven't bought this month, it's over...

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Greening up your green fingers with Wyevale

It might not be the weather to tempt you out into the garden, but a browse around our local Wyevale store yesterday has resurrected my enthusiasm for tackling our little patch of land.And I needed a pick-me-up having spent the last few days suffering from man-flu (yes I know, I freely admit it I am the only woman to come down with the virus and am happy to defend blokes who suffer from it).So a trip to Wyevale was just the tonic I needed, conducting a recce for the latest chapter in my book. And when it comes to zero waste I was very impressed with what the company has to offer gardening enthusiasts...

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Landshare: a growing revolution

Hugh on Landshare from River Cottage on Vimeo.I'm not the best gardener in the world but in our small back garden we manage an apple tree, a blackberry bramble, rhubarb, leeks and tomatoes as well as some must-have herbs such as rosemary, mint and thyme.It's more of a snacking garden really, not enough to support a family of four, but an enjoyable source of edible goodies for us to pick at.Just imagine if we had more land, with space to share, to grow more produce and the opportunity to learn from others and share the work. Imagine what we might grow then.But with an increase in people who want...

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Early Learning: Zero Waste Style

It is well recognised that if you've got young kids in your life, you're guaranteed to end up with a pile of excess clutter filling their bedrooms as well as the remnants of cheap broken toys and packaging filling your bins.So if you're lucky enough to enjoy the company of little angels, the great news is that it is becoming easier to choose a zero waste present that they will enjoy and won't impinge on the sanity of their parents. And even better, you don't have to look any further than your high street, which as far as green credentials are concerned it comes as a refreshing change.Yes ladies...

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Elf Needed!

What's a mother to do? I've advertised on Freecycle, I've trawled the charity shops AND phoned a friend...well quite a few friends actually...and I am now running out of ideas.The problem? I need an elf costume...well not for me but for my 7 year old defender of the bins, for his school play.Yes, I know I can get one at Sainsbury's for just £8....yes just £8...but of course my Buy Nothing New month has put the spanner in the works as far as that's concerned. Besides, it seems that all the elves in Bury St Edmunds have bought out the local stock.So, if anyone has any other ideas (sorry ain't...

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Eco Emporia: Desirable objects from discarded things

Why is it that when you've signed up to a Buy Nothing New Month, a whole array of temptations arrives at your door?There I was minding my own business, when an email popped into my inbox last week, bringing my attention to Eco Emporia, a new business whose strapline is "desirable objects from discarded things".No sooner had I hopped onto their website, I found myself wanting so many items, it felt like all my Christmases were coming at once. Here's a company that is not only helping to reduce waste by repurposing discarded items into something desirable, but is also helping craftspeople to earn...

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Alara Foods - the UK's first Zero Waste food manufacturer

News from MRW has revealed that Alara Foods, based in Camden London are the first UK food manufacturer to become a Zero Waste company.The UK's main organic muesli producer set itself the goal of Zero Waste three years ago and has now achieved this. The company now throws nothing away, illustrating that it's possible for a company, even a food producer to achieve a zero waste business and manufacturing process. Everything is recycled, composted or reused, including hard-to-recycle polystyrene, which is reused for packing.As well as managing its in-house zero-waste processes, the company has also...

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Fishy business

According to news in today's Sunday Telegraph, the Conservatives have unveiled proposals to bring an end to what they refer to as "scandalous waste" in the fishing sector, hoping to change current EU policy.To protect fish stocks, the EU Common Fisheries Policy currently enforces a limit on the number of fish that fishermen are allowed to catch and bans crews from landing any fish outside the quotas, forcing fishermen to throw them back into the sea, even if they have died during the fishing process.The Telegraph reports the shocking statistic revealed by Bill Wiggin, the shadow fisheries minister...

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