Recent Comments

1. Use your LOAF at the shops (Local, Organic, Animal-Friendly and Fair Trade) - 01 Oct 2005

   This is somthing I really need to work on – have stated buying our veg from a box scheme which is organic – but they didn’t answer my question about whether their bananas were fairly traded – and we’ve just had a shock when tallying up how much we spend in tescos per month – for a family of five – really want to address this and find a better shop than tescos to buy the basics!!

2. Offset your Airmiles - 02 Oct 2005

   flew within uk for the first time last july and will offset flight by planting one tree with carbonneutral – tend to have holidays within uk now as have young children.

3. Slow Down, Calm Down (Stick to the speed limit) - 02 Oct 2005

   I am resolving to do this – having two speeding tickets myself – also after a very long time without a single one – are they getting better at detecting!? – I drive slower now due to small people in the car however need to calm down when alone as often am in a rush or just excited to be out without the kids!! They are putting the speed limits down all over MK so will have to calm down anyway.

4. Wear Your 'Make Poverty History' Band - 02 Oct 2005

   Wear a silicone one – ethically made by oxfam but plastic so not so good there I suppose – I bought about 10 fabric ones and gave them away gradually. They have been a really good talking point as there are still people out there who have never heard of the campaign!

5. Buy Presents That Make A Difference - 23 Oct 2005

   I have put in my order from the traidcraft catalogue for everyone I normally give presents to at christmas – mostly children/siblings (huge large family) and close friends – this will be a first and even with a budget of about £5 for each person we’ve gone up to £140 – however I think this is less than I spent over Nov/dec last year on panic buying random /meaningless things from debenhams/marks/JL – and sitting down with a catalogue found I could match people up with their gift in a much more meaningful way – so hopefully they will get more out of it too.

   We’ll see….

6. Make A Positive Lifestyle Change And Tell Us About It - 13 Nov 2005

   Coming on the website is part of my lifestyle change – just trying to re-aquaint myself with a lifestyle I found so easy before kids!

   Having been thoroughly sucked into the rat race am trying to disentangle myself (ourselves) gradually – part of that is moving house and downsizing and just eating right – sounds superficial maybe but am trying to eat more healthily and lose weight hopefully as a result. Partly for health reasons, partly for my own sense of self and partly because I wanted to move away from processed junk food that we had fallen in with due to lack of time! And somehow there is time to prepare dinner from scratch – almost all the time especially now I don’t live at the shopping centre! And I love it!

   Not sure my 16 year old will agree with me have some interesting “discussions” over the latest offering – but think she’s generally fairly accepting – that is one thing in all this – easy to change yourself if you’re not affecting others who may not be so keen.

7. Know your local political leaders - 15 Nov 2005

   Not something I ever thought of as doing before MPH campaign this year – visited on the campain day this month and found our MP very approachable – won’t hesitate to do similar over other issues now – probably by e-mail though – face to face was a little daunting!

8. Switch To Good (Green Or Socially Resonsible) Energy - 26 Feb 2006

   Are in the process of changing over to Scottish Power H2O scheme. Quite a few options out there Uswitch.com is a good site to compare them.

9. Choose to have one meat-free day a week in your home - 18 Mar 2006

   trying this but not always easy with my littlies.

   most popular meat free option for the children (1, 3 and 17) which we have been doing a while is a vegetable and tomato sauce(which we whizz in the processor to make it smooth) and pasta and lots of cheese on top – our children don’t know they are eating carrots and peppers and onions and it is really tasty without having to add anything else like stock or salt. i enjoy veggie options like quorn (although know this is contentious with vegetarians) but makes a nice change from meat.

10. DIY vegetables! - 24 Apr 2006

    Is it possible to grow veg in containers? – we are trying to move this year and feel would be good if could take “fruits” of our labours with us – particularly if doing it with the kids – any suggestions on good crops (child friendly ones- grew some brilliant chillis last year but don’t think they would like them!) for container growing??

11. Stop Taking Plastic Bags From Shops - 19 Aug 2006

    I would really like to do this – but it is a biggie for me as I am so disorganised and our major shop is usually large with 5 mouths to feed. If I have my rucksack with me and its a small shop then I do try and fit it in – if bio bags are available I try to go for them but often the trip to the shop is unexpected, hurried or I’m so busy trying to remember to put buggy and children in the car (yes that’s another issue!!) all else is out of my head!!

    I am going to put some reusable bags in the car – and ban them from being used as binbags! I will also be purchasing a couple of lightweight fabric bags to carry in my rucksack for the pushchair handles when the tray underneath is full.

    We tend to shop online with tesco or sainsbury’s for our main shop to avoid shopping with young children and all that entails and am always shocked by the number of plastic bags they use – A driver I was talking to had a good idea of having a cardboard insert to the trays that it all comes in to avoid the need for bags at all – which can be reused and collected the next time. Will be e-mailing them I think to support this idea.

12. Commit random acts of generosity - 19 Aug 2006

    I watched a film we had taped ages ago last night called pay it forward – where people comitted acts of kindness (had to change their lives in some way) for three poeple and then asked them to do the same to three more people – you weren’t allowed to pay back – but pay forward. Ok was v hollywood, blockbuster film and hard not to be cynical at the film’s ending of thousands of people being affected in just four months -but I like the idea behind it.