Eco-Friendly Living

Slow September Activities

The seasons are starting to shift here with September bringing a distinctly autumn vibe along with a little bit of late summer sunshine. The shift in seasons has also shifted the activities with long afternoons stretched out in the garden made impossible by the torrential downpours and the return to school and college. I've purposely left lots of spaciousness during this new beginning, remembering how tiring this transition can be as we start to create new rhythms amongst the sudden return of early mornings, homework and packed lunches.

My Flight Free 2020 - in a year when flying wasn't really a thing!

By Sarah Allen•01 Jan, 2021•

2020, like for so many, was flight free for me. Many of you probably had to forgo your annual trip abroad due to the pandemic. However, for me, this was intentional – a pledge I made last year to not fly in 2020 so I could lower my carbon footprint and raise awareness of the aviation industry’s role in climate change.

Real Nappies in Real Life

By Jenny Cahill •23 Aug, 2020•

Fabulous guest blog post; an honest, funny and informative post all about reusable nappies.

It's the curious look on your baby's face; the sudden sound of a semi-solid squelch; the vibration in your lap and the whiff of digested milk that lets you know your baby has filled their nappy. And you just hope it's been contained by that white rectangle of stitched cloth in the fancy nappy wrap with the funky design.

The 100 Tree Project

By Sarah Allen •02 Feb, 2020•

At the start of last year, as many others did too, I fully woke up to the climate and ecological crisis. Ever since reading the IPCC report in October 2018 I knew that we were in a serious situation and that things have to change and fast. Prior to this I’d been aware of global warming, of course. It was taught in school as a theory that will affect the future, not something we need to be too concerned about and certainly without advice about how to act to minimise this. Of course writing about environmental issues I’d been aware of climate change for a while but still I wasn’t actioning much. If you’ve followed my work for a while you’ll know that I’ve focused a lot on physical waste, the waste I can see and have made significant reductions to this (we now fill only 2 wheelie bins each year as a family of 4). However, this is not enough. I still strongly believe it is important but I knew last year I needed to do more.

I'm Dreaming of a Green Christmas!

By Sarah Allen . 09 Nov, 2018

The season of good-will can extend to the planet, here’s my eco-friendly Christmas gift guide.

My thoughts are turning to Christmas (well a few of them! I don’t like thinking about it too early but I don’t like a full-on PANIC!!) so I figured some of you would be thinking about it too. Christmas can be joyful, fun and a way to spoil loved ones but it is also usually wasteful and quite frankly over-indulgent and decadent! So how can we make it eco-friendly but not dampen everyone’s Christmas cheer? This is what I do:

Eco-friendly fashion, switch fast fashion to sustainable style in 6 easy steps.

By Sarah Allen • 01 Oct 2018•

I've started following the same principles I use for keeping rubbish out of my bin to clothing! Fast fashion may be affordable but it comes with a huge environmental cost. Water pollution, toxic chemicals and textile waste are some of the ways clothing can impact negatively on the environment. But most of us value fashion (to a greater or lesser extent) feeling better (or even fabulous!) if we look good and everyone actually wears clothes! So how do the eco-conscious clothe themselves and their family? This is what I do:

Can a Family Holiday in Italy be Eco-Friendly?

By Sarah Allen•25 Aug, 2018•

I lay awake in bed, the air-conditioning whirring and my head bounding. We'd been close to missing our flight (not allowing sufficient time to get through the clogged-up, summer, motorway traffic), arriving in the dark and quickly trying to settle the family in, the stress of the day and the Italian heat finally hit me! Along with another thought going round and round in my brain, would I have to give my eco-principles a holiday too? Is it okay to try and live a low-waste life-style for 51 weeks of the year with 1 week off?

5 Plastic Free Tips for Out and About.

By Sarah Allen•05 Jul, 2018•

Does plastic free living really cost more? These tips will significantly reduce your reliance on single-use plastic but will they reduce your bank balance?

This is what I do to avoid single-use plastic when I am out and about with my family. For each tip I have examined whether it will actually cost more money by saying if the tip is a save, the same or a splurge!

How I reduced our rubbish to (almost) nothing (well about a 10th full every 3 weeks, but that's not so catchy!!)

By Sarah Allen•22 Oct, 2017•

At the start of the year, I must have been thinking about New Year Resolutions and I made a throwaway (!!) comment on my FaceBook page wondering publically how long I could go before I bought something in non-recyclable packaging. The answer came to me quite quickly, it was the next time I went shopping! This didn't deter me, I was determined to reduce the amount of rubbish my family threw away. I have always been a keen recycler making sure everything that could be recycled was recycled. However, I was still frustrated, that despite my efforts, there still seemed to be quite a lot in the bin. This is what I have done since January this year. It's not perfect, I haven't got all the answers, it won't work for everyone (especially since recycling facilities vary considerably from local council to council let alone country to country).