A Freegle flurry

We recently had some building work done in our house, which involved a room where we stored a whole lot of stuff, some of which was in daily use, such as wellies and trainers, and other things that are used every now and then - like sellotape, string, spare lightbulbs and the like. However, as we found when moving it all out of the room, there were a fair number of things that we haven't used for years.  So I was time to get Freegling!  Freegle have a lovely new site, quick and easy to use.  Here's the link. 

So we said goodbye to the chocolate fountain that has given us some fun times through SD and JD's teenage years, and it was goodbye to a couple of sets of Scaletrix, some "Scene-It" games that we've known all the answers to for many years.  Plus we parted with a huge box of books, some DVDs and lots of art and craft materials.

As for the more obscure items, we had a roll of chicken wire that we are not going to use and that found a good home and we parted with some large builder's supplies sacks that we had some gravel delivered in. They are great for use in the garden, but we accumulated a few more than we need.

That brings me to one of the wonderful things about Freegle: you often get to meet people who have similar interests to you and similar philosophy on life.  You can end up being inspired by other people's intended uses for the things you no longer use any more.

To see what I mean, here is how Louise and Mark made use of our gravel bags, and a few other things that we managed to find for them when they were telling us about their allotment and their plans for it.  They had originally envisaged cutting open the gravel bags to use as matting to suppress the weeds.  However, we had recently put up our fifteen year old tent for the very last time before we decided to retire it - too many leaks, bent poles and a large rip along a seem.  I had been contemplating what further uses I could find for it, and was thinking shopping bags from the upper part, underlay (i.e. weed suppressing) for paths for the ground sheet but being very busy with my new book I realised my projects would be unlikely to happen this year.  Louise and Mark were much more likely to make use and when the time comes, having had the idea, I am sure old tents are being decommissioned on a regular basis, so I could probably find what I need from friends or Freegle, when I need it.

Our old tent is now a weed barrier

It is so great to see your things rehomed and put to good use.

Louise says:

"The gravel bags are going to be used as a sort of raised bed, the idea is they get filled with compost (we will need some stronger posts!) and sink down onto the existing weed covered horrible clay soil.  We will then build up the sides, using more recycled wood (everything on the allotment is from Freegle or Freecycle, or various skips etc. throughout West Oxon).  The top bit of the bag then is cut down the seams, and folds over the wooden sides. The groundsheet/flysheet we have put down to prevent weed growth.

The gravel sacks are now raised beds

"The tent is currently just thrown over a terribly overgrown patch of mint and grass, and currently held down by anything we could find.  It doesn't look terribly attractive, but we get really high winds, so need anything we can get to hold it down.  Once the weeds have gone in the covered areas, we will rotivate (rotivator was found in a barn, and my husband Mark restores old engines so has made it work again) and then do more ground cover to stop the weeds and make raised beds with some decent compost on top.  Hopefully, we will be able to extend the concrete slabbed area for a pot garden - slabs, naturally, came from Freegle, and we will hopefully find some more!

Water butts and drainpipe collected from Freegle

A beautiful shed!

"I have also added a photo of the shed, which was upcycled from one on the allotment that was a wreck - it had blown over in the high winds earlier this year. We repaired it, painted it with some leftover paint from the garden at home, and re-felted the roof (alas, not recycled - we tried but it leaked).  The gutter, drainpipe and water butt are from Freegle.  Oh, and the compost heap is made from bits of wood found anywhere!"

Isn't Freegle a wonderful thing! I was so inspired that I decide to do a donation to Freegle.  It is such a wonderful service, it deserves our support.

Zero Waste Week 2014 - Day 7

Well, with a week of sorting out and de-cluttering my house should be looking lean and green, but that's not really the case!  This has served to highlight that we have way too much stuff in our house, because just like last year, you would barely notice that anything has gone.

Of course, my de-clutter was on nothing like the scale of last year's exercise, but I have still managed to re-home a fair amount.  This year was much easier than my last year's attempt - and that was largely a psychological thing as I felt there were lots of people doing it with me, throughout the Zero Waste Week community and the helpful ideas and the encouragement were a great inspiration.

The most noticeable improvement in the Pitt household is without a doubt the tool shed.  Take a look!

In the sort out we managed to Freegle a few things we no longer need and best of all I found the paint I needed to repaint the wooden supports of the barn, which took up most of yesterday but what a pleasure that was in the sunshine!

I still have a few items from the tool shed awaiting re-homing via Freegle, but I think these will be collected later today and I have a few bags in my hallway awaiting a trip to the charity shop and to various specialist bring banks, such as the one for CDs and video tapes.  These will go over the next few days.

But the crux of my Zero Waste Week pledge was to GET MENDING!

What have I actually repaired? Feeling my report card might say 'must try harder' I thought I'd do a quick check.

I repaired the boxes of a few games and puzzles so they could go to the charity shop. I patched a pair of jeans, which I'm really pleased with so I'll definitely patch my other pair one evening this week.I washed the clothes of some porcelain dolls, so they were smart enough to give to the charity shop, but one lovely lady remained behind with a broken foot.

Just a couple of stitches needed now

I've glued her foot, but while I was doing that the ribbon detached from the shoe, so when it is good and fast I'll have to try to put a couple of stitches in to attach the ribbon again and then I'm going to pop her on Freegle to see if I can find her a new home.

So actually, I'm thinking all in all not too bad.  I said I would mend and mend I did.

I've also found myself inspired to try to go for a few more reusables rather than recyclables or things that would end up in my wood burner.  I found these lovely refillable Christmas crackers which I'll be buying this year and refilling with lovely reusable things such as makeup wipes from Made by Gituce.

Re-fillable Christmas Crackers from Keep This

Another highlight of the week was the various attempts at crisp making.  Yesterday, inspired by this tweet from the Rubbish Diet I made the potato peelings from the Sunday roast into delicious crisps, using up a bit of sunflower oil left in a pan along with some fresh rosemary from the garden.  Yummy. Whilst sharing the crisps with family, it was nice to hear Junior Daughter reporting the crisp making attempts from earlier in the week.  She loved the butternut squash crisps and they have the added advantage of being made with no oil, so a totally fat-free and highly nutritious snack with ZERO packaging.

Butternut squash crisps ready to go in the oven

We managed to save a few for another day!

One green habit that I'll be resurrecting is to use Freegle more.  I hadn't used it for a while and it has become a lot easier recently, so now I know how easy it is to use, I'm going to make sure I use it more often and make sure I don't keep things I don't need.

Zero Waste Week 2014 - Day 4

I loved yesterday's Zero Waste Week email all about textiles.  In 2013 I challenged myself to a year of buying only 2nd hand clothes and I loved it.  I have had a couple of high street items bought for me as presents this year, but I have to say that my clothes shopping habits have been changed permanently.

I have made a couple of visits to charity shops when something has caught my eye in the window but I haven't had any desire to 'go shopping'.  Truth be told, I think I got a little carried away last year with my 2nd hand chic, and probably bought more 'new to me' clothes than I normally would in a year, so I'm still enjoying my relatively new outfits.

But, one thing I have to face up to is the plain fact that my jeans (I have two pairs) are worn out. Both pairs have several holes in them.  I always find it hard to find just the right pair of jeans, so I think that might be a challenge to replace with second hand.  So, inspired by yesterday's Zero Waste Week email, I've decided I'm going to extend the life of my jeans by patching them up with some nice floral fabric.

Jeans in need of attention

I acquired some fabric at Low Carbon Oxford for making bunting. It was an old sheet, I think. So I'm going to cut out some more triangles for the bunting and use the off-cuts to patch my jeans.  I'm not feeling brave enough to get out my little-used sewing machine (used to be Mum's), so I'm planing to hand stick the patches.

As for my big clear out...with yesterday's email being all about textiles, I decided that I'd make today's clear out zone my bedroom.  This Salvation Army bag arrived on the doorstep yesterday, so first thing this morning I decided I'd fill it with a few things in my wardrobe that I hadn't worn in a long time.  It took me less than 5 minutes.

A timely arrival

Ready to go!

As for today's email, I'm one of the lucky ones who can put Tetra Paks in my curb side collection box, so it is very easy to recycle them and I wash and squash - well, swill a bit really, but I like the rhyme of wash and squash!  Before Tetra Paks were recyclable I actually avoided using them.  Now I embrace them and I watch the developments with interest.  Before long they will probably be made from entirely renewable sources.

Inspired by the 'feeling crafty' section of today's email, I thought about my yet to be disposed of incandescent lightbulbs.  I had a vague recollection about seeing ways to upcycle them, so a little Google searching came up with this: http://www.pinterest.com/ariaism/lightbulbs-upcycled-recycled/ There's got to be a project in there for me!

There's good news on the broken smoke alarm - it only needed a new battery.  The saddle and bridle have also been re-homed.  The collection of dolls from Day One is gracing the window of our fantastic community shop - they look like they are about to start baking in a Victorian kitchen. (And I confess I came very close to buying that mixing bowl. I managed to remind myself I have three already).

Lastly, I pulled these smoked glass lampshades out of my attic last year when we attempted a clear out. They are from a 1960s style chandelier, which we took to the WEEE recycling.  But I thought these were a prime candidates for some creative up cycling.  Somehow, though, they managed to get hidden again, but now they are on Freegle and they too are about to be re-homed.

Here's a taste from Low Carbon Oxford 2014 - you might spot me in one of my workshops and cutting up lovely fabric for bunting!