The Compact

[squidette]

I would love to know if anyone else is doing the Compact. I started on April 1st after a couple of months of mental planning and preparation.
The most unusual thing i have found is the overwhelming desire to get rid of stuff now! I thought i would have a hoarder mentality, but its almost the exact opposite. Pre-cycling i suppose....

Here are the details from the blog site if anyone is interested.

"The Compact has several aims (more or less prioritized below):

1. to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc.

2. to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)

3. to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

So, here goes for the rules:

First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)Second principle - borrow or buy used.

A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:

food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)

necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).

socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental)

pajamas for the children

Utilitarian services (plumbers, electricians, mechanics, veterinarians, dog/house-sitters, fire/paramedics, dry cleaners, house cleaners, etc.) -- Support local and encourage used parts (rebuilt transmission, salvaged headlight unit, etc.)

Recreational services (massage, etc.) & local artisanal items - Good sources for gifts, but should not be over-indulged in for personal gratification

Charitable contributions (Seva, Heifer, and the like) - an even better source for gifts

Plants and cut flowers - Whenever possible, cultivate from free cuttings or seeds. Ok in extreme moderation (yo, incoming oxy) when purchased from local businesses (i.e., not the Target (supermarket/homebase etc) Garden Shop)--and again, within reason

Art supplies - First line of attack: SCRAP. When absolutely necessary (for the professionals and talented amateurs in the group), from local businesses

Magazines, newspapers, Netflix - renewals only, no new subscriptions. Even better to consume online

Video rentals and downloadable music files (non-material) -- freely shared and legal, please...."

I have made my own 'Compact' based on these rules - my exceptions for buying items NEW are

• food but this is not an excuse to indulge in luxury items. Organic, local and fairly traided - yes. Supermarkets - no.
• clothes - 'under'wear, this includes vests, pants, socks, bras for all of us only on a real need basis, not on a whim or as an excuse to purchase.
• medicine
• sewing thread
• recycled printer paper and photograph paper

I cant decide if recycled is new!

Anyone else?

I have never heard of this but its interesting

I however had lots of fun in Dunelm Mill today - So am not the ideal candidate

I thought it was interesting too and i do like to challenge myself quite a lot!

We already follow Reduce, Reuse and Recycle principles, but i wanted to do more to be a bit smaller on the Earth.

Not heard of this, but sounds interesting! I already try to follow some of these principles, ie we only buy locally produced meat and veg, and have started our own veg patch this year! We do still use the supermarket but have cut down what we get from there as well! And I never buy cut flowers, always grow my own! Is there a website btw?

Interesting thread.

Always wanted to do more for the environment, but am feeling quite good now as tbh we do most of this anyway.

Dh's clothes come from charity shops (apart from underwear, which comes from the market). When he gets holes in his overalls I patch them.

My clothes come from charity shops (apart from things from my past which I'm altering to fit on my sewing machine)/(apart from underwear which is purely functional (which dh is sad about )

Dd's clothes/toys/books are mostly hand me downs from friends/charity shops(apart from underwear).

We have a compost toilet.

We pump up our water up from the river.

Our water is heated using a wood/coal burner, so we bathe only once a week on average.(We usually share the bathwater Dd goes first, then me, then dh)

We always try to recycle anything we are ready to throw away.

We keep chickens for eggs/meat.

I use ebay rather than buying new.

Ah, , I do use supermarkets though......... double .

Needs must though, and we live over 10 miles from the nearest village, which has a Co-op, Spar, and another supermarket type place.

I travel 20 odd miles to the nearest Town, which only has a small Farmers Market once a month.

redclover, there isnt a website as such, but here is a blog ring and a yahoo group .

As for supermarket shopping for the exceptions such as food, it is 'allowed' in the Comapct as many people may not be able to reasonably shop elsewhere, its just a personal aim of mine to not use them anymore so i thought i would combine the two ideas.

I am of your composting toilet Trilby - i became a new allotment tenant in January and after having read of the wonders of Liquid Gold am thinking about having a wee-pot to use for the composting.

This week is quite tough as its the first week and the holidays, but both children are on board and we are going for a bike ride/to the park/to the library.

Trilby, we do a kind of urban version of the same thing. I keep thinking about how to do things like compost toilets and whether we can get away with woodburning stoves in a smokeless zone; but the environmetnal impacts of mains sewerage and gas central heating are arguably lower in the city. The good thing about living in the city is that there's a lot more quality skip-diving to be found!

I suppose the biggest decision we made about this stuff was to choose to live collectively, so we live in a big house, but it's run co-operatively and we share it - the idea being to make housing more affordable so that we can spend our time doing something more productive than paying for it, and because of the sheer impact of the housing industry.

I find it hard to give up the pretence of a consumerist lifestyle. I'm doing OK with the not buying any new clothes so far - nobody else in the household ever has any. But I already feel uncomfortable when people realise that the wreck-on-wheels I drive is mine - I should feel proud that I don't drive it often enough for people to associate it with me, or that it was a deliberate choice to get something old and cosmetically challenged, but I usually just cringe. I don't often tell people about the place I live, or the other environmental choices I make.

It's going to be quite a challenge for me not to be able to become anonymous in very conventional clothes. Perhaps it's time I came 'out' as a rabid eco-warrior though!

Trilby - hurray for you and your compost toilet

I am astonished by the very high percentage of people on the flush or not to flush thread who said they flush every time regardless - Why Why Why!!!!!!!!

Also - I am intrigued have you got a 'normal' toilet in the house as well - is the compost one outside? Please elighten me!!!

Yurtgirl, the outside one is the only one , and we are in a two caravans, not a house.

Aha I see! Good for you

First real challenge!

I have been doing ok so far, but yesterday one of the little black blades on my lawnmower snapped.

Where on earth am i going to find used lawnmower blades? Anyone?

Maybe i could search for one of those old fashioned push-and-cut mowers. I just know that after another 11 months and 10 days of this i will have become a 'professional' carboot-sale-window-peerer-inner.

Do you still need those black things? I can provide some for you

That is really kind! Thank you for the offer, but i did buy a small pack of blades (under health and saftey - avoidance of 'breaking bones after panic after treading on slugs allowed to breed in the jungle of un-mown grass' possibility..) BUT i did buy them from the town independent hardware shop, not BandQ.

I read somewhere else that you have an allotment sorkycake? We have been at ours all day (i am still shed-less too!) and i have just eaten the first 6 asparagus spears that i cut from the ground before we came home. OMGolly - they were delish with a little butter and pepper. I inherited quite a mature bed in the plot - i feel very lucky tonight! A nice change from all the digging....

Yes!! I do have an allotment .
I love it. We've been over there since Friday. Our plot was mature with weeds and horsetail
We planted our Asparagus last Thursday and it's up shooting already, we're so chuffed. Can't have any yet of course but we might get a small crop next year. It's a labour of love isn't it.
We've set away the pea's, potatoes, onions and sweetcorn so far. But everything is growing around the house waiting for them to get bigger before they go out.
We're just having the last of the leeks, potatoes & onions from last year so I could really do with the veg coming up quick!
I spoke to Dh yesterday about the Compact and we're going for it, the only thing we're going to fall down on is transport as he works 25 miles away and it would take about 2 hours to get to work if he didn't drive. I on the other hand will only use my car in an emergency.
The exception to purchsing for us will be where HE is concerned, but I have a monthly budget of 100 pounds that I won't go over.
How's it going so far?

how long do you guys spend on your allotment?

i would like to put my name down for one, but think that we would have to put alot of effort in.

NB we already grow herbs and some veg around the house...

for another Compacter! sorkycake, i hope you find as much fun and reflection in it as i am finding at the moment, and its only been one month for me so far.

Its going well - and i have been making additional changes too. I am finding it is like an accumulation of ideas - 'making do' with used or basic items sparks ideas for other things too. I have more TIME! which sounds odd as i thought it would be time-consuming as new is percieved as convenient. The funny thing about the TIME! part is that its not that i have been given more hours in the day, just i am using them differently, with more deliberation, pleasure and calmness. I was given an old 1970s yoghurt maker a few weeks ago and it makes the most delish yoghurt for pennies - we mix it with maple syrup or jam. It takes TIME! to make, but i am enjoying both the effort and results. I was also given an old plastic bin as a water butt for the allotment (we have no running water there) and a huge bag of material scraps.

I have struggled with these...

1. School uniform sweatshirts.
2. An anti-virus update (i didnt want to buy online as connection was not secure)
3. biros!
4. pegs.

But 'struggling' is ok - who said life Must be easy just for me?! And its not realllly struggling, just obstacles that require some problem solving.

Welcome aboard sorkycake!

casbie, i try to visit every day now for about an hour after school/work, especially as the nights are lighter and warmer. At the weekends - both Saturday and Sunday for as long as we can - 5/6 hours each. More if the children are at their dads. Its a source of FREE FUN! The children both have areas that are for them and them only, to grow things/playwithLego/dig holes and so on. Plus they are welcome to help out with the main plot.

Oh God what have I signed up for !!!
(jus' kidding).
The allotment takes up a lot of time atm because we're still readying the beds for planting, but Dh is doing the bulk of the digging. It's needing watering everyday from now on unless it rains, which Dh will do of an evening. The seedlings need potting on regularly (in my conservatory atm) so it's all systems go until Autumn really.
We only planted for the first time last year to see whther we could commit the time, and have really gone for it this year with almost all beds to be filled. It's a lot more work this year! It'll be worth it tho'.
We've allowed the purchase of potting compost and other things for the allotment in the essentials section because they are really. Next year we'll have enough compost of our own.
How are you going to manage birthdays and Christmas?
We HE so don't have the cost of education stuff anymore thankfully.

I broke the Compact i think - well my version anyway. I bought a twin set of Bokashi tubs.

Is this an ethical new purchase? Why am i beating myself up for trying to limit the amount of doubled-bagged plastic-wrapped methane-producing waste that i put into landfill? Hmmm, maybe the 'fair and reasonable person standard' comes into play here? Questions Questions!

sorkycake - I made all my winter gifts last year. I am an atheist and as such dont really celebrate Christmas time (apart from to acknowledge the beliefs of wider familty and friends) so we tend to lean towards natural/handcrafted winter gifts anyway.

Birthdays the same - although school friends birthdays are going to require some creativity! Fabric pencil roles are an idea i will try, but remember that local/artisan gifts are encouraged if gifts are deemed a Must!

squidette I think it's ok to buy bokashis, really

you are doing brilliantly and are an inspiration.....

I thought you were allowed to buy second hand, for stuff like uniform?

Just to say, for those wanting to try home-made yoghurt, you don't even need a special maker, you can use any old flask. A wide-mouthed flask is best.

I've been making it this way over 20 years and it's great. The kids take it in their packed lunches, flavoured with stewed fruit, dried or fresh fruit, a bit of honey or maple syrup or home-made jam or whatever really!

squidette are you a lone parent? Zizou's respect grows even further...........

ahhh - since i was given the yoghurt maker, i have been 'researching' this! Apparently, you can also make it by leaving it (it being milk, once boiled, cooled to body temp and mixed with a tablespoon of live bio yoghurt or starter from a previous batch) in the oven overnight with just the light on. This appears to provide enough heat for the cultures to grow.

I must say, i do like the retro-look to my maker though and the results are very creamy, not at all 'wincy'!

zizou - yes, i am the grown up part of my very own micro-family!