Advice on being as green as possible

[cherryredretrochick]

I already do quite a lot but I never really feel like it is enough.
We are moving house in a week and I would like to make the new house as green as possible.
WE currently:
Use Hemp Nappies with fleece liners and washable wipes.
Ecover washing liquid and conditioner.
Ecover washing up liquid.
Bicarb to clean bathroom.
Recyle as much as possible.
at least 50% hand me down clothes.
Wash every day but tumble once a week (nappies we live in a flat)
Use old carrier bags in bin (although want a better alternative).
Use pannier bags on pram rather than carrier bags for everyday shopping.
Don't use a car (excpet the last month I have borrowed one as can't push pram recovering from an operation)

When we move I plan to:
Get a compost bin and water butt.
stop using dryer except in emergencies.
shop locally everyday so no more supermarket.

What else could I do?

Those E cloths are really good round the house eg window cleaning, cleaning bathroom etc - really effective and much less smeery on the windows than using standard window clearer.

ENergy efficient lightbulbs? Turn down the central heating by a couple of degrees?

we use energy light bulbs and only have the heating on for 30mins a day, at dc bed time.
In our flats the meter readings go on a board downstairs and we always have the lowest although there are 4 of us and no more than 2 people in any of the other flats, we are also in all day and all other residents out at work.

I do wonder if we will manage this in a Victorian Terrace though, is quite warm in our modern flat.

Suma do a recycled bio degradable bin bag.
Wash clothes less (ie, wear them longer till they practically walk off you )
don't iron
don't get carrier bags
switch everything off when not in use

Will you have a house? You could grow veggies in any garden, even tiddly ones. In pots, in flower beds etc
We don't use polish, just a damp cloth
We only heat one room (for our quadraplegic daughter), the rest of us (2 adults, 3 kids) wear layers and jumpers.

Change your central heating to a wood pellet stove and get solar panels for your hot water. You may still be enititled to 1/3 off the installation price from the govt depending on where you live.

We had a burgundy Lucrezia Idro pellet stove put in just before Christmas and it's utterly fab and rather good looking too considering it's a boiler! As we're using compressed sawdust pellets leftover from sawmills etc, our carbon footprint has gone through the floor. And with the prices of oil and gas rocketing, things are just going to get cheaper for us!

The solar kicks in when the boiler's not on.

I had thought about growing veg, thought it is something dds could be involved with, my mother is always teling me not to as they are very hard to grow etc, she is a gardener. Although she has also told me not to do many of the things we do as they would be too much hard work for me, think she just likes to make my life as easy as possible. I had the chance of an allotment when I was preg with dd2 but mum talked me out of it, I wish now that i had stood my ground.
We also use a damp cloth, actually a prefold nappy that is grown out of.
I am trying to get dds to wear clothes for longer, dd1 goes through about ten outfit hanges ina day, I think this will be better when her clothes are upsatirs rather than in the next room.
I am slo planning to be in the garden as much as possible, we have never had a garden and I am so excited.
What veggies are good (ie easy to keep alive)?

How much does the whole system cost? The stove itsself is a boggly £1500 but wouldn't you have to run water pipes from it and the solar panels? To join it to the heating system?
I'd love something like that but we're on benefits and barely managing to pay for food!

bobsmum, love the stoves but don't think we could afford it just now, will certainly keep that in mind for when we have saved all the money we will save from the other stuff though.

Veggies are very easy to grow, none of this mysetrious double digging etc etc. I grow potatoes in patio potato containers (the Organic gadening catelog has them) plus down the allotment. Potatoes practically grow themselves. We do strawberries, tomatoes, courgettes, runner beans, french beans in pots. They just need watering.
On the allotment we have squashes, cabages, calabrese, more courgettes, gooseberrry, raspberry and redcurrent bushes and rhubarb. I grow salads like rocket in pots too.
We have a severely disabled child so only get about an hour down the alotment each week so its possible with minimum input.
Our dusters are old terry nappies, as are our -tea-towels. Going strong after 16 years

Yep - it was very very pricey - we've been saving for more than 3 years to get it, but as we're not on mains gas, our options were limited to a massive oil tanker in the back garden and huge oil costs. Or possibly a wet-electric system or a ground source heat pump (ridiculously expensive unless you're going for a new build).

In the meantime we had a coal fire - I'm so glad to see the back of that!

A wet-electric system would have been our next choice as you can run it cheaply if you're clever about what electricity tariffs you're on. So if we'd got it installed we could have run the washing machine at night for pennies etc.

whats a wet-electric system?
I've been reading abut off grid living but we're in a victorian terrecae in the city with a garden the size of a living room.

Wow, do you live in a very old house?

I agree with the suggestion of less outfits and no ironing. My kids wear clothes two days running, more if they look clean (change knickers daily!). Jeans can go on for days! No ironing in this house but you have to get good at pegging/radiator hanging. Your energy needs will go down when kids are out of nappies so early potty training is a good idea. I've finished with nappies and DD2 is not yet 2. Meanwhile wash at 40 degrees and use a quicker wash - we have a 'daily wash' that takes just over an hour and I use this for everything.

FWIW I think you can bet better green cleaners than Ecover (they don't rate so highly these days). I use Clear Springs washing liquid which is fab.

If you are buying your new house look at improving insulation - we are doing this slowly in our 1930s semi. Have done loft this winter (used 80% plastic bottle insulation as had to compromise on cost of wool etc). Before next winter we will need to look at underfloor, replacing some old windows and maybe doing cavity wall insulation. Even with a new combi boiler and the heating set at 19 degrees our gas bill is too high....all costs money though eh???

We live in the middle of nowhere - the next village got gas mains installed about 10 years or so ago - we never will!

Dh did all the research on a wet-electric system and a (v green ) friend got one installed in her 2 bed ex-council flat. Not sure if they fall into the categroy for a Clear skies grant, but they are green and cheap if used cleverly. Will try to find out a bit more.

Oooh yes, I'm going to do some veggies this year too....also we set up a syphon system for draining the bath into butts last year but then it rained continuously so we only did it the once!!

Ha hahaha!!

Did a google on this and found dh's thread on another discussion forum asking all about this!! It's from 2004, but might still have some useful links?

Ah t'internet!

www.cableforum.co.uk/board/22/20648-electric-boilers.html here]]

here

our house is 150 years old and freezing. Especially the 2 top bedrooms that are in the pointy roof bit so no loft with decent insulation. We don't heat upstairs but use hot water bottles and thick Pj's. Once you're in bed its fine but going for a pee is like an Antartic trip!
Gas bills ate hitting 50 quid a month in the winter which is doing my head in even though we only heat the front room (coal fire in the evening) and we really are so very cold.

WE have to be very careful with washing stuff as dd1 has very bad excema, I am willing to try though, where can you get clear spring, our local health food shop only has ecover. I am trying to make as many of t=my own cleaers as possible. Was looking at the how clean is your house site for ideas.
I am happy to say I have never ironed a stitch of clothing in my life, Dh has to iron work shirts but that is all, I guess school uniforms next year as well.
Dd2 is actually quite keen to start potty training but as we are moving I thought it would be best to wait until we have settled in. Will definatly be this summer at the latest.
I am loving the idea of growing veggies and the kids playing while I tend the garden, instead of sat in front of the bloody dumb box.

Clear Springs is fine for DD1s Eczema. Our shop orders it in in big tubs for me...will look online tho...you can get it here but with delivery charge will add up. Ask at your shop as we pay about this price anyway. I see they do washing up liquid too so may give it a try.

I want to start growing veggies too. But I am completely NOT green fingered and a little lazy.
Can anyone point me in the direction of an 'Easy vegetable growing start up guide for beginners' or something along those lines...

I have given up ironing, and hang shirts/jumpers/tops on hangers to dry. The rest goes over the bannister, the airer and the radiators. I also have a 'smalls drier' (plastic thing with lots of pegs for knickers and socks) hanging up in our airing cupboard.
We do not have a tumble drier (out of choice)
Now the dc are bigger (8 and 5) most of their clothes are worn at least twice if not more. They wear the same school uniform two or three days in a row. Knickers/pants and socks/tights are of course changed daily.
I tend to wear the same skirt or pair of jeans for a whole week before putting it in the wash. No one notices (of course if there is an obvious stain it goes in the wash)

We have energy efficient lightbulbs throughout the house, and the heating on a timer and at a very low heat. (it just takes the edge of the chill that's all)

We have a water limiter on our toilet flush to minimize water used.

We try not to use the car more often, and once dd is a competent bike rider we will use our bikes more for transport not just leisure. (I am Dutch and this once used to be second nature for me, but currently I don't have a bike and have got into the bad habit of hopping in the car

I want to start making my own cleaning products instead of relying on cancer causing, environment damaging chemicals.

My only downfall is washing powder. I really really don't like ecover. The stains don't come out (may have something to do with wearing clothes for 6 days between washes ) and I don't like the smell...

Have you tried soapnuts? You can wash your clothes/nappies with them, then compost them afterwards. Some people make them into a cleaning fluid for cleaning kitchen/bathroom/floors/dishwasher etc, as well as hair/handwash. I have not branched out to this level (yet!). But have heard fo peopel being really successful. And you can compost the used ones if you are not using them to make handwash etc. To make the washing/hair etc smell nice just add a few drops of essential oil (Lavendar/teatree can add extra bug busting/germ killing, rose is moisturising etc, rosemary disinfectant etc,)

And I second wearing clothes more than one day. I aim for PJs to be on all week, and where possible reuse clothes at least a day.

Remove shoes inside the house (get slippers) and that will cut down on the amount you need to hoover.

Wash less. Especially the kids. They only need to be bathed every few days unless really mucky - and the usual thing about using a shower rather than bath where possible.

Sounds like you are already reusing nappies/prefolds etc.

Reusable sanitary protection for yourself - use the mooncup, or old prefold nappies (haven't been able to get into the cloth personally, despite a couple of attempts, but mooncup is great)

Assume you don't use any nasty air freshners, if you do, just air your house with windows open.

Oh, think some people have also successfully washed their dishes with soapnuts. Adn very mild - think it even has some antibacterial qualities, so shoudln't be a problem for exzema

I have some soapnuts but not tried them yet - you've given me kick up the bum!!

LOVE my mooncup (am wearing it right now!!!) and would never go back to tampons.

Another thing we've just done is get a bird table to put cooked food scraps out on as had too much to compost (fussy kids)....