Yahoo Lifestyle Eco Tips For Your Home – Live Like Your Gran!
Good old Gran has a wealth of wisdom just waiting to be tapped into. Lesson the first? Living with a little eco footprint.
Grow your own
To this day, my grandma still has a garden bursting with edible goodies. She grows tomatoes, chokoes, pumpkins, passionfruit and all manner of green, leafy things. And back when Mum was a little girl, the food-filled yard was even home to chooks reared for eating.
While – like those of so many other nanas – my ma's backyard bounty may have been about living cheaply and self-sufficiently, it was also very eco friendly, encouraging seasonal eating and nixing pesticide use, transport emissions and packaging.
Starting a vegetable plot of your own can be fun for the whole family – your tot is sure to love helping to dig holes, plant seeds and, later, pick all that delicious, home-grown food. Even if you don’t have a yard, you can grow small plants on the balcony andsee herbs flourish on windowsills. For a wealth of advice on starting a vegie garden, check out Better Homes & Gardens
Love leftovers
As well as having a knack for growing it, our grans also knew how to make food last. Whether they were making a little go a long way (mine could turn a chook into a feast with belly-filling sides such as potatoes and chokoes), or creatively using leftovers, they were a frugal foodie bunch.
We have a lot to learn here – Aussies today waste a whopping 145kg of food each every year! It's a big loss of resources and, decomposing in landfill, food produces methane, a gas with over 20 times the global warming potency of carbon dioxide.
Take a leaf out of Nan's recipe book, then, and turn last night's uneaten dinner into today's tasty treats! Combine leftover meat and veg with eggs to make a frittata, throw excess vegies through pasta, turn unused rice into rice pudding - the possibilities are endless.
Recycle at playtime
How many times have you bought bub a fancy new plaything, only to watch her gleefully play with the wrapping and box instead? Sometimes the most exciting toys are the most simple… and often they aren't 'toys' at all!
My mum has fond memories of all the fun makeshift playthings my grandma would devise. Toy cars crafted out of old shoeboxes. Toilet rolls turned into musical 'toot-toots'. Old socks jazzed up into puppets. Cubby houses made out of cardboard boxes or sheets draped over the dining table… One of her favourite things, she says, was simply banging pots with a wooden spoon. It was all about recycling and repurposing.
Love what you have
Granted, treating stuff with TLC when there are littlies afoot can be tough, and breaks in toys and tears in tees are going to happen. But rather than adding to the 4000-odd tonnes of household junk Australians chuck out each year, if something's broken, fix it! It's what your nan used to do!
Do her proud by sewing on buttons that have fallen off, playing doctor on worn and torn stuffed toys and patching up tears in clothes. You can even get crafty with stuff that's been outgrown. Try cutting the feet off bub's rompers to extend their wearable life, or turning your tot's old maxi dress into a skirt and top.
Feeling chilly?
According to the Australian Conservation Foundation, heating and cooling account for nearly 40 per cent of power use in most homes. Follow in Nan's cosy footsteps and rug up rather than reaching for the heater dial. And if jumpers and blankets aren't cutting it, try snuggling with heat packs. Hot water bottles are okay for Mum and Dad, but aren't suitable for littlies, so try microwavable wheat bags or heat pillows instead.
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