So, what have we learnt?

I started this journey with several objectives to make my home uber efficient, to save money on bills and to be more conscious as a family of ways and methods to help the environment. It has been an eye opener and an enjoyable journey.

It’s the little things, ironically that have made the difference. Like having enough storage containers to enable my batch cooking to continue at full throttle.

Turning off the tap when brushing our teeth to save water. I can’t believe how much water is wasted just by brushing your teeth for two minutes with the tap running, that soon stopped.

Only using lights when needed, with the added factor of having LED’s, has led to peace of mind and smaller bills.

OOH! the curtains have meant that I haven’t had the gas fire on in the living room since December believe me this is a great achievement; my house has never felt homelier. Additionally, by having the walls coated on the exterior with secoflex I have been able to retain some of the heat, as it improves the thermal resistance of the house’s brickwork and masonry by keeping it completely dry. oh, and has given the house a lovely new paint job.

When out shopping, each product I buy I’m already thinking about packaging and what recycling bin it will need to be sorted into for each of the packaging’s component parts, to ensure that it is recycled properly… I make myself chuckle sometimes as I’m going through my thought process.

I have also looked at ways that I can live more of a healthy lifestyle by what I consume. I’ve always considered myself to have a healthy diet, but things can always be improved right! So, in the spirit of “the right amount is best” I have been making my own nut milk. Instead of buying cow’s milk, which would only really get drunk with coffee or if Diontai wanted a glass…. As I think I may be slightly lactose intolerant and have never been able to stand cow’s milk, we’d end up throwing milk away as a 1litre bottle was never fully finished. So, in a bid to get more nutrients into my body I’ve turned to nut milk, homemade almond milk.

 

It’s simple enough to make

• Almonds soaked over night
• Rinsed, then blended with fresh water
• Once blended strain through a muslin
• Add the liquid back in the blender and mix with Vanilla

Job done!!

I use this Milk for my morning Matcha green tea latte. Mmmmmm!

All in all, it’s been a positive experience and one that will definitely carry on in the Simpson household.

 

Next stop, sorting the garden.

 

 

 

Progress so far…..

Since signing up for Live Lagom, I’ve found myself being more aware of my environment and surroundings.

Every bottle, piece of card, plastic and paper now gets picked up and placed in the appropriate pile ready to be distributed between the relevant bins. As you can see they are filling up nicely.

 

 

Its been a mission to get the Diontai to always remember that we are recycling everything, but we’re getting there. It has also meant less trips to the bins outside #bonus :).

Alongside recycling, another element that has changed within our home environment has been the Hive hub and smart lights. As a British gas home-serve customer as part of my sign up deal I was sent the hive hub and two lightbulbs for free……..

Hive makes it easy to control everyday things from your phone. By having the lightbulbs installed within my home I can set timers as to when the lights come on and switch off, allowing me to reduce the amount of electricity consumed. I turn the lights off and on via an app on my phone, so if I leave the house and forget I simply open the app and I can turn them off wherever I am. Amazing!!  

And to make it even better they are LED lights, again cutting the power consumed by the lights, they are dimmable which can also be controlled via the app on your phone, so if you do not have a dimmer switch you still have the option to control the brightness of your lights. I would definitely recommend this product.

Live Lagom Workshop March 2017

…….. I nearly forgot, I took mum and Diontai along to the the Nottingham store for our sewing workshop. Luckily as a child I was taught to sew, mum was uber savvy and creative as she used to make our clothes, mend my dads trousers make her own curtains and even made a cover for her three piece suite. She passed her skills onto myself and my siblings and they have come in handy on numerous occasions.

 

 

The lovely Kerry led the Nottingham workshop, where we were creating draught excluders. I took along the off cuts from the curtains I had purchased as part of my big shop. It was a great morning.

As you can see Mum and Diontai came along and got involved too. We all found it very therapeutic, it was great to sit and just concentrate for a minute and think, whilst also creating something for the house.

Looking forward tot he next workshop…. I will keep you posted on how it goes. #showthelove