Mindful living in a smaller space

A month ago my daughter and I moved from our little house in the ‘country’ to a unit in town.

In the country we had a large yard with chickens, and vegie patch, and compost  heap, and the smell of cow poo in the air…

Now, we have a back deck and a fish bowl.

Don’t get me wrong, I’m happy we moved, but it has meant a review of the way we assess waste and mindful living in our smaller space.

So here’s what we’re thinking in terms of reduce, re-use, recycle:

Find a new use for a much-loved item:

• The shallow shell shaped pool is now a herb bed!  As much as she’d love to have it as a pool again, we are close enough to the swim centre, and without the same privacy we had in the country, turning the pool into something useful means she doesn’t have to give it up completely – and, hopefully, she will take ownership of the caretaking!

Reduce consumption:

It’s amazing how little you really need.  Camping is a good experience in this.  However, moving to a small place is the perfect opportunity to free yourself of all the clutter, and mess, and excess.

Think about it when you’re buying it.  Don’t have the room to store it?  Can you buy it without the packaging?

• It’s not as romantic, but subscribing digitally avoids the stack of magazines I end up tossing away.
• Living in town means that we can walk to school and work.  This means less fuel and more exercise.  We are happier and healthier!
• Living in a smaller space means heating a smaller area in cold months.  That’s great!  And my first power bill just arrived which is proof! Hehe.
• We are within a short walk of the supermarket, which is very helpful as our fridge is quite small.  It means shopping for a day or two, and making sure no food is wasted!
• When the car needs a clean, we take it to the car wash, where they use recycled water, rather than potable water from the tap at home.
• Now the weather is better I am making the effort to dry clothes on the airer on the deck, rather than use the dryer.  With no washing line, the dryer is too easy to rely on, but a sunny room while I’m at work is a great start.

• I am making my way around the light fittings and changing over to low wattage bulbs where I can.  Where I can’t (because we are now renting and can’t pull light fittings out of the ceiling willy nilly), I prefer a lamp with one energy saving bulb than the lovely chandelier with 6 bulbs attached!  The atmosphere is still positive and relaxing!

Recycle:

• Use the bins provided for recycling!  In a small space you can’t let the mess pile up.  Recycle as much as you can.
• Get a small worm farm if you have surrounding common yard.  Luckily we do, and have invited our immediate neighbours to use the worm farm as well.  A little bit of community spirit goes a long way!

Improve your environment

It’s not enough to re-use, reduce and recycle anymore.  We need to be proactive, and IMPROVE our surroundings as well.

It can be as simple as potting a few small trees for the deck.  A large pot for a fish pond.  You can do a lot with only a little, to give back to the environment.

THE environment..?  It’s YOUR environment.

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