What is ethical shopping? Ethical shopping can include a whole variety of things. It is very personal what matters to you. For me, I want to be sure that the people who made my clothes were paid a decent wage and treated kindly. If you are vegan, it might be important to you that the company you buy from sells …
Stop food waste beautifully and organically with BeeBee Wraps
One of the most popular posts on less-stuff is the tutorial for reusable wax food wraps. They are brilliant alternatives to cling film and super fast to make. My wax wraps have one problem though – they crack after a while, which is fine as long as you don’t mind putting them back in the oven to melt the wax …
How to upcycle old fabric into a gorgeous solid storage cube
One of the best things about being part of a community of any sort, is when people share amazing ideas. Shirley Blair Procter is in the Ikea Live Lagom group and she posted a fantastic upcycle made from old material. Her original boxes were made as packing pods and they have zips around the outside. I was worried that putting …
It is cheaper to cook chickpeas from scratch than buy tinned
Cooking organic chickpeas from scratch costs less per 100g than buying non organic chickpeas in a tin, unless they are on special offer, in which case you save a few pence. We eat a lot of chickpeas. They go in curries, soups, with rice, pasta and mashed up to make falafels and hummus. Leftover curried chickpeas make fantastic pastie …
Hiring a Bristol Yo Bike – is it cheaper than the gym?
This is about my first adventure with a Yo Bike. I do own a pushbike. It was my present to myself on my 40th birthday and it was built by the very lovely John the Bike who is no longer with us. He measured my legs, looked at how I used a bike and carefully sourced me loads of second …
Eco To Go Reusable Rice Husk Coffee Cup Review
I’ve been on the lookout for a re-usable coffee cup for a while now. I work from home so I try to get out of the house for a walk every day. In the winter I’ll go to a coffee shop but when the sun is out I prefer to sit outside. Building on the success of giving up plastic …
What to do with a veg box in April
Every week I get a vegetable box delivered and I find myself staring at it thinking, ‘what can I do with all this veg?’ To save myself the agony next year I’m writing down my ideas every month. It is turning into a seasonal food diary and the little bit of planning is saving me lots of stress. This is …
How can I make time for myself when I should be doing other things?
A couple of questions came up in the less-stuff Facebook group about making time. “How can I create time for working on my mental health when all other matters feel more pressing?” “How can I make time when I keep being asked to do things like form filling and change electricity suppliers and stuff?” This post is about how …
Fresh salad all year round with this easy hydroponics unit from ManoMano
If you spend £1.50 a week on bagged salad you could make your money back on this in 6 months. Bagged salad is wasteful in terms of the water used to produce the leaves, the non recyclable plastic it is bagged in and it is one of the most common food items left to rot in the fridge. And there …
Freebies that save you money – 7 Starters to Frugal Freedom
I’m usually pretty careful with my money but I do need to keep spending in check. It has been an expensive month with a new oven and the bathroom ceiling is leaking again so I need to be extra careful. Later this year I’ll be a part time student and my working hours will be reduced so now is a …
Mend something!
Scroll down to enter a competition to win a Home Hacks Kit from Sugru! Before you throw it away…. Visible mending can be really beautiful and there is a whole website devoted to it – visiblemending.com. Jen Gale has written reams about visible mending on mymakedoandmendlife.com too with loads of handy links to tutorials. Things you can fix quickly Squeaky …
Natural salt deodorant balls. zero waste and plastic free
Guest post by Lindsay Coldrick of NRG Healing What is in your deodorant? Many people are still unaware of the hidden dangers in the active ingredients of modern day deodorant. They can contain some potentially hazardous chemicals which are then sprayed/rolled on the underarms as a way of reducing perspiration and odour. The primary ingredient used in most antiperspirants is …