This post is about the changes that IKEA has made to be more sustainable. We can use their ideas in our homes to save money too by reducing, reusing and repairing. Read on for more ideas to make sustainability easy. Reduce costs and change the bulbs IKEA only sell LED bulbs now and their stores are lit by LEDs or …
Think big to save money – how IKEA’s pressure cookers can help you save
As a country, the UK is wasting an awful lot of money throwing away food. “The average household lost £470 a year because of avoidable food waste, whilst those with children incurred a loss of £700, with the average person in the UK losing £200 a year.” House of Commons, Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee, Food waste in England, …
IKEA goes green in Greenwich with their most sustainable store in the UK
I’ve just come back from an amazing preview of the new IKEA at Millennium Way Retail Park in Greenwich, London. I did have a bit of trouble finding it, because it is not the normal big blue box. This IKEA has windows! Lots of them. The whole place feels open and welcoming and on the last day of January, with …
Repaint your home on a budget and save the planet with Community RePaint
This time last year I started to strip off some of the woodchip wallpaper. I had avoided it for years because I suspected it was actually holding the house up but 2 walls of the stuff steamed off pretty well leaving just the odd crack and revealing some loose plaster. For 12 months I have had 2 bare walls waiting …
How to have an eco-friendly, low waste and frugal Christmas
In the brilliant less-stuff Facebook group, Laura mentioned upcycling broken old artificial Christmas trees by wrapping individual branches with twinkly lights to make garlands. This sparked off a whole load of ideas from Laura, Dawn, Jill, Claire, Liane, Carolyn, Sarah, Anna, Arabella, Bróna, Jane, Dina, Lynne, Anna, Linda, Victoria, Shirley and Clare which I have collated into this really useful …
Making your home cosy with IKEA Live LAGOM
As part of the IKEA Live LAGOM Community, I get invited to loads of great workshops. There is no need to feel left out though, IKEA run workshops for everyone all through the year and you just need to check your local store to see what is going on. Today’s workshop was about cosy homes and living in a drafty …
LiveLAGOM, working with IKEA to be more sustainable
Two years ago, I nearly deleted an email titled ‘congratulations’ from IKEA. I’m so glad I didn’t because it was an invitation to become part of IKEA’s Live LAGOM community and it has been truly life changing. I forgot I had even applied in the first place! The application process was incredibly easy; all I did was answer a few …
Free emotional support posters with tear off strips
Last month the lovely Anna in our Facebook group posted a link to an emotional support poster that had tear off strips. Each strip had words of comfort and support on it. I printed one out and taped it to the nearest lamp post. View this post on Instagram Lovely Anna posted this in the less-stuff Facebook group. …
Why failing is impossible
Next week I have to give a presentation at college. The subject is ‘Failure in Design’. Since we have been told not to discount any of our ideas as rubbish just yet, I’m assuming that the point of the exercise is to get us to embrace failure as a design resource. This has got me thinking about failure in all …
Yarn Scrap Projects – Never Ending Hyperbolic Mobius Crochet Tutorial
This is part of my research for my MA in Design. I’m exploring the idea of infinity. I’ve made a few of these now, mostly using scrap yarn and they are a brilliant way of using up odd ends. They work better with stripes so you can see the never ending edge. They are quite a mindful thing to play …
The #inflatableamnesty can go global! This is how to save paddling pools from landfill!
A new life for all those old inflatables A while ago I wrote about how happy my little tote bag made me. It was originally a bouncy castle, and the enterprising Wyatt & Jack saved it from landfill and turned it into a very handy bag. I like to think it is infused with the happiness of all the kids …
Not all plastic is rubbish!
There is a lot in the news now about reducing plastic. Terrifying pictures of beaches strewn with litter and animals killed by plastic are all over my Twitter feed. People all over the world, including me, take up challenges like #PlasticFreeJuly and #ZeroWasteWeek. But not all plastic is rubbish. I’ve left most of the Zero Waste and Plastic Free groups …