Holidays often mean more food in the house, and that can sometimes increase the risk of waste. In the Low Waste Christmas Workbook we have loads of different ways to avoid waste and here are a couple of printables that might help you. The first is a set of signs to put on food that needs using up first. Click …
Countdown to Cosy – Frugal Decorations
DIY Decorations Pinecones, old greeting cards and some glue is all you need to make these little Christmas trees. They look lovely as a group and you can even paint them if you are feeling very crafty. I’ve given them as an alternative to cards before buy gluing the bottom of the pinecone onto card and writing my message on …
Countdown to Cosy – Keep your brain healthy
This is an excerpt from the Low Waste Christmas Workbook. It’s packed full of ideas that will help you have an ethical and sustainable holiday. “Exercise your brain You may find that some chores take longer if you have extra people to feed, use extra washing up or laundry time to do some brain exercises to create new ‘grey sludge’ …
Countdown to Cosy – Help small businesses
This is an excerpt from the Low Waste Christmas Workbook. It’s packed full of ideas that will help you have an ethical and sustainable holiday. Shop Locally You may have seen the statistics about spending just £5 a week with a local independent retailer. This boosts the economy locally as well as that individual family. If you are buying presents, …
Countdown to Cosy – Get your vitamins
It might be miserable and grey outside but that is no reason to eat miserable and grey food. If you choose colourful fruit and veg it’s an easy way to make sure you are getting a good range of vitamins. Here is a rainbow of ideas: Red Red cabbage – vitamin C Cranberries – vitamin C Tomatoes – vitamin C …
Countdown to Cosy – Post a card
There are many ways to keep in touch nowadays. You can: phone, text, message, skype or zoom or go slow and send a postcard. There is something really lovely and personal about messages that come through the post. It’s always a thrill to see something that clearly isn’t a bill and it makes me feel loved and connected. Someone is …
Countdown to Cosy – Make a playlist
One of the topics in the Feel Good Friday section of our Winning at Winter book is about listening to music. The right song can brighten the dullest day. I’ve made a Winter Cheer Up Playlist on YouTube with recommendations from members of the less-stuff Facebook group. It’s really fun to hear other peoples favourites. If you want to …
Countdown to Cosy – Go for a walk
It might be grotty outside but if there is just a tiny glimmer of sunshine I encourage you to go and chase it. Why bother? “Consider these 5 Benefits of a winter walk: If you can meet up with friends or go on an organised walk with others that’s even better Walking allows us to safely release the anxiety chemical …
Countdown to Cosy – Check for change
Thrifty every day of the week The Winning at Winter Workbook has a whole section about being Thrifty on Thursdays. Of course you don’t need to limit that to one day a week but the workbook is designed so you can make your own calendar of easy things to do. Here is a little excerpt about finding change which gives …
Countdown to Cosy – Cooking in bulk
Double the recipe, half the time Doubling up a recipe is pretty easy on the maths and if you work on an ‘eat one, freeze one’ principal you have saved yourself loads of time in the future. Here are a couple of recipes that are brilliant for using up bananas and can be frozen too. Great for using up gluts …
Countdown to Cosy – Share your spares
How many coats do you need? I could make an argument for about 100 different coats. Long, short, fluffy, waterproof, blue, red…. the list could be endless. In reality I wear about 3. A long warm one, a waterproof one and a throw it over anything one. I keep an extra nice one for going out but that doesn’t get …
Countdown to Cosy – Get rid of uncomfy things
Bad pants days Starting off with a bad pant day can set me off very badly. You know what I mean by ‘bad pants day’? It’s when your knickers don’t fit right. There is always one pair that sneak in with the others in the drawer and it makes me unhappy and uncomfy when I pick them out to wear. …