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Limit the number of items you buy, whether these be clothes, books or ornaments. Do this by knowing what you want and working out minimum numbers. For instance, a capsule wardrobe might consist of a beautiful jacket, three pairs of trousers that go with it and six shirts that compliment them. You might not get as many successful combinations in twice this many badly co-ordinated items. A group of 6 toby jugs artfully displayed many be more of a talking piece than twice this many assorted ornaments.
If you love one thing, limit something else. For instance, I love books and computer magazines. I do not particularly like expensive clothes, jewelry or ornaments.
Make use of both the money and the time that you save when minimising possessions. It is a great incentive to be mean.
GREEN
Being green is about living sustainably, not taking more out of the earth than it can provide. While sustainability is a long haul for most people, if you live more simply and spend less you will be making changes for the better in this respect. The only other thing to say in terms of greenness is that you must not waste any of the resources you have, however you came by them.
There are some ways that you can ensure this:
- Try and use renewable resources as much as possible: renewable energy, wood from sustainable forests (FSC is the only certification to trust), recycled paper - both writing paper and essential paper products like loo paper.
- Don't throw out anything that still has use left in it. Be it a book or a jumper, a pair of shoes or an old computer, try to find a home for it. Give it to charity. Hand it over to relatives. Put it in the appropriate recycle bin.
- Use it in a different way - ie cardboard egg boxes make good seed pots as these rot away when planted in the ground. Large yogurt pots make reasonable plant pots especially if you make a hole in the bottom of them for drainage.
- Keep what is natural. Garden flowers may be all very well, but when the wildflowers are all gone, our wild animals will start to die out. Roads are very convenient but where trees are cut down, birds are made homeless. No new shopping mall will ever replace a walk in ancient woodland.
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