We're no different. Except fortunately, none of us desperately need to lose weight.
 |
| Everyday Life On A Shoestring says regular wading through puddles and streams helps maintain a healthy weight! |
No, we're planning to take part in Wiltshire Wildlife Trust's Slim Your Bin project. Based on Karen Cannard's Rubbish Diet, the project is an 8 week programme designed to reduce waste and save money. Each week there will be a different focus, such as bathroom waste, food waste or decluttering. There will be events, newsletters, and the opportunity to follow the progress of the households involved. You'll be hearing more about it here in the weeks to come.
The saving money aspect of the Slim Your Bin project is particularly appealing to us this year as it looks increasingly likely that Husband will be subject to a Slim Your Job project too, run by his employer (except they call it 'restructuring' or even possibly 'redundancy').
 |
| Which way will 2013 take us? |
To offset a reduced income or loss of one income altogether, in common with lots of you, we're watching every penny, saving all that we can, and plotting various ideas for generating alternative sources of income. This includes reducing our outgoings even more, and looking forward to our own Slim Your Mortgage project, when our mistimed 5 year fixed-at-a-silly-rate, pre-recession deal comes to an end later this year.
So if you've ever wondered where the 'shoestring' element of this blog title comes in, it should be present this year more than ever. But hopefully still with a good dose of everyday life and simple things thrown in too.
 |
| Chinese lantern flowers at Long Dean, 2 Jan 2013 |
And to return to the theme of healthy living, we're all intending to keep healthy and active, and to stay positive, so expect lots more healthy food and good old Wiltshire fresh air! And maybe the odd cake (only to use up the food waste, right?!) too.
 |
| Bybrook Valley, 2 Jan 2013 |
I think that eating cake to use up food waste is very justifiable! I recently made a butternut squash tea bread to use up the last bit of a butternut squash! I should be resolving to lose weight this year, but being it is an annual thing and it hasn't worked so far I think slimming my bin is a far more realistic project to work on! Hope the slimming the job thing doesn't go ahead - unless that is what you want and I hope you have a very happy new year! Thanks for linking to my blog in your sidebar by the way!
ReplyDeleteButternut Squash tea bread sounds good - is the recipe going to be on your blog?!
DeleteVery pretty pictures on this post. Are these places near to you?
ReplyDeleteYes they are not too far away on one of our all time favourite local walks that goes through a very idyllic hamlet full of lovely Cotswold stone cottages.
DeleteI am sorry to hear your husband my be a victim of restructuring. We keep hearing around here that the recession has ended, but I don't the average person believes it yet. I like the idea of slimming the bin and look forward to reading your adventures. Btw, my great-grandmother made sure to have one pie a week for her children during the depression, we all need a treat once in a while.
ReplyDeleteThere are still many spending cuts still to happen in the public services here, so I agree, we're certainly still feeling the effects of recession, whatever the government would have us believe.
DeleteI like the idea of slimming your bin, not so much the slimming your job :( I need to do a bit of slimming myself this year, but probably need to slim my bin as well.
ReplyDeleteI hope you'll see us slimming our bin a lot, and the job part only a little...
DeleteLike Lois, at Livingsimplyfree, I hear all about the recession ending, but know far too many folks under-employed, unemployed, about to be downsized, etc. It's very frustrating, and scary, but all the more reason to be thankful for these frugal living blogs, for ideas and inspiration, and the development of our own frugal skills to get us through these tough times.
ReplyDeleteAs for the theme of healthy living, a nice walk outdoors always perks me up, and slims away those holiday treats!
Yes, the plethora of frugal blogs certainly makes me feel we're not alone by any means, and provides much inspiration as to what can be done with very little!
DeleteI'm working on reducing our food waste this year, and also reducing our overall consumption.
ReplyDeleteGood luck - I hope you'll find some ideas here over the year!
Delete