The Greening of Gavin

Our Frugal Christmas Preparations

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It’s beginning to feel a lot like Christmas…. said Holly and Teddy!

Yes folks. It is that time of the year again.  The season to be jolly and all that yuletide stuff.

Today we put up the tree and decorated it with festive baubles and garland that we usually store in the shed.  We haven’t bought decorations or a new tree for about 10 years, as the old ones do us fine.

We also don’t believe in cutting down a perfectly good tree just for a few weeks of the year.  Most real christmas trees are thrown away in the new year to landfill, which is quite a shame.  Not only are they cut which prevents them from sequestering carbon dioxide, they also turn into methane when rotting in landfill.  Not a very pretty part of christmas as far as I am concerned.

All of our christmas lighting is LED, which is very low wattage.  I worked out that our tree lights take 11 watts to run, which is about the same as a single CFL bulb.  Very energy efficient.  Also, I am not one to string up thousands of lights all over the outside of my house, just to light up the street and watch my electricity meter spin out of control.  Imagine how much coal is being burnt to light up all those homes here in Victoria.  Such excess.

Another cool thing that we do each year is make our own christmas cards.  Kim has been very busy upcycling old christmas cards and making new ones out of them.  Each year she keeps all the cards that were sent to us and puts them away for the next season.  Then in a mad frenzy about two weeks before Christmas Day, she gets out bits of old plain card, fabric, glitter pens, and all sorts of crafty stuff, then gets to work.

It is a bit like Santa’s workshop when she gets her card mojo on.

Here is a sample of her handy work.  I think they are brilliant creations, and much better than the expensive ones that you can buy.  Besides, they are all made with love.

Hopefully none of the recipients are reading, but if you are, sorry if I spoiled the surprise.  The cards are on their way, so you will have them soon.

Anyway, other than the tree, lights, and a few decorations around our home, it looks quite normal around here.  Lots of activities like gardening, writing, brewing, and cleaning taking place, with the odd barbeque lunch and swim thrown in as well.  I am take a couple of weeks annual leave starting on Thursday afternoon. Yippee!

We are looking forward to a quiet christmas, as it will be just Kim, Ben, me, and the dogs.  All the older kids are off doing their own thing this year.  We will miss them dearly.

For christmas dinner, we are cooking an organic free range chicken with sage stuffing, and vegetables from the garden. Roasted potatoes, onions, and carrots with steamed, silverbeet, cabbage, and broad beans.  Oh, and maybe a few yorkshire puddings as well with homemade gravy.  Delicious home grown and cooks food, all washed down with lots of home brewed beer!  Any leftovers will be consumed cold on Boxing day, as is the tradition.

So dear reader, I know that I am a week and a bit early, but I wish you all a safe and merry Christmas!

May it be one where spending is well under control, and consumption is not excessive, and the 3R’s are king.  Recycle all that you can, and enjoy the company of those that you are with.

Gavin, Kim, and Ben xxx

How To Cancel Your Phone Book Delivery

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Are you sick of paper based phone books?  When was the last time you actually used a phone book?

You know what? I honestly cannot remember the last time I picked one up other than to throw it in the recycling bin.

Finally, there is a way to save copious amounts of paper each year.

For those of you who reside in Australia, there is now once single place that you can cancel your yearly delivery of these paper bricks.  All you have to do is visit Directory Select at this address;  https://www.directoryselect.com.au/action/home and choose “Cancel Books”.  There are about 5 clicks, a postcode, and your address, and you are done.  It is that easy.

You can use this tool to cancel your phone books anywhere in Australia.  As you can see below, here is one I did today.  No more paper phone books for three years!

And if you do have some paper phone directories laying around the home, you can just pop them into your curbside recycling bin.

However, if you still need to keep your phone book for whatever reason, you can be comfortable in the knowledge that the paper is FSC certified (but doesn’t state the paper source).

Sensis, a division of our largest telco Telstra, took the eco-friendly route in 2010.  They have this to say about their phone directories;

“In February 2010, we announced that our Yellow Pages® and White Pages® print and online directories have been certified carbon neutral through the Australian Government’s Greenhouse Friendly™ program, which has since transitioned to the National Carbon Offset Standard. We will achieve this by offsetting the carbon emissions of the directories through accredited providers and projects in Australia. The carbon neutrality accounts for the full life cycle of the print and online directories, including production, use, disposal and distribution, from 1 February 2010.” – source: https://www.directoryselect.com.au/action/info/what-is-directory-select#directory-env

That is all well and good, but the key to reducing any waste cut it off the source.  So lets do it and make a difference.  For those international readers, if you have a similar site in your country, please share via a comment.
Who is going to join me and cancel their phone directory?  Think of all the trees you can save! 

Bob the Office Zombie

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Carrying over the zombie theme from my post today at the Simple, Green, Frugal Co-op, here is some light hearted messages about using your brain in the office. I couldn’t stop snickering, because I have met a few people like Bob in my time!  Note: Any resemblance to persons living or dead is purely coincidental!


Watch Zombies inflitrate your workplace. Don’t be like Bob; use your brain, bring a cup or mug to the office.


Watch the further adventures of Bob in the office. Don’t be like Bob, Use Your Brain. Use the tap.


Watch the further adventures of Bob in the office. Don’t be like Bob, Use Your Brain. Use Both Sides.

Bob cracks me up, what a character!  Too bad there are people like him in the real world.