YOUR ‘STUFF’:

• Do you NEED it? Can it wait? Could save you   £££
• Can you get it from a re-use organisation?  And give unwanted items to them?  3 million useable household items are thrown away in the UK every year. Read:  Home – Reuse Network (reuse-network.org.uk)   £££
• Buy local, and from independent companies, support the local economy and therefore circulate more money locally.  Invest in the local community instead of enriching overseas behemoths.
• Avoid large online purchasing sites wherever possible, especially those which have a poor human rights record and a dubious tax history. Look for local companies offering click & collect, etc. And do you really need it tomorrow or the day after?
• Select white goods appliances  (eg. washing machines) at A+ standard or better; it will save you money in a few years.  £
• Wherever possible choose ‘stuff’ that doesn’t have to be transported over long distances.
• Reject fast fashion. Read:  What Is Fast Fashion? – Good On You  will tell you why.

YOUR CHILDREN:  it costs an eye-watering £75k-£100k to bring up a child

Save money and help save the planet. £££

• Buy second-hand, whenever possible.
• Link with other parents to join a ‘baby-chain’ to pass on grown-out-of clothes & equipment.
• Consider whether to buy eco-nappies rather than disposables. Read: Eco-friendly alternatives to disposable nappies – The Waste Management & Recycling Blog (forgerecycling.co.uk)

YOUR MONEY:  what you buy – and don’t buy – really matters

• Every single purchase can make a difference. So much to think about here. (eg. you could buy something made using child labour, that pollutes the local river near the manufacturing centre, that is air freighted across the world –  or you could buy it locally or buy something else entirely. Or not buy at all. Read:  Ethical Consumer: the alternative consumer organisation will challenge the way you spend money.
• ‘The Power of your Purse’, produced by us, sums up what you can do.
• Where do you bank? Some banks support the fossil fuel industry and other socially bad industries such as tobacco, gambling, military, etc. See: https://switchit.money/ and consider changing (easier than at first appears).
• Where’s your pension fund? Is it invested in fossil fuels, defence/military, mining and tobacco? (you could well be surprised!). Read:  Climate change and your pension: divestment guide | Key issues | UNISON National

YOUR WASTE:  try to follow the mantra:  Refuse, Reduce, Reuse, Repair, Recycle

• Use up food in your house; try not to chuck it. ‘Sell by’ dates differ from ‘Use by’. There are loads of imaginative recipes online. £
• Choose plastics that can actually be recycled.  Not black, as sorting machinery can’t pick it out.
• Separate organic/food waste
• Have a re-useable coffee cup (and remember to take it with you!). Shops often offer a discount.
• Recycle batteries, old specs/glasses and loads of ‘stuff’ via the shops that sell them, eg. Dyas will recycle batteries.
• Separate plastics that can be recycled for charity (eg. crisp packets, Pringle™ tubes, printer ink cartridges, etc).  Then use:  https://www.terracycle.com/en-GB/
• Go a step further and volunteer to collect for Terracycle in your road.
• Pass unwanted ‘stuff’ on via charity shops / ebay™ / Facebook™ / Free-cycle™ , etc.
• Use Community Fridge, which saves food from being dumped. Donate if you can. There’s a vibrant group in Dorking. £££    See:  https://midsurreycommunityfridges.co.uk

YOUR CONSUMPTION:

The food, stuff, and things that we consume, and resultant waste, is a huge part of our carbon footprint and greenhouse gas emissions.