How do I do this?

Well in an attempt to reduce the amount of stuff that goes in our wheelie bins ... I am currently looking into ways to reduce this but to also make some cash out of it.  So I have emailed a bunch of scrap metal dealers in Inverness (our closest city) to see if there is any way that they would accept domestic scrap metal (like food and drink cans) and if they do, then how much would they pay for this.  I know it's a long shot but if people in England and Wales can make money from their scrap metal then so can I! That would certainly reduce the amount of waste going in my wheelie bins!  I know our local council provide these little pathetic blue boxes for cans and paper but to be honest they are pants!  I can fill one in a week with tins and if I recycle my mum's tins as well I would fill two in a week and these pathetic little things are collected fortnightly!!!!

I am also getting my mum to save all her jars for me so that I can start making some preserves.  I will start small with stuff like onion marmalade but will branch out into jams and stuff when I am a bit more confident that I can do it properly.  That will prevent jars going into the bin as well!!!!

We already compost but that was a complete disaster last year and have had to start from scratch again this year and it's not really working as well.  Last year, my compost bin (affectionately known as george ... I'm going to get another one and call it mildred!) was doing nicely.  Then we went on holiday.  My lovely next door neighbour was providing us with her kitchen peelings etc which was really helping the composting along nicely but when we went on holiday she chucked whole potatoes in!!! So we came home from holiday to find tatties growing in our compost bin!

The whole lot had to be chucked out.  To say I was gutted was an understatement as we had some proper good quality compost at the bottom.  But off it all went and this year hubby decided to site the compost bin elsewhere in the garden.  Big disaster.  It's in a shady area at the side of the house and the stuff just does not seem to be composting down as fast.  But I will wait and see how things go.  I will continue to supply the bin but we are just not producing enough to keep the bin filled up.

But I did have a total brain wave!!! We have 3 brown garden waste bins.  One is ours, one is next door's (her gardens front and back are paved and gravelled) and we found one when out on a walk.  So the third one now has drainage holes in it.  I filled it with shredded newspaper and hubby then piled all our grass cuttings on it and we have left it.  Hopefully it will mulch down and we will be able to add this to the compost bin to speed up the processes.  If it works then I will be well chuffed!!!! But I really need to get one of those aerators for compost bins.  Having a really bad back means that I just can't use the garden fork to move the stuff in the bin as it's all so far down!!!! But I think I will just leave that for hubby to do ... it can be his job.

On the home front ... the children are really getting into the spirit of money saving and being thrifty.  They always give their teachers a gift at Christmas and last year it cost a small fortune as they don't just have one teacher, even though they are still at primary school.  There are a number of teachers so this year it is going to be different! I will post about it separately as I am very proud of them for it. 

Anyhow ... it's off to do some laundry and dishes ... although the dishwasher will do the latter ... all I have to do is load it lol.  I will be back later on ... have a good day y'all x

Composting for Newbies!

Well good evening all! I have decided to add this for any newbies who may stumble upon my lovely blog and are in need of some information or advice on home composting. I know I certainly found that when I started composting at home, I was unsure about what to put in the bin and what to dispose of in other manners.

Whilst browsing on the internet one day I stumbled upon a really informative site and wanted to let you all know about it. The website is www.gardenorganic.org.uk/composting and it is full of really useful information. I really devoured the section on home composting innovatively called "How to make compost"! Yes it really is that simple!

Anyway, I read this several times, and now I have a list pinned up on the wall of everything that can be put into the compost bin so that I never have to wonder and I just check the list if I am unsure about anything or if the kids ask what to do with their rubbish!

The article itself is pretty self explanatory but goes into details about exactly what can be composted and what cannot. In fact I'm off to my next door neighbour tomorrow to ask that the next time she is cleaning out her hamster, can she let me know and I'll put the waste sawdust into my compost bin to help the process along.

I was going to put a long list on here about what can and cannot be composted at home but I would really just be writing down what is already written on the website to won't go into too much detail. Although suffice to say I was surprised to find that hoover contents can be composted if it is mainly dust and that tumble drier fluff can also be put in as well! Needless to say, my tumble drier fluff is currently being collected in a spare kitchen caddy that I had lying around! I hate to bin anything that can be re-used!

I'm lucky that I have all girls as the clothes tend to get passed down, and we have managed to get quite a lot from freecycle lately. So once the little one has outgrown them, they really are not worth doing much with! Although I do tend to take them down to the fabric bank if they really are that bad. I have taken a lot of her stuff down to the charity shop but am going to start keeping it all for a massive car boot near to christmas, to see how much I can get rid of and make some money towards the kids christmas. My books get listed on play.com and that is being kept towards buying books for the kids for christmas. Same thing with DVDs that we don't need any more. I must get round to getting shot of the old computer games as well. I have several cameras that do not work any more that I must list on a certain website to see if I can get anything for them.

I'm even knitting towards christmas pressies! The two little ones only have one teacher each so they have a hand made scarf each so far. I'm in the process of knitting a jumper for my best friend and am making more scarves for various other people as well. I really must make a list and start ticking things off when they are done. I'm also making mobile phone cases for the two oldest and for a few other people too. They are so easy and are really done within a day. In fact I made 3 in one day and that was just going back to it a few times. I will take some photos of the finished articles and post them just for some extra artwork!!!

Right I must get my behind off to bed as I have the dentist tomorrow morning so really need to get myself some sleep!

Night night all, sweet dreams to you all xxx