I suffer from an incurable debilitating illness which can suddenly cause blood clotting. It has given me five miscarriages and a stroke while also causing tiredness and pain on a daily basis. You may find I don’t post regularly- this is why. So I work flexibly from my home and go out only when there are meetings with other colleagues. While restricting my income and ambitions considerably, in some ways, it has also been a gift. I’ve had to learn to save money, find ‘easy’ ways of going about daily life and while doing so, I found that I could also be ecological.
For one, before I start, I can’t live a ‘zero waste’ life style- I have waste that can’t be recycled or re-used easily for contamination reasons, for example plastic blister packs with foil backs, bandaging, wipes, etc. I also need to regularly clean areas such as the bathroom and toilet and throw the wipes. So here is a photo of a small bag of such items- for scale, I have put the fork next to the bag. This is rubbish that is non organic and can’t be composted that I have collected in one month that will need to be thrown ( I will save the bag for another use once I have thrown the contents).
But you might agree that this is a very small amount for a month, right?
Being ill and being ecological are not mutually exclusive- there are many things one can do. For those who are lucky to be perfectly healthy, these will work even better. So here are the ideas that I have been using for many years.
- Keep your horizontal surfaces clean and clear and get rid of (or store) small items that need constant dusting. This is the quickest way to appear tidy! I have used a sheep skin duster which I’ve had for about 25 years for this. This duster can be washed using the dishwasher liquid (see below). Some linen scraps are also good for dusting but not for wiping.
- I have found that cotton cloths from old clothes, particularly underwear, can be cut up and used for wiping. Old clean socks are also good for cleaning and you can put your hand inside the sock to get to difficult areas such as window blinds and corners. I never buy kitchen paper, dish cloths or any other kind of cleaning cloths or wipes.
- I don’t use wipes for cleaning toilets- I spray tap water using an old spray bottle and then wipe clean with toilet paper which can be flushed away. Wipes have been known to clog up sewerage systems in London and should not be used. Spray bottles containing water and perhaps a few drops of tea tree oil and lavender are lovely to use and help to combat infection while keeping the area smelling beautifully.
- I make my own dish cleaning liquid the lazy way.
This made by soaking orange or lemon peels in vinegar for about 4-6 weeks and then adding half measure of washing up liquid. This is less expensive than using pure washing up liquid and also smells lovely apart being very effective. The peels can be used to clean the sink or oven surface and then either composted or thrown- they are quite reduced in mass after all this. - You can tidy up a small areas daily as and when needed– the most used areas get untidier faster. I tidy up the living/dining areas and kitchen as they are used the most and also tend to hoover the stairs. Then there isn’t a huge big tidy up needed if people turn up. If I see a place that is dusty or untidy, then I dust or tidy it- I don’t have a regular schedule. I find that most of the time, visitors don’t notice anything!
- I use an Indian grass broom, Jharu, to clean the floor. Unless the there are difficult to reach places which necessitate the use of the vacuum cleaner which can be difficult for me to manoeuvre, I use the Jharu. These can be found in Indian shops (there are ‘Western equivalents’ but not as effective).
- I haven’t bought bin bags for years, I simply use the bags/packets I get from my grocery shopping to put rubbish as these would have to be thrown anyway. So, for example, the frozen fish comes in plastic bags which can’t be recycled, so I use them as bin bags. (For those who ask why I don’t take my own container to the fishmonger, I don’t buy ‘fresh’ fish anymore because they are least fresh. Unless you’ve caught them yourself, most of these so called fresh fish are actually defrosted fish and they start to decompose when displayed at the fishmonger’s shop window. These fresh fish are also more expensive.) My recycled toilet paper also comes in plastic packaging but I use that plastic as a larger bin bag.
- As another example of ‘secondary use‘, I use water left from cleaning other things to use for more cleaning before throwing it. So if I clean out my dishwashing liquid bottle, then the water from that can be used to clean the sink or washbasin. Shampoo bottles can be rinsed before recycling and that water used to clean the bathtub. Rice or lentil water, i.e. water used for cleaning these, can be used to clean low grease items such as the sink or plates.
- Don’t be afraid of using the dishwasher- the modern dishwashers are energy and water efficient and can be quicker and better than hand washing. Some of my utensils that are cast iron or brass hand me downs from my maternal grandmother need to be hand washed and I use the left over hot water from making tea or coffee to wash them.
- I buy clothes that don’t need dry-cleaning and even if the label says ‘Dry cleaning’ I will try to use the washing machine on it. I have spoilt a few clothes, I admit, but by not using the dry cleaners, I have made much of a saving!
- I generally use the washing machines at the lowest possible setting for the shortest time– usually about 53 minutes at 30C for clothes and 27 minutes for the dishwasher. Once in awhile, I will put a cup of vinegar and turn on the dishwasher for the highest temperature setting- this gives it a good clean. You can also do this for the clothes washing machine using a three table spoons of bicarb.
- I have a steam cleaner that I use for deep cleaning the bathroom. This doesn’t need any chemicals and while doing the cleaning, I get the benefit of steaming my face and nose too along with some exercise.
- My cleaning equipment is very basic as I can’t lift much and my supplies are limited to Sodium bicarbonate, soda crystals, vinegar, eco-friendly laundry liquid and dish washing liquid. I do use a small amount of bleach from time to time to disinfect and to clear stains. To keep the sink pipes clean, put down some bicarbonate and then some vinegar (it will fizz) and then pour down a kettle of hot water.
- I don’t follow the advice, ‘If it is brown, flush it down; if it yellow, let it mellow.’ I found that my toilet bowls get stained if pee is left around too long and so I do flush- it is better than having to use bleach later to remove stains. Dental tablets are excellent for removing limescale from toilets- I chuck couple of these and after half an hour or so, the toilet is free from lime scale.
- Finally, remembering that fresh air and sunlight are one of the best germ and insect killers and deodorisers. Strong can also bleach away stains. Even in winter, I try to ‘air’ and sun the rooms when it is not raining. Airing also helps to get rid of dust mites on the bed before it is remade.
As a quote attributed to Albert Einstein said, ‘Everything should be made simple, but not any simpler.’ My home is not minimalist– there are things that bring me joy and I keep them. So the tidying and cleaning is made simple but not any simpler so that the joys of seeing and remembering is lost in extreme minimalism.
Too much cleaning can be bad for health too- and not just from the work. As a BBC report tells us, ‘being too clean is also wrong, because it might help cause asthma and allergies. So is there a balance between keeping obsessively clean and learning to live with the bacteria all around us?’ Quite so, that is the middle way which we can discover for ourselves, for our particular life styles.
A Value Creating Life 