Reducing much more than waste

A few years ago I was studying the credit card bill and couldn't help wonder how we could carry on enjoying our lifestyle but without spending so much cash and without compromising the good things in life.

Every weekend we'd go shopping or go off for the weekend to visit friends. Then along came the kids and the weekend visits dropped but we'd still end up in the shops, buying stuff to keep ourselves entertained. And there was always an excuse with weddings, funerals, holidays, rainy days or simply doing up the house.

With a rising credit card balance, the obvious thing would have been to stay away from the shops, spend less and simplify our activities.

But if you enjoy surrounding yourself with nice things, tasty food and see shopping as a happiness fix it's hard to shut off the spending reflex, especially when there's always tomorrow to pay it off.

I'd get bored, so I'd shop. I'd get fed up, so I'd shop. I'd get hungry, so I'd shop and if I felt fat I would rush to the shops for a well designed outfit that slimmed my figure.

But I wasn't a shopaholic. Could I admit it if I was? I simply enjoyed improving my lot and splashing the cash. And I could never understand how folk, including my mother, could hate shopping with a passion!

Then I started The Rubbish Diet.

It's funny how focusing on reducing the amount of waste has had an impact on on my approach to shopping. I had expected to simply recycle more and hadn't considered the other consquences that resulted from the challenge. And it really highlight the effect of the power of reduction.

While I was reducing the packaging in everything I bought, I was naturally reducing the amount of things we had to recycle. And even if we could recycle it, I began to question our need for the product in the first place.

Did we just buy the product out of habit? Did it really serve the benefit it promoted? Was there an alternative solution that incurred less consumption as well as less waste? And if we still wanted it after all that, could we simply cope with less of it?

For me, this has been the biggest lesson and most effective outcome of experiencing personal change through the life of The Rubbish Diet. It's not just been about recycling more, it's about reducing and removing the burden of the automatic "must-have" thought pattern.

When I think back to my old shopping list, it's hard to believe how much I've changed. But gone are the kids' bottles of squash, regular magazines, multipacks of crisps, packets of biscuits, keep-'em-busy toys, silly shaped yoghurts, kitchen towel, washing up sponges, clingfilm, regular washing detergent and those awful disposable sanitary pads. The latter never really had me bouncing with joy like the ladies in the adverts.

Then there was food waste. Buying smaller quantities and letting less food go off and using up more leftovers, it meant that I didn't have to rush off to the shops to spend more and bring home even more packaging to recycle.

And as for clothes, I'd always want an up-to-date smart wardrobe, but would never buy in a thrift shop due to peculiar inhibitions about secondhand clothes. Of course I'd always be happy to drop things off for those in need, a rather patronising manner I know and it's for one I now apologise. However these days charity shops are nine times out of ten my first port of call. I now enjoy the benefits of a bargain as much as as the next person.

But it's not just been about saving money. It's always been about waste and the recognition that for each item I buy, there is waste somewhere along the chain of production before I even consider the future options of disposal.

I've still got a Per Una voucher in my purse, which I was given a year ago. Where I would have once rushed out and spent it, as if it were burning a hole in my pocket, I no longer have that driven urge.

And I have also reduced the status of the food cupboard emergency. Instead of running out to the corner shop when we run out of cheese, I now put it into context and give the family something else instead. Previously such occasions would result in a drive to the local shop to buy a top up, get distracted by so many goodies and forget to buy the cheese.

If some "know-it-all" had criticised my shopping habits and told me I was spending too much, over-buying and being wasteful, I probably would not have wanted to have listened and would have dug in my heels in a defensive manner. Even a responsible person like me used to find it hard to accept responsibility for something that we all take for granted i.e. the rubbish we create as a result of our personal decisions.

But to learn for myself has allowed me to tackle behavioural change that was the cause of waste in the first place. It's a journey that I needed to take and I am grateful for the outcomes because we now have more money to spend on the real necessities of life and value more of what we already have.

However, please don't mistake me for Little Miss Perfect, because I don't pretend to be. The odd treats still slip in, including crisps, biscuits, kids' squash and a comic. But these days they are real treats instead of something we take for granted. I also sometimes get caught out without a bag and I don't always use containers because of our excellent recycling facilities. Then there's my new dress that I bought from my favourite shop Phase Eight, but it was the first in a whole year, unlike my previous purchase pattern when I might have got three or four. And finally my real downfall is my love of books and my affection for Waterstone's. That's something I need to work on.

And of course we run out of essentials now and then. Indeed we used the last slice of bread on Sunday night.

So it looks like I'd better rush off to the shop for a top-up. I've just checked the time. I really had better go!

Better not get distracted while I'm there eh...and I must remember my reusable bag!

Ah...Reusing....

Now that's another story. I'll cover that one tomorrow!

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