Today (5th June) is World Environment Day. The theme for this year is Restoration, and that got me thinking… Restoration & Nature The whole month of June is also #30DaysWild in the UK, organised by Wildlife Trusts, so as a family we are very nature focused already. Popping World Environment Day into the first week was a pretty easy win, … Read More
International Tea Day
Today is International Tea Day, if you know me you will know this is a topic close to my heart. I love tea. Every day I drink a lot of it, but from a fairly limited range of flavours. Luckily, I have a wonderful friend who is also a tea merchant, so life on the hot beverage front is pretty … Read More
Mental Health Awareness Week
I generally love an awareness day. I like the gentle reminder to focus on something or pay attention (my word of the year) to an issue. Mental Health Awareness Week is one that I try to take part in, but also call out the ‘fakery’ I often see. This week is #MentalHealthAwarenessWeek. There will be lots of ‘helpful’ graphics circulating … Read More
Earth Day
This year for Earth Day, I wanted to concentrate on ‘doable’ things. I’ve been guilty of trying to do too much, too quickly and then experiencing guilt when I’m not doing ‘enough’. I am a dark green, I’ve been working, with my family, over the last fifteen years to make a serious difference in how we live. Ultimately, we have … Read More
Ecologi Projects
In October 2023 I joined Ecologi. I’ve been donating a percentage of my income each month to an environmentally positive project via their Impact Shop. I liked their way of working, clear evidence of practial projects that actually make a difference and their transparency. I also liked the variety of things I could support. Each month I’ve had a vote … Read More
Impact Report 2023
An Impact Report for an individual always feels an odd thing to do, but I like the reflection of looking back and adding up small actions into more impressive collections of impact. We try to balance supporting projects for both people and planet, and I’m very proud of our contribution in 2023. Not least, that in October I joined Ecologi … Read More
B is for Badges…
Badges for the win. I know I’ve talked about this before, but it’s worth repeating! In the traditional (now thought out of date) Stages of Grief by Elizabeth Kubler-Ross, the last part of grief is ‘returning to meaningful life’. That we find a way to get back to our old ‘normal’. I have thoughts on that whole thing here. This … Read More
B is for Binge…
Going on a binge of some kind isn’t unusual. You may already have done so. Extremes of experience often lead to extremes of behaviour. And that’s quite normal. When under stress we are likely to reach for those things that bring us any kind of relief. Usually, the quicker the better. This is a time when being self-aware, or having … Read More
Impact Report 2022
When I ran The Frugal Family, we did a report each year to try and evaluate our impact. There are lots of online calculators that can help you to do something similar yourself. Sometimes it feels as if the small changes we make a home aren’t going to be important, or make a difference. Using these calculators helped me to … Read More
A is for Animals
Animals are the focus of this second A-Z of Grief. For the first, click here. I think there are two things to talk about here; how animals teach us about death and the death of pets. Off we go… Animals and Life Cycles One of the first ways many of us become aware of mortality, is from animals. We may … Read More