The Full English Accompaniment – Making your day more environmentally friendly

What’s piqued my interest this week?

As part of our goals for this year MrsShrink and I are trying to live more sustainably. Recently we’ve got a bit stuck for ideas, and a friend recommended we go through our daily routine to look for places where we couple replace things. Here’s part of MrsShrink’s day as an example:

• Morning shower:
  • shower gel – swap for soap bar
  • plastic loofah – swap to natural loofa
  • venus razor – ceramic or wood with replaceable blades?
  • face wash – home made
  • face exfoliator – home made
• Brush teeth:
  • electric toothbrush heads – bamboo heads?
  • toothpaste – tabs?
• Creams/ lotions/ make-up:
  • moisturiser cream
  • lip balm – metal tins
  • deodorant – bars or powders
  • make-up – plastic free
• Clothes:
  • buy from charity shops
  • natural fibres only
• Tea & coffee:
  • teabags (contain plastic) – loose leaf instead
  • coffee – buy beans from sustainable source and grind

This method has helped us recognise areas where we can change. Some of the ideas we came up with are probably more expensive, but we’re going to try and implement the cheaper ones. So why not give it a go as another way of budgeting and accounting in your life.

Have a great week,

The Shrink

Other News

• Feed-in tariffs have been cut reducing the incentive for solar panels (1)
• Five graphs from the Spring budget Statement (2)
• FCA to cut down on exit fees (3)
• House prices rise in February (4)
• Three weeks to find £25,000 – the NHS doctors remortgaging to cover tax bills due to the drop in lifetime allowance (5)
• Give a man a chance and he’ll draw a penis. Even the Romans (6)

Opinion/ blogs:

• Mr Tako Escapes – Low Beta Investing: the anomaly of lower risk and greater returns (7)
• Morningstar – Understanding ETFs and fees (8)
• DIY Investor UK reviews and purchases Foresight Solar (9)
• UKVI cuts Centrica from his list (10)
• MrsYFGs tips from how MrYFG got her on board to the FI mindset (111)
• Cashflowcop unveils his new improved FI scoring system (12)
• GFF puts up another thought experiment (13)
• The savings ninja reflects on mortality (14)
• What fire the 9 to 5 has learnt from the first 3 months of early retirement (15)
• Weenie tries LMFs new gin (16)
• Monevator on tax efficient savings for kids through SIPPs and JISAs (17)
• Foxy looks at his best passive investments of the year (18)
• Indeedably reflects on the effect of attitude and optimism (19)
• The Caveman thinks about childhood shame of being poor (20)
• MsZiYou on the importance of finding your people (21)

The kitchen garden:

• Two thirsty gardeners – How to season wood (22)
• Sharpen your spades – Going peat free with coco coir compost (23)

What I’m reading (affiliate links):

Tombland – C.J. Sansom – I love the Shardlake series, detective novels set in the Tudor period with a crippled lead character. Beautifully written.

Food Of The Gods: The Search for the Original Tree of Knowledge: A Radical History of Plants, Drugs and Human Evolution – Terence McKenna – An ethnobotanist explores humanitys’ fascination with hallucinogenics, and the role of altered states of consciousness on the development of human society.

References

1. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/bills/article-6799495/Are-solar-panels-good-investment-feed-tariffs-slashed.html
2. https://www.thisismoney.co.uk/money/news/article-6804455/Official-outlook-finances-five-graphs-Spring-Statement.html
3. http://www.morningstar.co.uk/uk/news/182247/fca-to-clamp-down-on-exit-fees.aspx
4. https://www.dailymail.co.uk/money/mortgageshome/article-6781531/House-prices-grow-highest-record-February-fall-January.html
5. https://www.bmj.com/content/364/bmj.l998
6. https://nypost.com/2019/03/01/archaeologists-uncover-ancient-graffiti-penis/
7. https://www.mrtakoescapes.com/low-beta-investing-the-anomaly-of-lower-risk-and-greater-returns/
8. https://www.morningstar.com/articles/919059/understanding-and-navigating-etfs-premiums-and-dis.html
9. http://diyinvestoruk.blogspot.com/2019/03/foresight-solar-it-new-addition.html
10. https://www.ukvalueinvestor.com/2019/03/why-centrica-no-longer-meets-my-investment-criteria.html/
11. https://youngfiguy.com/mrs-yfg-my-top-tips-for-getting-your-partner-on-side/
12. https://cashflowcop.com/fi-score-test-fist-where-are-you-on-the-journey/
13. https://gentlemansfamilyfinances.wordpress.com/2019/03/15/saving-ninja-thought-experient5-from-gff/
14. https://thesavingninja.com/a-close-up-look-at-death/
15. https://firethe9to5.com/2019/03/15/early-retirement-early-days-what-ive-learned-from-the-first-3-months/
16. http://quietlysaving.co.uk/2019/03/15/gin-and-win/
17. https://monevator.com/tax-efficient-saving-for-children-and-grandchildren-with-jisas-and-sipps/
18. https://www.foxymonkey.com/best-passive-income-investments/
19. https://indeedably.com/incurable-optimism/
20. https://ditchthecave.com/shame-poor/
21. https://www.msziyou.com/tale-of-two-coffee-shops/
22. http://twothirstygardeners.co.uk/2019/03/how-to-season-wood/
23. https://sharpenyourspades.com/2019/03/12/peat-free-coco-coir-compost/