So it is 2 weeks on and we are learning just how hard habits are to change. Anyone who has tried to change their behavior in any way whether it be around food, alcohol, exercise or work routines will know this hardship. It is interesting however how many habits we also have at the micro level. Which bin we put things in and structure of the week around food, hygiene, cleaning and grooming; things that were just flowing along are needing to be reviewed and diverted. Questions around reducing on-line buying because of the enormous amount of packaging, around having time to mend clothes and remake second hand ones, making choices to not consume things that we normally like to eat.
In the end it is all about TIME. The packaged and processed, throw away, convenience life style that we have come to rely on has given us more time. I have a very full diary but it is not bounded by formal hours so I can be flexible and squeeze time for things like cooking from scratch and shopping in town, but I have a mound of mending that is not getting done and my love of cycling to appointments and reducing my car use gets nudged out. I think of so many other people who have young children, full time jobs and no free time at all and I wonder how they can re-prioritize given the huge pressures of our expectations, our housing costs and the family structures we have created. (I am putting up the harvest sermon which touches on this). At this time it is probably mainly about awareness and the changes that will come will surprise us all, but I wonder if we can learn to find time by working together, living together, working for money less and for ourselves more. I wonder if we can learn that limitation is freedom … at the moment I seem to have just added more ‘things to do’ to my life, I wonder how these changes of flow will into a rhythm that is sustainable…. the journey goes on.
One way to make time is not to blog! So this is the last thoughts on this subject from me for a while…. do let me know your revelations and I will upload them here.
Things that have lingered… changes made.
Trying at all times not to buy single use plastic (but choices have to be made around organic, uk, local decisions of food) / reducing plastic containers and tins / Dog mince for the dogs from the butcher / local bakery bread and the farmers market visit each week / using a butter dish instead of margarine / making apple juice, storing fruit and pickling the harvest / Moving to a milk round delivery for glass bottled milk and yogurt in glass / rationalizing cleaning fluids and cloths to be washable and reusable / more bins for different things /
My advice would be…… make it fun, make some time for it by prioritizing, give it a few weeks to bed in, talk to others and share the journey, and allow for days when it all goes wrong and the non recyclable bin gets loaded!
Recyclable 
Non recyclable… I have not mastered making Pitta breads! 
Lots of cardboard 
The new 3 bin system that really make us think.
….. and is all this much more expensive? I still don’t know yet but I would say probably yes. I don’t think that we can expect for it not to cost more as we transition and choices about spending have to be made, the question is whether we are willing to cut back on other expenditure to prioritize this… for me, YES.
The Haven Eco-Church 