Bright Future

Even before Chris and I were married, he was always interested in doing his bit for the environment. When we moved into a place of our own, Chris did research regarding energy companies. He wanted one that was best for green energy. That was nearly 10 years ago and I think more energy companies are trying to go greener. In the last few years, we’ve changed things around the house that would look after the environment. In turn, they would also help with our heating bills. We had additional loft insulation put in along with external wall insulation on the outside. Our house is now pretty much wrapped up in a big blanket.

Last year, when Chris started his new job, he started to look at cars and if we could get another hybrid or fully electric car that would work for us. This is where Zoe the EV comes in. Admittedly even after a year, I still have mixed opinions of Zoe but she’s growing on me. I even looked at an EV for a second car instead of a petrol car.

These were big things that took some planning to change, but there are little things that we can do on a daily basis to make a difference and give our kids a bright future.

Even before children were being considered, I was of the opinion that I would rather have to do heaps of washing and know my kids were happy. Rather than them to have pristine clothes and be miserable.

Jaxon is a typical boy, he loves being outside and exploring but also likes to be inside and build things (don’t get me wrong girlies can do those things too!). When he’s been out in the garden or been to the park as well as following meal times he can often need a change of clothes because he’s got mucky – at the weekend I had to change his clothes firstly because he ended up with fromage frais down his arm. The second time was because his nappy didn’t keep up! So keeping up with his washing as well as the rest of the washing created by the smelly boys (and sometimes smelly mummy!) means the washing powder has got to keep up with us. Normally we use store own washing liquid. I used the Persil that I received and when I opened the washing machine, I wanted to stick my head in it because it smelt so nice!!

Did you know that according to an article in The Guardian this summer, children spend only half as much time playing outside as we did when we were children? Although the house I lived in used to be on a bus route, I remember playing outside most days in the summer whether it was out in the back garden, playing football in the evenings, using the garage as a goal or as I got older going to the park to hang out with my friends and one particular winter we ended up visiting three different houses to make sure we got the most out of the snow while it was still there!

There are so many reasons why children need to play outside and explore rather than being stuck inside. You can read more here.

To give Jaxon a bright future, when possible I really try to take him to the park or other places he can explore. We spend a lot of time walking places or taking public transport, so some days he only “explores” as far as he can see. We are really fortunate that as his preschool there is an outdoor play area and this is open to him most days (unless it’s raining or too cold), also that we live really close to the park.

Things we try to do to make a bright future for our children.

• Use fabric, not plastic. We have fabric shopping bags all over the place. We have a set of these trolley bags in the boot of the car that we use for the main shop. I keep at least one fabric shopping bag tucked in the pocket on the buggy. I also had one in my handbag too (need to fix that because it’s not there at the moment!).
• Cooler washing temperatures. A lot of clothes can be washed at cooler temperatures and still come out clean. We wash on the 40C Eco cycle on our washing machine. I think it takes longer than a normal cycle but some reason it’s Eco!
• Tumble dry Okay not normally one but listen to this. Our washing machine has four different settings on the washing machine from bone dry to only just wet. We use the “wardrobe dry” setting which is the first dry one. So, with some careful packing of the washing machine, you can get it all completely dry without having to put it on the “bone dry” setting.
• Internal doors During the winter we try to keep the internal doors closed because this then keeps the occupied rooms that bit warmer. (Although as I write this the door is wide open behind me and I’ve just realised I’m cold!)
• Hand Me Downs Some Mums I’ve met have been really precious about their children always having new clothes rather than second hand. With Jaxon, I knew he was going to get mucky and so yes he has new clothes but I love adopting a bag of second-hand clothes for him. It’s like a present! We had one bag recently and Jaxon is still working his way through the socks and pajamas. If the clothes still have use, pass them along to another user whether that’s passing onto a friend, reselling or donating to charity.

What do you do in your house to make a difference to the world around you and a better place for the future? 

You can see Unilever’s #BrightFuture video here.

I love the facts and figures used so had to share.

This post is an entry for BritMums #brightFuture Challenge, sponsored by Unilever. I received the goodie bag above to enter the #brightfuture challenge. Screenshots are taken from the video linked above.