Thursday 4 December 2014

Finding ways to work within (and accept!) your limits

It is somewhat ironic that I am writing this post since I struggle to accept my limitations and I am always pushing to do everything myself.

I think this is always the case when you worry about reducing your impact on the environment.  Every trip to the shops becomes an ethical struggle (e.g. should I buy local or organic eggs? I really need cheese but there is no local cheese sold here and I don't have the time or energy to go to the other store that I know sells it).

There is also the motivation to cook for yourself since you have control over what ingredients are used and so you can be confident that you are using pretty ethical and healthy produce. More often than not it will also taste better. It is also likely to save you a bit of money too, particularly if you live in Perth since eating out is pricey.

To manage these never ending self expectations and somewhat exhausting jobs (don't get me wrong I get a lot of joy and satisfaction out of the things I do or else I wouldn't do them) it is good to have a couple of 'outs' to give yourself a well earned rest every now and then, or even just to catch up on other things in our lives.  We often use them when commitments are getting on top of us, when Turtle is teething and keeping us up at night or even when the pets are being crazy (like the cat at the moment but that is a whole other story!).  Here are a couple of our 'rest' solutions that we try to take as guilt free breaks: 

1. Doing all of the shopping at a major chain supermarket

I did this last weekend for the first time in a long time (possibly in years!). The reason simply being that I had been to the toy library that morning, our cupboards were bare and I wanted to get  to yoga that afternoon. Somewhere in amongst all of that I wanted to fit in some family time. So I (prepare yourself!) bought meat at the supermarket! Lots of meat- dog meat (minced beef), stew meat and a pre-cooked free range chook. Mr Fix it was stoked about the chook. We normally don't buy them pre-cooked since they are usually not free range. We normally only buy meat at the local butcher except for kangaroo mince for the dogs food. Since the Christmas season has filled meat sections in supermarkets with legs of ham, turkey and other festive meats the kangaroo mince has been difficult to get, hence buying beef mince for a change.

2. Disposable nappy weekends

Turtle is in re-usable nappies most of the time.  We usually do a load of nappies every one to two days.  Since she was 6 months we have started using disposables at night-time since re-usable nappies were leaking through the night.  We also tend to use disposables if we are going out for more than a short trip so that we don't have to go through the stress of changing her out (she pretty much hates having her nappy changed!).  While it isn't so much effort to wash the nappies there are times where the washing piles up (it did this especially when Turtle had reflux, which was up until she was about 6 months old) and we have a disposable nappy weekend.  Two days to catch up on and forget about washing and then start afresh.  It might not sound like much but when you are averaging two loads of washing a day it's a pretty nice break.

3. Take away

We all do this one of course.  We try to only do it every few weeks but every now and then it does get more frequent.  Our take away favourites are noodles in a box; pizza and Vietnamese.  So yummy but questionable how much faster it is than cooking.  I think it's the lack of preparation and cleaning up that makes it a treat when we just cannot be bothered anymore.

4. Organic Veggie Box delivered to your door each week.

It is so nice not to have to go out shopping for fruit and vegetables each week but we do run down on all the other staples because we don't need to go the shops for as many items.

5. Cooking up a big batch of food so that you can reheat it and eat leftovers (or freeze leftovers for another time so you don't get so sick of it).

6. Go on holidays!

This is on the cards in a couple of weeks and I am looking forward to a rest from our day to day jobs and commitments.  We have an awesome house sitter lined up so we don't need to worry a bit.

What do you do to take some time out of your busy schedule? Do you have some "outs" to help you slow down and avoid a nervous breakdown?!? 

2 comments:

  1. Thanks for visiting my site Lizzie and looking forward to reading your tips for treading lightly on our planet. I started a masters degree in environment, but life got in the way. I know I need to be more practical, so will watch out for your ideas.

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    1. Hi Kathy, I have enjoyed visiting your site very much. I hope you get some useful tips that you can use. Please let me know if you do. Thanks :-)

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