Waste not, want not

by Janet
(Dalston, London)

I just wanted to say how much I agree with your go green page. There's so many things that individuals can do to protect and preserve our planet.

I don't have a tumble drier, in more than 30 years of marriage I've only had one for about 6 months. It was my mother-in-law's and she was between houses so I had it for a while. When she moved into a house where she needed one again I gave it back to her. I hated how much electricity it used.

I've always dried my washing on the line in the garden or on the airer indoors if the weather is too wet. It dries fine. It smells so much nicer if you can hang it outdoors and the wind blowing it around softens up the clothes.

Having less clothes is a great idea too. Most of us only wear about 20% of the clothes we own. If you make that 20% mix and match you only need a fifth of the clothes that you had before. That's all you're wearing anyway!

I give the good stuff to the charity shop. They can sell it on and help two lots of people. The person who buys the clothing and the cause that the shop is raising money for. Usually I give things to either Hospicecare or the British Heart Foundation. One group looked after my mum, the other looked after my mother-in-law.

Anything that's too tatty to pass on goes in the recycle bin. We get a collection ever week and we can put textiles in. I'm not exactly sure what they make it into but it gets recycled into something. Much better than just tossing it into the bin to go into the landfill.

Now I'm teaching my grandchildren to be careful just like I taught my children. My granny always told us to waste not, want not. Good advice if you ask me.

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