Lina's Water Saving tips for the Summer Months Ahead

Welcome

I hope you are living a Hajja Kuntenta in every way. The aim of my blog is to share my experiences and hopefully inspire you in some way.




This weeks blog is about water saving tips and you have probably read lots about this very important topic. I will not try to reinvent the wheel, but as we live on tank water I think I have some interesting ways of saving water. I also feel great that when we do save a precious resource like water we are achieving a very worthwhile goal. We lived on a 5000 gallon tank for ten years and through some really bad summers of low rain fall. In all that time we only had to buy water about 4 times. So here are my tips, perhaps there may be one you did not know about and perhaps if you have a few minutes you could comment and and share your tips. That way we all learn from each other.

In Canberra we have a population of approx 350, 000 people ( check government website for a more accurate figure). Our daily water target for example on a given day is 105 mega litres i.e 105, 000, 000 litres. At the end of this article you will see how each person by making very minimal , but dedicated changes to how you live and approach reusing and saving water will save at least 10,000, 000 litres per day. Read on if this interests you.


You do not need to immediately spend any money at all to start or begin this very import way of living and thinking about a resource that is going to become more precious as our population increases and almost doubles at smaller intervals of time ( eg.bacteria in a petrie dish ).


At the end of this blog post there will a simple rule to remember that if followed religiously will save thousands of litres every year and keep river levels above critical levels.


Lina's Tips on how to save thousands ( of litres)


1. Toilets use up a huge amount of water and a Friend of mine advised me of a little rhyme.

If it's yellow, let it mellow , if it's brown , flush it down. Each flush uses anywhere from 3 litres( very efficient to 10 litres). Lets do a little calculation.

Say you have a family of 4 and each of you saves 2 flushes each assuming a efficient toilet,
that's
2X3X4= 24 litres of water per day for 365 days a year = 7760 litres per year.


2. Cut Shower times to less than 4 minutes - my advice it to get a timer - sand timer will suffice.I have one that takes 4 minutes for all sand to run out, with a suction on the shower door.
4 minutes in a shower is an eternity and I still have the occasional shower that last 4 minutes.
Efficient shower heads use 6 litres per minute to the non efficient of up to 15 liters per minute.

Lets do another calculation - cutting your shower from an average of 7 minutes to 4 minutes saves 18 litres if you have a efficient shower head - so for 4 people

4 peopleX3minX6litres = 72 litres every day for 365 days = 26, 280 liters per year.


3. Washing machine- you will probably not take this one up as no -one wants to spend hours doing the washing - but I just love it as I find doing these mundane tasks really are a time for me to think and plan and perhaps even just take time out from a busy schedule.




Here's what I do. I have a front loader ( I do a full load) and I wash the whites first- once they are washed first cycle I save the suds. Then allow clothes to rinse and have another large basin ready to save the rinse water. Next load simply reuse the suds and discard after second use. when rinsing second load , simply reuse the saved rinse water from previous load. just be careful when lifting water , use a smaller bucket . This way you have only used 2 loads of water instead of 4. Now if you don't particularly like this tip you could just save the rinse water after each wash ( does not save as much but better than nothing) - another calculation.


Each load most like uses 80 litres- so if you only save 2 loads per week of 160lites per week for 52 weeks -that's an amazing 8320 litres.

You do have to be close by near the machine for this tip , but why not schedule some ironing the same time.


4. You could use the washing machine water for some gardening plants - just remember to use vegetation safe products , there are plenty at the supermarket. Potential to save lots. You could also use some of the washing water to flush the toilet occasionally.- remember even if you only do this 3-4 times a week ( saves 12 litres ) every week these small savings add up. You could also use the suds to wash tile floors - depending how often you do your floors- potential to save up to 3o litres per week- 1500 litres per year.

5. While waiting for warm water to come out of the shower nozzles why not fill up bucket to use on the garden or to flush the toilet - saves 5 -10 litres per day. Also applies to sink taps - why not fill up a bottle or a kettle or jug- for drinking water or boiling water - saves up to 5 litres per day.

6. Reusing the water is off course better than saving it as it is used twice or 3 times and you are getting better use of the resource without using anymore if it. To do this permanently perhaps you could look into installing a grey water system.

7. Most important tip- make 2-3 of these tips on saving water a habit and that way they become part of your daily routines and then it becomes a way of life and then it becomes easy to do. Perhaps start out with a month long target to get the habit started, record the before changes water usage and then make a few changes that you are willing to adopt and then record the after changes water usage. The result will make you want to do more.

8. Simply put and easy to remember by using simple maths=

• Each person saving 2 flushes a day saves 6 litres per day
• Each person reducing shower time to 3-4 min - saves 6 litres per minute - say you only save 2 minutes off your shower time - remember use a timer - saves approx 12 litres per day.
• saving cold shower water (waiting for warm )in a bucket saves 6 litres per day
• saving tap water before it comes out hot in a bottle or jug ( handy to have a bottle or jug near tap) saves 1-2 litres per day.
• use a cup when washing teeth - save 1 litre per day
• add up all the large bold numbers - 6 + 12 + 6 +2 +1 = 27 litres per day per person with very simple and easy to implement changes.
• Multiply savings per person by the number of people- 27Lt X 350,000 people

= 9, 750, 000 litres per day saving

Remember more savings achieved if you do save some of your washing water ( perhaps you have a front loader which are the most efficient). I prefer the top loaders as the front loaders take forever to complete a cycle. I don't mind spending a little extra time saving the water, but this suits me and may not suit you.

My earliest memory of washing clothes wash helping my mum with when we had an old fashioned machine with exposed ringer like two rolling pins on top of each other. Once I got my hand caught and my arm proceeded to be fed into the ringer to get rung out- very scary for a 12 year old. If I could get my hands on one of these I would love it.

So what do you think - have you any tips that I could use as I am so passionate about reusing , recycling and generally minimising my impact on the environment.

Make time to do the important things and the rest will look after it self.cheers for now- check out my jewellery blog if you have time.

Lina

Spring is in the Air

Welcome to my blog.

Spring is almost here and there are already early signs that it won't be long before our natural enviroment is bursting with new life.

Spring is my favourite time of year, filled with promise of a garden of beautiful flowers and vegtables for the next few months.

Spring is definitely a great time to start thinking of what you would you like to grow and start planning so that once the frosts stop ( Canberra) you can press ahead to ensure you get a full growing season.

My tip is to make gardening a normal part of your life to enjoy it and to make time for it and that way you won't feel that you have not got the time to invest in it. Also another tip is to add 1 or 2 new things to grow each year and make them part of what you normally grow ( depending on how successful you have been in growing the new plant). this way it won't be long before you are growing quite a large array of what you need to prepare fresh, healthy and tasty food full of flavour all from your own back yard. The hardest part about gardening is in the planning and the sowing of the seeds and seedlings. Once this is done, all you need to do is water and weed, mulch and basically watch the plants grow. The results ( hopefully good ones) will make you want to succeed and do more.

Growing your own fruit and vegetable helps in reducing carbon emissions as the food we buy from supermarkets are very high in food miles and energy per kilo joules of food. Not only do we use fuel to drive there to get it, fuel and energy has been used to grow it as well as transport it to the market place. Buying from a local producer is also a great way to reduce your carbon foot print, if you are unable to grow your own , due to health and space restrictions.

Benefits of growing your own.

• You have more flavoursome and vine ripened vegetables. It is healthier to eat fruit and vegetables that have been sun ripened- have more vitamins.
• Freshness- pick when you need.
• sharing- swaping with friends for things you can't grow.
• sense of satifaction
• saves money
• healthy past time - gardening is a form of excercise
• relaxing when you look at the beautiful fruit forming.
• educational - learn about plant/bugs/ pruning etc
• reduce your carbon foot print.

Disadvantages

• hard work - but who said life was meant to be easy - you reap what you sow in more ways than one.
• time consuming
• plant failure - always learn form mistakes - that's a positive as long as you don't keep making the same mistake.
  
  

Tips to get you started on your very own veggie patch

• Start out small - only grow 4 -5 things and grow them well- your success will feed further successes.

These plants are a good starting point

• Zucchinni's - these are fast growers- you will be amazed.
• Parsley- very useful herb.
• Garlic- plant bulbs in winter .
• Lettuce also very easy to grow
• Beans
• Potatoes - these can be grown in old tyres , just keep adding dirt as the palnt matures.
• sun flowers to attract bees
• Pumpkin vine

Happy gardening, I am sure you will not look back once you have decided to grow a few things.

best regards

from the Bejewelled Gardener

Lina of ZaniL Design Jewellery

How to slow time down

Welcome to my Contented Life Blog

Do you think the pace of life is speeding up? Are you constantly busy with no spare time for your self? Do you want to know how to get more time for your self.? Do you find your self looking to the future at the next holiday or next job that needs to be done.?

I remember as a child, time did pass so slow and it was a long time between birthdays. As I got older time did seem to go faster and faster. We all seem to think that as we approach retirement we will have more time to do the things we want. I think this is a fallacy as many retired people I speak to seem to be very busy with grand children, and the usual things in life. I also thought that when I left my full time job, I would have all the time inn the world and I would be drinking cups of tea everyday. I quickly found that the reality was quite different.

How to make time Slow down.

When we think of the way we spend our days, we are constantly looking into the future at the next job , next holiday, next whatever. This does tend to make us live in the future and we do not fully appreciate the here and now. If we only had a few months to live, I think our focus would be to enjoy the moments we have and to live them in the present .We would not be looking too far in the future ( as in reality we know that the future is never ours).

My advice on how to make time go slower is to simply slow down, what is all the rush about. Why do we want to cram so much in to our every day activities, are we afraid that we won't get them done ? Make time for important things like friends and family.

cheers

Lina

Only what's Done with Love With Last

Welcome to my Contented Life Blog.

I hope you are not really needing my advice and that you are leading and happy and fulfilled life. If nothing else I hope I am striking a chord with you and that you can relate to what I am writing about. After all we are all the same when it comes down to our feelings and what is really important.

I like to begin with a statement that was the last thing I read in my book of Maximum Achievement , by Brian Tracey, found in the last chapter tittled 'The power of Love'.



Only one life, that is soon Past

Only what's done with love will last


or another way


Life that is too soon ended,
Only what's done in love will be remembered.

I happen to read this about the same time of Micheal Jackson's Death and when you think about it, the above is so true, he has left some good things behind( not his money) but his wonderful gift of music for all to continue to enjoy. He will long be remembered for his music than anything else.

When you get to a certain age ( usually about 40) you start to reflect on your life, on your achievements, on your goals and usually on the meaning of life itself. You may decide to change direction with a new job , new ambitions , new dreams. It seems once you have decided to do something new, everything seems to come by happenstance that re-enforces the new idea or decision that you have made. Sometimes this change of direction comes as a result of a life changing experience such as a serious accident, death of a loved one and so on.

When you look back on all the things you thought were important before the life changing experience , you suddenly realize that they were not so important. Living life in the moment and letting the little things go become more a way of life. This is harder than it sounds and needs constant practice. I find I am always brought back to earth when I hear of others misfortune and I re- analyse my situation and all of a sudden I don't feel quite so bad, and I have a different perspective on it.

Brian Tracey advises that " if you truly want to be successful and happy in everything you do, in every part of your life, you must learn and practice love on every occasion, at every opportunity. The expression of love and kindness must be as natural to you as breathing in and breathing out.".

I must say that I have to agree. I feel great when I have done an act of kindness especially towards someone obviously needing it to the point that I get a swelling of emotion rising through my body that I am moved to tears ( happy tears). Every time we do something nice for someone else, we make that person happy and we enhance the quality of their life. You are also enriching your life as what you give always comes back. You are making the world a better place to be. You make you life a blessing to others.

I have some Helen Steiner Rice poems and was at St Vincent's De Paul store recently and came across another volume. These poems are wonderful. I had forgotten how timeless they are and how well written that you can find solace in the simple words.

Tips on giving the simple things in life and being happy.

1. Be thankful for all you have, especially your health. List all the good things you have in your life.

2. Smile at a complete stranger- it's free. You will always get a smile back.

3.Do something nice for someone without expecting anything in return. The key to living is in Giving.

4.Tell someone that you love them- always nice to hear these words.

5.Be genuine- always follow through with your promises- you will love yourself for it.

6.Decide to be happy, its a mind game. Do things that make you happy. Did you know , happy people have less health problems and live longer.

7.Create your own future by listening to your inner voice.

8.Be kind and compassionate as you never know when you will need someone to do the same for you.

9. Don't be afraid to say sorry- we all make mistakes.

10. What could be more important that being here and knowing you are making a difference to someone and that you are loved.

To end this post I have found a poem by Helen Steiner Rice , titled 'the Magic of Love'.

Here are the last two verses that say what I want to say to you all.

Love is the answer

That everyone seeks-

Love is the Language

That every heart speaks-

Love can't be bought,

It is priceless and free,

Love like pure magic

Is a sweet Mystery!

It seems that in life the simple things are free and if you have these things in your life, you will be rich in happiness, health, love. These things are available to rich and poor alike, there is no discrimination.

cheers all, don't forget to comment- love to hear what you say or think.

Lina

Keep on - keeping on

Welcome to my blog.

I have just read and been inspired by a article on a blog by Yaro Starak, a blog guru. Here is the link if you want to read something inspiring about keeping your mind on the task and not giving in to self doubt.



Link: http://www.entrepreneurs-journey.com/891/how-to-remain-productive-when-you-feel-like-giving-up/


I am oftem asking my self this question am I really getting any where? Why am I doing this?

I often look to others for approval and I think that is not a good way to keep your mind on track. We should not need input from others to reaffirm why we are doing something, we only need to follow what is in our heart and know that we will succeed.

I have experienced a feeling of being at peace at where I am going in my life and a feeling of knowing that everything will work out and this feeling comes from believing in your self and casting out feeling s of self doubt.

I once heard a story about a film producer who wrote a story about his life and the struggles he was facing with depression and suicide. He decided that he would tell noone about what he was going to to do ( about making a film) as he felt that when he told someone, his energy and desire to complete the task dissapated in the process of revealing to someone else what his plans were. He went on to make a very successful film ( I am not good with details of names , but good with actual facts about what happened) and hence his interview on national radio.


So the moral of the story - be true to your self and don't let go of your dreams, keep following them as you will be the only one who feels regret at the end of lifes wonderful and colourful journey.

I have now a new slogan for my ZaniL Design Brand

Be Elegant, Be Stylish and Be Distinctive and feel confident in a ZaniL Design.

So what do you think. I think it sounds pretty snazzy.

Do leave me a comment. I love to hear from my customers.

Can anyone one else think of a slogan- win a free pair of earrings valued $30.00.




Cheers

Lina - ZaniL Design CEO

Garden's Last Harvest before the Frost

Welcome to my Contented Life Blog.

The aim of my blog is to inspire others with some simple ideas that I have found along lifes wonderful journey. We are all trying to find a balance that works for us and hopefully my tips can help you find some things that will help you achieve this.

As I am aiming to inspire others, I am inspired by others like wise, so if you have any interesting ideas or you think I am way off the mark, please feel free to contructively comment.

A little about myself, I love to garden as you have probably worked out from reading some of my early blogs and from the pictures of some of our produce. We have our own eggs and vegetables and some fruit. We have an aquaponics system ( built by my husband). I love to make my own things and I am often wearing my own hand made jewellery or item of clothing or bags. I love to reuse and recycle anything from egg cartons to water bottles and preloved clothing.

That's enough about me, the point I am trying to make is if I can do it, so can you. You need only to decide to do it. The rest will be history. With gardening you can start by only growning a few herbs and the success of this will make you thirsty for more successes with other vegetables.

If you do not have the space , grown your vegetables in polystyrene boxes (reusing). Join the Diggers Club ( Australia) as it has some great Heirloom vegtables /fruit and great articles that really keep you abreast of what is happening in the world of Gardening and Genetically modified food and its affect on us.

The picture about was harvested on the 1st of June - the first day of winter. I was so pleased with this last harvest. When you grow your own, not only will you be eating more healthy produce, but it will have more flavour. It will also have less food miles ( the amount of energy used to produce food). You will also save some money , but more importantly you are in control of your food , not the supermarket.

Another tip on saving money and the planet- refuse to buy vegtables that are not in season. These vegetables/fruit have travelled long food miles to get to your super market and are generally more expensive.

Now that Winter is here ( Australia)- you should already have Brocolli, Cauliflowers, Cabage, Spinach, lettuce, Broad beans,garlic in your garden.

Until next time happy Gardening- remember you reap what you sow and not only in your garden , but also in your life. Be kind and compassionate - you never know when you will need someone to be kind and compassionate towards you. Do unto others as you will have done unto you.

Please feel free to comment- would love to hear what you you think good or bad- it only takes a minute.

Cheers

Lina

ZaniL Design CEO

Believe and Achieve

The Law of Attraction - from "The Secret"


I first came accross this phrase about 12 months ago
"Imagination is everything it is the preview of lifes coming attraction". Albert Einstien.

I was so taken by the simplicity of it's meaning and how it rang true for what I was trying to do with my life and my passion for creating beaded jewels. I somehow starting finding lots of literature about living your dreams. My sister recommended a book about living your destiny - forgotten the author now( S.Gwain I think)

I went to the book shop to find the book recomended, but it was not in stock, but stumbled upon "The Secret" and bought it. I also stumbled upon a few other books like "Maximum Potential" by Brian Tracey. I feel that I have attracted these books into my life as I have needed them and they have come at exactly the right time, just as I came accross the phrase above at exactly the right moment that it was to have maximum impact on my thoughts.

I have just watched the first 20minutes of the video on "The Secret"-here is the link if you are interested. http://manifestmastermindblog.com/self-development/the-secret-is-the-law-of-attraction-bob-proctor-the-secret

The basic thread on the secret is that you are attracting into your life everything you are thinking about. Whether it is bad or good, you have attracted these things , simply by thinking of these things most of the time. If we apply this simple law, and focus on the things that we do really want, like happiness, wealth, joy, health then by simply thinking on the ways to have these things , they will be attracted to us.

You will most likely already be aware I have already written a few posts on channelling your thoughts on positive emotions and this is what The Secret is all about. You need to be constantly thinking ( and actively pursuing) on the things you want to happen and eventually it will happened ( no it won't happen overnight).

Positive emotions and thoughts give us energy to believe that we can achieve and attract more positive energy to keep our dreams and aspirations alive. Negative emotions cast doubt and halt us in our tracks. I know this for a fact as the minute I stop believing in my dream I lose momentum.

Here is another link that may help you stay on course.
http://manifestmastermindblog.com/self-development/being-powerful

That is what I am trying to do with my design and label. ZaniL Design will become a brand name one day. It doesn not matter to me if anyone else believes this , as long as I do that is all that matters.

So if you do want a ZaniL Design piece before I become famous, just click add to cart on the piece you would like.

My latest earring designs are designed to impart some of this postive energy and I have called them my "Infinite" possibilities, abundance, love, joy , happiness or whatever you are desiring to have. I want my customers to feel joy and look good my ZaniL Designs so that you have lots of positive energy.

So I leave you now , go and do what makes you happy as this is great for your confidence and will only attract more good things into your life.

cheers

Lina