Introduction
Most of us live in homes that are a good few years old. My home was built over 80 years ago and is a typical Cape Cottage. When it was built all those years ago no one was thinking about the trees that were cut down to make my Oregon strip floors, teak window and door frames.

And like others I cannot uproot myself to the country and build a house from the land, solar power it or redirect a stream for my water needs. OK, so that's a bit tongue in cheek, but honestly we , who are city dwellers living in homes that were built before the green age, can still convert to eco friendly homes.

This month your tasks are going to be set in your home and by the end of the month you will have a few new skills in hand and would have made definite steps towards having an eco friendly house.

So let's get moving...

This month's tasks
Your challenges are split into 4 weeks - Last month I asked you to download a calendar - if you have please set up a new task for each of these. If not, grab your diary and put each week's task at the top of your page for that week.

Week 1 - Recycling centre

Week 2 -Plan a vegetable garden

Week 3 - Set up your compost system

Week 4 -Green Cleaners

Now that you have done that we are going to set some individual goals for each of these tasks. Remember the name of my website is SIMPLE green living and the goals I set for you are truly that simple! If you struggle with procrastination then you are going to have to deal with that character issue on your own, but do try and set aside a little time each day to work on these changes to convert to an eco friendly home.

Week 1 - Set up a recycling centre

Part of the problem with many people is they over think things so that the task becomes so complicated that they never do it. So with this task adopt the NIKE motto of 'Just Do It!' and well, just do it!

Here is how we set up our recycling centre

Be sure to use what you have before you purchase recycling bins. They may look good but they are not necessary.

Make sure you know what you can recycle as well as your plastic recycling codes

Week 2 - Plan a Vegetable Garden

Again don't over think this issue or even make excuses for yourself because of where you live.

If you live in an apartment and all you can manage is a windowsill garden then just do it!

If you are renting your home or have no garden, then consider a container vegetable garden.

If you have the space in your yard you have a choice of going for raised beds, square foot vegetable beds or simply planting your vegetables between your flowers

Make sure that you either buy or loan from the library a good vegetable gardening book for your area - I have some suggestions for you below.

If you are not in a planting season right now, just file your plan and continue to work on it as the inspiration grabs you so that when spring comes you have all your seeds, your hardware and your plan.

If you are in spring, then there is nothing to hold you back with your garden. Remember the first rule with vegetable gardening - it's all about the soil, which takes me onto the next point.

Week 3 - Set up your compost system

When you think of a compost heap do you envisage a smelly pile of rotting fruit and vegetables? No? Good! A compost heap that is well managed will never smell. A compost heap needs a little unused yard space and can either be a free heap, meshed in, or you can buy a compost bin.

If you do not have yard space and live in an apartment or (townhouse) condo then you can consider a wormery. These inventions are absolutely fabulous! We have 2 heaps and a wormery for our organic waste.

For those with space read through how to make compost.

For those with limited space, take a look at my worm compost bin information

And now your last week's challenge -

Week 4 - Convert to green cleaners

You can take this challenge as far as you want from the simple points below to learning how to make your own cleaners. But to me this is one of the most important steps in converting to an eco friendly home. Everything you touch in your home has some form of cleaning agent on it...this way you can know that what you use is environmentally sound.

For those with limited time, here is a list of eco friendly cleaners you can purchase to use in your home.

For those who want to get back in touch with cleaners in your home, then you can learn how to make any of the following:

Homemade soap
Homemade laundry soap
Homemade cleaners

Now before I leave you for this month, look back on all you have achieved so far to make your home an eco friendly home, and congratulate yourself on a job well done! See you next month when we will look at water and electricity issues.

Don't forget to download your second month checklist! Do that by clicking here!

Book recommendations

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