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It is spring again! Spring can mean different things to different people and to me it is always the start of the busiest time of the year in my business calender. This is because the wedding season has started and just around the corner is Christmas.
To prepare for this Spring, regular readers might recall my huge office clean out. I felt it was time to do a massive clean up of everything we simply didn’t need any more and hence was ‘hogging’ space. Being a passionate Ebay hater, I again turned to Freecycle.org to give everything away instead of using up my valuable energy and time trying to sell it (i.e. Ebay).
The really cool thing about Freecycle is as the giver, you can select who gets your stuff. I had a young photography student claim most of the photography equipment. An Aborigine artist claimed many of my large studio picture frames. The clean up of my books went to a single dad with two teenage children.
All in all I gave away items that I could of got perhaps $800 – $1500 on Ebay. However by giving away on Freecycle I got so much more! Also I noticed that my personal ’energy bank’ was not empty after the exercise like it often was from participating in Ebay auctions. Not only did I feel good for having given everything away but also I have noticed the energy in the office has been more relaxed and positive.
Now that everything was gone I was inspired to rearrange the office (as I had not wasted my time or energy on Ebay). The really cool thing about this story is after finishing moving the office furiture around we noticed that we were now able to open the windows and let more nature light into the front room office. So now on a bright day, we no longer even need to turn the down lights on – now we simply open the blinds and let the sunshine in.
Looking at our wireless energy meter we had installed thanks to Sydney City Council we discovered that we are saving approx 1.11 Kwh each day by not turning on our office down lights (this is an estimation as on some days we still need to turn lights on i.e. overcast days and when we need brighter light for retouching photographic work etc).
Ironically my personal energy was not the only energy saved in giving away everything.
Food for thought.
Down lights in my office, turned off as the window lets in sunlight now.
Mini my dog sitting on me while I try to take the photograph of the office down lights.
Regular readers will know that I haven’t written regular posts for a little while now. To be honest the last six months have been very challenging with business changes, technology issues and personal health concerns.
Yes I have been feeling guilty about my absence. Taking advice from my own words written on this very blog I have decided not to allow my guilt to win. Today I read again my words from ‘Finding Balance on Ones Green Journey’ and ‘A Pig Feeling’ which both address the issue of guilt.
I must add however even though my posts are not regular my green journey is always on my mind. Here is what I have been up to these last couple of days/weeks:
1) In the office at work I have again had another very large clean up. I have been a photographer for 20 plus years, so you can imagine how much stuff I have accumulated in this time. Last year I had two such clean ups but I still felt there was stuff not being used and hence needed to go. If I am not using it then someone else shall have it. Hating Ebay, I again decided to give everything away through www.freecycle.org in my local Sydney area. Giving away items of value instead of selling is so much more enjoyable!
2) Joined the City of Sydney’s home energy consumption trial. This trial is limited to 100 households within the City of Sydney Local Government Area. The key objective of the trial is to educate household members about the operating costs of electrical appliances and to encourage energy efficiency with the home. I am looking forward to seeing the results and finding ways to lower our energy use even more.
3) City of Sydney had a toxic waste recycle day (batteries, paint tins etc). For 20 years I have not thrown away any of my old camera batteries (or any batteries) as I knew the damage they cause in landfill. Over the years I have placed my old batteries in a cardboard box with the hope one day recycling would be possible. Taking up City of Sydney’s offer, proudly I gave my 20 year old box of batteries to be recycled! If you would like to know more about these clean ups go to www.zerowaste.org.au
Eighteen months ago Tim Pharo from Pharo Cleaning Services mentioned to me his desire to only use environmentally friendly products in his commercial cleaning company. He shared about his concern for his staff and the environment with the chemicals found in commercial cleaning products.
Eighteen months on, I am really proud of Tim as he has achieved his goal. Tim now not only uses the environmentally friendly range ‘Natra-Kleen’ but was so impressed with them, he is now a distributor for their cleaning products range. Let me give you a little run down on Natra-Kleen as I spent this long weekend testing these products in my own home:
* Australian made products by an Australian owned company.
* Containers are recyclable.
* Products are PH neutral so will not harm water supplies.
* Can purchase products concentrated so it is more economical.
* Safe for children if they accidentally swallow the products.
* Non toxic.
* Safe for grey water systems.
* Insect repellent.
* Bio-degradable.
* Environmentally safe.
* Non-abrasive.
* Non-corrosive.
* No residual.
* Choose from sphere mint or no fragrance.
Natra-Kleen products contain NO: ammonia, animal fats, bleach, borates, phenol, chlorinated solvents, inorganic alkaline salts, nitrates, phosphates.
I purchased a 1 litre concentrate bottle of the ‘all purpose cleaner’ from Tim. What I love about the all purpose concentrate is the flexibility of the product i.e being able to use the cleaner for many different purposes.
Firstly I used the liquid as laundry detergent. The instructions stated to use approx 4 pumps (using the pump included) of liquid for a really dirty, full load inside a top loader washing machine . Unfortunately however my dogs ‘Mini’ and ‘Cooper’ ate the pump (naughty little monkeys) so I had to improvise.
One pump is suppose to be 4ml of liquid. Using a very small measuring cup I worked out that the cap for the container itself, held about 12ml of liquid. Therefore one cap full of liquid worked out to be approx three pumps.
So now I decided to start with my smelly karate gees (really stinky) with just one cap of concentrate liquid. The 2nd load was another full load but this time it was our dogs beds, blankets and towels (again very smelly). This time I decided on two caps of liquid. Both loads came out smelling & looking clean but I preferred the two cap’s load, as I liked the stronger smell of sphere mint.
Next I used the ‘all purpose cleaner’ as dishwashing liquid (by hand). I used about a 1/3 of a cap (one pump) which would of been approx 4ml of liquid. Nothing unusual to report. The product worked just as well as the dishwashing liquid we were using before except I didn’t have to use as much liquid.
Then using a 500ml spray bottle filled with water and 16ml of liquid, I could use the product as a surface spray. Therefore I used the spray to clean the kitchen benches after cleaning the dishes in the sink. My benches weren’t really dirty but I was happy with the clean and I love the sphere mint smell in the kitchen.
Tim gave me the Natra-Kleen disinfectant spray to try. Tim’s professional cleaning tip about disinfecting kitchen/bathroom surfaces, is to spray the disinfectant onto the surfaces after cleaning and then let it dry naturally. The reason? Because often the cloths we use to wipe down benches are not 100% clean and hence we contaminate the surface.
Personally I always worry about using disinfectants on kitchen benches (in food prep areas) as I am concerned about the chemicals contained in these types of products. After reading about Natra-Kleen disinfectant, I was not concerned about spraying it onto my kitchen surfaces as I knew it was non toxic.
Lastly I used the ‘all purpose cleaner’ to clean the toilet and bathroom. As I have been unwell lately the shower had some mould on the tiles as it has been awhile since it was cleaned. After spraying the glass shower screen and tiles and left it for about 5 min, I then used a hand scrubber to go over the surfaces. In the areas were mould was found (corners and in between the tiles) I used an old tooth brush with pure concentrated liquid.
In summing up I will definitely use these products again for all these scenarios (and try other products and other uses) however I think a cream cleanser would work better on really dirty bathroom surface. I believe Natra-Kleen are in the process of inviting a cream cleanser that meets the standards as all their other products. Until then I might use bicarbonate soda (as a cream cleanser) along with Natra-Kleen’s ‘all purpose cleaning’ product.
This product is safe for restaurants, hospitals and schools and I can recommend it for the household.
For more information or to inquire about purchasing any Natra-Kleen products please contact Tim Pharo tim@pharo.com.au
It is Sunday night and I type these words with my laptop on my computer watching TV.
Last week started unusually with a work truck running into the back of my car on Mona Vale Road. Very thankful that neither of us was injured.
Then last week I had one camera needing repair but by the end of this week that number jumped to three. In seventeen plus years of being a professional photographer I have never been in a situation of having three of my cameras out of action. I took this as a strong omen to go out and buy another digital professional camera. Always nice to get new ‘toys’ but I really wasn’t planning on buying new equipment for at least another six months.
This week was also unusual in that after five years of researching and planning, I launched a new wedding photographic business. To say that the response to the launch was overwhelming, would be understatement.
Amongst what I felt was an overall overwhelming week, I managed to have a huge clean up of my clothes. Going through the wardrobes I placed on the floor anything I hadn’t worn in awhile. After about half an hour, a pile had been created. After another half an hour, Mini & Cooper had claimed the pile as their own. This photograph shows that they are blissfully unaware that the clothes are going to a new home – ‘ a Salvo charity bin’.
Also this week ‘Becky’ had left two comments on the post ‘Why I will not buy Reflex 100% recycled paper’. I asked her opinion on my newer post on the same subject ‘Proud now to buy 100% recycled Reflex paper’.
Becky’s response, comments and information again has flared my concerns for the claims Reflex makes. In particular how little information can be found on their website and packaging about their 100% recycled paper.
Therefore I have decided to again check out Reflex’s website and packaging. Once I have done this I intend contacting Reflex for a response. I want to sort this out once and for all…………..for my own piece of mind. Stay tuned.
Love these photographs – they made me smile when my husband emailed them to me.
It reminds me of my first visit to Santa (which apparently didn’t go down too well). It also reminded me of my very first photography job, as a Santa photographer many years ago!
I wanted to share them with you, hope they make you smile too. J
I wish for all my readers, customers, family and friends a very Merry Christmas and a happy New Year. For those Christmas holds no meaning, I wish you a relaxing holiday season with your family.
Sarhn McArthur Photography’s last day is today and hence I (Sarhn) will be on holidays till the 12th of Jan.
I will write my http://www.greenerme.wordpress.com/ and http://www.weddingplanningtips.wordpress.com/ posts again once I return.
Until then may we all remember to be the change we want to see in the world. J
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