1: Eat those leftovers

The foremost step is not to toss those leftovers on your plate in the trash bin. So, make sure you finish your servings completely and do not leave anything.

2: Compost

You may not realize it but food scraps are too valuable to be thrown away. Instead of discarding them, compost all those food bits from your meals – even if you do not have sufficient space for a compost heap.  A list of what can and can not be safely composted can be found at www.recyclenow.com/home_composting/making_compost/

3: Grow your own

Again, you may not be aware of but a segment of our food supply wastage occurs because of spoilage during shipping. To help avoid this, you can grow food yourself. Growing on your own will enable you to trim down food miles or its wastage. Remember, you need not necessarily need a huge garden to harvest food items. In fact, it can be easily grown in containers.

4: Eat less meat

You must be wondering ‘how does eating meat relate to food waste?’ But in real, it really does! Rather than consuming grains and beans directly, we feed them to livestock. Though it’s a less efficient way, eating less meat however does help.

5: Bring your own bag

Also, whenever you go eat out, try to take some containers to bring that extra food home. Instead of wasting extra food outside, you can bring it home and eat those leftovers later. This way, you will seriously be helping to reduce the amount of food that’s wasted.

6: Don’t shop without a list

Though shopping for a week or month can be stressful, make sure you do not shop without having a proper list in your hands. Since a lot of times we tend to purchase items that never get eaten, you should take some time to plan and snap up only those items that are needed the most.

7: Try preserving

Make sure you help to preserve the food items that are stored in your pantry or fridge. To do this, you can either purchase stuff that stays fresh for longer or buy containers that help to keep them fresh for longer.

8: Keep food items visible

Food items should always be visible, particularly if you happen to push them behind of other items in the refrigerator. Avoid cluttered cabinets and fridge in order to know which items are still left to be eaten.

9: Get the most out of your produce

Here, your creativity or cooking skills need to be exploited. If there are enough vegetable or fruit scraps around the kitchen table, you can try and make a new dish out of it. This won’t only add taste to it, but will also help lessen food waste.

10: Get organized

Lastly but equally importantly, get organized as far as picking food items in concerned. Make sure that you are putting the food that is closer to spoiling near the front as well as centre. This will, furthermore, help you to remember what needs to be used and when.

Hopefully, by taking these little yet highly influential steps, it will allow you and your family to reduce food waste. After all, every step taken towards a good purpose can contribute to a better world. Happy Preserving!

About the author: Rubela is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, Environment and luxury. Beside this she is a nature lover. Recently she bought a Bosch Tankless Water Heater for her house. She has been Writing for her blog DIY health where she shares her issues related to health.

Set a Holiday Budget Early

Well before the department stores start decking the halls, make a commitment to having a debt free Christmas. Start saving in the spring to ensure you have cash to spend come shopping season and do not have to rely on credit cards to make your purchases. You might be surprised at how much spare change you collect during the year. Save it all until late November and cash it in to give an extra boost to your holiday budget.

Research and Compare Costs
Never make a purchase without researching the product first. Compare prices at different stores in your area and look for online deals. Many big-box stores will match competitors’ prices, so print out any deals you find and ask for a price match. Look for coupons and deals for free stuff online to save even more.

Limit Gifts for Big Groups
Purchasing gifts for every member of a large family or group of friends can really put a dent in your Christmas budget. This year, have every member draw names and only give gifts to one person. Set a spending limit per person to save even more.

Be Creative!
Everyone appreciates the thoughtfulness of homemade gifts. Put your skills to good use and offer loved ones baked goods, knitted sweaters, music mixes, personalized ornaments or framed photos. If you are a handyman, offer a day of free work. Take young ones for a day of sledding on a snowy hill. Cooks will love a recipe book featuring your favorite holiday recipes and made-from-scratch cookie jars make baking easier for anyone. A simple glass jar filled with memories written on pretty paper makes a sentimental and memorable gift for the important people in your life. A jar filled with quotations can be just as meaningful. Give the gift of time with personalized “gift certificates” that promise massages, homemade dinners and more special favors. These gifts may not cost much, but are truly priceless because they are so thoughtful.

Be a Stocking Stuffer
Don’t pressure yourself to get huge or expensive gifts for everyone on your list. Making a few small purchases per person can save you money and still have an impact.

Gift-giving should be a joyous activity and can be stress-free if you follow these tips, embrace your creativity and learn to become a resourceful shopper.

Visit Freestuff.co.uk

The ad’, and their site, claims they will collect and pay cash for “All Mens, Womens and childrens clothing. Shoes, bags, belts, hats, ties and household textiles, etc.”. Couldn’t see any mention of how much they pay but you may contact them for more information on 01675 481848 or email them at collection@lmr-rags.co.uk

If anyone here uses the service, please do let us know how it went by using our contact form or by leaving a comment.

Go to Website

It’s free to join and claims to help you control the junk mail you receive by letting them know whether you’d prefer to be receive your junk mail via email or through the post. Businesses who sign up to this service can then check this information and so not bombard you with mail you don’t want to receive thereby saving their printing costs, fewer trees need be cut down and you don’t receive so much junk in the post but don’t lose out on any offers as you can still receive them via your free greenpreferenceservice.com webmail account — everyone wins!

Visit their website for more information

ROYAL MAIL OPTOUT
The Royal Mail service also gives householders the opportunity of opting out of receiving unaddressed ‘junk mail’ at their home. Just email your details to them at optout@royalmail.com Visit their website at www2.royalmail.com/you-home/controlling-your-mail for more information about the service, including alternative contact methods.  This, of course, is a more of a blunt instrument for dealing with junk mail as it will stop all unaddressed mail delivered by the Royal Mail and may lead you to miss out on information that may have been of interest.

The MoneySavingExpert website reports that Eon are giving them away for just £3 to cover the postage & packing (normally £18), and you don’t need to be an Eon customer to order one (though their website is currently experiencing problems because of the high demand so it may take some patience).

Just click the link below and add a TV Power Down to your basket to buy one.

Go to Eon Shop

There you can read the latest developments, sign their petition (already has over 490,000 signatures), email your MP and read various MP’s replies to date, and download posters and leaflets supporting the campaign.

Visit the Action Page

UPDATE: The government has now dropped their plans to sell off the forests. Read all about it on the 38 Degrees website here: http://blog.38degrees.org.uk/2011/02/17/victory-government-to-scrap-plans-to-sell-our-forests/

The energy plug works by detecting when you have something plugged into it that’s been left on standby, and cuts the power at the plug to save energy. The water widget claims to save upto 70% water use when fitted to your shower, though it’s not suitable for all showers so check the website for more details.

Offer open to residents of the UK mainland only — see above website for full terms & conditions. Once you have received your free LIME plug, you then have the opportunity to buy a second one for £9.99.

Visit the MoneySavingExpert forums to see what routes people have found already.

Giveacar is the original car donation service in the UK. They will collect any car or vehicle, anywhere in the UK, free of charge. The service is environmentally friendly, as Giveacar only use authorised treatment facilities, which recycle 85% of a vehicle in terms of weight, corresponding to DVLA and Environmental Agency guidelines. To date the service has raised over £100,000, and it only started this year!

Find out more www.giveacar.co.uk

Thanks to Tom Chance, Director of Giveacar Ltd, for supplying the text for this entry – John

You must be over 18 to access the site, but entry is free to anyone who registers. The closing date of the competition is 25th June, 2010.

http://www.carling.com/members/winwinwin/win-an-eco-button.html