The Book of Rubbish Ideas

Seduce your partner into a bit of sustainable living and pack a little more than sandwiches in their briefcase to get them on the early train home...

Now there’s a broad claim if ever I heard one…let me explain.

I did an interview with Radio Europe yesterday and the presenter was great fun to chat to and clearly in a frisky mood.

We talked through a few tips from the Kitchen chapter, we mulled over a few ideas for clothes swap parties and community based ideas for reducing your rubbish, then she hit me with, ‘You also say that living more sustainably can improve your sex life – would you like to go into a little more detail?’

Now I’m not a girl to shy away from a saucy question – if I were, I wouldn’t have covered the topic of recycling your sex toys in the Bedroom chapter – but it was early afternoon and I had to tread carefully.

In a nutshell (if you’ll pardon the pun), living more sustainably means you make the most of the things you have, you make them last longer, you happily acquire things second or third hand, you share your abundances and often enjoy the glut from the cupboards of others, amongst other things.

Consequently, you develop a deeper understanding of the need for recycling and value the importance of adopting a mend and make do attitude, because it really does make a difference.

The very best way achieve long term success with this’ lifestyle change’ is by taking a positive approach to living with less.

You may have to rethink your finance budgets and cut them right back in a great many cases. Taking the example of food, by simply cooking from fresh and ditching the pre-packed and take-away options, you’ll find yourself eating healthier and more delicious food and providing you’re sensible with the menus, saving a great deal of money in the process.

But if you moan and groan about the fact that you’ve only eaten in restaurants twice this month instead of the usual once a week, you might find the concept a little harder to digest…

If, on the other hand, you turn the idea of shaving money off of the family budget into an exciting challenge that everyone gets involved in, you will get off to a flying start.

Remember:

The more money you spend,

the more time you have to be out there earning it

and the less time you get to spend with the people you love.

Now translate that into ‘him’ at the office and ‘her’ at home looking after the kids. ‘He’s’ always working late and taking on extra shifts to meet the financial obligations of raising the family and rising food and travel costs, so when ‘he’ does get home, ‘he’ is knackered! ‘She’ is tired of sharing her bed with a transient partner who treats the place like a hotel and was probably pushed over the edge by the muffled phone call from the office that said, ‘Do you think we could pencil in a quickie tonight love – my doodaa’s are like melons?’

‘He’ ends up failing miserably at getting away from the office on time. Then gets caught up with delays on the train because of leaves on the line, which results in ‘him’ bolting down a quick kebab in a taxi on the way home because ‘he’s’ missed the bus, which has a direct impact on ‘his’ foreplay, which cuts right down to, ‘All right love, you ready, I’ve got to get up at 6?’

You get the picture…

If you sit down and analyse what you’re spending and start to understand why you are spending it, you can make some really simple and immediate changes that will have a positive impact on your pocket, your bin, your mental health, the amount of time you spend with the most important people in your lives AND your sex life!

I love batting back a question with a question and I asked the presenter whether she’d ever made naked pizza? It might sound bizarre, but open your mind to the idea of cooking some really simple and delicious food ‘together’ and having a bit of fun in the process. Kneading the dough could take on a whole new dimension – think the pottery scene from ‘Ghost’ – and feeding each other the tasty toppings while you’re putting it all together – it could turn into a positively sensual experience and a regular thing…

So there you have it – just a few more great reasons why you should be thinking long and hard about being more sustainable…now I’m off – it’s time for bed…

Rubbishly yours,

TSx