Warm and fuzzies for free

For those who'd like to start with smaller changes, I thought I'd start a list of what to me have been complete no brainers - having no noticable impact (or a net positive impact) on my lifestyle. It's cheating really - warm and fuzzies for nothing.

- We don't wash the car
- We don't clean much at home
- We turn off the lights and use compact fluorescents. The ones marked "warm light" give light that is no different to normal incandescents.

Those really were cheating. They're SUCH no-brainers that they predate my attempt at compacting, it's just that now I have a good reason not to do these boring chores (Q. How many days does it take to change a lightbulb? A. There's a bathroom light that's been out at my place for over 3 years!)

Here are some that result from compacting
- We don't buy cleaning products, or much prepackaged food
- We don't buy disposable nappies, paper towels or tampons anymore. I was dreading vast stinking piles of urine-soaked laundry but actually, (and with the caveat that my kids are in nappies at night only) microfibre absorbent cloths and waterproof pants don't add up to much at all. THey go through with normal washing or get rinsed out in the shower. To date there have been no leaks or other major issues.
- As I'm packing kindy lunches now anyway, I'm often making some for us grownups too. I don't have to brave city foodcourts anymore. I prefer to potter in my office kitchen than to queue for questionable lunches at some chain (not to mention the $ savings!)
- I stopped buying pick-me-ups like chocolate bars or bottled juice. For some reason after stopping I also stopped craving it anymore. in fact we've barely made a dint in the Easter Eggs we received (which totalled less than 500g of chocolate for a family of four).
- The Keeper - I can't recommend it enough. A mere two months on, tampons seem kind of disgusting in comparison.

These are all examples where sustainability measures have unexpectedly delivered us better quality of life: not needing all this consumable / disposable stuff means not running out, remembering to buy it or having to shop for it. In fact we can now pretty much do all shopping at a greengrocer, and for 2 months have not needed to do the big supermarket shop - giving us back a significant chunk of time, calm and sanity - which in turn means we can shop locally and not have to head to the mall.

In fact I see a theme emerging where a virtuous cycle comes from compacting - with reduction begetting reduction.