Living Lagom with Ikea: the final post

Disclosure: I've been an Ikea, LiveLAGOM ambassador for the past 6 months

I can't believe that the project is coming to a close, that our 6 months of focussing on making our lives more Lagom is nearly at an end. That said, I think the sponsored part of the project is wrapping up, but there's plenty that I hope will stay in our lives for the months and years to come.

I'm writing this on a gloriously sunny early summer afternoon with the sun pouring through our open patio windows. Outside I can see our potatoes growing in bags, our planted up veg patch, apple and damson trees, a peek in the distance of the gooseberry bushes and around the corner are my pots of herbs. Harry's paddling pool and sandpit are on the lawn, and his toy watering can and the trug of compost we've been using for him and his friends to plant up their sunflower seeds is still on the patio.

 The cold of those winter nights seems a long way behind us, yet I'm working on another crochet blanket to layer up on our bed this year to mean those radiators stay off (or at least down). The thermal linings on our curtains are now keeping lots of heat in too, and the beautiful Cath Kidston-esque blind in the kitchen does the same. 

We've changed energy supplier recently, but a couple of months after starting the project our direct debit was reduced considerably and we were sent a rebate because we spend so much less on gas and electricity than was expected by our old energy supplier. We've also invested in a wireless programmable thermostat that means we're managing our central heating even more closely. A bit like an intelligent version of a Nest it helps us to ensure that the central heating is only as warm as it needs to be to keep our house warm. This is a much more efficient way of running the boiler.

There's no doubt our new bulbs and light fittings have helped - we're now totally LED lit, and I have to say I much prefer it to our old CF lights. They're so much brighter and the light is cleaner which if you're a crafter like me is of no end of help.

One of the things I've noticed a huge change in is our rubbish production. Prior to the project our bin would never quite fit a week's rubbish in - there was always one bag to carry over into the new week. Which was an annoyance as far as I was concerned. Now, our bin is only ever about two thirds full. Our food waste and recycling bins have made all the difference.

I've always been quite good with food waste, but was pleasantly surprised at how our new dishes made me even better. Leftovers no longer languish at the back of the fridge, waiting for me to chuck them out because I've forgotten to use them, but are neatly portioned up and labelled before being frozen for M's lunches - which is another area we've saved money, as sliced ham and packed lunch bits are one of the most expensive parts of our shop.

I've also made a conscious effort to cook more veggie and vegan dishes. They're allergy friendly for Harry and I'm a keen advocate of 'one family one meal' style cooking. They're also so much healthier - recipes I've recently blogged include:

Overall - our LAGOM experience has been a definite success - we were already a fair way into sustainable living so were never going to have enormous changes, but to us the changes have still been significant and I would say to anyone interested in a more LAGOM lifestyle to definitely embrace it.

Thinking of the future, things I'd like to do to maintain and move forward our LAGOM ethos:

• For any future babies - I'd like to cloth nappy. Because Harry was premature, it wasn't possible at the start for us, and then when we'd finally got a handle on his allergies our local nappy library has shut down. I'm currently looking at training pants with reusable inserts for when we start toilet learning this summer.
• Our spare bedroom - this will eventually be Harry's 'big boy' room when he moves out of the nursery. We've such a lot to do in there - the window will need to be replaced, so we want to make sure that it's incredibly thermally efficient. The walls need stripping, skimming and repainting, and I don't want to spray paint his wardrobe doors as the smell lingered in our room for ages, so we're keeping our eyes open in Ikea's 'Bargain corner' for some that we could replace them with.  Truth be told, Harry's room is a project in itself - I'd love his bedroom to be sustainable, so furniture that transitions with him as he grows. But for now, we just need it clean, safe and livable. 
• Our kitchen is my dream. I firmly believe that redoing our kitchen will push our focus for living LAGOM right ahead. New lighting (which we have partly done), replacing the door and window from the metal framed ones that lose so much heat, and designing a space that really works for us. I'm not thinking just of day to day living, but to enable us to grow herbs, and cook and pass that love of cooking onto Harry. For us at the moment, whilst it's on the list... it's not high up because of the cost. 

I have loved our time working with Ikea, it's been such a fun project, and I've thoroughly enjoyed our workshops too - making Terrariums with Harry was just a joy. I hope that it's something we can continue in the future.

Growing together with Ikea: terrariums and toddlers

Disclosure: I'm an Ikea Lagom Ambassador

This weekend we went over to Ikea for a Lagom project update. It was really interesting hearing how everyone was incorporating the Lagom ethos into their lives, and how it was benefiting them. I popped our three month update up last weekend, and this was really what I went through at our get together. 

One of the areas that the Live Lagom project aims to encourage is growing your own - and as a kind of aside to this, we had a go at planting a terrarium at our workshop. It was a family session so Harry got involved too, and I thought you might like to see our progress. We followed these instructions from the Ikea website and it really was so easy, even a toddler could join in! 

Harry and I have since had a go at planting up some chilli and coriander seeds. He loved getting mucky and I'm really excited to be growing some new plants. They're currently (hopefully) out of reach of little fingers on a sunny window sill.

Living LAGOM with Ikea - month 3 update

This is a sponsored post, written in conjunction with Ikea - I am one of their LAGOM ambassadors. 

How are we going? How is our LAGOM life project three months in? I'm impressed that the differences I've noticed have been for the better - I don't feel like we're sat in the dark, missing out on joy because we're trying to be greener. And I was worried we might. Completely wrongly worried, but worried nonetheless. In fact I've been warmer, cosier, and more relaxed about things like popping the heating on because of the changes we've started making.

In terms of our Ikea shopping - the things that have made the most difference thus far have undoubtedly been in the kitchen. A room that's clearly important to me. We've added a blind to the big kitchen window and back door, put a runner style rug down on the floor and changed the light fitting. And it's made a huge difference. The room is warmer and cosier and somehow the bright floral of the blind distracts from the violently yellow cabinets. The rug is at once a wonder and drives me insane as I have to hoover it, then lift it to sweep and clean the floor daily but it makes the tiny kitchen so much warmer. The light was such a shock - we replaced the fluorescent tube and the difference the LED lights make in our tiny kitchen is huge - it's light, bright and makes such a difference if I'm trying to bake/ cook/ or photograph food of an evening. For a change that vast that uses less power not more, you can colour me impressed.

Across the rest of our home, the changes have been less dramatic, but still making a difference:

All the lights are now LEDs and they're brilliant (quite literally), lovely and bright, and don't need to warm up. We had to change the light fittings in the kitchen and on the upstairs landing, but elsewhere it was a case of just the bulbs which was a quick and easy job.

The lunch boxes, water bottles and glass food savers are being used all the time. M's new job has meant that he can have a hot lunch so often takes leftovers, and Harry has a little packed lunch after church on Sundays so that's all in regular use.

In terms products that haven't done what we'd hoped, the self watering plant pots just don't work for me at all which is a huge disappointment, and neither has the blind in the bathroom as we'd have to drill into our tiles, so that's on hold for the moment.

Things I still need to do include running up a new set of curtains for the back bedroom - the window is massive which is making fabric buying expensive (hence the delay). I've also started decorating the kitchen, the walls and ceiling have been freshened up with a coat of white paint, and I've started painting the cabinets with a chalk paint as that can go straight over that garish yellow with no need for standing or primers. The cupboards will need to be sealed and new handles, but that's all infinitely more within our reach than a new kitchen.

We're also getting our veg patch ready for this years seedlings - I'll probably use Seed Pantry again as I love their varieties, and I'm hoping my Mother-in-law will be able to get us some tomato plants too.

So that's us - still Lagom-ing three months in, and not sat in the dark; cold, miserable and cursing whatever possessed me to take on the project. It's all a win!

Living LAGOM with Ikea and our New Year's Resolutions

You might remember this post from before Christmas when I introduced the LiveLAGOM project I’m going to be working on for the next 6 months with Ikea. 

The first stage of the project was to identify some resolutions that we could work on over the coming months. I don’t really ‘do’ New Year’s resolutions as I can’t abide the thought of giving something up when the year is at it’s most miserable and grey however, these resolutions are all about positive changes, not denying myself. 

We have a few resolutions as we’ll be working on a couple of different areas around the home.

Energy management – we’re quite good at keeping the central heating down low and only on when necessary and monitor our use closely. However, we have massive windows, and as you can see from the pictures below, despite linings on our curtains, lose a fair amount of heat. 

Before Christmas, M borrowed an infrared camera to find out what was actually going on with those windows of ours: Here are his thoughts:

 

The greatest heat loss appears to be through the metal window frames, rather than the double glazing itself. The front door curtain wasn’t drawn while I was taking these pictures, so there's a large amount of energy loss through the front door area.

At the back of the house there is a large amount of energy being lost through the kitchen door and the bathroom window. We're going to be installing some Ikea blinds in both these rooms to try and minimise this. 

Waste management – we need to ensure that we’re recycling more and minimising our food waste. Which is tricky with a toddler who will eat you out of house and home where sweet potatoes are concerned one week, yet look at them like they've been poisoned the next. My regular meal plans help us stay on track, but I do need to be better at using our leftovers, I'm a terrible one for letting things languish in the fridge, unloved. 

I think that’s the crux of the whole project isn't it – we, like so many people could do better. Be more LAGOM. And that’s what we’re focussing on. Doing better. Like many of our friends, money is tight, we have our little toddler running around and we need to make sure we’re not wasting what we don’t have. We’ve made lots of changes in the last year to ensure we really are working hard to keep everything nice and low, and need to remain focussed. I’m hoping that our extension leads with off switches, thermal curtain linings, blinds, and recycling bins all keep us heading in the right direction.

So, I’ve got the paint out to give the bits of the kitchen that aren’t ‘sunshine yellow’ a freshen up before we put the new lights up, I’ve started decluttering with gusto, and we’ve even begun an early spring clean. Can you call it a Spring clean if it’s still the winter? Our list of things to do around the house this year is HUGE but we’re hoping to continue to work on it, making it our family home.

Because for us, that’s what this is about making our home a family home. Not a work in progress, not a project, a family home. That’s comfy and cosy. That’s welcoming. That doesn’t cost us so much to run we worry. Because you don’t want to spend your precious time as a family worrying because there's not enough. And that's the flip side of LAGOM isn't it, not too much, not too little. Just enough. I feel like I should sign off with Mama Bear.