Fascinating reading about the man living on a $1000 a year, having created a lifestyle he appears to be content with. Many would call him a nutter or a Green freak, but however one feels about him he is actually doing something to cut down waste and garbage. So far in my little domain I only acheive recycling paper, glass and cans. I do my shopping frequently, now, and take a pams bag to carry it, sometimes needing a plastic bag for soft food. I buy eco friendly detergent but have not taken yet to the baking soda vinegas cleaners,Suzi averages one drive a week. I have been looking at what can be revamped in the wardrobe. Not impressed though. As I live so close to amenities it is easy to make these changes. Good on our grownups who are still growing veges and fruit and making savings. I am thinking of shopping at Bin Inn to cut down on packaging. There is a shop on the bus route but I may be a bit old for this exercise.

I read that too, Joybel. As the article said, he is at the extreme end of the "green" spectrum, but good on him. I'm a pretty frugal person, but I don't know if I could cut my own hair properly (I guess you could barter for services like that) or do without the odd movie or TV programme! I believe it said he's living on the interest from a $50,000 investment, and owns his rural home freehold. But like you, we can all do our bit for the environment, and it all adds up. Have a look at www.simplesavings.co.nz for some ideas on what ordinary NZ families are doing to be less wasteful and save money.

We should all do our bit to save the planet.One question which has so far eluded an answer- What happens if we do get rid of plastic bags?What do I put all my cans,bottles,paper etc into?I thought I'd be "greensmart" and got the Pams bags. Then I found I hadn't anything to put rubbish into that was clean and sanitary.Anyway plastic bags do break down.Stick things up in a cupboard like I do,and the Silverfish have great fun destroying them.Now disposable nappies-a real tragedy.And we are finding plastic is lethal.

Well gee-bee, the bright sparks on this council want to inflict us with three bins each. One for recycling, one for composting and the last for general. There are 10 units with one driveway and two garages between each unit. this makes 30 bins and there is nowhere to keep them as the only access to the back is through the house or the garage. Too hard for us oldies to drag through the garage and along the drive to the street. It is to cost each of us $100 a year. Bob should have stuck to "This is your life" methinks

I can't understand how the people who make nappies were ever allowed to call them disposable, coz they're sure as hell not. And how people on low incomes can afford them I'll never know - besides, what do they use for polishing clothes once their babies grow up - my baby's almost 23 and I'm still using his cloth nappies to polish the furniture.

Joybel.This is exactly the stupidity I'm talking about.The council people just don't think it out,do they? I feel for you.I reckon you and your fellow dwellers shoulld line your bins upoutside your town hall, or create a "Wheelie-bin protest".As far as Grannyracer and her comment,young people don't dust or polish,they seem to prefer dirt.

I remember the days of cloth nappies -- soak 'em in a bucket of Napisan, on the line in the fresh air, etc... you had to have lots of them, but they did the job fine. And you could put biodegradeable nappy liners in the nappy (to hold the worst of the poos!) and just flush them down the toilet, so you didn't have to handle the messy stuff. The disposables are just folded up and put straight into the garbage, poos and all.

This throwaway society sickens me sometimes. Just thinking about how many disposable nappies hit the rubbish tips on a daily basis blows the mind. Not only that, but they take forever to break down. One day we'll be awash in used disposable nappies....what a disgusting thought! When I was out walking this morning in a nearly park, I saw a nappy rolled up and stuck in a tree trunk. I suppose the poor mother was just too weighed down to carry it with her and dispose of it properly. There's so much laziness these days, and looking for the easy option all the time.