Wednesday, 25 March 2015

Flight Information

We've heard from a number of people who will be coming from interstate to be here for our wedding. We really love that they desire to be here - and are going to all that effort.

But you know that we also really love this gorgeous planet we've been blessed with, and want to take care of it. :)

Fortunately these days you fly carbon neutral by using carbon offsets - and they're very cheap. For a Sydney to Brisbane trip it's just $0.78 per person ($1.56 return) to offset the carbon from your flight. And Qantas's carbon offset program also helps the health of people in Cambodia.

So if you're flying to Brisbane for us, please use the carbon offsets. In terms of the happiness it brings for a very low cost, it's one of the best value gifts you can give.



PS. While I've given Qantas links here, Virgin and Jetstar also offer a carbon neutral program.

Monday, 23 March 2015

It's a date

We can now announce that 6 June is our wedding date.

This means different things for different people.

For us we're a bit excited, and a bit nervy, at how close that seems.
For NSW people it's the chance of a long weekend in sunny Queensland.
For numbers nerds, it's nice that the month and the date are equal.

Disclaimer: it wasn't David who picked up the numbers thing, but an accountant friend.

Saturday, 7 March 2015

When's the day?

This is one of the main questions we get asked, and rightly so. Especially people that want to be there are interested in keeping that date free.

So far there's not a final date, but we're got our eyes on the first two weekends in June.

Monday, 2 March 2015

Too Much Stuff

Something Christine and I are really noticing (as we contemplate life together) is how much stuff we already have. Even though we consider ourselves to be fairly non-materialistic and non-consumerist, there's still quite an amount to reckon with.

Stuff seems to fall into a number of categories
1. useful stuff
2. sentimental stuff
3. stuff we don't use but have kept because it 'might come in useful someday'.

Despite its name, even useful stuff can be too much. Combined, we own over 50 drinking glasses (yes Christine this blog post was the reason I was staring into the cupboard with my counting face on) and 30 mugs - and I don't even drink coffee or tea.

Sentimental stuff is tricky. Some stuff is just too meaningful to throw away. But then there's the stuff that's already lost it's emotional value. Like the greeting card I found today. Despite the first name on the card, I'm not entirely sure who it was from. Into the recycle bin.

Miscellaneous stuff is probably our hardest thing. As fans of recycling, we (especially I) have developed somewhat of a landfill-aversion. Today's example is a toolbox of spanners I was left by a friend heading overseas. Haven't used them once.

Fortunately there are some great solutions - especially for items from categories 1 and 3.

A. Streetbank.com - Primarily for sharing items with neighbours, it also has a function for giving things away. Already a fellow Taringa-ite has one of my excess clothes airers.

B. Freecycle - I'm in the Brisbane group. On Sunday I put the toolbox on freecycle and got 8 replies that night.

C. Freewheelers - A freecycle-style group that operates on facebook.

D. Facebook itself - Keep an eye out for my posts of giveaway items.

E. Gumtree - for stuff that's probably to valuable to just give away - even for generous souls like us ;)

Hopefully with all these options we can reduce our belongings without excessive use of the waste wheelie bin.