My Eco Bag that's not made Eco

My everyday bag holds a lot of stuff. It's stuff that helps me lower my impact on the environment.

• Reusable water bottle - which I refill with cold filtered water. We're pretty lucky that filtered water can be found pretty much anywhere these days.

• KeepCup - for my coffee naturally

• Foldable/crunchable carry bag - say no to the consumption of throw away plastic bags

• iPhone - no longer do I rely on a paper diary. I do however still carry a notebook which gets much use as oppose to a diary which never really ever gets filled. I don't know about you but I somehow have conditioned myself into believing that if the date has past, I can no longer write in that space... what wasted space.

• Hairbrush - made from bamboo, a natural renewable resource
  

• Melbourne Bike Share blue key - while I do have a bike and I do ride it, I don't always have it with me. With a bike share station a 2 min walk from my work, it's perfect for those days when it rains in the morning, thus I don't ride but clears up in the arvo when I can ride (very Melbourne). It's also great when I'm at one end of the city wanting to get to the other end of the city. However, one of the problems why Melbourne Bike Share hasn't been a success like in many other cities is that riders in Melbourne must wear a helmet. Thus in order for me to use one of the blue shared bikes, I need to carry my helmet with me pretty much at all times. While carrying my helmet hasn't become habit yet, wishful thinking has me hoping it will become a habit...? At present, my bag can't accommodate a helmet but I guess I can clip the helmet onto it. The question then is can I put up with having a helmet hanging off my bag? I guess I'll have to convince myself it's just like one big fancy keyring?! We'll see or I could just use a bigger bag?... hmmm.....

Anyhooz, Melbourne Bike Share is another product/business I can add to my #collcons list. While I'm a little behind on reporting on the #collcons list, it is happening and to be honest most of these collcons businesses are startups, thus the traction isn't really there yet. But that's where it's about supporting small businesses that are forwarding thinking. You got to start somewhere right? And isn't it grand to be a part of the change that transform hyper consumption into collaborative consumption? Damn straight it is.

Mi Shed Tu Shed

My shed is your shed. And so leads me to add another #collcons business to the list.

Open Shed is a peer-to-peer rental website that allows you to list the things you have around the house, which you might not want to let go of but you also never really have any use for.

There's much benefits to be reaped by not being so precious about your stuff. One namely is that you can make a little cash from renting out your stuff but also you can save yourself a little cash by testing driving items you might want to play with now but maybe not in the future.

Another benefit as well as being in line with the Buy Nothing New Month campaign, a campaign that saw the social media junkie in me come out, is the reduction of waste, thus the reduction of items sent to landfill, thus the reduction of greenhouse gases produced. Wooah and wow, cause it's a win-win-win!

Let's remember, Buy Nothing New Month ain't about anti-shopping, rather it’s pro conscientious consumption, thus it's not ‘Buy Nothing New Never.

In an article published in the Sydney Morning Herald Business pages, ‘Will Any One Buy Anti-Shopping Campaign’, a poll was carried out asking readers what they thought of Buy Nothing New Month. Over 10,000 people voted (this is huge for an online poll) with 82% saying Buy Nothing New Month to be a good idea, only 18% suggesting it would harm the economy.

This simply shows that there's a groundswell of people living thoughtfully when it comes to respecting our finite resources. Businesses such as OpenShed help foster such behavioural change in consumption and asset owernship, making it easier for the everyday Joe Blow to cash in on the potential $3,772 worth of unwanted items they have around the home. On an economic scale, this equates to almost $43 billion in potential trade. So hands up if you think not buying new will hurt the economy??

Flexi-ing my bank balance & carbon footprint #collcons

To kick off my Collaborate Consumption life, I got myself a Flexicar Membership via a Green Renters membership. A double win.

A Green Renters membership starts from $25 to $100. No matter which membership you take out with Green Renters, you're guaranteed to score yourself a Flexicar Membership as well. You see, Flexicar is a carsharing business that recognizes there are cheaper and greener ways to car ownership. Partnering with Green Renters highlights Flexicar's committment in paving the way for a more sustainable world.

The 3 major benefits of a Flexicar membership:

• Rid the responsibilities and costs of car ownership such as servicing, car insurance and registration
• Eliminate the fears of purchasing a dud car
  
• Reduce your environmental impact by only using the car when you truly need to

Check out the car locations to see if they are conveniently located near you. I'm pretty lucky, the closet flexicar from where I live is a 2 min walk away. Booyah!

What I'm also loving is I can also choose the type of car I need or want. So if I need to pick up something large like a bookshelf from Gumtree or at the market or on eBay, its so much cheaper and less of a hassle to simply grab the flexicar than to organize a delivery guy (usually $50) or hire a car for a whole day.

Taking out a Green Renters membership helps support the work they do in providing sustainable living advice to those living in rental property.

With Christmas just around the corner, this could be the gift of all gifts! "Hey hun, guess who gotcha a car for Christmas?! It's all yours when you need it!"

Challenging the Status Quo with #CollCons

#CollCons, the Twitter hashtag for Collaborate Consumption. A term used to define a way of life in the 21st century as opposed to 20th Century Hyper Consumption where it's about more, more and more. #collcons gives real meaning to less is more.

Christmas being just round the corner means we're also headed towards a new year. Wowzer, another year already? While I'm not a fan of using this phrase but I will, boy time sure does fly. Rather scary actually, there's still so much to do, and yet the years seem to keep passing me by.

I've wasted so much time constantly searching and hoping others will do the right/honorable thing, and while I have the support, I am still seen as a complicated character, or the nicer term would be free-spirited. People simply don't understand why I choose to work part-time and occasionally freelance. I continually get sent full-time job offers and I know it's because they care. But you see, I feel I have more control of my life when I work 2 jobs. Having watched organizations screw people over, I don't need to waste my time worrying if one day I'll be the one screwed over. One job will always be a back up for the other. I know I have a strong work ethic but I also know I don't like being taken advantage of either.

Life ain't a dress rehearsal. And I want to live.

So enters Collaborate Consumption. If I reduce my consumption or if I share my consumption, I can work less and live more.

In the next few weeks, I'll be joining, signing up, registering with #collcons focused businesses to support my life changes. Watch this space. Sustainable behavior change, absolutely!