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!"

On Board with Green Renters

What is or Who are Green Renters?

Green Renters is an online source for people who strive to lead a sustainable and ecological existence within the confines of rental property. They run workshops, stalls, presentations and panels with a host of tips, advice and home made goodies.

With housing affordability sky rocketing, more and more people are forced to rent or even moved back to their childhood homes. Along with this movement is also an increased demand for "greener" living as we experience unforeseen climate chaos. So, what may have started out as a side project has lead to exciting developments, with Green Renters only just recently becoming incorporated. What does this mean for this little green chick? Well one of the main requirements for an incorporated organization is there must be a board. Do you see where this is heading? Yes, green chick is now a board member of an incorporated organization. I've never sat on any boards and it does seem quite a mature thing to do, so I am quite excited about it. With their purpose, their mission, encapsulating elements of what Green Chic is about, I continue to see great things for 2011.

Green Food Generation

They say money is the root of all evil, yet it is money that makes the world go round. Go figure.

One of many of the problems I think exist in this world is that we value things not according to what we truly like but rather we base it on the expected value influenced the false belief of celebrity status.

Recently, I was given a book as a result of a tweet (power of twitter, hey?). I was slightly shocked that a person I have never met was so willing to give me their copy. Being someone who can't simply accept a person's act of kindest, I offered an exchange. It would seem for them, they valued baked goodies higher than holding onto this book. No mula was exchanged and we both were left pleased with our new items.

I absolutely adore this type of act and I think twitter maybe just be the way we can exchange goods/services to reduce our carbon footprint. Rather than our collection of useless items taking up space or going into landfill, it is found a home. It is more than just an exchange, the added value comes from learning the history of how the item came into possession. But I guess that's sibjective as while I value knowing, others may not.

What is this book? Green Food Generation - a culinary adventure by Haydon Wood. It's a book that has selected restaurants around Australia who are conscious on how their operations affect the environment. Quite a wordy book but the images will keep you going. Receipes you will find but whether they are nice and simple, one has yet to test. For I, great to know whereever I travel in Australia I'll be able to find quality wholesome food, but will I really travel with this book, probably not. I'll just note down the restaurants and pass it on!

Thanks GreenRenters for getting in touch. The whole experience has been more than just a book.