Journey Clumping!

Now that we live out of town in a village we find ourselves asking more and more as to whether an item is 'worth the drive'. It is funny as we are really not that far from the town we used to live in, in fact distance wise we are longer but time to get there is probably the same. Where we used to live there was always traffic and traffic control systems where as now we can just nip down the dual carriageway or go through the back roads. It just feels like more hassle and I don't know why.

At first I thought we were being lazy so and so's but actually when I started thinking about it, it makes absolute sense to 'clump' journeys together and only go places when you have to. Think about it, it saves you time and stresses of driving places, it saves you money on petrol and on those little 'extra' purchases you make each time and very importantly it is kinder to the environment.

In some ways it is like good old times when you would go into town and spend the day running your errands, butchers, bakers, pharmacy etc. All individual shops that you had to go in. I think the convenience of super markets have made us loose touch with the buying process, I mean, it is all too easy just to run out for that one thing and buy it without thinking. Now I really think about what we need. I plan meals better so that I know we will have food in, but also in doing so there is less food wastage as I try and knock up a meal with what we have in rather than jumping in the car to go to the shops.

I am also finding it quite a time saving device. I can dedicate a day off from work that I am going to spend shopping and running errands, putting food away and all that stuff. It means I don't have chunks out of my day or week popping places unnecessarily. 

It wasn't even a really conscious thing that I was doing but then I wondered why less food was going to waste and how our food bills had gone down. When I looked at it I have to say I was surprised!

It makes perfect sense all round really.

The view from the van window