EPISODE 16:
Lessons from travelling overseas (and what I'd do and NOT do next time) to try and be more sustainable

In this episode I share the lessons learned in our first overseas family holiday. 

The things I did to try and be sustainable where we could and what I would (and wouldn't) do next time. 

It's a very real, non-instaworthy, capture of my thoughts on mixing sustainable living ideals with travel. Some of it relates directly to travelling but also some tips that relate to life at home too.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving
Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 15:
A minimal waste approach to Halloween

In this episode I share why we'll be celebrating Halloween this year since it isn't something we usually do as a family. 

I share how we will source costumes and our approach to decorations and trick or treating as we seek to keep our waste to a minimum. 

Subscribe on www.kickstartliving.com to be the first to hear when the Minimal Waste Celebrations e-book is available. 

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving
Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 11:
A brain based approach to success and happiness with Sam Tornatore

In this episode I talk with speaker, performance coach and neurochange expert, Sam Tornatore.

Sam is passionate about seeing a better future for our environment as well as helping people find more success and more happiness in our lives. With his knowledge of neuroscience, Sam steps us through the process to find what’s working for us in our lives, what’s not and how we can change things when it’s not working for us.

Sometimes living sustainably can mean doing things differently to how we have done them in the past, which means change. But change doesn’t have to mean hard. Sam’s step by step process and his simple, yet effective exercises, help us to

• Identify our own beliefs
• Work out whether our beliefs are working for us or not
• Know the difference between limiting beliefs and empowering beliefs
• Know what to do when we identify beliefs that aren’t working for us.

Sam shares how we can use this knowledge and these tools to find more success, more happiness and to easily incorporate habits that are sustainable for us as well as the environment.

Find Sam on LinkedIn @SamTornatore
Or at [email protected]             
www.samtornatore.com

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving
Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 9:
Navigating Free Stuff - With Kids

In this episode I talk about our consumption of stuff. Free marketing stuff and the, often, very short life span of such items. Particularly that which is marketed towards children and how, with excited children ready and waiting to receive, it can be tricky, if not downright awkward, to say no.

In response to once such instance where I didn’t say no and ended up with a bunch of plastic crap, most of which was in the bin by that afternoon, I looked to find an alternative way to handle the offer of free marketing material.

I also reflect on a conversation from when my kids were younger and how they were able to understand the impact of short lived items so that we were all on the same page in being mindful of our consumption.

Note: this episode was recorded prior to any option being available for recycling toys through the supermarket nor were they made with recycled materials. But ultimately, reducing is always a better option than recycling.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 8:
Cherry-picking the best of the old and the new

In this episode I talk about how I threw logic out the window in favour of leaning into trusting my gut when making some pretty major life decisions. This was part of consciously making very intentional decisions to allow more ease into my life.

I recognized that some of my major life decisions hadn’t been very intentional so I decided to give myself some space to see whether I still wanted those choices to continue. What eventuated was an opening of opportunities I could never have predicted.

I share a couple of my theories on making decisions to allow life to be easier and feel good and look at whether it is possible to live a slower, more intentional life within this busy, modern world.

I went from feeling like I was the odd one out where life just wasn’t working for me to realizing more and more women are actually feeling exactly the same and it’s up to all of us, to help each other rise.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 7:
Leaning in to trusting myself whilst making major life decisions

In this episode I talk about how I threw logic out the window in favour of leaning into trusting my gut when making some pretty major life decisions. This was part of consciously making very intentional decisions to allow more ease into my life.

I recognized that some of my major life decisions hadn’t been very intentional so I decided to give myself some space to see whether I still wanted those choices to continue. What eventuated was an opening of opportunities I could never have predicted.

I share a couple of my theories on making decisions to allow life to be easier and feel good and look at whether it is possible to live a slower, more intentional life within this busy, modern world.

I went from feeling like I was the odd one out where life just wasn’t working for me to realizing more and more women are actually feeling exactly the same and it’s up to all of us, to help each other rise.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 6:
Why I love living in a Tiny House with Marnie Prowse

3:22 -Why Marnie and her family decided to change the way they were living and the benefits they have seen in their lifestyle 
8:46 - The best part of living in a tiny house 
10:53 - Challenges you have living in a tiny house 
12:08 - The compromises we make in trying to find solutions to fit 100% of possible scenarios and the benefits of choosing the best option for 90% of the time 
14:55 - Allowing ourselves to do what works for us for as long as it works for us and not interpreting something as a failure if it doesn’t last forever 
17:30 - The process that she went through in designing, getting rid of things, and moving 
24:50 - Tips on simplifying wardrobe 
32:35 - Toy rotations and having fun with kids 

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

Find Marnie on Facebook and Instagram @_tinyhaus

Or at www.tinyhaus.com.au 

EPISODE 5:
Feeling overwhelmed and not having enough time - and what I did to get out of overwhelm

1.25 –Finding myself overwhelmed and busier than I would like to be and how I reframed that

2.05 – Looking at what I can choose that will allow we to feel better and do what I need to do

2.25 – Learning to ask for what we need

3.00 – Reflecting on what has actually been achieved to get out of the thought spiral that is keeping me in overwhelm

4.30 – Sometimes if feels like we don’t have choice, but we always have a choice.

5.30 – Countering the feeling of overwhelm

6.00 – Choosing to view things from a different perspective and choosing the option that is going to serve me better

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 4:
Is a limited wardrobe limiting?

2.00 – Some sharing/renting situations are quite common place, but some are less common.
2.55 – A review of my capsule wardrobe whilst travelling (very limited and yet still more than I needed) and why it was fantastic
6.00 – The paradox of having more choice in my wardrobe and why it is
8.30 – The ‘just in case’ wardrobe
10.15 – exploring the renting option for clothes
12.00 – Finding diamonds in the 2nd hand market
13.35 – A practical way to deal with the ‘just in case’ clothes

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 3:
The impact our possessions have on us and the benefit of having less

0.22 – In this episode I’m talking about stuff, our things and how things impact our lives.
1.23 – The Minimalists challenge, how it works and why I did it.
2.00 – Of almost 500 possessions that I removed from my home, there was only 1 thing that was hard to part with.
3.50 – How good it felt to part with things that I no longer needed and to actually make the decision about whether keep it or move it on.
6.27 – What we found when we stopped keeping on top of things with tidying the house and how much it affected our energy.
7.50 – How our world has changed massively in the past 50-60 years in terms of sensory input but our brains haven’t evolved to handle all of this input.
9.30 – Starting out with small experiments to see how much having less stuff around us is impacting us.
11.20 – How we downsized with a growing family and reducing our linen storage by ¾ - and realized we still had everything we needed.
12.30 – How we fit everything we need for a family of 5 to live into 18m2 and realized we still had everything we needed
14.48 – The experiment I tried with having less toys for the kids and how much more they play with them.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 2:
What the Kickstart philosophy is all about

0.41 – In this episode I discuss how I’m navigating trying to create a simpler, more sustainable and more intentional life in a busy, modern world.
1.00 – The glorification of being busy and being done with the constant running
2.00 – Just because there are options, doesn’t mean we have to choose them.
2.30 - How I found myself constantly busy, and even when I wasn’t I felt guilty about not being busy.
3.20 – The start of living with less stuff and reaping the benefits of having less
6.28 – The enforced experiment of keeping things clean and tidy and what I learnt from this.
8.55 – The unexpected side effect of our decluttering experience
10.23 – what sustainable living means to me. It’s more than just being sustainable for the planet. It’s got to be sustainable for our time, our energy and our finances as well.
10.46 – How doing things that we know aren’t sustainable for us, and we justify it by being ‘just for a set period of time’ and how it can end up being replaced by the next thing and the next thing and becomes an ongoing cycle of busyness.
11.50 – How the cycle of living slower and having less stuff can perpetuate itself and it all gets easier.
13.15 – The liberation that comes with recognizing that everything in our lives is because we have chosen it. If we have the power to create it, then we also have the power to change it and how empowering that realization is.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving

Or at www.kickstartliving.com

EPISODE 1:
What's this all about?

After becoming a parent, I found myself constantly busy with life. Juggling work, kids, daycare drops offs, home life…. All the things.

I found myself wanting things to be different. And although I wanted things to be different, I didn’t quite know what I wanted ‘different’ to look like. I just knew I wanted to slow down and have more time for the things I wanted to do. But modern life didn’t seem to allow for that. Both parents working, always something else to do or somewhere else to be.

I decided to explore what it might be like if things were different and whether I could make that a reality. To slow down, be more intentional with my time and to live in a way that is sustainable for me, as well as my family. All the while seeking out a bit more happiness.

Find me on Facebook and Instagram @KickstartLiving 

Or at www.kickstartliving.com