The power of perception

In Shoreham at the moment the council are running a mystery shopper scheme, the aim being to help businesses by telling them about the customers experience of being in their shop. What a great idea! I think we are really lucky in that, because we are a community business we know most of our customers, and they are really good at telling us when we are getting it wrong - and also when we are getting it right, which is lovely!

It did make me think about the power of our perceptions and how they affect our lives. I don't think it's as simple as having a 'glass is half full/empty' attitude, though that is certainly part of it. Take the so-called credit cruch, a great soundbite if I ever heard one! I know that there have been job losses and that people and business have lost money due to the problems within banking and housing and I would no way want to belittle that - if you have really been affected then I you have my best wishes and I hope that things look up for you soon. This isn't really about the credit crunch as much as about attitudes to it - especially mine, which you may relate to.

Personally we haven't really been affected that much, the shop pays its bills but doesn't really make any money so as long as it carries on that way we are in no worse position than we were. My husband does work for a bank but his job is pretty secure we think, and yes, the price of fuel has gone up and our house price has gone down but that is the point I guess.

We do have a seven seater car, because there are six of us, not just because we wanted a big car so it does use alot of fuel, and also produces more pollution than we would like. So what do we do? Well we could gripe and complain about the cost of fuel, which I admit we did do for quite a while but we could also take a deep breath, put on some sensible shoes and get walking instead of jumping in the car. We live about a mile from school so it is a bit of a trek to walk all the way there and back, with a 3 year old, a buggy and two exhausted schoolchildren. So we don't walk all the way but we drive to my daughters school, leave the car there and walk down to my son's school to pick him up and then we walk back to the car. And you know what, it's lovely! The kids get to interact with their environment, I get to talk to other grown-ups and the kids get to play with their friends. It also encourages us to just pop to the park as we walk past the gates - which the children love. We NEVER used to go to the park when we drove. And it is actually quicker too. Will we keep it up when it's raining or freezing cold in the winter? I don't know, I would like to think so but either way I am not going to beat myself up about it - every day that I do walk is one day that I have cut my fuel usuage and reduced my carbon emissions. It really doesn't need to be all or nothing, just small steps every day will make all the difference.
So the question is - has the fuel increase improved or reduced the quality of our lives? I know what the children would say, they get to see their friends, go to the park and see the flowers and the spiders, it is a bit of a no-brainer really!

Same goes for energy costs. We, like everyone, noticed a huge increase in fuel bills in the recent years but we were terrible about leaving lights on and things on standby. Eventually we bought an OWL energy monitor and it has saved us a fortune! We are stocking the meters in the shop now as I so strongly believe that they are amazing and everyone should have one. All you do is attach a little clip to the electric cable near your meter, which you then plug into the a little box which measures your fuel consumption. There is a really clear monitor that you put in an obvious place and it tells you how much electricity -in monetary terms you are using per hour. Let me give you an example of how it has worked for us; one morning I was heading out the door to take the kids to school, as usual half the lights in the house were on and pre-monitor I wouldn't have thought twice about it. I did however notice the meter, which was showing we were usng a shocking 70p an hour! I took 2 minutes and ran round the house switching things off - including the iron which I had left on, and the rate dropped down to 4.1p a minute. It turned out I was out for 10 hours that day, which even with my maths adds up to £7 saved in one day, and it potentially stopped the house being burned down. We haven't had an actual bill yet, but since we are now aware of our usage I would bet the £29.99 it cost for the meter that it has paid for itself at least twice over.
So is the credit crunch really the end of the world as we know it, or just a trigger to think about how we spend our money? Should we be scared just because we are being told to be, or should we be lokking at how it has really affected us at a personal level and focus on those things? And lets face it, the credit crunch is a fabulous marketing tool for those pack 'em high, sell 'em cheap companies - we all know who they are - that got us into this state in the first place.
Lots of love
Gill x