I used to run a maritime market research company. We were big, and the work took me all around the world. What I found out made me determined that if and when I made something, it wouldn't be transported half-way around the globe on a ship.

A couple of years ago there was a conversation about who was doing the washing-up. My friend and I talked about how when we were children there wasn't any conversation about it: the children were doing the washing-up. There could be negotiation about who was washing, who was drying and who was putting away, but that would be as far as it went.

It took a few years to get Pocket Money Cards into production but finally, in April 2005, the first 2,000 packs were delivered to The Lecture Room at Parham Hall. 

I'd had to make sure the cards were sustainable, sourced from monitored forests, to get an FSC certification.

I'd had to find out what would happen if someone ate the cards. Would the ink poison them? Well, no. It's actually food-safe ink. I can guarantee they won't taste very nice, but if your Tardis dumps you in the middle of the siege of Paris in 1870 then you'll at least have a meal to hand. 

I'd had to make sure that the cards and the packs could be recycled, so I could have the recycling logo printed on the side of the boxes.

I even set fire to them. Or I tried to, anyway. Not just after moving two tons of the new packs of cards, which accounts for my fairly grim expression in the picture. Not to claim the insurance, although at times that was tempting, but to see if the cards would burn easily. I didn't have access to a school laboratory or hi-tech testing equipment, so I developed a real-life test: I lit a candle and held a card in the flame for five seconds.

I was surprised. It's cardboard, for heaven's sake. I thought it would ignite. But I was wrong. The edge of the card crinkled a bit and the ink scrunched up, but no flame. I reasoned that if you held a card in a flame longer than five seconds then we're not talking about accidental ignition any more.  

Above all, I'd had to find a printer in the UK to handle the job, matching all those criteria. I found one at Ivory Cards, not in China but in Cambridgeshire, just 60 miles from where Pocket Money Cards were invented. 

It's been a long journey since that Sunday lunch. If it hadn't been for the immediate enthusiasm of a neighbour who used to Chair the Greetings Cards Association the whole idea would probably have died on the vine. 

As it is, each of the 100 Pocket Money Cards in every pack help make homes more homely, more supportive and more inclusive, building children's capabilities, coping skills and confidence, without literally costing the earth. 

There's only one planet. We shouldn't spend it all at once.