Lish Fejer

18 May

Whether it’s draft‑proofing a rental, shading a west‑facing window, or retrofitting everyday habits to stay comfortable all year round, Lish shows that saving energy isn’t about perfection or expensive upgrades. It’s about small, clever fixes that make your home feel better and your bills less terrifying.

If you’ve ever fallen down a Fix‑It‑Chicks rabbit hole, you’ll know exactly why Lish Fejer has become one of Australia’s most recognisable voices in practical sustainability. With a background in biochemistry from ANU, years spent sparking curiosity at Questacon, and a stint co‑hosting ABC TV’s eco‑reno series Carbon Cops, she’s built a career out of making science feel human, funny and completely doable.

Her social media account, Fix‑It‑Chicks, takes that same spirit and runs with it — offering sharp, low‑cost DIY hacks that help people “green it yourself” without needing a toolbox, a tradie, or a spare $30,000. Whether it’s draft‑proofing a rental, shading a west‑facing window, or retrofitting everyday habits to stay comfortable all year round, Lish shows that saving energy isn’t about perfection or expensive upgrades. It’s about small, clever fixes that make your home feel better and your bills less terrifying.

I recently had a chat with her about all of this. From the science mindset behind her ideas, to the philosophy that drives Fix‑It‑Chicks, and the surprisingly simple things anyone can do to stay comfortable without spending a fortune.

SEE Change: What first got you to start on DIY and energy saving?

Lish Fejer: When I was at university, I was living in a really old rental house — freezing cold in winter, steaming hot in summer. I thought, “God this is so ridiculous this is.” One day I noticed a little course advertised at ANU. It said, “Do you want to save money on your energy bills?” and I thought, yes. Then it said, “Do you want to be more comfortable?” and I thought, absolutely yes.

So I went along. It was a three-hour workshop run by a guy called Dave Hodgkin through the ACT government. They just showed us all of these really basic things — how to put insulation around your hot water pipes so the water didn't go cold before it reached the shower tap, how to insulate windows, how to use cool-down blinds. It was very basic DIY.

And I thought, ‘This works’. I tried it, and it actually worked. I was studying science at the time, so I sort of leaned into the fact that the science is there — it was fact-based. This evidence was very clear. And then I thought, we could all do a little bit of this.

I'm a hopeless DIYer. I'm not particularly handy. So I thought, if I can do it, then other people can do it too.

How do you come up with so many ideas for your social media posts?

We're pretty good on ideas — we love an idea. And because this stuff has always been so... well, unsexy, people don’t really see the value in things like draft-proofing. They might do double glazing because it's sort of talked about a lot, but they won’t necessarily draft-proof their house. It’s just not considered exciting for DIY.

So there's no content about it. No one's done social media videos on DIY draft-proofing or using an induction cooktop or how to use your air con properly. Like the dry mode thing — revolutionary.

And so people share it widely because it's a common human experience. Especially if we post on a hot day or during a heat wave. We've noticed in summer that even a simple shading solution goes off. If people are sitting in a really hot house and we show them something they can use to shade their windows with — something they already have at home, right there, right then — suddenly, it’s easy, it’s doable, it’s shareable

Then people start sharing their own experience of how it's worked for them. So I think that's part of it, but the idea is that I just love being able to communicate science in a way that actually sticks with people.

Is there a philosophy when it comes to finding ways to save money and energy? 

I don't know if there's a formal philosophy, but there’s definitely is a Fix-It-Chicks style of “give it a red-hot go.” You’re capable of doing this. Don't wait for someone else to fix it — give it a go and see if it works. If it doesn't work, then try something different. We’ll show you the science behind what you’re doing, in a really simple way, and once you understand that, you can start coming up with your own solutions.

And so it's a bit cowboy, sort of. We don't want to talk down to people. We just want to talk at their level. And that's why I think me not being particularly handy or good at DIY helps because people go, “Oh, if she's doing it, I can give it a go.”

And then builds this community around it because often women, have been traditionally, not the ones who would do the DIY. We would wait for someone else to fix it even though we make a lot of the big decisions in the house. And comfort is so important for women and their families.

So I think the underlying philosophy is: give it a red-hot go. It might not look pretty, but bloody hell, it'll work.

You mentioned you have this kind of science mindset — I wonder if that somehow shapes how you create these ideas.

Yeah, definitely. Both Jen and I have a science mindset — we’re both scientists and science communicators. So if we can make something interesting and engaging and get a little bit of the science in there, that really helps.

I'm actually just about to do a series on making your car more fuel efficient. Even just knowing how to inflate your tyres to the right pressure is super important or even how to take off a roof rack. Most people don’t realise that if your tyres are a bit flat, more rubber hits the road, which means more friction. More friction means your car has to burn more fuel just to overcome that rolling resistance. Pumping them up to the correct pressure will help you save fuel and money.

But people often don’t know where to look for the tyre pressure, or how to do it, or they don’t want to look silly at the servo. So just a quick little video showing how easy it is can make a massive difference. Sometimes I’ll do a step-by-step, other times something a bit funny — it depends on what will be the most shareable.

I’m also working out whether to make the series four separate videos or one carousel. That’s the other part of this work: you can have a great science and a great message, but if no one sees it, it’s wasted. So it’s always about giving people just enough information to act on, without overwhelming them so they scroll past.

Another one I’m planning is about taking heavy stuff out of the back of your car. People carry around all a lot of stuff they don't need, and extra weight means extra fuel. It’s the same principle as riding a bike — if the tyre’s flat or the load’s heavy, you’re putting in more energy. Your car just uses petrol instead of muscle.

What's the easiest first step someone can take to make their house more energy efficient?

Since we are coming into winter, I would say the first thing people could do is draft proofing. It's so underrated. People just don't know about draft proofing. The first thing I tell people is: go home and look for every place air can sneak in or out of your house. Anywhere there's been a hole cut — for lights, power points, plumbing, air-conducts, doors, windows — that’s a potential draft.

Builders often put something pretty over the top, like an architrave or a power point cover, so it looks sealed, but if you run your hand around it you’ll find gaps and cracks. I’ve been in houses where your whole finger disappears under the window frame. And if you’re feeling cold even with the heating on, or you call down really quickly when the heater turns off, it’s usually drafts. Fixing them is cheap and it’s the biggest bang-for-your-buck thing you can do.

Have you ever tried a DIY project that went completely wrong, and what did you learn from it? 

One example is the silver laminated foil you can stick on the inside of your windows. It’s brilliant — it reflects the heat straight back out. But when the sun hits, it also reflects straight into someone else’s window or onto the body corporate’s property. So even though it works beautifully, people complain because it looks ugly or it annoys the neigbours. That was a good reminder that the “best” solution isn’t always the one people will actually accept.

And then there was by bean trellis experiment. I grew beans up a tellis on the west side of our house to shade the wall — it was great and lush, and it cooled everything down. You could pick vegetables straight from the door. But unfortunately, all the water went under the house and caused mold issues. If I’d done it in pots or wicking beds, it would’ve been perfect.

What’s a common misconception people have about saving energy at home?

A big one is that you have to spend a lot of money to make your home energy-efficient. People jump straight to the big-ticket items — double-glazed windows, new air conditioners, fancy induction cooktops — and assume that if they can’t afford those, there’s nothing they can do. And renters especially feel locked out of comfort because they don’t “own” the building.

But what we show is that you can do really simple things, even if they are just temporary fixes to get you through a heatwave in summer or a cold snap. Most of our work is actually aimed at renters and low -income households, because they’re the ones who suffer the most from poor home comfort.

What really drives us mad is when we see people say, “Oh, I'm still freezing in my house and I've just spent $30,000 on double glazing,” and then we go to their house and there are drafts all around the brand=new windows. Any gains from the double glazing are immediately lost. If they had spent $100 on draft proofing first, they would’ve been far more comfortable.

There’s also this idea that if something looks modern or energy-efficient, it must be. People fall in love with the aesthetics of a place and forget to check the basics — like whether the afternoon sun is going to slam into the living room with no shading. Orientation, shading, and draft control matter just as much as the shiny upgrades.

Have you learned any surprising things from your audience or followers?

One of my favourites actually came from a follower — the vodka trick. I’d posted something about how much I resent dry cleaning: the cost, the chemicals, the time. And someone replied saying they never dry cleaning anything; they just use vodka.

I thought, ‘What on earth?’ But they explained it: you fill a spray bottle with cheap vodka and water, fifty-fifty, and lightly spray the underarm area of a garment that’s smelly but not dirty. The vodka evaporates really quickly and takes the odours with it. I’d never heard of it before.

So we scripted a little video, a friend filmed and edited it, and it went absolutely wild. It was short, funny, surprising — and people love a hack that feels a bit cheeky but actually works. That one really showed me how much great content comes straight from the audience.

SEE Change Admin