Fly
Holy cow, we are down by like 2,000 gallons of water from last year in just this short time. A freaking veritable lake to me. That seems to be what the estimates are reading and we'll have a firmer figure next month. What in the world were we using 2,000 gallons on?
Flop
I'd like to compost, but found out that Bolingbrook has ordinances against this. I'd like to explore options that may satisfy our town's regulations, not be smelly, sanitary and give us a place to start recycling food organic waste.
Fly
I bought a clothesline. My lovely husband will install the sucker this weekend so I can utilize the natural sunlight and wind to dry clothes. I'm already seeing a tremendous difference in our gas bill, so why not take it a step further and only use the dryer when I have to. I did get a retractable one that hooks to the house so I can reduce the hillbilly look (doesn't bother me, but my starched shirt neighbor that I love dearly (Hello Tess of the kick-ass BBQ) bless his heart, might object).
Fly
I've been working terribly hard on meal planning for both the economics and health factors. This has reduced food waste tremendously! (I'll post more on this later because I think it is an in-depth topic). This week I've also focused on power cooking. If I have to crank the oven up I'll try to cook at least a couple of things at once. Ex: Cooking a casserole? Go ahead and bake biscuits and muffins too. Heat once, cook thrice. It works nicely for sticking in something extra that we can eat on throughout the week and I'm saving the energy of heating up the oven more than once. Added hint, also a plus in our book as we are doing without AC as much as possible and the oven jacks up the temp. Cooking later at night has been helpful too.
Holy cow, we are down by like 2,000 gallons of water from last year in just this short time. A freaking veritable lake to me. That seems to be what the estimates are reading and we'll have a firmer figure next month. What in the world were we using 2,000 gallons on?
Flop
I'd like to compost, but found out that Bolingbrook has ordinances against this. I'd like to explore options that may satisfy our town's regulations, not be smelly, sanitary and give us a place to start recycling food organic waste.
Fly
I bought a clothesline. My lovely husband will install the sucker this weekend so I can utilize the natural sunlight and wind to dry clothes. I'm already seeing a tremendous difference in our gas bill, so why not take it a step further and only use the dryer when I have to. I did get a retractable one that hooks to the house so I can reduce the hillbilly look (doesn't bother me, but my starched shirt neighbor that I love dearly (Hello Tess of the kick-ass BBQ) bless his heart, might object).
Fly
I've been working terribly hard on meal planning for both the economics and health factors. This has reduced food waste tremendously! (I'll post more on this later because I think it is an in-depth topic). This week I've also focused on power cooking. If I have to crank the oven up I'll try to cook at least a couple of things at once. Ex: Cooking a casserole? Go ahead and bake biscuits and muffins too. Heat once, cook thrice. It works nicely for sticking in something extra that we can eat on throughout the week and I'm saving the energy of heating up the oven more than once. Added hint, also a plus in our book as we are doing without AC as much as possible and the oven jacks up the temp. Cooking later at night has been helpful too.
Flop
What is an eco friendly alternative to clothes detergent that won't break the bank? I had to buy detergent tonight and found an uber eco-type alternative, but it was like $9.00 a bottle. I found a environment-friendly (but didn't seem uber eco) version that didn't have dyes, chemicals, biodegradable, non-toxic and it was like $5.00 a bottle. Am I falling victim to short term thinking by going with the less expensive? Can I buy the absolute best for the environment now that I'm saving on actually doing less laundry? Can I just make my own that actually works? Inquiring minds want to know............
3 comments:
Laundry detergent: we generally get 7th Generation, but only use a small amount, even with large loads. When I was getting my washer fixed once, and the repair person was watching a load go (front loader) he told me that I, and most people, use too much soap. So, we go with the lowest level line in the cap. One bottle lasts us several months, believe it or not. And our clothes are still clean, not stinky. We wash everything but the cotton diapers in cold water, too. Good luck with this!
re food waste composting...my guess is that your kitchen has a food waste disposer (aka garbage disposal)...if you follow the trail, you'll likely find that your wastewater treatment plant is expert at making fertilizer (compost) and other products from the solids its processes, therefore accomplishing your goals of keeping it out of landfills and making good use of it...
Oh cool! I didn't know that. I use the garbage disposal as much as possible for food waste. I'm going to research a bit and post more on it as it's great info. Thanks Kendall. Shannon
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