Make one change every month towards a greener life

I’ve been doing it for a year and feel done with brainstorming and listing. It’s been an interesting process and I’ve made some big changes and some small ones. And I sure miss using the whirlygig now that it’s winter.

So – progress made in saving the planet and all.

In September, I made an effort to use grey water from the kitchen dishes to water the window box and nasty water from the wading pool for the plants on the deck.

This month I’m going to start turning my laptop all the way off at night and when I leave the house. I don’t usually do this since it takes at least 5 minutes to power up, but I need to get over that laziness.

Pretty minimal for new things though I notice the change the whirlygig has made on our gas bill. Too bad it’s not a good option for wintertime.

This month’s new thing has been trying to do the post-school pickup on the bicycle-built-for-two. I could do it every day if not for that hill! We’ll see how the elementary school traffic affects our road safety when they restart.

New toothbrushes – made of recycled materials and recyclable.

Got ‘em at Target and they were totally comparable price-wise to the major brands. Check ‘em out

Nothing actually new on this besides actually using the whirlygig. It sure takes more time and planning. So I’m counting all the things I’m trying to make it work as the May thing.

GG has kindly installed a clothes line thingy on the deck and I have started to use it. Not for everything, but for most things, when the weather and pollen count allow.

So far only 3 things have blown off. All pajama bottoms. One wonders why, besides that I need more clothespins.

In February, we started reusing the bio-degradable bags we use in the kitchen compost. After we dump the compost into the worm bin, the worms won’t eat it and we can’t wash them out and reuse like we do with produce bags usually. So now we’re reusing them when we scoop the cat litter. Fascinating and also icky!

For March, I’m trying to figure out simple changes to make to conserve water. Turning it off when washing a big pan, letting the faucet run into the side of the sink with soaking dishes, and getting on the chum about not dawdling. That sort of thing.

Next month, a clothesline for the deck.

Finally, after years of discussion, we got a new fridge. Our old one was not new when we bought the house however long ago we bought the house (10 years?).

Isn’t it funny how these large ticket purchases never make one unreservedly happy? I mean, it’s going to be much more energy efficient, it’s bigger, and is pretty cool. But, oh man, it’s big. So there’s always this tinge of fear that one has made the wrong choice somehow.

Anyway, hey! A cool new fridge!

I’m surprised that it’s hard to find a lot of changes to make that we haven’t done already. I’ve been going to all these green tips type sites and I’m always already doing pretty much all of them (except those light bulbs – there will have to be changes to the technology before they don’t affront the delicate visual aesthetics of GG!)

Anyway, after taking a 15 page long test from PG & E, this month’s change is to stop rinsing dishes before they go into the washer and to scrap them instead. Surprisingly hard to do.

I’m working on electricity drains. I’m trying to be more conscious of shutting off lights as soon as we don’t need them (a good wintertime habit when the lights get on more often).

Also I’m trying to shut my computer all the way off when I’m not going to be using it for a long while.