Make one change every month towards a greener life

I have been working on my electric bill on top of being greener. Turning off the water when I brush my teeth, and turning off all the lights, even at night or making an effort to turn off the closet light when I usually forget.

Trash-less Lunch.

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.

This month I decided to start recycling. There are recycling drop offs at the USF Tampa Campus and that will help. I also reused a [gallon] milk carton, cut in half, as a pot for my green pepper plant.

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!