Ride a Horse

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Vehicals use air polluting energy. They pollute water with runoff of oil, dirt, brake dust, deposited vehicle exhaust, road particles, automotive fluids, and deicing chemicals from roadways and parking lots. They're the largest source of urban noise pollution. They create solid waste when they are scrapped (25% can't be recycled). They kill wildlife in collisions. The mining of resources to make them pollutes the environment. Horses produce "natural" waste that is a benefit to the landscape, and the basically operate on "solar" energy (used to grow their food).

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Horses "can be" cheaper to own and operate than vehicals (depending on how you go about it, and if you have the land for them). And insurance isn't required!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
How much lifestyle benefit there is really depends on your outlook on riding horses! Well, OK it also depends on how far you have to go, what the weather is like, and how much of a hurry you're in! I have to say from experience that horses are also great when you need someone with a listening ear to talk to. They don't interrupt, and they'll look up at you every now and then with those big, dark eyes (in between mouthfulls of hay) and appear very understanding and sympathetic to your problems. And it can be very therapeutic to rub their soft noses.

What We’re "Not" Doing
Several of our girls have begged us to get a horse, donkey, and/or rideable pteranodons to replace our cars. My mom bought a pony while I was a kid, and we ended up having to move because our suburban neighbors complained about the "horse" in our backyard (imagine that!). So got to ride horses growing up, and I kind of wish our kids could more often too (other than at the annual rodeo). But I also remember what a pain it was trying to melt the ice in the horse trough during the winter. At least that wouldn't be an issue here in Texas! I have to admire the Amish for sticking to the old ways of transportation, this is a great step in reducing your harm to the environment! But for now, this is one that we're "not" doing at this point. But here's a photo of one of our girls on a horse at a ranch.

A Little Humor
Glossary of Horse Terms
Hock: Financial condition of all horse owners.
A Bit: What you have left in your pocket after you've been to your favorite tack shop.
Fence: Decorative structure built to provide your horse with something to chew on.
Horse Auction: What you think of having after your horse bucks you off.
Pinto: Green coat pattern found on freshly washed light colored horses left unattended for 2 minutes.
Well Mannered: Hasn't stepped on, bitten, or kicked anyone for a week.
Rasp: Abrasive metal tool used to remove excess skin from ones knuckles.
Lunging: Popular training method in which a horse exercises their owner by spinning them in circles until dizzy.
Gallop: Customary gait a horse chooses when returning back to the barn.
Nicely Started: Lunges, but not enough health insurance to even think about riding him.
Colic: Gastrointestinal result of eating at horse fair food stands.
Colt: What your mare gives you when you want a filly.
Easy to Load: Only takes 3 hours, 4 men, a 50lb bag of oats, and a tractor with loader.
Easy to Catch: In a 10x10 stall.
Easy Rider: Rides good in a trailer; not to be confused with "ride-able".
Endurance Ride: End result when your horse spooks and runs away with you.
Hobbles: Walking gait of a horse owner after their foot has been stepped on by their horse.
Feed: Expensive substance used to manufacture manure.
Dog House: What you are in when you spend too much money on grooming supplies and pretty halters.
Three Gaited Horse: A horse that. 1) trips, 2) stumbles, 3) falls.


Pull, Buddy
An out-of-towner drove his car into a ditch in a desolated area. Luckily, a local farmer came to help with his big strong horse, named Buddy. He hitched Buddy up to the car and yelled, "Pull, Nellie, pull!" Buddy didn't move.
Then the farmer hollered, "Pull, Buster, pull!" Buddy didn't respond.
Once more the farmer commanded, "Pull, Coco, pull!" Nothing.
Then the farmer nonchalantly said, "Pull, Buddy, pull!" And the horse easily dragged the car out of the ditch.
The motorist was most appreciative and very curious. He asked the farmer why he called his horse by the wrong name three times.
The farmer said, "Oh, Buddy is blind and if he thought he was the only one pulling, he wouldn't even try."

Plant Flowers

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Besides adding natural beauty, flowers provide sustenance to birds and insects.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
No money savings, but if you use naturally collected flower seeds it doesn't need to cost anything either!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★★
Sure is beautiful to see Spring in Texas with all the bluebonnets and Indian paintbrush blooming. Flowers can smell nice too! I also often find flower petals in our salads, but I couldn't tell you which are the edible ones she uses!

What We’re Doing
At least with bluebonnets, I know you have to plan ahead since the seeds should be planted in the fall for Spring blooms. Shannon has several flower beds around our house, and sometimes she's not sure what's going to pop up where- sometimes they are self-propagating. Here are a few photos of our girls in Texas bluebonnets, and Shannon collecting wild flower seeds. Happy Anniversary Shannon!

A Little Humor

Q: How does a rose ride a bike ?
A: By using it's petals!

Two senior couples are walking along, wives in front, husbands in back.
Herb says to Sam, "Gee, we went to a new restaurant last night and had the best meal ever. Good prices too. "
Sam says, "Well, we like to eat out too. What was the name of the restaurant? "
Herb says, "You'll going to have to help me out here a little. What's the name of that pretty flower, smells sweet, grows on a thorny bush? "
Sam says, "How about rose? "
"Yes, yes, that's it!" cries Herb, then calls ahead to his wife. "Rose. Hey, Rose. What was the name of the restaurant we ate at last night? "

While attending a Marriage Seminar dealing with communication, Tom and his wife Grace listened to the instructor.
"It is essential that husbands and wives know the things that are important to each other," he said. Addressing the man, he asked "Can you describe your wife's favourite flower?"
Tom leaned over, touched his wife's arm gently and whispered, "It's self-rising, isn't it?"
The rest of the story gets rather ugly, so I'll stop right here.

A sad-faced Doug walked into a flower shop early one morning. The clerk was ready to take his order for a funeral piece, based on the look on Doug's face, but soon realized his assumption was wrong as Doug asked for a basket of flowers sent to his wife for their anniversary. "And what day will that be? " the clerk asked. Glumly he replied, "Yesterday".

Who Needs a Pool?

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Without a pool cover, more than half of the water in your pool can evaporate each year (7,000 gallons for an 18x36' pool). Estimates are that water lost is about twice what irrigating the equivalent area of lawn would require in most areas (even with a pool cover, pool use was still nearly 1,000 gallons more per year). A tremendous amount of energy can go into heating the pool, as well as powering the filtration pumps.

Money Saved: ★★★★★
Just running a 1.5 hp filtration pump for 12 hours a day can cost you $1400 per year! If you heat your pool, you probably already know how expensive that is. Then there's the water, chemicals, and maintenance . . .

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
While it would admittedly be nice once in awhile to be able to just jump in the backyard pool for a lazy swim, I think the extra time it takes to run down to the neighborhood pool is probably much less than the pool maintenance time that would be required to take care of our own pool. Never mind the "working" hours lost in paying for the extra expenses too. It's nice being able to let kids play in the backyard knowing there's nothing much more dangerous than a couple of chickens (we'll leave the homemade seesaw unmentioned, shall we?)

What We’re Doing
For little kids, a small pool or tub like the horse trough or recycle bin pictured is just as much fun if not more fun than a big pool. For bigger kids, the exercise they get walking to the community pool will do them good. Running through the sprinkler is a great form of water play and watering the lawn at the same time! When we were looking for a house, those with pools were automatically crossed off the list (although it seems like you could use one for water storage? You would have to build a nice deck cover over it though . . .)

A Little Humor
Q. Why did the teacher jump into the water?
A. She wanted to test the water!

Q. Why wasn't Susan afraid when she saw a shark while she was swimming in the water?
A. Because it was a man-eating shark!

Q: Why do you keep doing the backstroke?
A: I've just had lunch and don't want to swim on a full stomach.

Q: Did you hear about the slow swimmer?
A: He could only do the crawl.

Programmable Thermostat

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
A 10 degree difference in thermostat setting could save half the energy used by your heating/cooling system or more - depending on the insulation of your house and the outside temperatures.

Money Saved: ★★★★☆
Given today's high energy costs, the small cost of a programmable thermostat and a few fans for the summer is very low compared to the money you'll save month-to-month on utility bills.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
I tend to feel warmer than Shannon, so sometimes even with the fans on I get too hot in the summer. When that happens, if there isn't something I can do about it (like a glass of icewater, or sitting under a ceiling fan, or taking off some clothes) then I go ahead and temporarily adjust the thermostat a bit. Feeling a bit warm in the summer and a bit cool in the winter is probably normal for our bodies anyway! I guess one benefit could be that there is less shock to your system when you go in and out of the house - making it more likely you'll spend time outside!

What We’re Doing
Our kids run around in their underwear half the time in the summer, except when we have visitors. Our usual thermostat setting is 81 for summer, and 67 or so for winter. What is within the comfort range for different people varies, but by pushing your limits a little you may find that you become accustomed to the change. Our girls are "real Texans". They get cold when it's 65 and seem fine with the summer heat (which saves us a lot on A/C costs). Also, be sure to program your thermostat differently for times of day you are gone, night time, etc. It is not true that heating the house back up after you were gone takes more energy than it would have to keep it warm to begin with. The amount of energy lost has to do with the temperature difference between inside and outside - with less of a difference you spend less energy. At night, when you're bundled under the covers (you've got thick blankets, right?) you should be able to turn the thermostat down a fair ways. Shannon and I once had our apartment down to about 36 degrees one night in Utah (well, OK - that wasn't on purpose, the pilot light in the furnace blew out and we thought the neighbor who controlled the house thermostat was persecuting us again).
A Little Humor
You always hear that in relationships, opposites attract. They just don't tell you that what they mean is that opposite body temperature's attract.

Update your Washer

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
The average American family does 400 loads of laundry a year. You can cut the related energy costs by about a third, and the water usage by almost a half, by going to an efficient front-loading washing machine.

Money Saved: ★★★★☆
Over the life of a front-loading washing machine you can more than pay for the matching dryer just with the energy savings alone (hopefully you'll line-dry instead!). With the water savings you could fill 3 backyard pools. Many communities also have reimbursement programs for putting in efficient appliances.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
There isn't a lot of lifestyle benefit, except that the kids like to sit in front of it and watch the clothes go round-'n-round instead of the TV. Not sure what it's doing to their minds.

What We’re Doing
We had a little top-loading washer on wheels that we got when we first were married and lived in a little apartment. It was quite reliable, but took a lot of loads with a family of 6 to do the wash as it was quite small. It is much more efficient to do large loads, and a front-loading washer is also much more efficient than a top-loader. So we gave the still-working smaller washer to someone who needed it, and purchased the item pictured. You will also note the environmentally friendly "7th Generation" laundry soap that Shannon gets for it.

A Little Humor
Sign in a launderette: Those using automatic washers should remove their clothes when the lights go out.

Recycle Everything (almost)

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Recycling materials used in all the products we buy is a great win for the environment. It greatly reduces landfill waste. It eliminates mining for metals, smelting to purify them, pumping oil for plastics and cutting trees for paper. It puts people to work sorting and re-processing the recycled materials. It is basically essential to a sustainable society that enjoys the luxury products we do.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
At least here in Austin it doesn't cost extra to recycle if you are already paying for waste collection. It doesn't save you money directly either, although availability of cheaper recycled materials can mean that products cost us less to buy.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆
It usually isn't much harder to recycle than to just throw away stuff. Some communities such as Austin have made it particularly easy! I would say that the real lifestyle benefit is for our children and children's children, who will be saddled with pollution and scarcity of resources if we don't take basic necessary steps like recycling.

What We’re Doing
The city of Austin has a goal to reduce the amount of waste Austinites send to the landfill by 90 percent by the year 2040. One of the great benefits that has come from the program is that we have a 96 gallon "single stream" recycling bin that is collected every two weeks, and which we can fill with any mix of recyclable materials (basically anything that has the recyclable triangle symbol on it and including paper and cardboard). Our trash collection service is a "pay-as-you-throw" service, with two sizes of trash bins available and weekly pickup. We have the smaller size, but I've noticed that most people in our neighborhood have the larger size and are often overflowing them when they put them out on the curb for pickup. By contrast, last week I went to check our bin on pickup day and it was completely empty! I generally put it out only every-other week and it is only lightly filled. And we have a family of 6! The main reasons for our low waste are: 1) We consume few items that require packaging, 2) We reuse a lot of things, like boxes, 3) Most of what we have to discard is recycleable, and 4) if something isn't recycleable it's probably compostable and goes in the heap! (which is also basically a recycler).

A Little Humor
During an attack of laryngitis I lost my voice completely for two days. To help me communicate with him, my husband devised a system of taps.

One tap meant "Give me a kiss."
Two taps meant "No."
Three taps meant "Yes"
—and 95 taps meant "Take out the garbage."

Go Solar!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Solar panels are quite durable - and generally have a warranty of 25 years. Since the main ingredient of a solar cell is sand (silicon) - it's pretty low-impact to manufacture and produces polution-free energy over it's entire lifetime. It's hardware components are almost completely recyclable.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Although solar panels are expensive, if you figure them as part of the cost of your house, and build them into the mortgage, they can actually be cheaper month-to-month than the electric bill that they eliminate (depending on the climate you live in - running large A/C units on solar can be impractical).

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Electricity is electricity - there's really no lifestyle change to using solar power over utility power. There can be occasional drawbacks though. During extended cloudy weather your batteries may get depleted - if you are completely "off-the-grid". Most systems are still attached to power though, and you can actually save money by selling power back to the utility company (acting as a "generator") during times you are producing more electricity than you are using.

What We’re Doing
We've started off small and put an 80 watt panel up on the roof (see photo). We got it as an anniversary present to ourselves a few years ago. It is cabled to a black Pelican box (also pictured) that contains four sealed wheelchair batteries, a solar charge controller, and an inverter (to produce 110VAC from the batteries). It produces enough electricity to run small items like fans during the day and a floor lamp at night. The batteries have enough storage to run a large box fan for several days if electricity to the house goes out (which makes summer power failures much more bearable!) It can also power a small refrigerator for a day or two for emergency food cooling. Eventually we hope to build a small home completely "off-the-grid" and rely on solar for all electric needs.

A Little Humor

At the Electric Company: "We would be de-lighted if you send in your bill. However, if you don't you will be "

Most books now say our sun is a star. But it still knows how to change back into a sun in the daytime.

Take up Knitting!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Not a lot of environmental benefit - but there are a few things! You reduce packaging and distribution costs that would be involved in purchasing the items you made if you bought them instead. Also the energy costs of their production are coming from food you would have eaten anyway, since it's a human-powered manufacturing system.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
We don't have a sheep for spinning our own wool (yet!), so for now we still need to buy the yarn and don't save as much as we could otherwise.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
The girls (and I) love having their own knitted scarfs, sweaters, socks, etc. that Shannon makes.

What We’re Doing
Shannon took up knitting as a hobby a few years ago, and enjoys having something to do with her hands during unoccupied moments just about anywhere! I think we've all gotten scarfs, and more recently she has started making socks (a little trickier from what I understand). The photo shows a yellow sweater she made being modeled by one of our girls. I'm afraid that about all I know of knitting is how to tie knots (probably doesn't count anyway, since you don't use needles for it). Anyway, I guess this isn't a big environment saver - but it exemplifies the culture of "doing for yourself" which is much more environmentally sound than buying something made by machines half the world away.

A Little Humor
A traffic cop pulled alongside a speeding car on the motorway. Glancing into the car, he was astounded to see that the young lady, who was driving, was knitting as she drove.

Realizing that she was oblivious to his flashing lights and siren, the policeman wound down his window, turned on his loudspeaker and yelled, 'PULL OVER!'

'NO', the young lady yelled back, 'IT's A SCARF!'

Make a Greenhouse

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Well, there isn't really an environmental benefit to a greenhouse directly, but by continuing to grow food during the cool season you are helping reduce the energy costs associated with bringing food to you from halfway around the world where it is warmer!

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
You can save a little money over the cost of store-bought foods, if you don't spend a lot on the greenhouse!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Fresh fruits and vegetables! And you don't have to fret so much when a freeze comes along, as you've got protection for your garden.


What We’re Doing
Shannon made this little "dome tent" (seen in the background behind the young furniture finishers) using thin PVC pipe and sewing up some heavy translucent plastic. It allows most of the sun in, so the plants (in this case usually citrus trees that need freeze protection) can grow - but also traps enough heat that a light freeze during the night won't damage the trees. Here in Austin TX that's usually enough protection for them, although on a really cold night we'll sometimes put a hot lightbulb in there with them. In cooler climates, you'd have to use a more effective design. Shannon takes this apart and stores it in the shed during the warmer part of the year. You can also use "crop covers" for overnight freeze protection of garden beds that aren't in a greenhouse.

A Little Humor
Riddle: There was a green house.Inside the green house there was a white houseInside the white house there was a red house.Inside the red house there were lots of babies.What is it?

Answer: (backwards) nollemretaw a

Grind wheat to make Bread

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
You save a little on packaging by baking your own bread and grinding your own flour. Especially if you reuse breadbags to hold your bread!

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Storebought bread is pretty expensive these days. And it's mostly air anyway! (Didn't you ever wad up a slice into a little ball as a kid?)

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Although kids sometimes prefer the light airy fluffiness of storebought bread, they can also come to appreciate the yumminess of fresh-baked wheat bread. Especially lightly toasted with butter and fresh strawberry jam. There isn't much better than that! Only downside is the extra work to make the bread - but if you make several loafs at a time (or use a bread machine if you must!) it doesn't have to take too much effort.

What We’re Doing
On sunny days Shannon often bakes bread in our solar oven outdoors. In the winter though, sometimes she'll just go ahead and use the oven since it helps warm up the house anyways. We did a lot of research a number of years back and purchased a Country Living Grain Mill. It uses a steel grinder that works faster for hand-grinding than a stone wheel. We wanted a mill that could be used by hand, for emergency use. But after grinding our first batch of wheat that way, we elected to motorize it for daily use! This mill has a wheel that can handle a belt, making it easy to hook up to a motor (see photo). I just got a grinding wheel pully and a 1/2 hp motor, mounting them all on a thick board. If we needed to, we could hook the handle up again and do it using "muscle power". They also had a photo on their website of someone who had hooked a stationary bicycle up to one! We've been grinding wheat for all our bread for at least 6 years now on it with no problems - it's very solidly made. In fact, Shannon has become the "miller girl" for our neighborhood - also grinding wheat for other ladies nearby!

A Little Humor
The children were lined up in the cafeteria of a Catholic elementary school for lunch. At the head of the table was a large tray of bread slices. The nun posted a sign on the bread tray, "Take only one. God is watching."Further along the lunch line, at the other end of the table was a large pile of chocolate chip cookies. One child whispered to another, "Take all you want. God is watching the bread."

Grow your own Food

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
By growing your own food, you 1) Reduce packaging, distribution and sales energy costs for the food you eat. Also, you reduce the impact of producing that food by using your own energy to plant, cultivate, and harvest it and by ensuring that environmentally sound practices such as composting and natural pest control measures are used.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Seeds and gardening equipment can be expensive. The key is to track everything you spend, and try to make due with what you have. Take care of your equipment, use heirloom plants so you can harvest their seeds to use next year. Use rainwater harvesting to water where possible. Keep track of your harvest so that you know how much you've produced, and work to improve your cost/harvest ratio. It is quite possible to grow your food for less than what it costs at the store - and it will be better and fresher.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆
Although gardening can be a lot of work and take a lot of your time (depending on how you approach it), most people find that there is a lot of benefit. Aside from getting out and moving your body (you know - that word "exercise") there is great satisfaction in watching things grow and carring for them, then harvesting and eating what you've grown yourself. And you know where it came from - you don't have to worry about the latest e. coli spinach recall, heavy metal contamination from use of sludge fertilizers, etc.

What We’re Doing
Shannon has been developing our garden for 10 years now. When we first bought our house, the backyard was all grass. The first year about a third of the turf was dug up for garden. It's slowly grown until it takes up at least half of the yard now (and several trees have been sacrificed because they shaded the garden too much). Shannon weighs everything she harvests from it and tracks all of the money spent on it so that she can measure how efficient her production is. And we have fresh salads most of the year (in Texas we have three growing seasons), with occasional fresh fruit.

A Little Humor
When weeding, the best way to make sure you are removing a weed and not a valuable plant is to pull on it. If it comes out of the ground easily, it is a valuable plant.

"If your knees aren't green by the end of the day, you ought to seriously re-examine your life." — Bill Watterson, "Calvin and Hobbes"

Make a Draft Stopper

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
A lot of heat (or cool) can escape a house by drafts under or around doors, through open chimneys, etc. If you can see daylight if you get down to the floor and try to look under your door, then this homemade gadget can help conserving energy.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Once again, conserving energy means saving money. It only costs a couple dollars in rice, and some recycled fabric from old clothes to make this thing.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
A little bit of a nuisance to have to push up against your door after opening it, but helps keep your house more comfortable and prevent cold drafts from seeping into your living room . . .

What We’re Doing
Our house has had some foundation settling, and as a result we've had to make several adjustments to our front door over the years. One result is that there is a bit of a gap at the bottom now that lets cold air in during winter months. Shannon made this simple fabric tube and filled it with rice (uncooked!) which makes it sort of like a bean bag. Pressed up against the bottom of the door, it seals it quite well!

A Little Humor
It was autumn, and the Indians on the remote reservation asked their new Chief if the winter was going to be cold or mild. Since he was a new Indian Chief in a modern society, he had never been taught the old secrets, and when he looked at the sky, he couldn't tell what the weather was going to be. Nevertheless, to be on the safe side, he replied to his tribe that the winter was indeed going to be cold and that the members of the village should collect wood to be prepared. But also being a practical leader, after several days he got an idea. He went to the phone booth, called the National Weather Service and asked, "Is the coming winter going to be cold?"
"It looks like this winter is going to be quite cold indeed," the meteorologist at the weather service responded. So the Chief went back to his people and told them to collect even more wood in order to be prepared. A week later he called the National Weather Service again. "Is it going to be a very cold winter?"
"Yes," the man at National Weather Service again replied, "it's going to be a very cold winter." The Chief again went back to his people and ordered them to collect every scrap of wood they could find. Two weeks later he called the National Weather Service again. "Are you absolutely sure that the winter is going to be very cold?"
"Absolutely," the man replied. "It's going to be one of the coldest winters ever."
"How can you be so sure?" the Chief asked.
The weatherman replied, "The Indians are collecting wood like crazy!"

Add Attic Insulation

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
Unless you already have a well-insulated attic space, adding more insulation can save a considerable amount of heating/cooling energy. And many insulation products are recycled materials or waste from other industries.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
And with energy prices rising, saving energy also means saving money every month! Sure, it costs a little to add that insulation initially. But it's surprisingly affordable and in most areas of North America the payback is pretty fast.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Your house will be more comfortable, and your furnace or A/C will be blowing less.

What We’re Doing
With winter coming on, most people in our country at least have been switching their thermostats to "Heat". One of the easiest and least expensive things you can do to save on your utility bills is to insulate your house better. When we first bought our house we noticed that the attic had a fairly minimal layer of blown-in rock wool insulation. We called an insulation contractor to come in and blow more insulation in - I don't remember what the cost was but remember being surprised at how cheap it was, somewhere around $200 I think. We probably made that back in the first 6 months heating bills. People in our area are always amazed when they hear how low our utility bills are, and this is one reason for it.

A Little Humor
Question: Why did the customer fire the insulation company?
Answer: They told him they were putting batts in his walls.

I have some information
Regarding your insulation
The R, Mrs. Farr
Is far from par
So the AC gets no vacation

It’s so cold in here said O’Toole
My hiney froze to the stool
The furnace man Joe
Said sir did you know
Your thermostat’s set to cool

Get a Kill-A-Watt!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
No direct benefit, but when you use the results of your measurements to help you save power, you can save a lot! Helps you find those "energy vampires" mentioned in one of the earlier posts "Go Unplugged!"

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Cost of the device is currently $16.99 on Amazon. You can easily save more than that by being more energy aware!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Electricity is a kind of a personal servant in a sense - it makes things more convenient and more comfortable for us. Perhaps "employee" would be a better word than "servant" because you have to pay the cost of using it. Sometimes it's more convenient to leave things on, not bother about turning off all the lamps, electronic piano, stereo system, etc. But once we know what those things are costing us, it is sometimes "easier" to remember!

What We’re Doing
Shannon bought this "Kill-A-Watt" meter for us several years ago. You unplug any device, plug this thing into the wall and plug the device into it instead of the wall. Then it will tell you how much power or current the device is using at any moment. If you leave it to run for awhile (like while monitoring a refrigerator) it will also keep track of how much power it uses over time (since refrigerator compressors go on and off during the day, taking more and less power). We've gone around the house measuring different gadgets, and it's very interesting to see how much power your appliances actually take - both awake AND when "sleeping". For example, our desktop computer uses almost 4x the power of the laptop we've got. Our microwave uses more power than the label on the back says it should (what's up with that???).

A Little Humor
"If it weren't for electricity, we'd all be watching television by candlelight."
— George Gobel

Make your own Candy

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Making things yourself is almost always an environmental plus - saves on packaging and distribution costs if nothing else.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Candy can be really expensive. For example, quality truffles cost at least $1 each, but cost more like $0.20 each or less to make.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Some candies like chocolate truffles are actually very easy to make. Others, like caramels, take more cooking and are difficult to handle (stiiickkky!!) but worth the effort! Lots of fun to make with kids too - they're fascinated by candy that didn't come from a store!

What We’re Doing
Last Valentine's day we got lots of gourmet chocolate bars, additions like mint leaves and orange tea and cocoa nibs and caschews, and made gourmet truffles! Mmmmm - they were good and we ended up giving away lots and gaining probably a few pounds. Also made peanut brittle for the first time a few weeks ago, as our oldest daughter was asking what it was! Lots of recipes abound on the internet, but if you are a chocolate lover then you need to be aware that truffles are actually very EASY to make!

A Little Humor

You can safely have chocolate while driving.

You can have chocolate all weekend and still walk okay on Monday.

If you've got melted chocolate all over your hands, you're eating it too slowly.

Chocolate covered raisins, cherries, orange slices and strawberries all count as fruit, so eat as many as you want.

How do you get 2 pounds of chocolate home in a hot car - eat it in the car park.

If I eat equal amounts of dark chocolate and white chocolate, is that a balanced diet?

Money talks. Chocolate sings.

Chocolate has preservatives. Preservatives make you look younger.

Why is there no such organization such as Chocoholics Anonymous? Because no one wants to quit.

Put "eat chocolate" at the top of your list of things to do today. That way, at least you'll get one thing done.

A nice box of chocolates can provide your total daily intake of calories in one go. Isn't that handy?

If you can't eat all your chocolate, it will keep in the freezer. If you can't eat all your chocolate, what's wrong with you?

If not for chocolate, there would be no need for control top pantyhose. An entire garment industry would be devastated. You can't let that happen, can you?

Recycle a Book

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Reading a book that was purchased used has very little environmental impact!

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Used books can be borrowed free from friends, or purchased for usually less than half price from used book dealers.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★★
Once you get hooked on a books your TV will get lonely. Hopefully you can still spare some time for your family and work! And used books are just as fun to read as new ones (sometimes more).

What We’re Doing
Well, one environmental impact I didn't mention earlier can be that with an accumulation of old books you end up needing lots of bookshelves and boxes to keep them in. Ideally you would continue recycling the books to others, but it can be hard to give them up! Our local library has a bookstore where the sell books no longer needed for just a buck or two for hardbacks. We also have a "Half-Price Books" chain that has good prices on used books, movies, and music. They don't give you much on your trade-ins but at least they'll go to another good home! I also enjoy listening to audio books while driving. You can get older (copyright free) audio books to download for free from http://www.librivox.org/ . Myself, I can recycle a book just by reading it again a year later, since my memory is so poor that they seem like new again! Seems like the e-readers like Kindle would be a great solution to the storage problem as well as the waste of trees - haven't tried that yet.

A Little Humor
GOOD RECYCLER: You recycle not only your newspapers but also your phone books, magazines, and cardboard boxes.

NOT SO GOOD: You leave your newspapers in the bathroom stall at work after you're done. Doesn't that count?

Home is Where the Heart Is

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
By staying home more, you reduce usage of your vehical - thus consuming less fuel and producing fewer emissions. You also save the resources & energy from whatever activity or shopping you would have been doing if you went out.

Money Saved: ★★★★☆
Staying home saves lots of $$$$$! Almost anytime you leave home, you spend money, right?

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
While it's fun to go out once in awhile and do something different, it's also great to cultivate hobbies and family activities you can do at home. Helps develop family togetherness and an appreciation for home.

What We’re Doing
Well, I'd like to go out more than we do - at least once a week. But it is fun to just sit down and play a board game together, read a book, watch a film, build a pinewood derby car, garden, bake some cookies, knit, bicycle, whatever. If you don't have a number of interests and hobbies you can do inexpensively at home, then your search for fun will definitely make budgeting difficult and be hard on the environment. And while your at home, remember that board games use less electricity than the computer type!

A Little Humor
"For 200 years we've been conquering nature. Now we're beating it to death."
— Tom McMillan

Feed & Water the Birds

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
There are over 200 species of migrating birds in the Western hemisphere. During any particular time of year some of them are migrating, and human influence is making it harder and harder for them to reach their destinations. Often migrations are made at night (particularly songbirds) so we don't even witness them. Their needs are simple - food, water, and shelter. A birdbath and some berry-producing trees go a long way to helping with the first two. Avoid using any pesticides.

Money Saved: ★☆☆☆☆
Doesn't save you money, but doesn't cost a lot either.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
How much do we benefit from songbirds? Is there a way to measure their worth?

What We’re Doing
We have a birdbath (pictured). We have a brushpile, which is an excellent source of shelter for many birds but not everyone wants one in their yard (can also shelter rodents & other pests). We also have quite a variety of plantlife some of which provides food to birds. Not to mention the spilled chicken feed that our hens manage to scatter - and which the "junk" birds (grackles in our area) and squirrel seem to love.

A Little Humor
"Fall is my favorite season in Los Angeles, watching the birds change color and fall from the trees." — David Letterman

Use Water-Miser Setting

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
You can save 1/3 of the water normally used to wash your dishes by selecting the "water-miser" setting. You also save the energy needed to heat that water.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Using the water-miser setting not only saves water, but also the energy used during that first wash cycle that is skipped (up to 30% of the energy used to wash a load of dishes). And you use half as much soap.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
One little lifestyle benefit is that the dishwasher finishes washing faster! Also, you don't need to buy as much soap.

What We’re Doing
We always use the water-miser setting on the dishwasher. Also, unless a load of dishes is particularly greasy you only need about 1/4 the dishwasher soap they suggest to use. With the "water-miser" option selected, you don't fill the "prewash" cup with any soap, and the one with the flapper on it usually only needs 1/2 filled.

It's also a bit of a myth that using a dishwasher saves water over hand-washing. I was surprised when I first heard this, as I grew up as a kid handwashing our family dishes. We had one-half of the sink full of wash water, the other half with rinse water. Total water use was probably 5 gallons or so. We asked our Dad many times why we didn't get a dishwasher, and his answer was that we had six of them (kids).

Typical dishwasher use is around 12 gallons per load - more if you pre-rinse your dishes (not really necessary, since most modern dishwashers can handle the residue left after scraping the big-stuff off). The savings over hand-washing is only found if you were to hand-wash under "running" water, which uses more water.

A Little Humor
A priest was asked to dinner by one of his parishioners.When he sat down at the table, he noticed that the dishes were the dirtiest that he had ever seen in his life. "Were these dishes ever washed?" he asked his hostess, running his fingers over the grit and grime. She replied, "Of course they were cleaned Father! They're as clean as soap and water could get them." He felt a bit apprehensive, but blessed the food anyway and they all started eating. The meal was delicious and he paid his compliments in spite the dirty dishes. When dinner was over, the hostess took the dishes outside and yelled -"Here Soap! Here Water!"

Donate Unused Clothes

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
Recycling unused clothes gives them a second chance at life!

Money Saved: ★★★☆ ☆
When other people donate good clothes that they're not using, it gives you a chance to get great deals on wearable clothes - and help employ those who typically have trouble finding jobs as well.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Helps keep clutter in your closet down.

What We’re Doing
I imagine most people make occasional donations of clothing and other items to Goodwill, Salvation Army, etc. Shannon makes it a regular practice to go through her closet each year and give away anything she hasn't used in the last year. For me, that's harder to do as I've got some clothes that I'm fairly attached to but don't wear often (like my arctic explorer down parka, here in central Texas!). But it makes sense to give the clothes a chance to be useful if you're not making use of them!

A Little Humor
After giving birth, I couldn't lose the 40 pounds I'd gained. So I dragged my husband to the mall in search of more flattering clothes. We were encouraged by a sign over a rack of suits: "Instantly hides ten pounds!"
"Look!" my husband said. "You just need to buy four of these."

Creative Gift Wrap

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
By using materials on-hand for gift wrapping, you eliminate trips to the store and logging of timber for paper, as well as reduce energy for paper manufacture and distribution.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Depending on how many birthday and holiday parties you are involved in, the savings could amount to a fair amount of change!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
If you get creative, this can be a real plus rather than a limitation. Who really remembers what the wrapping paper on a gift looked like? But if you do something "different", they'll probably remember yours!

What We’re Doing
Although we have admittedly bought gift wrap paper from time-to-time, more often we have improvised. In the attached photo, we wrapped a large gift (writing desk) for Naomi just in a quilt. It would have taken a lot of paper to wrap that one! For some small gifts, the girls have painted or drawn artwork on brown paper sack material which we recycled. There was leftover wallpaper from one of our bathrooms that we've been using as wrapping paper. Also, we've got some old topographical maps that make interesting gift wrap!

A Little Humor
On the afternoon of Administrative Professionals Day, my co-worker and I finally found the time to get gifts for our secretaries. While at the store, my colleague noticed my disappointment when I discovered the shop didn't provide gift wrapping.

"What's wrong?" he asked.

"They won't wrap the gifts for us," I answered.

"No problem," he said quickly. "I'll ask my secretary to do it."

Flush with Shower Water

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Conserves several gallons of water per shower.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
The small amount of water saved won't amount to much, but your bill for water and wastewater treatment will be reduced a little!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
It's a bit of a pain - not so much collecting the water as using it to flush with. No real benefit I see here.

What We’re Doing
Unless you've got one of those nice instant tankless water heaters in your bathroom, you are probably like us and prefer to let the shower water run for a minute or so to let the hot water reach it before "climbing in"! This sends 2-4 gallons of clean water down-the-drain. Shannon got a bucket which we keep on the floor in the shower, and direct the shower water toward the bucket during that first warm-up period. When the bathroom toilet needs flushed, we check to see if there's water in bucket to use instead of flushing with the toilet tank. You just pour the water in the bowl - wait for the contents to "disappear" - and then pour a little more in to bring the water up to it's usual level. Also, if the kids have taken a bath then we'll usually leave the water in the tub. After flushing with the bucket of water, we quickly drag the flat-sided bucket through the tub to mostly refill it and put it back in the shower to "drip dry". That way it's ready to handle another flush next time. Note that in the summer, if the temperature and humidity are high, it sometimes isn't worth leaving a bathtub full of warm water sitting out (just makes the humidity worse!).

A Little Humor

"Why should I care about future generations? What have they ever done for me?"
— Groucho Marx

If It's Yellow . . .

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Wee 1 (wait), Wee 2 (still wait), Wee 3 (flush!) saves you about 2/3 of the water used in your toilets - which is considerable.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Not only saving on the water bill, but also in most areas the water treatment fee (drainage) which is higher.

Lifestyle Benefit: ☆☆☆☆☆
No lifestyle benefit here!

What We’re Doing
I looked up the phrase "If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down." trying to find it's origin, but wasn't successful. Certainly not fun - especially with kids who develop the habit of NEVER flushing, resulting in sometimes stinky bathrooms and clogged toilets. And when guests come around you either need to run around and flush all your toilets first, or put up a sign in the bathroom to warn them! No fun lifestyle advantages to this one. In fact, this tip may not work for you if you have an ultra-low flush toilet - as those pretty much need all the water they use anyway just to prevent getting clogged.

A Little Humor
Ummm, I don't really think I want to do an internet search for potty humor - and I don't recall any suitable ones so I think I'll skip this one!

(added later): OK, I just remembered one that might be suitable here. This was some graffiti I once saw written on a (coed) bathroom stall. Some good public service advice:

If you sprinkle when you tinkle,
Be a sweetie, and wipe the seatie.

Save Soap Slivers!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Not a huge benefit here - we're just making sure we don't waste those little bits of soap you get when a bar is nearly used up!

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Again, you're not saving a lot of money on soap - but it's not costing you anything either.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Not sure what the lifestyle benefit would be, other than feeling good about not wasting stuff!

What We’re Doing
When the bar soap we use by bathroom sinks and in the shower gets to be a little "sliver", Shannon collects them into a piece of coarse fabric like that one pictured and ties it off. You can then use the little bundle as you would soap - when wet the soap soaks out through the fabric. Not exactly a decorator soap you'd put out in your guest bathroom - but it works! By the way, those hand-pump liquid soap dispensers are quite handy and look nice but waste a lot of soap down the drain and cost significantly more than most hand soaps.

A Little Humor

Dear Maid,Please do not leave any more of those little bars of soap in my bathroom, since I have brought my own bath-sized Dial.Please remove the six unopened little bars from the shelf under the medicine chest and another three in the shower soap dish. They are in my way.Thank you,S. Berman

Dear Room 635, I am not your regular maid. She will be back tomorrow, Thursday, from her day off.I took the 3 hotel soaps out of the shower soap dish as you requested.The 6 bars on your shelf I took out of your way and put on top of your Kleenex dispenser in case you should change your mind.This leaves only the 3 bars I left today which my instructions from the management is to leave 3 soaps daily. I hope this is satisfactory.Kathy, Relief Maid

Dear Maid -- I hope you are my regular maid.Apparently Kathy did not tell you about my note to her concerning the little bars of soap. When I got back to my room this evening I found you had added 3 little Camays to the shelf under my medicine cabinet.I am going to be here in the hotel for two weeks and have brought my own bath-size Dial so I won't need those 6 little Camays which are on the shelf. They are in my way when shaving, brushing teeth, etc. Please remove them. S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,My day off was last Wed. so the relief maid left 3 hotel soaps which we are instructed by the management.I took the 6 soaps which were in your way on the shelf and put them in the soap dish where your Dial was. I put the Dial in the medicine cabinet for your convenience.I didn't remove the 3 complimentary soaps which are always placed inside the medicine cabinet for all new check-ins and which you did not object to when you checked in last Monday.Please let me know if I can of further assistance. Your regular maid, Dotty

Dear Mr. Berman, The assistant manager, Mr. Kensedder, informed me this A.M. that you called him last evening and said you were unhappy with your maid service. I have assigned a new girl to your room.I hope you will accept my apologies for any past inconvenience. If you have any future complaints please contact me so I can give it my personal attention.Call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM. Thank you. Elaine Carmen Housekeeper

Dear Miss Carmen, It is impossible to contact you by phone since I leave the hotel for business at 7:45 AM and don't get back before 6PM. That's the reason I called Mr. Kensedder last night.You were already off duty. I only asked Mr. Kensedder if he could do anything about those little bars of soap. The new maid you assigned me must have thought I was a new check-in today, since she left another 3 bars of hotel soap in my medicine cabinet along with her regular delivery of 3 bars on the bath-room shelf.In just 5 days here I have accumulated 24 little bars of soap. Why are you doing this to me? S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,Your maid, Kathy, has been instructed to stop delivering soap to your room and remove the extra soaps. If I can be of further assistance, please call extension 1108 between 8AM and 5PM.Thank you,Elaine Carmen,Housekeeper

Dear Mr. Kensedder,My bath-size Dial is missing! Every bar of soap was taken from my room including my own bath-size Dial. I came in late last night and had to call the bellhop to bring me 4 little Cashmere Bouquets.S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman,I have informed our housekeeper, Elaine Carmen, of your soap problem. I cannot understand why there was no soap in your room, since our maids are instructed to leave 3 bars of soap each time they service a room.The situation will be rectified immediately. Please accept my apologies for the inconvenience.Martin L. Kensedder Assistant Manager
Dear Mrs. Carmen, Who the heck left 54 little bars of Camay in my room? I came in last night and found 54 little bars of soap. I don't want 54 little bars of Camay. I want my one bar of bath-size Dial!Do you realize I have 54 bars of soap in here?! All I want is my bath size Dial. Please give me back my bath-size Dial. S. Berman

Dear Mr. Berman, You complained of too much soap in your room so I had them removed. Then you complained to Mr. Kensedder that all your soap was missing so I personally returned them. The 24 Camays which had been taken and the 3 Camays you are supposed to receive daily.I don't know anything about the 4 Cashmere Bouquets. Obviously your maid, Kathy, did not know I had returned your soaps so she also brought 24 Camays plus the 3 daily Camays. I don't know where you got the idea this hotel issues bath-size Dial.I was able to locate some bath-size Ivory which I left in your room.Elaine CarmenHousekeeper

Dear Mrs. Carmen, Just a short note to bring you up-to-date on my latest soap inventory. As of today I possess:On shelf under medicine cabinet - 18 Camay in 4 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2.On Kleenex dispenser - 11 Camay in 2 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 3. On bedroom dresser - 1 stack of 3 Cashmere Bouquet, 1stack of 4 hotel-size Ivory, and 8 Camay in 2 stacks of 4. Inside medicine cabinet - 14 Camay in 3 stacks of 4 and 1 stack of 2. In shower soap dish - 6 Camay, very moist. On northeast corner of tub - 1 Cashmere Bouquet, slightly used. On northwest corner of tub - 6 Camays in 2 stacks of 3. Please ask Kathy when she services my room to make sure the stacks are neatly piled and dusted. Also, please advise her that stacks of more than 4 have a tendency to tip. May I suggest that my bedroom window sill is not in use and will make an excellent spot for future soap deliveries.One more item... I have purchased another bar of bath-sized Dial which I am keeping in the hotel vault in order to avoid further misunderstandings.S. Berman

Hand-me-downs are Fun!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
A lot of energy goes into growing cotton, making synthetic cloth, sewing, distributing, selling, and shopping and/or shipping clothing. When they can be used again, there is a large savings in energy and reduction in growing and manufacturing chemical usage. And the landfill reduction from not throwing them out (whether recycled in your family or donated to others).

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
If you are able to reuse them in your own family, you save money on expensive clothes. If you donate them to a service organization or neighbors then you save them money.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Most people would probably rather have new clothes than hand-me-downs. But our young kids at least do sometimes get a kick out of owning something that they remember (or have seen in pictures) their older sisters wearing previously. Besides, by saving money this way you can buy better clothes - so even if they're not the latest style they are better quality.

What We're Doing

Well, I guess we got a little luckier than most families! With four girls growing up one after the other, we get rather a lot of use out of our clothes. By the time they get to the youngest child, some items like shoes need to be replaced - but others are still good. I imagine this is one thing (recycling clothes) that most people are probably good at doing - hopefully no one is throwing out serviceable clothes when it is so easy to donate them to organizations like Salvation Army, Goodwill, Disabled Veterans, etc. Most of them will even come to your door to pick them up! Note: Regarding the photograph, you'll note that shoes don't always work well for hand-me-downs. Particularly from one generation to the next. There are other unmentionables that probably don't need to be passed down either . . .

A Little Humor

"Clothes make the man. Naked people have little or no influence in society."
— Mark Twain

Quilt with Old Clothes

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
When clothes have gotten too worn or stained for hand-me-downs, there are nearly always small good areas of fabric left in them. Making a blanket from them "recycles" the fabric and reduces landfill.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
A nice quilted blanket can be quite expensive! These are nearly free (except for your time).

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆

While it takes quite awhile to make one of these (mostly to do the hand-stitching), much of the work can be done while listening (to music, kids, spouse, a movie, etc.) and the work can be spread out over months or years. The resulting quilts become family heirlooms as well as practical bed-warmers!

What We're Doing

Shannon is working on her fourth quilt I think it is now (for our bed). She saves our old clothes that aren't worth handing-down or donating, and cuts them into several sizes of quilt squares. The squares are sewn together on the sewing machine, and then hand-stitched with a quilting hoop into a blanket. It's fun to see the resulting blankets and remember the various items of clothing that we used to wear that now make up the blankets. Several of my "ex" favorite shirts are in those quilts now. I know the girls will appreciate the blanket made for each of them for a long time, perhaps for the rest of their lives.

A Little Humor

Wedding advice: In marriage, one good turn gets most of the blankets.

Save Plastic Containers

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Saves landfill space, as well as the energy for making plastic containers you didn't buy.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Why buy tupperware cups, plastic storage tubs, etc. when you're always getting them for free?

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
Not having matched cups at the dinner table isn't a lifestyle benefit I suppose, although our kids have their favorite "cups" that are more interesting than "plain blue" I suppose.

What We're Doing
Any time we get a reasonably sturdy plastic cup or bowl, it gets washed and saved in a lower kitchen cupboard. Since everything's plastic down there, it makes a great play area for toddlers (see photo). Also, we've always got containers (old butter tubs, etc.) in the right sizes for saving leftovers in the fridge. And the cup-sized containers get used for . . . cups! And if they get used up, you can still recycle them! Yes, we do have a few actually purchased plastic cups and storage bowls - but they were mostly purchased many years ago before Shannon started this "collection". Biggest problem for me is trying to figure out which lid goes with which container . . .

A Little Humor
Q. Why do builders have see-through Tupperware lunchboxes?
A. So they know if they are going to work or going home.

Share the Bathwater!

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Conserves water, and the energy to heat it and later treat the wastewater.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Most places you won't save a lot of money with the water, although you are also saving money on the energy used to heat it.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Isn't it more fun to take baths together? Great social/play time for the kids. And not just for kids . . . also a great idea for their parents after the kids have gone to bed! :-)

What We're Doing
Our kids until they are around 10 or so have enjoyed taking paths together. Also, we don't bath them "every night" as I understand some folks do which seems awfully unnecessary! If they get particularly dirty they might get a special bath, but usually it's just about once a week. We have also discovered that you use considerably less water when two or more are in the tub - since the extra bodies help to bring the water level higher! Just make sure not to throw the baby out with the bathwater!

A Little Humor

"Sponges grow in the ocean. That just kills me. I wonder how much deeper the ocean would be if that didn't happen." — Steven Wright

The Bathtub Test
During a visit to the mental asylum, I asked the director how you determine whether or not a patient should be institutionalised.
"Well," said the director, "we fill up a bathtub, then we offer a teaspoon, a teacup and a bucket to the patient and ask him or her to empty the bathtub." "Oh, I understand," I said. "A normal person would use the bucket because it's bigger than the spoon or the teacup." "No." said the director, "A normal person would pull the plug. Do you want a bed near the window?"

Reuse Candles

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
By reusing your birthday candles, you reduce landfill waste from partially-burned candles and packaging, and possibly save fuel from extra trips to the store for candles.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
Probably just a couple of dollars, depends on how many times they are reused!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Saves having to go buy more candles all the time for birthdays!


What We're Doing
Those little thin birthday candles are really only good for one birthday - they burn up so fast! So we've mostly been using the "numbers" at least for the kids' cakes. They don't melt much unless you sing the birthday song reeeeally slooooowww! So far we've been able to use them for all four girls and on some of our cakes, and you know what? They really don't care that they've been used before. In fact, it almost adds to the fun when they realize that the candle number was on their sister's cake a year or two before and now it's on their cake!

A Little Humor
Why do you blow out the candles on your birthday cake?
Because throwing water on the candles will ruin your cake, silly.

Make Pumpkin Pie

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆

By eating your Halloween pumpkin, you are not only getting valuable food from it - but preventing it from going into the landfill (hey - if you don't eat it at least compost it!)

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆

How much is 4 cans of pumpkin pie filling worth?

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆

I consider pumpkin pie a definite lifestyle benefit.

What We're Doing

If you carve a Halloween pumpkin, chances are it sits around until getting all moldy and soft and gross and then gets thrown out, or hopefully put in the compost pile. If you wait until a few days before Halloween to carve it, and then promptly bake it up afterward - chances are you can still use it for pie! Best not to light it inside with a candle, as the heat may dry it out and you might have puddled wax to deal with as well. Better to use an electric bulb - or even one of those cool spooky green glow sticks! A good-sized pumpkin will make four pies. And you can also toast the salted seeds in your oven for a tasty snack!

I know your excuse. I can hear it already. "But I don't know how to make pumpkin pie without the recipe on the can!" OK, OK . . . here's the recipe:

Ingredients
1 small pumpkin
1 recipe pastry for a 9 inch single crust pie
2 eggs
1 cup packed light brown sugar
1 tablespoon all-purpose flour
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons pumpkin pie spice (or 1/2tsp ginger, 1/2 tsp nutmeg, 1 tsp cinnamon)
1 (12 fluid ounce) can evaporated milk

Directions
I presume your pumpkin is already cleaned of seeds! Cut pumpkin into several pieces and place cut side down on a cookie sheet lined with lightly oiled aluminum foil. Bake at 325 degrees F (165 degrees C) for 30 to 40 minutes, or until the flesh is tender when poked with a fork. Cool until just warm. Scrape the pumpkin flesh from the peel. Puree in small batches in a blender. Increase oven temperature to 450 degrees F (230 degrees C.)
In a large bowl, slightly beat eggs. Add brown sugar, flour, salt, 2 cups of the pumpkin puree, pumpkin pie spice, and evaporated milk. Stir well or blend in blender.
Pour mixture into the unbaked pastry shell. Place a strip of aluminum foil around the edge of the crust to prevent over browning.
Bake 10 minutes at 450 degrees F (230 degrees C), then reduce the oven temperature to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Bake an additional 40 to 50 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Remove the strip of foil about 10 minutes before the pie is done so that the edge of the crust will be a light golden brown. Cool pie, and refrigerate overnight for best flavor.

A Little Humor

Why do Jack-o-lanterns have stupid smiles on their faces?

You'd have a stupid smile, too, if you had just had all your brains scooped out!

What's the ratio of a pumpkin's circumference to its diameter?

Pumpkin Pi (3.1428571 . . .)

Cloth Diapers

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Yes, it's true - the gal in the photo (one of ours) is not wearing a cloth diaper. This is one we debated about, and finally gave into disposables mainly for convenience sake. But lets look at the real environmental impact! Disposable diapers are mostly made up of plastic, pulp and paper which industries produce more hazardous waste products than the cotton industry (out of which most cloth diapers are made). Cotton farming requires vast amounts of energy and water however. Cotton is also a chemically wasteful crop to grow, taking up 10% of all agricultural chemicals and 25% of insecticides used on our land. Disposable diapers make up about 2% of the total landfill volume in the US and cloth diapers a much smaller fraction. However, cloth diapers take a significant amount of water (usually heated) to clean. If a diaper service is used, there is the energy involved in the pickup service to account for. If a tumble dryer is used, then that energy use is also significant. It isn't such a clear-cut decision, is it! A 2005 study by Britain's Environmental agency determined that the carbon impact of cloth vs. disposable was essentially a "wash" (about even). However, critics of the study noted that cloth diapers can actually have an environmental advantage if the latest efficient washers are used, with large loads and using lower (cool or warm) temperatures. Another advantage is given to cloth if line drying is used instead of tumble. And finally, if the diapers are later reused on another child (in the same family, or by some means passed to another family) then this gives them a further advantage. So yes - cloth CAN be a little more environmentally friendly than disposable if handled right, and it definitely creates less landfill waste.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
The fancy cloth diapers they've got these days are relatively expensive! If you pay for a diaper service then the cost will be about equal to using disposable diapers. If you wash them yourself, you can save 20%-40% of the cost of buying disposables.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
Cloth diapers generally soak through more often than disposables, and so need to be changed more often. It can't be denied that the convenience of being able to wrap that nasty little bundle up in waterproof plastic and toss it in the bin is awfully nice too!

What We're Doing
Part of the reason we didn't use disposables is I couldn't see myself swirling cloth diapers around in the toilet like my mom did for us! Since Shannon wanted my help changing them, we got disposables. Am I too unreasonable? I'm not sure my dad ever changed a diaper!

Tip
There are charities such as miraclediapers.org that will help you recycle cloth diapers! Or you can give them away on freecycle. Myself, I'd feel strange trying to sell them! Maybe give them away at a baby shower???? (umm . . . NOT!!!!!)

A Little Humor
Q. How many babysitters does it take to change a light bulb?
A. Are you joking? They can’t even change a dirty diaper!