Water with Wash Water

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆

By using washing machine water to water your yard, you reduce your household water use by effectively using the water twice!

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆

The average water use for home washing machines is about 5,000 gallons a year - so the money saved by "saving" this much water isn't a fortune. You will also need to have a tank and something to transfer the water outdoors, so I don't see a lot of money savings here.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆

It's more work and hassle to water this way than the usual methods. But if you are in a drought area with watering restrictions, this can be a way to water your ornamentals without using extra water!

What We're Doing

In the picture, you can see a water tank sitting up on cement blocks next to your washing machine. The tank is the type they make for RVs, but with one end cut off (could just cut a hole in it too). The drain hose from the washing machine just feeds into this tank instead of the regular drain. The bottom of the tank has a valve and hose attachment on it. After doing laundry, Shannon attaches a regular garden hose to the bottom of the tank, and runs it out the window to where she waters some of her flowers and trees with it. Since the tank is up on blocks, gravity feed is enough to drain the tank and no pump is needed. You don't want to leave the dirty water sitting around in the tank too long (days) as it can get smelly. Also, when you water with gray water like this you don't want to use water that has bleach in it or detergents containing boron - as these are hard on plants. The way we've got this set up, it is easy to move the drain hose over to the regular drain if we don't want to water with the water from a particular load of laundry (for example, if you've just washed a load of diapers!). You should also probably check your local greywater regulations - they vary quite a bit from place to place and using greywater like this isn't legal in some locations.

Links

Here's a link with some helpful information on using wash water for watering your plants!

http://www.howtodothings.com/home-garden/how-to-recycle-water-from-the-washing-machine

A Little Humor

Al Gore's Green Tips
(Edited by Ken Gammage)

#2. Wear your clothes four times before washing. There really is no such thing as an environmentally friendly detergent. So reducing the amount of wash we do can save water and help restore the environment. Why not do what the Gores do at home: wear clothes at least 4 times between washes (3 times for underwear and socks). Tipper thought of this neat reminder so you won't forget, "Wear four art thou, Romeo?"

Try a Push Mower!

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★

According to the EPA, gas powered mowers and lawn equipment account for an astounding 5 to 9% of our air pollution! Mowers produce roughly 4 x the pollution of a car, per hour - mostly because of their lack of emission controls. They also produce significant noise pollution. And gardeners spill more gas each year than was spilled in the Exxon Valdez spill - which adds to air pollution by evaporation.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆

You'll save on the cost of the mower, since push mowers are cheaper (sometimes can be had for free!). Also save the cost of gasoline to run it.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆

How much of a lifestyle benefit this is really depends on the type of person you are! I like gadgets, machines, and would rather use a power tool. But using a push mower will give you more exercise, and reduce your handling and home storage of a dangerous and toxic chemical (gasoline). Push mowing is also a more peaceful and "natural" experience. And you won't have the frustrations of dealing with a cantankerous old mower that doesn't want to start! Plus you aren't as likely to lose a hand or foot while using a push mower! So although it isn't the "convenient" solution and requires more work, there are definitely a number of lifestyle benefits.

What We’re Doing

We used a gas-powered mower for quite a few years. As they age, they tend to get harder to start. Although I was doing most of the mowing, Shannon occasionally got to it before I did but didn't like that she sometimes couldn't get the thing started. When one of our neighbors mentioned that they had an old push mower (sometimes called a "reel mower") they didn't want, she jumped at the chance to get one free. I have to admit, she's pretty much taken over the mowing since we got it - and I've lost out on the little exercise I got from pushing the powered mower around. But I haven't had to fool with our smelly old machine either which is a blessing. An electric mower option, while still using energy from the power plant, would still be much less polluting than gas models if you don't want the work of a push mower. The fact that we have a small lawn to mow definitely helps!

A Little Humor

"A perfect summer day is when the sun is shining, the breeze is blowing, the birds are singing, and the lawn mower is broken."
— James Dent

Rainwater Collection for Watering

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆

Conserves energy used to purify and supply water to your house, and benefits your plants by using more plant-friendly rainwater to water them.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆

Save money by purchasing less water. The rainbarrels can usually be gotten for reduced cost either by recycling old containers or through city rainbarrel programs.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆

Not a huge lifestyle benefit, although hand watering from your rainbarrels gives a certain sense of satisfaction that you're more independent from the utility companies! If you have foundation problems or issues with flooding, then collecting the water can help improve those situations as well.

What We're Doing

We've got three rainbarrels, around 70 gallons each, that we've purchased at a discounted rate with our city of Austin rainbarrel program. I think they've averaged around $50 each. To install, you just set them on a stable foundation (a small bed of gravel will do) next to one of your roof drainpipes. Cut the drain pipe off shorter with a hacksaw and screw the little spout back on the end so that your roof's rainwater is directed out over the top of the barrel. There is a screen on the top of the barrel to keep insects and debris out, but allow the rainwater in. These barrels, being designed as rainwater collection barrels, also have barriers across the opening to prevent small children from climbing inside. There are hose connections at the bottom, which you can use to "cascade" barrels together for more water storage, or else connect to a hose for gravity-fed watering. Shannon sometimes does this (but it's slow, since there isn't a lot of pressure) but more often just fills her watering can from the barrels and uses it for handwatering (included in picture). Some barrels can also be connected together at the top, so when one fills it "spills over" into the next barrel. The two barrels pictured here collect water from only about 1/3 of our roof area, but will completely fill with about half an inch of rainfall! Another benefit is that rainwater doesn't have the minerals and chlorine, etc. that are generally found in tap water - so it is healthier for your plant leaves.

Links

Here are a few helpful links with more information about setting up your own rainwater collection system!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Rainwater_harvesting

http://www.wikihow.com/Build-a-Rainwater-Collection-System

http://www.harvesth2o.com/

http://www.austinenergy.com/Energy%20Efficiency/Programs/Green%20Building/Resources/Fact%20Sheets/rainwaterHarvesting.pdf

A Little Humor

There was a communist named Rudolph. One day he looked out the window and said, "It looks like a storm is coming." "No it isn't," said his wife. "Besides, how would you know?" "Because," he responded, "Rudolph the Red knows rain, dear."

One summer evening during a violent thunderstorm a mother was tucking her small boy into bed. She was about to turn off the light when he asked with a tremor in his voice, "Mommy, will you sleep with me tonight?" The mother smiled and gave him a reassuring hug. "I can't dear," she said. "I have to sleep in Daddy's room." A long silence was broken at last by a shaken little voice saying, "The big sissy."

So this guy moves to Oregon from I don’t know where, say Chicago, where the winters are brutal but the sun often shines — and for the first month he’s here, it rains.
And rains. You know the stuff. That solid, unremitting, bone-chilling, soul-sogging Oregon rain that turns the whole word gray and acts as if it’ll never stop. The kind of rain that makes you realize you haven’t seen a shadow in weeks, and this guy is flipping out.
He’s waiting for a bus one day with a clean-cut youngster, both huddling in the shelter as the rain pelts the roof. Finally, he can’t stand it. “Hey kid,” he growls, “is it always like this?”
“Gosh, sir, I don’t know,” the boy answers. “I’m only 17!”

Reduce Energy Cost of Light

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Conserves energy used for lighting, as well as energy used for cooling in the summer. Also reduces landfill waste since energy efficient bulbs last longer.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
By using energy saving bulbs, you save money on replacement bulbs (since they last longer), energy for lighting, as well as energy for cooling (in the summer).

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
I like the warm lighting from incandescent bulbs, but many of the newer LED and fluorescent bulbs have a nice warm color. No huge lifestyle benefit here, although you'll need to replace bulbs less frequently and will have a cooler house in the summer.

What We're Doing
There's actually more you can do than just replace all your bulbs with fluorescent bulbs. Given a little thought, there are a lot of ways to reduce your lighting energy costs. Do you have a front porch light that is on all night long? Consider putting in a motion-sensing light that just comes on when someone is out there. Does your lighting fixtures have placements for lots of bulbs? Consider using fewer bulbs, or lower wattage if you don't really need the light that bright. Do your kids frequently leave bathroom and closet lights on? Consider installing a timed or motion-sensitive light. We installed 4-watt LED lights in our kids' closets instead of the standard 60 watt bulbs. They're definitely dimmer, but how much time to you really spend in your closet anyway? Now when they get left on, they waste 1/15 the energy. LED lights are still pretty expensive, but last about forever and are very cool and efficient. The LED lights also come on instantly, unlike florescent bulbs which can take a little while to come up to full brightness. Be aware that many of the LED lamps have an unpleasant blue color cast - the "warm" balanced ones are better for most home applications although a little less efficient. In the picture I'm showing an LED bulb (the small one) next to a fluorescent bulb in our bathroom fixture. Be aware that in hot summer months, a lightbulb that is on will cost you more than double the energy usage of the light. For example, a 60 watt bulb will cost around 150 watts of energy to run - because all electricity from a lightbulb in your home is converted to heat, which must then be removed by an inefficient air conditioning system. On the other hand, operating lightbulbs in the winter gives you an energy advantage - you get light and heat together which reduces the load on your heating system.

A Little Humor
Q: How many Real Women does it take to change a light bulb?
A: None: A Real Woman would have plenty of Real Men around to do it.

Q: How many cops does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None. It turns itself in.

Q: How many Marxists does it take to screw in a light bulb?
A: None: The light bulb contains the seeds of its own revolution.

Q: How many nuclear engineers does it take to change a light bulb?
A: Seven: One to install the new bulb, and six to figure what to do with the old one for the next 10,000 years.

Q. How many Socialist Workers Party members does it take to change a lightbulb.
A. Four. One to change the bulb, one to write about it for "the paper", one to sell you "the paper" and another to follow you home and ask why you weren't at the bulb changing, if you plan to make the next one and if you were still as committed.

Q: How many women with PMS does it take to change a light bulb?
A: One. Only ONE!! And do you know WHY it only takes ONE? Because no one else in this house knows HOW to change a light bulb. They don't even know the bulb is BURNED OUT. They would sit in this house in the dark for THREE DAYS before they figured it OUT. And once they figured it out they wouldn't be able to find the light bulbs despite the fact that they've been in the SAME CUPBOARD for the past SEVENTEEN YEARS. But if they did, by some miracle, actually find the light bulbs, TWO DAYS LATER the chair that they dragged from two rooms over to stand on to change the STUPID light bulb would STILL BE IN THE SAME SPOT!! AND UNDERNEATH IT WOULD BE THE CRUMPLED WRAPPER THE STUPID @*!#$% LIGHT BULBS CAME IN! WHY?! BECAUSE NO ONE IN THIS HOUSE EVER CARRIES OUT THE GARBAGE!! IT'S A WONDER WE HAVEN'T ALL SUFFOCATED FROM THE PILES OF GARBAGE THAT ARE 12 FEET DEEP THROUGHOUT THE ENTIRE HOUSE. THE HOUSE!! IT WOULD TAKE AN ARMY TO CLEAN THIS... I'm sorry...what did you ask me?

Keep Backyard Poultry

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆

Keeping your own backyard chickens has a number of advantages. They will eat bugs in the area they patrol, while they fertilize that same area. They'll eat most of your food scraps, reducing waste going down the drain or into the landfill. And you won't need to buy store eggs, so packaging and energy waste associated with that activity is eliminated.

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆

I've calculated the cost of purchase and feeding our hens vs. the eggs they lay (they lay 2 eggs every 3 days, each!). It works out to be about equal to the cost of buying cheap eggs at the grocery. However, if you compare it to the cost of organically fed, free-range chicken eggs (which ours are) then you are saving money.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆

If you have kids, then chickens are a "productive" pet. You always have fresh eggs at hand! We live in a rural subdivision, but the neighbors haven't minded our two hens as they're quiet (don't crow like roosters) and don't smell. Chickens only smell if you keep a good number cooped up in a small area, with their waste accumulating. Even after about four years having chickens, the younger kids still get excited about finding eggs and bringing them in. And we haven't had a fireant problem in our backyard since the chickens moved in! To be honest, they are a bit hard on the lawn (they like to scratch all the time) - so if you are concerned about that then I would fence them in their own little "run" to minimize damage. Also, don't let them get into your garden with young seedlings planted, as they will dig them up and probably eat them. Larger plants are safe around them.

What We're Doing

When we got our two hens, I made the little henhouse you see pictured here (one of the two girls pictured isn't ours, by the way). The nesting box on the side is an extra kitchen cabinet that was in our garage when we bought the house. It has a ramp on the side, and the hens go "home" by themselves every evening to roost on a pole that extends across the top part you can't see (under the roof overhang, for weather protection). The nesting box has a little hay in it to make it comfortable. There is a sliding plank door that can be closed to keep them safe from other critters at night if necessary. They're quite sociable, and like to hang around our back door watching us having dinner and hoping for handouts. They'll eat just about any of the leftovers from our plates, but we draw the line at giving them chicken! I don't think they'd probably hesitate at becoming cannibals but somehow that doesn't seem right! In addition to the table scraps, we also feed them poultry feed from our local farm supply store and some scratch grains. That provides them with the calcium they need for making shells, as well as extra protein. Three 50lb bags last us about a year with two hens. You can buy the chickens as chicks and raise them, but we went the easier route and bought them at several months old already - and just about ready to start laying. By the way, no rooster is needed to have laying hens (that's a common misconception).

A Little Humor

Q. Why Couldn't The Chicken Find Her Eggs?

A. Because She Mislaid Them.

Q. What Goes Peck, Peck, Peck, Boom?

A. A Chicken In A Mine Field.

Q. Why did the chicken cross the road?

Answers:

Pat Buchanan: To steal a job from a decent, hard-working American.

Roseanne: Urrrrrp. What chicken?

Jack Benny: I'm thinking. ... I'm thinking

Buddha: If you ask this question, you deny your own chicken nature.

James Cagney: It crossed twice. The dirty double-crosser.

Albert Camus: It doesn't matter; the chicken's actions have no meaning except to him.

Darwin: Chickens, over great periods of time, have been naturally selected in such a way that they are now genetically predisposed to cross roads

James Dean: To prove he wasn't chicken.

Emily Dickenson: Because it could not stop for death.

Albert Einstein: Whether the chicken crossed the road or the road crossed the chicken depends upon your frame of reference.

Grandpa: In my day, we didn't ask why the chicken crossed the road. Someone told us that the chicken had crossed the road, and that was good enough for us.

Ernest Hemingway: To die. In the rain.

Sherlock Holmes: Do not concern yourself with the chicken that did cross the road; the answer lies with the chicken that did not cross the road.

Machiavelli: The point is that the chicken crossed the road. Who cares why? The ends of crossing the road justify whatever motive there was.

Groucho Marx: Chicken? What's all this talk about chicken? Why, I had an uncle who thought he was a chicken. My aunt almost divorced him, but we needed the eggs.

Jackie Mason: Whaddaya want, it should just stand there?

Pyrrho the Skeptic: What road?

Colonel Sanders: I missed one?

Dr. Seuss: Did the chicken cross the road? Did he cross it with a toad? Yes the chicken crossed the road, but why he crossed, I've not been told!

O.J.Simpson: It didn't. I was playing golf with it at the time.

B.F. Skinner: Because the external influences, which had pervaded its sensorium from birth, had caused it to develop in such a fashion that it would tend to cross roads, even while believing these actions to be of its own freewill.

Joseph Stalin: I don't care. Catch it. I need its eggs to make my omelet.

Thomas de Torquemada: Give me ten minutes with the chicken and I'll find out.

Take Short Showers

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

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆
OK, so we're not talking about much money saved here, but it doesn't cost anything to try, and you do get the energy savings for what it would take to heat that water you saved! (assuming you take hot showers!)

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
This is one that Shannon hasn't convinced me to try yet. I like shaving in the shower, and I like having the water running while I do it! Can't really see a lifestyle benefit, but I do try to keep my showers fairly short.

What We're Doing
Sorry, no photo with this one : ) ! Here's what Shannon does: After first rinsing off in the shower, Shannon turns off the water. Next, she lathers up with soap and shampoo. Then when she's ready to rinse again, she turns the water back on. This results in very little water used - especially with a low-flow shower head. If you can skip showering on days when you really don't need to, that's a big savings too. And unless you take long showers, a shower usually uses quite a bit less water than bathing in a tub.

A Little Humor
Al Gore's Green Tips (Edited by Ken Gammage)
My fellow Americans, we are at a crossroads. We can either march together into a clean, "green" world, or we can all continue with our filthy habits and foul our own nests. The choices are ours to make, and I'm here to help you make the right decisions.

#1. Cook with 'gray water.' Clear, fresh water falls from the skies, but it takes the water department a long time, and a lot of energy to make it flow from your home taps. We can conserve precious water by reusing it. Just put pots and pans in the shower with you, and when they're full, use that 'gray' water for cooking. Not in soups or sauces, perhaps, where residual soaps and dirt might affect the flavor. But 'gray water' is ideal for steaming vegetables or boiling potatoes.

When it's Close, Walk!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆

Conserves gas and reduces the smog produced when it's consumed!

Money Saved: ★★☆☆☆

OK, so we're not talking about a fortune here, but maybe the doctor's bills saved by being more healthy and walking more could amount to something!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆

Usually when I want to drive somewhere close, it's because I'm in a hurry. Face it, we're all in a hurry too much. Sometimes you need to slow down, don't take it too fast (seems like I've heard that before somewhere?). Time spent alone with your thoughts, or walking with your young kids, is more valuable than an unmemorable drive.

What We're Doing

I sometimes have a hard time with this, because I'm inherently lazy - at least when it comes to doing something "boring" like walking. But Shannon sets a great example and won't drive to our neighborhood school, the post office, or neighborhood homes where some of our families friends live. You develop some great memories from walking in your neighborhood, and get a better feel for it. You know where the "mean dogs" are because they scare your kids barking when you walk by their fence. You meet more of your neighbors by stopping to chat when walking by. You enjoy the little things your kids find (like the pictured worm) while walking along. And you help your kids learn to lead a healthy lifestyle of walking or bicycling (that counts too - but our kids haven't quite got the knack of it yet).

A Little Humor

"Everywhere is within walking distance if you have the time." — Steven Wright

A toddler who was found chewing on a slug. After the initial surge of disgust the parent said, "Well . . . What does it taste like?" "Worms," was the reply.

Use a Water Filter

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆ ☆
If you drink bottled water, then using a home water filter instead reduces the energy costs of bottling & recycling all those water bottles, and keeps them out of landfills.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
The cost of a water filter, changed every 6 months, is much less than paying for all that bottled water! The little GE filter cartridge we use for our refrigerator water is good for 750 gallons, and costs around $30 which comes to 4 cents per gallon!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
When going hiking or traveling, there's no doubt bottled water is convenient. But we've got a collection of sports bottles saved over the years that we just fill with filtered water and ice before leaving the house. Unless a trip is more than one day, this takes care of our needs. You get peace of mind knowing that your drinking water is safe.

What We're Doing
The pictured filter is installed behind our refrigerator - with installation being just a matter of the one screw you see and attaching the water using standard connections. The filter cartridges just twist off and twist on once the bracket is installed - they're super easy to replace. The hard part is just remembering to replace them! We usually write the date we installed it on the filter cartridge, so we can check later when we think of it. Probably a better idea would be to write a reminder on your calendar 6 months down the road! These cartridges remove many chemical contaminants (like pesticides, etc.), cysts, lead & mercury - check the label when you buy them as there are different varieties - the cheapest ones don't remove lead but that was an important feature to me, particularly since we have young children.

A Little Humor

"How inappropriate to call this planet Earth when it is clearly Ocean."
— Arthur C. Clarke

Reuse/Recycle Plastic Bags

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★★☆
Reusing your sandwich and freezer bags means less plastic in the landfill.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
You'll hardly ever need to purchase bags, especially if you make your own lunches and use them regularly! We haven't bought trash bags in 10 years, as we use the ubiquitous plastic shopping bags for our trash bin liners.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★☆☆☆☆
It is a minor nuisance to have to rinse out a baggie that has a little sticky jelly inside to use again for lunch. There really wasn't a lifestyle benefit I could think of other than knowing you're helping the cause and reducing waste!

What We’re Doing
Shannon's grandmother gave us the "bag dryer" you see in the photograph here that she made. Very handy for holding Ziploc type bags upside down and open while they dry after you've rinsed it out. I usually take a sandwich to work for lunch, and my bags get reused probably 50 times each before I toss them - usually I don't even need to rinse them out as they just have a few breadcrumbs in them. This is an easy one to do! We use some of the shopping bags that you inevitably end up with as trash can liners, and the extras we keep bagged up on top of the refrigerator, to take when we go shopping. Our local supermarket has a recycling bin just for those bags - check to see if yours does too!


A Little Humor
GOOD RECYCLER: You fill up the recycle bin every week with cans, bottles, and jars.

NOT SO GOOD: You give the recycle bin to the kids to use as a toboggan.

Try Composting!

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
When you compost, you reduce the waste going to landfills as well as the energy it takes to transport it there. The water that goes down your kitchen disposer also has less organic material for the waste treatment plant to process. And you'll improve the soil in your own yard or garden when you later use that compost to fertilize.

Money Saved: ★★★★☆
A compost bin doesn't need to cost anything, it can be just a simple heap in a corner of the yard. But to help prevent spreading and to keep the heat in it is nice to make something to hold it all together. No need to buy one of those expensive plastic tumbling things that probably will end up in the landfill itself in a few years. Some of the homemade designs will work better and not cost you an arm and a leg.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Although it can be a minor hassle to take your kitchen scraps out to the compost heap, there are a number of benefits as well! You'll have to take the kitchen trash out less. If you have a disposal in your kitchen sink, you'll find it clogs less with less waste to digest. You'll have high-quality fertilizer to use in your garden, without worries about pathogens, heavy metals, etc. that might sometimes be found in your typical garden store fertilizers.

What We’re Doing
Our first compost heap was made from a 4-foot high circle of plastic coated "hardware cloth" (wire fence grid) that you can buy in large rolls at garden/ranch stores. You basically make a circle of it and use some twists of wire or cable ties to hold the end together. Compost, grass clippings, shredded paper, raked leaves, etc. all go in the top. The fencing holds it all in while allowing air to circulate into the pile (important to allow aerobic decomposition, which is the kind that doesn't stink!). If the weather is very dry it can be helpful to water it occasionally to make sure it is warm enough to compost rapidly. When you come to need some fertilizer for your garden, you can take the heap apart to stir it up and take the new " fertilizer" dirt off the bottom, where it filters its way down as it decomposes.

After about 8 years, this fence hoop was pretty much worn out - so last year I build Shannon a new compost heap using cedar fencing pickets and a hinge for a gate on the front. This makes it easy to open up and stir the pile when needed. You can see that the chickens enjoy scratching in it during the day, looking for bugs and eating some of the vegetable scraps. We keep a small stainless bucket in the kitchen for the scraps, and just take it out at the end of the day when we're securing the chickens in their coop for the night (look for another post later on that topic!). You can put basically any kind of vegetable (plant) stuff in the pile, as well as shredded paper (as long as it doesn't have glossy color printing on it). Don't add animal products (meat trimmings, fat, bones, etc.) as this will stink as it decomposes and also attract vermin. The only exception I'm aware of is egg shells, which are mainly calcium and are great to enrich the soil.

Links
Here are a few helpful links with information on composting!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting
http://www.howtocompost.org/

A Little Humor
Compostaphile and Compostaphobe: To rot or not to rot . . .

Buy a Smaller Car

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Our Impala gets 28 mpg highway. Passenger vans are closer to 18. Also fewer materials are required to manufacture a smaller car, and there is less waste when the car is "used up" which is how long we drive 'em! Also, driving a fuel efficient car is slightly more energy efficient than flying for long trips. When you pack 6 into that same car, you're using less than 1/6 the energy!

Money Saved: ★★★★★
You'll save on the original price of the car, and then on insurance and gasoline for the life of the car. If we drive 1000 miles per month then we save over $300 per year just on the fuel!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
Being a little cramped in a smaller car is certainly the price you pay for the other benefits. But think of all the vacation fun you can have with the money saved! And it's not really that bad - our Impala has a huge trunk!

What We’re Doing
When we added the 6th member of our family, we moved up from a five-passenger Chevy Prism (now my "to work" car) to a family Impala with a front "bench" seat to fit a sixth. Admittedly there aren't a lot of sedans around with bench seats any more, so Shannon did a good bit of online reasearch to find our best options. Also, don't let anyone tell you that three children's car seats won't fit in the back - they can unless maybe if they're those monster car/stroller seats I've seen. Admittedly there have been times when I could have really used the hauling space of a van, but I've been able to make do renting the $25/hr home depot pickup. We've gone on family trips of over 3,000 miles in good 'ol "Paula the Impala" and still love each other afterward! Our youngest occasionally drives while I sleep (see photo). Cost of the Impala with 34,000 miles (still under factory warranty) found on Craigslist was only about $12,000 - how much for a new minivan? And how many more years would you have to work before retirement to pay it off???

A Little Humor

A group of pensioners were discussing their medical problems at the Day Centre coffee morning.
'Do you realise,' said one, 'My arm is so weak I can hardly hold this coffee cup.'
'Yes, I know.' replied the second, 'My cataracts are so bad I can't see to pour the coffee.'
'I can't turn my head,' rejoined the third, 'because of the arthritis in my neck.'
'My blood pressure pills make my dizzy,' commented the fourth, adding, 'I guess that's the price we pay for getting old.'
'Well, it's not all bad.' piped up the first, 'We should be thankful that we can still drive.'

Make Your Own Baby Food

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★☆☆
Just imagine the countless little glass jars you can save! Sure, glass can be recycled but there is a high energy cost for making new bottles from old (they aren't just washed and reused in the U.S.).

Money Saved: ★★★★★
Baby food isn't cheap! Making your own is MUCH cheaper.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆
Like many conservation-minded practices, this one takes a little extra work. But not much, especially when you consider all the extra shopping you'll save (not to mention shelf space in your pantry!) Babies that are old enough to start solids can handle most of the same foods you are preparing for your own family with very little additional work. Also, most commercial baby food preparations are actually less healthy than what you're probably eating. Eating a variety of "real" foods is more interesting for youngsters too - and my feeling is that they're less likely to be picky eaters later.

What We Did
The only baby food Shannon ever bought for our four girls (to my knowledge) was the dry box cereal mixes (rice & oats). She started them with a little of this and some mashed bananas, like many parents do. Actually she started them off breastfeeding, come to think of it, which still fits into this category of making your own baby food! Hopefully everyone knows the health and money-saving benefits of breastfeeding already. But after 4-6 months when they became ready for more, we simply had a little hand masher tool (a variety are available) that you press your own food through to mash and strain it (so no chunks that could cause choking). Sometimes she'd then add a little water and dry cereal mix to it so it had a better consistency and a higher cereal content. That's about it! They mostly ate what we ate, and were all very healthy for it. And yes, that is a photo of our one-year-old eating with chopsticks! They can manage so much more than we sometimes imagine . . .

Links

Here are some links with good guidelines for preparing your own baby food. Good luck!

http://www.babycenter.com/0_how-to-make-your-own-baby-food_1401482.bc

http://www.askdrsears.com/html/3/T032300.asp

A Little Humor

Q. What kind of bees make milk?

A. Boobies!

Don't Over Water Plants

Benefits

Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
Over one-third of the energy requirements of most cities goes to water processing and treatment. With a large percentage of the average household's water requirement being spent for watering lawns, reducing your water usage is one of the best steps you can make to reduce your "footprint". Also, many of the nation's lakes and reservoirs are being rapidly drained, and rivers going dry due to our national thirst for water resources. By carefully considering the needs of the plants you tend, they will be healthier for not being over or under-watered.

Money Saved: ★★★★★
Depending on where you live, water bills can be quite significant - especially during drought conditions. Saving water makes a real impact on your pocket book. Our water bill in Austin Texas is about $15 in the winter and $40 in the summer for a family of 6! Note that this is with a year-round garden taking up much of the back yard also! We also take other water conservation measures which I'll write about separately, but this is a big one. Keep in mind that water companies usually charge a separate lower rate for the first 2,000 or so gallons used each month, and then a higher rate for anything above that. So your savings may likely come right off the higher rate!

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★☆☆☆
It admittedly isn't that fun to hand-water. You can save some time by placing sprinklers where needed and then leaving them to run, but be sure to use a timer to remind you when they're done (or you'll forget and potentially leave them going overnight!). So I'd give this just one benefit star here, except that there are actually a number of side benefits to consider! By spending more time close to your plantlife, you'll see the areas that are having problems and react sooner to take care of weeds, pests, and fungus. You'll avoid overwatering, which is considered the most common cause of death for household plants! Watering can also be a rather peaceful, meditative activity. Who doesn't remember a little of the fun you had as a kid with a watering hose! And saving money on water bills means more $$$ in your bank account, which is certainly a lifestyle benefit! So this gets two solid gold stars despite the extra effort required.

What We're Doing


Most people water their lawns and gardens WAY too much. If you have an automatic system, then it probably doesn't take into account how much rain you've had recently or how much you're expecting tomorrow. A sprinkler head might be broken and gurgling thousands of gallons away onto the sidewalk before you notice it. The timer won't notice when the ground has gotten drenched and sodden (also making it susceptible to fungus). Hand watering, although certainly more labor intensive, makes it much easier to intelligently water your lawn where it needs it and when it needs it. Overwatering promotes shallow root systems, so the lawn actually needs more water to keep it healthy. To tell the truth, we haven't watered our front lawn (which is mostly shaded during the day) since two years ago when we had a prolonged drought. The grass wouldn't win any neighborhood beauty prizes, but it's alive and relatively healthy even in our 100 degree summer climate because we mulch it (which holds the moisture in) and only water when it hasn't rained in quite awhile (to develop good roots and prevent fungus). When you do water, the best times are in the morning or evening, when the low sun allows water to soak in before evaporating. You can also do "multipurpose" watering as shown in the photo, using the sprinkler as a fun activity for the kids! An alternative to hand watering garden and landscaping plants is to use a drip irrigation system, which dribbles water directly onto the ground near each plant while your watering timer is active. Be aware of what your flow rates are (you can get a flow controller for your line) and research the requirements of your plants. Adjust the water you provide based on their real needs and you'll save money and have healthy plants! Yes, it requires more effort than a set-and-forget watering system, but your plants will appreciate not being "neglected"!

Tips
We've used a wireless rain gauge for several years. It's fun to be able to go over to the wall and see the current rainfall rate when you're in a heavy downpour. The measuring device was solar powered which we thought would be great since it wouldn't need battery replacements. However, unfortunately the plastic they are made from (like most plastics) degrades in the sun fairly rapidly. Once the plastic cracks the water gets into the electronics. We've had to replace it several times, and after the most recent failure I got the following glass (not plastic) cylinder "low tech" replacement for Shannon. She records the daily rainfall in her garden journal anyway, so it really isn't more work for her to check it here than on an electronic gauge. Unless it breaks, this gauge should last a lot longer and it was much cheaper! You'll get much more accurate rainfall measurements by making them yourself rather than relying on your local weather channel. What you get in your yard can vary quite a bit from what they record at their measuring stations!

A Little Humor

God made rainy days, so gardeners could get the housework done.

Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration.- Lou Erickson

Make an Adobe Oven

Benefits
Environmental Benefit: ★★★★★
No gas or electric resources consumed to heat an oven or to cool your house back down afterward.

Money Saved: ★★★☆☆
Cheap to make using local materials, and practically free to run! Can use wood from pruned tree branches from your yard to heat it, and all those advertising mailings as tinder to start it.

Lifestyle Benefit: ★★★★☆
Enjoy a cool house in the summer, and great tasting breads, pizza, etc. year round! Also makes a great conversation piece for the yard. Can be quite decorative depending on how you make it. It admittedly takes a little more effort to use (compared to a modern range) due to the preheating steps.

What We Did
Here in central Texas we have a lot of clay in our soil, which makes a great building material. Shannon (pictured) built this adobe oven in our backyard using clay from the yard, plus a few bags of sand from Home Depot, a little straw, and some chunks of concrete found on freecycle (someone had broken up their driveway to replace it). She also bought a few firebricks for the oven floor from a local fireplace store. I helped out by making the door for her from some scrap lumber, as well as one of those flat spatula thingies (still can't remember what they're called) with a long handle that you use for scooping the bread out afterward (so you don't burn your hands). Her sister Carrie who was visiting also helped with the construction. The kids had lots of fun mixing the adobe with their bare feet on a tarp. It took a couple of hours effort on several different days to build, as there are stages where you have to wait for the previous layer to dry or harden - but it really wasn't a major undertaking to make.

To use the oven you simply build a fire inside it (with the door off to allow air in and smoke out). When the fire has burned down, you brush out the ashes and coal and add whatever you want to bake (breads and vegetables work best) and replace the door to keep the heat in. An oven thermometer is useful to judge the temperature. It stays hot for hours - you can use it for several hours of baking once it is heated up. Gives a great smokey flavor to pizza!

Links
This link will take you to some instructions for making an adobe oven, using much the same approach that Shannon used for this one. Note that there are a lot of different variations possible, so do a little research if you're thinking of building one!

http://www.ehow.com/how_5701123_build-outdoor-bread-oven.html

A Little Humor
Alice was to bake a cake for the Baptist Church ladies'group bake sale in Tuscaloosa, but she forgot to do it until the last minute.She remembered it the morning of the bake sale and after rummagingthrough cabinets she found an angel food cake mix and quickly made it whiledrying her hair, dressing and helping her son Bryan pack up for Scoutcamp. But when Alice took the cake from the oven, the center had dropped flatand the cake was horribly disfigured. She said, "Oh dear, there's no timeto bake another cake." This cake was so important to Alice because she didso want to fit in at her new church, and in her new community of new friends.So, being inventive, she looked around the house for something to buildup the center of the cake. Alice found it in the bathroom -- a roll of toiletpaper. She plunked it in and then covered it with icing. Not onlydid the finished product look beautiful, it looked perfect!Before she left the house to drop the cake by the church and headfor work, Alice woke her daughter Amanda and gave her some money and specificinstructions to be at the bake sale the minute it opened at 9:30,and to buy that cake and bring it home. When the daughter arrived at the sale,she found that the attractive, perfect cake had already been sold.Amanda grabbed her cell phone and called her Mom.Alice was horrified. She was beside herself. Everyone would know, whatwould they think? Oh my, she wailed! She would be ostracized, talkedabout, ridiculed. All night Alice lay awake in bed thinking about peoplepointing their fingers at her and talking about her behind her back.The next day, Alice promised herself that she would try not to thinkabout the cake and she would attend the fancy luncheon/bridal shower atthe home of a friend of a friend and try to have a good time. Alice did notreally want to attend because the hostess was a snob who more than oncehad looked down her nose at the fact that Alice was a single parent and notfrom the founding families of Tuscaloosa, but having already RSVP'd shecould not think of a believable excuse to stay home. The meal was elegant,the company was definitely upper crust old South and to Alice's horror, theCAKE in question was presented for dessert.Alice felt the blood drain from her body when she saw the cake, and shestarted out of her chair to rush to tell her hostess all about it, butbefore she could get to her feet, the Mayor's wife said, "What a beautifulcake!" Alice, who was still stunned, sat back in her chair when she heardthe hostess (who was a prominent church member) say, "Thank you, I baked it myself."Alice smiled and thought to herself, "GOD is good."