Used

So this morning I went to sell back my kids clothing to a used clothing store. While I am waiting for my check, I peruse and get some great deals for my kids. If there are great gently used things I love it. Getting something used means I am not purchasing another new thing, which that uses natural resources, just so my kids can wear it for a limited amount of time. Anyway, back to my story. So I went on a Monday, and going through your clothing takes forever on Mondays. Since I wasn't able to find everything at the used store, went off to a sale at Gap to supplement. While I was in the store, another mom couldn't find something she wanted for her child. I suggested that she look at the used clothing store. Well this was a bad idea - she would have none of that. She looked at me like I had grown three horns. "Oh, . . . but they don't have the latest styles." Her sentiment was obvious that she had no intention of ever putting her one year old child in anything used. I think she felt very bad for my poor children who would be dressed in, "gasp," something someone else had previously worn. I was a bit steamed. I went back to the used store - challenged my current thinking of my own snootiness and bought 2 pairs of dress shoes for my daughter. They were not perfect, but I polished them up and now they look brand new.

This encounter made me ponder a bit. Beyond the tad bit of snootiness, this attitude is a prime example of some of the flawed thought processes that have caused the current mess we are in. A large portion of our population doesn't want to reuse things. The pervasive feeling is that reusing is only for students, people with lower-incomes or hippies. The moment you have a "real" income you should stop these lesser ways. Not so -this thinking is upside down and backwards. We should take pride in reusing things. We should be thrilled if we didn't add waste or use up resources every time we need something.

Willing to try? - Try ebay, swaps with friends, yard sales, second hand stores and the list could go on! Oh and the best part - when you are done with it - pass it around again!

What's the Trend?

Don't worry - no style advice. I did, however, find this new cool function in my utility company's website. Perhaps I don't have enough to do . . . . Anyway, you can graph the last 24 months of your electricity and gas usage in various ways. Obviously the graphs I made are above. The blue shows our over all usage - first in gas and then in electric. The darker overlays are the heating and cooling days.

I am pretty happy with our results. Our gas consumption is holding steady and did not completely spike last year with the bitter cold weather. The only things on our gas bill are the range (not oven), the water heater and furnace. We don't have tons of room to improve on beyond replacing these appliances or not cooking or heating our home. That said, we will still be looking though! The electricity appears to be trending downward even in the face of the bitter weather last winter! That is a great sign for the improvements/sealing we have done on our home. The trends are going the right way- Yeah!

Mom On Fire

So today I was listening in my car to WPR - to the dismay of my children. My dad used to torture us in the same way -I guess it wore off. Anyway, they were talking to one of the guru's in the organic lawn care business about the terrible effects of lawn care products on our children, grandchildren, dogs, and yes even adults. These effects have be known for quite some time, but the lawn care business is a powerful and well-funded lobby. I was so frustrated and fired up after listening, I considered streaking with my hair on fire just so I could talk about the dangers of pesticides etc. on the news. Alas, my friends and family are safe from humiliation - I didn't have the guts, the body or a babysitter. I could go on and on and on and on - but I won't.

There is a new documentary coming out on the dangers of pesticide. It is called "A Chemical Reaction." I am putting a link to the trailer. Take a minute and watch - it is far better than me streaking. And hey, did you know that Canada is outlawing weed killers/pesticides and Home Depot Canada pulled the bags off the shelves as being too dangerous . . . . hmmm

http://www.pfzmedia.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=44&Itemid=59

July Comparisons

Here are the July energy comparisons:

Electricity
888 kWh - July 2009
1309 kWh - July 2008

Gas
17 therms - July 2009
12 therms - July 2008

We were away for a week and and a weekend during last July. So, I am going to figure the 5 therm difference is that last year we weren't taking showers, washing dishes, laundry etc. and this year we did. Beyond that blip, the electricity is still trending downward. Hopefully, next month we will get that electricity back into the 700 kWh range.

Singing in the Rain!

Yep, that has been me when it rains, because our new rain barrel is filling up! I can use the stored contents for future watering, window cleaning, auto cleaning and more! It also functions as an education diversion as our five-year-old runs out to check the level after it rains! He gets so excited when the level has increased. Me too!

Why do you care as your hose is right there? Well here are some reasons from Sustainable Neenah's rain barrel project. Rain barrels:

• Lower household water bills and who can't use that?
• Reduce the amount of potable (drinkable) water used on lawns and gardens.
• Save municipal resources by reducing volume of water treated on use for plants (chemicals, electricity, storage costs). We all want to save our towns $$$ in these times.
  
• Decrease the negative impact of storm water flowing to our rivers and lakes.
• Lower the percentage of roof top rainfall as a component of urban runoff. (This is a type of water pollution.)
  
• Provide a backup source of water during times of drought or between rain showers.
• Provide naturally softened water that is better for delicate houseplants, auto cleaning and window washing.
• Provide chlorine-free water for plants, which helps maintain a healthy biotic community in the soil.
• Provide an educational tool for teaching residents, and our kids about water conservation and other sustainable practices.

Interested? You can get rain barrels at many different garden stores, online, or you can do it yourself.

P.S. Check your state laws. If you live in a dry state a.k.a. UT you may have some regulations that prevent using rain barrels on large scale. Check laws and maybe even write your state rep.

Clean Up the Laundry

Why? Your clothes smell clean, right? I am sure they do, but regular laundry detergent is made out of oil, has harsh solvents, synthetic fragrances (with molecules very similar to hormones), and one of my biggest gripes - are not concentrated so you are paying more for the shipping and packaging of WATER. Here are a few more tidbits on laundry detergent from Ideal Bite:

• Oil (not mind) control. If every U.S. household replaces one box of 48-ounce, petroleum-based powder laundry detergent with a vegetable-based one, we'll save enough oil to heat and cool 5,300 homes for a year.


• Less irritation. Fragrances and harsh solvents such as ammonia in some conventional detergents can trigger allergies and asthma, and cause skin irritation.


• Joining a cult of fresh fragrances. You'll wanna take a nice, long whiff.


• Not losing concentration. All our fave liquid options are concentrated, so their production and transport uses less energy and packaging.

I use Seventh Generation - but there are lots of earth friendly and more people friendly options of laundry detergent out there!

Timing is Everything

So many of us have clocks, timers, routers, servers, ovens, TVs, cable boxes, DVRs, DVDs, CD players and many other appliances burn electricity even when we turn them "off". This wasted standby power drain is a.k.a as the phantom load, vampire load or leaking energy. LBNL estimated that this load was approximately 5-6% of the total residential energy cost - that costs the U.S. over 3 Billion (yep, that is with a B) a year. That is a lot of wasted cash in these times, and a lot of wasted energy. Here is how you start to get rid of the phantom load.

1. Unplug things that are not in use. Think - cell phone chargers, ipod, unnecessary radios, clocks etc. Leave your alarms and smoke detectors plugged in!


2. Beat standby mode - Turn off computers, servers,routers, monitors (at work too!), TVs, and all other electronics completely. The easiest way to do this is to have all of these items plugged into a power strip and turn it off when you are done or leaving. Honestly, I have a hard time remembering to turn all this off in the evening, so I have made two sites in our home automatic with a timed power strip. I have everything power down at 11:00 pm and turn back on at 6:00 am. The kind I got were a bit painful to program. They were $34 + shipping, but phantom loads run the average home anywhere from $40-120+ per year depending upon the size and quantity - so I think we should make back the $70 back within the year. Interested? http://www.gardeners.com/ or fish stores - I guess these are quite useful for larger aquariums. Who knew?


3. If buying new - buy low or no watt off mode appliances.


4. Consider wind up or solar instead of plug in.


5. Use voicemail - not answering machines.

Want more info?

http://www.ocf.berkeley.edu/~recycle/ssec/download/Phantom%20Load.pdf

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/Flow/leaking.htm

http://www.uwsp.edu/cnr/wcee/keep/Mod1/Flow/leaking.htm