Category Archives: house stuff

Keeping it Cool in Summertime

Posted on July 13, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Enviro Girl feels bad for her friends living in the South–what a heat wave they’re having this year!  Added to a severe drought, she cannot imagine the misery of sweating day in and day out.

The climate is milder further north, but Enviro Girl still sees her neighbors relying heavily on air conditioning when it’s simply not necessary.  In fact, at her house they’ve turned it on for only one day this summer, to break a streak of 90 degree days so they could sleep well.  They average 3 air conditioned days a year (though if they lived in Georgia, Enviro Girl thinks that number would be much higher).  Whether you suffer through 80 degrees or 100, here are some tips on keeping cool without spending a fortune on your energy bills:

*  Lighten up.  Go barefoot, wear shorts or skirts, wear short sleeves.  Light colors reflect heat, dark colors absorb heat–so go for lightweight fabrics in light colors to stay cooler.

*  Use shades or blinds to block direct sunlight during the day.  Open them (and your windows if possible) at night to allow the cooler air onto or into your house.

*  Maximize natural cooling elements by planting shade trees to protect your house and yard from the sun’s heat.

*  Hydrate.  Drink cool things–lemonade, iced tea, water.

*  Eat cool foods.  Salsa, gazpacho, salads and fresh produce will help you feel cool while eliminating any need to turn on a stove or oven.

*  Run your appliances like dishwashers and washing machines at night.

*  Use ceiling fans to move the air around.  The effect is cooler air and combined with an air conditioner, ceiling fans will help you keep your thermostat at a reasonable setting.

*  Stay in the shade and slow down during the hottest part of the day.  Save your activity for early morning or early evening when it’s cooler.

*  Take cold or cool showers.

All of these things cost less money than running an air conditioner at full throttle.  They require less energy and increase your comfort during the sultry summer months.

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Posted in 3 Rs, house stuff, living green on a budget

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Reduce Your Energy Bills in Under 1 Hour

Posted on June 22, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Last Christmas Enviro-Girl and her husband gave Mr. D’s mom a healthy credit on her electric bill instead of another candle or Christmas sweater or cheesy framed picture of her grandchildren. Mr. D’s mom lives alone in an old farmhouse on a fixed income so any way they can help gives her freedom to golf a little in the summertime or buy an impulse item at the local supermarket. Enviro-Girl estimated that the credit with the electric company should last her MIL the entire year and next Christmas they’d repeat the deposit. She came up with her estimate based on her electric bill for her family of five living in a house about twice the size of her MIL’s. Imagine her shock when she learned recently that Mr. D’s mom would run out of electric company credit in September!

Enviro-Girl suggested that her mother-in-law get an energy evaluation — most utility companies will send someone out to audit a household or business at no cost. While in college, Enviro-Girl and her roommates did this and got loads of free stuff to winterize their slum — plastic for wrapping windows, caulk and tape to keep the drafts sealed. Mr. D’s mom had never heard of such a thing, which does not speak well of the electric company in Iowa. In Wisconsin many utility companies heavily promote these services. By reducing customer use, utility companies keep their customers’ bills down and have an easier time meeting energy demands.  Enviro Girl also learned that many public libraries will check out electric meters that you can plug into any outlet to gauge the amount of electricity you use for various appliances.

Web sites like National Grid and Energy Right will allow you to self-audit your energy use and suggest ways to save money and energy.

Assessing energy use and suggesting ways to reduce it is best handled at a state or local level — in Wisconsin we spend more keeping warm than folks in Florida — and they spend more keeping cool. Obviously some fixes like improved lightbulbs or Energy Star rated appliances will help lower your utility bill regardless of where you live.   An energy audit doesn’t take much time, an hour or less, and can improve your energy efficiency by pointing out ways to conserve all over your home–from bedroom to attic.   Click on one of the links above or call your utility company and schedule an evaluation TODAY!

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Posted in 3 Rs, electronics, green around the world, house stuff, issues, living green on a budget, quick link

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8 Ways to Repurpose Your Trash

Posted on June 20, 2011 by | 2 Comments

1.  Pot scrubbers–those plastic mesh bags you buy onions and apples in?  Wad them up or tie them up with fishing line and you’ve got a nonabrasive scratchy plastic pot scrubber (or pan scrubber or casserole dish scrubber).

2.  Use a tube from an empty roll of toilet paper as a seed starter–fold down on end, fill with soil and plant your seedlings.  When it’s time to move your plant outdoors, you can leave it in the biodegradable cardboard tube, unfold the folded end and plant the entire business directly into the ground.

3.  Repurpose old wire hangers as picture or wreath hangers by bending them into the appropriate shapes.  You can cut one end of an old wire hanger and use it to organize spools of gift wrap or craft ribbons, too.

4.  Old tights or nylons can be used to tie tall plants to stakes in your garden.  For convenient clean up, stick a sliver of soap in the toe and tie to an outdoor faucet–great for scrubbing down after doing yard work or for taking along on a camping trip.  Old tights or socks stuffed with coffee grounds make an excellent deodorizer for cars, coolers, suitcases or freezers.

5.  Never buy Ziplock Takeaways or Rubbermaid storage again.  A stash of clean empty food containers (with lids!) make great “to-go” cartons for leftover food, craft supply organizers, office supply organizers or pots for plant swaps.  Enviro Girl uses empty yogurt containers to bring gift meals to new moms/homeowners (salads, granola, cookies, any cold dish) alleviating any need to return her dishes.  She uses smaller containers (sour cream or cottage cheese) to store her sons’ mouth guards in their gear bags.

6.  Empty liter bottles or milk cartons make great “greenhouses” in the garden.  Cut off the bottom and settle over young seedlings–leave them until the plants outgrow the space.  The plastic will retain heat and protect plants from late-season frosts while keeping the soil moist for growing roots.

7.  Lint is incredibly flammable.  If you’re not composting it, you can wrap it around a toilet paper roll and use it as a fire starter in your fireplace or fire pit.

8.  Those tall bags wrapping your drycleaning?  Don’t throw them away!  Tie off one end and you’ve got a giant trash bag.

 

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Posted in 3 Rs, fast facts, gardening, house stuff, living green on a budget, Uncategorized

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Laundry matters

Posted on June 9, 2011 by | 14 Comments

Recycla learned a very important lesson this week. Actually, it’s a lesson she had already learned once, but apparently it didn’t stick the first time.

Recycla has been having some laundry woes this spring, in the form of clothes that still smell bad even after they’ve been washed. Specifically, her running gear, her husband’s soccer and biking gear, and her kids’ athletic clothes. After discussing things with her running friends on Twitter, she decided to try some new laundry detergents to deal with the stinkle.

A few years ago, Recycla switched from conventional laundry detergents and experimented with different organic versions. Conventional brands contain harsh chemicals and strong scents that are bad for humans and the environment. And, in Recycla’s household, both she and one of her daughters have very sensitive skin and other allergies, so they have to be careful with what they use on their skin and their clothes.

Recycla’s favorite eco laundry detergents are Zum, Seventh Generation, and Method. Unfortunately, Recycla’s husband does not like these detergents and does not feel that they do a sufficient job of cleaning the family’s dirty clothes, sheets, and towels, so there has been a back-and-forth tug o’ war between husband and wife over laundry matters for the past few years. For a while, they compromised by using a conventional detergent that is scent- and dye-free; however, neither Recycla nor her husband has been totally satisfied with this one either. It’s the worst of both worlds — it’s not organic, nor does it do a great job with cleaning their laundry.

Getting back to the stinky athletic clothes, Recycla perused the laundry aisle at her local Target and decided to try a brand that was conventional, but at least was concentrated, so far less detergent was needed for each load. Unfortunately, the detergent contained a very strong perfume that lingered and could be smelled long after the clean laundry was folded and put away. Recycla wasn’t pleased with the scent, but at least her running clothes didn’t reek before she even went for a run.

Last weekend, both of Recycla’s daughters developed strange rashes on various parts of their bodies.  One daughter, as mentioned before, has allergies, but since the other daughter also developed a rash, Recycla assumed that the girls had picked up some horrible disease. She called the pediatrician and took the girls in for an appointment. The doctor took one look at the girls and asked if they were using a new soap or lotion or laundry detergent. Yep, both girls are allergic to the new, heavily-perfumed laundry detergent. Recycla isn’t throwing the stuff out, but she’ll save it for when she washes cleaning rags and other things that won’t be touching her family’s skin.

So now Recycla is on the hunt for a new detergent — one that will actually clean and remove the smells left by running, biking, soccer, and other sports, while containing no strong perfumes or harsh chemicals. She honestly doesn’t know what laundry detergent will offer all of the above, so is hoping that her fellow Eco Warriors will have some suggestions.

Tell the Eco Women: What do you use to wash your clothes? Are you happy with this product?

The Eco Women are not employed by any of the companies mentioned, nor were they asked to do review their products. Photo credits: Yahoo Images.

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Posted in clothes, health, house stuff

Rent it!

Posted on May 4, 2011 by | Leave a comment

Does this look familiar?  A garage or basement full of gadgets, tools and appliances used once, twice or maybe only a few times a year. Does this warrant full payment, maintenance and storage? Is it really worth it to sacrifice garage space for a rototiller you use one time a year? Cupboard space for a roaster you use for an annual holiday party? Closet space for a carpet cleaning machine you drag out twice a year?

Part of a “Greener Consciousness” is having less stuff. A great way to reduce your clutter is by renting or borrowing. For minimal cost, you can enjoy all of the benefits of a rototiller, movie, party tables and chairs and even an RV. Since buying less stuff means a smaller carbon footprint, renting and borrowing is not only an economically sound choice, it’s environmentally beneficial as well. Most hardware stores offer a huge inventory of items to rent, and many cities have party warehouses where you can rent the necessities for any size of bash for any type of celebration. The concept of renting and borrowing has evolved far beyond public libraries, video stores and time share condominiums in Florida–you can even share ownership of a car through Zipcar.

Let’s figure it financially on a few items:

Hardcover book  $25 new, $10 used, free from library

Rototiller  $350 (plus maintenance costs) new, $25 full day rental

Camping Tent for 6 People  $200 new, $66 2-week rental

New release DVD $20 new, $10 sale or used, $3 3-day rental

It makes sense and saves cents to rent–and the savings really add up.

Borrowing can be beneficial too. Two of our neighbors borrow our rototiller every spring, in turn one lends us his full-size pickup truck on the rare occasion we have something large to haul. Another neighbor lends us his tractor for field work. In our neighborhood, we lend out books, cake pans, card tables and chairs, extra rakes and pitchforks and shovels, garden hoses, sprinklers, serving trays and lawn chairs as freely as most neighborhoods exchange recipes. With this spirit of generosity, we have what we need when we need it, and most items are returned with a plateful of fresh-baked cookies. Personally, I think there is no better payment for use of a rototiller than warm chocolate chip cookies.

The next time you’re considering purchasing an item that you’ll use only once or twice a year before finding space to store it, Enviro Girl suggests you rent it or borrow it instead. Your wallet, planet and storage cupboards will thank you.

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Green Spring Cleaning Part IV: The Bathroom

Posted on April 27, 2011 by | 7 Comments

Room by room, the Eco Women will help you spring clean your house in the most environmentally friendly way possible.  Today’s stop:  the bathroom!

Time needed: 2 hours

Supplies needed: 1 large box, 1 old towel cut into rags,  white vinegar ($1.00 for a large bottle), hot water, baking soda (.70 a box), vacuum cleaner with attachments.  (Vinegar has antimicrobial properties, but if you’re super-skeevy about germs, you can brew a solution of 3 tbs. liquid soap, 2 cups water, and 20-30 drops of tea tree oil or purchase an eco-friendly brand of all-purpose cleaner to substitute for vinegar.)

Step 1:  Vacuum the floor, use attachments to catch the cobwebs by the ceiling, dust down the baseboards and corners and sweep away the hair and dust on countertop surfaces.

Step 2: Scrub your sink and faucets with baking soda and a damp rag.  Rinse with water.

Step 3:  Fill the wastebasket with a half cup vinegar and hot water.  By using the wastebasket as a scrub bucket, you’ll clean the wastebasket, too!

Step 4:  Empty linen closets, medicine cabinets, cupboards and drawers.  Vacuum them, then wipe them clean with a rag dampened with vinegar water.  Wipe down all baseboards, light fixtures, cabinet doors, outlet covers and any mirrors with vinegar water.  If you wish, use another clean rag to dry them.

Step 5:  As you re-load your closets, drawers and cabinets, set aside anything you no longer use.  Box up extra sets of sheets and towels, that humidifier you haven’t set up in five years, those old tub toys.  Later you can donate them to the thrift shop.  Toss old make up and toiletries that have expired.  Rid your cabinet of those expired medications, but DO NOT FLUSH your old prescriptions and medications!  Flushing medicines down the sink or toilet are a health hazard as they contaminate our water supply.  You can mix your old medications with coffee grounds or kitty litter and throw them away in the trash or you can bring them to a drug disposal drop box available at many pharmacies, hospitals and sheriff’s departments.    Saturday, April 30 is National Take-Back Initiative–go to their website to find a safe place to bring your old prescription drugs.  Keep those nasty chemicals out of the drinking water.

Step 6:  Use baking soda and a damp rag to scrub your shower or tub.

Step 7:  Run your shower curtain, bath mats and towels through the wash.

Step 8:  Wash your toothbrush holders and soap dishes with your next load of dishes or put them in the dishwasher.

Step 9:  Scrub the toilet bowl with an environmentally friendly product like BioKleen or Green Works.  If you prefer to make your own toilet bowl cleaner, use a combination of 1/4 cup baking soda and a small amount of vinegar.  Let it sit a half hour before flushing.  Use borax on any stains in the bowl.

Step 10:  Scrub your toilet with vinegar and baking soda and a damp rag or use an environmentally friendly all-purpose cleaning product like Ecover, Mrs. Meyers Clean Day or Seventh Generation.  Toss the rag in the compost pile or the wash.

Step 11:  Scrub the floor with vinegar and hot water.

Step 12:  Dump the vinegar/water from the wastebasket into the toilet and rinse the wastebasket before replacing it to its proper spot.

After you’ve completed this 12-step program to a sparkling clean and disinfected bathroom, you’ve earned the right to a glass of wine and a long hot bath.  Of course, if you’re like Enviro Girl, you’re entirely sick of being in the bathroom after the 12-step bathroom cleaning program and you prefer a long walk followed by ice cream.

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Posted in 3 Rs, health, house stuff, issues, living green on a budget, personal care

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Solar Energy for Homeowners

Posted on April 6, 2011 by | 1 Comment

Enviro Girl and her husband have been exploring renewable sources of energy for a few years now.  They’ve decided that solar is the best route to provide their electricity for a few reasons.  First, wind is a dicey proposition, not quite as reliable as the sun.  Second, turbines have moving parts and in their experience, more moving parts means more maintenance and more potential for Things to Go Wrong.  Third, turbines can create friction with neighbors.

The beauty of solar panels is how still and quiet they are–absorbing the sun’s rays, creating energy to be converted to the grid, not moving and not calling any attention to themselves.  All of these reasons convinced Enviro Girl and her hubby to narrow the field strictly to solar energy.

What they’ve learned is that solar panels are expensive–no two ways about it.  Yet their electric bill shows no signs of flagging and as long as they don’t plan to move within the next ten years (they don’t), they’ll earn back their investment.

Some fun things Enviro Girl and her husband learned from a contractor this past weekend include:

1.  Installing solar panels will earn a tax credit equal to 30% of the entire cost–including installation and tax.  This tax credit can be rolled over into another year if maxed out the first year.

2.  Focus on Energy grant money is available–a cash rebate worth $3000 or more 60 days after installation.

3.  Solar panels have a 25 year warranty and the contractor they’re working with has only replaced one in his career.  Pretty impressive.

4.  Installing solar panels CANNOT affect their tax assessed value of their property, but it will increase the value of their home.  Win-win!

5.  There’s a groovy program called SRECTrade which allows homeowners to double-dip into their energy production by selling the worth of their solar-generated power to buyers required by law to purchase a certain percentage of their energy from “green” sources.  By signing up for this program, homeowners can sell their solar power to the grid they’re connected to directly and sell their Solar Renewable Energy Certificates via SRECTrade for their market value each month.  Doing this allows a homeowner earn additional cash for the energy output of their system.  Factoring this program into the equation means Enviro Girl and her husband could get their solar panels to pay for themselves even sooner.

They also learned that they can install nearly any size of system to provide for any percentage of their electric needs.  The key to solar is access to sunlight.  By mounting solar panels on a roof, space is not a factor, but Enviro Girl’s husband is partial to a ground-mounted system (less expensive and since they live on 60 acres, not unreasonable either).  The contractor agreed that the ideal spot lies south of their house in a field clear of trees.

Stay tuned as Enviro Girl and Mr. D continue their solar adventures!

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Green Spring Cleaning Part III: The Kitchen

Posted on April 4, 2011 by | 2 Comments

Room by room, the Eco Women will help you spring clean your house in the most environmentally friendly way possible.  Today’s stop:  the kitchen!

Time needed: 2-3 hours

Supplies needed: 1 large box, 1 old towel cut into rags,  white vinegar ($1.00 for a large bottle), hot water, baking soda (.70 a box), vacuum cleaner with attachments.

Step 1: Scrub your kitchen sink and faucets with baking soda and a damp rag.  Rinse out your sink with water.

Step 2: Turn your oven on the “self-cleaning” cycle and let that start.

Step 3: Fill your sink with hot water and once cup of vinegar.  Using this concoction and one of your towel rags, wipe down the exterior of every single cabinet, counter top, baseboard and appliance in your kitchen.  Vinegar will cut through grease, leaving things shiny without any residue.   It’s safe to use on wood, linoleum, vinyl, ceramic and metal.  The smell fades as soon as it dries, so if you’re sensitive to the smell, use a second rag to dry as you clean.

Step 4: Empty every single cupboard and drawer.  Using your vacuum, suck out all the crumbs, dust bunnies and dried noodle bits.  Using a fresh sink full of hot water and another cup of vinegar as your cleaning solution, wipe down the interior of every drawer, wipe down each shelf, and the insides of every cupboard drawer.  (Enviro Girl generally makes her kids empty out the cupboards, pantry and drawers for her.)  When you replace things in your cupboards and drawers, toss the utensils and dishes you never use into the large box.  You don’t need duplicates of most utensils and if you’ve yet to use your garlic press, now’s a good time to give it to a good home via your local thrift shop (which is where you’ll take that large box later).  This is also a great time to toss any expired foodstuffs.

Step 5: Empty your fridge.  Enviro Girl puts everything on newspaper she’s spread over the floor.  Once emptied, vacuum out the chunks and crumbs and start wiping down the door, shelves and drawers with another clean rag and fresh sink full of hot water and vinegar.  Repeat this entire process with your freezer. Vacuum the coils behind the fridge so your fridge use less energy and run more efficiently.

Step 6: Clean  your coffee maker by running equal parts vinegar and water through the machine.  Rinse by running water through the machine 2-3 more times as needed.

Step 7: Run your dishwasher empty with a cup of vinegar in the soap dispenser.  After the cycle finishes, use a rag and vinegar-water to wipe down the edges of the door where gunk tends to accumulate.

Step 8: Microwave a couple cups of water for 3 minutes before wiping down the inside walls with more vinegar-water solution.

Step 9: Wipe down your oven once it’s finished self-cleaning.  Use vinegar and water to scrub any vents or trays.  Enviro Girl recently learned that by taking out the drawer beneath her stove, she can vacuum and wipe down the floor beneath her oven.

Step 10: Haul the large box of castoffs to the thrift shop.  Toss the rags on the laundry pile or on your compost pile.

A fresh and clean kitchen takes some time, but it does not require heavy chemicals that harm the air and water.   By weeding through your pantry and cupboards once a year, you’ll make your space less cluttered and more efficient.  If you want to take Enviro Girl’s SUPER Eco Kitchen Challenge, each time there’s a food drive, donate any and every unopened can or box in your pantry.  By doing this, Enviro Girl has cleared out a lot of space and finds she wastes less food to expiration dates and unrealistic menu planning.  By keeping on top of her pantry’s inventory, she keeps food fresher and throws out less.

Don’t let anyone fool you, green cleaning your kitchen doesn’t have to cost much and if you can rope in help from your family, you can scrub every nook and cranny in a couple of hours.

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Green Spring Cleaning Part II: Basements, Attics & Storage Units

Posted on March 30, 2011 by | 4 Comments


In Wisconsin almost every house has a basement.  It’s funny for Midwest homesteaders to imagine people using self-storage units or attics to store their stuff, but they do, so this post will suggest ways to clean all of these places.   Before you clean, you need to get in the right frame of mind.  A person only stores what they have room to store.  The more space you allow yourself for keeping things, the more likely you’ll hoard.  It’s interesting to note that the American self-storage industry is a multi-billion dollar industry and over 50% of the people who rent storage space are NOT in the process of relocating or living somewhere temporarily.  That is the degree to which Americans  hoard stuff.  We buy it and pay to store it!  An average storage unit costs $100 a month to rent.  If you’re looking for a cushion in your budget, ridding yourself of that excess “stuff” is a less painful sacrifice than giving up cable!  It’s perfectly acceptable to allocate a section of your attic or basement to storage and convert the rest of the space to some other use.  Enviro Girl has a closet measuring 8 X 10 in which she stores a hot water heater (boiler, actually, because her house uses radiant heat), water softener, electrical fuse box, and 3 metal shelving units.  By walling off that room,  the rest of her basement became play space for her family.  Declaring the rest of an attic or basement for some fun use will inspire diligence in this task.

Repeat this mantra:  If I never use something, there is no reason to keep it.   If I have no good memory attached to something, there is no reason to keep it.  Guilt is not a reason to keep stuff.

Think of the freedom, the financial savings, the clarity and the great “chi” you’ll gain by ridding yourself of the things you’ve stashed in storage.  Now, are you ready?

For this monster of a spring cleaning job you’ll need:

large boxes

vacuum cleaner with attachments

plastic storage bins

old towels

diluted vinegar in a spray bottle

old socks filled with ground coffee beans

1.  Empty the space.  Yes, that is intimidating as heck, but do it.  Enviro Girl has had to do this twice in her own basement–once when a water pipe broke and flooded the space, another time when the sewage lift pump broke and raw sewage backwashed into her basement.  Trust her, you’ll be happier doing this job under optimal circumstances instead of waiting for disaster to strike.

2.  While you empty your storage space, create separate piles of things you’ll throw away or donate to charity and things you’ll keep.  A good rule of thumb for this process is:  if you haven’t even opened a box in 5 years, get rid of it.  Allow yourself ONE storage bin for sentimental artifacts (leather motorcycle jacket, high school yearbooks, bowling trophies, etc.). Be realistic about what will be useful in the future.  Enviro Girl thought she should keep her children’s playpen for future grandchildren.  Her oldest son is eleven.  Realistically, her future daughters-in-law will NOT want their babies in a 30-year-old piece of baby furniture–Enviro Girl had to abandon that silly fantasy and get rid of the playpen.  It isn’t safe, it isn’t practical.  Unless you plan to have another baby living in your house within the next decade, get rid of the baby gear.  Unless you’re going camping in the next year, get rid of the camping gear.  By law you are required to keep the last 7 years’ worth of financial and tax information–any older financial records can be shredded.

3.  While you empty your storage space, make a pile of what you know you use every year–Christmas ornaments, seasonal tools, seasonal clothing, sporting goods, camping gear.  Store those things together in clearly marked bins.

4.  Vacuum out the entire space, ceiling, corners, ledges, windowsills. Wipe down any surfaces with the diluted vinegar.

5. If you haven’t got shelves or hooks, it’s best to install them in your now-empty storage area.  Six-foot tall metal shelving units are available at most home  improvement or hardware stores for very reasonable prices.  Enviro Girl has three in her basement storage area and a few heavy-duty hooks for things like wreaths and folding chairs.  If you’re not opting for shelving, get 2X4 lengths of wood to lay down beneath your treasures. You don’t want to store anything directly on the floor because you want to protect from water damage and pest damage.

6.  Store what you plan to keep in plastic storage bins.  Do NOT use cardboard boxes.  Why plastic storage bins?  That’s funny advice from a person committed to using less plastic!  Plastic will repel pests like mice and bugs drawn to the glue used in paper products.  Plastic also repels water very nicely and keeps things from becoming damp or mildew-y.  If you live in a very humid climate, you may want to invest in a dehumidifier for your storage space.  Humidity breeds mold problems and destroys fabrics and paper.  If you’re not opting for clear storage bins, label the bins with a Sharpie marker so you know at a glance what’s in them.

7.  Box up the items you plan to donate or trash.  Thrift stores are great places to send your old holiday decorations, ugly knick-knacks, sets of dishes, jewelry and furniture.

8.  A few words about pest control: Traps work well for mice, so if you see any sign that mice are a problem (nests, holes, droppings), invest in some.  Mice breed rapidly and get comfortable mighty quickly.  Nip them in the tail.  Or neck.  For crawly sorts of pests, Enviro Girl admits to using a pesticide.  She sprays Ortho Home Defense around the perimeter of her basement twice  a year–in spring and in fall.  Yes, this pesticide has some nasty chemicals, but they’re nastiest when applied directly to groundwater.  As long as Enviro Girl sprays it inside, far away from water sources, that isn’t an issue.  In pest control a small dose of prevention avoids a pound of cure.  Enviro Girl’s mother-in-law used to set off bug bombs in her house monthly, coating every surface with toxic poisons.  When Enviro Girl convinced her to buy a bottle of Ortho Home Defense, she found she was preventing the pests from getting in, thus preventing their spread, thus preventing even more hazardous measures to get rid of them.  It’s safer to apply pest prevention than to fight a bad infestation.

9.  Strategically place those old socks stuffed with coffee grounds in corners that smell funky–and in freezer units and coolers.  The coffee grounds will neutralize the odors without the harmful chemicals found in Glade Plug-Ins or air fresheners.

Cleaning out your storage space is a daunting task, and some experts will suggest you break this job into sections so you don’t get overwhelmed.  Enviro Girl says it’s good to do this job in one day because if you have so much stuff that it overwhelms you, you’ll become more willing to get rid of it (Enviro Girl is kind of sadistic about these issues).  By cleaning your storage space thoroughly, you’ll only need to vacuum or sweep it a couple times a year.  You’ll find things you need (like that strand of white Christmas lights for above your fireplace mantel) easily once you’ve organized your “stuff.”   And by having less “stuff” to store, you’ll have more room for breathing, moving and living in, too.

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Electric Consumption: The High Cost of Modern Living

Posted on March 21, 2011 by | 5 Comments

Enviro Girl braces herself every month when the electric bill arrives–it seems that no matter what she does, her family owes a little more each month.  It amazes her that with each new installment of technology, the energy consumption seems to climb exponentially.  Like most families, hers is in the habit of adding on with each new trend, not reducing their use of electronic gadgets.   To Enviro Girl’s mind, the opposite should be happening in this modern age:  advancements in technology should create more energy efficient conveniences.

It  started with the microwave oven in the kitchen.  For years it seemed fine to use a conventional oven, but when microwave ovens came on the scene, Enviro Girl’s family added one to their kitchen, along with a dishwasher and several smaller appliances like a toaster, blender, griddle and crock pot.   In the living room it seemed enough to have a TV and  a stereo back in the 1970′s.  Now her family has a TV, stereo, DVD player and Wii system plugged into the wall.  Their electronic office technology once included a desktop computer and a phone.   Now Enviro Girl’s household has two cell phones, a regular phone, laptops and iPod Shuffles.  Everything’s plugged in, draining the grid on a daily basis, contributing to global warming and for what?

Compounding the issue of consumption is grasping exactly how much it costs to run electrical gadgets and appliances.  Enviro Girl struggles to comprehend kilo watt hours and wattage and voltage and whatnot.  She’s thankful for websites like Saving Electricity and Energy Savers that explain in specific terms the most energy-greedy appliances and gives tips for how to reduce electric consumption.   To save electricity, Enivro Girl uses clotheslines for laundry, unplugs seasonal equipment, installed power strips and invested in energy efficient light bulbs.  All of their appliances are newer and have great Energy Star ratings.

When Enviro Girl’s not badgering her family to “Turn off the darn lights already!” and “Unplug that if you’re not using it!” she’s taking a huge step back from the consumer model of modern living and asking this question:  “Do I really need (this electronic device) to make my life better?”   She’s learning the answer is “NO!”  Recently she decided NOT to upgrade her six-year-old digital camera, despite the fact that it takes almost 3 seconds to take a picture with it, rendering action shots a blur.  She’d love to get an iPad someday, a device that would include a decent digital camera and recorder.   For now she thinks it’s wiser to hold off on purchasing several electronic devices and buy one that bundles many features like camera, e-reader, phone and DVD player together.

The other solution to her family’s energy consumption involves switching to renewable resources for power.  The world currently runs on electricity, so Enviro Girl has begun exploring wind and solar options to fuel their plugged-in lifestyle.  So far solar looks like the best bet, and as her family’s electric bill keeps rising each month, investing in a solar electric system does not seem terribly expensive anymore.

Tell the Eco Women:  what are you doing to reduce your electric consumption?  Are you plugging in less stuff or looking for alternative ways to power your lifestyle?

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