Reusable totes are awesome. When you don’t suck, and actually bring them.

The second Monday of the month sometimes (when I pull my head out of my ass) means I’ll post a piece about the things that John and I do to help lift a little burden off of Mother Earth’s shoulders. It’s this thing I started doing after I was completely disgusted on a walk almost 2 years ago (wow, it’s been that long?). I was appalled at how much trash people just throw on the ground, basically.

Back then, I realized I was pretty disgusted with a lot of things I was (or wasn’t) doing, too. No, not the Asian Porn fetish or even the Kitten Juggling. That stuff is fun! I’m talking about the stuff that’s not so good for the environment (like the Aqua Net huffing problem I had).

So we started changing little things in our life for the better, to help the earth, its inhabitants, and ourselves. And I started a project – PSBN – and began posting about those things here, to share with and inspire you. (So consider yourself shared with. And inspired.) It was a whole Happy Happy Love Love Green Living Be Awesome To The Earth I Believe That Children Are The Future Teach Them Well And Let Them Lead The Way kind of thing.

Did you see what I did there? Ahhh, yeah. You liked it, didn’t you?

Anyway.

I’ve gotten really lazy about putting up these posts. I have to be honest with you – I know that some of you have been supportive about them and enjoyed them, but they generally don’t seem to draw must interest and like anyone, that kind of makes it harder for me to work up the energy to make an effort and put them together. That assholishness apathy on my part as well as being lazy as hell just not creating as much time for posts anymore overall means I’ve skipped several of these “second Mondays” without publishing anything for PSBN.

I know. I’m a shitbrain.

This, by the way, happens to be something I abhor about myself – I get really into something, but then I get lazy and I don’t maintain my momentum. I forget, or I find other things to amuse me, and I lag off. (Hahaha, you thought I was going to say jack off. Yes you did. Liar. Ok, I thought I was going to say it.)

This *might* be why Dana called me a lazy douche last year, and why I’ve run with that whole “I’m a Lazy Douche!” gag for this whole time. Because it’s really the truth! (I still haven’t answered all those questions, Dana. You were so right! Isn’t that awesome?)

LAZY DOUCHE, FTW.

And that really actually segues well into today’s PSBN topic, which is Reusable Totes for shopping.

I loved the shit out of the idea of reusable totes. In fact, I took that idea and I bought it a nice steak dinner. I bought it many, many glasses of fine wine. I told it how sexy hot it was and then? I took it home with me, full of unclean intentions. I rubbed that freaking reusable totes idea up against my trembling body until… uh. Um. *clears throat* I think I’m getting carried away. What were we talking about again?

Oh. Yeah. I was in love with the idea of using some bags over and over again.

Don’t Waste – Reuse, beeshes.

So.  I totally freaking bought them and started using them every time I got groceries.

And IT.WAS.AWESOME.

I was totally single-handedly saving the world.

SUPER HEROIN IN THE HOUSE, BEESHES.

Wait. Wait. That makes it sound like I was shooting some kind of incredibly refined drugs into my veins in my domicile. And while that might be true, it wasn’t what I was trying to say.

But basically,

I AM AWESOME. You can say thank you any time. (For saving Earth, and all. You’re welcome.)

So yeah to recap: I was using the bags and it was awesome (like shooting up drugs).

But then I would forget them at home.

And (like shooting drugs) it started happening more and more. (It’s either premature aging, excessive alcohol consumption, or all those times I’ve slammed my head into the wall.)

(On purpose.)

So yeah. I would forget them constantly… and I would berate myself.

Me in the parking lot of the grocery store:

“You stupid, stupid bitch! You forgot the fucking bags AGAIN!”

“Well you could just drive home and get them before you shop.”

(Yes, I talk back to myself. DON’T ACT LIKE YOU DON’T. Also, if you don’t… just, you know, pretend like you do and lets move on so I can protect the fragile shell of my imagined sanity.)

“DRIVE HOME AND GET THEM? ARE YOU A MORON?”

“Uh. Uh. No?”

“Well, see… CLEARLY YOU ARE. If we drive home and get them we’ll be POLLUTING MORE and, also? WASTING GAS. Do you even have two brain cells left to rub up against one other? I swear I hate that I’m you.” *spits in own face*

(That is a talent of amazing proportions. I can sense your jealousy.)

“But, but…” *sobbing*

“You make me SICK. Pathetic. Why don’t you just grab a broom handle and stick it up Mother Earth’s ass and call it a day, okay?”

*continued sobbing*

“I am going to strangle you with the plastic grocery bags when we get home.”

It’s really embarrassing, by the way, to have this kind of argument with yourself in a public place. I mean, usually this kind of thing happens only at home…

“You stupid whore, did you forget to take meat out to thaw for dinner AGAIN!??? Come here so I can SLAP YOU WITH THE HAND OF RIGHTEOUS FURY.”

…and at least there’s no one to gasp or scurry away blatantly. And no parents telling their kids, “Honey, don’t look, just keep walking. Hurry. She might hurt us.”

I guess what I’m saying is that employing the use of those Reusable Grocery Totes is REALLY REALLY AWESOME and can help us SAVE OUR PLANET if we actually remember to bring them with us to the store.

And what I’m asking, no, *begging* you to tell me is, What the hell do you awesome people who use them every time do to REMEMBER TO ACTUALLY BRING THOSE SHITS WITH YOU?

Please help me. Please.

Omg, I was going to end the post there, but then I just totally had an idea for making them into underwear so you’d always have one with you. No, wait. That would be gross, wouldn’t it?

Darn.

Oh, and while you’re sitting there trying to figure out exactly how to make me start taking meds, please link up any posts you’ve written recently that discuss “green” topics. Thanks!

PSBN – Water Conservation

It’s that time of the month again! Why yes, I AM ovulating quite painfully, but what I meant, rather, was that it’s time for Project Support Beauty in Nature. Remember, if you have a “green” post you can link to it on the Mr. Linky Widget at the very bottom of this post any time this week.

I’ve posted about water conservation before, but I thought it would be a good article to run at this time of the year when people tend to use more water than ever.

John and I have been much more careful with our water use, and it has made a serious difference in our water consumption.

It’s worth it just to save the water… but if you take these steps you can also save a considerable amount of $$$.

• NEVER wash a load of laundry until you have a full machine’s worth of clothes. I even experimented to see if I could get away with “medium” water on a load I normally would have called “large.” It actually works most of the time.

• If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down. A lot of people are squeamish about this, but it made a rather large difference in our water bill. We now pee 3 or 4 times (sometimes more) before we flush. Think of how many tanks of water that saves in a month’s time!

• Reduce the number/size of baths. Braden takes a bath every night as part of his bedtime routine. We fill the tub only half as much as we used to. He never even noticed when we made that change. All he cares is it’s wet, there are bubbles, and he has toys. We also stopped waiting for the right water temp before dropping the plug. The plug drops, water starts. It all mixes in and evens out.

• Take shorter/less showers. Less showers is hard if you go to work every day and have to shower to get ready, but you can try shortening by using a timer with an alarm, the kind that counts down and then goes off. Start by figuring out how long your average shower is, then try to shave off 5 minutes at a time. It’s just a habit thing. With practice, you can knock off some time (if you shower longer than 15-20, especially).

• Collect the cold water at the beginning of a shower in a bucket for use elsewhere. I got this awesome tip from Sandy @ Momisodes back when I first started doing PSBN and it is a GREAT thing to do. We have saved SO MUCH water doing this! During gardening months, you can use it to water plants, but there are plenty of other uses, such as:
  • add to bathwater for baths
  • use in clothes washing
  • mop floors
  • dog’s water bowl
  • aquarium refill
  • vases for picked flowers
  • rinse water for dishes
  • wash car in driveway
  • wading pool during summer (idea courtesy of Alison)
  • water for live Christmas tree
  • ETC

• Don’t run water when you’re not actively using it. Whenever you wash your hands, put soap in your hand, then wet them, and turn the water off while you lather. Turn it back on to rinse. Do the same when brushing teeth. If you handwash dishes, don’t leave water running while you’re soaping them.

This is just a short list of the things that have made the largest difference for us so far. In fact, our monthly water bill is as low as $16 most months, and never more than $34. I don’t know about you, but to me that is amazing!

Other tips:

• Make sure you inspect all pipes and areas where leaks can occur (water heaters, outside hoses and spigots) because a slow leak can add up to a huge amount of wasted water over a long period of time.
• If your toilet is high flow, you can place a brick in the tank so that it takes less water to fill it. Make sure there is still enough power to flush in one try – if you end up flushing twice to “get it down” it’s not doing you any good.
• Don’t put any extra bulk in the toilet (like tissue you blow your nose with, for exampe). Reduce the amount of TP you use to wipe if possible. We did!
• Wash your dishes by hand. Buy sink tubs and run one with soapy water, one with clean. Wash in one tub, rinse in the other. This reduces water use DRASTICALLY over using a dishwasher IF YOU RINSE DISHES FIRST. You can also re-use the water from the tubs for mop water, and even garden water if you purchase posphate free dish soap. Energy Star rated dishwashers use as little as 4 gallons of water, however. So if you scrape instead of rinsing, this type of dishwasher will save you more. You cannot re-use the water, however.
• Rain collection barrells gather a large amount of free water for you. You can use that water for gardening, mopping, car washing, etc. I really want one, but we rent, and you have to make modifications to the downspouts on your gutters. If you own your home, you should REALLY consider it. The cheapest I’ve found pre-made are $150, and they can get really pricey, up to 3 times as much as that for the “really nice” ones. But you can also make them yourself with a little effort, and that costs WAY less.

Click HERE for helpful links about rain collection barrells, as well as other water saving tips.

It’s worth saving this stuff and making sure there’s always plenty left over.

There are plenty more ways to save water – do you do some things I didn’t mention here?

If you have a “green” post, please feel free to add it to the Mr. Linky! Thanks.

Mother Earth likes it when you foam up, baby.

Sometimes you realize that something is kind of Eco-Friendly after the fact.

Like, after you do it because you are a cheap bastard.

Last year, I decided to really start teaching Braden to wash his hands on his own – meaning that he’d do all steps without my assistance/intervention. Previously, I’d turn on the water, put the soap in his hands, rub them together… you get the drift.

In order to make it easier on him and cheaper on our budget, I decided that a foaming soap dispenser was a good idea. That way he’d have instant lather, instead of having to create it from goopy soap. I figured it would really save on soap, too, since he wouldn’t be sliming his hands excessively if he had the foam.

I was right. It was easier on him not having to create lather. Now, figuring out that he had to have the other hand under the pump when he pressed it down? THAT WAS THE HARD PART. Hah!

By the time he was a pro at it, the dispenser was almost empty. I eyed the bottle of Method Green Tea & Aloe Hand Soap that was up on top of the cabinet where he couldn’t reach it, longingly. But no, I didn’t want him Gooping!

Then it hit me: the stuff in the foaming dispenser really just looked like heavily watered down soap. So I tried it… I put in a small amount of soap and filled the rest of the dispenser up with water.

TOTALLY WORKED. And now we all wash our hands with that soap! We’re using way less soap for hand washing, which is cool and it falls under the “Reduce” category of Eco-Friendliness.

It will also save ya some bucks. They charge way more than they should for the watered down soap in the foam dispensers, so just buy that ONCE and then refill it yourself. And of course, if you choose an Eco-Safer soap like Method, or Lemon-Brite, you’re also treating Mother Earth kind by not dumping chemicals all up on her shiznite.

Do you have an article or post about something “green” that you do in your home, or on Eco-Friendly tips? Please feel free to link to it on the Mr. Linky below.

I used to do this type of post once a month, and it’s called Project Support Beauty in Nature. You can click that link (or the tab on the navigation bar under the website header) to read all about it, how it developed, and see a list of past posts and participants. I have had the project on hiatus for several months while I tried to find the emotional energy to write more again.

I’m happy to say, the project is back up and “airs” the 2nd Monday of every month.

Please feel free to add your “green” link to the Mr. Linky (just below) in this post anytime for the rest of this week.

Help me, Rhonda. (and the rest of you, too, please)

Not that long ago, I told you all that I just didn’t have the mojo to write anymore.

And that was true. In fact, for some time now, I haven’t had the mojo to do a lot of things that I used to do. The only thing I’ve really had mojo for is sleeping.

I could sleep for lifetimes.

And while I was half asleep mentally and emotionally, I asked some fabulous bloggers to step up and provide wonderful content for you – and, oh my, they did! I am humbled and amazed at the response I got from those I asked. In fact, there are still guest posts waiting to be published here. I can’t say thank you enough to these wonderful people.

I made a page containing list of past and future guest posters, if you’d like to look them over.

The thing is, lately, I can feel Ms. Mojo poking back around her old stomping grounds. And as I’m waking up slowly from this coma, I’m feeling like things are just not as they should be around here.

I’ve missed PSBN for months. That makes me sad, and I hate it. My blogging schedule has been here, there, and everywhere.

It’s time for me to exert control over mah blawg again. I want to get things back in order so that you don’t come over here feeling like you were heading to a bake sale but ended up in an S&M Bar.

(But don’t think I didn’t see you grinning at the black leather-clad lady holding the whip. Mm-hm. I saw ya. But I won’t tell. Maybe.)

So, I have a handful of plans to get my groove back and have some fun with you guys again. I’d love to get your feedback.

I do this blogging thing for me, but I do it for you, too. If I didn’t, this would all be in a journal in my nightstand. So let me know what you think.

Please vote on the polls that go along with these questions, and I’d love to have any suggestions/elaborations you’d like to give me in the comments on this post!

PSBN starts back up this coming Monday. Will you post along with me?

The “I Wonder” Series has been dead – should I start it up again?

The BEWB Vote was fun – should we do it again?

Would anyone be intersted in a Bi-Annual Photo Contest with prizes?

I still have guest posts to share with you. But to offer some consistency, I’m thinking of starting a weekly Guest Post Day on Tuesdays called, “Lazy Douche Enablers”

*note: this poll allows you to choose more than one answer. you can also choose “other” and write a comment, but keep it to a few words, or it will get cut off and I won’t be able to see it all

_____________________________________________________

PS: Thank you so very much to all of you who voted on my question about whether I should try to sell my handmade paper.  The response really overwhelmed me – 95% of you chose one of the options that directs me to sell the paper. So many awesome comments and suggestions, too.  Thanks so much, guys! I will let you all know when the Etsy Shop is up and running with product.

Wee for me now means five minus three.

When I posted my Project Support Beauty in Nature piece for June, I outlined a Toilet Paper Challenge that John and I were going to take in our household. In short, we counted our TP Consumption for one month. The next month we made a conscious effort to reduce the amount we used to wipe with and see what kind of a difference we could make.

The first month was an eye-opener. I coudn’t believe how much TP I was grabbing. Just for pee, I was grabbing 5 Squares. And for The Dook? It was 5… several times, and then a wet wipe for final touch-ups.

WAS I ON CRACK OR WHAT!?

Oh, wait, yes. I was on crack. My buttcrack though, not the good kind.

Long story short, we used 10 rolls of toilet paper the first month, during “observation phase.”

When the second month started, we started reducing our TP Consumption. I started at bare minimum: 1 Square.

Let me be the first to say, “HELL NO.”

One square was not enough. So I quickly moved to 2 squares. And this I could handle. That’s right. I went from 5 to 2. And that’s for pee. For The Dook? Are you ready?

One wet wipe (used several times, via folding). One TP Square (for drying, b/c I can’t do the ‘walk away wet’ thing, sorry.)

For the first week, even though “The Job” was being done, it was a little weird. But over time, the “new way” became habit.

Now, this was not scientific, because many other variables affected how much TP was being used (number of times going potty, anyone?), and in fact, I drastically upped my water consumption during the second month as part of my dieting and such. Waaaay more peeing.

And yet…

We only used 5 rolls of TP the second month.

We reduced our TP Consumption by HALF. People, this is a big deal to me! Half as much money spent, half as much waste.

I swear, there are trees out there masturbating to my picture right now. (Yes, I totally went there.)

Remember, even small changes can have big outcomes. What will you do to make a difference today?

Did you take the TP Challenge? Do you have other green tips?

Link any green posts from the past month (or the next few days) right below on Mr. Linky. Direct links to relevant posts only, please.

If you don’t have a post, but you have a green tip, thought, or suggestion, please leave it in comments! That’s what these monthly posts are for.

Thanks!