Posts Tagged crunchy
The “Ooops” Edition of PSBN
Posted by Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom in Making A Difference on October 14, 2008
Because technically, it was supposed to be published yesterday, but I forget. (Also, I’m a lazy douche, don’t forget that one.) Thanks to Stephanie for reminding me!
I’ve been meaning to talk about water conservation for some time now – John and I have been much more careful with our water use for the past 7 months or so, 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 a lot 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 used to take a bath every night as part of his bedtime routine. We’ve started giving him a bath every other night, and we fill the tub only half as much as we used to. He never even noticed. 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 always right around $34. I don’t know about you, but to me that is amazing – and we wash cloth diapers regularly!
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. You can also re-use the water from the tubs for mop water, and even garden water if you purchase posphate free dish soap. (I am super wuss and still use the dishwasher. *i suck*)
- 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. 
PSBN Update
Posted by Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom in Making A Difference on July 14, 2008
When I started this whole PSBN thing, I was really revved up about making changes in my family’s lifestyle that would result in a better outcome for the earth we live on. We made the decision to “Go Green(er)” in small steps, consistently, over time.
Some changes require no more than a re-ordering of the way you do things and a little conscious effort.
Other changes require a bit of financial investment.
We’ve done some of each of those kinds of things. I have, in fact, planned quite a lot of changes for us over the months to come. The only reason why we have to spread them out instead of doing them all at once is the cost factor of many of them.
I thought I’d give a running list of some of the changes we’ve made so far.
So far we:
- Went on a Trash Cleanup Walk in our old neighborhood. I plan on doing this again in our new neighborhood. Probably in the Fall, when we won’t die of a heatstroke.
- Started recycling our garbage at the curb again. (This was easy for us. Just one call and a Recycle Dumpster was delivered to us free of charge. Check with your local trash association to see what you can do. It never hurts to look into it!)
- Separate out all glass, since they won’t accept it at the curb, and save it to take to the Recycling Center ourselves. We’ll be making our first trip with a glass load this week.
- Switched from disposable to cloth diapers. Our only regret has been that we didn’t do cloth from the very beginning. (We’ve also started hanging these out to dry in the back yard instead of using the machine to dry them. Woot!)
- Conserve previously wasted shower water (cold water at the start goes in a bucket).
- Have gotten back to using more eco-friendly cleaners in our home.
- Started using rechargeable batteries. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Bring reusable bags with us to the grocery store. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Have become Energy Misers. Thermostat, lights, appliance, plugs, you name it!
- Switched over almost 100% of our incandescents for CFLs. Ongoing project since before PSBN, actually.
- Eat organic when we can… cost influences this greatly. We mind the list of things that are most important to buy organic. (haven’t posted about it yet, stayed tuned for future posts!)
- Plan all our errands in groups whenever we can, since we have to drive and burn fuel. With the price of gas lately, this is a huge money saver now, as well. I have always really wanted to get a bike with a kiddo seat, but it is really not safe to ride that way around here.
Future endeavors:
- Install a clothesline and procure a clothes wringer.
- Purchase and install rain collection barrells. (I want this so badly RIGHT NOW, it makes me twitch, but they’re expensive.)
- Finally purchase one-string produce bags (see where I mentioned them here) to take along with the reusable grocery bags.
- Start composting
There’s always more, of course, but those are the big ones I have in mind. John and I have agreed, it’s like a game now, almost. It’s fun to think up what we can do next and then meet the challenge.
Currently, we’re working on reducing the amount of toilet paper we use. We’re in Phase Two of the TP Challenge. By next month’s PSBN Scheduled Posting on August 11th, I’ll have some results for you and let you know how the whole thing went around here. I hope some of you are still taking this challenge with us! It really is a challenge. Who knew how mindless TP Grabbing on the crapper was?
As always, please link to your green articles here today. (Click through to see Mr. Linky.) And remember, there’s always more you can do, and it’s always worth it.
His Butt is Toxic, and Yet, Eco-Friendly!
Posted by Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom in Making A Difference, Poop/Farts on March 10, 2008
We did a handful of things differently this month to be kind to Mother Earth, but this month’s big “Green” effort was really exciting for us: we decided to take the Cloth Diapering Plunge!
Braden’s gone “Clean And Green.” 
Disposable are NASTY.
One child produces large amounts of them, daily – It is estimated that children using disposables create almost 6,000 during their diaper-wearing years. And those will sit in a landfill for an estimated 250-500 years. That is DISGUSTING. And have you seen the icky, jelly crap inside them? I’ve had them bust open on us (not often, but it happens) and it’s really pukish when I think about how that Yuckification in there was always up against my kiddo’s little, soft hiney. I’m sure it contributed to his rashiness.
Ever since last month’s PSBN post and all the excellent advice from you guys, I dove in and did some hard-core research online about cloth diapers. This site is a great resourse (but you can find lots out there). I didn’t really want to spend the big bucks, but I knew I HAD to find something that John and I would stick with. Let’s be realistic here: If you can’t hack it, you’ll give up on it. We didn’t want to give up on it! I tried really hard to want to use the cheapest option: prefolds. But. Just. No. (Forgive me, I know so many of you have done/do this, but it just isn’t for us.)
All the “fitted” diapers seemed so great, but buying new sizes constantly would really get expensive! Yeah, Braden is on the last leg of his “Diaper Journey” but we wanted to invest in something that we can use again with additional kiddos we have (imagine that, we want this to be an Earth Saving AND Money Saving venture!)…
Enter the 3.0 Bum Genius One Size Cloth Diaper.
*big sigh*
Yes. They are expensive. You look at the price of a single diaper and you go OHHOLYCRAPANDCRACKERSTHAT’SWHATIPAYFORAWHOLEBOXOFDISPOSABLESEEEEEK!
BUT.
Work out how much you spend on them for your child’s entire “Diaper Journey,” and you’ll see that you’re just hemorrhaging the cash slowly instead of all at once, and the disposables will end up costing you WAY more in the long run than even the expensive cloth diapers, yo!
UPDATED:
Maybe this will help you see why you’re NOT spending more when you use even the “expensive” cloth diapers:
If your kid wears disposables until age 2 (and most wear them longer, FYI) that will produce an estimated 5800-6000 diapers. This is going to cost you approximately $1000 – $1600 (depending on brand). Yup. And I didn’t even include the price of wipes or butt rash cream – that’s extra, my friends! And if the kiddo goes past age 2, you can just keep adding to that price. For about $400 you can purchase 24 (more than enough at any age!) of the “expensive” Bum Genius 3.0 One Size (the newest one available) and you can use them on an endless number of children.
So, this means:
Have 3 kids? Disposables until 2: $3000 – $4800 (depending on brand). BG One Size: $400 (plus laundry costs).
And don’t forget to add wipes, creams, and anything past age 2 to that disposables price.
Do you still think it costs too much?
So I did a little of my own math. I figured out how much we’d spend from now until Braden turns 2 on the disposables we were currently using (Walmart brand, so they are cheap). And I decided that if I can spend that much or less, it would be economically logical as well as YAY for Mother Earth.
And guess what? I spent exactly that much on 9 Bum Genius One Size diapers/inserts (will fit from newborn up to a 37 pounder),
2 Hemp Babies inserts (extra absorbency for nights)
and a Mini-Shower (if you cloth diaper, you want this, seriously – thanks for the tip, Heather!) to spray out The Dook.
Which means that in the $ department, IF Braden would be Potty Trained by 2 (which I think is a nice, hopeful assumption) then we break even. If it takes him longer, we save! Hurrah!
Now, if you consider the fact that we can use these with the next child(ren), that’s where we REALLY save $$. We’ll need to purchase extras to handle the excessive Poopification during the beginning of life, but we’ll still save boatloads over using disposables. And we’ll never contribute another 500 Year JellyPissShitSack Diaper to the landfills!
*Does an insanely happy dance of JOY!*
“But Lotus, you are totally spending more in laundry!” Yes, yes, I am, My Kind, Loving Reader. But check it: We’re cutting water usage elsewhere to help with that a bit.
Here’s how:
We took Sandy’s really great tip, and we bought a bucket to collect the cold water that we used to waste at the beginning of the shower. (You know, when you’re waiting for it to warm up?)
Now we use that water for other things like refilling our aquariums and putting into Braden’s humidifier when he’s got a cold. It can also be used to water plants and the garden, mop floors, clean appliances, etc. How cool!
Next:
“If it’s yellow, let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down.”
Yup. We’ve severely reduced the number of flushes in our home.
I’ll spare you the photo evidence on this one. And that’s really unlike me, you know, to pass up the chance to flash something excretory at you. (If that’s not a word, it is now.)
Things we’ve already done in the past that help: no water running while teeth brushing or hand washing, use hand sanitizier in place of washing if your hands aren’t grimy, but just need disinfecting, and restrict the length of showers and the size of baths.
A few “technical” notes about using Bum Genius One Size:
Care Instructions (click it) You will want to follow these to make sure the diaper never leaks. The material is really great – the fleece lining truly wicks the moisture away and into the absorbent liner inside.
It’s freakin’ amazing. But you have to treat it nice so it keeps performing! We already used Purex Free and Clear for laundry, and that’s approved. You should read all the care instructions before you buy – if you’re not willing to follow them, you should probably go with something else.
They’ll “Grow With Kiddo.” They come with newborn size diaper doubler and regular insert, and have cool snaps to change the size as your lil’ one grows. I am so excited to use them exclusively on our next baby.
There will be a learning curve when changing from disposables, but it really hasn’t been bad! You have to get used to how to insert the liners without bunching them, but you’ll get into the groove of it after some practice.
We got the Hemp Babies inserts for nighttime because Braden needs extra absorbency overnight.
I did my research and they were highly recommended. They did not disappoint. We just add one in at night on top of the regular insert. He has only leaked out at night once so far, which is excellent!
And, did you notice… They are freakin’ adorable!
It has been a really exciting month for us with this change! And we have lots of other things up our sleeves – some that we’ve already started doing, and some that we are planning for the future. But this is it for this month’s installment. Stay tuned for next month, my pretties! We have so much more in store. 
Next post is scheduled for Monday, April 14, 2008.
Now link up with your monthly posts, and visit other participants! I can’t wait to read what you’ve got for us.
More info about Project Support Beauty in Nature
Carroll Community Cleanup
Posted by Lotus, aka Sarcastic Mom in Making A Difference on February 11, 2008
The First Installment of Project Support Beauty in Nature!
For those of you who haven’t read this post or this post, a bit of background.
(but please don’t hesitate to actually click over to them and view the photos they contain)
Back on January 25th, I was feeling like a microwaved poop (smelly, hot, and a bit crusty), so I decided to go for a walk through my neighborhood. Instead of meeting Mr. Rogers and making a new friend, I kept running into disgusting examples of the way humans befowl the earth with their dreck – litter.
It made me angry and it made me think a lot about what other people do… and what I do and don’t do. And what I should be doing.
I decided that evening that my family would go on a “clean-up” walk the next week and pick up litter in our neighborhood, and I challenged everyone else to do something to help Support Beauty in Nature, and blog about it today, or to post about something they already did/do/plan to do.
We went for that walk on January 30th. It was quite cold, but sunny.
There was no shortage of crap for us to stick into our bags.
Braden wasn’t entirely sure what was going on, so he pitched in by screaming every time his wagon ride paused briefly. At least he was witnessing us doing something good.
He was, however, a bit annoyed with us by the end of the walk.
But we’re hoping that by doing these types of things periodically, with him, as he grows, he’ll eventually get the message.
This Earth is a gift. We’re squandering it. There is so much beauty. We’re covering it in crap. It doesn’t have to be this way – we can do things like this regularly to help push the reset button, so to speak. And it DOES make a difference.
Of course, the way you live your daily life will also make a great impact. John and I have recycled in the past, but since moving to TN, had not gotten our recycle on, for various reasons (all of them lame, btw). This whole thing made me realize that we’ve been lazy buttholes. We have now purchased extra trash bins for our home so that we can separate out the different recyclable things (glass, paper, aluminum, etc) from the regular trash. We have also ordered a curbside dumpster so that our recyclables can be picked up by the city.
YAY, RECYCLING!
If you don’t already recycle, check your local government website and see what programs are available in your area. It might be way easier than you think!We currently recycle our plastic grocery bags as garbage bags in our house, including diaper garbage, so at least we’re using them more than once. But I think we can improve on the two behaviors I just mentioned…
First: I’m really interested in getting some reusable grocery bags. I know that at least one of PSBN’s participants (Julie) is going to talk about those types of bags, so I’m eager to see her post!
Second: I’m actually really interested in learning more about cloth diapers and what my options are. I’m in the process of researching the different types, and trying to figure out whether the water/energy spent laundering will be worth the reduction in waste that would result from switching.
Maybe someone did a post on this??? (I know you cloth diapered, Heather! Share the knowledge!)
I’ve been checking out this website.
Still pondering it all…
But look at this super-cute diaper cover!
Another cool tip given to me by a reader named Elsie was that she made bags out of tulle for her fruits/veggies so that she wouldn’t have to use those plastic bags at the grocery store anymore! I LOVED this idea.
I did a little looking into it and I found these instructions on how to make them. If you (like me) don’t have a sewing machine you can also buy them here. I’m getting some – I think they’re fabulous!
We’re also de-junking our bodies here at The Carroll Household. We’re going back to the way we used to eat – healthy! This means we remember to take our vitamins, we eat whole foods (bye-bye loads of processed crizznap!), and drink lots of water.
Part of this will involve us trying to purchase organic foods when possible. Unfortunately we can’t afford to buy everything organic, but every little bit helps. The more organic you eat, the less CRUD you’re putting in your body… and ON THE EARTH! I also got a tip recently from Laura that switching to organic milk made her feel better, and I thought that was a good idea, so we’re doing that, as well.
Basically, John & I have a new motto: “Less Crud.” Less Crud in our bodies and on the earth.
My heart is bursting with an insanely (childish?) idealistic, wonderfully giddy happiness at making a difference. I can’t tell you how excited I am to read your posts… to see what you’ve done, and to learn from you all.
If you’ve written a post, link up below!
If you haven’t posted your story/tips/ideas on how we can Support Beauty in Nature, it’s not too late. Feel free to do a post anytime this week and come back here to link up.
Even if you aren’t posting anything – make sure to visit those who do. See how they make a difference and look for ideas!
I’m off to hug a frickin’ tree!
Yeah, I know, lists/ugh. I've always been bad at accepting compliments, and this is no different. I was surprised and honored by this - someone thinks I've done a good job. Icky Listness aside, that makes me smile. :-)lotus works
lotus supports
lotus is impressed by her friends
lotus digs
you said