I have been line-drying the laundry for my family of 4 for over 3 months and I love it. Our weekly output averages about 10 loads a week (give or take a few). We live in an apartment building with a communal laundry room. I wash a load or two a night and hang the clothes up on lines easily strung with bungee cords at each end. Depending on the tempurature, the clothes are usually dry in the AM or by afternoon at the latest. Folding and sorting is much easier and if I can’t get to it right away, I don’t worry about a) either inconveniencing someone else in the laundry room by leaving my clothes unattended, or b) letting them wrinkle before I find time to fold.
Over all, I have saved $180 since September ’09. I would like to estimate the global significance of not running a large capacity gas dryer (with a 30 minute run-time) 120 times since then…any idea?
Since making this life-style change, I have found that this process brings a new sense of pride and awareness to the laundry-chore. In fact, my kids would say it’s fun. I really think I save time doing it this way, but I can’t quantify it.
Next: investing in a handwashing machine!
This post was submitted by Ann Lane.
There’s lots of talk these days about eating less meat and dairy to reduce your carbon footprint. While I agree in principle, I think the focus is off. How many times have you had success making a life change when you focus on what you have to sacrifice?
I think it’s much better and easier to focus on adding in more “low carbon” foods to your diet. When you do so, the amount of meat and dairy you eat naturally goes down.
For example. instead of trying to force your family to eat lentil loaf once a week, try cutting all the meat portions in half, and serve them family style along with a whole bevy of side dishes. Start off dinner with a vegetarian soup. Have baked beans, squash, broccoli and potatoes with the chicken. Bake some whole grain muffins or biscuits. You’ll have much better luck getting the kids to try curried lentils & yams, if you just add it to the table as an additional side dish instead of telling them they have to eat this instead of their favorite meal. If you take this approach you’ll find that your family is eating much less meat in no time, and the response won’t be “how come I can’t have my ____” but rather “Wow! This is a feast!”
I started with this approach over 10 years ago, and now my diet is 90% vegan. I’ve never felt like I can’t eat something… I just have more options on the table (literally).
People often ask me if I’m a vegetarian, and I’m never quite sure what to respond. I eat meat on Thanksgiving and Christmas, and 2-3 other special meals per year. I use some milk, cheese and the occasional chicken broth in cooking, and I eat eggs or fish a few times per month.
It’s so much easier to make small changes that you can stick with and feel good about than to try to go “cold turkey” (no pun intended) and end up giving up.
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
Even though we live in a major city suburb, we have been choosing a lifestyle that is gradually becoming like homesteading.
This is now the second winter we have chosen to heat our (2500 sf) home with a wood stove, leaving the central heating off. We offer to take down dead trees from our neighborhood area for the price of keeping the wood, so our wood source is local. When burning, small fans help distribute the heat around our ranch-style house.
An added benefit of using a wood stove is that many styles have a flat top that allow for a pot to be set on top. We often use ours to heat the water to steam our vegetables for dinner.
Maybe the best part is the cold winter evenings when the whole family gathers around it to keep toasty. It’s the highest-quality time our family spends together.
This post was submitted by Ellen.
I’m eating what I have in the pantry before I buy anything new. As I have several boxes of pasta and cans of beans, the meals will be simple. I also discovered the New Leaf Natural Grocery which sells produce boxes from local farmers. I get my first box this week. My project now is to develop recipes so that I don’t waste anything!
This post was submitted by Carol Scally.
when the tube of paste is ‘empty’,then i just cut it in half, and find that a few days’paste is still inside, which I can just reach with my tooth-brush.
This post was submitted by preeta.
Thank you for posting my blog. In solidarity with the No Impact Project I have told my readers about you and also made a list of 12 things that I already live without to expand my focus of the blog! Here’s a link: http://ditchyourfridge.blogspot.com/2009/10/festive-12-days-list-of-what-to-ditch.html
I look forward to trying the No Impact Experiment!!
Peace,
Andrea
This post was submitted by Andrea Peloso.
OK… I kept hearing Colin’s experiment referred to as “the year without toilet paper” but everybody got very vague about exactly how that was accomplished. So for “no impact week” I did some research and decided to give it a go. So here are the details… hope nobody finds this gross, but somebody has to provide the details!
Here’s my method. I cut up an old T-shirt into wipe-sized portions and use them instead of TP. I tried it for both number one and number two, but decided that number two was a little too gross for me. I read on-line about one woman who used this method and then just washed them with her load of diapers. Since I am sans baby, that wasn’t an option for me. She had a small diaper pale with a lid by the potty and they just threw the wipes into that.
Well… I tried that for a bit, but since I generally only do about one load of laundry every 3-4 weeks, I decided it was gonna get really gross. I also figured I’d need a ridiculous number of wipes! So instead I just have a small bucket between the toilet and sink (actually it’s an old yogurt tub) and I collect soapy grey water from hand washing etc. After the wipe is used I just toss it into the bucket of water and let it soak. Then I wash them by hand once a day (takes about 5 minutes). I hang them to dry on an old plastic 5-rung hanger. If it’s sunny I hang it outside in the sun, otherwise it just dries in the bathroom.
At first I thought it would be totally disgusting, but it really wasn’t. It’s actually more comfortable to wipe with cloth than with paper. For number one, it’s really only a few drops that get wiped anyhow… so it’s really not any more disgusting than washing your underwear by hand.
So I think I’m gonna keep it up… I can already tell that I’ll save a bunch of money on TP!
This post was submitted by Rebecca.
Last year I got rid of my car and now I commute to school on foot or bycycle.Also we look for ways to coserve energy and recycle everything we can.
This post was submitted by chris eddleman.
For people doing laundry for one person per week consider hanging your laundry to dry. Can easily be done in apartment and takes less than twelve hours max for results. Saves energy on electric drier and makes the apartment smell nice too. Sixty years ago my mother used to hang the laundry outside–and coined the term (to me, anyway) “The solar clothes drier.”
This post was submitted by Frederick Buchanan.
I have lived without a fridge for the last 3 years and write a blog about how to do this and related ideas. I also live without a car, tv, cell phone, microwave, dryer, makeup, hair dryer, freezer, dishwasher, … I live on about $3 of 100% renewable energy a month.
Its fun, easy, saves money, and is on the the beginning!!
Please come and visit my blog and add comments, questions, or further ideas.
This post was submitted by Andrea Peloso.