Comments on: Save the Earth and Some Money Too

By: Luke Sutton

Luke Sutton — Wed, 01 Jun 2011 12:43:22 +0000

Some excellent ideas and tips! Thanks for sharing.

By: Twyla Toomer

Twyla Toomer — Tue, 30 Mar 2010 19:09:04 +0000

Your idea is definitely a breath of fresh air when compared to the typical junk I read on solar energy. There are numerous frauds on the market. Thank you for helping me out.

By: Cas

Cas — Sun, 28 Mar 2010 13:23:00 +0000

One of the other benefits of line drying your clothes is that the sun will sterilize them, so it eliminates the need to wash in hot water. Whites turn out so much whiter outside on a line, and if you’re worried about the colours fading, wash and dry inside out. All of my clothes are now brighter on the outside, as they should be, than on the inside! I even notice this difference on my winter clothes, which are line-dried indoors — I think that the detergents must fade them as well, so not only dry them inside out, but wash them inside out too. My clothes seem to last longer as well.
Someone posted:
I buy boxed laundry soap rather than those in plastic containers
We had someone come out and do a ‘water audit’ for our property. This was a free service in our area, and it has really helped us in our landscape planning, and possibly avoid costly mistakes. She told us that using the liquid laundry detergent is much better for the environment than the powdered box detergent, due to all of its fillers, which can also clog up your septic system. (We live in the country.) She also told us to keep our gravel driveway as it helps filter water as well.
I have to say that we are not good at composting. We never seemed to ‘get it right’, as nothing seemed to be breaking down. We also tried it at work one year, and, being close to the river, ended up with rats… didn’t go over well.
We do use only reusable containers for lunches… this does cause our dishwasher to run a lot more often though, all of those little containers for 4 people take up the entire top rack.
We don’t have air conditioning… something that we keep debating about, whether it’s really worthwhile for those few days in the summer that the ceiling fans just don’t cut it, and when even the basement feels hot… we do have a trailer that we go to that has air conditioning and the electricity is included in our campground fees, so if it’s really hot, we can go there for the night. (We did do that one night last year when it seemed especially unbearable and we were all really crabby!) We don’t have a pool anymore, but, again, there is the lake at the campground which requires no electricity.
Most of my kids clothes are hand-me-downs, except for my daughter’s uniforms (they just aren’t available second-hand). Not only does it save me money, but it teaches them to work with the styles that they have and be more creative in their dressing — my 13 year old is known as the ‘fashion queen’ by her friends — of course, the discards that she gets are of a quality that most of her friends don’t buy. (Helps to have a friend whose daughter is very fashion conscious and models!)
For those of you who are coffee addicts and stop for your regular coffee, but get it in a disposable cup, ask about the savings if you bring your own… the store that I go to will sell it to me as a medium, when it is really a large to fill.

By: Emily

Emily — Thu, 21 Jan 2010 21:34:58 +0000

I have composting worms gail and they are awesome they eat all the “green” food waste and you dont have to wait for it to rot. They are in a bucket in my basement. you dig a small hole in the dirt then deposit your “garbage” cover it fully in about a week its all gone depending on the amount of worms you have and composting stuff you have and the worms reproduce really fast!!!

By: Jennifer

Jennifer — Mon, 17 Aug 2009 20:22:59 +0000

I can count on one hand the number of times we have bacon in a year and it normally happens when we have overnight weekend guests. We use a good quality non stick pan and then using a spatula scrape the grease and bits into a can we keep in the fridge until it’s full. If you scrape well with the spatula the pan can go straight into hot soapy water – no paper towel necessary. We do use 1 sheet on the plate where we place the cooked bacon to absorb any extra. Dealing with hamburger grease is a more frequent issue. When the ground beef is cooked we scoop it from the pan into a strainer over the grease can and let it drain. Use the spatula on the stuff in the pan, and return the drained meat to the pan to finish the recipe. We buy the paper towels that have the 1/2 sheets so you only use what you need – we might use a roll every 2 months? When I rewarm leftovers for my lunch I cover with a 1/2 sheet and if it’s not too messy I use it as my napkin, then use it to wipe the empty plate before it goes in the dishwasher. Our family of 4 recycles and composts and we put out 1 bag of garbage per week. Our neighbours with 2 teens and a live in mother in law put out 4 or 5 giant rubbermaid garbage cans every week and NO recycling. It makes me nuts. Ottawa currently allows 5 bags/containers a week doesn’t charge for tags – maybe that would smarten them up.

By: Susan

Susan — Wed, 12 Aug 2009 15:49:07 +0000

I have been pondering the bacon grease issue for some time now as I too use paper towels to clean out the frying pan. I haven’t tried it but am wondering if it would possibly be effective to use a piece of crumpled newspaper or an old brown paper bag to remove the bacon grease from a frying pan. The other thing I thought of is the fact that bacon grease can be used to feed birds especially during the winter. It can be stored in an old coffee can in the refrigerator and then smeared on pinecones which can then be rolled in bird seed and hung from trees. (could be a fun activity to do with kids). I found a few other suggestions for using bacon grease for feeding the birds just by doing a google search.
The other thing is this – whey are we eating bacon in the first place? (I do eat it sometimes, nothing like a good BLT) but it has to be one of the most unhealthy foods on the planet. A heart attack surely can’t be all that environmentally or financially friendly.
I too love the Tightwad Gazette – probably available at the library. Lots of great ideas.
One other book I wish everyone would read is Cradle to Cradle: Remaking the Way we Make Things by William McDonough & Michael Braungart. It just may change the way we think about many important environmental issues.

By: SH

SH — Tue, 11 Aug 2009 23:02:30 +0000

I save on paper towel by using microfiber cloths with sliver imbedded, so I also save on cleaners. After using the cloth you wring out the water which gets rid of any bacteria the cloth picked up and if there is any bacteria left on the cloth the silver with destroy it. I am saving on both paper towel, cleaners and have a virtually chemically free home. These cloths initally are about $16.99 each but it is well worth it in the long run because they will last up to 10 years! They are called Norwex Microfiber cloths, fantastic!!!!

By: Nick

Nick — Sat, 27 Jun 2009 15:51:18 +0000

Your ‘crunchy’ air-dried clothes may just be caused by a combination of your washing machine type and using too much detergent…

The new front-loading horizontal drum washing machines not only use less water, but they do not need hot water at all. Actually modern detergents are made to work in cold water.

And the new frontloading washers spin the clothes SO FAST that they come out almost dry! Then just put those ‘almost dry’ clothes on a clothes drying rack like this one that is set up under a ceiling fan and you will have saved a ton of energy by not using the clothes dryer at all. With a rack you can dry clothes for free outside when it’s dry out and inside when it’s cold or damp.

By: Terrie

Terrie — Wed, 10 Jun 2009 13:40:10 +0000

I have the CFL bulbs in every fixture in my home for over a year now and love them. My comment is about turning off the power bars every night. I do turn the puter ones off, but in my LR, I have a PVR, TV, etc plugged into one. If I turn it off, I lose all my settings and have to reset daily. It is very time consuming, so I have stopped. I wish they could make them so the settings are saved and I would gladly turn them off nightly. I use cloth bags for shopping, take short showers and do what I can…..living in an apt. does not allow for composting, but we do recycle what we are allowed.

By: Arlene

Arlene — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 12:17:18 +0000

I also find CFL bulbs burn out very quickly and I don’t have any motion/dimmer lights in my house. After my disappointing use of CFL’s, I’m back to the regular bulbs….I just make sure my lights are turned off if I’m not using a room like I did before. On resuable feminine products…sorry, thats just gross.

By: Cynthia

Cynthia — Sun, 07 Jun 2009 01:38:12 +0000

Here in Sudbury, the city is rolling out curbside composting with the greenbins. I live in a 12 unit building and according to the rules, I will be excluded from getting one as they are only distributing to single dwellings and buildings with 6 or less units. I was highly disappointed with this rule. Voiced my concern, and hopefully I will get one. We recycle 2 boxes a week and only put 1 bag of garbage in the dumpster/week. If we get the composter, we will probably only have 1 bag of garbage every 2-4 weeks. If I don’t get a bin, I’ll be calling to request one. Plenty of people in town won’t use the ones they get. so unfair!

By: Renée

Renée — Fri, 05 Jun 2009 11:12:14 +0000

I don’t believe in recycling anymore as I think that there is still too much waste for municipalities to manage. There is a limit to the number of time you can recycle paper and there is a huge environmental cost associated with the recycling process itself.

Like others, when I buy stuff or use energy, I choose the option that costs less environmentally-wise. But most importantly, I believe in giving a second, third or fourth life to most of the stuff I have. Let’s be creative! And, of course, I believe in growing my own vegetables.

By: kroozle

kroozle — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:41:15 +0000

Whoops! Just noticed the fluff-in-the-dryer idea has been mentioned several times further upthread (must not post when tired, must not post when tired….) I didn’t mention, though, that we live in an apartment, and our laundry, sheets included, is hung year-round on folding racks. The limited drying space means we have to plan our laundry days a little more carefully, but that’s not a huge issue. Since we live in a region where the air is always very dry, hanging laundry is a very effective humidifier. And the cats love hiding in their “tents”.

Putting the TV and computers on power bars seems to have an effect. Our latest power bill is the lowest it’s ever been.

By: H

Thu, 04 Jun 2009 21:40:16 +0000

it’s all about the diva cup, cycling to work, and not buying what you don’t need. I recycle all my jokes too…

By: kroozle

kroozle — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 20:38:04 +0000

It’s possible to save on dryer use and still have soft clothes. Once a load goes into the dryer, I run it for a couple of minutes to fluff everything and remove lint, then hang it to dry – works beautifully and saves a ton of electricity.

My husband and I also commute to work on our bikes (26 k/day for me) and go grocery shopping with our bike trailer – we even brought our potting soil and bedding plants home that way when we planted last weekend!