Goals 8/20-8/26

GOALS FOR 8/12-8/19

House:

Electricity: I'm going to search for that support post. In the meantime, I'm also going to see if I can get our computers to "sleep". Our old one used to have a sleep function. These...I don't see it.

I still haven't found the support for the line. My parents gave me a good idea for using a branch. Now I just have to find one. 
The computer sleep thing is done. It's called "hibernate" and is found under Control Panel, Power Options. Who knew? Ha.

Natural Gas: I'm going to turn off the stove burners/oven for the last few minutes of cooking to conserve.

I did a crappy job of this. Trying again this week.

Water: I'm going to find cheap egg timers for our bathroom & the boys' to time showers. 6 minutes a shower is the goal. 

Done. The boys and I are taking 6 minute showers. The girls take a half-hour bath with much splashing and hilarity. 

Car:

You know, we really don't use the car much...this week I'm going to RSS bike sales on Craigslist. I gave Boy 1 my bike, so I need my own, but it has to be cheap. Then I could do grocery trips on my bike. 

I actually found a new Cruiser that I love, and it's super duper crazy cheap (for a bike), but with all the school shopping, we're going to wait a bit to buy it. 

Secondary:

Food: I'm going to look further into composting. What I've found so far is a little overwhelming, but I'd like to get it started for next year's garden.

I'm going to build one of these: 

http://www.livingoffgrid.org/used-wooden-pallets-or-skids-making-free-easy-compost-bins/

Like I said in my last post, we're still looking for pallets. I found some that are free on craigslist, but they are 72" long, which is bigger than I want to go. I'll keep looking for the 40" x 48" size, and at worst the man should be getting some in at work in about a month. 

Cleaning products: Roll-over. Fiddle with the all-purpose cleaner to make it less gritty. I also want to look into making my own floor cleaner.


Done. Added a bit more vinegar, now it cleans great. Can I replicate it later? Probably not. 
Reusing: We have a lot of plastic grocery bags. I'm going to research what I can do with them. I'm also going to take the plastic produce bags I'm saving to the store with me this week.

Yeah. It's better just to take them back to the store, or use them around the house. Cutting them for crafts is a waste of time and makes a bunch of little dangerous scraps all over the place.

Recycling/Waste: I'm going to research cloth diapering. Girl 2 generates a lot of trash in that department. I have serious reservations about the cloth diapering thing, but unless I research, I'm not giving it a fair shot.  


I'm thinking that the best thing to do here is to buy some really cheap cloth diapers for the baby to wear around the house, but put her in disposables when we go out, or when she sleeps. It seems the best way to keep things inexpensive while still cutting down on waste. 

GOALS FOR 8/12-8/19

House:

Electricity: I'm going to price high-efficiency dishwashers and create a budget for buying one down the road. This covers water for this week too. 

Natural Gas: Roll over- I'm going to turn off the stove burners/oven for the last few minutes of cooking to conserve.

Water: See electricity

Car:

I'm going to create a bike budget too. If I'm going to make serious changes, I need to have serious plans...even though I hate money/finance stuff.

Secondary:

Food: I'm going to keep looking for pallets for the compost pile. I'm also going to try some of the dry mixes from the bulk section of the grocery store. I have brownie mix and I'm going to try a cake mix next week.

Cleaning products: Roll-over- I want to look into making my own floor cleaner. (Lost track of this one.)


Reusing: I'm going to try & make gift bags out of newspaper. Birthday season is approaching quickly, followed by Christmas. I'm going to see if I can make cute recycled bags. 


Money, money, money. Seems to be the theme this week. Bleargh.