No Resolutions, no hair-dye philosophy

I've spent the last week creating a super detailed life-plan on Google Docs. I'm not much of a spreadsheet maker, but I'm hoping that by putting in serious time planning, creating routines, and writing lists ahead of time, I can make 2011 a year of focused, intentional living. It's about creating measurable goals, not resolving to improve. A resolution is the desire and the intent. The goals are the map. The routine and micromovement lists are the pedals and handlebars. Now I just have to mount the bike & ride.

 I've been flitting from project to project for the past 7 months. Now it's time to delve deep into life and actually accomplish something. Last year I was a water skipper. This year I am leaving the surface, it's the year of the beaver, baby. I'm building life-structures with roots that go deep this year. A life lived on the surface is disposable. When I live on the surface, I can easily hide my values, revert back to the old me, or give up. I want to live life with values that are twined around my alveoli, submerged in the chambers of my heart, and tattooed in my pores. I need to dig my heels in and really commit to a low-impact lifestyle. This means deep fundamental changes, supported by daily routine.

For a first step, I'm doing a carbon cleanse. Join me, please. It's only one week, but it could spiral into a lifestyle overhaul...if you let it.  I will be blogging my experience here next week.

And if you need a swift kick in the pants to get moving: Calling all Fanatics

I 'm headed into 2011 with excitement & purpose. Thanks to awesome & inspirational friends who've helped me begin this journey. Thank you , Mom, for sewing, creating, and getting worked up  with me. Thank you, John for supporting all the changes I'm implementing around here, and running with them. Thanks to Lauren and Nick for your links and posts to inspire and move me toward action  & growth. Thank you Rob for reading all my random blogs & feeding me ideas.   You all push me to be better.  Thank you.

RRR Room by Room- Main Bathroom

The laundry system is working out beautifully. I like that I have two specific days in which clean laundry is put away and dirty laundry appears in the laundry room. It gives me a deadline to work towards, and I can see my progress. Instead of trudging from bedroom to bedroom collecting the laundry every day or two and never seeing the end, I just have to get through what was brought in. I can look and say, "I've washed all the laundry that was brought in since Wednesday. Sweet!" It's a nice way to see progress, which I find motivating.

So, with one success under my belt, I move on down the hall to the main bathroom. I would love to post a picture of how nice and clean I got the room, but alas the camera is missing. We had it Monday, now it's gone. I suspect the girls, since it isn't anywhere obvious. They like to put things in the pantry, behind the couch, bury stuff in the dog food...

Here's an older picture Girl 1 took of me in the bathroom a while back:

Anyway. Ways to make the bathroom more efficient.

• I would like a dual flush toilet, the man likes low-flow. I think in this bathroom we will probably get dual flush, since this is the bathroom that is used the most.
• In the meantime, I am going to put a bottle of water in the tank to reduce water use for each flush.
• We use vinegar and baking soda to clean all the surfaces
• When the Windex runs out, I'll start using vinegar to clean the mirror
• We've already switched to cloth towels and rags to clean everything, we haven't had paper towels in the house in months. I have a separate set for bathrooms, just because I don't like to use the same cloths to clean the toilet as I do the kitchen counters (imagine that). We have colored wash cloths for the kitchen, and since I'm using Econobum cloth diapers, I use my failed Gerber cloth diaper experiment  to clean the bathrooms. 
• We need to put a faucet aerator on the sink. This is especially important since Girl 1 sneaks in there all the time to play in the water.
• No one uses this shower, so a low-flow head isn't at the top of the list, but it would be nice at some point for the random house guest.
• There is no shower curtain (again, we don't shower in here) but it would look better if we had one, and then guests could shower here. We'll need to stay away from PVC or nylon/vinyl curtains. I'd like a hemp shower curtain, or an organic cotton one. These are crazy expensive though. 
• We have a frosted energy efficient window in this bathroom, so that's good.
• We need to switch to biodegradable soaps. Many soaps have petroleum in them. Biodegradable/organic soaps don't. 
• We need CFL vanity bulbs for over the mirror
• We need to give up my beloved Charmin and switch to toilet paper made from recycled content

This is a tiny room, and look how many things there are to do. It's a little overwhelming. 

RRR Room by Room- Laundry Room backcasting

SNOW DAY TODAY!

Last night we were pretty sure school would be cancelled today. The snow was piling up, and there was no sign of it stopping. We woke up this morning, and sure enough, school is cancelled. At this very moment the boys are calling their neighborhood friends & planning to walk across the street to the school & build massive snow forts on the field. That way they'll have forts to play in when school is back in session. So. Fun.

 I jumped on the snow day opportunity to have the kids put their laundry away. I'm not going to spoil their stay-at-home fun by making them clean all day, but I couldn't pass up the chance to get the laundry room cleared out. The deal was, put away all your laundry (including hang ups) and you have the rest of the day to yourself. A pretty sweet deal, if you ask me.

Tops cleaned off

I've been doing load after load of laundry since Monday. I've kept it going every waking moment. Literally. We have these giant capacity He machines, and I am thrilled to announce that the laundry is d.o.n.e. There is a start on a new load of darks, and there is a load in each machine right now, but that's it. I have officially caught up.

All the laundry that is left to wash

 

Rediscovered the floor

I haven't put the girls' laundry away yet, you can see it there on the shelves. That's because they decided to pull EVERYTHING, all the bins, containers, everything, out of their closets and dump it all in the middle of their room. Once that is cleaned up (hopefully after nap) I will have everything put away. Except the socks that I've washed since Monday's Sock Go Fish game. All those left socks you've lost? They end up at my house, I think. Still, to have it this close to totally done is unheard of.

I have serious doubts about keeping it this way, but greenness, cheapness, and cleanliness demands it. We have a TON of clothes. It's wasteful and silly. Once everything is put away, it's obvious that "I don't have anything to wear!" is completely untrue. I don't need to buy more, and if I keep the laundry up, I'll know when I do.

Beginning with the end in mind, imagining my ideal goal of a laundry room that looks like this all the time...how awesome.

~Backcasting~
The Dream: To have no more than a load of laundry waiting at any given time. To have no more than a week's worth of wash on the shelves or hanging up at any one time. To be able to leave the laundry room door standing wide open, even when company is coming over. To have a eco-friendly, organized, sustainable laundry system.

Steps, from last to first

• We need to put our clean laundry away at least twice a week. Wednesday night and Saturday morning might work. 
• I need to do each load from wash to dry to fold immediately.
• I need to wash a load of laundry every day, to keep it going.
• I need a bin for each type of laundry in the laundry room.
• I need to tell the fam the new routine, and enforce it until it is habit. 
• I need the dirty laundry sorted into towels/bedding, darks, and whites.
• I need the dirty laundry brought up and sorted at least twice a week. Let's combine this with the putting away of the clean, so as to minimize fights.
• I can make the run around during the day if I need more clothes for a load.
• Efficiency demands only running the washer/dryer when there is a full load.

I'm finding making a list of steps backward like this kind of confusing. At least for laundry.

Side Steps/Extras:

• When I get to the bedroom RRRs, I am going to switch us to the file form of clothing storage.
• I'd like to bring some things of beauty into the laundry room to put on the shelf behind the machines. No reason the room has to be a dungeon.
• I've put a bowl on the dryer to throw in the random pocket flotsam that appears in the wash (like erasers, little toys, money). 
• I have a bag for donations in the closet, for things that I'm not going to hand down.  

Green Goals:

• We have high efficiency machines, so that's great.
• We have blinds up on the window that the sun shines in. 
• We need to switch the light bulb to a CFL when this one burns out
• I'd like to try making my own laundry detergent. Keep thinking that, never get around to it.
• Switch back to line drying in the spring. There isn't time or room for indoor air drying all our wash.

This must not be allowed to happen again. 

It can be done. Oh yes. It can be done.

Leapfrog with a rear view mirror.

I tend to make resolutions rather than set goals. When I do set goals, they are often random, timeless wishes that I make no concrete path toward achieving. Or, if I do have some sort of yellow brick road in my mind to get to my goal, I make no plans for sustainability.

And then I wonder why I fail, burn out, or forget.

Today I learned a new word: backcasting. Backcasting is a reframing technique that changes the way one makes plans. It's similar to plain old goal setting except that it turns the process upside down. It's like when you're putting together a puzzle and you walk around to the other side of the table. Same puzzle. Same pieces, but the new perspective can unlock your mind and get you moving.

It starts the same way every other tedious goal-setting relationship-building communication training seminar ever starts: Begin with the end in mind.

But not just a goal, a sentence, a note on a list. Imagine your future. As a creative writer, this appeals to me. It means I stop. I shut my eyes and I fantasize about what I want. I imagine myself in the moment, living the future I want. This is not a resolution like "I will lose forty pounds by March." Instead I shut my eyes and picture myself at my sister's upcoming wedding in March. I create the scene, my siblings (some of whom I haven't seen in 9 years) around me. I picture the dress I wear, my hair. I allow myself to create this future and experience it mentally. I see myself lighter and healthier, spending time with my family.

I don't start with frustration and despair at where I'm at. I begin by reveling in where I am going. I am motivated and inspired, rather than starting with failure chained to my ankles.

Then I work, step by step backward toward today. I plan out each fundamental change that has to happen in reverse order, rewinding from my happy actualized self back toward the me I am today. These can be baby concrete steps, as well as principles. It's like a logic puzzle, working from effect to cause, effect to cause, all the way back to square one.

Hindsight is 20/20, right? So role play yourself into a vantage point where you can see what you should have done, with the amazing opportunity to actually do it.

The trick though, is to make sure that your steps lead toward sustainability, that your vision of that fulfilling future includes the amazing freedom and joy that comes from knowing you can stay this way. Imagine a future where your goal is permanent, where you are maintaining your dream, and then build the steps to make that vision real.

Next post: backcasting my way to laundry sustainability.

 

RRR Room by Room- Laundry Room...theoretical deep clean

The laundry room is across the hall from our office. Once upon a time, long before we moved in, it was a bedroom. It's a nice, large, out of the way room in which we can heap pile upon pile of our dirty laundry. Seven people dirty a lot of clothes.

I can't catch up. I hate laundry, not the washing, but the folding. I have been meaning to do a deep clean of the laundry room for days, and I've been avoiding it. It's overwhelming. Blankets and socks and jeans...oh my. Because I've been so remiss at actually doing the laundry, it's holding up my efficiency checklist, and my blogging. If I wait until I've caught up the laundry, I'll never blog again.

Why is it important to have the laundry done?
1. I would be calmer if the kids knew where their clothes were & didn't need me to chase them down. (Are they hanging in the laundry room? Are they hanging in your closet? Are there any clean pants? The suspense is killing us.)
2. When the laundry gets behind, so does my cloth diapering. We have to switch to disposables. It's like pouring money down the drain, and it's such a polluting mess. The inserts aren't an issue, but the covers have to air dry, so if I get behind, we have to wait.
3. Wrinkles! Running the dryer to de-wrinkle clothes: not eco-friendly.
4. Knowing who really needs clothes & who doesn't. Boy 1 & 2 are growing like crazy. Keeping them in clothes is a trick, but if I have them all washed & they are put away, I can tell what they are really running low on, and what they aren't. Plus, if I had all the laundry caught up, I could sort out the outgrown stuff & post it on threadUP.

So the meantime solution:

Piles & baskets full of humiliation

I've made piles. Stuffed things in baskets. Scootched all the dirty laundry to one corner of the room. For the record both my He washer and dryer have been running all day. So there has been a little progress. My embarrassment at this full disclosure (which isn't full at all, you don't get to see the rest of the room. Hideous.) hopefully will inspire me to keep pushing the laundry through. 

Some plans to get the job done:

Sock basket

• Tonight we're playing Sock Go Fish with the kids. This involves the giant basket of socks which I refuse to fold (I hate hate hate pairing, folding, sorting socks. h.a.t.e. it.). We pull out the sock basket, each of us grabs out 5 socks and take turns looking for matches. "Do you have a Hanes with green letters?" "Go fish." 

• The children need to put their laundry away. They each have a shelf in the laundry room with their name on it. The shelves are filling up as I attempt to get all this laundry done. It needs to go into their dressers & closets, rather than having them gather in the laundry room to get ready for school every morning. 

• A routine. There has to be a way to make laundry a part of my daily routine. I've tried the Fly Lady way, but I'm really bad at sticking to it for long, and it doesn't allow for all my crafting, content managing, blogging, kid playing time. It's too restrictive. Maybe a load every morning & one every night? I hate schedules, but something has to happen so that the laundry gets did.

I have to get this room under control and then find time & energy efficient ways to keep it going. 

RRR Room by Room- Office deep clean

I've been blathering. I've fallen into a pattern of either not writing at all, or writing a random spew of whatever happened to be in my mind. I think some of that is good, but I need to get back to goals and greening up our home. I think the most effective way to do that is to go room by room through our house and see what I can make more efficient and less wasteful.

My desk is the far one. The Man's is to the left.

Home Office


This is our office. I'm starting here because it happens to be at one end of the house, so it's a good place to begin and work my way west through the house. It's also the room where I spend quite a lot of time, blogging, reading, talking to grown ups, and doing my day job (content manager).

Contrary as it is to my way of functioning (because I am a world-class slob) cleanliness & organization lead to efficiency. I can't see what to green if I can't even walk in the room.

This is as clean as the office is ever going to be. I started by giving it a deep clean. This room was so messy you couldn't see the floor or any desktop. It gets that way a lot. I'm messy.

 I started in that far corner there and sorted. I worked my way from left to right and back toward the door. I had a brown paper bag for recycling and a small trash can for garbage. I made a pile for things that don't belong in the office to put away when I was done. That's the key to success here: DON'T LEAVE THE ROOM TO PUT THINGS AWAY. There are too many distractions if I leave the room. I put all the toys and books and such away after the rest of the room was done.

No longer living by the pile method.

 I sifted papers I have to keep from waste. The keepers were sorted into piles based on subject: Kids' school items, Social justice papers, Christmas planning, Student Loans (ick), work papers, blank paper & office supplies, couponing stuff, etc. I worked my way across the whole room (desks, floor, and shelves) until everything was sorted. I found a ton of office supplies buried, and even an empty file box (you can see it there by my desk) to file all my piles into.

Normally I make a big pile of all the papers that require action, ruining my clean desk space immediately. This time, as I filed papers into the newly found bucket, I entered any relevant to-do's in a task list on Gmail. Now they are right there on my screen, rather than buried in a pile. I knocked more things off that list yesterday than I have in a month.

I had four paper bags of recycling and a little can full of trash when I was done. Horrifying. I have to get this room under control.

Having everything in its place leads to less waste. We had three partial reams of paper in here, scattered about. By putting all three together, I know I don't have to buy more paper. My mind is calmer, my movement freer.

Now that the office is clean, tomorrow I can create a list of action items to save energy and resources.

Head in the Sand

That's what I get for planning a bunch of goals around money. Didn't make a single one this week. Not. A. One. I just hate budgeting. Rather than look at a budget, I just crapped out on my goals. So every goal is a roll-over goal for this week. Lame.

So let's talk food.

In addition to paper towels and pop for me (another goal I failed on, I've been sneaking the Mountain Dew) we're also out of the giant Costco boxes of Rice Krispie Treats & Quaker Granola Bars that I usually keep stashed in the pantry as kid-filler. I've been buying a bunch more produce. What's been happening is, Girl 1 (aka Stealth Ninja, aka Miss MacGyver) has switched from her sneak-eating of "Christmas Treats" (Krispie Treats) over to fruits and veggies. She eats the caps of mushrooms. She noshes on carrots. She scarfs down apples, plums, even tomatoes whole. Every time I turn around she has something in her hand, in her mouth. I need more produce. I need a fridge lock.

Still, it's a pretty great problem to have.

Now that the guys are back in school, we have the cold lunch to think about. I used to throw in a fruit, a sandwich, a bag of chips, and a krispie treat/granola bar type snack. I'm trying to make their lunches healthier, and reduce packaging. We haven't bought the individually wrapped chips in a while, but their lunches don't seem filling...I found some good resources for ideas to put in their lunches at Kitchen Stewardship: Lunches to go and Kelly the Kitchen Kop: School Lunch Alternatives. Tonight over dinner I'm going to talk to the boys and find out what types of things they'd like to bring to eat. Boy 1 is eating us out of house and home (he's 12 and playing football) so I want to make sure he's getting enough to eat. The younger two boys just need more variety. The baby carrots have already returned home uneaten twice this week.

We're still doing a meatless meal or two a week. Last week the man made grilled cheese, and I made Eggplant with Tomato Pepper Sauce.

photo: Diana Rattray and About.com 

(one day I'll remember to take pictures of my own food.)

In the interest of full disclosure, let me say that eggplant is weird. The texture is just funky. I never ate eggplant as a kid, but for some reason eggplant seems earthy. Like if I'm going to be this super hippie ultra-earth conscious mom, I should be able to cook eggplant. It's local. It's meat-like-ish. It's...it's just weird. Not bad, just weird. So I'm trying out different ways of cooking it.

The kids loved this recipe, but really more for the sauce and ricotta filling than the eggplant. As we were squeaking and sponging our way through the meal, I realized I could have made the same recipe with manicotti shells instead of eggplant. Still meatless. Still healthy. I think I'll try that next time, if I can let go of the idea that I need to be an eggplant connoisseur in order to be green. 

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. 

Goals 8/12- 8/19

I have so many things I want to post about, and I'm not sure where to start. For accountability's sake, I'd better review the goals I set last week. 

GOALS FOR 8/4 - 8/11

House: 

Electricity: I'm going to build a clothesline this week to line dry our clothes Done. Still need a support for the center, but it's in use (when it isn't raining, lol).

Natural Gas: I'm going to use lower water heat settings for laundry I went about half the week before remembering this one. Started turning the temp down to "cold/cold" on everything but whites.

Water: I'm going to set a timer and time my showers to see how long I take, and then set a goal for reducing that time. Totally spaced this for myself, I'll start today...if the kids let me shower. I did encourage the boys to get their shower to under 6 minutes after football every day. They can do it in 4 and still be clean. Pretty awesome. 

Car: 

I'm going to look into carpooling the kids to & from football practice.This one is a no-go. Tried, failed. Still, football is only 5-10 minutes away, so it's not a HUGE issue. Still, would have been nice. 

Secondary:

Food: I'm going to buy a steamer and start preparing some baby food at home. Free steamer! Made baby squash yesterday. Details in a later post...

Cleaning products: I'm going to fiddle with the all-purpose cleaner mix, it's leaving a gritty residue Nope. Still need to do this. 

Reusing: I'm going to make a good storage place to put reusable items, right now they're just in a bag hanging from a cabinet in the kitchen I used a box from Costco to store the containers in, and put it in the basement. I also made a spot in the kitchen for the smaller bags we put produce in at the grocery store. I can grab them on my way to the store & reuse. :)

Recycling: I'm going to research all the rules & regs of our local recycling center to make sure I'm not screwing that up. Easy-peasy. I made a little chart with pictures for the kitchen so that the whole family would know what can be recycled. 

There are some successes, a failure, and some oops-es. Things I spaced get rolled over to this week: 

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.

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

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

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. 

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.

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.


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.


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.  


It's a little research-heavy this week, but I'm trying to pace myself. I don't want to burn out and crap out. 

Slapdashery

I need a plan. An organizational system. A method. I've been snatching and grabbing green ideas out of the air as they appeared kinda like this guy (only with out the badass mullet and mustache):  

If it sounds doable, I've been doing it, with no real rhyme or reason. I need to figure sift out a method in all this madness, so I can see where action still needs to be taken, and what's going well. 

So today's recap day. Looking back at the carbon footprint calculator that I started with, here's the analysis of what we've done so far using the site's categories:

House:

- Electricity

• Raised the temperature on the air conditioner to 78 degrees 
• Opened the windows at night to help the upstairs cool
• Turned off the dry cycle on the dishwasher
• Changed dishwasher setting from "Heavy" to "Normal"
• Installed small night lights in/near the kids' rooms so they wouldn't sleep with the bathroom lights on
• Been extra vigilant about turning off lights when we leave the room
• Only turn lights on when sunlight just won't cut it.

- Natural Gas

• Turned down the water heater from 145(ish) degrees to 130 degrees  

- Water

• Stopped pre-washing with running water, use small amount of water in sink
• Use kitchen timer to remind us to move the sprinkler
• Put bucket in shower to catch water as we wait for the water to heat up, use the bucket full of water in the yard

Car:

• Walked more (we walked home from the music festival, we also walked to & from the video store)

Secondary:

- Food

• Made one meatless meal per week
• Bought in bulk when possible to save packaging
• Planned meals based on what was in the cabinets (rather than what sounded good at the time) to purchase less

- Cleaning products

• Made our own toilet cleaner
• Made our own all-purpose cleaner (stored in a reused pop bottle)

- Reusing

• Bought & used reusable shopping bags
• Made pop bottle banks and toys
• Used baby snack canister to store bulk baking soda
• Started a bag to collect containers for future reuse

- Recycling

• Recycle everything possible
• Put recycling container in the office for paper waste

Not bad for two weeks at it, actually. I think a goal a week in each category is doable, so that's the plan. I'll do a weekly recap on Wednesday, and set new goals.

GOALS FOR 8/4 - 8/11

House: 

Electricity: I'm going to build a clothesline this week to line dry our clothes

Natural Gas: I'm going to use lower water heat settings for laundry

Water: I'm going to set a timer and time my showers to see how long I take, and then set a goal for reducing that time.

Car: 

I'm going to look into carpooling the kids to & from football practice.

Secondary:

Food: I'm going to buy a steamer and start preparing some baby food at home.

Cleaning products: I'm going to fiddle with the all-purpose cleaner mix, it's leaving a gritty residue

Reusing: I'm going to make a good storage place to put reusable items, right now they're just in a bag hanging from a cabinet in the kitchen

Recycling: I'm going to research all the rules & regs of our local recycling center to make sure I'm not screwing that up.

Wow...that's a lot. Here's hoping...