I’m On To Something Here
By Loren on Dec 10, 2008 in Uncategorized
I’m trying to save money again and I think I’m living more sustainably as a result. Being a news junkie, I usually have news coming at me from the TV, papers, magazines, and the Web during every waking hour. The economic news is wearing on me, so I’m working hard to be frugal. Each time I do something to spend less, I find my footprint on Earth gets smaller.
For example, I make so many smoothies, I’ve worn out the little rubber thing that makes the blender blades spin. For you blenderphiles, it’s called a rubber clutch coupling.
Typically, I would have tossed the blender and paid $130 bucks for a new one. That’s a lot of money! I went online and found the part — complete with easy instructions for replacing it — and ordered it. The darned thing costs $4.85 but shipping is another seven bucks, so while I was on the Web site I found the vacuum bags and wood floor cleaner we need too. It makes the shipping easier to swallow. I saved a trip to the vacuum store for the supplies. The only trouble is that I’m driving my family crazy looking for things to repair rather than replace.
A while back a friend told me she always boils down the remains of chickens, turkeys, meat bones, celery ends, onion scraps, carrot peelings, etc. to keep a ready supply of stock or broth on hand. If you cook, you know how many recipes require chicken or beef stock. I’ve done this for a couple years now and always just thought of it as a convenient way to make leftovers go further.
While cooking my part of the Thanksgiving feast this year, I realized I was out of broth and headed to the local grocery store. I was shocked to see a quart of Swanson’s chicken broth costs $3.50. After Thanksgiving guests hit the road, I threw the turkey carcasses in my pot and started the big boil. I ended up with 7 quarts of broth, which is now frozen in quart bags waiting to use. That’s roughly $25 I saved.
I admit these discoveries are not very profound. The thing is they add up, and I’m hungry for more ideas. Already we compost all our farm waste, grow our own chickens, the bulk of our vegetables, and harvest rainwater for irrigation (2,000 gallons during the last storm) but there are dozens of other things I’m not thinking of and I want you to share them with me. There are things you do, and we can all benefit from knowing them.
I read this week that there is 30% more lipstick in a tube after you’ve reached the end. The mechanism needs it to grip and spin. The writer suggested using a “lipstick brush” to rescue the remaining amount hidden deep inside. It’s sort of like a treasure hunt. Now my daughters tell me they can return their used M·A·C (makeup) cases and have them recycled and get a gift too. From M·A·C’s Web site:
RECYCLING WITH BACK TO M·A·C
Because we share your commitment to the environment, M·A·C accepts returns of its primary packaging through the Back to M·A·C Program. By returning six [6] M·A·C primary packaging containers to a M·A·C counter or M·A·C Cosmetics Online, you receive a free M·A·C Lipstick of your choice as our thanks to you.
Bring it on…. I need a couple hundred new ways to practice my obsessive behavior and save money.
One last thing: my producer Michael likes it when I’m edgy and get you all riled up so whaddya say we start publicly humiliating litterbugs? The old Puritan method of confining them in stocks in the town square works for me.
Okay, this is really the last thing: please cut back on the sprinklers. It’s winter and plants don’t need nearly as much water. Stress your grass now and then. It won’t hurt it. And by the way, stop asking… no I don’t like that fake lawn stuff. Dumbest invention I’ve ever seen. Why not put plastic flowers in your garden while you’re at it. http://pewresearch.org/pubs/811/turf-wars-a-fight-over-fake-grass
By the way, check out this video titled “Cute Animal Christmas Song.” Enjoy!
Alright, I’m done, I mean it… thanks for tuning in, logging on and speaking up.
great stuff all around… I enjoy your perspective, and as you are a fairly well known personality in our community it’s great to hear such straightforward common sense talk. Channel 10 should make Field Notes a 30 minute weekend show!! We need more voices like yours to help bridge the way towards a more sustainable future.
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Mike | Dec 10, 2008
I try to reuse those plastic sandwich bags as much as possible. I actually went and bought those sandwich keepers for my son’s lunch, since his teachers kept throwing the bags out. Living in a condo I can only do so much. I have started to make my son take short showers instead of full baths every night to cut down on water. I will make sure the toothpast tube has absolutely nothing left in it, before tossing it and buying more.
On my way to work this morning I saw it again. The hosing down of a sidewalk downtown by sixth avenue.
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Gina | Dec 11, 2008
I have a soft wax infused ‘mop’ that I can use to clean the outside of my car instead of taking my car to the car wash. It works best if you wipe down the car often. If you wait too long between uses it does not work very well.
Last night for dinner my Mom made the best Posole out of left over Thanksgiving smoked turkey. She boiled the carcass and used the little bit of meat with that wonderful broth to make a very good filling dinner. She grew up in the depression era so making due and making things last is how she grew up.
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Connie | Dec 13, 2008
Bravo, Loren. I applaud your lifestyle shift – “Don’t replace, fix it!” You are combining wisdom with knowledge. This is exactly the change that is needed in order to move us toward more sustainability. These are very early baby-steps to be sure, but they the beginning of the huge changes that are needed. A few suggestions:
1. Eliminate the magazines and newspapers. You can get all your news online or radio. In fact, many magazines and newpapers publish online editions. Virtually any news and commentary you want is available in paperless form. This saves trees.
2. Regarding food, we adults should embrace vegetarianism. While our growing children may need some meat in order to meet their protein requirements, we adults don’t need it. In fact, some cancers (colon?) are believed to be related to the high protein diet of so-called developed cultures such as ours. Vegetarianism is WIN-WIN-WIN: ecologically responsible, saves money, and improves our health. It’s a no-brainer.
3. Reuse Ziplock Bags, Glad plastic containers, jars, other plastic bags and containers. While these products and others like them, are normally thought of as disposable, they are often of such high quality that they can be used again and again. Washing them is easy once you learn how and do it gently. I wash plastic bags, dry them, and then hang them up for complete drying. The Ziplock plastic bag I use for my lunch is now about 6 months old and still going strong.
4. Dilute your dish detergent about ½ with water. Most dish detergents are stronger than they need to be. Dilution cuts down on consumption, pollution, and saves money.
5. Learn low-water use techniques for washing dishes. Fill a glass with water and moisten the dirty dishes. Put some diluted detergent on your sponge and scrub off the dishes. Now place them in the sink, turn on the water at a low rate and quickly rinse. This saves a lot of water. Maybe someone else has a better idea. I’d love to hear it. And, of course, the dishwasher should become a relic of the past.
6. Take low water showers. Get into shower and wet your head (not body) with the hot water tap on but using the cold water that always runs before it gets hot. You can stand the cold water on your head, but not on your body. Shampoo up and then rinse, again using the hot water tap. By now the water should be getting warm. You can now wet down your body. Turn tap off and soap down head-to-foot – with the shower off. Now turn shower on just long enough to rinse off, and your done. You have just showered using a fraction of the water you would normally use.
7. We need to start telling retailers and salespeople that we will not accept ridiculous packaging. We need to stop buying the stuff that uses excessive packaging. There are huge changes that have to take place to reach the state of “total recycling” and “Zero-Waste,” but we all can help by speaking out and acting in our role as “consumers.”
6. Shut down your Heating/AC. Southern California has a very mild climate. We don’t need to have heating/AC. If it gets cool or warm, open/close windows and dress accordingly. Once you get used to it, you don’t even notice it. I have not used our heating/AC for 7 years. You would be amazed what it does to your electric/gas bill!
Again, bravo, Loren, for your ideas and changes.
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In response, on December 15, 2008, Jay said:
It is completely amazing that things my conservative, depression era grand parents and their parents took for granted is now such a wonderful new idea! Look in ANY thrift store for books older than 1960 or so and you’ll see hundreds of tales of thriftiness where socks are darned, appliances fixed, broken items repaired or have some new use created out of them.
For all you “let’s get back to the good ol’ days” folks, try hanging your laundry instead of using the dryer, or better yet, get a tub and wringer and wash it yourself.
Make EVERYTHING from scratch instead of buying it. This goes from condiments to furniture…
YOU’LL SAVE MONEY!!! AND REDUCE YOUR CARBON FOOTPRINT…
Actually, you will only save money if you DEVALUE your own time and resources! You’ll only reduce your carbon footprint if you do NOTHING! All of what we have today, although not perfect, has increased our the efficiency of our society. If we went back to the stone ages as some proclaim (try living in Julian right now without the heater on John!), then we would also have stone age jobs and be living in stone age houses!
STOP THE GROUSING and START INVENTING! You know, the thing that made America great for our Grandparents?!!!
Hey, maybe that’s it…we should invent a machine that converts all the hot air and belly aching to energy to power our !!! Eureka…quick, got to patent that before anyone else can profit…
In response, on December 16, 2008, John Mustol said:
In response to the above comment: I buy most of my clothes at thrift stores, and I do hang dry our laundry, but I use a washer. Your point about heaters in Julian (and some other places) is well-taken. Obviously some people around the county still need heaters in the cool season. Your idea about looking in old books for ideas is great.
I don’t think we are “grousing.” We are trying to be creative by imagining new and different ways of living on this wonderful but limited earth that God has given us. The idea is not to regress to some previous era, but to call into question some of the modern assumptions (the modern articles of faith that our parents and grandparents took for granted) such as: (1) humankind is inevitably progressing into a “better” and “better” future. (2) more technology is always better. (3) increasing wealth and an ever-increasing standard of living from one generation to the next is normal and expected. (4) more productivity and efficiency are always better. (5) reducing labor is always a good idea. We are imagining that not only the environment but our own happiness may be enhanced not by “more, bigger, better, faster,” but by a simpler, humbler, less complex approach to life. We are exploring how life might look if not just self-interest, money, efficiency, and productivity mattered, but other people and other living things mattered too. We are asking ourselves how we might change toward genuine sustainability so that when our grandchildren think of their grandparents (us), they might be grateful rather than perplexed.
Technology is not intrinsically bad. It has given us many good thing for which we are all thankful. But, like everything on this earth, it has its limits. The ecological problems we face cannot be solved by technology alone. They are also moral and spiritual problems. They have to do with questions about values, meaning, happiness, love, and self-giving – about what life and existence is all about. Technology cannot answer these questions. The Ecological Problem will require spiritual reevaluation and difficult moral choices. We are limited creatures living in a limited world. The modern illusion of limitlessness and ever-increasing power must end. This is what we are talking about – how to restructure our lives and regain a sense of contentment, humility, and limitedness that, perhaps, our grandparents (and certainly many of the ancients) may have understood much better than we do.
John Mustol | Dec 15, 2008
Beautifully said John, and so true. Thanks.
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Loren Nancarrow | Dec 16, 2008
As a fellow gentleman, you might want to consider having a real shave every morning, which will put less in the landfill, and is ten times more enjoyable…
A good old-fashioned double edge razor only takes blades, not all the plastic garbage around it. It’s also much cheaper (cartridges are upwards of 10-15 bucks for 4, blades are about 10 cents each). You’re saving money and putting less in the landfill. You’ll get a better shave, too, although the small concession is that you do need to take the time to get the hang of how to wield an old-school razor properly.
For those with some guts, a straight blade puts nothing in the landfill and nothing has to be replaced ever, you simply strop and hone your blade.
Get rid of the cans of pressurized goo as well and get some proper shaving soap and a brush. Again, no cans in the landfill, cheaper (a puck of soap can last over a year easily), and again, does a better job.
As another previous poster said, it’s interesting to note that this idea of going back to basics is often the same thing that grandpa always just did as a part of life.
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Joe | Dec 18, 2008
Around our house we use on average ~7 KwHr per day. This is for two people in a house with ~3400 SqFt of living space. Doing this required changing all lights in the house to CFL’s and turning on only those that are needed when they are needed. All major appliances are the most energy efficient available, and computers are put to sleep or turned off when not being used. During the summer, the house is opened up at night and closed tightly during the heat of the day with the result that the (9 tons) of air-conditioning in the house was run precisely 1 hour during all of this summer. This process is reversed on warm winter days and with any luck the forced-air heat will probably be run just once to make sure it still works.
Warm clothes worn in the house make it possible to keep it cool in the winter and still be comfortable. We use small highly efficient (ceramic) space heaters to heat only the rooms we are in, and the dishes are washed by hand in a small tub that fits in the kitchen sink. We use a medium-sized toaster oven that is good enough to cook most of the things one would normally put into the large electric ovens.
No water is wasted, and all warm-up water is collected for use in the yard and occasionally in low-flush volume toilets. The recirculation pump is turned on and off manually when needed to prepare the water lines for hot showers, and very-low-flow shower heads have been installed in all bathrooms with a shower. Total water usage in a typical month when outside usage is minimum: ~746 gallons. Warm-up water is occasionally used in the (~.5 acre) yard during the summer, and water usage during “watering” season is ~8976 gallons in the driest months. A bucket to collect warm-up water sits in the laundry sink where we routinely wash our hands, and only the little water used for rinsing is discarded. That sink is close to the powder room in the hall and is used for washing up after visiting the toilet.
Rainwater coming off the house is collected in barrels which are covered until needed, then water is distributed on plants in the yard by hand. When the sprinkler is used, it is operated manually to ensure that only the water that is needed is applied and that none sprays or runs into the street. There is no grass anywhere on the property.
Everything that is accepted for recycling is recycled, and less than a cubic foot of un-compacted garbage per week goes to the landfill. All valuable recyclable materials such as aluminum cans and plastic beverage containers with a CRV are recycled by selling them to a recycler.
All trips are planned with Google maps, and the most efficient routes have been committed to memory for the weekly store runs. Other trips are planned with alternate routes just in case, and all of them are tweaked with Google maps to maximize efficiency of the car which gets around 33 mpg.
Does all of this require a bit of attention? Of course it does, but the bulk of our utility bills are made up of the account maintenance charge, not usage of those utilities: our usage never exceeds the first pricing tier. And the cans and bottles take us out to lunch about once a quarter. This is how we have reduced our carbon footprint and save money. I challenge anybody that reads this to do better as far as water and electric usage are concerned.
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David L. Caster | Dec 18, 2008