A new perspective on changed behavior

Sometimes I do not realize how much I have altered my behaviors until someone asks a simple question. Recently, I was enjoying lunch with a friend and she asked me where I shop for clothing. Only a few years ago, I would occasionally go shopping with her, usually to the outlet mall. In reply, I shrugged and said the thrift store was my main shopping venue.

Note, I have never really enjoyed going to the mall and as much as I liked some of the offerings of the outlet mall, I had to drive over 30 minutes on the interstate to get there. Driving places just for shopping has never been my idea of fun. Instead, I make once weekly trips to the thrift store and am surprised at what I find. It is a treasure hunt and an exercise in patience because finding what I want and need can take weeks or even months, or I can find something I know would work well with my plans. Oddly enough, I enjoy discovering a new item or finding something I have searched for.

Buying secondhand hits two of my values: living frugally and lessening my consumption footprint. I surprised my friend with my answer but the truth is in my spending plan: I can afford most things I want or need on $20 a month and usually carry over sums to the next month. I am affordably dressed, few people know I have purchased secondhand unless I tell them and I like tallying up the number of pieces of an outfit I am wearing is from the thrift shop or garage sale. My pride and accomplishment in this feat only encourages me to find other ways of acquiring items with fewer effects on my spending and increase my sustainability.

What have you done differently?

Enjoying fresh and local fruits and veggies

The weather is really warming in my area, to the point that we may get near the record high temperature (the record is 80 degrees Fahrenheit on Thursday with a forecast for 77 degrees that day). If gardening is not your thing and you enjoy locally grown greens, please keep in mind Community-Supported Agriculture or CSAs. This is where you purchase a share of a farmer's future harvest now, and he or she provides you will a box of herbs, fruits and veggies for ten+ weeks. While many popular farms have filled all their orders for the season, there are always a few organic farmers looking for more people to join. And your health insurance may give you a bonus for healthy eating, decreasing the cost of your share. To locate a CSA near you, visit the Local Harvest Web site.

Since I grow my own produce and herbs, I am only looking to supplement what my garden provides. Therefore, I use the farmer's market to add to my diet. I can get fruits, veggies, herbs, meats, cheese and more at the small farmer's market close to my workplace. The main one in the area, one of the largest in the country, has an even wider selection and I know many people choose to do most of their grocery shopping each Saturday at the farmer's market. Whether you are looking for a little or a lot of locally grown food for you to choose from, a farmer's market is a great place to start. Talking with the farmers who grow the food or create the product is an engaging experience. If you are unfamiliar with the location of available farmer's markets, visit the Local Harvest Web site for more information.

Remember, if you cannot grow it yourself, a CSA share and farmer's markets are your next best bet for locally grown and sustainably produced food.

Starting the day out right

Breakfast is one of the most important meals of the day. Oddly enough, there seems to be a parallel between what I have for breakfast every day and choosing to live a more sustainable life. Disclaimer: I am far from perfect with my monthly trips to the grocery store and choices that do included processed food stuffs. However, breakfast is one where the quantity of processed food has diminished.

Growing up, breakfast meant boxed cereal, a glass of orange juice and a multivitamin. This did not change much during my college years or my graduate school years, but I began mixing it up with some pancakes. I know the pancake recipe by heart and can easily whip up a batch that lasts me two to three days when I store the leftover batter in the refrigerator. I have dabbled with oatmeal, but kept coming back to pancakes. When I began making my own jams, I found two slices of toast, buttered and slathered with homemade jam and a glass of milk (plus multivitamin) were a yummy breakfast.

As I look back now, I was moving ever so slowly away from prepackaged breakfast products to more homemade items: pancakes, jam on toast (using home-baked bread) and now to to more homegrown, sustainable items: breakfast burritos. While the tortillas, cheese and salsa are store purchased, I have been enjoying fresh free-range eggs and organic sausage in my burritos. In fact, burritos have overtaken other breakfast foods as my favorite. And yes, I make these breakfasts prior to going to work each morning.

Why do I mention my breakfast? It is not just to brag about how wonderful my homemade breakfast meals are; it is also to demonstrate that breakfast has evolved both to be more tasty and align with my personal values. The gains are modest, but I derive great satisfaction in using eggs purchased from a colleague at work and frying up some sausage from an organic farmer while making my own breakfast. Furthermore, the things I am still purchasing also shows me where I need to work. This year, I plan to make my own salsa and fruit syrups and possibly my own flour tortillas thus, taking another step forward in my sustainability journey.

Consider the downstream effects

Getting rid of unwanted, unused or expired items is not as simple as throwing it in the trash can. While many people do this, there are consequences to this action that affect the quality of our water, our air and our soil. Computer monitors and televisions contain heavy metals which are toxic when consumed. All those plastics do not break down especially in a landfill, and burning garbage just adds more greenhouse gases and unpleasant chemicals to the air.

However, one of the most worrisome trends is all the medications that can be measured in our waters. Hormones, steroids, antibiotics and nonprescription medications can all be detected in our waterways. Unfortunately, the way we have been disposing of old or outdated medication is by flushing it down the toilet. Water treatment facilities are not equipped to handle the drugs and the medication is passed without alteration into the water system. While there is debate about how much those dilute amounts of drugs may affect us, there are more than just humans drinking the water. In fact, there are many organisms that live their entire lives in water and they are being affected, altering their physiology, including their reproductive capability.

My city recently hosted a medication disposal and sharps collection program. All citizens were encouraged to bring unused, old and unwanted medications for proper disposal. I had two pet medications, old topical prescription products and several other expired over-the-counter drugs including Aleve and sleeping pills that I brought to the disposal site. This is one way I ensure old medications are not merely thrown away or flushed down the toilet.

I encourage you to find such a program in your area. If there is not one, talk to your local medical facility about starting one. Taking the time to dispose of medications correctly helps not only yourself and your neighbors but the entire ecology. The fish and frogs thank you.

How green can you go?

Treading lighter on this singular planet of ours is a personal challenge of mine. While I am doing things that I had never conceived of before (e.g., bringing my own towel to work to dry my hands), I am looking for the next step to take. One of my most problematic areas is petroleum consumption. For me, this is more than just the gasoline in my car and the natural gas heating my home and my water; it includes all the plastic holding and wrapping my food. Learning ways to reduce my consumption is important to me, but this is a difficult thing in our oil-based society. (Challenge: think of one thing not touched by oil or oil-based products. Hint: clothing is not one of them.)

What about if you are just getting started? You would like to live greener, but do not know where to get started. There are many posts out there that give you hints, usually along the lines of:

• Turn off the faucet when brushing your teeth.


• Change your incandescent bulbs to compact fluorescents.


• Wash your laundry in cold water.


• Turn down your water heater to 120 degrees Fahrenheit.


• Take showers rather than baths.


• Insulate your water heater and your exterior electrical outlets.

These are easy things, the low-hanging fruit as many people say. However, I am not sure how many people really do these naughty things like let the water run while brushing teeth. This was never advice I had to take because my mom told me run the water only when I needed to wet the toothbrush, rinse the toothbrush and fill the cup to rinse my mouth.

The greatest advice that few people really emphasize is reduce the amount you use. This may be as simple as using a pea-sized amount of toothpaste on your toothbrush rather than the inch suggested by the toothpaste manufacturer or as large as letting your car sit in the garage at least one day a week. If you usually take the car out every day of the week and sometimes multiple times a day to run errands, driving less has a greater effect than changing light bulbs (but CFLs help too).

Generate less garbage by using handkerchiefs, towels and napkins rather than using the disposable paper equivalents. Start composting rather than throwing away food. Think about not only the food but how it is packaged. Buying food with fewer wrappings and boxes means less to throw away or recycle.

Get at your ick factor. I am sure that the "if it's yellow, let it mellow" philosophy would not go down well in some households. Challenge yourself to try it anyway. How about cloth wipes rather than paper? For some people, that is too much, but urine is not dangerous and in fact, makes a great fertilizer. Just use cloth for urine wiping only and see how you like it. If I have offended your sensibilities, purchase toilet paper with the highest post-consumer recycled paper content you can find. Fewer trees will be cut down to wipe your bum.

Go old fashioned. Whether you use a drying rack or a clothesline, hang out your cold-wash-and-rinse laundry. If you mow your lawn, try a reel mower powered by human rather than gasoline or electric engine. I hear it is great exercise and nearly noiseless. Collect rain water and use it to wash your hair (so says my grandmother) or water the new shade trees you planted around the house. Shade is great for keeping the house cool in the summer. Bonus points for planting trees that produce something edible.

Get dirty. Who says you need a lawn? Go native (the naked part is optional) and use plants adapted to the area you are in. Generally, this means lower maintenance and less demand on water. Put in edibles. Be rebellious and put asparagus, beans and rhubarb on your front lawn. Personally, I think okra plants have gorgeous blossoms. Edible does not have to mean ugly. Put in herbs along the sidewalk and people might come from miles around just to walk past your house (and maybe take a sprig or two of basil, oregano and spearmint).

Try a greener item or idea that makes you a bit uncomfortable. You might find you like it. How do you know if you never try it? By extending your reach, you learn what you are capable of accomplishing as well as learning your limits. My colleague may have me beat in petroleum consumption with his constant bicycle usage, but I win in the nondisposable department (go cloth!)

Lest you think I left the frugal part behind--I bet you save money as well. See what trying something new will do for the planet and your bottom line.

Workplace green-living challenges

I recently had an interesting experience at work that I wanted to share. In my own pursuit of decreasing my waste footprint, I decided rather than throwing away paper towels after washing my hands in the bathroom, I would bring a cotton terry towel to work and use that. This reduces my contribution to the garbage bulk coming from my company, which gets buried in a big hole in the ground, and I purchased the hand towel at a local charity thrift shop, a lovely lilac color with many good years of use left in it.

So while I was cheering myself for my choice and feeling self-righteous, I visited a colleague with some questions on a project. Interestingly, she was clearing out her drawer of old food. Glass jars, cardboard boxes and other items filled up the garbage can to the brim, an item that stands about 18 inches tall, likely a standard rectangular office garbage can. I was stunned not only by the wastefulness of food, which she claimed she was frightened to touch, but the sheer bulk of the items being thrown out. The glass, cardboard and other items could have been recycled. The raisins could have been used in cooking or baking even if past the expiration date. Dry cocoa mix, packets of Pop Tarts, items that have lots of plastic packaging and preservatives are not likely to be bad, just stale.

I just stood there looking at all the waste and just felt overwhelmed. How do I fight against this? Is it just so easy to throw things away that we do not even think about what we are doing? I had wondered how the statistic that each person throws away an average of 4.5 pounds of garbage a day was achieved and now I understand why. For me, the decision to bring a reusable towel to work to dry my hands was a step forward in my more sustainable life, but my stomach dropped looking at my colleague's garbage can. I did not say a word about the waste and walked back to my own cube with its two pieces of garbage, an empty box from my microwave lunch and a facial tissue.

In the interest of full disclosure, I have not left the consumer life behind. I just finished two plastic bags of cereal. After ferrying cat poop from the basement, the bags will be thrown away. My 13-gallon kitchen garbage can is nearly full of stuff, much of it plastic, even if it has not been emptied for a month. I do try to think of alternative uses before discarding an item, but many times, the packaging or item is a one-time use only. With curbside garbage and recycling pickup, I can see what my neighbors discard and some of it could be reused (e.g., furniture) or discarded correctly (e.g., computer monitors). I feel like we have let our life become a mindless throw-away one.

If you had been standing at my colleague's desk looking at all the food in containers she was throwing away, what would you have said?

I love garage sales!

This year, the garage sales acquisitions have been sparse but fruitful. For example, I can visit five garage sales on a Saturday (my usual bargain hunting day) and leave them all feeling like I wasted my time. Other times, I find several useful or wanted items (although I was unable to find a used, functional watering can for the garden). With my vow to buy clothing secondhand plus the need to find gifts for seven going on nine nieces and nephews, garage sales visits are important to me. I have a limited budget for gift giving, and I am interested in seeing how much used clothing I can purchase in my size.

How has this year treated me? Better than I expected in the clothing realm. There is a certain satisfaction in wearing an item purchased for only 25 cents (a shirt, nightgown and two pairs of knit shorts for a total of $1 at nearby city-wide garage sale). Usually if I find a garage sale with clothing in my size, I purchase multiple items. However, it is rare to find both items in my size and clothing I like. Still, I am proud of my $1.25 denim capri pants and like to have more shirts to wear for working outdoors (50 cents a piece). I recently found a garage sale that I had patronized a year ago and found clothing in my size. Not only did I find more items to purchase (a lovely purple sweater for winter, looked new for only $2), but I found a t-shirt for one of my nephews.

Since I know some of the clothing sizes for my nieces and nephews, I have been looking for low-wear items. Oddly enough, only my niece who is ready to move into the size 6 clothes is the only one with clothing-based gifts. With the exception of the t-shirt I just found, I have been unable to find clothing for my nephews or older niece. Where is the size 12 girl's clothing anyway? While it has been feast or famine, I have been able to find books and games for my assorted relatives of a diminuative size. Some show more wear than others, but all tell great stories (with no commercial hook like Disney) or explore skills all children need to learn. My stock supply of gifts is back where I like to be and means I do not have worry about spending money around Christmas time for the children.

In addition, I have been looking for gardening tools and just found a Garden Claw for $7. It will be nice to break the soil into smaller bits before planting. Or I may find I do not need it. Either way, I did not want to buy the tool new. My trusty shovel does most of the soil work, but mixing in compost, manure or other soil amendments is not easy. I am still hoping to find a few more gardening items before the end of the garage sale season.

At the beginning of the garage sale season, I made a list of items I wanted to find and have fulfilled about half the list. Of course, I always find other things I do not need, but decided were useful or I could put to use. There is always room in my spending plan for finding a few extras like a human-powered lawn edger and a small storage container. In fact, I consider garage sales part of my entertainment for the week and enjoy finding that great bargain.

Why do you shop at garage sales?

Following my gardening passion

I have begun reading more green living blogs including Little Homestead in the City as I seek more ways to live a greener life. The idea of converting the ubiquitous (and bland) suburban lawn to a productive garden really appeals to me. Of course, the Dervaes family has the advantage of farming year round in Pasadena, California, not an option in the Midwest. However, the idea of urban homesteading, converting lawns to gardens has really attracted my attention for many reasons.

Being satisfied where you life is one way to combat the keeping-up-with-the-Jones mentality. While I crave a country retreat, I can begin to move toward a more sustainable, independent life by converting more of my suburban lawn for growing fruits and vegetables. While I have not worked out all the details and am not sure how rain gardens and veggie gardens will coexist on my small plot of land, the best way I can determine if raising crops for myself and possible sale is viable is by doing, not waiting and trying when it is my livelihood.

I am pretty excited about expanding the area I can grow food. Part of the difficulty is the size of my property. I have one large tree and planted four additional trees that will grow and cast shade on only 0.165 acres (including the driveway and house). Planning for the present and the future is not easy so I may take the short-term benefit over the long-term changes in the light that falls on my property. Certainly growing my own food in the age of rising gasoline and food prices benefits me.

However, I need to refine the plan. I have put in several requests at my local library for various books on gardening, terrace gardening, converting my suburban lawn to a garden, raising chickens and other topics that affect my future pursuits, both immediate and long term. While I have scavenged some wood to build more raised garden beds, I am waiting until I have read some books and consulted with others before constructing the 8' by 4' frames, the size I think I want. My brain is filled with ideas for a black raspberry bed, an asparagus bed, what vegetables to plant in the new raised garden bed and if I can fit a few fruit trees on the property. The only idea I can implement within the next month is stealing more rhubarb divisions from my mom (with her permission) and planting them on the slope in the front yard. It will not take up the entire front yard slope, but it will give me a start on edible landscaping with the benefit the plants grow large enough I can remove a good swath of lawn to cut. Bonus for me!

I have lots of planning and much sod removal ahead of me. Plus, I will need topsoil to add to my raised beds and lots of composted horse manure amend the soil I have and will import from the family farm. Truthfully, many things have drawn my interest and then my motivation to see the idea through has waned. So far, I am really excited about the garden I have and wished I had more space to plant more things. I may change my mind over winter, not implement the idea in 2009 or other factors will change my mind. This new idea, adding to my growing capacity and becoming more self-sufficient has great promise and I am not one to back down from a challenge when my intellect, interest and passion are engaged, as they seem to be right now. I will continue to report on this idea as it develops in my life and throw in some ideas gleaned from the various books I plan to read.

Do you have plans to put in a garden or expand what you have? What are your reasons for doing so?

Measuring the green in my life

I like to reflect on how my behavior has changed to reflect a more green philosophy on life. While I am far from perfect, the steps I have taken have been green in more than one fashion, better for the environment and my pocketbook. Some of the ways I have chosen are not without their frustration, but seeing where I am and where I would like to be give guidance to my actions. Therefore, where do I stand now?

Green behaviors fully integrated into my lifestyle:
Composting including food and cat waste
Purchasing used items including clothing, gifts, furniture, cookware and more.
Growing my own vegetables and fruit
Harvesting rain water
Collecting water in bathroom and from washer for reuse
Bringing my own bags for store purchases
Reusing and repurposing items (e.g., plastic jugs)
Recycling items I cannot reuse or repurpose
Driving the speed limit and combining errands (saves gasoline and carbon emissions)
Planting native trees and plants around the house
Cooking and baking from scratch (minimizes packaging I throw away)
Mowing my lawn with an electric mower
Eliminating chemical treatments for the lawn and yard (with the rare spritz of Roundup or sprinkle of Sevin--none so far this year)
Drying my laundry outdoors
Buying only renewable energy from my electric utility
Flushing the toilet only when necessary
Installing compact fluorescent bulbs when incandescents die in light fixtures
Using cloth napkins, handkerchiefs and towels rather than paper products

Green behaviors I am working on:
Buying and using locally grown food products--I find these a challenge as I am not as fond of vegetables as others are, and new types of veggies overwhelm my ability to eat them. Plus, farmer's markets are more expensive than grocery stores.
Reducing the amount of plastic I buy--So many items are packaged in plastic, I find it difficult to avoid bringing it home with me. I seek alternatives (e.g., buy the mustard in a glass jar rather than plastic), but many times I grab an item before realizing the extent of the plastic I brought home.
Carpooling--This has been a challenge as finding a carpooling buddy has not been easy. I have a potential driver, who I will pay for each trip. However, we have only carpooled once and it will take some time to establish a relationship for the long term.
Turning off lights and other electronics not in use--Generally, I am good about this, but I do forget. Practice makes for better behavior!
Making and using my own cleaners--I used the last of my toilet bowl cleaner and am looking forward to using vinegar and baking soda in the bathroom.

Green behaviors to pursue:
Reducing the clutter in my home--Frankly, I have too much stuff. Some should be given away, others could be sold. Regardless, simplicity in the home will only encourage me to minimize what I own, maintain and clean, while reducing my ecological footprint.
Learning to make items myself--While I can competently sew, I do not know how to knit, crochet or can food. In an effort to be more self-sufficient, I would like to make more items myself like socks and can foodstuffs I have grown.
Installing a rain garden or two--I keep talking about this, but have not executed plans. This year, I have gotten closer to creating one, but will likely begin smothering grass in late summer/early autumn to set the foundation for placing a rain garden next spring.

I have a good start on some basic green behavior, but looking around my home and at my list above, I have a distance to go. There are so many other areas to explore like sustainability (e.g., do I use peat moss, which is readily available but destroys bogs when harvested, or coir, which is renewable but more expensive?) and very difficult choices like installing solar collectors for heating water and generating electricity. Money plays a factor in my choices and I have to weigh my current economics and future finances against a return on investment I will not see for decades.

Fun in the garden

This past weekend, I took another step closer to food independence in my suburban lot of ~1,700 square feet--I installed a small terraced pyramid and planted 50 everbearing strawberries in the new raised garden bed. This may not seem like much but for me, it is quite a bit. In fact, as I write this a day after this adventure, I am still sore from pulling up sod by hand (over two hours of work), putting in soil, mixing in composted manure and peat moss (another hour with two people's help), and planting 50 plants (nearly an hour by myself).

Most of my out-of-pocket expenses came from buying the strawberry plants and the metal that made up the walls of the pyramidal raised bed. I took the advice of my earlier post and found a horse farm giving away composted manure. Since my father is a farmer, he has access to some topsoil, some of which is just sitting in a pile waiting for his daughter to ask "Dad, can you bring me some soil?" In this case, it pays to know someone, and my father was not too busy on the farm so he could take time to bring the soil to me.

On top of the soil was fermented, chopped hay (haylage). It is a bit stinky, usually used for cattle feed but works well as mulch. This also comes from being a farmer's daughter, and I appreciate this using this as the mulch since the free bark mulch would be too heavy for small tender plants. My rain water, collected in the conveniently placed rain barrels, supplied the water for the new plantings.

The rest of the cost of establishing a new garden bed (and adding a bit more soil and organic matter to the current one) was the cost of some gas to get the composted horse manure and treating my parents to dinner for all their hard work in helping me set up my garden bed. Plus my dad was a great sport and helped with a few household chores that I am unequipped to do (e.g., no ladder to remove leaves from the gutters).

Although I have removed the juniper bushes and a cotoneaster from the front of my yard in autumn 2006, I only have a few plants to replace them: two blueberry bushes and two Rosa blanda bushes. These do not take up nearly the space the juniper bushes did so I am still looking to add plants to the space. Until I do, it is open soil that weeds like to take over. To prevent the constant weed pulling, I finally decided to visit the piles of free bark mulch and use that to cover the space until I am ready to plant whatever it is I choose. My inclination is to put in native plants, but I may change my mind.

As a bonus, my boss just gave me a gift certificate to a local greenhouse. I intend on visiting the greenhouse to see what sort of plants are available (including any native plants), figuring out how many I need and starting on the nearly empty bed in front of my house. I do not want more lawn so that is not an option. My supervisor's generosity means if I find items I like, I do not have to pay out of my pocket.

My growing-my-own-food plans also include a small cucumber bush, three tomato plants (if I do not kill them moving them to larger pots since I started them from seed), some lettuce and hopefully, some onions. The raised vegetable garden bed is 9 feet by 9 feet, not a lot of space, and the soil needs some heavy amendments since it is nitrogen deficient and low in phosphorus. I paid some money for the vegetable seeds, but it does not add a lot to the cost of gardening. Typically composted manure, topsoil and mulch take a larger bite out of my gardening budget.

Finally, I am glad to say that my strawberry plants, even in the two days since being installed in the garden pyramid, are already showing signs of life. It is supposed to rain overnight so hopefully, all will progress well and I will be eating some of the fruits of my labor come August!

Update about my green living improvements

Earlier, I posted specific steps I wanted to take or specific items I wanted buy to improve my sustainability as an individual. How have I done so far?

I have purchased brand new greeting cards for the slew of birthdays this month as well as various over the counter mediations for a variety of ailments. The former I could have purchased used but not the latter so I am doing okay with room for improvement.

One of my purchases ended up in a plastic bag so that was bad, but it was only one trip to one store and I neglected to bring additional reusable bags with me for the three stops I made. Again, I made most of my trips with reusable bags so one lapse is not a tragedy, but I know to prepare better next time.

I have made no progress on purchasing the cat poo composter so I will have to consider that soon. Other issues are more immediately important so this possible purchase has fallen by the wayside. I am reminded each time I use another plastic bag that I need to decide on this matter soon before I need to find more plastic bags.

On the plus side, I have purchased two sweaters, a long-sleeved knit top and a nightgown all at the thrift store. In addition, my niece will be receiving a gift of clothing also purchased secondhand. It kept me in my budget and allowed me to get three pieces for her to wear. I have been looking for denim jeans to purchase but none have appeared in my size. I also purchased a DVD secondhand even though it is more plastic. I rented the movie first, decided I enjoyed it and wanted a copy of my own.

Since I have been consuming more soda over the last several months (in parallel to my pizza consumption), I am considering making my own soda. Not only would this be more frugal but I would consume less plastic since I do not need to buy more plastic two liter bottles. This is a plan in the works but with all the snow my area keeps getting, I have not been motivated to visit the beer and wine shop that carries the supplies.

I am also looking at ways to use worn clothing and fabric scraps. I was stunned when I found a woman who crocheted her own rug out of secondhand denim. It is a great idea and prompted me to look at rag rugs and how to construct them. I found two books, Twenty Easy Machine-Made Rugs by Jackie Dodson and Rugs from Rags by John Hinchcliffe and Angela Jeffs, to help me figure out what techniques I can use to construct a rag rug. I found ideas in both that I may use for my home. Again, I can reuse materials I have to construct something useful.

As if these ideas are not enough, I had an epiphany at work after seeing a colleagues hand-knitted socks: I can make my own socks! I will preface the following statements with I cannot knit (attempted unsuccessfully) and I do not know how to crochet, but creating my own clothing and being more self-sufficient is part of what I want to do and who I want to be. I am planning on having a friend guide me through knitting and I borrowed a book from the library to instruct me in how to crochet. Both methods can be used to construct socks. Time is at a premium right now and my concentration is not on how to make new things, but the possibilities have my creativity cooking. I hope I can report one of my new ideas bears fruit in a few months.

Repurposing items

In my previous post, I discussed how I try to extend the useful life of various items by fixing them rather than throwing them out and buying a new one. However, there gets to be a point where the item is too worn for its original use or cannot be fixed. Then what do I do with it? I have found new uses for various items in my home and hope they may inspire you to look at worn items in a new light.

I upgraded my sheets to a higher thread count but there was no real reason to get rid of the original set I had. I love my cats but their tendency to leave fur everywhere makes it difficult to clean furniture. Well, I could clean it but I got tired of the maintenance. Enter old sheets. Laying them over the furniture means the cats deposit their fur on a washable cover. It is easy to remove when company comes over and protects the fabric from cat fur and crumbs from dinner. For one piece of furniture, I sewed two full flat sheets together and it completely covered the sofa. Extra bonus: discourages my cats from scratching at the sofa corners.

Other uses for old sheets: dropcloths. When painting or refinishing, they soak up splashes and splotches. Any old worn fabric can work for this. I can imagine old curtains, blankets or tablecloths could work as well.

I had some pillowcases my mom gave to me in college or just after for my own use. I used them regularly until the fabric was thinning and the corners were starting to unravel. The cats not only lay on the sofa, but curl up in the corner against the throw pillows, another fur collector. To protect them, I stuff them inside the old pillowcase. They get a bit compacted but the ease of cleaning far surpasses that minor drawback. I also use old pillowcases on top of the cushions on my kitchen chairs. Again, cats lay on them so it is easier to remove and wash the pillowcase than defur the chair cushion.

Recently some of my socks have been developing holes in them. To me, it was not worth repairing so they ended up in my rag pile. Old socks are great for polishing shoes or rubbing off stain from wood. Old underwear or t-shirts are also thrown in the rag pile. These items are used for dusting or cleaning. I use Pledge and spray the rag before dusting. It works well and after a wash, it is ready for another round. I have used rags to wash down outdoor furniture or wash the car. With the exception of cat messes, I try to use cotton towels or rags to clean many dirty items rather than paper towels.

Old towels are repurposed in various ways. Depending on how worn they are, they may end up as towels for beach visits or folded up inside a pet carrier for cushion. Old towels can be relegated to the rag pile or used to dry a car after washing. Since I have laminate flooring, I use a towel on which to press my sponge mop to minimize the streaks on my floor.

Repurposing can also mean reusing an empty, one-time use container. For example, there was a tall slender tin that had chocolate-covered pretzels in it. Once empty, I took it home and put my spaghetti pasta in it. The container is nicer than the Creamette box and I have something sturdy in the kitchen. Pill bottles are used to hold various nails and screws or as travel-size containers for cotton balls. An empty gift basket holds all the cat toys.

A bit of imagination and there are new uses for old, worn items. While I illustrate some uses by protecting furniture from my cats, I believe it also works for humans. I have been repeatedly thankful there was a cover on my sofa when I dropped food while I was eating. Sending fewer items to the landfill is good and if all else fails, cotton and other natural fabrics can be cut up and added to the composter!

Fix it and use it again

In an earlier post, I discussed items I had purchased but not rendered useful quite yet. Although I am frugal, it is a waste of money to buy fabric for curtains and not sew them or buy a clothesline and not install it. While I vow to finally use these items, there is a related topic to mention and one which is firmly in the camp of sustainability: to fix or mend an item.

I own a cut glass butter dish I thought I had gotten for a steal: $0.25 at a garage sale. I was thrilled to find it and it takes up a lot less room than a small dessert plate to hold my butter--and there is a cover. It took me a couple months to notice there was a crack in the butter dish cover, right through the middle. I continued to use it and it took nearly eight months before it finally broke. Since the glass broke so cleanly in half, I intend on repairing it and using it again. I do have a replacement butter dish, but I would like to use an item until it is rendered useless. As long as the cover can be repaired, I will continue to use my garage sale find.

I purchased two matching rugs from Pier One about ten years ago. They were bought to add some color to my apartment and minimize those shoe marks that indicate where I sit on the sofa. The rugs were made of thick fluffy cotton yarn and jute with jute fringe. Unfortunately, my cats really liked to play with the fringe. It took years and a few washes but the cats finally started to unravel the rugs. Other than the edges, the rugs are in good shape, but the edges needed to be repaired. Since the edges were unevenly unraveling, I decided to take fabric, of which I have a lot, and encase the ends. The cats would not unravel the rugs further and I would still be able to use the rugs.

So I cut two 8-inch-wide stripes of fabric that coordinate with the rug, ironed the edges under a half inch and after cutting off the unraveled fluff, hand sewed the fabric onto the rug. One bonus: the cotton and jute can be added to my composter! Now I have my large rug repaired and ready for use. The smaller one I will have to wash before repairing it. This way, I use what I have and do not have to buy a new rug for my entryway.

I have also fixed clothing by sewing buttons back on or mending holes in seams. I not only put off replacing the item but I am investing time in something I enjoy wearing. I have fixed sunglasses, had metal-frame glasses repaired and reglued wood chairs. While not always successful, I try my best to extend the life of items with a small investment in repair. I minimize my waste, reduce my expenses and keep something useful for a bit longer. And there is always repurposing the item, a subject for my next post.

Living green

My excursion into living green seems to have come hand-in-hand with purchasing my home. I have described some of my plans for native plantings in an earlier entry, but this is not my only avenue to pursue sustainability.

The lists of suggestions for going green and saving a bit as well have been documented in many other posts like this. I practice most of these 42 points including being in the first year of my three plan to replace all my single-pane windows with double paned ones. It is not an inexpensive proposition even in my 836 square feet home, but with the lack of trees around my home for shading in the summer and the amount of cold that infiltrates in the winter, the energy efficiency can only improve.

Recently my green efforts have included bringing my own bags when I go grocery shopping. I always get the brown paper bags and I have more than I can use for a long time. Just in the last couple months, I have brought back my own bags and the baggers have been amenable to using them. I have a small cotton bag that I take with me for quick grocery store runs or for trips to the thrift store. It replaces at least one plastic bag, is more comfortable to carry and folds up nicely in my purse. Future plans include buying some recycled cotton bags for groceries and produce and using those instead of paper or plastic.

I feel a bit like the odd one in my neighborhood as I not only hang out my laundry in warmer weather but I have a composting bin and a rain barrel (currently stored for winter). I use all my fallen leaves for mulch around my home (and supplemented the quantity by raiding piles of leaves from neighbor's curbs). My lawn is treated twice yearly with corn gluten meal and mowed with an electric mower. I attempted to grow a garden in the raised bed on the property this year. Turns out my poor growth was due to a lack of nitrogen so I will have to heavily supplement my growing attempts next spring.

My plans for 2008 include purchasing a second rain barrel, installing two rain gardens and finish landscaping the area in the front of my house using native plants. I may also add to the raised garden bed space to grow more food, and have a company come in and aerate my lawn. The poor thing has been neglected for a long time, hence the greater crop of dandelions than my neighbors' lawns. I look forward to having less lawn to mow--not one of my favorite jobs as a homeowner.