lowimpacthome.org

Now that we are 10 weeks into my experiment I thought that I would do a quick update on my progress.

Below is an excerpt from my very first post, read more here…

Most everyone is interested in reducing their carbon footprint and reducing their impact in the world, here are the 10 items that I would like to address in my home this year.

1. Recycling
2. Composting
3. Eliminate toxic cleaning products
4. Cut energy costs
5. Become plastic free or at least plastic less
6. Limit the use of my car
7. Buy Green Power
8. Buy more local products
9. Set up an urban garden
10. Stop eating out

So lets see where I am at…

#1. I recycle everything that I can, in fact most weeks the recycle bin is fuller then my trash can. 

 #2. I have started a composting bin.  However I have been waiting to buy worms, I was worried that they would die in the cold.  Next week I will send off for the worms and then get the worm bin moving.  I do have to say that the compost bin that I have in my laundry room has been doing a good job all by itself.  I have been using it since the begining of the year and I have yet to need to empty it.

#3. Elimiating toxic cleaning products…I have been working on this slowly.  As you know I have been using a Cleaning Service to do my major house work, this month I didn’t use them but I think from now on I will use them once a month, so if I am not doing much cleaning I am not using up the chemicals that I have on hand.  I might go ahead and Freecycle the toxic products and keep the safe ones, that way I can have a clean start.  The only problem that I have been having with this item is that all cleaning products come in plastic.  I have used baking soda and vinegar, but they just don’t get rid of most of the stains or soapy residue in the bath tub.  I do try to buy only recycable bottles of cleaner or ones that can be refilled, that is better then some of the #5 bottles that are under my sink.

#4.  I have cut my energy costs by almost $50 a month, just by changing 10 habits.  That was easier then going plastic free.

#5.  I have dramatically changed my plastic habits.  I can even go to the store and not buy any plastic packaging.  The best part is besides the milk issue, we haven’t had any issues with missing out on some of the plastic wrapped foods. 

#6.  Limiting the use of my car has been a tough one.  In fact we will be talking about this topic next month.  I rode several times in February but my knee hurt so bad after those few times I am almost afraid to get back on my bike.  I am on some good drugs now and the swelling has finally gone down, so I will start working back up to the full 6 miles next week.

#7. Now that I have reduced my energy costs, I can start buying green power.  Here you have to buy power by the kilowatt hour and you can’t easily change it month to month, so this will be another topic for discussion next month.

#8.  As far as buying local products, I haven’t been able to do that at all.  For some reason the Farmers Market is only open in the Spring and Summer, so once that opens I will be able to buy all my fresh produce from local vendors and maybe I will get lucky and other products will be offered there too.

#9.  I have talked with my landlord and putting a garden in the backyard is off, but maybe I will be able to grow some veggies in some pots on the back patio.

#10.  Stop eating out…HAH!  This item seems to be impossible.  It’s not that we have overscheduled lives, but somedays we just don’t have the time to cook dinner.  Since both of us work it is very difficult on days that we have activities to find the 30 minutes that it takes me to cook a well balanced meal.  I know that 30 minutes isn’t very much time, but somedays it seems like an eternity.

Well that’s were things stand so far, somethings are getting easier while others are not.  We still have a lot to talk about, so stay tuned…

For those of you that don’t know, and that would be all of you, my car isn’t corporating.  We can get it out of park so it hasn’t left the driveway in since Monday.  I don’t have the money to fix it, so in the mean time I have been bumming rides from my co-workers.  The great part is that I only live 2 miles from work so really no one is going out of their way to take me home.  But my son has had to ride his bike to school this week and one day in the rain.  So I promised him that I would ride with him today and I did.  What I didn’t realize was that today was supposed to be one of the coldest days of the year.  It was a balmy 25 degrees when we left this morning and it was snowing.  Ok it was really just flurries but in a place where schools close when snow is just predicted, flurries are a big deal.

You see, I have only made it to work via bike one other time, so I think it’s a big deal that I did it again.  On Sunday I rode to work and back again, that’s 6 miles, in one trip.  For those of you that are paying attention, I know earlier I said that I only lived 2 miles from work but the only way to get here on a bike adds another mile.  I have to go another way to avoid a potentially hazardous stretch of road that doesn’t have a bike lane.  Anyway…come Monday my right knee was the size of a grapefruit.  Alright I admit it, I am out of shape and since I never finished Physical Torture (therapy), my knee was in worse shape.  So making it all the way here again is a big deal or at least I think it is.

Another thing I did…I broke down and turned up the heat last night.  It was only 3 degrees warmer in the house but it made all the difference.  I have to take sleeping pills soI can sleep and last night I was so cold that even the pills were not working.  I already had 2 layers of clothes on and 3 layers of blankets, so typically you would be warm at 63 degrees but not last night.  I had to get up turn up the heat, add another blanket and turn up my heater blanket to get warm.  I finally fell asleep 20 to 30 minutes later, so I know getting warmer did the trick.  But not to worry, I turned the heat back down this morning to it’s normal temperature.

Well those are my triumphs and my weak moments from the last 24 hours.  What have you done today that makes you proud or not so proud?