May 26th, 2007 - Recent purchases
Speaking of 90% reduction….it’s a little weird to write of things we’ve bought recently, but actually most of them fit right in:
- Cotton shower curtain: While not organic, it is unbleached (went with the natural color, although a hydrogen-peroxide bleached white is available) and grown without chemicals. Pretty close to organic. And the store I bought it from is in Madison! I’d hoped to skip the shipping and buy in person, but I wasn’t able to go to Madison for the last meeting I had there. It was lovely to get rid of the old, mildewed, too long vinyl shower curtain liner. I wasn’t as excited to lose the old, ripped vinyl curtain, however, as we’ve loved the design since we bought it for this house: A “photo” of dolphins, fish, coral, etc. But it had ripped out half the holes, and the repairs with clear duct tape only lasted so long, too. I personally paid for half, figuring a nice vinyl curtain and liner would have run about $25. It does come VERY large and the first wash shrinks it quite a bit. I couldn’t believe it actually would, but it fits perfectly! As they say, it doesn’t billow, it’s soft and dries easily. It’s so much easier to wash, too, as I can put it in with the rest of my lights once a month, and it doesn’t drip up the stairs to re-hang like the vinyl would!
- cloth pantyliner: I’ve thought about this off and on, and a discussion on Emme’s Urban Sustainable list made me finally commit to trying it out. I ordered a sample from a place that had a good review (I’ll post later my own review and links). They are expensive, and maybe I could make my own, but imagine the savings I could have! Actually, my savings won’t be all that great until I replace tampons, which I will try as well (sea sponges), as I use the cheapest, largest box of pantyliners.
- two-wheeled wheelbarrow: The cheap one-wheel we had just wasn’t doing it. For one, it tipped so easily that I couldn’t put much into it. For two, the crossbar, which had no bolts or screws, fell out at least once per use. So we spent nearly $90 on a new one. Couldn’t get it in metal, so the barrow part is plastic, but I guess at the larger size it makes sense weight-wise. We love it already–it’s so much easier to haul the wood chips. Which means we get more yard work done more easily.
- snowblower: not necessary, in my opinion, and not much to do with the 90%. But it is something we’ve talked about since we bought the house. I do enjoy snow shoveling, but not as much as I used it. Going out before the hike to work just isn’t the thrill it was the first few years when I had a lot less to do! (Not to mention the physical issues I now have like sciatica that simply make it more difficult to do.) We did buy it on an end-of-season sale, and we got one that fits our needs rather than getting the next higher model, which had some nice but unnecessary features. Eric looks forward to doing our neighbors’ sidewalks a few times, as they have taken care of ours in past winters. Oh, and we bought an Ariens, which is made up in Kaukauna.
- stuff at garage sales today: Nothing too exciting. I went to about 10 sales, and most were a bust. Oh, 90%-wise, I decided to be careful about driving all over town and restricted myself to the north side plus one really good one on the south side. I ended up with a second one there that was good, and it wasn’t out of the way at all. While I like sale-ing, I’m concerned about the miles I end up driving around each Saturday. If I go out to just one section of town and only spend 2 hours, I will be just as happy–sometimes happier–and use less gas. I made on completely unnecessary purchase. For $2, I got a brand-new-looking mini muffin tin. Like I make muffins all the time! Or desserts! Totally an impulse buy. Now I have to make something in it to justify it…. My other purchases were clothing for Maggie and a kitchen timer. I put it in the living room for time outs. It’s an old fashioned analog one, woohoo!
November 8th, 2007 at 10:53 am EST
[…] Back in May, we bought a 100% organic cotton shower curtain. Unfortunately, we hate it. It’s heavy cotton and gets wet. Very wet. And takes over 24 hours to dry. If we lived in a hot dry climate, it would probably work quite well. But not in WI. […]
December 28th, 2007 at 10:24 am EST
[…] First, thanks for reading Lindsey! Now that it’s the end of the month, here’s the final tally. I really love these thoughts from MoneyDummy. Thanks to unexpected nice weather Saturday afternoon (it was supposed to rain all day and we got very little), I pruned. April’s totals: I just signed up for 8 blocks, or 800 KWh, of renewable energy each month. I know, this is one boring as well, the usual salad. Yesterday, I finally did some food processing. NRDC: A Shopper’s Guide to Home Tissue Products Made with Recycled Paper I was looking for this a while back and someone at the Fool found it for me! Due to being sick, I felt like I had a very lazy weekend. Back in May, we bought a 100% organic cotton shower curtain. Eric sent me this image: Save paper * save the planet. […]