Not Dead...

but I have been uncharacteristically quiet.  I've been doing lots of professional development at MY NEW SCHOOL (still awfully exciting!!), and my brain has been unable to focus when I'm home because the heat turned me into a soggy puddle of stupidity.  This last couple of weeks have just about done me in, and I was ready to grab an air conditioner (or three!), but The Professor stayed strong and we are still air conditioner free.  It is rather distressing and disheartening, however, that we're trying so hard to be green by not using a tiny window air conditioner while every day the news greets me with how many days bajillions of gallons of oil have been pouring into the Gulf of Mexico...

Despite the heat, we've been busy and enjoying the summer.  We visited some family in PA and had a lovely time - we hit Longwood Gardens which is just too beautiful for words - this is Big Trouble and me kicking back and enjoying the peaceful gorgeousness of it all.

I've been working on my blanket (even finished another sock), and trying to read all my math books.  I got to see the classroom I'll be in, which was really neat.  It's such a change to work for a wealthy district - when I taught upstate, I had to buy tons of supplies myself, including a rug for my classroom (which a fifth grader promptly vomited on). 

During our writing training this week, a couple of books were mentioned which would be good resources.  I promptly wrote them down in my little notebook to check out from the library, but then the principal asked who wanted them, and will order sets for each of us.  A far cry from me having to give lessons to my fourth graders on how to properly use tissues so as not to waste the small supply we had of them.....

Summertime...

and the living is busy!  Even though the calendar says it's not yet summer, the thermometer begs to differ.  Especially last week, when we all sweated through some frighteningly hot & humid days.  Being on the fourth (and top) floor, we tend to get pretty toasty up here, and there are times when I definitely regret our green resolve in giving away our air conditioners.  However, the really awful days are very few, and we know if we kept the air conditioners, we would definitely be tempted to use them on a more regular basis.  Not good for the environment, and not good for our electric bill! 

We also decided to try to make some more inroads in both these areas by investing in a new refrigerator.  We had planned to do this a while back, but like many projects we start here at Chez Necessity, we lost some of our mojo partway through the researching process, and it languished.   However, our old fridge is now rusting and dripping, so we decided to get moving.

Unfortunately, like many things, this was easier said than done. NY State is offering a rebate program if you replace an existing appliance with an Energy Star product.  This rebate goes up if you can prove that it was recycled.  The recycling bit was the difficult part, because Home Depot told us that they simply crush the appliance they remove rather than recycling it.  So, we dug a little deeper, tracked down some local appliance stores, and for just a little more money were able to get the refrigerator we wanted and have our old one recycled, allowing us to get the full rebate.  When The Professor dug up the serial number on the old fridge for the application, we discovered that it was from 1987 - a good run, I think, but as it seems to run all the time and the top gets really hot, we should hopefully be seeing a lower electric bill in a month or two.  Now we have a couple of days to dig out all the collected nonsense that has managed to find a home in my fridge and freezer (I'm always amazed what I find when I start digging). 

Miss Serious is having her class picnic today (and sadly it's a bit gloomy outside, but third graders don't seem to care), and I've been assigned potato salad.  I never liked potato salad until I found this recipe (I think it's from my mother's neighbor), and even The Professor (who firmly dislikes potato salad) will eat it.  And, it's easy.  The recipe is:

Red Potatoes
Red Onion (about 1/4 - 1/2, finely chopped)
Chopped Parsley
Mayonnaise
Salt and Pepper

Cook the red potatoes until tender (not too soft, or you get mashed potatoes - ask me how I know!), and cool.  Cut them up, leaving on the skins.  Add the rest of the ingredients, and mix.  I find it's even better the second day, but it's pretty tasty right away, too!  Now it's off to the third grade picnic - including sprinklers, t-shirt decorating, and a large group of loud, excited 9 year olds.  Do you think there's any possibility of wine being served.........?

It's Not Easy Being Green

I think I've done at least one other blog post with that title, but my brain cells are running low.  The kids had a superintendent's conference day today, so that meant no school for them.

I have been in charge of battery recycling at their school, and it's been really successful; people drop off their used alkaline batteries at the school, and I periodically scoop them up and recycle them.  This is a tad easier said than done, because although many places accept used rechargeable batteries, it's harder (but certainly not impossible) to recycle alkaline batteries.  For a long time our county was telling people to just throw them in the garbage (the amount of toxic disasters and heavy metals in batteries is truly horrific), which was just unacceptable to us, so that's why we started the program at the school.

I've been taking them to IKEA, a store which is near and dear to my heart because of its oh-so-Swedishness.  The store also accepts used fluorescent lightbulbs (which shouldn't be thrown in the garbage because of the mercury content), printer cartridges, and cell phones.  The kids think it's a really fun outing - we walk through all the rooms set up with furniture, they have some Swedish meatballs in the cafe ($1.99 and served on a real plate - can't be beat!), and I might pick up a Malm or a Hoppen - I love that they keep the Swedish names - makes shopping much more fun and exciting (and Scandinavian).

We haven't made the trek in a while, and I therefore had about 9 jillion pounds of batteries residing in my tiny kitchen.  For those of you who haven't tried to carry 9 jillion pounds of batteries, batteries are really heavy.  I mean seriously heavy.  I separated them into three bags, I handed one to each of the kids, and we trekked to the car (amidst a fair amount of whining...).  We drove the 40 minutes to IKEA, dragged the batteries out of the car, got to the little recycling kiosk, and were met with a sign stating that they no longer accept batteries for recycling. 

Hmmmmm.....so the batteries got hauled back to the car, and we had our day at IKEA - even brought home a bag of frozen Swedish meatballs for the kids.  (Who of course had to help me haul the batteries back up to the apartment, as I wasn't sure if 9 jillion pounds of batteries in a hot car were a terribly good idea).

Where shall I drive my batteries to tomorrow?  They do so like getting out of the house.

Well, They've Done It Again!

Infomercials, that is. As I've mentioned before, I am fascinated by infomercials. Everything always works so well, tastes so delicious, and makes everyone so happy. I've seen the one for the Cricut paper cutter a few times now, and every time I do, it catches my attention. I've never been interested in the whole scrapbooking thing (don't even have printed pictures about - everything is on the computer), but making cards is appealing to me. So, after spending about 90 jillion hours on the internet seeing what people had to say about the thing, I felt the need to order this:


I must tell you, it is most awesome. I'm always impressed when something is well designed, and this really is. Part of the reason I bought it is that it will come in handy for teaching - I can't tell you how many things I have had to cut out over the years, and with one push of a button, this will do that for me. (That's the rationalization part of the purchase - had to justify it somehow, but it is actually true).

In honor of Teacher Appreciation Day, I made these - some of the kids' teachers did a really neat project this year with the Kindergarten about Dr. Wangari Maathai. She is an extraordinary environmentalist and women's rights activist from Kenya. She founded the Green Belt Movement, which has many goals, one of which is planting trees. She won the 2004 Nobel Peace Prize, and the kids in the kindergarten class have been learning about her and her work as part of their study of peace this year. We made a donation in honor of the teachers, so I made cards that had to do with trees and nature. It's amazing what 5 and 6 year olds can accomplish - Big Trouble's class has regular "peace talks" with another Kindergarten, and have really come to such an amazing understanding of the importance of peace and caring for the environment.

If only Kindergartners were in charge of the world......well, that probably wouldn't actually go so well, but in theory it's a nice idea.

Atervinning

For those non-Swedish folks out there, that means recycling.

A couple of years ago, it suddenly occurred to me that I probably shouldn't be throwing batteries in the garbage. I mean, they must be full of all kinds of gunk to be able to do their battery thing (how, in fact, they do their battery thing, I have no idea. I tend to run on the assumption that most things around me work via magic, but that's another post for another day...).

So, I got my little self on the computer, and googled alkaline battery recycling for Westchester. Nada. In fact, the Westchester government site actually said that they should be thrown away with the trash. (This has recently been changed, and they have added non-rechargeable batteries to their e-waste recycling days.)

So I saved all my batteries in a ziploc (even though we try to use rechargeables as much as we can, all the kids' toys came with batteries). This year, I organized battery recycling at the kid's schools, and once a month people bring in their batteries. This effort resulted in this:
which required a trip to another one of my kids' favorite places (this illustrious list includes Costco and various cemeteries) IKEA. We love IKEA. I am of Swedish descent, and this store always brings out my Swedish pride. Not only can you go there and pick up a Melbu or a Noresund, but you can tour beautiful rooms of furniture (which somehow don't look nearly as lovely when they're in my own home and covered in piles of crap) and purchase a really cheap lunch served on real plates. I even picked up some frozen Swedish meatballs to stick in the freezer for the kids.

But the best part of IKEA is that they are really environmentally conscious. You can bring in fluorescent bulbs, batteries, and cell phones to recycle. So, the giant bag of batteries got deposited, and we all enjoyed some lunch. And, I got out of there having purchased only my bag of meatballs and a Skoj to hang on my bathroom wall.

Trash Talk

I came across a funny blog a couple of weeks ago, written by a guy who calls himself Sustainable Dave (I think he has another blog under that name). It's called 365 Days of Trash, and he decided last year to not throw anything away for one year. This doesn't mean that he has no trash, but he's been recording all of his trash (both recycling and garbage), weighing it, and keeping it in his basement. I'm not sure what the benefit to keeping it in the basement is, except for perhaps the visual reminder of the garbage that we all create. He's been able to seriously reduce the amount of garbage he produces (I imagine that even before this experiment it was much less than the average American) and seems to have a tolerant wife who puts up with the whole thing.

There's also a Time article about him that explains the background of the whole project. Much of the blog consists of lists of his daily garbage (when I compare them to my own list of throwaways, I am stunned) but he also jots down his thoughts about how the project is progressing. It's a really interesting look at what we leave behind, in a very visual manner. He talks about how when we say that we threw something away, nobody ever stops to think about where away is. A thought-provoking (and definitely unusual) read.

Beauty Is Only Skin Deep

Well, I've been doing that darned reading thing again, this time about makeup. Now, I don't wear a lot of makeup. Even when I was working every day, I had a pretty low-maintenance routine, using the bare minimum of what I could get away with - just enough to look slightly less unkempt than my normal self. Now I've learned that the makeup, lotion, etc. that we put on our faces in a sometimes futile attempt to look better are actually hazardous to our health. Cosmetics and personal care products are not required to meet specific standards for health, and, in fact, according the the FDA, "a cosmetic manufacturer may use almost any raw material as a cosmetic ingredient and market the product without an approval from the FDA."

Lovely. According to Big Green Purse by Diane MacEachern (a really interesting, quick, and useful read, by the way), a good place to start to try to reduce these hazards is to read labels (not easy when trying to purchase something in the store with 2 kids whining about lunch...) and look to reduce these four things: Fragrances, Phthalates, Parabens, and Triclosan (what's in anti-bacterial soap). This is definitely easier said than done, as I discovered when I flipped over the products in my bathroom - fragrance and parabens were in almost every single one.

As I don't use lots of makeup, some of it is really old (we're talking college, here), so I've been hunting around for some replacements. I didn't want to have to buy makeup from the internet, so imagine my surprise when I came across Physician's Formula Organic Wear at my local CVS. It said it was all organic, and had Eco-Cert certification. I didn't know if this was a real thing or not, so I went home, surfed through the ever-helpful Google for a while, and lo and behold it is a real thing. I also found a really helpful site for finding the hazard levels of products you use (sunscreen, makeup and the like). None of the Organic Wear products were above the middle hazard level, and many of them were listed as low hazards (as opposed to some of the things I'm currently using, which were in the red, high-hazard section - always what you want to see), so I decided that I should take the plunge.

Unfortunately, it's quite a bit pricier than my normal Cover Girl/Maybelline purchases, so I had been putting it off. Imagine my surprise when my CVS circular came this week announcing that the whole line was 40% off! So, yesterday I toddled over and came home with these:


The stuff is interesting, and the packaging is completely recyclable, so the containers are like a really thick cardboard. It seems to work pretty well, but it was interesting to note that the line was quite limited - no mascara or lipsticks (they had a tinted lip-gloss kind of thing), and tinted moisturizer instead of foundation. I guess there's a reason the companies use the ingredients they do, as it's obviously not so easy to create some products without them. Judging by my past experience, these things will last me for about 10-20 years, so I'm glad I like them!

All Over

Well, Halloween has come and gone, and it was a grand success. Here's Big Trouble the vet:


and Miss Serious the rock star:


They had a great time trick-or-treating, and also did the reverse trick or treating with the fair trade chocolate. When we did this last year, we were at The Museum of Natural History (they shut the museum down in the evening, and the kids all come in costume and trick or treat throughout the museum - really fun) and it was so busy that the kids just quickly gave them the card and we moved on.

This was the first year we did it at people's houses, and I must say, I think I know how Jehovah's Witnesses must feel when they knock on the door. The kids followed a routine where they were given their candy, and then handed the homeowner the card saying something along the lines of "Here's a piece of Fair Trade chocolate for you." Almost every time this transaction happened, we saw "the look." Now, I know this look, because I'm sure I make it when someone is trying to sell me something. The person's smile freezes, and their eyes quickly dart to the side. Several people asked if we were collecting money, but there were a couple who knew about fair trade and asked the kids what they knew about it. I confess to feeling relief when we were out of cards and could just receive a regular smile at the door (and now the kids have enough candy to last them until the end of time).

Trick or Treat!

Halloween is upon us, and the kids could not be more excited. I think they look forward to this holiday more than almost any other (I think that Christmas still has the edge, what with the present factor and all) and have been planning their costumes for many weeks. They really enjoy making their own costumes, and Miss Serious especially has been putting in a lot of energy to the finishing touches of her costume. She is rarely something mainstream (last year she was Fern the Green Fairy from the Fairy series of books. She loves these books, and they encompass pretty much any kind of fairy you can think of - jewel fairies, color fairies, weather fairies. I can't tell you how grateful I was when she became able to read them on her own, because they could not be more excruciating...) and this year is going to be a rock star. She made a microphone, and carefully chose an outfit, which consists of jeans, a sparkly shirt, and boots. I put a big ponytail on the top of her head, and we crimped her hair. She got some colored hair braids from my cousin, and is wearing dangly earrings, sparkly nail polish and makeup. I had some concerns (I kept them to myself, as Miss Serious does not enjoy hearing these kinds of concerns) that no one would actually know what she was supposed to be, but my fears were alleviated when I saw her making a drawing yesterday; turns out it was a fancy sign that said "Rock Star" that she is going to tape to her shirt. Always thinking, that one.

Big Trouble decided to be a vet, and as he really loves animals, this was a perfect choice. The Professor dug up a white lab coat (I safety pinned it from giant to kid-size) and went to the vet's office and got some tongue depressors and gloves. From around the house we gathered a stethoscope, a syringe, and a prescription bottle. We put a bandaid on one of his stuffed animals, and made him a little clip-on name tag. Good to go.

Obviously, other than the costume fun, the big draw of Halloween is the Trick or Treating. Last year we started a new tradition - it's called reverse trick or treating, and is to help expand awareness of fair trade chocolate and the issues involved in the growing of cocoa beans. The children are sent (for free - love that!) a packet of informational cards and fair trade chocolates. When they trick or treat, they give one of these to the person answering the door. It caused a little confusion last year (who expects to be handed something at their door?) but I found that people were really receptive to the whole concept. The labor issues in the chocolate industry are one of those things that most people (including, recently, myself) are unaware of, and this is a fun way to get the information (and a little chocolate) out. Obviously it's too late for this year, but the info on how to do it is here.

Happy Halloween!

Knowledge Can Be Expensive

I've been watching the grocery budget here at Chez Necessity continue to climb. We are a family of four, and we don't eat meat (but do eat fish). I used to be able to feed everyone for about $240 a month. Lately, my head hurts when I go onto my Quicken file, because our monthly bill has climbed to about $340 a month. Some of this can be blamed on the rising cost of food. I especially enjoy the price increases that the food companies think are hidden, such as the shrinking package size. Just irritating (but then, I am easily irritated).

The other reason for the vast increase in our grocery bill is reading. Yes, reading. If I (and The Professor) would stop reading I think we would be rich as kings. I used to be very leery of the organic food movement (I used to live up by Woodstock, and the people on this bandwagon were a bit too crunchy granola for me), but after reading again and again what the use of pesticides, antibiotics and the like is doing to our food, ourselves, and our environment, we have begun switching to more and more organic products. Milk was my final holdout, because it's so pricey, but I finally gave in this summer.

The other issue is one of fair trade practices. I am not one who spends huge amounts of time scrutinizing the labor practices around the world, so it's always a shock to me when I learn about what goes on. We started buying Fair Trade coffee last year, after The Professor showed me some information about the treatment of the farmers and workers who harvest coffee. This effectively doubled the price we pay for coffee. It's also not so easy to find, but lo and behold, when I was in Costco this week, I picked up this:


The thing to look for (which I never would have notice before) is the little Fair Trade symbol:


Luckily for those of us who are unable to remember things from one minute to the next, this symbol is used for all products that have been certified Fair Trade. This certification basically means that the company adheres to the standards set up by the organization (fair prices for workers, sustainability, no slave labor practices, etc.). For more specifics, Wikipedia has a comprehensive article here.

Now I see that my bills will be going up again, because I've been reading this:


It's an interesting (but painful) read which chronicles the history of chocolate and chocolate production. I am now in the section on the labor practices, and they are horrific. Who knew that such a tasty luxury item in this country is made with a raw product produced in part by slave labor, including children. Unfortunately, it's much easier to find fair trade coffee than fair trade chocolate, as I've discovered from hunting online for the last hour, but I'll keep at it.

They say ignorance is bliss, but unfortunately the bliss only applies to those who are ignorant, not to those on the other side of the coin.

Hypermiling Update

Hello all. The Professor here, guest-blogging again for Mother Necessity. After our drive home from Rochester yesterday, MN needed a little time to gather her thoughts about what to blog next. Plus, she wanted sleep so it would be coherent. So, here I am with our latest hypermiling news.

We drove Tiny Shiny over the Catskills and through the woods to my brother-in-law's wedding this past weekend. (Congrats and love to the bride and groom!) It's 332 miles one-way to the Rochester suburb of Victor, NY - a long trip no matter how you cut it. Pretty countryside along the way, as you can see.

Tiny Shiny performed like a champ. Even with two packed suitcases, one full garment bag, and heaven knows how many little bags of snacks, books, CDs, and other road trip survival gear tucked in the trunk and under the little feet in the back seats, we got a whopping 39.29 MPG on the ride up. But that pales in comparison to the new Tiny Shiny record of 41.97 MPG on the ride home! (MN says I should round it up to 42.) That's a solid 27% above the EPA's estimated 33 MPG highway for the 2007 Elantra.

Cruise control on the flats, coasting down mountains, keeping the accelerator level going up hills for lower RPM, trying to keep it under 60 MPH, avoiding stops and starts... It all added up to going back and forth to upstate NY on just under two tanks of gas. Color me impressed.

Hot!

Yes, it is once again hot, and I haven't posted in a while because my fingers keep sliding off the keyboard, and my brain doesn't seem capable of coming up with two successive, coherent thoughts in a row. I can handle it for about 3 days, and then I start getting irritated. I like summer, and I like warm weather. What I do not like, however, is sweating in my sleep. It somehow doesn't lend itself to pleasant dreams or restful slumber, and I am looking forward to this particular wave of heat to break SOON. The weather keeps swearing that tomorrow will be better, and then I get to tomorrow, and they push it off yet another day. What a tease.

I've been supervising student teachers this summer, and I'm amazed how many summer school programs are not air conditioned. We've chosen to forgo it in our house, but these poor kids (who really don't want to be in school in the summer anyway) are just wilting by 9:15. Let's all give out a big shout to the powers that be that it's time for a little coolin'.

Politically Incorrect

When The Professor and I were first married, we knew that we would never be millionaires; we were both training to be teachers (he on the college level and me on the elementary level) and had to watch our pennies. Here we are almost 13 years later, and still pinching away. I've been musing on the fact that being frugal and trying to save money is seen as such a negative in this country (maybe it's just the areas of it I've lived in, but that has been my experience). I spent a lot of years trying to get those around me to see the benefits of frugality, sometimes with success and sometimes not.

I've discovered a fascinating fact, however. Even though frugality seems to be politically incorrect, being green is seen as EXTREMELY politically correct. Therefore, even though I tried unsuccessfully for years to get The Professor to wash and reuse Ziploc bags, it was only when it became an issue of being green that it was ok. (FYI, if you ever mention to a group of people that you have washed and reused a ziploc bag, do not admit it's because they cost 11 cents apiece - it is because you are being green; you will see those looks of disdain change to appreciation faster than you can say global warming).

The nice thing is that the majority of the things that we try to do to save money also happen to save energy, materials, etc.; things like having no AC, or walking more and driving less. There are certain things that are definitely MORE expensive, like buying local and organic foods, but I'm pretty sure that in the long run, our health will benefit, which will end up being the more frugal choice.

I like to think of it all as killing two birds with one stone, but of course I will only be mentioning one of the birds out loud - the green one.

Mmmmmmmmmm!

We have started getting our deliveries from our CSA, Roxbury Farm, and we are enjoying it immensely. We began doing it last year, and although it was painful for me, I bit the bullet and paid the $$. The price as far as CSA's go is very good, and I need to keep remembering that the vegetables are organic, fresh, and local. We go every Wednesday and pick up our share of vegetables and fruit - in the beginning of the summer it's a lot of leafy greens, and now we're getting cucumbers, zucchini, cabbage, herbs, and......strawberries!

The Professor worked at the pickup site that day, and got to bring home the extra quart that was left over, so we were doubly blessed. Of course, when I have delicious strawberries in the house, we must have strawberry shortcake.

For those of you that haven't made it, there are just a couple of hints - when you chop the strawberries, chop them with something kind of dull - I use an old cookie cutter - as it produces more juice. Sprinkle some sugar over the berries, and let sit at room temperature.

Then the biscuits - you need them warm, so either bake them right before you need them, or slice them and pop them in the toaster oven. The secret (don't know if this is from my grandmother or mother) is to butter the biscuits. Then dump generous amounts of strawberries and juice on top of them, and some freshly whipped cream. They are just heaven (even though the kids only want juice, none of those pieces) and everyone, especially The Professor was very thankful for summer.

Tiny Shiny, Big Difference

Hello all... The Professor here, chiming in as "guest blogger" today. Mother Necessity has informed me that she has right of refusal on any and all posts I write, no rights reserved, the comments presented here are the sole opinion of the author and do not indicate the opinion or endorsement of the management, objects in mirror may be larger than they appear, and any other warnings and disclaimers that spring to mind.

Earlier this afternoon, we were running the numbers on Quicken to see how having a new car has impacted our fuel bills. Our little 2007 Hyundai Elantra, "Tiny Shiny" (everyone gets a pseudonym in this blog), is turning 1 at the end of July. Sigh, they grow so quickly these days, don't they? Seems like just yesterday we were... But I digress. We purchased the new car last year before our annual summer car trip to Cape Cod. The minivan we owned was costing us a lot of money in maintenance and gas. So it was farewell to "Big Red" and hello Tiny Shiny. Bonus green fact about Tiny Shiny: It's a Super Ultra Low Emissions Vehicle (SULEV) and the greenest car we could afford.

Here's the lowdown on how Tiny Shiny has helped us go green and save a little money:

1) This year, we filled up at a gas station 43 times. The year before, we filled up 40 times. Now, before you get on our case about wasting precious natural resources, Big Red had a 20 gallon tank and Tiny Shiny has a 14 gallon one. While we don't know exactly how many gallons of gas we bought the past 12 months, I'm sure that it's a reduction over the previous year.

2) Despite the insane increases in gas prices (we're paying around $4.40 per gallon these days), we've actually spent $243.56 less fueling the car this year. Some of it is driving less (about 1000 miles less this year) and some of it is driving differently (see Mother Necessity's post on hypermiling). But a lot of it is the improved mpg.

Mother Necessity still has "Prius Envy," but the Elantra is doing well by us.

Driving in the Slow Lane

In my never-ending quest to squeeze dollars out of pennies, I've been trying to figure out how to get better mileage on the car. Gas is now well over $4 a gallon (on my last fill-up I paid around $4.40) and the experts are talking about it reaching $5 before the summer is over.

Even though I'm as cheap as they come, I'm not actually too upset by these new gas prices; living in an affluent area, most of the cars on the road around here are SUV's - and not the little SUV's, the big earth-shaking, taking up 2 parking spaces kind of SUV's. I've actually noticed a decrease in the hugest of these cars (the shameful Hummer) on the road, and the other day saw 4 Prius's in a row waiting at a stoplight.

Last year we traded in our mini-van for a more fuel efficient car. We were looking at the Prius, but it was out of our price range, and the trunk was too small for us, as we have just the one car. We got a SULEV (super low emission vehicle) and have been getting around 25 mpg on local driving and have surpassed 38 on the highway (is it sad that my life has become so mundane that this got me really excited?).

We've now entered a new phase, and this phase is called hypermiling. I ran across some articles about this on the web (the web continues to amaze me - articles, message boards, groups for ANYTHING you could want) and was somewhat intrigued. And, just like anything, there are some real nutjobs out there that call this a sport and take it to the extreme. But, if it will save gas and money, why not give it a try?

Basically it boils down to altering your driving style in such a way that you use the brakes less and use the momentum built up in the car as much as possible so that you don't need to accelerate so often. The basic things we have been trying this week are:

1. Driving 60 mph on the highway with cruise control
2. Driving as if your brakes don't work as well - I used to drive this way when I drove a stick because it was such a pain to work the clutch from a full stop. You basically leave more of a buffer between you and the car in front of you so that you don't have to adjust so much to their stopping and starting
3. Coast when you can

There are a lot of other wacky suggestions that the hypermilers have come up with, and the real serious ones have special gauges installed in the car so they can always see their fuel consumption. We decided to just employ the above suggestions, which seemed to be the safest and easiest to implement. We've gone through 1/4 tank of gas doing only local driving, which usually ends up being around 80 miles. We've gotten 110 out of this 1/4 tank, so I think it's having an effect.

The only drawback is that now I am the person that I would have been really annoyed getting behind in the past. I figure we eat at the same time as the elderly now (5:30) why not drive like them?

Totally Hot!

And not in a good way. We are in the middle of a kick-your-hieney heat wave here, and I have had enough. We live on the fourth floor, and in a (perhaps misguided) fit of trying to be greener (and save some $ on the electric bill), we put our air conditioner on freecycle. It was promptly picked up by a woman who marveled that we were getting rid of it. "Don't you know it's going to be hot?" she asked as she happily hauled it away.

Well yes, we knew it was going to be hot, I just didn't expect it so soon. Now the hot is here, and it's quite spectacular. We do have some systems in place to combat the heat, as we did without the air conditioner all last summer as well. We pull the drapes/close the blinds to keep out excess sun, and run all the fans that we can fit into our little apartment throughout the day. It helps, but when I opened the door for a friend earlier today, I did welcome her to hell.

I know that this too shall pass, and we are trying to remain cheerful and upbeat while the sweat pours down our faces. We've been spending lots of time at the local libraries (air conditioned and free!), so at least we're catching up on our reading.

Move Over Hummer!

As we live in the land of SUV's, I thought this video was too good to pass up.

Don't you wish you wish you could drive not only to the office, but in the office?

The Eagle Has Landed!

Hello, all. The Professor, here. I'm guest blogging today.

We have made another little commitment to traveling with a lighter footprint ‘round these parts. It’s an investment in using less energy about the house and it will save us a bit of money each laundry day. We purchased an Eagle Clothes Drying Rack for air drying our clothes in the apartment.

Industrial size and strength. Hard metal frame with coated line adding up to 65 feet of drying space. Folds up nicely for storage, but opens into the general shape of a medium-sized flying wing aircraft you might see flying sorties over no man’s land. However, no stealth bomber, this… Once its wings are unfurled and it’s loaded with 30-40 pounds of the recently sopping, you can’t miss the darn thing!

It cost $52.90 including the delivery of the massive thing. That’s a pretty fair bargain given its MSRP of 59.95 without any shipping. (We declined the under carriage rust-coating package and the 10 year drivetrain warrantee.)

Our building has a laundry room in the basement. (Mother Necessity has her own homemade laundry detergent recipe that she’s told you all about in a previous post.) The prices for washing and drying the clothes went up a bit recently, including a bump in the price of the ultra mega-mega dryers to $1.75 per load. (Note my liberal use of parentheses, Mother Necessity?)

Yes, we partially did it to be cheap. Mother Necessity prefers the term frugal, with its connotations of personal virtue, simplicity of living, and noble intentions totally absent of meanness. But let’s call it as it is: we’re trying to squeeze the old nickel until it screams “uncle.” Mother Necessity is the mistress of the household books. We’ve worked hard to budget our money to go as far as it can. OK, she’s worked hard and I’ve quietly supported her from a respectful distance. But ultimately we’ve tried to answer the question of how to make ends meet in a rather unique way in this affluent enclave. Instead of driving hard to make more, we’ve tried to use less.

The Eagle has flown twice since it arrived, letting us skip the equivalent of three of those coal-fired, wallet-sapping, $1.75 each dryer loads. That’s $5.25 saved so far and the Eagle is already about 10% paid off. We’re not just saving a few dollars and cents; we’re avoiding regularly running a heavy machine that gobbles electricity to make heavy wet clothes spin for 30 minutes in excessive heat. Here in Chez Necessity, green living = black ink.

It's Earth Day!

Earth Day is here, and I'm amazed at how chic it has become to go green. You can't turn on the TV these days without a show about green issues; sadly, most of what I've seen are stories about things you can BUY that are green. Want to save the earth? You can buy a t-shirt made of organic cotton created by fairly paid workers. Or, you could remodel your house, as long as you use sustainable bamboo flooring. Unfortunately, all of these feel-good solutions are, in my mind, missing the point. Maybe we should examine if we really NEED a new t-shirt or a home remodel. As Americans, we have not tread lightly on this earth. I'm not sure when it happened, but we stopped being referred to as citizens, and are now called consumers, which is what we have become. We are the wealthiest (and some would say the luckiest) country on the earth, and with this good fortune should come wisdom and foresight. This beautiful planet has served us well, and now it is our turn to return the favor.

I hope that everyone will take today to begin at least one new habit that will help to nurture this planet so our children can enjoy it's bounties as we have. One thing that is doable for most of us is to stop using plastic bags. Whole Foods is actually giving away free eco-bags today, and most grocery stores now sell them for a very minimal price (the trick, at least for me, is remembering to actually bring the bag with you to the store!). Maybe you could start recycling, or really think about your purchases before making them to examine if it's something that's a need or simply a want. Being green doesn't need to be complicated or expensive (though it can be both, if you'd prefer); it just involves being more conscious of our day-to-day decisions, and thinking about the impact these decisions make on the world around us.