30 day green challenge - day 1

so, as i promised (to myself - to you?) here is the start of my 30 days of "what we do green" challenge - plus pictures (that i take myself - in our own house/yard).


if anywhere along the way you have any questions about how or why we do what we do, please ask.  or, if you have a suggestion about how we can do what we do better - feel free to suggest it!  also, keep in mind that this list is going to be pretty specific.  as an example, i may say one day "we recycle aluminum cans" and the next day i'll say "we recycle plastic" - mainly because i have to come up with 30 days worth of things.  however, that being said, i am trying to not say things generic like "we recycle cans and coke bottles" or "we use low watt bulbs".  i'm trying to come up with the things we do that go the extra mile that lessen our carbon footprint.

day 1 - we air-dry our clothes - outside, on a clothesline! we just started doing it this summer.  my only stipulation to the clothes line was that i didn't want to have to walk on the grass to get to a line, so we found one at lowes that was a pop-up-round one.  so, we mounted it (with bungee cords) on the deck corner so it is out of the way.  you're wondering what we'll do in the winter?  well, it came with a stand.  so, in the winter it'll also help increase our indoor humidity.  :)  and if you're wondering if it helped our electric bill - well, i wash probably 3 to 5 loads of clothes a week and i'd say that not using the dryer has lessened our bill probably 20 to 40 a month this summer.  i still put the clothes in the dryer with a dryer sheet for about 15 minutes - but probably 2 loads at a time (it isn't like they are getting dry, i just want the spiders to die).  it is hard to know exactly about our $$ benefit because we also kept the thermostat a little higher (warmer) than last summer (that is another day entry...) - but overall our electric bill has been lower this summer, even though rates went up last year.  yay!