So today is Earth Day, so I thought that I would let everyone know what we have been doing around the house to save the earth.
Our old showerhead was cracked and didn't flow well, so when we decided to replace it we got a super low flow head that only puts out 1.6 gallons/minute. It is made by Delta and was less then $15. It is the only low flow that is available at the big box stores. It has great pressure, but you do notice that less water is coming out. It is also louder then our old head. The 30% less water that this head uses not only saves on the water bill, but also the gas used to heat the water.
We have already converted every light bulb that we can over to CFL already, so not much to toot our horn about there.
Currently we have a compost heap that is just a pile of some yard waste. I am thinking about a more active composter that we can use with kitchen waste.
We try to drive as little as possible, and have both cars average over 30mpg. We are currently facing the idea that our family is growing and we may need something larger like a minivan or crossover, but by doing that we will cut our MPG by a over a third just to have some extra room. Maybe will we just get a roof box instead and not have more then three kids (if we can even fit three in the Vibe).
We try to not use chemicals for cleaning. Vinegar for windows and cleaning the bathroom. Baking soda for scrubbing. There are some good recipes here.
We try to eat local/organic. Almost all of our bread comes from the River Street Bakery here in town which gets the flour from a place about 50 miles away. We make our own yogurt, granola, and sometimes granola bars (we need to make more).
Cloth diapers have worked well for us. We try to use ones that require as little dry time as possible. We also use gDiapers with cloth insides instead of the biodegradable insides. When possible we line dry (all laundry)
