Water

I have recently had reason to reflect on our consumption of water. We have always tried to be fairly frugal with our water usage (my husband is somewhat an environmentalist). We usually use 3000-4000 gallons a month, thanks in part to un-metered irrigation water (but if anyone has seen our yard and more specifically our grass, they know we don't splurge on that water either.)

Our last month's water bill came and I was shocked to see we used 10,000 gallons!!

I tried to figure out how in the world. Did we have a leak? No. Are the kids leaving faucets running? Yes. And does our new old school washer use that much more water than our old high-efficiency one? Yes.

Our HE washer broke recently and we had issues with it so, instead of spending $200 for the part, we just decided to buy a used top-loader for $200.

This week our water heater also broke. We decided to buy a tankless one since there were $600 in rebates available. And while the plumber was at it and we had money from our tax refund, we decided to get a water softener since we have wanted one for 5 years. The cool thing about the softener is that it tells us how much water we use. We check it before and after showers, doing wash, flushing the toilet, etc. It is fun to track our usage and try to reduce it.

But what shocked me the most about our usage was not that it takes 2-3 gallons to flush a toilet, but that it takes 40 gallons to wash 1 load of wash in our new machine. Yikes!!

So what does all this mean to us? I'd love a new HE washer, but I don't think it is in the budget now. So, I think we need to reduce the amount of wash we do and eliminate other water wasters. I talked to the kids today and maybe our plan will work. We plan to:

• Check our clothes after we take them off, and put them away instead of in the wash if they have another day in them.
• Wear our pj's for more than 1 night.
  
• Take faster showers.
• Wash our hands with faucet off.
• Brush teeth with faucet off (they are already pretty good with that).
• Use a cup to get drinks instead of putting face under the faucet.
  

What other things could we do?

Bountiful Baskets Rock!

So if you've never tried, or heard of, Bountiful Baskets, you need to get involved. It is a food co-op that delivers great local and regional produce at a can't be beat price. For $15, you get a big box of random seasonal produce. They also usually offer extra produce (such as bushels of peaches or a mexican variety pack) for a great deal. It is super fun to see what you get and to figure out what to do with it all before it goes bad.

This was the first time I have tried it out, but I think it was well worth the money. I did have to drive 40 miles to get the stuff, but I rationalized because I was picking up 8 boxes for all my friends. I am working on getting a pick-up closer to home.

Here are the goodies from my first week. I figure the standard basket, which cost me $15, contained $20-$25 worth of produce had I bought everything on sale. Do you see those persimmons. I have got to find a fun recipe to use them up.

The Mexican pack cost me $7.50 and contained $10-$15 of awesomeness. Do you see all those chiles, three varieties?. Chile rellenos were cooked last night, and let me tell you, they were wonderful.

So if you live anywhere in Arizona or in Northern Utah or Cedar City you need to check out their web site and get involved.

Reducing my Carbon Footprint, Part I

Topics much discussed in our house: global warming. is it real? or is Al Gore just trying to get attention? carbon footprints. what should we do if anything? and man, is gas expensive.

So, we do try do our part some of the time. Here is part I in a series of posts of what we do to reduce our carbon footprint.

Buy Local and Organic.

Buying local I think is more important than buying organic and I wish I could buy local more often, but when the local melons, peaches, apricots, apples come around, I am excited! I can't rationalize the 25 mile drive on a Saturday to Springdale to buy local produce at the Farmer's Market. But I am growing my own tomatoes, peppers, basil, cilantro, and parsley. I wish we could buy farm shares (CSAs) here. If we ever move to a town where that is an option, I will be the first in line to buy a share.

But thanks to Costco, I do buy a lot more organic food. Has anyone else noticed how many organic groceries Costco now carries? Luckily, they have made it easy and cheap for me to buy organic. Here are a few of the yummy organics I love from Costco:

• Harvest Medley Wild Rice (Really yummy rice with great texture and flavor. And much better for you than plain white rice. Make it with onion soup mix and some fresh herbs.)
• Kirkland Soy Milk (I prefer the plain, tom and the kids like the vanilla. Even James loves it. We started to buy it as food storage since it is shelf stable, but then we discovered we love it. We drink it by choice now. Tom even uses it on his cereal regularly.).
  
• Garofalo Whole Wheat Pasta (This pasta has the best texture for 100% whole wheat. The best I have tasted)
• Disney Crackers (These are only an occasional treat. They are still pretty expensive).
• Tree Top Apple Sauce (I discovered last week that Costco's Tree Top apple sauce is now organic. That is in addition to being naturally sweetened.)
• Raisins (next time I need them I will give the organic ones a try)

What are your favorite organic groceries and where do you get them?
What is better: local or organic?