What part of your childhood do you miss the most?
Submitted by Maretta.
None. Seriously. I didn't have the best of childhoods, and things really didn't get better until I became an adult.
Maybe I am one of those lucky people that actually has life get better over the years....
Let's hope so.
This is to be the final in my three part Laundry Tips postings. My intention was to use pictures to help you get an idea of how I have things organized, but there have been some changes here in our home. The main thing is that Jeff and I are no longer a couple, but still trying to be friends and roommates. I have moved into the spare bedroom, and of course that meant I had to re-arrange all of my clothes and such, so everything is not completely organized as I wish it to be.
But I took pictures anyway.
Starting with the far left picture, you see the clothing in my closet. The Left Mid pic is a closeup of the hangers. The Right Mid pic is where my shoes are, such a tight squeeze, huh? And the far Right pic is of the inside of my closet door.
Let me start off by saying that if you are using wire hangers, you hate your clothing and do not deserve any of them. That's right, I said it. So what if I have seen "Mommy Dearest" one two many times? Wire hangers are just plain wrong. They are good for three things: helping you into a locked car, unclogging a toilet, and toasting vegan marshmellows... ok, and picking up stuff that fell behind something like your washing machine or dryer. Maybe holding a sagging plant upright. But not your clothing.
If wire hangers are all you have.. well.. stop it. There is Freecycle and the likes, and whenever you buy clothing please do not be afraid to ask if you can keep the hangers. Or, to be sneaky, as if they can bag them hanging up so as not to wrinkle them. That way they have to give you the hangers. Then take all of your wire ones (save a few for the before mentioned reasons) and take them to Goodwill or somewhere like that. They always need hangers.
While it seems to be a mess, my closet is organized. This is how my closet is set up (works really well for me, but might not for you...):
Starting with the far left: First you see any new clothing with the tags still on. I do not removed a tag unless I am 100% sure I am walking out the door with it on. That makes things easier to return if need be, and saves the sales person a bit of strife (and some stores won't even give store credit if the tag is gone). After the tage is removed and the first wearing and wash, they are then put into the proper category. Next would be my "character tees". These are shirts with some cute character (like Gir from Invader Zim) on them, or a nifty saying or whatnot. Also, one might call this a casual section if one does not have much for character stuff like I still do. Next are my sheer tops, or tops I always wear something underneath. This indcludes my black fishnet top as well as a sleeveless sheer top I have had forever and just looks to classy on me to trash. Then you see tops that I would wear under those shear tops, which blends into tanks then sleeveless then short sleeved and so on. These are my nicer tops, ones that could be dressed up with slacks or a skirt or dressed down with jeans. Next are my button/clasp up tops, ending with my black cardigan/sweater set (something I swore I'd never own, but actually looks quite nice on me). With all of my tops, in each section they are organized from lenght os sleeve, smallest to largest. That includes spaghetti straps, tanks, and sleeveless.
After the tops, we get into the bottoms.
This secttion starts with a rack that has several bars on it to hold several pairs of slacks. Since I have the space, I am also currently using it to store some skirts. This is a great way to store several things to be hung up like slacks in the space of one hanger. Perfect for my now tiny closet. Past the slacks start the skirts. These are in order from shortest to longest. Then we have my dresses, once again shortest to longest.
And here we are, at the end of my closet... at the very far right you will see some special items. It is where I put costumes and such. Currently, in this section of my closet, I have a dress that once belonged to my grandmother (we have such different body types, but it fits me, is an empire waiste moomoo from Hawaii), a velvet like dress I once wore to a formal in high school, and a costume that was labeled runaway teenage bride goth princess or something... but I love the material.
On the door to my closet was a huge nail that has obviously been there for some time. I has been painted over quite a bit, and is very useful. In the picture you will see a shirt that needs to be placed in my closet and the holder for my belts. There is also some room for a few empty hangers.
Right now my shoes are just kind of placed in the bottom of my closet. I did take a pic...
I will work on it later, but those shelves have always come in really handy. Ultimately, I would put shoes usually worn in the back and ones rarely worn in the front. That way you might just start wearing the ones you rarely do. Also, I have shoes (like slippers and sandals, stuff to wear when I am taking Kalifornia out to potty) near the front door. No shoes inside, please.
I do have a dreser and a lingerie chest for my other items.
The middle picture is my lingerie chest. It belonged to my grandmother, but she gave it to me and I LOVE IT. Bottom are misc unmentionables then there are socks (looks like four drawers, but it's two), then are my panties (I really do not care for that word) and then bras. The pic on the far right is of the very top drawer in my beloved lingerie chest. It holds some misc items (leg warmers, shoe laces, shoe polish, gloves of all kinds, and more).
The way you fold things is always up to you! Fold to fit your space/needs. You do not have to fold like Ms Stewart or Mom, but folding does help to keep your clothes not only organized and looking nice while in the drawer, but also on you.
Some clothing is meant to be hung up, and some to be folded. One of my main pet peeves (besides wire hangers, of course) is "hanger nipples" It is the terrible thing that hangers do to some clothing, like sweaters or delicate material or things that are hung up for long periods of time. Those items I will either find a spot in a drawer for or hang over the hanger as neatly as possible. As always, do what works for you.
There is a hook on the inside of my bedroomdoor where my two bathrobes are. Also, on that door, left by someone else, is a mirror. I am not fond of mirrors that I can see while I am in bed, so the robes help to cover it when not in use.
Extra tips: Sprinkle a bit of your fave scent (I used lavender essential oil) in the bottom of your dresser drawers. The wood will absorb the oil, just give it a couple of minutes, and your clothes will always smell lovely!
If you haven't already, check out Rehashclothes.com. It is an awesome clothing trading site, all you pay for is the shipping. Great way to oomph up your wardrobe and find new homes for stuff you no longer need/use/wear.
Well, I think I have about covered it all. I probably haven't, but it is all I can think of for now. This blog is long enough, anyway.
Oh, a note on dry clean only items. Hand wash them. Drycleaning releases so many chemicals into our world, and just because they claim to be a green or organic does not mean that they are. And don't get me started on those bags and those.. ick.. wire hangers... Try to avoid buying things that need to be dry cleaned (organic cotton / hemp ROCKS) so it is something you do not have to worry about.
Happy Laundering!!!
Organization is my favourite thing. That is a big part of why I love to do laundry.
In my last post I gave my laundry soap and fab softener recipe, and some other washing tips.
Wait, I think I forgot one... did you know that fabric softener can make your clothes wear out faster? That is kinda how it works, by breaking down molecules. Also, it is basically lubricating your clothes, making them softer and less durable. But I do believe that the recipe I listed does not do it near as bad as that store bought stuff, and it is so much cheaper.
So now I am going to attempt to post some things on organizing those clean clothes, towels, and such.
Let me start with the towels. There is no set law as to how you have to fold your towels. For me, it has seemed like everytime I moved I folded mine differently. Why? Because the place and way I stored them was different. Right now we only have a skinny linen closet to hold our towels, linens, extra bathroom stuff, etc. Space for it all is limited. I fold the towels just to fit the shelves, put a fresh set (after each washing of towels) in the bathroom, and now have two small wall hanging baskets holding washclothes (since there isn't proper room in the linen closet for them at all). Oh, and try to skip using fabric softener on them in the wash. It inhibits their drying abilities. Yup.
Next let me move on to bed linens. I got a great tip somewhere online, sorry that I have forgotten the source, but it really helps. If you have a sheet set, fold it all up except one pillow case. Then put the folded stuff into that one unfolded pillow case, and place in wherever you are storing it. It really helps to keep things together. Now, the matching comfortor might not fit, but the sheets and sometimes bedskirt will (especially if it is a king pillow case). The best part is that since that pillow case is part of the set, you always know what is in it. Do you have a lot of unmatched peices? Have an extra pillow case set aside for misc stuffs. You could also make your own set by getting different but complimenting peices. That is always fun, and you know the style is yours.
Now for comforters, blankets, bed spread, duvet, and the like:
Once again, just fold these to fit the space you have. A good option is a quilt rack, if you have the room, or those nifty storage bags that you suck the air out of (if you plan to store them for an extended amount of time. Another option is to get storage boxes that can hold one set of bed clothes (sheets, pillow cases, covers, etc) and store that box under the bed it goes to. That way you are sure to not forget sizes, etc.
While we are on the topic of storage....
Some type of hook on the wall or door is always helpful in a bathroom, especially one without towel racks or with a towel rack in an awkward place. There are many to choose from. Over the door hooks are great since they can be moved and placed very easily, but be sure there is space between the top of the door and the top of the door frame to accomodate them. There are the stick on ones, but be sure to not skimp on these. And remember that you might end up hurting the paint or wall paper that you put them on. There are the ones that you drill in place, not easy to move if you don't plan on keeping them there long but great for stability.
If you are using some storage boxes to store some things, and still have some dryer sheets (they do make earth friendly ones, biodegradable and all), toss a dryer sheet into that box to help retain freshness.
Oh, and on wooden shelves you can put a drop of your fave essential oil. The wood will soak it up, just be sure it is pretty much "dry" before placing anything on it so as not to get oil all over (and a drop should work, no more).
Quilt and towel racks are nice, too... if you have the space. We have one of each, and I plan on using them in our spare room once we get it organized. Since the closet there is needed for storage, the towel rack will hold fresh towels for our guests and the quilt rack will hold extra and misc. blankets, and most likely a sheet set that we can use on the futon in there. If you have a dresser in your spare room with an empty drawer or two (our spare room one is full, sigh) you could also use that to store linens, etc.
I believe I will save the part of this that talks about clothing for another blog. I will even go into how to organize your closet and the one year, or two season, rule. Happy folding!
And yes, I would do yours for you. And yes, I would charge. No, I won't wash ur nasty stuff, either. Unless you don't mind paying $100 per skidmarked pair of undies (and that price is to start off).
With the help of my grandmother and a best friend (both on the phone with me at the time) I basically learned to do laundry when I was about 16. I lived with my mother, and was sick of my clothes getting messed up (she did our laundry, and I did not want to learn from her). That was back long before I knew how to use the internet, like it was that available for me anyway. And now I love it. I remember my mom fussing at me for washing things too often, like my bed clothes (weekly, and I felt that worked for me at the time), etc. Then I lived with my now ex-fiance. I had no choice but to do laundry. After that I lived at my dad's (with my then step mom and my siblings) and my chore was laundry. I didn't mind at all, b/c the one time my now ex step mother finished up for me, she shrank some of my fave shirts. Yeah. I was not a happy camper.
So now, no one else is allowed to do my laundry. I do make small exceptions, like a sock or two left at my mom's, but other than that NO. I have been basically living on my own for about 6 years now, no real roommates, and renting. Each time I have drug my washer and dryer (that I love dearly) back and forth with me. Owning those two things is almost as important as owning my own bed. Yes. Definitely.
I love the organization of it. The sorting before washing, the sorting to dryer dry or line dry. Then the sorting to put away. Ahhh... such heaven for me. I love organizing closets and such, and I redo mine quite often. Well, I used to. Now that Jeff and I live together... well.. It isn't as easy. So I try to leave stuff as it is so he can always find it all. But you would think after.. what... the several months we'd been living together he would know what I do hang up and what I don't. Ok, maybe not. But the way I fold certain things.. how the last couple of weeks I refolded them right in front of his face and he will still do it wrong... uugghh.
But back to the point of this post.
I love to do laundry. I make my own laundry soap, and fabric
softener. Many people ask me for those recipes, and I though it I
posted it here I could just reffer them to this blog instead of
retyping it for each email.
So here we go:
Since posting this, I have decided to pacakage and sell my hand made laundry soap and fabric softener. I will no longer be giving out the recipes, though I am pretty sure your outcome would be different than mine. I will be tweaking, altering the recipes I had in some way, too. There were a few kinks I wanted to work out, anyway, and always like to add my own personal touch. The origin of the recipes comes from a group I once was in on Yahoo!. I no longer remember the first person to post it. I also use a mix of info from other groups/online friends, as well as stuff I have researched on my own. I always have had the ability to take anything handed to me and make it my own, and that extends to these things, too. I am hoping to be able to also start making dish soaps, and maybe more.
Now for some tips:
DO NOT USE BLEACH!!! Icky, bad chemical. And anything going into your washer, goes down the drain and into our earth. Tsk tsk. What else can you use to whiten things? Try oxyclean. It's not as safe for the planet as plain old H2O, but it is a hell of a lot better than bleach. I do not own bleach, I do not use bleach, and I can't stand bleach.
Another tip for getting whites white is to let them dry in the sun. I have yet to do this, but I don't own that much white stuff. If you have an extra tough stain, make an oxyclean paste and use an old toothbrush to scrub it in there. I let stuff soak in my washer with it, sometimes over night.
You don't need hot water to get things clean! Talk about saving some $$$ on your electric bill... My allergist told me to use hot water for all of my loads, but there is no way. If something is particualaryily icky, or has been exposed to a cat (my worst allergin), I will use hot water. Other than that, the warm setting is usually as high as I go.
Since it's summer, pretty much, and super warm (ok, freakin hot as poo during the day) here, and our laundry room has a nifty window that gets some decent sun, I am trying to line dry more and more things. Until I am able to set up something outside, though, there are things I will continue to use my dryer for. Those are: towels, bedding, jeans, and any other heavy stuffs. For the things I don't dry, will toss them in the dryer for a bit, on really low heat if any at all. Since Kalifornia is shedding a lot lately (ok, really freakin a lot) there is dog hair everywhere and this but of toss dryer time helps smooth things out.
But if you are able to have a proper clothesline, please look into line drying all you can. Not only will you be saving on your power bill, but also helping the planet.
If you cannot make your own laundry soap and fab softenter, look for all natural ones in the stores. Yes, they are more expensive. And yes they are worth it (lately I have heard that seventh gen has been using known carcenogens for years, so I'd avoid them).
And if you don't have a Downy Ball, GET ONE! You definitely don't have to use Downy in it!!!
I have heard of ways to use pieces of cloth to make your own dryer sheets. I have yet to do that, but am very interested. See, I am a very good conductor for static electricity. During the winter, I am constantly shocking people. And I can't have fleece anywhere near me, otherwise if it is dark I look like the fourth of July. That would also help with the fluffing of stuff in the dryer after it being line dryed (which can leave some items stiff). I will post more on that when I get more on that.
So that is about all I can think of now as far as washing and drying clothes goes. Next I think I will post a blog here about folding and organizing laundry... everything from socks to towels to closet items....
What are the goofy nicknames you have for your pet? Bonus points for sharing a picture of him/her.
Submitted by Papi Chulo.
Her name is Kalifornia, so naturally we call her Kali for short.
Once, while sitting in the car with her, waiting for my boyfriend to get back out from a store, two women walked by and commented that she looked like a dingo...lol. So now I will call her my lil dingo and ask if she wants to go eat some babies (so very sorry if this upsets anyone). Of course she would never eat any babies, except buggies. But it is still cute.
For my 9th birthday my grandfather got me a dauschound. I named him Wrinkles because he didn't have any. Over the years, after I became an adult, I started calling him "Turd" (if you watch South Park you might get the reference). He was definitley my moms dog. Then I found a rescued female dauschound for her named Princess... who I imediately started calling mini-turd. Lol. A few years ago Wrinkles had to be put to sleep. He was about 17, had lived a long and happy life, and was at the end of his time. We miss him so much, and now Princess is just Turd...
My mom also has a black lab mix (I got him when I was 16) that I named Remy. He is the sweetest thing, and I always called him Remybear... or Rembear. He's 12 now, still quite hyper but showing signs of being a bit more off his rocker than usual for our family. Kali loves to visit her uncle Remy.
And my Precious, my dog that lives at my mom's gaurding her backyard. I call her Precypoo. OR my Preciouses.... in a Golum like voice, of course. I miss my Precypoo, but i know she helps my mom a lot by keeping her and her home safe.
First Pic: Remy, wearing a towel cape (one of his fave things) with Princess standing in front of him
Here you see Precious, as a puppy
Here is a cute one of Princess
And here is Kalifornia (when we first got her, so she is a bit bigger now) playing with Jeff (she loves her daddy) while he tries to sleep
I often find myself a bit too busy to post here daily as I had planned. Hopefully I will get back into it, though.
Yesterday was Jeff's birthday. After he got off of work we went to go see Iron Man. It was a good movie I'd reccomend to just about anyone.
But since it was his birthday, I didn't mind him driving around with the top down. It was a nice day and evening for it, anyway.
That, combined with the cleaning done for my mom and grandfather to come by on Monday have sent my allergies into total alert. Yeah. This sinus pressure sucks. I'm out of OTC allergy pills, and do not want to get anymore since i am trying to avoid chemicals and whatnot. So I have used my Simply Saline today, as I should every day but often forget. Yeah... my sinuses still hurt. Jeff wants to bring a friend from work home for lunch, as he does a lot of days, and I hate to tell him no but I just don't feel like company. I told him I guess he could and then told him how I feel pretty terrible right now due to the allergies. We will see if he still brings his friend home.
I was supposed to go to my cousin's house to finish working on his taxes... but I just hate going outside. It is nice and warm... but I know it will only make my allergies worse.
So I am sitting here, at my desk, drinking my hot green tea with agave nectar, and only venturing outside when Kalifornia needs to potty. Next potty time I might go get the mail. I like getting mail, and with all the cool freebie sites I go to I do get enough mail to bring a small daily smile to my face.
There is a sink full of dishes left from my attempt at making Jeff a yummy and all natural vegan birthday cake shaped like the head of an alien (he loves aliens). It came out yummy and all, just not looking like I hoped. Next time i will do more research, start studying on it at least a month in advance and not a week like this year. But we finally got to spend his birthday together, and that is what matters most.
I gave him a new tongue ring with a green alien head on the ball of it (he has one, but has wanted another since he does have 3 in his tongue). Kalifornia gave him a Nightmare before Christmas long sleeved thermal hennley shirt with silver skulls for the buttons. We are a bit more thankful for eBay now...lol.
Jeff says we still do not have the funds to start up my garden, but a few people have offered me some leftovers of what they aren't using in theirs. I just have to wait. Jeez.. I hate waiting. And I already started on this too late... but it will work out. Things always do...
There are still some great items in my Etsy shop (www.roguedecadence.etsy.com). The amethyst necklace has been sold, though I will attempt to make another one. I just might end up doing that sometime today...
Five Thousand Euro Electric Car Catches VW's Attention
by Christine Lepisto, Berlin on 05. 9.08
"Oscar is smarter than the Smart", read the headlines of the Berliner Morgenpost after the little electric flitzer made a visit to the capital city. Oscar, for Open Source CAR, is an electric car developed by Felix von Borck of Akasol and a group of students at the Technical University of Darmstadt (which you may remember as the winner of the 2007 Solar Decathlon). Oscar was invited to Berlin for a meeting of the Green Party members in Germany's Bundestag (Parliament). There, Oscar drew the attention of a VW engineer. It is certainly not the looks, so what is it that draws VW's attention to Oscar?
According to von Borck, it is the drive train concept, with a powerful lithium-ion battery, that draws attention to Oscar. The Oscar project started with simple data: the average occupancy of an auto is 1.3 persons. 90% of all trips are under 9 km (5.6 miles). The Oscar is designed and developed specifically for this everyday use. The Oscar seats two adults, one behind the other, with a drawer for luggage that slides out from under the seating area. And it consumes 6kWh per hundred kilometers, the equivalent in electricity of one liter of diesel per hundred kilometers or 235 mpg.
Von Borck credits manufacturers like Tesla with moving the electric car cause forward, but dismisses Tesla as a toy: "It is like a Ferrari, which people will not be able to afford." By contrast, he calculates the Oscar could be sold for 5000€ if it is mass produced.
And the Oscar may be a step closer to mass production. At the Green Party meeting, that VW engineer took a test drive. Von Borck reports to Germany's Die Welt that the test drive promptly resulted in an invitation to Volkswagen.
Via ::Akasol and Berliner Morgenpost (German)
I haven't been posting daily like I wanted. For two days I spent most of the day at a job organizing a playroom for a busy working mom. It was much fun, but long days. Pay wasn't bad, and I now have some pics to make a portfolio of sorts.
I've been a bit down here, some stress stuffs in home life. But this was on yahoo, and I wanted to share my daily smile with you:
http://video.yahoo.com/watch/2298121
The house we are renting is great, but it is a bit old. And being the green gal I am, and I very much against pesticides... especially when someone tries to put them in my home. I asked some green folks online what they do, and I got a couple of responses.
See, we have had a bug problem. With the weather being so different every day here the bugs are always coming inside to keep safe. Another thing is that the landlord has yet to even check out the attic, and he has had several other renters before us. Yeah.
Advice I have gotten and will use/have used:
baking soda
boric (sp) acid
Since I am worried about Kalifornia getting into stuff, I have asked Jeff to ask our landlord to only use it under the house.
As for the baking soda, here's the tip: make it into a paste, and use it to seal any cracks where bugs might get in.
Of course that would take forever. We have hardwood floors and the more I look the more I see how quickly/cheaply this place was put together. So I am only doing it on certain problem areas, like inside cabinets and behind my desk (I hate sitting here, trying to blog, and seeing a buggie run across my desk). I lined my cabniets (that had the problems) and kitchen drawers afterwards to have a paper barrier btwn the dishes and stuffs that go in them and the baking soda. So far I have finished the 2 kitchen drawers and the cabinets below them as well as the shelves in the corner of the cabinets. I had to stop b/c I ran out of masking tape. I also ran out of lining stuffs, so I am now using expired copies of a local paper publication (microwave for about 15 secs to seal the ink, like with newspapers).
I'm also doing laundry with my home made laundry soap and fabric softener. That's pretty green.
Yesterday wasn't much of a green day. I did eat some black berries I picked from our yard as a snack. And in the shower I used some castille soap instead of the commercial chemical yuck, as well as some home made toothpaste and did a baking soda scrub on my scalp (I don't use shampoo).
Other daily green things are that we don't use paper towels. I have rags and stuffs to use instead. And we buy that earth friendly toilet paper.
Onto another subject:
Tonight I am supposed to go by a ladies house and scope out her kids playroom. She wants me to organize it. Yup. Waiting to be emailed her address.
Oh, and I am making sun tea! I almost forgot. I better go check on it!
Another thing...lol.
Anyone ever heard of Rehash? Rehash.com? It's a clothing trading site, you pay for shipping. Pretty neat. Maybe the stuff I am not selling on Etsy will be traded there...
I have been remembering more and more to bring my reusable bags to the store since we got the ones that fold into their own pocket and have those clips on them. When I get home I always turn them inside out and let them dry (sometimes things like the bag of lil carrots gets them wet) so unfortunately that is where they stayed when Jeff and I went to visit my mother this weekend.
Actually, our only goal was not to stay with my mother. That was more of a convinience thing, since she would watch Kalifornia while we went to the going away parties on Friday and Saturday night. She did get one of her baby teeth, so that was cute. Mother's Day went fine, though Jeff went alone to go out to a late lunch with his family since mine planned to eat at the same time. Our families are so different. Mine was trying to keep me there as long as possible, and he spent less than 3 hours total with them all weekend including when he stopped by there on Saturday while I was resting up for that night (and trying to somewhat recover from the night before).
Kali had a great time playing with my mom's dogs, and even got to spend a smidge of time with Precious, my dog that is guarding my mother's yard (and seems to attack any dog that she doesn't like as in my mom's Princess). She did try to pull some dominance moves on Kali, but I had her by the collar so that didn't go too far.
I am now officially looking for a "real" job. My hand made designs just aren't cutting it anymore, not that they ever really were. Being vegan and eating organic is expensive, but I know it will be better in the long run. I just wish Jeff would eat better, less Hot Pockets and maybe start liking a salad or something. But tonight he did say he wanted to start eating more fruit. That is good. He likes fruit, mainly lemons.
Making our home more green does help ease on the moneys, but having a boyfriend that refuses to let me set the thermostat any higher than 72 (he freezes me sometimes) during the summer doesn't help. And the way he drives... sigh. Like a bat out of hell, or worse. Talk about wasting gas. My car is more than ten years older than his and we get the same gas mileage. Yes, his is an Eclipse convertable, mine an Oldsmobile... but it just seems that his tiny car should do so much better than my pretty big car.
I do love big cars. I've had to move very quickly before, shoved my whole life into a Buick Century. Had to leave a few things behind, but the two dogs I had at the time were in my passenger seat.
Last week I did a good cleaning of my hermit crab tank, and they loved it. They were so active afterwards, exploring their "new" area. I rearrange every time I clean.
My etsy shop is still up, too. www.roguedecadence.etsy.com. Feel free to check it out whenever... or buy it out, whichever. lol.
Oh, something I want to do. I want to start posting daily blogs here focusing on what I did that is "green" for the day. Today my biggest project was finally cutting some old t shirts into cleaning rags. I have some I might even be able to use as cloth napkins (I am a little hesitant, as I am not so much a sewer and can't really hem them). Jeff is constantly begging me to buy paper towels. I refuse. They are a waste, a waste of trees and a waste of land (being tossed into landfills). There are other options. Newspaper or coffee filters can be used, with vinegar water instead of windex or the like of course, to clean windows. I have a sponge for the stove, and a separate one for the tub. Old rags for other things. The list goes on. I do want to get some more cloth napkins, just don't want to pay a pretty penny for ones that are too fancy (or - gasp! - dry clean only) for daily use or just aren't practical. If it isn't practical, I don't want it. The other green thing I did today was to clean my stove using a sponge and vinegar water. But I pretty much only clean with vinegar water, so no biggy.
The home made dish soap is working very well. I am still not even halfway through the batch of laundry soap I made back in Febuary.
I am refusing to buy anything new that doesn't HAVE to be new (like toilet paper, etc). If it is new, I make sure it is eco-friendly, preferable fare trade, etc. I would like some new clothing. My closet is so full of stuff my mother and grandmother got for me... and so what if I have gained a bit of weight. Who said vegans have to be skinny? But when I see Jeff buy a new video game but then fuss at me for the price of groceries, I get quite upset. It just doesn't seem right. And when Kali chewed through one (not the only mind you) of his chargers for his PSP (which he bought cheap off a friend, so that isn't so bad though that money could have gone to something better, like groceries) he went out to Wal-Mart and bought a new one. I begged him to let me check on Freecycle or something, but no. That idea seemed so foriegn to him. He hates the idea of going to thrift stores, too. I need to get him into the awesome world of fleamarkets. Maybe when we get a bit more cash, like those stimulus checks.
But it boils down to me wanting to spend money on food and him wanting to spend it on electronical stuffs, mainly video games.
Another funny thing. I got a ticket Friday before last when I was staying at my mom's and on my way out to my favourite night spot. Yeah. So on the 16th I might have to go back. The cop pulled me over for speeding (no way my car was up to what he said, I had just left a stoplight and my car doesn't excellerate like that) but he changed it to reckless driving. Sigh. It's still not cheap at all. But I dont' have to worry about loosing any points, so that is good. I really don't want to drive back there on the 16th to pay it, having to leave here before 7 am and all, so maybe I will call them tomorrow and see if we can pay it by mail or something. That would help a lot.
Ok, enough of this. I'll post more tomorrow.
