Water Conservation

I've recently become aware that more people are concerned about the drought than I thought so I figured why not visit some easy water conservation techniques pretty much everyone can do. 

Let's start with the easiest, turning off running water. How much simpler than that can get it get, right. Now let's talk about running water and when you should be turning it off. In the bathroom, while you brush your teeth and even soap up your hands or face. In the kitchen, when rinsing fruit and veggies, they don't need running water, a small bowl of water will clean them just as well. If you feel you need running water to do these things do them over a bowl and collect that water to be used elsewhere. 

Using this collected water is also a lot easier than you think. My bathroom sink often has a small bowl in it and I wash my hands into it and use this water to water a potted tree on my patio. If you don't have any plants to water but need a way to use dirty water, flush your toilet with it. This is a lot simpler than you think, you don't need to open up the tank and do anything complicated, just pour water into the bowl. You might have to figure out the best amount of water to use for your toilet, a small bowl that fits in my bathroom sink isn't quite enough to get a good flush in my bowl so I use a bigger container I add to and can then use to flush. While we are on the subject of toilets, there is the old if it's yellow let it mellow, if it is brown flush it down. If you think this is gross please take a minute to remember that we purposefully take perfectly clean water and piss and shit in it, that's gross and wasteful, letting a little bit of watered down pee sit for a bit isn't that gross, toilets have lids and they are in a room that is dedicated to them. 

Other simple way to save a lot of water is catching your shower warm up water, I don't know about your shower but mine takes a bit to get to a temperature I am willing to stand under. Put a bucket under the faucet or shower head and collect the water while it gets up to the perfect temperature for you to shower in. This water is clean and can be used for pretty much anything you want. You can use it for soaking dishes, bring it to your kitchen sink and pour it in. While you are showering, be quick. I am awful at this one, but I shower once maybe twice a week so I guess if I take a 15 minute shower it isn't as bad as a daily 15 minute shower. Also think about turning the water off while soaping and shampooing, there are shower heads (you should be using a low flow shower head for optimal water saving) out there with shutoff valves on them. I have one that doesn't shut off the water completely but takes it down to a trickle, which can be collected as well, so the temperature of the water doesn't drop when you turn it back on, no one likes a sudden shot of cold water. 

When it comes to washing clothes and dishes, always ALWAYS run full loads in a washing machine, it's just a waste to do otherwise. If you are a homeowner, don't have a real grass lawn, just don't, it's not worth it. If you really want one or you must then water it at night and don't water it too often and find a kind of grass that works best for your area. Make sure your sprinklers aren't watering sidewalks and driveways. If you live in a complex, voice any concerns about the way they water, if you notice a lot of runoff or sprinklers watering sidewalks or driving/parking areas, let management know. Same goes for any shopping or public area you frequent and notice these things, let management companies know about any leaks or water wasting you see from their property, they pay for all this water, they don't want to just waste money. 

In the kitchen, if you are a coffee or tea drinker, only make enough hot water or coffee as you are actually going to drink. If you make a lot of pasta or steam a lot of foods use this water for plants or even in soups or other food you're making, it can add a bit of extra flavor. If you are really serious about trying to reduce you water footprint I suggest you do a little research of your own on how much water goes into the production of your food. Yes you need to eat but do you need to eat that much red meat or that much chocolate (YES, YES I DO!), both have very high water footprints. 

There is one thing I don't think you need to worry about, doing the ice bucket challenge for ALS. If you want to do the challenge but feel guilty about the water, use shower warm up water, it's more than enough to make some ice with and then dump on yourself. Or just DONATE, but that isn't as fun and isn't spreading the word as much because let's be honest seeing someone freak out when they get soaked with ice water is a lot more fun than seeing a picture of a donation receipt and there is no way that is ever going to go viral the way this challenge has. I think the benefit of something like this way out weighs the waste of water and I am pretty sure anyone who has or knows someone who has ALS greatly appreciates the viralness of this phenomenon. (Did I just trick you into reading a post about something when it was really about something else, yes, yes I did)

Don't waste your lotion.

No one likes knowingly waste things but what are you unknowingly wasting or even knowingly wasting? You've heard it before, there is still lotion left in the container when you have squeezed/pumped all you can out. Do you cut open your containers to get that last little bit out? Most likely no, even though you've probably know there is more in there. Just how much is left in there? Is it really worth the trouble? There is probably more than you think in there and depending on the kind of container your lotion (or whatever really) is in it's pretty easy. Yes you can't just squeeze the tube or push the pump but are you always so busy and need this stuff instantly that you can't grab a pair of scissors or blade of some sort and do a little cutting and scooping? If you run out of your lotion during the week or a time when you are busy like needing to use it right after your morning shower quickly before work (I'm told this showering thing is daily and a morning routine even for some, I have no experience with this though) then just set it aside and grab a new one. When you have time cut into your old one and use it or if you don't have a need for it when you have the time put it into a large mouth container for later use. Here are some visuals from my latest lotion tube opening. I was quite shocked at how much was left in, enough for my whole body minus my back.

I probably could have squeezed out a tad bit more but then it would get all crumpled and since this is a metal tube the crevices are harder to get the lotion out of so I cut into it at this point.

I unfolded the empty part and used a pair of scissors to cut all the way across. Opened up the bottom part that would have lotion left in it and carefully reached in and took lotion out with a finger and put it on my leg for later use (so I could take a photo and show you how much I got out).

At this point I got a q-tip and used it to get the smaller quantities in all the nook and crannies. 

I even opened up top portion and found enough in there to use on one arm.

So how much does this actually get you? As I said above, enough for my whole body minus my back and I was suffering from quite dry skin this day and this is a thick and very rich moisturizer that doesn't go a long way like a thinner one might. 

This is what I got out. (please ignore my insanely pale leg).

So quit being lazy and open up those empties and really get your moneys worth. I have heard people say that companies know consumers can't get every last drop out so you aren't actually wasting money. 1 I do not believe that and will not even if I hear it from the CEO, it's is always about the money. 2 If that is true guess what FREE LOTION!!! 3 Again even if that is true why toss out perfectly good product? Really why? What good reason could there be for tossing it out?

I've been de-cluttering, organizing, and of course cleaning as I go. I've completed the bedroom (but not the master bath yet, point a marital contention, it'll get done eventually, I think). I will post what I've done there at some point, don't have any before pictures, it's too hard to take before pictures. I am currently working on the bulk of the apartment, the living/dining areas. The hardest part is the de-cluttering, I am a bit of a pack rat. So much stuff. In the process I've been making things, like the can I made last night, see previous post. Today I made a charger corral of sorts.

It is made from the cardboard of a Tofuky pack of Italian sausages, which are really tasty by the way. I opened it up on it's seam and glued it back together backwards, so all the product stuff was on the inside and it was plain cardboard on the outside. To make it more decorative I took a picture from an old calendar and glued it to the outside.

This is also something that can be done with toilet paper rolls. I made one like that years ago for my husbands head phones. I used an add for some beach get-a-way or something like that if memory serves. It's just a pretty serene picture.

DIY fruit fly trap

It's summer, or suppose to be summer let's not talk about that, either way fruit flies have arrived. I always have problems with fruit flies. The easiest way to get rid of fruit flies is to not attract them in the first place. Keeping your kitchen clean, washing dishes right away, eating fruits and veggies quickly or storing them in the fridge, but really who does that. Things get left out, things get forgotten, fruit flies find their way into your home, it happens. It happens to me a lot because I have a compost pail that apparently lets flies in to it. I may also let dishes pile up and lose a apple, lemon, or lime on the back of my counter on occasion. Basically I don't have a spotless kitchen.

I do however have a really simple and basically free way of dealing with the fruit flies. I make fruit fly traps from things I already have lying around my kitchen. I have 3 traps in my home, 2 in the kitchen and one in my animal room, because animals attract flies too. I have 2 made out of 2-liter soda bottles. It's quite simple to make, take your bottle, you can even use a smaller 12-ounce size, or whatever plastic bottle you have on hand. Cut the bottle top off somewhere between a quarter and a third of the way down. It depends on the shape of your bottle, you will cut the top part off and invert it into the base you have left. You want it to not fall all the way in but you want it to be short enough to put liquid in the bottom of it to attract and then drown the flies.

Here are my traps made from 2-liter bottles. One I've had for a few years and one I made more recently.

The flies will fly into the bottle but not be able to find their way back out. As a lure for the flies put a some apple cider vinegar in the bottom, enough for them to drown in once then get in there. At first I put in a squirt of liquid soap as well to make it easier for them to drown but I've found that not necessary. The traps are easily refreshed by dumping out the dead fly vinegar and adding more. I've also found wine and soy sauce work as attractants as well but those need to be changed more often because they seem to grow mold more readily than the apple cider vinegar.

If you like Starbucks frappacinos you can make a no cut fly trap EXTREMELY easily, or any other sort of drink cup with a dome lid. Just clean the cup after you've enjoyed your drink invert the lid in the cup and a fly trap has been made.

The hole for the flies to get in is a bit bigger than a 2-liter but I this did not seem to be an issue with them finding their way out. There was a good amount of drowned flies in the apple cider vinegar. Can you see them all in there? Trust me they are in there.

Simple, cost effective, reuse, and effective at their job. Does it get better than that, oh yeah no more fruit flies everywhere!!