Tips and Hints for Frugal Living and Reducing Your Carbon Footprint.

DON'T throw that little dab of coffee, wine, tomato paste, juice, vegetable juice, meat, gravy away.

Okay, you are standing in your kitchen and wondering what to do with any of the above items.

1. First, get out that extra plastic ice cube tray. Now this is a perfect way to save any leftover wine or coffee. The next time you want iced coffee, you already have the cubes made. Anytime you want a dab of wine for cooking it is ready without opening that new bottle.
2. Second, tomato paste, gravy and meat can be frozen in a plastic zipper bag for use later.
3. Put a plastic dish with a lid and label it 'vegetable juices' and drain any extra veggie water or juice into it. Add any little dabs of celery, parsley, and onion to it whenever you have chopped just a little too much. This dish will make a great base for your next soup pot.
4. Freeze all nuts so they don't turn rancid so fast.
5. Butter will keep almost indefinitely in the freezer.
6. Yeast will last way beyond the expiration date in the freezer.

Be sure to label and date everything when you put it in the freezer.

I use clear, square plastic containers so that all this loose stuff doesn't come out and break a toe.

STOP!!!

Don't throw that away until you look at it and see if the item in your hand that is headed for the trash has any more life to it. If it is fabric, can it be part of a quilt, a new bag, or even a dust rag? If it is a jar, plastic dish, paper, broken plate can you create something useful from it? Can you repurpose, upcycle or recycle it? We live in a throw-away society and our landfills are getting disgracefully full - one item at a time. Every item you throw away instead of using is frequently something that you need to use cash or credit to replace. Every time you can reuse something and prevent spending a dollar that is a dollar plus taxes that you don't have to earn. Every dollar you spend actually costs you more than a dollar because you have paid income taxes, employment taxes, effort to get to work, etc.

The picture of the tea pot cozy shows how I used some scrap yarn to keep my tea warm longer thus I don't have to zap it in the microwave to reheat it and use more energy. You can often fashion a tea cozy from a repurposed sweater, reclaimed or scrap yarn, fabric scraps - you get the idea. If you don't have a crafty bone in your body - find a friend who does and barter the craft materials for some of your awesome cookies for her ability to turn your materials into a useful object.

The painting is from DickandFranny on Etsy.com
http://www.etsy.com/view_listing.php?listing_id=13484574

Water is vital to our very lives - we can live a lot longer without food than we can water. It is expensive to make water safe to drink and clean water is a limited resource. Because of this, it is in our best interests to conserve as much water as possible and make this a priority so saving water becomes as much a habit as breathing.

In the summer water often became scarce on our farm so Mom had many little tricks she used to conserve water. For instance, when we took a bath, we didn't drain the tub but kept the water to dip with a pan and use to flush the toilet. She also used the bath water to water her container plants and house plants. Since we lived in the country, she also used it for the small kitchen garden. We had some of the largest and healthiest summer squash around.

NOTE: Many towns now have regulations against using 'grey water' (bath water, dish water and washing machine water) on the garden because it seeps into the ground water and can cause contamination.

The act of saving water not only makes more clean water available to everyone but helps reduce your own utility bills. Let's analyze our water usage and see how and where we use water then how we can reduce both the amount and cost of this utility.

We have water piped into our homes for drinking, bathing, cooking, cleaning plus lawn and yard care.

Let's look at a few simple actions that we can take to reduce our consumption and our costs.

Do your faucets drip? If so, you are pouring gallons of water and buckets of money down the drain each month. If it is your house, fix the drip or leak. If you are in an apartment, ask the manager to have it fixed. Even if the water is included with your apartment - you eventually wind up paying any excessive charges by increased rent.

Also, compare your water bill to last month's bill - if there is a sudden increase in water usage but you haven't done anything to increase your consumpson dramatically, you may have a leak in the line. It is important to take steps to determine of this is the problem - either call a plumber or trace it yourself.

Learn to take a 'Navy shower" by turning off the water while you are soaping up and then turning it back on to rinse. Same thing when you are brushing your teeth - turn the water off. Don't just let water flow down the drain as if the faucet will never run dry. Make this a fun game as a family to see how little water you can use and still be clean and have sparkling teeth.

Only run your dishwasher and washing machine when they are full loads. You will save even more than water when you have a full load because it will be an energy and soap savings as well. Remember to use cold water in the washing machine and you will increase those savings even more.

Have a yard? Be careful that you aren't watering the sidewalk. Know how much water your lawn and shrubs need and don't over-water. Use a timer so you don't forget to turn off the sprinklers. An inexpensive timer that fits right on the hose can save you water, money and effort. Water your house plants and container plants with either your bath water or dish water when you do hand dishes and they will not only be watered by benefit from the soap 'fertilizer'.

Do you drink bottled water? If so, invest in a water filter such as a "Brita Filter" and fill your own water bottles. Most bottled water is simply filtered tap water. You might as well filter it yourself and have an eco-friendly bottle and you will save a large amount of money on every bottle you fill and have as good or better quality of water than most of the pre-bottled water you have been drinking. If you want flavored water, add your own flavoring for pennies instead of paying the high cost of the commercially flavored water.

When you are eating at a restaurant and know you won't drink water because of another beverage you are ordering, refuse the water. Many areas of the country don't offer water to their patrons because of how much is wasted each day. If you can reduce that waste you will reduce your carbon footprint a little bit more that day.