getting so much [greener] all the time!

Crap. I wrote a long post and blogger ate it. OR I played with the formatting in the html and accidentally erased it. It feels better to blame blogger.

So, let’s see. I was telling you how yesterday was a very “green” day for me and how I keep on patting myself on the back. “yay, carrie! good job carrie! high five, carrie!” I said that a couple of times yesterday…and here is why.

1. yesterday I FINALLY started my composter. I also read about it a bit more and found good info here and here. I’ve had it for a while but decided not to start it until after I moved. I’m glad—you have to drain this little guy every 2-ish days AND I really wasn’t cooking. Anyway, though, this is exciting. AND since it’s a fermenting system using bokashi I can put meat scraps and whatever else in it and it takes less time to be the compost. I think I’m going to maybe need a second one (you rotate them when you let them “sit” for two weeks) or at the very least a crock for the interim.

2. so, I have two cats. And that means plenty o’ litter. I used to use the non-scoopable since it came in bags, but they do better if I scoop. I use biobags for the waste, but I do scoop. And you can’t get tidycats scoop in bags, soooo…I’m going to have a lot of these plastic containers and I’ve been wondering what I can do to repurpose some of them.

Yesterday I figured it out. :)

I used one this morning to collect the water from my tub as it warms up for my shower. When I started the washer I added some of this water to it. I’ll also use it to water my plants, wash the patio and maybe even do the dishes.

When I bought more litter yesterday it was cheaper per pound to buy two smaller containers (14 lb) and I’ll use those to dilute the liquid from my compost, which will make a nice fertilizer until the compost is done. Yay!

3. I ate vegetarian last night. Annie’s Mac and Cheese. YUM!

4. I have been unpacking my kitchen stuff—I did A LOT last night. I’ve been averaging two boxes a day, but last night I did one huge box (equiv of three!) plus one, two, three other smaller boxes. I am quite proud that I arranged and rearranged and rearranged until I was able to put everything in the cabinets, it all fits AND I won’t need to purchase any additional organizer thingies.

5. Yesterday I spent ~$14 and offset our emissions from the trip to/from Tulsa. I invested in the renewable energy sources. Thank you carbonfund.org! I am pleased that my necessary wastefulness (I mean, I couldn’t’ve skipped the wedding) has been negated. :)

6. In looking at the composter info I happened upon Crunchy Chicken’s blog. She has issued a challenge—Buy Nothing for the Month of August. I’m going to do it, with a few provisos.

so, here are her rules:
-No new clothes
-No new gadgets
-No new furniture or housewares
-No salon services (except haircuts)
-No new makeup
-No new tools
-No whatever the hell else people buy
-No eating out (yes, this one is new!)

(food, medication and necessary things like, say, new jars, pectin, etc if you're canning are okay)

and these are my exceptions:
-if it is for my house and I've already planned for it it's okay to buy (eg, light fixtures, the organizer thing for my closet, the planters for hanging on my deck, etc.)
-if it is something I've already decided I need to purchase it is also acceptable (for instance, eco-friendly sunblock, the moisturizer with sunblock and the uv-blocking articles of clothing
-if I am out of town I am allowed to eat out (or this trip to c-ville to see mary alise and nicole's bach in a few weeks would be a bust!). Also, I only get to go out to eat once in seven days because my house is in no state to ask friends over
-if it will make me more eco-friendly and I do not already have something I can use in the meantime (for instance, I need an eco-friendly carpet cleaner) then I may purchase it
-going out for beers does not count.
-I may also purchase photos for a)the scrapbook, b)the orders I've gotten and c)the photo contest. And the appropriate matting to go with these items. But no additional frames, stickers, etc.

so, no clothes, books, cds, gadgets, gizmos, kitchen stuff, flowers, office supplies (particularly difficult for me to not buy in august!), shoes, jewelry, etc. yikes.

otherwise I have to buy it today or do my best to wait until september. I'll let you know how it goes. I am hoping to "feed the pig" with my savings. we shall see. I know I'm not being all hard-core and saying "no spending in august!" but seriously, I have now been living in my house for, what, eleven days where I wasn't also trying to move things out of another house. And I've been out of town. There are reasonably necessary items (such as the UV stuff) that I should actually purchase. And a lot of the other things I'll be able to buy with gift cards.

so. I'm going to try it for the month. I'll let you know how it goes. Anyone want to join me?