I've Been Practicing & Experimenting

 

Since December of last year, I’ve been doing things a little differently.  Taking a good look at the things we do, eat, have, etc. and making subtle changes to make improvements.  Slowly I’ve been making changes and trying out new ways to make things in our life more efficient.  For instance, this winter we dialed in our heating situation.  We were notified there would be a rate increase so we decided to see just how low we could keep the thermostat and still be comfortable.  It turns out we were able to stay quite comfortable with the thermostat set at 68˚ and layering up as well as wearing our slippers.  Our heat bills didn’t go down, but they didn’t go up either.

 

Time blocking is something I’ve used in the past to be more productive and efficient with projects and tasks, especially on weekends or staycations.  With retirement looming I was really concerned about my days getting away from me so I decided to implement time blocking as part of my daily life.  In order to make sure that was feasible and would work I practiced with it and after much thought and a few tweaks I was able to come up with an organizer page that I think is going to work really well for me.  I'll be doing the things I want and need to do at a comfortable pace that works for me.  More importantly, I won't waste my days.

 

Along the lines of waste, we’ve been really aware of the many ways we can be wasteful and doing a lot to curb that waste.  Overusing products is one of the easiest ways to be wasteful so we are more aware of what we use and how we use it.  Long ago we stopped buying paper towels and napkins.  We have plenty of rags for cleaning and I made a few dozen cloth napkins from fabrics I had in my stash.  We really enjoy using them and now can't imagine going back to using paper.

 

We repurpose plastic grocery bags as trash can liners and find we don’t use many as we don’t create a lot of trash.  Anything that can be recycled or composted is and what is leftover goes to the garbage bin which we only set out about once a month.  I wish they’d give discounts or charge us based on how often our bin goes to the curb, but they don’t. ☹  That’s okay.  We’ve got to keep the landfill operational.  There are a lot of trashy people around.  Hee, hee.

 

Another area we are working on his consumables.  Along with paper products I’m more mindful of plastics.  We don’t purchase paper plates and plastic cutlery, even for camping.  I wash out Ziploc bags and we reuse them.  Most of our food storage, however goes into reusable glass dishes, jars and some plastic containers.  I save cottage cheese, sour cream and other plastic containers to use for freezer containers and once we are done with them they go into the recycle bin.  We are mindful of how much toilet paper and facial tissues we use too.  I’d like to think I’d switch to handkerchiefs but I’m not quite there yet. Perhaps someday.

 

Fuel for our vehicles is a biggie and I have been working on alternatives to driving a car.  We had a set amount budgeted for fuel each month and now that gas prices are on the rise that budget doesn’t go very far.  Plus, in retirement, my plan was to lower our budget now that I no longer need to drive to work every day.  I still think my new budget is workable, however.  At least I’m going to give it a solid try.

 

There are a lot more things I’d like to work on now that I have more time available.  Water conservation, water catchment, gardening, and putting in a xeriscape landscape.  In the past I’ve been a terrible gardener and our yard hasn’t been much to write home about.  I’ve definitely struggled in this area. But I’m excited to test out different options and keep trying.  I also am very much interested in improving our recycling and doing more upcycling and repurposing.  So, a lot of different things we’ve already tried (with improvements to make too) and a lot more to try and test out as well.  Have you done any "experimenting" lately?