The Lean/Green Movement Ramps Up in Our Household

Posted by Kathy on August 18th, 2008 filed in environment, sustainibility

When I left my nice fat paycheck and health benefits last February to become a full-time astrologer, my husband, Alan, and I knew we had to live leaner. We also wanted to live greener, so we combined our efforts: We now hang our laundry out to dry, feature only CFL lightbulbs throughout our little home, and almost always drive 55 — well, okay, 60. And yes, we live in L.A. We’re the ones you’re flipping off as you speed by us. Hello!

We spent last year obsessing over calculators and Excel spreadsheets, saving and planning and calculating and saving some more, all so we’d have enough cash to see us through about 16 months of astrology startup time. One paycheck, even one as pretty as Alan’s, doesn’t go far in L.A. these days. And we hadn’t even planned on $4.50-a-gallon gasoline. So lately, we’ve ramped up the lean/green tactics even more.

Alan now takes the bus to work. And back.

Evenings and weekends, he recycles wood scraps into beautiful baby rattles and other toys. They’re gifts for friends; soon they’ll be for sale.

I now collect gray water from rinsing produce and washing dishes; we use it to water the plants and scrub the floors.

I’ve taught our son to use old coffee cans as rattles and drums.

Yesterday, we bought only the produce we needed for a week’s worth of meals: We’ve wasted too much in the past. When we got home, I washed the grapes, the peppers, the carrots, preparing them for the crisper so I wouldn’t have that chore to deal with on crowded, chaotic weeknights. I grabbed a knife and cut the tops off the carrots. I looked at the decapitated bits, lying limp on the counter. I felt some momentary confusion.

“Hey, Alan!” I shouted.

“Yeah?”

“Is there anything we can do with carrot greens? I don’t want to just throw them awa –”

“Nah, just compost ‘em.”

I stood there dumbfounded. Of course.

He came into the kitchen.

“I feel like we’re in the Great Depression,” I said.

He laughed, but said, “I know.”

It’s disturbing. But in a perverse way it’s also kind of neat. It’s discipline, it’s appreciation, it’s creative to think this way. It might be the next wave of our own little household Lean/Green Movement: Old boots will grow flowers! We’ll laminate magazine covers for placemats! Outdated curtains will become ball gowns!

Okay, Scarlet O’Hara I am not. Unlike Andromeda, I can barely thread my own sewing machine. Don’t even start me on the bobbin. But it’s inspiring and a little empowering, even, to just realize that we don’t need a bright shiny store — not even Target — for everything in life. We can make use of the explosion of stuff that piles up in our houses. We just need to think a little, maybe turn our heads a different way. I’m kind of excited to see what else we can do.

But I’m still a little sad that I had to throw the carrot tops away.

And so I ask you to please help me be creative, lean and green: To what previously-unintended purpose can you put something today? What have you repurposed in the past? I especially need help with the holidays looming on the horizon.


3 Responses to “The Lean/Green Movement Ramps Up in Our Household”

  1. Ophmac Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 5:23 am

    AAAhhhhhh!!! An astrologer!!!
    Set up a stake, let’s burn her!
    No sorry, first torture her, then burn her.

    Where is the manual I wrote to deal with these people? Where is the Directorium Inquisitorum?

    (/Eymerich-mode off/) ;) :)

    LOL

    Ophmac’s last blog post..Pagan Dreams (part 3 - Petrae Genetrici)

  2. Mama-lady Says:
    August 19th, 2008 at 1:36 pm

    I started a carrot plant from the cut off top once. But then it died after about 3 months. So it was composted after all. On thing my mom used to do with old clothes where the fabric was still in good condition was first wash them, take them apart, save all buttons, iron the fabric and fold it up carefully for later use. Many fabrics can be used for kitchen towels when there is not much else you can do with it. You can also use interesting fabric scraps for laminating into placemats. The backs of shirts make the front of aprons, the sleeves can be the ties. It’s a great project for beginers. That was how my mom taught me to sew. The other thing is you can sell nice clean fabric at garage sales. Buttons are great for selling too, or making braclets and other things out of them. As you seem to alread know; plan, plan, plan. Never have “leftovers” have “planovers”. Cans can be used to bake in. HOpe that something I offered was helpful. You sound like a wonderful woman.

  3. andromeda*art Says:
    August 20th, 2008 at 9:51 pm

    wow. you are impressive! saving grey water?? i can barely get my husband to not run the water the whole time he is washing dishes! i would love to live greener and leaner, but it would take the great depression to get my husband on board. he will only do something a “greener” way if it is convenient for him. bugger. it took SWEARING on MY LIFE that the compost pile wouldn’t smell like rotting fruit for him to get on board. (that and telling him that i was going to do it whether he liked it or not)

    i have convinced him to “grass-cycle”- you put the yard clippings straight back on the yard after mowing to return the nutrients locked in the blades back to the yard. he is now sold on the idea when he sees how much better our yard looks compared to our neighbors’ yards. it also allows us to water less as the yard waste helps lock in moisture. AND little to no fertilizer is needed. (although i think he sneaks some on when i’m not looking)

    i am also a BIG fan of saving all reusable containers from foods that we buy like yogurt and sauces. the glass jars can be painted with an acrylic paint and used for candle holders. use paints that are transparent so light can filter through. baby food jars are great for holding mixed paint, beads, buttons, seeds, etc. if you find yourself with excess jars, contact a local art department and see if any of the studio classes need jars for anything like rinse water for brushes, excess inks in printmaking classes (personal experience has taught me that yogurt containers with lids are best for that), and things of the like.

    whew! this is getting long!! i could just turn this in to a whole new post! thanks Kathy! you really got me thinking!

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