Ecominded Mama

Unplug the washer and dryer

I've heard this mantra for quite some time, and have been good about unplugging small appliances when not in use -- in my kitchen, the toaster, electric water kettle (which uses less energy to heat water than using a pot on the stove, btw), and coffee pot are unplugged. My printer is unplugged; the paper shredder that sits next to it is unplugged. I use a smart strip for our entertainment center in the living room.

But I never thought about the two phantom energy loads in the basement: my washer and dryer. I generally do laundry once a week, spread over two days (so that I can allow things to dry on my clothes racks and not run out of space), but the other five days neither the washer nor the dryer are used. They're sitting idle and unplugged now... quite possibly the simplest ecominded change I've made so far. 

10 Easy Changes to Make Today, Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day, here's my list of the easiest ecominded changes to make.

1. Change traditional incandescent light bulbs to compact fluorescent ones.

2. Bring your own reusable bags to the grocery store, mall, farmers market, pet store, take-out restaurant... anywhere you'd normally be given a bag to carry your purchase.

3. Use cloth napkins instead of paper ones.

4. Recycle.

5. Reuse things whenever possible: donate unwanted clothes to charity or have a clothing swap, use empty jam jars to store beauty supplies or buttons, buy used things rather than new ones.

6. Buy in bulk to reduce the amount of packaging required.

7. Lower your thermostat during the winter; raise it during the summer.

8. Only run full dishwasher and clothes washer loads.

9. Walk or use public transportation rather than drive.

10. Use just a little bit less of... everything.

Eco-focused coupon and discount sites

I heard about three sites that may be of interest to ecominded shoppers who love a bargain:

• GoGreenDeals.com is a daily blog that highlights sales and special discounts on a wide variety of products and services.

• Ecobunga.com focuses on "winning green" (highlighting giveaways of ecofriendly products) and "saving green" (coupons and discounts). 

• PristinePlanet.com bills itself as an ecofriendly comparison shopping site, but it also has some great offers in the Coupons section.

Please write if you know of other sites I should include here!

Ecofont

I love this one: By changing your font, you can use 20% less ink when printing documents. Ecofont has tiny holes in it that are imperceptible at 10 point and below (I can see them if I look really hard when printed in 11 point on my pretty low-end HP laser printer). The font was easy to download and install (clear instructions are provided) -- the only trick for me was looking for the font under its full name of "Spranq eco sans" rather than "ecofont" in Word's font list. It looks a little lighter on-screen, too, so I'd say it's best for people that actually print their documents, not just read them on-screen.

Wash clothes in cold water

I haven't been able to find it online this morning, but I read an article in the most recent Oprah magazine about the environment and things we can do to reduce our impact on it. I wish I would have written down the exact quote, but one of the experts said something that really stuck with me: The type of laundry detergent we choose has much less impact on the environment than the temperature of the water we wash the clothes in -- heating water (for laundry or anything else) has a major environmental impact. I washed several loads in cold water yesterday (darks, lights, and whites) and didn't notice a difference in how clean the clothes were. So for me, it's cold water for laundry all the time now. Mom would applaud this one: She always said clothes last longer if they're washed in cold water.