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Live with less
Jun. 11th, 2009 05:36 pmWas watching Oprah today (yes, I know, shitty television, but every once in a while she has a show worth watching) and the theme was living with less. She took two families and a couple of individuals and sent them some sets of rules to follow for a week to see if they could live with less waste.
Here were some of the waste sins that the families were committing:
- lots of take-out, one woman admitted to dining out 4 nights a week
- making separate meals for each member of the family to appease picky eaters
- never eating leftovers and throwing out all kinds of food
- keeping the thermostat too high (I'm guessing this was a winter show)
- having lights and fans on in rooms no one was in
- drinking bottled water
- too much reliance on technology for entertainment (TV, ipods, cell phones, video games etc.)
The rules for the challenge:
1. no eating out or take-out, all leftovers must be eaten, not trashed
2. no bottled water
3. no disposable plates, cups or napkins
4. Only 1 hour of TV per night. Computer only to be used for homework. No ipods or video games.
5. Thermostat set at 69 degrees (I'm assuming maybe set it to 75 for summer? That's 3 degrees the other way from the standard "room temp" of 72)
6. Only wash clothes that are actually dirty
7. turn off lights and fans in unoccupied rooms. Unplug all appliances and chargers not actively in use.
8. 8 min max showers (that's the limit on her website, not the limit suggested for the people on the show, they were restricted to 5)
9. no purchasing of anything other than food for the week
It got me thinking about my own lifestyle and which of these things would be challenging for me.
1. We do waste a fair amount of food. Veggies and fruits often go bad before they are eaten. Occasionally my husband wastes lunch meat (I can't even eat it so don't look at me). Take-out leftovers never go bad though. That's easy convenience food and always gets eaten. I'm not sure if the solution is to buy less perishables or try to eat more fruit and veg. I also know I'd miss our once-a-week or so dinners out (sometimes twice, I'll admit to that). It's one of the few times I get out of the house and we spend time together. I'm not sure if I want to tackle this or not.
2. I tend not to go for bottled water except when I go to SCA events where the water isn't potable anyway.
3. Do people seriously use this stuff at home?!?!? I can't think of the last time I bought any, and there is none in my house right now. I don't even use this when camping!
4. Not sure I could adhere to this one. I have to admit that the TV is pretty much always on. Being alone all day the house is really disturbingly quiet without it. As for the computer, I am aware that it's a bit of an addiction and I know I could get a lot more done if I turned it off, but I'm not entirely sure I can. Or rather I'm sure I could, I can do anything I set my mind to, I just don't want to. To try this or not?
5. We did have it set to 80, but the pregnancy is starting to take over and I can't sleep if it's above 75 now. Let's try 80 during the day and 75 at night. That's an okay compromise.
6. What defines actually dirty? Does stinky count or does it have to be visible dirt? With all the housecleaning, gardening and stuff I've been doing most of my stuff has been DIRTY (like I've been stripping just inside the door so I'm not wearing it through the house shedding yuck everywhere), but Jason's desk job means his is not really. That and I've taken to re-wearing stuff because my wardrobe is painfully limited right now and it's not like I leave the house most days anyway. My laundry has decreased significantly in the last little bit, but his has stayed pretty constant.
I've always believed that you can get away with wearing pants 3 or maybe 4 days running, bras I usually give 2 or 3 (unless I get really sweaty for some reason), undies STRICTLY one, and shirts are one (if I'm actually going out in the world) dresses also usually just one, depending on how long I wear them, like if I just put it on to go to dinner it's got another wear or two in it, but all day means just one. What do you guys think is "dirty"?
7. Who are these people who leave lights on in rooms they aren't in? My lights only come on at sundown and only in the one room I'm in. In Edmonton I would run fans in rooms I wasn't in because that was our AC. After dark you had to throw open all the windows and get some air circulating to try to get the place as cool as possible before you sealed it up the next morning. Fans blowing inward on one side of the house and outward on the other. Now that we have AC, fan is only on over our bed when I'm sleeping. When I'm not pregnant we can probably stop that too. The unplugging appliances thing is a bit beyond me though. Uuuugh, to having to crawl around behind furniture to plug and unplug stuff. I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that. Especially not now being all awkward and pregnant. Do you unplug things that aren't in use? Maybe I'll compromise by unplugging things like the lamps in the guest room and some of the small appliances in the kitchen. I'm not going to clamber around behind cabinets unplugging the TV and computers though.
8. This is a major sin of mine, and with the hair brushing in the shower I'm not sure I could cut it down any further. I should time my showers the next few days and see how bad I really am, just out of curiosity. They didn't mention not running the water while you brush your teeth. This used to be a sin of Jason's. Drove me nuts.
9. This is attracting me a lot. I know I've been spending too much lately. And with no raises coming this year and me unable to get a job we really should rein it in. I have to say, it's tricky when every week yet more shit in my closet doesn't fit, and there's still the matter of needing a few things for the baby (at the very least the crib and the reusable diapers, and I'm going to need some kind of nursing pads so I'm not leaking on everything I own). I'm disinclined to just try it for a week and more inclined to try to make a list of the stuff I might need in the next little while and am therefore allowed to buy and try to buy nothing else and keep it up for as long as possible and see how I can do.
Anyone want to discuss the challenge? Maybe try joining me on one or more of the rules?
Here were some of the waste sins that the families were committing:
- lots of take-out, one woman admitted to dining out 4 nights a week
- making separate meals for each member of the family to appease picky eaters
- never eating leftovers and throwing out all kinds of food
- keeping the thermostat too high (I'm guessing this was a winter show)
- having lights and fans on in rooms no one was in
- drinking bottled water
- too much reliance on technology for entertainment (TV, ipods, cell phones, video games etc.)
The rules for the challenge:
1. no eating out or take-out, all leftovers must be eaten, not trashed
2. no bottled water
3. no disposable plates, cups or napkins
4. Only 1 hour of TV per night. Computer only to be used for homework. No ipods or video games.
5. Thermostat set at 69 degrees (I'm assuming maybe set it to 75 for summer? That's 3 degrees the other way from the standard "room temp" of 72)
6. Only wash clothes that are actually dirty
7. turn off lights and fans in unoccupied rooms. Unplug all appliances and chargers not actively in use.
8. 8 min max showers (that's the limit on her website, not the limit suggested for the people on the show, they were restricted to 5)
9. no purchasing of anything other than food for the week
It got me thinking about my own lifestyle and which of these things would be challenging for me.
1. We do waste a fair amount of food. Veggies and fruits often go bad before they are eaten. Occasionally my husband wastes lunch meat (I can't even eat it so don't look at me). Take-out leftovers never go bad though. That's easy convenience food and always gets eaten. I'm not sure if the solution is to buy less perishables or try to eat more fruit and veg. I also know I'd miss our once-a-week or so dinners out (sometimes twice, I'll admit to that). It's one of the few times I get out of the house and we spend time together. I'm not sure if I want to tackle this or not.
2. I tend not to go for bottled water except when I go to SCA events where the water isn't potable anyway.
3. Do people seriously use this stuff at home?!?!? I can't think of the last time I bought any, and there is none in my house right now. I don't even use this when camping!
4. Not sure I could adhere to this one. I have to admit that the TV is pretty much always on. Being alone all day the house is really disturbingly quiet without it. As for the computer, I am aware that it's a bit of an addiction and I know I could get a lot more done if I turned it off, but I'm not entirely sure I can. Or rather I'm sure I could, I can do anything I set my mind to, I just don't want to. To try this or not?
5. We did have it set to 80, but the pregnancy is starting to take over and I can't sleep if it's above 75 now. Let's try 80 during the day and 75 at night. That's an okay compromise.
6. What defines actually dirty? Does stinky count or does it have to be visible dirt? With all the housecleaning, gardening and stuff I've been doing most of my stuff has been DIRTY (like I've been stripping just inside the door so I'm not wearing it through the house shedding yuck everywhere), but Jason's desk job means his is not really. That and I've taken to re-wearing stuff because my wardrobe is painfully limited right now and it's not like I leave the house most days anyway. My laundry has decreased significantly in the last little bit, but his has stayed pretty constant.
I've always believed that you can get away with wearing pants 3 or maybe 4 days running, bras I usually give 2 or 3 (unless I get really sweaty for some reason), undies STRICTLY one, and shirts are one (if I'm actually going out in the world) dresses also usually just one, depending on how long I wear them, like if I just put it on to go to dinner it's got another wear or two in it, but all day means just one. What do you guys think is "dirty"?
7. Who are these people who leave lights on in rooms they aren't in? My lights only come on at sundown and only in the one room I'm in. In Edmonton I would run fans in rooms I wasn't in because that was our AC. After dark you had to throw open all the windows and get some air circulating to try to get the place as cool as possible before you sealed it up the next morning. Fans blowing inward on one side of the house and outward on the other. Now that we have AC, fan is only on over our bed when I'm sleeping. When I'm not pregnant we can probably stop that too. The unplugging appliances thing is a bit beyond me though. Uuuugh, to having to crawl around behind furniture to plug and unplug stuff. I don't think I could ever bring myself to do that. Especially not now being all awkward and pregnant. Do you unplug things that aren't in use? Maybe I'll compromise by unplugging things like the lamps in the guest room and some of the small appliances in the kitchen. I'm not going to clamber around behind cabinets unplugging the TV and computers though.
8. This is a major sin of mine, and with the hair brushing in the shower I'm not sure I could cut it down any further. I should time my showers the next few days and see how bad I really am, just out of curiosity. They didn't mention not running the water while you brush your teeth. This used to be a sin of Jason's. Drove me nuts.
9. This is attracting me a lot. I know I've been spending too much lately. And with no raises coming this year and me unable to get a job we really should rein it in. I have to say, it's tricky when every week yet more shit in my closet doesn't fit, and there's still the matter of needing a few things for the baby (at the very least the crib and the reusable diapers, and I'm going to need some kind of nursing pads so I'm not leaking on everything I own). I'm disinclined to just try it for a week and more inclined to try to make a list of the stuff I might need in the next little while and am therefore allowed to buy and try to buy nothing else and keep it up for as long as possible and see how I can do.
Anyone want to discuss the challenge? Maybe try joining me on one or more of the rules?
