how we're saving

 Joe & I have high expectations for ourselves. While we can't act on all of our environmental urges at the moment, we're definitely keeping our priorities in check: looking at food labels & shopping for things that don't come wrapped in plastic an preservatives, using our feet more than our bus system, using more cold than warm water.

In some ways, being in our small apartment in our small French city has made many of these things easier. No, we don't have a garden, but we do have a fresh fruit & vegetable store that focuses on French products–and French farms are just inherently smaller than American (industrialized) farms. All of the vegetables are in bins, so  you use their paper bags to take what you want of each thing. We're limiting our waste by bringing home less plastic & bringing home the perfect amount of food for two people.

We're also drinking a lot more water. Instead of buying the bottles, we keep a jug out on the table. Nancy doesn't have the greatest water quality. (A friend told us that for some pregnant women, the amount of nitrates in the water has been a problem.) Keeping it open in the air actually allows the chlorine to evaporate, and a few other chemicals in some water treatments as well. This means that after an afternoon at work, the water on our table is better tasting & better for us than most bottle water. (No BPAs from plastics.)

While we've focused more on saving money than saving resources with our cleaning supplies from the dollar store, we've made sure that the daily products are as low-impact as possible. These are easy thing to look for and easy switches to make like...
1. buying matches (not lighters) made from sustainable farming to prevent deforestation.
2. buying eco-friendly laundry detergent, which is the same price as your fancy name brand (& better for me, since I'm allergic to a LOT of laundry detergent).
3. buying all natural dish soap or making your own!
4. keeping our organic waste (food trash) in a separate bin than the trash can.

Separating the trash means we can use small bags, like our plastic bags from shopping, for organic waste and save the large black bags until their really, really full since there is nothing to stink up the apartment in them. It's a bit of a tight fit at times, since the apartment is small, but it's a huge help and even fun to see how long we can make it last. If one couple can have no trash for a year by simply watching what comes into their home, we can make a trash bag last a month. (Big money saver too–those bags are pricey!)

The other big thing we're doing to save is not something that I honestly expect a lot of readers to start doing for themselves, though you'd be surprised how much it saves. In France, laundry is a very expensive service: 4 euros to wash a SMALL load, and most times the same amount to dry. Some places are nice & let you dry for free... but they're few & far between. The laundry mats tend to be a bit, um, rougher than a gentle cycle as well. We don't want to buy a new wardrobe, so we're doing as much as we can to save our clothing & our budget. Eight euros for one load of laundry or for two pints at the bar? Come on.

So we've started washing our laundry in the bathroom sink. If we do a small load each day–rinse, wash, rinse & really squeeze them dry–we stay pretty much on top of it. We alternate days, so I haven't even gotten blisters or calluses like I did when I studied in France last time & washed my laundry by hand. So far, we've spent 4 euros on laundry detergent & 4 euros on a drying rack. We can hook the drying rack to the end of our bed (since it was designed to hang in an RV window), and from their the clothes hang in front of the heater to dry. We're already paying the electricity for the heater to be on, so voilà. Low energy, low water & low effort for clothes that are clean & dry by the next morning.

While we don't particularly love doing laundry, we didn't look forward to going to the laundry mat back home either. It's a fair trade for the savings, and we're much more confident in our "gentle cycle" than any washing machine. When we get back to the states, I expect that we'll continue washing the more delicate pieces & our "unmentionables" by hand to continue the savings.

So now your turn. Look around your house. What can you nix? What can you trade out without really noticing? What can you turn that savings into? A date with your loved ones? More money for fresh produce? The movie you been dying to see?

The environment is a big focus for me–as are efforts to bring more "domestic" tasks home to reduce our impact & really see what we're consuming. I'd love to hear what you what kinds of projects you're up to, what kinds of things you do to save. If you have a fun story, send me an e-mail or draft a post. I'd love to share your stories, too. meganveit @ gmail . com (Remove the spaces.)