Green(er)
This winter, while taking a mini writing break, I wrote a three sentence post about hand washing our dishes. A few people have asked me to write more about that and I agree that this subject deserves more attention than three sentences.
Our family made a conscious decision this year to not use our dishwasher and hand wash our dishes. Why would we do this?
For several reasons. One of them is that I make all our own soap (except for Dr. Bronners liquid castile soap) and pretty much insist on doing so. It's my thing. But I cannot, for the life of me, produce a good handmade dishwasher soap that works really well.
That's one reason. But mostly we are trying to simplify our lives in purposeful and intentional ways and this seemed a good place to start (or continue with).
You know how people seem to run around like crazy these days? Going from one activity to the next. Shopping, school, entertainment, work, recreation. Going, going, going at dizzying speeds. Homeschoolers are just as prone to this as "regular" folk, I'd like to add.
Well if you hang all your laundry to dry, cook meals from scratch and spend time washing dishes together you'll have to necessarily spend a fair amount of time at home. This is what we are choosing. If you read this blog you know we don't spend all our time at home. We also love being in the woods and mountains, farms and other natural places.
I think it's really important for me to say this: I would not have made this choice with toddlers. If I hand washed all our dishes I would of never left the kitchen. I also didn't hang laundry in those days either.
an old photo I found of the kiddos "helping" me do dishes 6 years ago
It is the fact that our whole family participates in these choices that makes them doable for me.
I am not the dishwasher, we all are. I am not the laundress, we all are (or rather four of us are). I am the cook-in-chief but that is slowly evolving to shared responsibility as the kids grow.
So, this is how it works for us:
- We store most of our dishes & cutlery in a cupboard designated "hospitality" and keep handy only what our family needs. There are 5 in our family so that means 5 plates, 5 cups, 5 spoons, 5 forks.... you get the idea. Later this year and into next we will be evaluating that hospitality cupboard to determine what we truly need. I wasn't ready to get rid of most my dishes quite yet.
- While I am cooking I try to wash and dry as much of the prep dishes (bowls, measuring cups, pots, pans, food processor) as possible as I go. Most of these never did go in the dishwasher anyway. So no great change here.
- Right after most meals each person washes and dries their eating dishes.
- After that or instead of that we all tackle the clean up together. We are still training the children to see and do, instead of standing around waiting for direction. We're getting there but if we are all working and focused clean up can be as quick as 15 minutes, right down to a wiped down sink.
- We use my handmade bar of soap and baking soda (for scrubbing) for washing.
Things learned through this process:
- Dishwashers, even energy efficient models as ours is, use a lot of electricity. It is hard to calculate the exact amount we've saved because in the midst of this change we have acquired a new tenant and we pay the full utilities on the house. Our bill goes up if they are energy hogs (this tenant isn't). But even accounting for a different tenant a conservative estimate of our savings is $30/month but more likely it's higher. That's almost $400 a year.
- We might be able to skip on dishes but not dishtowels! With 3 kids drying, 3 times a day I was running out of clean dishtowels - I only had four to start with I think. So this was an additional cost, to buy a few more dishtowels so we'd have dry and clean towels when necessary.
- We allow ourselves to use the dishwasher when hosting groups of people, unless our guests help with dishes - which often they do. Works out to be once a month or so that we run the dishwasher.
~~~
Any other questions about hand washing? I'm certainly not the guru but I might have an answer. It's really not that complicated.
I know some of you hand wash your dishes, what are your thoughts?
Three crafty posts in a row (with more on the way). What's going on here? Must be Christmas! But it's not just that. There is definitely a creative groove in our home right now and I'm just running with it.
Inspiration
Sewing with re-purposed fabrics is nothing new to many of you but I just wanted to share a few projects we've made in the last month or so with worn out clothing and leftover project materials. Firstly, I've been inspired by a couple blogging friends, most notably Nicola at which name? and Lisa at 5 Orange Potatoes to experiment and play with "old things" to make "new things".
Other sources of inspiration have been these excellent books:
- Handmade Home. A very popular book for families with kiddos since many projects are kid friendly or kid inspired.
- Sewing Green: Projects and Ideas for Stitching with Organic, Repurposed, and Recycled Fabrics. I was able to get this book through inter-library loan. Have I mentioned yet how much I love inter-library loan?
- Sweater Surgery: How to Make New Things with Old Sweaters. Ditto on inter-library loan.
Projects
~ Knee-socks sewn from the arms of a sweater. This was a collaborative project for Celine and I. We found the idea in Sweater Surgery and located the perfect sweater at goodwill, having nothing suitable in our own "worn-out clothing" bin.
~ Denim purse made from Celine's favorite pair of jeans. Celine tackled this project all on her own and from her own inspiration.
~ Bernie, the Hippy Chick, handstitched by Brienne and I using the pattern found in Sweater Surgery. The original instructions call for felted sweaters, we just used new crafting felt. But we found the fabric at our local reusable resources center which collects excess materials, both used and new, from business and industry to re-distribute to schools, educators and non-profit organizations. I have a yearly membership and this is where I get most of the kid's crafting supplies; fabrics, papers, etc...
~ Yarn & button stuffed vinyl tree decoration made by me with leftover vinyl from a kitchen chair upholstery project. A bit of funky fun for our Christmas tree.
What re-purposed crafting have you been doing? Can you recommend other books or resources?
I suppose that title is misleading on a couple counts. Firstly, I don't practice yoga. Nothing against it, I just don't exercise in general outside of my normal life routine. Except for that time during my mom's March visit when we watched a yoga instructional video and I laughed through my clumsy downward dogs, warrior, tree and cat poses.
I hike 4-6 miles a week, go on walks year round with the kids, and garden during the summer. That's my exercise.
I also don't technically "wear the pants" in the family. I threw that part in for fun. Although from time to time I've tried them on for size you couldn't pay me enough to wear the pants in this family. Way too much responsibility.
So what exactly is this all about? Well, Damien sewed these yoga pants for me, to my exact specifications: slim fitting (just because I'm home all day I don't want to look frumpy), stretchy & warm. That last note being of utmost importance as we head into "cold house" season here.
What I would give for a wood stove. No, not everyone living in Maine has one of those. Instead of a woodpile we have a heating bill and we try to keep it as low as possible. For 6 months of the year I wear long underwear pants, pants, wool socks, sheepskin slippers, long underwear top, fleece/wool/acrylic sweaters, a down vest and on really chilly days a neck warmer and hat. Inside. I know, I deserve a prize.
So my husband made me these pants and with a long pair of wool socks (the kind the come to just below the knee) I don't even need long underwear. Just to clarify, for these photos I wore a tank top, it looked more "yoga-ish" than the aforementioned indoor winter wear. But let me tell you, there ain't no tank top wearing around here in winter!
Damien used this Jalie yoga pant pattern. Jalie makes awesome active wear patterns that can be used for both children and adults. One pattern for sizes toddler through large adults. Cool. So when the girls want a new pair of pants Damien can use this same pattern to sew them. This is one way to make sewing your own clothes more economical, when you can re-use the pattern and save on that cost for next time around. Isn't it ironic that with cheap foreign labor making your own is often more expensive than buying ready made?
These pants are made out of Polartec Wind Pro which is (as the geese in Charlotte's Web would say) "toasty-oasty-oasty". This fabric is warm, wind resistant, fleecy soft on one side and sheds rain and snow. I'm loving it!
I have to say my husband knows just the way to my heart - warm clothes. A man who wears the pants and sews. I've got it good.
I just love how the sun lights up the green in my earrings
