Eco-guilt

[Alex]

Ahhh....the ugly, oh so ugly afghans. The only thing they were useful for was laying them out on the floor of her living room to hide the awful lime green carpeting you would otherwise be lying on it (because the cigarette smoke was so think it started 18 inches off the floor and never let up -- I grew up in an object lesson on how to get below the smoke if the house ever caught fire).

The memories. Also, the mittens (to this day I hate mittens) connected by a string so you couldn't lose them.

[JWBear]

I have several sets of knitted potholders a friend's mother made me. I still use them (which annoys Bill to no end).

[Scrooge McSam]

Guilt? Hmmm... for me, not so much. More like CHALLENGE!

I don't crave a large space. "Enough" suits me. It always has. "More more more" strikes me as waste. Sure, I succumbed to the temptation and did the bigger car and roomy condo for a while in Dallas. Did it make my any happier? Nah, not really. So I resolved to get back to the real me when I moved back to Vicksburg.

"It's kinda small, Sam... and it stinks!" was the first comment one of my co-workers made about my place when I bought it. It was a small rag-tag little hovel on about .5 acre right across the street from where I knew I would be working in about 2 years (our office was in the process of de-consolidating at the time and those of us due to make the move were just waiting on our new space to be built out). It had good bones but just needed a little love and a little work. Make that a lotta work.

"Yeah, but I can fix it up. You'll see. And I'll be able to walk to work."

Boy howdy, did THAT impress her! Homegirl lives in a builder development McMansion with 3K+ sq ft of interior space, expansive 6 ft wide side yards and backyard big enough for a grill and about 3 chairs, if you push it. And she spends all day Saturday cleaning it. Never schedule a movie with her on a Saturday. She WILL cancel. I really need to teach her the concept of "clean as you go". But I shouldn't be so hard on her. She's had a rough couple of years what with that 25 mile commute she has every day in her Suburban.

But we were talking about eco-guilt and smaller footprint on the planet and all that jazz, yeah?

Lashie... I'm with you on the 6 bulb KW burner bath fixtures. I lost those the first week.

CFLs... All the way, baby! Slapped those suckers in the second year I was here. Immediate 20% drop in the electric bill, if i recall. I'll have to find that old worksheet. Yes, I track my KW hour usage. Eliza, I hear you. I've heard the same complaint (quality of light) from many. I guess I'm lucky. They dont' bother me. Yay me!

Scrooge loves him some puttering around in the kitchen and can jolly well crust up a pan or two. "Clean as you go" though has left my dishwasher with no love. I think I've used it twice in 6 years now.

I have an erotic relationship with my tankless water heater. He bathes my naked bod in continuous warmth for pennies compared to "Tank". Tank was fat and slow and spent too much of my money. And now that I've kicked Tank to the curb, me and my new "hottie" are planning a separate shower and whirlpool tub for the bath. We're very excited.

High efficiency furnace and chiller... Mo money saved! We have actual seasons here so I need my AC and heat. A programmable thermostat keeps the costs down though.

Monster washer and dryer? Yeah, I'm talking to you. You're next! It's not that I haven't enjoyed giving up a chunk of my dining nook to have you here, but I'm tired of moving that wood screen every time we do a load together. I'm sure you'll agree that screen will look better in the living room behind the big lamp. Me and "hottie' have decided to get one of those all-in-one Not Afraid style machines when we re-do the bathroom. Besides, you two use WAY too much water and electricity.

I'm back in a smaller car now, loving that 38mgp on the highway.

Last year, I bought one of those "Kill-A Watt" devices so I could tag all the power suckers (devices that consume electricity even when they're powered off) I have left. I dug out my old Radio Shack "Plug N Power" remote set and mounted the remote right by the front door. When I walk out, I can kill power to the TVs, game console, laptop brick, printer brick, microwave, DVD player, amp, etc. The only devices that stays on are the cable modem, router, cable box and Tivo. It'll be another 6 months or so before I can get a read on how much that saved.

Scrooge... it's not just a username, it's a way of life

I hate hate hate those plastic shopping bags. But I have it good. The kitchen is about 10 steps away from the garage, so it's no problem to pop out and drop my cloth bags in the trunk after the groceries are put away. I still get funny looks though when I pop into the store for 1 or 2 items and tell the cashier "no bag, please".

Could I do more? Oh hell yeah... if i could put some solar panels up. My neighbors huge live oaks prevent me from doing that though. And I could plan a little better so I don't have to make that occasional extra run to the store. And I'd love to do a garden, but NOBODY can kill a plant like I can.

[Not Afraid]

We have several of the "icky" kind of CFLs. One is in our front porch light and it's the MOST unwelcoming light ever. And, the damn thing lasts forever. The other is in the laundry room and it will probably last for YEARS as well - and it's the warm-up kind.

The rest of the CFLs are the "good" kind and I can't tell the difference between these and regular old light bulbs. I wasn't sold at first as I'm VERY light sensitive, but I love them now.

[Scrooge McSam]

I guess I was lucky with the CFLs. These I bought years ago pop right on at full brightness.

[Stan4dSteph]

GE has a new CFL that looks like a regular incandescent. The ballast is all up inside the globe. http://www.engadget.com/2008/12/11/g...ranny-of-ugly/

Living in France also got me mostly over the need for lots of stuff. The problem is now I've got it all back and I still have an inability to get rid of most things. A lot of it is still in boxes.

[Not Afraid]

Then there's the problem of getting rid of the damn things. E-waste is not easy to get rid of.

[Ghoulish Delight]

After the great flood of '08 we couldn't justify the significant expense difference for the tankless heater. But being forced to switch from a 20 year old sediment filled hunk to a sleek shiny new efficient tank wasn't a horrible second option. Still not as clean as we'd like, but it does the job well and definitely keeps the bill lower than the last one.

Our garage and carport are directly behind our unit with a little enclosed back patio. Outside that is just asphalt and dumpsters. It's fabulous to be able to pull right up to our place. But stupidly, the units are designed to be entered from the "front" door that that faces the large central, well landscaped common areas and the pool. We NEVER come in that way, so we experience our house totally backwards. As a result, the light switches are positioned totally inconveniently, across the room from where we usually enter it. Thus, we end up using a freaking halogen fixture that's attached to the most convenient switch. I'm now trying to make a conscious effort to break that habit. Or think about replacing the halogen fixture. It's kinda nice looking so it'd be a shame, but it shouldn't be our primary light source.

[Ghoulish Delight]

Originally Posted by Scrooge McSam

I guess I was lucky with the CFLs. These I bought years ago pop right on at full brightness.

Most of ours do, and have for a while, but for some reason these floodlight ones take their sweet time. Probably because they're on the high wattage end of things.

[wendybeth]

Just so you know, Scrooge- you've got competition in the plant murdering arena. I have a horticulturist friend who's made it her life's mission to find me unkillable plants of the not-silk variety. The last one she gave me was some little mini pine tree thingy that she swore was indestructible. A few months later, it was a mini dried out thingy that looked like it belonged to Charlie Brown. Ironically, I watered it to death.

Right now I'm doing in a few poinsettias and another mini pine tree like thingy.