Update

Wow, it's been almost a month since I wrote anything here! I've been very busy at work, though, and I've had to work some in the evenings. Several little things to report:

The Geekdo/BGG team on CarbonRally isn't doing as well as I'd hoped. We've got six members, but I was hoping for more. Please join our team!

We got some dishwasher powder from Seventh Generation, and it's doing much better than Cascade, even. We've also changed the setting on our dishwasher, reducing the energy used both to wash and dry the dishes.

Gaiam is running a sale until mid-October where they're only charging 99 cents shipping on everything (unless extra shipping normally applies). They've also reduced the price of their Seventh Generation items permanently.

I don't remember if I've posted this before or not, but we've started saving on laundry by rewearing a shirt once if it's not dirty. We've noticeably cut the volume of laundry.

Someone has recently sold my address, and I'm getting at least ten new catalogs a week in the mail. I'm hitting Catalog Choice pretty hard, and they've stopped appearing -- and I'm not getting any repeats.

And finally, we're continuing the waste-free lunch. Once you get started, it's not that difficult to keep it going!

Green Cleaning

Cleaning product are often full of nasty chemicals, made from petroleum, and are toxic. The first thing we changed was our dish soap, followed shortly after by changing our toilet cleaner and shower cleaner. We use Seventh Generation products for all of these, and they clean just as well as the older name brands that we used to use, but are not made from petroleum. We really like the dish soap -- it smells so good! Later, we started using their laundry detergent because we couldn't find Era for sale anywhere in San Antonio, and no one could get it for us. I prefer the Free & Clear to the scented, but they both work just as well.

We had been using Bounce dryer sheets for some time. Again, we used their fragrance free variety, but it was often hard to find. About two months ago, we got Nellie's Dryer Balls from Gaiam. Dryer sheets have carcinogens in them. What I hate about them is how many you have to just throw away. These dryer balls do the trick, as long as you put them in separately, and while your loading your dryer, not just thrown in on top. I find less lint and that the drying time is reduced by a couple of minutes.

Just a few weeks ago, we replaced the Swiffer. Swiffer was great -- it was the difference of me cleaning my floors vs. not. But I was sad about the amount of "dry cloths" I was throwing away. Again, from Gaiam I bought something very similar, but with cloth attachments that you can wash. It seems to pick up dirt and dust even better than the Swiffer, and the handle is both longer and adjustable. I think this is really the way to go. I was thinking of selling the Swiffer broom at my next garage sale, but I think I might hang onto it until I can find a better way to mop. Again, it's Swiffer, or it's me not mopping.

I want to hang the sheets and towels outside to dry. It's been over 100°F here for three weeks, with hardly any rain. I know they'd fade, but let's face it -- they're old anyway. I'm just worried about bird poop.