Water

Yesterday I received the first water bill. At the apartment it was like $25/month. No big deal. The bill was $347. I crapped my pants. After changing said pants, I started researching how to save water, because there is no way that bill will ever be that high again. When Patti, Dave and I all got together we started brainstorming and have come up with a few little things that we're hoping will not only lower the water bill, but not make us be so wasteful! I got a little tear in my eye thinking how much we wasted (we replaced a toilet that ran non-stop and fixed a leaky faucet in the basement within the first two month of living here) when millions of people don't have access to water that is clean enough to drink.

• Dishes. Filling up one side of the sink with soapy water and the other with clean rinse water.
• Showers = shorter. Recommended is 5 minutes. Dave said he thinks best in the shower...might be tough for him. **Update, got home and he said "You'll be proud, 4 minutes, biotch!"**
• Turing off water when brushing teeth
• Doing laundry once per week per person
• Dave is going to start going #1 outside. (Hehe totally joking!)
• Putting 2 liter soda bottles filled a little bit with sand inside the toilet tank to displace water on the two super old toilets. I found out yesterday older toilets use more water than the newer ones, so this is one way we're going to try to work with what we've got. 50 year old toilets - I'm talkin' to you!

 Yesterday we also started composting! If composting means collecting our fruit/veggie/egg leftovers in a butter dish outside the back door, then heck yes we started composting! Phase two of actually mixing it with soil and creating a place to put the material is still needing a bit more research. So, if you have any tips and would like to share...let me know! : )

Happy Tuesday!