Low Impact Week Update

Here's the round-up so far this week... how are you doing?

- use the air dry on my dishwasher instead of heat dry - I've run my dishwasher once, and it doesn't have an option NOT to heat-dry. When I'm home & it gets to the drying portion of the cycle, I just turn it off & open the dishwasher door. I wasn't home the one time I've run it. I'll try to be around for the next one.

- Turn off my computer at work when I leave for the day - So far so good for the computer at work AND home.

- turn off the water when I'm brushing my teeth- Check.

- be aware of water usage when at the kitchen sink - turn it off in between tasks- Check.

- visit a farmer's market Saturday & knock a couple things off my grocery list - Did this. Had a lot of fun in the meantime.

- use cloth bags at the grocery store instead of getting paper or plastic- Did this both at ALDI AND the farmers market. I think I was the only one at the farmers market with a canvas bag. I was proud of myself.

- print out only what is necessary- Check.

- don't use paper towels; when you can, use cloth napkins or towels instead- I've used paper towels a few times this week when I could have used a kitchen towel. Also, for our first anniversary (our "paper" anniversary), friends of ours got us a HUGE tub of paper products (toilet paper, tissues, paper plates, napkins, etc) It made us laugh. Alas, it landed during Low Impact Week, when I was supposed to be cutting back on the stuff.

- be aware of using leftovers, rather than throwing them out (or forgetting them in the fridge...)- still working on this one. I've eaten leftovers once this week. Didn't have leftovers from most meals. The leftovers from the large batch of macaroni & cheese I cooked this weekend will go to hungry kids to eat during the week.

- look for items to donate or post of Freecycle- Haven't done this yet.

- bike or walk to work every day- Check.

- combine trips when going out to run errands- Check.

- replace light bulbs with a Compact Fluorescent light bulb as needed- I planned on only doing this if a light bulb came up for replacing. Hasn't happened yet. I have been extra-conscious of turning out unused lights this week.

- take your name off of junk mail and mailing lists for catalogs you don't want- Done this once. I probably could go looking for more opportunities.

I'm doing my part to keeping the KNOZONE Action Days to a minimum this summer. Walking and biking to work has become 'normal'- a habit- now. It's really a fabulous way to start the morning. As long as I continue to dodge the business park sprinklers.