Update On Going Green

As some of you know my Resolution for this year was to try to be more "green". I'm not really doing to bad. We started by switching all the light bulbs to CFL's. I try to buy about 3 each month. Then in March it was switching the household cleaners to the new "Green Works" brand (by the way, I do like them). Last month I bought us a new washer and dryer. That was super cool and something I have been thinking about for several months. The old one was 19 years old and not in any way efficient. The new one is a front loader and should drop our water usage by 63%. My project for May is planting some vegetables on the back porch. You see, we live in a townhouse that forbids vegetable gardens. The loop hole is using pots. It helps that our back porch is enclosed. So yesterday I bought a tomato and cantaloupe plant and seeds for carrots, beans and lettuce. We'll see how it goes. I figure I need to get very small result to make my money back. The great part is the kids are very excited about the idea of growing our own food. I am also starting to look in to trying rain water collection from the drain spouts for watering the garden. I just need to get the containers. I looked on-line and they can be very expensive. Shannon suggested that I contact the recycling center and see what they have. Jim is even getting into the act. He is talking about looking into solar panels. The back of our roof faces south and would be perfect. Of course we would have to get the homeowners association to agree. That may be our biggest problem. I'll let you know how it goes.