An Experiment

Recently I did an online questionnaire to find out how many gallons of water on average a family of 5 uses in one day here in the states. It said without any water conservation implements put into place, we would use around 532 gallons of water per day based on what I entered just about everyday things we did like clothes, personal hygiene, dishes, baths/showers, drinking, cooking water– all of those things. I was shocked! To me that was an unreal number because this past weekend, I began to get serious about keeping up with our water usage. We know off grid, our only water source may end up being rain water so we knew we needed to see what we are using here for everyday.

We called around trying to find 55 gallon rain barrels but most were $100 and up and we weren’t willing to pay so much for an experiment at this point. We do realize we will have to invest in a rain catchment system eventually but for now we are just doing an experiment.

Finally at a local hardware store, we found metal 55 gallon drums for $19.98. These were repurposed. The one we bought had apparently been used for commercial paint at some point. It had stains on the lid but the inside was relatively clean.

Since we were only using this water for non consumption purposes we weren’t worried about it. For drinking water, we use the kitchen tap since we have a filter on it. For the kitchen, we have two 7 gallon water containers –the kind you can buy at Walmart for $15. One is by the sink for hand washing and dishes. The other is on a shelf the children can reach and it is only for drinking and cooking.

This is the 3 gallon jar we keep in our bathroom. It works great and last about 3 days before refilling. We refill it with the tap water since we do use this for teeth brushing.

We are still taking showers in the tubs even though our next step is experimenting with sponge baths. The little kids take a real bath in the galvanized tub with 5 gallons of water two times a week. The other days they get sponge baths.

Thankfully the oldest daughter has finally stopped peeing the bed thanks to a pee alarm. Boy, were we excited!! She is very proud of herself too. So now she gets a shower about every other day. The hubby and I get a shower about every night. However I have been catching the cold water in a 5 gallon bucket while waiting on the hot and use this to refill the kitchen sink water jug saving from having to use the water out of the 55 gallon drum.

So far we seem to use about 100 gallons a day if I do two loads of laundry. Laundry is taking up the most water. I really need to work on this. The only thing I know to do is have less laundry to do. So yes, this is a work in progress and a difficult one those first few days. I didn’t realize how hard it would be not to turn on the faucet for water. It is such a habit and it is hard to break. Plus to wash dishes I have to plan ahead and make sure to heat up water for dishes. And I only fill my dish tubs up a quarter of the way and just wash a few dishes at a time. It’s been an adjustment for sure. But I figure the longer we do it, the easier it will be and the more effecient we will become.

We have also been using the blessings of spring to add greens to our diet.

A chicken sandwich filled with dandelion greens we had picked right before lunch. The chips were a treat– we normally don’t have things like chips. The hubby made a second sandwich and asked for more greens then he stopped and looked at me laughing. He said I had corrupted him becuase now he was actually enjoying eating “weeds”. The first time I ever served him dandelion greens he thought I was crazy!

I have still been sewing on my dress and also trying to learn to crochet socks.

The dress is working so well using this dress form I was blessed with by a dear friend. I never realized how nice having one of these would make my sewing projects. We of course named the dress form because we name everything. Her name is Nellie. So Nellie is getting her workout holding this dress while I have added yards and yards of material I pleated for the bottom edge.

Today we are cleaning out the garage and getting ready for my yard sale this weekend.

I do hope everyone has a blessed weekend.

Old Fashion Christmas

My father-in-law sent me this picture he took of the Christmas star. The hubby and I went out to look at it and standing there looking at something that hasn’t occured since 1226, just left me in awe. I know these two planets get pretty close every 60 years but it takes roughly 800 years for them to be right on top of each other to form what people call the Christmas Star. It was truly beautiful.

Over the past 4 years, we have greatly simplified our Christmases. The first 2 years were more difficult because our oldest remembered more store bought gifts. That and the fact that I am still learning how to choose and make the perfect gifts for each child. Over the whole year, I collect toys or items I know for sure each child will like or love. Closer to Christmas, I sew an outfit for each and maybe some other item they want. Like little boy wanted a wallet to carry his yard sale money. He had been using a coin purse, but even at 6 he seems to know this is too girly.

So while its not perfect since this was my first attempt at a boy’s wallet, he absolutely loved it. The zipper pocket is already full of his change. The fat quarteris one I had picked up months ago for 50 cents and I was just waiting for the perfect way to use it. The binding I made out of some old scrap material I had lying around. He is proud to have a wallet that is more in the style of his daddy’s than a purse like the girls carry.

We did ths gift exchanges Christmas Eve because the hubby actually had to work on Christmas day. We missed him but I decided instead of being sad I would get busy. So to work I went washing 3 loads of clothes, cleaning “junk” drawers, moving the board and card games to a lower area so the kids can have easy access since they are now old enough to enjoy playing these type of things, and painting. Yes the thing I hate most I spent 2 hours of Christmas day doing. We have been considering selling this house and trying to buy land with cash. We had decided to touch up some spots around the inside of the house. The other things we need to do will have to wait for finances and warmer weather.

Anyway after touching up the walls, I decided to paint the bathroom shelf in the kids’ bathroom. It has been driving me crazy and I was holding out to get some blue paint but it just never seems the right time to buy unnecessary paint when we had the tan paint we used in the rest of the house. I painted the shelf and then I painted the cabinets. White cabinets just never worked in a kid bathroom. No amount of scrubbing ever seemed to keep them clean.

It all looks much cleaner and better.

The junk drawer I organized using another lady’s idea I had seen.

I used a cardboard box to make compartments. I love the way it turned out.

We also cleaned the lamps and filled them. I always love how they look all filled and clean.

My other Christmas project was trying an experiment in water savings– something I seem to struggle with. I was reading another blog on saving water and decided when I started the water dripping in the night to prevent freezing, I placed a container under each faucet. I also used a 5 gallon bucket to catch the water in the tub while I let it run to get it hot for a shower. This morning with all the accumulated water, I was able to fill about a quarter of my washtub. The kitchen sink filled the coffee pot about a quarter full as well. The 5 gallon bucket has enough water to do a load of our cloth toilet paper. That’s alot of water I would have just let run down the drain for no reason! So I am on a mission to see how much water I can save. I keep trying anyway.

I do hope everyone had a Merry Christmas.