Practical CLothing Dryer Rack

So here is a great option for indoor drying with 50 feet of drying space! The top folds down for a flat area for a sweater, etc. It is called the Robbins Lumber HG-305. Available from GAIAM.com as well as other companies if you care to search.

Now that we have solar panels I am even more aware of the electricity drain from using the dryer. I don’t put many of my clothes in the dryer as it is, but, my wooden drying rack is getting warped and it is not very feasible to have an outdoor clothes line, although I am looking at this, too, $41 at Target:

 

According to LaundryList.org about 5.8 percent of residential electricity use goes towards the clothes dryer, according to DOE EIA statistics from 2001. If all Americans would use the clothesline or wooden drying racks, the savings would be enough to close several power plants. From their site:

 

Clothes Dryer
Do Not Use a Clothes Dryer…………………… 23.6 million (21.2%)
Use a Clothes Dryer……………………………… 87.5 million (78.8%)

Electric…………………………………………….. 67.2
Natural Gas………………………………………. 19.4
Propane/LPG……………………………………. 0.9

These figures do not take into account the millions of Americans who do their wash at commercial Laundromats and multi-family housing locations. The number of American households with a washing machine at home but no dryer is 4.3 million (or 3.9%). We assume that this is roughly the number of hard core air dryers, who use clothes lines and drying racks exclusively.

 

 

 

 

 

Turning Blue Jeans Green, Happy Earth Day

Levi’s WaterLess Jeans are one of the five companies featured in Jill Baron’s article  in lifestyle.msn.com.
These  jeans are made with eco-friendly denim, using organic cotton and natural indigo dyes. The new line reduces water use by an average of 28% per pair (up to 96% for some of the 12 available styles) and represents the brand’s commitment to turning blue jeans green.

Baron writes of these  5 new mainstream fashion lines:  “progressive thinkers with a true flair for style have worked not only to use sustainable fibers, like organic cotton, into their creations – but also to work with major brands and retailers so those fashions are available to mainstream U.S. consumers.”
Happy Earth Day.

Tip from: Greta

Can Less Be More

Do we need all our stuff? How much stuff do we really need to live? What does one really need? Just received the link to interesting site via Josh. Kelly Sutton’s site where he has listed all of his possessions and is selling everything off except what he can fit into 2 boxes….

He says on his blog:

Inspired by a a book or two, I’ve decided to try to see if I can rid my life of most of the clutter. The goal? Condense my life into 2 bags and 2 boxes.

How will I do this? It seems simple to just say: get rid of everything. To realize how much junk I own, I have put myself through the misery of documenting every single possession of mind, no matter how insignificant. This gives me a solid metric to measure my progress against. I will be explaining the finer details of this in future posts.

The 2 bags and 2 boxes principle will hopefully allow me to live anywhere and move instantly. This is the Cult of Less.

“On the whole, it’s led me to cherish my few purchases more. Every possession also requires a certain amount of upkeep, and I find myself with more time and less possessional guilt. Every thing owned begs to be used constantly; every second not utilized comes a shred of buyer’s remorse. Everything I own I use at least once per month, save for my winter clothes.”

I say, all well and good if yu are young and it is feasible to live that way. Everyone in the US particularly accumulates lots of stuff. I feel burdened by the house and the contents that have attached themselves over the past 25 years. But as someone replied:

“This is a completely crap and meaningless “trend”. There’s no real sacrifice involved whatsoever, and the people involved seem to enjoy the illusion of asceticism without the actual hard work involved. If you’re happy only owning five pairs of underwear or whatever, more power to you… but to blog about it as some great emerging movement or philosophy is a waste.”

I could do without the potted plants, but they do give me oxygen and bring life into my home. I could without the art on the walls, but most of the art in my house was created by people I know and it enriches and inspires me to have it around me. Do I need 2 pianos? No, anyone want to buy one? It’s not easy to sell a piano. I also don’t need more than 1 cutting knife but I have 4 or 5. I don’t know that I will go minimalist, but I certainly could as Josh recently suggested: hire someone to help me, put up a tent in the backyard and bring it all out into the daylight and then make some choices……Perhaps it would be comforting to have a list of everything I own in one place?

Do I Look Fat In My Swimsuit Issue

There is always the bathing suit issue for some women. Here is a good article from Jezebel.com with viable reasons not to care a whit about what anyone thinks about you in your suit.

Here are a few reasons I like.

#1:

It’s my BODY. I live with it 100% of the time. It does awesome things for me like breathing, and walking, and swimming and I decided long ago that I am not going to allow anyone to convince me to hate or be ashamed of something that I am with 100% of the time for the rest of my life. I get to choose how I feel about my body – nobody else can make me feel good or bad, it’s on me.

#5:

It is maddening to me that the diet industry makes 40 BILLION dollars a year convincing women to hate themselves. They create fear and uncertainty by saying things like “Swimsuit season is just around the corner, are you ready to wear a swimsuit?”

And finally:

#6:

People can see me. So they know how big I am whether I’m in a swimsuit, or jeans and a t-shirt. If they are shocked at my size in a swimsuit, they should have been paying better attention. That’s just a big sack of not-my-problem.

The author also lists alternatives to bathing suits, cover-ups and also suggest facing your fears by writing them down.

Uplifting and empowering article.

Via: Umran

Bayleaf Studio on Etsy

Hand knit hats on to my friend Lili who has launched her Bayleaf Studio’s ETSY site with yummy, cozy and creative accessories and hand made invitations and cards. I will attest to her powerfully creative industry and talent having been the recipient of cards and useful gifts from this prolific knitting, sewing and collaging artist. Lili’s studio is full of baskets of deliciously soft yarns and projects. You can also go to Bayleafstudio.com for more news and info. Hurray!

 

Sea-Reserves

Josh always finds cool things to post about. Today- Greenpeace rain boots doing double duty as an informational source depicting sea-reserves which can counter-act the effects of overfishing. Designed by Zeptonn (Jonah has started a collection of his artwork) the boots are limited editions and I can only find them availabe for euros through the Netherlands’ Greenpeace site. Check out the quintessential Zeptonn look:

Via: Joshspear.com

Sunshine, SPF Clothing

As everyone is learning, sunlight is important for our synthesis of Vitamin D and Calcium. Sun for bone health. And, we also know that he sun’s UV is stronger than ever. So although we need to be in the sun unprotected for 1-20 minutes a day, we do need to protect during the rest of the day. HOW? 

The safest way to protect yourself from the sun is with a hat and to stay out in the sun short amounts of time so you do not burn. There are wonderful sun screen clothes.  www.coolibar.com , www.sungrubbies.com, www.alexandme.com are just a few of the many SPF clothing companies out there. I recently bought a great looking SPF shirt from www.exofficio.com, see photo above.

I intend to enjoymy summer and not hide from the sun, yet be smart about protection and non-toxic sunscreens. Stay tuned for that post soon.

Fabulous Fiber Arts

 

 

Great Barrington, MA is a sweet, small town with beautiful shops notably on Main St and Bank St. Particularly, noteworthy is Karen Allen’s store stocked with sumptuously soft cashmere sweaters, hats, fingerless gloves (you’ll just want to wear them all the time – yummy). I walked in an was recognized by Susan, who works there part-time, and who also is a landscape architect and designed my hillside of thyme, peonies, day lilies and ladies mantle 10 years ago.

But, back to the shop.

Karen is an actress (think Marion Ravenwood…Indiana Jones) who is also a talented artist. She is a student of ancient and modern textiles from aroudn the world. She designs and works with hand manipulated Japanese knitting machines to create her amazing sweaters, scarves and more using Scottish and Italian cashmere yarns.

All this beauty does come with a hefty price tag. Worth saving up for one wonderful sweater to savor through the winter and the rest of your life! Or even just some fingerless gloves? Hope some of my family members happen to read this post. Definitely worth a browse and squeeze, and tell Susan that I sent you.

Mind the Gap

Okay, every woman needs a package of these useful tape strips on hand. Peek-A-Boob Strips-tell me how I lived without them up ’til now? Useful, useful and useful for the unsightly gap between buttons on a shirt, or the too plunging neckline of my new silver ruffled blouse and I suppose you can use it to stick clothing to skin, too? The suggested uses include sticking together a hem come loose, bra strap hiding and securing clothing. $8.89 for 30 strips and FREE SHIPPING.

 

 

via: CatWalkQueen