Saturday, September 19, 2009

Lala Land


I have been off in Lala land lately trying to get my house under control now that the girl is in school.

One of my MANY projects has been working on making less of an impact on our landfills. My biggest way i have been doing this is by not using very many disposable products such as napkins, paper towels, and disposable diapers because they not only cost me money to buy, but i have to PAY for their disposal (imagine that loophole in the system, buy the product, use it, pay to get rid of it). I have replaced all those items with their old fashioned counterparts: The cloth napkin, box o rags (old worn out prefolds/flat diapers, teeshirts, and towels), and of course the cloth diaper...and my newest find the cloth toilet wipe (made from recycled flannel sheets and shirts) to replace the YARDs of toilet paper my family seems to clog the toilet with rather than wiping their beehinds. The impact of the water used to wash these items is much less noticeable than the piles and piles of trash in the landfills, go look if you don't believe me.

I was looking for more ways i could lesson my impact and started of course with composting my grass clippings that i didn't need for my garden, which turned into a heaping pile over in the 'back 40' of my yard and while its awesome for the most part, i don't want to have to cart stuff back there when its -40 (I don't even like hauling my trash to the dumpster on the other side of the fence over there when its cold out). I was inspired by a friend who made a 'scrap eater' outside her kitchen door because she has a more huger lot than myself and the 'back 40' is further for her. I of course wanted to use items i already had on hand if i could because i think its silly to go out and purchase items if you don't NEED to. So i googled "Composter DIY" and found the following link:



I thought to myself, "Hey, i already have all that except for the lid for the trash can (it blew away in a storm this last summer)!"

So i headed out to the hardware store where they let me purchase a replacement lid for $5.

List of items required:

"Rubbermaid" garbage can (or i guess a metal one if you prefer)
A large nail and hammer
(we used a drill because the nail method is useless on plastic when you want it NOW)
2 Cinder blocks (to help keep unwanted pests out i guess, and to keep the bottom of a metal bin from rotting out)
Watering can or hose (because it won't decompose if its too dry)

and here is my finished product!


Its not pretty by any means, but it functions well so far since we started filling it with our odds and ends kitchen scraps, newspaper shreds, and Josephine's 'take home' papers (of which you don't realize how much gets sent home until you have a kid in school oy!)

1 comment:

  1. Great JOb on the composter.....with all the papers coming home from school (sheewa) that will be filled in no time. Looks good!!!!

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