Triple "R" Tuesday...Random rrrrs

I was talking to my friend Ms. Em the other day and it all started with me asking her if she was still having issues with gluten, as I had just gotten a recipe book for gluten free cookies and I was going to pass it on to her. She was telling me of some plans she's made for her life and many of them include learning to sew and living more sustainably on the land. She's actually had a change towards being environmentally friendly around the same time I had. We have both laughed over this coincidence several times over the past week. And really, when you think on it, it is pretty interesting. We are friends, though we live a couple of hours from one another now. We keep in touch via this world wide web. She's "buying the farm" pretty much. Which is awesome. She's moving closer to work, though out of town. She's setting up garden and she's teaching her child(ren) how to live a more sustainable and respectful lifestyle. And I definitely understand and reflect her sentiments. I'm not buying the farm. This isn't in my financial future at the moment. However, one day, I'd like to be able to live outside the city limits with a few acres and have my own garden and such. That's a one day idea.

Today is can crushing day. We've gotten quite the torrential downpour the last few days so our can stash has accumulated to fill one shopping bag. This most definitely cannot do. Which it will only take less than 5 minutes to accomplish. But it's all the closer for getting it to the recycling center.

I found a nice inexpensive, folding clothes drying rack yesterday...at Kmart no less. Whoohoo! Things like t-shirts and light towels, wash rags can all go on this to dry. While I know it won't completely kill my need to dry my clothes in the dryer, it DOES help a little, and a little is better than not at all. I really do want a clothes line. Another reason to move to the country! So I can hang my sheets on the line. I can remember as kids we used to hang clothes on a line to dry. I also remember when my cousin hung a frog up there to see if it would dry too, but we'll not go into that!

So what small ways do you try to help your energy usage? Do you have everything hooked up to a surge protector and have it turned off at the surge when you're not using the stuff? Do you wash with cold water? Line dry? Hand wash? Turn out the lights when you're not using them? Does every light fixture have CFLs in them? Do you have ceiling fans? So what do you do...