I posted a review to goodreads, but wanted somewhere to capture my detailed notes that don't languish as a print out wedged in a notebook somewhere. Holman organizes her book based on room, but I found it was easier to group these differently. There were ideas I wasn't quite persuaded were worth the effort and required a bit more experimentation, ideas that were quick hits of low effort and addressed problems I already have I want to capture on a shareable pinterest board, wishlist items (but let them age to perfection before pulling the trigger), and ideas that I contemplated and decided didn't make sense.
Experiments --> Habits:
- Check if DH has an air quality meter or procure one. Test:
- Baseline indoor air quality
- After opening windows/doors 10-20 mins-- how long 'til notable difference? If there is a difference, how long until air quality returns to baseline after closing?
- When cooking (pizza, induction Mex Mondays, instant pot)
- When burning a candle
- Revise habits around opening windows, cooking, candle burning accordingly
- Deep clean floor + white towel tests (save + compare towels)
- White towel back entry immediately after deep clean (control)
- Retest after various intervals: 1 day/1 week/1 month and compare towels, note confounds
- Implement shoes off in house policy and repeat tests
- Revise mopping frequency and shoe policy to reflect findings
- Meal prep- try soaking and sprouting beans prior to cooking. Did it have an effect on gas?
- Meal prep- do you still have a kill-a-watt? How much energy (and time) do you need to heat a mason jar in the instant pot vs. the microwave?
- Laundry - try putting vinegar in the fabric softener compartment and evaluate whether there is a notable difference in clothing texture (or build up in machine)
- Playtest buckwheat pillow again (and figure out what is in my favorite pillow)
- Playtest rolling duvet up like a burrito to put cover back on
- Playtest decanting super perishable produce (berries, 2lb bags) for easier consumption and to rogue out ones damaged in transport
- Playtest D minder app
- Playtest a bottle of Ms. Stewart's bluing in the shower instead of a toning shampoo
- Playtest packing a to-go shower kit for Tue
- Try growing arnica (perennial herb for pain/bruising but may only be hardy to zone 9)
- Stow wifi headphones on the charger (vs wearing as accessory) when not actively using
- Recurring to do list additions
- Daily declutter
- Mitey Monday do a dust
- Thirsty Thursday- water plants
- Thermostat Tues/Thurs (go upstairs and disable/reenable based on DH WFH usage)
- Quarterly 1 gal vinegar to washing machine clarifier (discontinue if no appreciable difference)
Pinterest green living ideas board:
- Teeth: floss first, nano-hydroxyapatite toothpaste (don't rinse!), brush your tongue if you like!
- Dryer balls with safety pins
- Hang dry swim gear, hang dry pants (they just get creased and elastic gets shot faster in dryer)
- Simmer pots on low humidity days instead of burning scented candles
- Ripe avocados go in the fridge to buy time
- Separate onions and potatoes
- Dilute Dr Bronner's soap in the hand soap refills to 1 part soap 3 parts water (hopefully it will gum up less than undiluted)
Planned Upgrades:
- For product swaps, check ingredients on at least 2 to defend your purchase: EWG, CIR, incidecoder .
- Saalt menstrual cup (wish I had hit my stride with this before the hiking trip!)
- Silicone bottles to enforce post-swim lesson dichlorination shower and decant my almost empty products into a container I can completely empty.
- More weather-resistant plastic box for poolside first aid kit
- Amber motion detecting night light for bathroom(s) should help with less overall light pollution at night, and less sleep disruption for DH in the morning. I don't think this needs to be a salt light to have effect and and led may have a lower eco footprint than an incandescent.
- Berkey filter- still pretty happy with our city tap for the price but could see this being very useful in an emergency.
- Refill emptied hand sanitizers with rubbing alcohol, aloe, and an essential oil (get more Tea Tree, Frankincense, and Myrrh)
Will Not Implement:
- Think Dirty: $40/year subscription with minimal technical info outside the pay wall (top 10 lists). With my cabinet o' vinegar and baking soda, I am not buying enough novel products to justify this much of a research budget.
- EWG as a one-stop resource: I found several criticisms of their neutrality-- they push the agenda of the organic lobby (I usually do too, but good to know where the wind of incentives is blowing), requires companies pay to have their product certified (didn't the mafia offer protection services too?), uses fear-based tactics to mobilize product consumption (ick, my water has arsenic! ooh, check out all these filtration options!), and posts consumer research questionnaires that are actually marketing lead generation tools (/unsubscribe). Net, I'm inclined to believe the world is a better place for their efforts but think it is prudent to look for a second opinion on their suggestions and be more circumspect before designating them for charitable giving. See additional options linked in the planned upgrades section.
- Charcoal teeth whitening: abrades your enamel!
- Veto'ing everything with petrochemical origins (author equates these to swathing oneself in plastic) - petrolatum is a world class occlusive agent if you need to lock moisture in.
- KO all the candles - I will probably eventually come around on this one... but I have so many candle-making supplies and fun fragrances! At least let me learn the candle making badge series first! I have an inkling they aren't great for indoor air quality based on how black the HVAC filter looks when I've been dialing up the hygge, but it would be great to quantify that more precisely.
- Acid bathing all produce immediately after purchase (besides root veg). This seems too extreme for the trace amounts of ick on predominantly organically grown produce.
- Buying additional microfiber cloths-- I have a bunch I am slowly wearing out, but too many resources have commented on how they shed microplastics and I have way too many discarded clothes I am "donating" that I should more realistically be using as rags.
- DIY ACV and baking soda hair treatments to offset/clarify soap alkalinity -- the pH rationale seemed suspicious here. We are slightly alkaline (7.4) bar soap is more so (8-10) but vinegar is substantially acidic (2-3). It seems like you could knock your microbiome more out of whack with vinegar in an effort to correct a slightly off pH balance soap. I'm staying the course of generally trying to use less product-- skip shampooing's if I'm having good hair days, focus soap on the stinkiest/dirtiest bits of anatomy.
- Store citrus and apples in the fridge-- it may extend shelf life (and in the case of apples, delay ripening of other items in the fruit bowl) but I find it way harder to remember to eat things hidden away in the fridge so to have a rip van winkle apple in there is a pyrrhic victory.
- Turning off wifi in evenings -- maybe an aspiration if ever there is a Widow Belle. DH goes to bed after me and relies heavily on screens to wind down (I know!) or finish office work. We are also a week past installing newer faster wifi because we are concerned about all the smart lights, thermostats, cameras, etc. that might break in the process. The faces of addiction!
- HOCL machine-- this was described as a lower tox alternative to bleach using only salt and vinegar but further googling leads me to conclude is basically diy bleach maker pre-dilution.
- Applying diatomaceous earth with a turkey baster-- man, that stuff was messy! So I will file that baster trick away as a good tip, but we are not actively trying to defend a perimeter from ants with DE and if we were, I'm pretty sure it would only last until the next robo vacuum sweep.
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