Category Archives: Simplify

Keeping the home cool when the earth is warming up

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Right now, I can live without the air conditioner. Though I’m not sure if the earth continues on its current path of warming, I will able to do it. However, for now, it is possible to live without air conditioner in the Northeast and Northwest of the United States and be comfortable. I think that is the most important part of the statement – to be comfortable. This summer, I was put to the test because we had the pleasure of my folks staying with us for 2 weeks during July, which was the hottest month in American history, ever on record. They have been living in Florida with central air conditioning for almost 30 years, and enjoy controlling the temperature in their home. I am happy to say that we passed the test. In fact, a couple of nights my Dad asked us to close the windows, because it was too chilly.

Many situations and places do not allow for the luxury of living without air conditioner. But if you have the following variables, it might be for you.

Temperatures get into the 60s during the evening so you can cool the house or apartment’s core temperature.

Our fans turn on and shut off when the room gets to a certain temperature. We love our fans. In fact, after enjoying 7 years of coolness, we have purchased two more since our current home is much bigger and has two floors.

The secret is:

*Close windows and blinds once the temperature in the house gets to 70° in the morning

*Open the window at night only when it is no warmer than 73°

I’m sure you realize by now, I watch the temperature very closely and have an indoor/outdoor thermometer.

When the temperature got over 100° outside, our house only got up to 80° inside. At that point, we turned on the rotating fan to circulate the air in the room, which made it very comfortable. It does take effort to live without air conditioning but the energy and money we save is well worth it.

I’ve heard of putting frozen water bottles in front of the rotating fan helps. However, I have not needed to try this yet. My parents told me that when they drove to Florida from New York for their honeymoon in June of 1954, motels advertised rooms that were “air cooled” which meant a bucket of ice in front of fan.

 

Your trash may be someone else’s treasure

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Do you have something that is perfectly good but you no longer want or need, perhaps clothes your son grew out or a bookcase? Would you like to remove it from your home, make space but you have no desire to coordinate a garage sale or cart it off to a second hand store and it makes no sense to throw it away. You would rather recycle it.  On the other hand, do you need something, a wheelbarrow, maybe fireplace equipment; it doesn’t have to be new, just functional. Perhaps Freecycle TM is for you.  FreecycleTM is a worldwide online network where you can post notices about items you’d like to give away and find things that you need. The only requirement is that the transfer of an item from one person to another has to be FREE.

Through FreecycleTM, you can help the environment by diverting useful items from landfills while also helping members of your local community. Everybody has something they want to get rid of, so instead of dragging it out to the curb and filling up the landfills, wouldn’t it be better to connect with someone who probably wants what you have?

The Freecycle Network is made up of over 5,000 groups with over 9,000,000 members, in 85 countries around the world. It’s a grassroots and entirely nonprofit movement of people who are giving (and getting) stuff for free in their own towns. It’s all about reuse and keeping good stuff out of landfills. As a result, the network is currently keeping over 500 tons a day out of landfills! This amounts to five times the height of Mt. Everest in the past year alone when stacked in garbage trucks!

It is a wonderful tool for redistribution and I have been utilizing the network for almost ten years in towns from coast to coast. I have found it particularly helpful before and after a move. When we were preparing to move from California back to New York, I would list an item and sometimes within an hour, I would have at least 5 people requesting the item. It was so easy to purge, even on the day of the move when a large item simply would not fit into the moving Pod. On the other hand, when we moved into a new location and needed something, someone in our new community had the item we needed.

I know you must be wondering about safety. Common sense is always important. Most of the time when picking up an item, it is left by a mailbox or garage. I rarely ever meet the people that I make an exchange with, but thank you notes are often left. Some people do prefer to meet in a central location. After, almost ten years of exchange, I am happy to say no problems have ever occurred during an exchange. The worst issue is a no show, which is often frustrating.

Local volunteers moderate each local group. However, there are a couple of basic rules that govern all the FreecycleTM programs:

Keep it free, legal & appropriate for all ages

No offering YOURSELF or YOUR CHILDREN

Subject line of your posts should include:

  • Offer, note location
  • Taken
  • Wanted, note location
  • Received

By giving freely with no strings attached, members of The Freecycle Network help instill a sense of generosity of spirit as they strengthen local community ties and promote environmental sustainability and reuse. It’s a beautiful thing.

To sign up, simply go http://www.freecycle.org  and find your community by entering it into the search box above or by clicking on ‘Browse Groups’ above the search box.

And of course, membership is FREE!

What ways do you redistribute your unwanted items? Please share and I will continue to share.