Writing about going green

Recyclable day is coming up again on Saturday, August 29. That's when the recyclable trucks empty the recyclable bins. In Las Vegas, the recyclable trucks empty the bins every other week. I know I have two to carry to the curb I may have three. I'm have to check the one containing glass and see how many jars are in the bin.

When I was a child, we didn't worry about recycling. My grandparents did recycle in their own way. Grandma and Grandpa would reuse the glass jars that mustard came in as storage jars. I remember Grandpa had shelves in the garage with glass jars containing nails and screws. When we empties a mustard jar, Grandma would wash it and then either she or Grandpa would take the jar for storage.

Another way Grandma recycled was to use worn out cloths for dust rags and cleaning rags. She even had a special ragbag to put the worn out items in. Eventually, when she could no longer use the rag for anything, then she threw it away. Grandma go as much use out of an item she could before putting it in the trash.

Recycling glass jars
Grandma would wash them before
Grandpa stored his nails.

Going Green

I'm going green, I bought an outdoor cloths dryer. It's the hexagon type of cloths line that turn when so you don't have to walk around it when you hang the cloths out to dry. All right, I'll have to admit that I didn't intend to go green when it came to my cloths dryer. However, the electric dry broke down and the outdoor cloths dryer was less expensive then an electric cloths dryer. Even with the 50 lbs. of cement to I needed to put it up, it was less expensive then an electric cloths dryer.

The outdoor cloths dryer went up yesterday and I hung cloths on it this morning. I still have an electric washer for washing the cloths, but I'm hanging them outside to dry. Hanging cloths outside will work find this summer, but winter may be a bit of a problem. Several of the neighbors have wood burning fireplaces, which they use in the wintertime. I'll have to be really careful about hanging cloths outside when the neighbors have the fireplaces going. Wood smoke settles in the cloths and when you wear them the odor of smoke is apparent. I'm not sure at present, but I may have to invest in an electric dryer this winter.

Anyway, I'm going green; not because I wanted to but because of the economic situation. It's less expensive to dry cloths on a line then buy an electric dryer. It's less expensive to wash cloths at home and dry them on the line then drive to a laundromat. Sometimes, going green is economically better then an expensive electric dryer.