Day 144 - A Little Dab'll Do Ya

Using Less Goop

Big advance apology here for the short post today. I am dog tired. It is 8:48 Monday night and I can barely keep my eyes open. I have been eating like crap ('tis the season, right?) and my jogging career seems to be ending as quickly as it started, due to some serious pain and swelling in my knees. I haven't finished my holiday shopping, the Christmas Cards have yet to be signed and I'm looking at an unpacked box of decorations. It doesn't help that it was 75 out today -- not exactly a big Christmas motivator. Anyhow, if I'm totally unreadable it's only because my eyes are crossed and my head keeps flopping onto the keyboard. Now back to your regularly scheduled blog....

The idea here is simple: use less stuff. It is the basic tenet that drives The Compact and sustainable living in general. However, I'm actually narrowing the scope a bit for this post. I'm talking things like detergents, cleaning supplies, soaps, toothpaste -- you know, "goopy" things.

I've started to push the envelope and see how little goop I can get away with -- in my dishwasher or laundry machine, on my toothbrush or hair, etc. -- and still get the same results. I've found that a lot of these products do a damn fine job, using only 75% or less of whatever the instructions tell me to use.

So the next time you're squeezing something goopy out of a bottle or tube, squeeze a little less. This will stretch the life of the product and the dollar you spent to get it. Best of all, it will lessen the environmental impact of whatever you're using.

::YAWN::


Savings:

Could be calculated, but I'm too sleepy to do so. Let's call it at 25% of all my goopy products.


Difficulty Level: 1 out of 5

Using less is easy, just another habit to change. Now if only I could as easily change my newfound fudge-eating habit. Sugar overload - it'll suck the life right out of ya.