Earth Month: Ride a Bike

Posted on April 29, 2013 by Mary

…or at least consider alternate transportation. While public transit can be great (and here in Chicago there are buses and trains galore, and population density is high enough that my grocery store is less than 3 blocks–totally walkable) , its not always an option.

I carpool to work almost every day (with my other half–MC. Two Mary’s both with C last names). It’s awesome. We’ve been carpooling over a year and it’s routine now. I’m not sure what I would do if I had to drive alone with any kind of regularity.

Here’s how we work it:

We’re flexible. Roughly speaking, we switch off weeks, but today should have been my day and she wanted to drive (street cleaning)
We always check in the night before. We had to kick someone out of carpool for one too many last-second “hey are you driving”, as well as some other issues.
Stick to a schedule. We leave at 6:30. Neither of us is ever more than 5 min late and we are basically always on time. We text when we get in the car to pick up the other one, and each know when to head outside. If one of us wants to get to school even earlier, we work that out the night before.
We like driving together more than almost anything else (I’m writing this still at work at 6:30 because MC coaches), but drive alone sometimes if you need to. Don’t be resentful because you keep having to stay 3 hours late because of the other person.
This one’s optional but…come up with carpool insides jokes and dance moves. Oh, and if you’re stuck in the car for two hours driving home in a snowstorm, its a great idea to call your boss on the bluetooth so you can sing to her voicemail. We think.

Our commute is 14 city miles, which means with literally no traffic (leaving for work at 5:30 am), the best case is a little over 25 minutes. Heading home on a Friday? Over an hour. Which leads to my favorite option…

Ride a bike.

Healthy, scenic, green….and totally fun.

I’m crazy. We should probably start there. I don’t like gyms. I can’t handle the waste of time I feel like working out is. But I’ll walk anywhere. 4 miles? No biggie. Crazier still? I bike to work. For you locals, I live about a mile from Wrigley Field and work about a mile from Midway Airport. The same 14 miles mentioned above.

It’s not close. My old commute was a very doable 3 miles, until I moved and it became four. But when I started this new job, I was sure I couldn’t ride. Too far. And I was heartbroken. Until I realized the only thing stopping me was…me. I started out small, biking one way and getting a ride the other but now I just ride both ways, and I love it. I have a checklist to make sure I don’t forget anything (although I still screw up, most recently leaving my house keys at work on Friday).

Do you ride a bike? Walk? Carpool?

Changes, Decisions & Life in General

Posted on April 26, 2013 by Mary

In two weeks, my Advanced Placement class takes their Statistics exam.

The ACT was this week.

Oh, and on Sunday, this happened:

I actually have a few drafts, but now I need to edit them–I don’t have a Boyfriend anymore. In a week, things will calm down a lot, and then the week after that (AP exams), even more.

I haven’t been planning my wedding since I was five. I have no idea what I’m doing. But we are both really excited–here goes nothing!

Earth Month: Go Paperless

Posted on April 22, 2013 by Mary

This past week was a big one for the Green Team I sponsor at school–our neighborhood finally got recycling (North side of Chicago gets services way before the South side does). At conferences last week, the Green Team had boxes of stuff that people could try sorting correctly for recycling and the parents really liked it. Turnout was low due to the crazy rainstorms but people seemed to enjoy it.

Today’s tip is super easy. Even better than recycling paper is reusing paper (I always write random lists on old envelopes or old assignments). But better still–not creating the paper at all. Are you still receiving paper bills? I’ve switched many of mine to paperless, but I had some holdouts.

Go online and sign up for ebills with email notification. Switching to electronic bills, statements and payments has huge impacts–payitgreen.org says that the average household could reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 171 pounds annually. If that means nothing to you, its like…

Not driving 169 miles
Not consuming 8.8 gallons of gasoline
Planting two trees and allowing them to grow for 10 years
Preserving 24 square feet of forest land

And it’s usually pretty easy* to do. Try to do three that are still showing up in paper form this week!

How many paper bills do you still receive?

*not always. ComEd, there is NO WAY this should be so difficult, take so many steps or require to set up a new type of account (I already have an electronic account).

Want to check out the other Earth Month tips?

Makeover Mistakes

Posted on April 18, 2013 by Mary

As someone who just completed a bathroom renovation (and is considering new floors & counters in the kitchen), an article in Sunday’s Chicago Tribune caught my eye. Instead of the usual “best resale investment” list, they went the opposite way with the worst choices–“Renovations that won’t come close to paying for themselves”. The list was all about what how much of your investment you’ll get back on resale, and while there were several no-surprise, a couple raised my eyebrows.

THE WELL-DUH CAMP:

Swimming pools: I wouldn’t want to deal with one either–unless everyone else in the neighborhood has one (and buyers are expecting it), don’t expect to make the money back. Boyfriend’s sister and her family just bought a house with a pool, and the purchase was definitely in spite of the pool, not because of it.

Over-the-top or too personal: Koi pond with water feature? Bathroom bigger than the living room? Basement model-train workshop? Huge garden of native flowers with ornamental shrubs? Great for making you happy…probably not going to mean so much to the person who might buy your house. The one above is gorgeous, but for a non-gardener like myself, it isn’t a selling point.
Bright colors: I love my teal hallway, but I understand others might not. And your bright orange kids room? Or the cobalt blue bedroom? Do it for you, but don’t think someone else will automatically love it as much as you do. Other than paint, my personal rule is that anything I install in my home should be pretty neutral. A new owner can change out my bathroom paint without much fuss, but green tile? Stuck with it.

Amateur Hour: Only DIY if it doesn’t LOOK DIY. Especially if it would be pretty expensive to get someone with actual skill to do it. (Of course, if you can pull it off, go for it.)

But the list contained a few things that I didn’t expect…

THE WAIT….REALLY?! COLLECTION:

Granite countertops: I’m considering upgrading my laminate to granite (or maybe quartz) so this was a big surprise, although the article does go on to explain that “it’s a poor investment to top your counter with granite in a Formica neighborhood.” So that’s a little different; I think especially when space is limited (in, say, Chicago condos) homes distinguish themselves with their finishes. A bigger surprise was a real estate agents comment that granite is too trendy–in five years it will “mark a home as being outdated.”

Converted garages: I was surprised that adding extra living space to your house wasn’t considered a plus–but the article explained that many people look for a garage, and converted garages are often not-exactly living space, missing insulation or connection to the HVAC. They even talked about a house flipper who says his biggest profits come from buying homes with converted garages…and changing them back. The image above is from a real estate website article addressing this, and interestingly they all say the best case scenario is that they are a wash, but in most cases they reduce the value of the home.

Home office: My home-stager friend and I were just talking about this, so this one was a big surprise. He told me that you should stage a spare bedroom as an office, because many buyers are looking for that space. My neighbors just sold their condo, and staged the second bedroom as a baby’s room, but buyers with limited imagination may not be as likely to see something used for a different purpose. And on the flip side, if you need room for baby, you’ll figure out that its a better choice than the office. So what was the problem? Built-ins. The picture above is Amanda‘s old office, with tons of amazing cabinets and shelves that her husband built from scratch. It’s pretty awesome. The issue comes in if you want to use the room as a bedroom–built-ins really limit options. So, unless you have plenty of space (they had four other bedrooms, so this was a great choice) use a room as an office but leave it flexible for other purposes too.

Did any of these surprise you? Should I still get granite countertops?

Earth Month: Save Energy

Posted on April 15, 2013 by Mary

One of the most fun perks from running the Green Team at school is the fun toys. I’ve been to lots of meetings and heard about new and innovative programs to help people save power. Boyfriend actually consults with power companies about keeping information secure in some of the new active power management programs. In our area, ComEd will install a smart meter, which gives you real time electrical pricing and will decrease usage during peak hours.

Smart Meters aren’t for apartments, but a device anyone can use to see their power output is the Kill-a-watt. You just plug it into the wall and then plug your appliance in to the device. It measures how much power you’ve used and tracks how long its been plugged in.

I’ve used it to measure vampire power usage (stuff thats off and plugged in but still draws some power) and how much energy appliances draw while in use, like my space heater. Just that awareness reminds me to unplug–knowledge is power and all that. My other fun toy is a smart strip–one overall outlet, two always-hot outlets and then three more that are controlled by the overall outlet. Pretty cool: If you have the TV in the overall outlet, then speakers and stuff in the others, they’ll turn on once the tv turns on. I’m still deciding where it should go (I don’t actually watch tv), but it’s a great idea that I’m excited to try out.

Other good ideas to save energy:

Don’t leave chargers plugged in
Use CFLs (duh)
Turn down the temperature on your hot water heater

What’s your best tip to save energy?

Bathroom Built-Ins

Posted on April 12, 2013 by Mary

Remember these?

The awesome (if difficult to photograph) built-in cabinet & shelves in the new bathroom. The whole unit is only 12 inches wide (which means the shelves are only 9 inches wide), but it goes all the way to the 9 foot ceiling. And all the way back too (well, 26 inches from the door to the wall…its a very narrow bathroom). I have three shelves that are about 12″ high, and then the top shelf is about 24″, and then the cabinet encloses two more 12+” shelves.

This weekend (while in the midst of another project I can’t wait to share) I took everything out of the bathroom cabinets and reorganized. Here’s what ended up in that built-in:

That’s a lot of stuff. The cabinet holds extra towels, my bathrobe (out of season), with two sets of sheets on the top shelf with a basket of pillowcases and wash cloths in front of it. The three regular shelves hold:

Extra shampoo, conditioner and other toiletries in bottles (held in a basket, with a vase in front of it)
A cleaning caddy (covered by the canvas we made along with the birthday art)
A long open basket with small toiletries (floss picks, toothpaste, soap)

And the top one has toilet paper. I blame my father. He talked me into it when he took my sister and I to Costco.

That’s in addition to all the other storage:

The vanity cabinet with large open shelf below it (extra towels, first aid, some cleaning supplies, things I need when I inevitably break my ankle again)

The open shelves above the toilet, home to chargers on the bottom shelf, hand towels and a basket of toilet paper on the middle shelf, and hair products I don’t use on the top shelf [Fact: I can’t blow dry my own hair. This may be because I’ve never tried.]

The high-up cabinet above those shelves–most people don’t even notice it, but its got beach towels and my old set of towels in it right now.

I’m totally amazed at all the storage I managed to build in to such a small room. It freed up a ton of space in the hall (only) closet, and it doesn’t look crowded at all. I still miss having a real linen closet, but this is not bad at all.

Do you have a linen closet? Where do you store all your bathroom stuff?

Earth Month: Recycle That!

Posted on April 8, 2013 by Mary

Do you recycle at home? I grew up doing it, so the habit has stuck and it would never even occur to me to toss paper in the trash. Recycling can be a tough habit to develop though, especially if you aren’t used to it.

If you’re just getting started:

Grab a bin and put it near where you look through mail or read the paper. Throw paper recycling in there when you are done.
Put a small extra garbage can (with bag) under the sink. You can drop cans and bottles in there easily.
I like having them separate because it gets sloppy and messy looking if you mix flat and round things.

Recycling old news?

Expand your recycling horizons. Do you recycle…

Batteries? In Chicago, all Walgreens accept batteries for recycling.
In the bathrrom? Shampoo bottles and toilet paper rolls are just as recyclable as their kitchen/office counterparts.
Printer/copier toner cartridges? Staples pays $2 per cartridge…and carries the super cute Martha Stewart Organizing line.
Gift wrap/paper towels/toilet paper/tissues? I hope not…none of these are recyclable, even if they are unused and totally clean. The paper isn’t good enough quality to use for anything else.

What’s your best recycling tip? Do you recycle at home? Learn anything you didn’t know here?

Just in Case Cards

Posted on April 5, 2013 by Mary

Sometimes I have a cool embellishment I want to use, or I come across a paper when I’m looking for something else and an idea just comes. Or I just have to try something cool I saw (probably on Pinterest).

If someone gets a new dog?

The dots went with the cool paper. I could write anything in there…hi, thanks, birthday

I made this for my dad for Fathers Day. Then I remembered he never wears button downs. Oops. Still a cool card though…

Do you make anything for no good reason than it came to you?

Earth Month: Bring your own Bags

Posted on April 1, 2013 by Mary

In my real life, I’m a teacher. I also sponsor the school Green Team and try to make my school greener. (I annoy the heck out of plenty of people but that means) I’m pretty good at it, too. My old school was the second-LEAST environmentally friendly in the district (thats what happens when you’re built in the ’60s) but my new school is LEED gold (what happens when you’re built in 2010) (other things that happen if you are built in 2010 is there are no VCRs or TVs in the whole building).

ANYHOW.

I spend plenty of time thinking about what people can do to be greener, and I’ll be sharing one quick thing every Monday this month.

Up first:

Reusable bags.

I always bring bags to the grocery store–they’re stored in my front hall closet, and I keep several in my car for impromptu trips. I’m a small-purse girl, but I have several bags that go into tiny little pouches–they fit in a pocket or a tiny purse, and I’m ready for whatever I need to tote around. Many stores in my area also give you 5-10 cents off for every bag you bring too. They also carry a lot more and are far more comfortable to carry.

Try thinking outside the bag, too. I wrapped my sister’s birthday gift in a reusable bag as part of her gift. If the gift is fairly square, it isn’t too tough to pull taut and use some tape to secure it. Wrap it up with a ribbon, and you’ve just added a great little bonus on to your gift!

Do you bring bags with you on errands? Any tips to help remember them? Does your grocery store give you an incentive for using them?

homemade•handmade

Monthly Archives: April 2013