julsie's Profile

We put in a tankless water heater when our older one was getting flaky. It's great, in that we never run out of hot water, even when relatives are visiting and everybody wants a long, hot shower. But you still have to run the cold water through the pipes before the limitless hot water arrives. A system like this, if it runs automatically, would make any water heater less efficient, because it requires extra bursts of hot water to refill the pipes. But if I could push a button before showering that would pump all the cold water to someplace useful, that would be slick.

I thought the same thing! Nothing against people who live in trailer parks, but it's not a new or particularly interesting idea.

Not greener, just less likely to burn your house down!

Has it occurred to anyone that rubber gloves can be sanitized? I don't bother with gloves, but I do eat off the same hands I use to clean the bathroom.

Where did anybody get the idea this was a budget project? When I lived in Arizona, I rented, but homeowners told me it could run $5k to gravel an average-sized yard. Which is definitely more environmentally friendly than a golf-course-green-lawn, but it does seem like there must be better options.

It would take a reversal in the housing market! We've lived in our home seven years, and it's worth considerably less than what we owe on it. At the same time, my husband's various (mostly unplanned) job changes have stretched his commute to a ridiculous distance. There's no public transportation, no job opportunities closer to home, and we can't afford to move. His drive to work is by far our family's worst assault on the environment, even in his small, efficient car.

Improved public transportation is needed in so many places! I used to ride the bus to work, then my hubby would pick me up on his way home. When his work schedule changed, I discovered there was no mass transit available to take me home at the end of the day. Who makes a one-way bus schedule?

It depends entirely on who your neighbors are! When I lived in an apartment complex, I had some great neighbors and enjoyed being part of that little community. But for about six months there were two sisters living in the apartment that backed up to mine, and they weren't capable of doing ANYTHING quietly. I don't know what the issue was, because I never heard a peep from two other sets of neighbors in that same unit. But with these girls, I heard all sorts of very personal conversations, I knew what they watched on TV, even their phone rang so loud I would sometimes answer mine. That got old quick.

My cats didn't like wood pellets in their litter box. Plus, they smelled pretty bad. We've settled on World's Best Cat Litter, which is a compostable corn product. We've been composting this stuff for years.

I would never have thought of painting a roof as the seasons change! We spend more on heating than cooling, so the black roof makes more sense for us overall, but there's some appeal to the annual whitewash idea.

I think the pics only show the yard behind the sidewalk. You can see the edge of the pavement.