Handmade Paper

I am so proud of myself. I have always been very interested in handmade paper and have failed many times to make it myself. I finally broke down and bought a kit to help this novice.

I bought the Arnold Grummer Paper Making Kit. (both sizes)

I have only used the 5x7 kit but you don't know how satisfied I was when I took one piece of junk mail, some onion skins, dryer lint, and a small sliver of cardboard and turned it into 5 sheets of 5x7 paper. Each one is unique.

I was once told that it cost more money to recycle paper then to actually start from scratch. I have to disagree. I put all of the items in a blender and pulsed for about 30 seconds. I then let the mixture set for about an hour to make sure that the pulp was completely saturated. I then used the kit to make the 5 pieces of paper.

Maybe it is more expensive if you include the drying process. Since I am using the dry-over-night-under-heavy-books method, this is not my problem. The good thing is that I will always keep my junk mail for making paper now. It will be great for writing "Thank You" messages on. I will post pictures as soon as the paper dries.

I m now saving paper from making its way to the landfill. Go me!

Do Laundry ... Save Energy and Money

Did you know there are a few little tricks you can do to save energy and money when doing the laundry?

Do you really need to wash the items in hot or warm water? Can it be washed in cold water? If so you are saving the energy it would normally require to heat the water!

Why do you use so much detergent? Make up this little concoction and your detergent bill will be cut in half!

1 part dishsoap (helps with grease and oil stains)
1 part baking soda (helps with smells, whitens, and softens)
1 part white vinegar (helps with smells, stubborn stains, and whitens)

I usually use 1 cup of each and store in a container, dont forget that when you mix baking soda and vineger there is a chemical reaction (remember the 1st grade volcanoes?)

When doing your laundry use only half of the detergent you would normally and add 2 tablespoons of your new detergent boosting concoction.

Wait until you have a full load to do laundry.

Dryer Tips:

Jeans, Blankets, and towels are great items to hang outside to dry! Just hang them outside until dry, hang off the back porch, on a clothsline, etc.... You can also hang clothes in your shower while you are at work, usually dry when you get home.

Have a wrinkled shirt or pants, instead of putting in the dryer, hang in the bathroom with you while you take a shower, the warm water vapors will help loosen the wrinkles and you can smooth them out with your hand!

Every month you need to check all of the vents for your dryer to make sure it is not clogged, this could be a fire hazard and make your dryer be less effecient.

Check your lint trap..... Depending on what you are drying, you may need to check it after every load you do. *Don't throw your lint away, it is a great ingredient when you are making homemade paper.

10 minutes before the dryer automatically turns off, check your clothes, are they already dry? They may be tumbling for no reason.

Can you Spare 2 minutes?

Can you spare 2 minutes to help save the earth and save you some money?

Please get out of your seat right now and walk your office/home and turn off unused lights, TVs, unplug computer monitors...etc....

Please post what you were able to turn off and lets see how much energy we can save by just turning off stuff we are not currently using.

I will start.....

-2 minutes later-

I was able to
-unplug cellphone charger from wall
-turn off desktop monitor and CPU
-unplug the hallway nightlight
-turn off the light in the bathroom

Please paste a link on your facebook, twitter, bebo, myspace, hi5, etc...to see how much of a difference the collective community can make. I will be updating this post to see how much electricity we are really saving!

PLEASE COMMENT below so we can see how much energy we are saving!