Monday, May 5, 2008

Conservation At Home And On The Road

living.boondockingmexico@yahoo.com

Over the years I have been accused of being a cheapskate. Okay, I'll admit it. I am very careful with money. Hey, better to have more than not enough. Believe me, we're not rich by any means. However, conservation is a good thing.

Boondocking has taught me a lot. It has taught me that the old saying, "waste not want not" really does mean something. When we are on the road, we love to watch the news, read books, brew coffee, listen to music and having lots of cool air. I'm not on this planet to suffer although I do admire Mother Teresa. So what have I learned?

*Turn off lights that aren't being used
*Turn off the faucet when shaving, brushing teeth, and washing dishes
*Use CFL bulbs and LEDs throughout the house and trailer
*Water conservation is the navy shower. Get wet, soap up and then rinse off.
*Toilet use (I learned this from my big sister and BIL who got us into rving) if it's yellow let it mellow, if it's brown, flush it down
*Leave the water heater on pilot. Fortunately, it sits on the sunny side of the house and solar energy kicks in. On hot summer days we have all the free hot water we want. If it is cold or rainy, we turn on the water heater for 20 minutes. We have a tank full of hot water all day.

I'm not a tree hugger and I enjoy good things. But boondocking has taught us some valuable lessons. Not only can we stay out longer while on the road, but we can do our share at home to conserve energy.

Here is an LED array we use at home in the living room. Consumes 1 watt and is good for 100,000 hours.
These are the LEDs we use in the rv. They are yellow and great for beach areas. They don't attract bugs and we can move around the rv with more than enough light to see or watch a movie. 1/10 Watts.

We are also taking reusable fabric shopping bags to the supermarket and buying products with less packaging. It is less hassle, less trash and less mess. I hate throwing things away and feel the same about saving them. A real dilemma so this cuts down on the confusion.

1 comment:

  1. Chris, you crack me up!
    "If it's yellow, let it mellow"!!!!!
    Keep up the blogging!
    Great writing!
    Geoff.

    ReplyDelete