Mother Nature's Choice

After having a summer off the grid and coming back into the urban environment I began to think how much more can I do of living a life style that is closer to the Laws of Nature. So this morning I thought I could share household tips that I do and also a few shifts I am making to buy less plastic. The first thing I like to share is how I dry my clothes in the summer and incorporated this method in the winter laundry. It is the drying rack. I was surprised when I lived in France how many people did not have clothes dryers and if they did they did not use them. They use drying racks! instead. An investment of a good drying rack that can range up to $60 can save you hundreds of dollars in next winter's electric bill. I actually use a layer drying rack when I lived in Paris that held three loads of laundry at once, which I placed by the wall heater. My change for this month is to begin to refill my laundry detergent at the local coop rather than buying another dumb plastic bottle that creates havoc for the wildlife. I always buy detergent that does not have dyes or fragrance, phosphates, optical brighteners and phthalates. And always I use biodegradable. I live in an apartment where the dryer vents come out in a courtyard garden. The dryer sheets that people use are so toxic to my sense of smell let alone the air. I am always shutting my windows when 7 different apartment are drying their clothes. Drier sheets are something people just did not use 50 years ago. In France my girlfriend Catherine always add a few drops of natural lavender oil to her last rinse...now that smells heavenly. Ok you want softer laundry, (which is not something that matters to me,) yet my girlfriend Margo uses wool balls that they sell and you can use them over and over again. If you do not like line dried clothes because they are more wrinkle, yet I feel the smell of fresh sun dried clothes smell better than a warehouse full of dryer sheets. You can take the clothes down and put them into the dryer for 5 minutes it takes all the wrinkles out and you still save on your electric bill. We do have the power of the people its all about making the right choices. When enough people begin to do this the market place will change for the needs of what people are buying...It just takes a lot of us to make the right choices each time we make a purchase.