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Post by Fivecat on Oct 23, 2014 0:17:29 GMT -5
one more thing, and this has already been said but also worth repeating.
- get ruthless about getting rid of excess clothing. dont worry about washing first if youre battling mt washmore. if its too dirty or smelly to give away, throw it away. unless its that little black dress you only need for the occassional wedding/funeral, if you havent worn it in a year (and i actually do every 6 mos), get rid of it. keep only clothes for the life youre living RIGHT NOW. forget about "for when i lose weight" etc. if you or anyone in your family isnt wearing it, you dont need it. i promise you, excess, and particularly high maintenence clothing (ie, ironing, special care, etc) is a HUGE ball and chain around your neck! trust me, i.ve been there. i.ve maintained a mimimal wardrobe for both me and my dh for many years now and getting rid of all the excess made life SO much easier!
(btw, this applies to bedclothes/towels/etc, anything that has to be washed, as well. forget about what you MIGHT need and keep only what you DO need.
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Post by lesaulerouge on Oct 23, 2014 1:12:01 GMT -5
Wow, interesting. We have a well and don't use it at all.
We also, like everyone in our village, have a septic tank. It requires no thought or special care at all tbh.
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Post by thedreadedknock on Oct 23, 2014 2:07:32 GMT -5
Wow this thread got away from me! Sorry everyone. I (again) didn't get any notification that I had more responses. Thank you so much for taking the time to leave me advice. WE MAY HAVE FIGURED OUT THE MYSTERY! The Master bath has a seperate toilet room that has it's own door. We always keep it shut (and semi-blocked off) because the whole family prefers the front bathroom. The toilet was running! Pretty constantly. One of the kids got desperate enough one day, moved things, and used it. We only figured out that it was running because it flushed on it's own and freaked ds out. Since he knew nobody was in there. It was actually quite funny. My 5 year old excitedly telling me about our "haunted toilet". Until he said that wasn't the first time it had happened. That he heard it "a long time ago". That part wasn't as funny. I'm pretty sure that, combined with my stepping it up in cleaning is what's done it. Since conserving water is never a bad idea I'm taking all advice to heart. Who knows? Maybe I can still deep clean and have a reasonable bill. We don't have cheaper rates on off peak hours cyn. I wish. cyn and Fivecat you did help me see some mistakes I'm making. Like doing small loads of laundry. I do one everyday. For some reason I thought it would be less strain on the well. I also need to immediately go back to using dish tubs. And be as minimalist as I can be in clothing. Probably in everything but that's another thread. I'm very attached to what clothing represents to me. Too small dress= fun time at a wedding. Old jacket= memories of college. Thank you guys so much for your advice. And I'm honestly embarrassed it was something so simple. Especially since so many of you took the time to go into such detail to help me.
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Post by cyn on Oct 23, 2014 9:01:00 GMT -5
Don't be embarrassed! I'm glad I could help, because it really is a total change of mindset when you have to stop and think before turning on a tap. Or flushing - Fivecat caught that one, . I'm used to it now, but it was very difficult at first. Especially since I'd typically wait until things are *so* bad, and then attack the messes like a madwoman. The days of running the dishwasher & washing machine until all the items are clean are gone, unfortunately.
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