Yesterday I stayed home and had an eco-frugal kind of day.  Sometimes being frugal or green feels like a burden, so it's nice to think through the day and see all the things I've done that help out finances and the world around us.

First up I got some (soaked) dried beans going--chickpeas, kidney, and black.

 I spent a few minutes in the early morning sitting outside on the deck.

I hung out a couple loads of clothes (this is just the first one.)

Defrosted some vegan hot dogs for Mr. GV.  Yep they're in plastic so not the *best* thing but they were in the freezer and I'm trying to use up some old things in there.

Rinsed out a couple of plastic bags for reuse later.

I got some cushioned air pockets together for recycling.  I've emailed the place we take our plastics above #2 to see if they will take these.  If not, the company will accept them back for recycling.

Got the cans/jars we had used for the day together, to take for recycling today with the rest.

Saved the end of the onion I was cutting up for a later batch of vegetable broth.

Made up a new batch of vegetable wash.

Had a yummy, nutritious snack of popcorn with nutritional yeast.

Listed to entertaining and informative podcasts while I worked in the kitchen.

Made up a big pot of chili with the aforementioned beans.

Used the soap slivers we've accumulated over the past few months to make up another batch of liquid soap.

Made some more homemade cheeseless parm.

Fixed 8 bottles of tea, per Mr. GV's request.

Walked to the mailbox and pondered what, if any, trees should replace the two we lost to the storms earlier this year.

Wondered if the persimmon tree is EVER going to give us any fruit.

Admired my cucumber plant and how the fencing acts as a great trellis.

And was happy to see at least a couple of tiny baby cukes!

Was grateful to see the broccoli plants are still proving me wrong and sending up small side shoots, which we are enjoying in our salads.



A few other things I managed during the day:

-Made a donation online and printed out the tax receipt on the back of a used sheet of paper, only turning on the printer when needed.
-I washed and dried our sheets later in the day so as not to heat up the house.  Sheets are the one thing I don't like to put out on the line.  Allergens seem to bother us when I do.
-I went through my filing cabinet and pulled out the book for the non-working TV we recycled as e-waste earlier this month.  The book was recycled this morning.
-I paid attention to the dishwasher's cycle so I would know when to cancel it.  I've found that even on eco-wash, a large portion of the last part of the cycle is devoted to heated drying.  There is no way to turn that off as there was on my old dishwasher, so I just listen and stop it when I am able. 
-Paid attention to when the central air was running.  With the current temps, it seems as though it wants to run all the time, even when I have it turned up to 75 or 76.  I kept turning it up yesterday when I was sitting, because being in front of the fan is enough to keep me cool then.

Anybody else want to share some of the eco-frugal things you've been doing lately?