Try to live like we used to, back in the old days…

[SueBee]

I think the Iroquois principle makes a lot of sense. And if we use the estimate that generations follow one another in a 30-year span, then seven generations is 210 years. Trees can certainly live and fulfill functions over that length of time, and some trees have lived for over a thousand years.

(Please excuse my interest in and keenness for trees.)

I share your keenness for trees and am happy to report that at last count I have 50 new trees in my backyard, most volunteer, some that I planted, various types. I’m trying to create my own nature preserve!

 

[Ronni]

I have cleaning rags and dish towels, and paper towels too which I use sparingly.

I use a sink full of hot soapy water for all my kitchen cleaning. Make my own spray cleaner with Dr Bonner’s eucalyptus liquid soap mixed with water. Lovely fragrance and cleans well.

 

[OneEyedDiva]

I try to be as environmentally conscious as I can, but some things are just too inconvenient. I have to drag clothes down a couple of flights of stairs, which are accessed from outside our building, to do laundry, . I'm not about to make extra laundry by using cloth hand towels all the time although I have them. I reuse paper towels for clean ups around the house.

Also, I used to hate it when we hung clothes out on the line to dry back in the day They'd be hard and very wrinkled, which made them extra hard to iron. When I take clothes out of my dryer, many garments can be hung up without having to iron them. All of them are nice and soft, a must for me. I have a friend who would love to go back to the olden days. Me....not so much.

 

[Paco Dennis]

We tried to homestead. I think we did pretty good with what we had. For about 14 years we raised tons of vegetables. Then when the "master gardner" died, we started including livestock. The old way. Raise what you eat. So we did.

About 80% of our building, car, tool repair, furniture, was DIY. This might be called self reliance and it is, but we tried to live as close to the earth we are living on.