Are blogs too personal?
I wanted to talk about this topic “Are blogs too personal?” for the last couple of weeks and even more so after one of my closest friends closed down her blog due to the off-line world finding it. After going through my blog roll recently more and more blogs are becoming blogs written about a certain topic, for example, mine normally is being frugal and green which I think is a great idea and I love to see different views but then again I like to see some personal content as well, what’s happening in their lives.
I started thinking whether or not my blog is too personal and I discussed with my husband and my best friend yesterday, I don’t really write like I use to about the going ons in my life well not the really personal ones because unless it is out in the open then why put it on the internet where anyone can see it at the end of the day I know my blog is on the internet so it is pretty much public and yes I do go by a nickname (same one for the last 10 years) but I now have twitter and a lot of my off-line friends have twitter now so they have access to my blog, plus if you know my nickname you could pretty much just find me straight away.
I realised also I don’t think I have ever refer to my husband by his name in the whole three years of being with him which is pretty impressive as I forget quite a bit that I haven’t unless I have added you to facebook then you know my own name and his name, he has read my blog now and then but isn’t really that interested in it unless I am talking about the money I have made from it
My parents know of my blog, I don’t think they really read it.
I really respect the ladies like Jenn and Amanda who don’t hide anything and for that reason reading their blogs makes me feel like I know them better.
Anyway I am rambling and I have to eat before my driving lesson, I am curious where do you draw the line on your own blogs?
Busy busy busy.…
I wrote this last week but totally forgot to post it so I will added this and a quick update on this week:
Not having the best week at the moment, it started off okay went to university on Monday which this stupid cold but my mother was late picking me up so instead of getting home at 4.30pm did not get home till 6pm. Tuesday I did not go in due to the fact I am running out of money and half my lectures were cancelled, but I did manage to get the website I have been working on for the last 6 weeks to be completed, it is a to-do list web application made up of css, php, javascript, jquery and sql, I am really pleased with it and I hope I get a good mark
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Wednesday was a waste of a day had to go in for this stupid career development for a couple of hours which was a complete waste of time and I do not know why we had to go, after this there was a protest at university, 50 students had got into the management building protesting the cuts in informatics, about 6 police vans, several police cars and a police dog later. In the end 2 students were arrested and 6 students were suspended
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Thursday to Sunday my husband was off so the bathroom was being done and now it is nearly done, apart it from it needing to be painted.
I had a really embarrassing time on the train this morning, I was on the train, my stop was coming up so I stood up waiting for it to stop but it never came, the train went speeding pass and I ended up at a totally different station 20 minutes later. Lucky for me I already know that area quite well so I managed to get back to the university stop.
I am sorry I haven’t posted other than green related topics, university is so busy and they already have me choosing next years modules. It is a little too much right now, feel like I am going to explode with all these exams, group work, driving, house and baby related items.
Saw an amazing film this week, Valentines Day, so cute!
Issues
Having some issues with my current theme hopefully get it back up again by today.…
I have fixed it now, hurrah, unsure why it went random on me for a day, I think it had something to do with my stylesheet… I am going to work on a new theme in summer as there is too much university work going on right now, plus my exam timetable is up and it horrible!!
Being Green in the Kitchen
Long await post about being green in the kitchen, this one is more than likely going to be a long one as I can think of so many way of being green in the kitchen.
Dishwasher
Now I know a lot of people worry that using a dishwasher is worse than hand washing but I have researched this in depth, and it turns out that no using a dishwasher on a ECO wash is cheaper and uses less electricity than hand washing. But I would like to mention please remember to turn the plug off while not using it as this is use wasting energy that doesn’t need to be wasted.
I found this article which works out how much energy and water you will use in a dishwasher vs hand washing
Water use, energy use, and carbon footprint
There are three big factors we’ll consider: water use, energy use (for heating the water, largely), and the carbon footprint that results — we’ll save things like soap and dishwasher cooking for another post. And, of course, following energy-saving tips like running the “light” cycle and turning off the “heated drying” option will change the way the numbers work.Built-in dishwasher efficiency
The average dishwasher uses 6 gallons of water per cycle; the average Energy Star-rated dishwasher uses 4 gallons per cycle, and their energy use ranges from 1.59 kWh per load down to 0.87 kWh per load. Using the Department of Energy’s carbon dioxide emissions numbers of 1.34 pounds of CO2 per kWh, that’s 1.16 to 2.13 pounds of carbon dioxide emitted per load, to go along with 4 gallons of water.Energy Star assumes each load in a “standard” dishwasher (usually 24 inches in size) has “a capacity greater than or equal to eight place settings and six serving pieces,” so we’ll go with that when considering how many dishes need to be washed by hand.
Can hand washing be as efficient as dishwashing?
The short answer: maybe. First, let’s look at water usage alone. The average faucet flows at 2 gallons per minute, so if you can successfully wash and rinse eight place settings — plates, bowls, forks, knives, spoons, glasses, etc. — and those six serving dishes that your dishwasher can handle without running the faucet for more than 2 total minutes, then, you might be better off hand-washing. Assuming you’re washing 54 pieces of dishware (that’s 48 pieces of dishware — 6 pieces per setting — and 6 serving dishes), you’ve got about 4.4 seconds of wide-open tap water per piece, or about 9.5 ounces of water to wash and rinse each dish.Impacts of heating the water
Let’s assume you use warm water for both washing and rinsing — half hot water and half cold water. Heating 2 gallons of water with a gas hot water heater (from about 60 degrees as it enters your house to, say, 120 degrees, set by the thermostat on your hot water heater) takes about 960 BTUs, or about 0.9% of one therm (100,000 BTUs), assuming 100 percent efficiency.
Gas storage tank water heaters
Gas water-heaters are usually more like 65 percent efficient, so it really takes 1477 BTUs, or about 1.5 percent of a therm, to heat that water. One therm emits 11.7 pounds of CO2, according to the EPA (pdf), so heating the water with gas for each 2-gallon load emits about .17 pounds of carbon dioxide.On-demand (or tankless) water heaters are closer to 80 percent efficient, which changes the numbers a bit; it works out to about 1200 BTUs, or about .14 pounds of carbon dioxide.
Electric storage tank water heaters
The story is a bit different when considering an electric water heater; while most electric water heaters use between 86 and 93 percent of their energy for heat (compared to between 60 and 65 percent for gas), electric heaters aren’t as efficient at heating water. It still takes 960 BTUs to heat that much water; it just takes about .28 kWh (since, according to the EIA, 1 kWh equals 3412 BTUs) to heat 2 gallons of water at 100 percent efficiency, or about .30 kWh at 93 percent efficiency. Each kWh emits 1.715 pounds of CO2, on average (thank you, EPA), so heating water with electricity for each 2-gallon load emits about .51 pounds of CO2.
Built in dishwasher vs. hand-washing: And the winner is…
These numbers indicate that it’s possible to be more efficient when hand-washing, but it’s pretty tough. Can you successfully wash and rinse a soiled dinner plate in just over a cup of water? If you can keep the water use low, equal to an efficient machine, you’ll require less energy, but doing an entire load of dishes in 4 gallons of water is roughly equivalent to doing them all in the same amount of water you use in 96 seconds of showering (using a showerhead that emits 2.5 gallons per minute).So, as long as you don’t often run your dishwasher when it’s only half full of dirty dishes, or unless you are very miserly with your water use (or have an old, inefficient dishwasher), the automatic dishwasher is likely to be more efficient. That is to say, it’s possible to use less water and energy by hand washing your dishes, but it’s not easy. Of course, if you do it just right, it might just be a wash.
More information at treehugger.com
Cleaning Products
Now I have mentioned this before down in the being green in the bathroom but cleaning product are an large impact on the world, using more organic, more natural products is always best, the only issue that gets me if the price, I understand why that have to be more expensive because it is not just chemicals like the cheaper brands but I wish they would bring it down a little bit as not all of us have money to burn.
Pet related
This one is a tough due to the fact it has taken me forever to find cat litter than is not going to kill the environment, I have tried loads of cat litter for one I hate the clumping ones as they take forever to clean (which wastes water, cleaning product and not to mention it smells), I have gone for a one at the moment which is little tubs of old wood shavings, the think I like about it the most is the fact when the cat goes to the bathroom the little tubs disappear a leave what I can only describe as sawdust (kind of like a hamster cage lining) but it does have a nice pine smell and lasts longer so you don’t use as much saving money and saving time. If you can go for an eco cat litter it is nicer for the cat and for your noses.
Cat food tins wash out, I know it is a huge pain but if you have one cat or three like myself you will end up going through at least one tin a day, with mine it is two tins a day (I swear Onion steals everyone else’s food but I can’t prove it!), I did try putting these through the dishwasher but everything smelled of cat food so now I have to hand wash them with bleach as well as washing up liquid, please use a different wash cloth as it is not nice otherwise.
Also check out Eco-Me Cat Kit Natural Tool Kit, you can make your own cat litter and flea spray, also cat treats, I might have to give this one ago.
Recycling
I am huge on recycling, lucky for me my council provide me little pink bags which I put out every week, what I have found is a lot of items can be recycled, in my household we have one bin for rubbish and one for recycling, my mother is even better and has a bin for vegetable ends, egg shells and other organic food matter which she puts in her compost down at the end of the garden. I haven’t got a huge garden more like the size of postage stamp but I could fit a small one in my mother informs me.
Having two bins really saves me the headache of having to keep the bag somewhere, since recycling (I even have my husband doing it who told me it was a waste of time) we hardly but out much black bin bag rubbish.
Growing your own Vegetables
See I tried this last year but only managed to grow a cucumber and some herbs, my mother on the other hand split half her garden into her vegetable and fruit patch and grew so much, loads of leeks (I love leeks), but this year I am going to grown my own carrots, potatoes and leeks plus the normal amount of herbs, I’ll have to update you about this later in the year. I think growing your own vegetables doesn’t take a lot of work but it is so pleasing to see them grow even for me growing anything makes me happy and I suck at gardening in general, I get the husband to do it for me. Even if you don’t’ have a garden just a small balcony you could grow new potatoes in big pots.
General Tips
- Don’t over fill the kettle
- Don’t waste food
- Bulk cook where you can
- Make your own lunches
- Re-use items where you can
- Turn the lights off when you leave a room
- Re-use packaging
- Use energy efficient
- Only wash full loads this goes for the washing machine, dishwasher and the tumble dyer
Next week I am covering female products and make-up
Sorry I haven’t been around so much uni has me all tied up.
Glasses
My husband and I have been debating whether or not we should get our eyes tested again, a couple of years ago I did have an eye test but then said after wearing my eyeglasses for a couple of years my eye would repair themselves, so for the last year my eyes have been fine but using computers every day due to university and my own personal love of them I think is causing my eye sight to get worse.
I would really like to get my eyes tested again but it is so expensive the test itself does not cost the earth but the glasses themselves do! My mother recently got glasses and it cost her $400 and I could really not believe it, after research and reading Cheap eyeglasses are a reality. Check out Eric’s review of Zenni Optical article and I believe that I should be able to get quality glasses for a low cost according to this article you can get glasses for $8 a pair! That is amazing!! Plus shipping is only $4.95 no matter how many glasses you order.
I think buying glasses on-line might be the next way to go about it, as long as you have a prescription you can get your glasses anywhere, definitely shop around.
Late
Now I love my husband dearly, he is my best friend but one of the annoying habits he has is that he is never on time for anything, I’ll tell him I have to be at the train station in 20 minutes, he tells me we have loads of time until it gets to 10 minutes until my train is about to leave and then he will panic telling me has not got everything and once we set off he always without fail tells me he has forgotten something! I really need to get him a watch, maybe that would make sure we are on time, I could buy him Casio G Shock watch but even then I doubt he would be on time.
Insurance
Oh the joys of insurance, this really annoys me just because every year unless you look around for different quotes your current insurance company puts up the price by hundreds of pounds, and this annoys me more because I have never claimed on the insurance, lucky for me getting a Oklahoma insurance quote is really easy to do these days. I managed to find one that only costs us £13 a month also there are reviews about the current insurance agencies out there which always helps
So my word of advice is to definitely look around and see what other deals you can get out there, you never really know until you try, saying that I should go and look into our gas and electric as it is way to high!
Life Insurance
Just like for car insurance there are websites out there that help you find the cheapest and most cost effective life insurance. It is easy and simple to use and it only takes a few minutes to get a quote, you should have life insurance just in case something happens to you and what will your partner do if they have to pay the bills on their own, I would say you should have it!
Disney World Hotels
When I went to Florida about five years ago now (whoa that makes me feel old) to visit two friends out there, we drove from Ohio down to Florida and went Disney world which to me was like being in some weird world but the gift shops were lovely!
Now when we brought out tickets for Disney world, we stayed in some rubbish motel but I wish we had stayed in one of the Disney World hotels. When I went the weather was in mid summer and it rained all the time (hot rain, very strange) and we had to buy these big plastic bin bags to wear!




























