From the L.A. Times: It started with gray water, then escalated to chickens, composting toilets and rain barrels. I’m talking about the two years I’ve spent transforming my humble California bungalow into a test case for sustainable living — an experience that’s cost me hundreds of hours of my time and thousands of dollars, an…
From Kathy at DIY Life: After we bought our new high-efficiency washing machine, I was warned by a few different people not to use too much detergent. High-efficiency washers use less water and require less detergent to do their job (hence, the efficiency.) I didn’t give it too much thought, though. What’s the worst that…
The last time my sink clogged up, I tried muscle power and the force of a plunger to unclog the drain. When that failed miserably, I switched to liquid drain cleaner, then graduated to crystal drain cleaner and finally moved up to a thick gel. Nothing helped. At all. Finally, I called the plumber to…
This morning, as I walked down the hallway toward the bathroom, I felt startled when I saw light coming from there and I thought: “Darn it. I left the light on all night.” But the illumination did not come from a light bulb. It was natural light from a high window that, until yesterday, had…
Here’s what I need: an entirely separate room for my Newfoundland mix Zeus — to bathe and dry him, feed and water him, and give him the high self-esteem a dog gets with his own space. This story, in the Hartford (Conn.)Courant, is about a kitchen remodel in which half the space was given over…