Tiny Choices Survey: Yolanda!
By tinychoices | October 2, 2009
Vital statistics (name, age, location, link to website/blog)?
Yolanda, 60, Indiana (USA)
How do you reside (apartment or house, roommates)?
House. Our children are all grown, so it’s just me and my husband.
Are your housing decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
We own our home. We were fortunate enough to be able to purchase it.
How do you travel (transit, car, etc)? Are your travel decisions dictated by choice or necessity? Please explain.
I have a car and use that most of the time. I ride my bicycle if it’s only a couple miles away. If we lived closer to town, I would walk more and use my bike a lot more, but it is 8 miles away and I’d have to travel a busy highway. So, it’s a necessity. But I minimize my trips to town as much as I can.
Tell us about a Tiny Choice you’ve made in your life.
I made “nose blowers” out of old T-shirts and wash them. I also hang up all my laundry to dry. Almost all my clothing comes from a thrift store. Also I only wear makeup for church or a “dress up” occasion, but I have discovered that when I use my lipstick, I only have to use a little bit! One does not need to put it on full force and then blot it off. I just put a mere smear on my bottom lip and then rub them together. The effect, at least for me, is just the same as if I had wasted it like before.
What is the one environmental dilemma you personally struggle the most with?
I really feel pretty good about our choices. We are very frugal and do the RRR thing as much as is reasonable.
What is one Tiny Choice you can make in that direction?
I am always looking for ways to do better.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you make that people question (in either a positive educational or a negative hassle way) you the most about?
Friends sometimes ask me about some of the skills I have – gardening, sewing, keeping goats.
What is the one environmental Tiny Choice you would like every single person to adopt?
I wish everyone would line dry their clothing.
Do you feel like you make sacrifices for environmentalism? Please explain.
I don’t consider the choices I make to be sacrifices.
Are you generally: optimistic, pessimistic, neutral about environmentalism and the future?
I think we will see good things and bad things. Our air and water is so much cleaner now than when I was young. But now the problems in society like substance abuse, single parent families, waste of our resources… there are many things to be concerned about. I don’t want to say I am “pessimistic,” but I am concerned.
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Topics: Surveys | 6 Comments »
6 Comments
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Yolanda, goats! You keep goats! We need to hear more about this….
First off, I second the request to hear more about goats, please.
Secondly, “Our air and water is so much cleaner now than when I was young,” really surprised me, and I wasn’t sure if that was totally lame or that’s a common misconception.
Hey Betsy! Yolanda is totally right, after the 1970s and the clean air and water acts, there have been HUGE changes in the enviornment.
BUT I think at the same time there are more scary chemicals that people talk about (like BPA and phenols etc) that get so much press these days - that makes everyone feel like the environment is falling apart when in reality it’s just that our ability to measure and understand the risks of things has gotten so much more precise.
Hi there. I’m sorry if this sounds negative, but while I really like the idea of line drying clothing - it’s definitely not an option for everyone.
Apartment dwellers don’t have lawns and while there might be a small amount of patio space or bathroom space available for line drying, the reality of living in an apartment without a washing machine dictates that we do multiple loads of laundry at once when we can get to the laundromat.
That being said, it is a great thing to do and I’m glad to see it mentiones; it’s just not accessible to everyone.
Stacey, have you tried using a couple of those folding drying racks inside of your apartment? when I have lived in small apartments I’ve only used the dryers for things like underpants and jeans and sheets and towels, and everything else went on the drying racks. it clutters things up horribly for a couple of days but it saves a couple of bucks in quarters and it makes sure your clothes won’t shink (something I am really careful about, being a giantess as I am).
I don’t. In Seattle, I bought one rack and it was fine for outside in the spring/summer and occasionally inside. In the spring in Vancouver, I would dry certain things outside.
“it clutters things up horribly for a couple of days” You know this, clutter is more than just spatial clutter. I grew up in a cluttered home, and I love a clear space. Turning it over to wet laundry for a few days - it’s a big pain in the tush, not a tiny choice.
And, while I technically have the living space but won’t use it for an intentional mess, there are many apartment dwellers - those in smaller spaces, with roommates, with kids, etc - who actually don’t have the option..