Your best simple living advice?

[Tybee]

Terry, I agree about the dishwasher. In fact, my best living simple advice is probably heretical, but it might just be "avoid debt and get a dishwasher."
Mine is purring away as we speak. We bought it at a SC Habitat store for 25 dollars seven years ago and moved it up here with us to Michigan.
I was just saying this morning to my husband, I am so grateful for this wonderful dishwasher!

[Float On]

I watched a video awhile back where a couple made a few adjustments to a small chest freezer to turn it into more of a fridge or cooler. I have a small fridge on purpose and would probably go even smaller the next one. I do get annoyed at having to bend down to find things. If I could have a British size fridge above counter height I'd probably be happy. I also find we're better at eating our fruits and veggies if they are out on the counter in bowls. I just pick areas of the counter that don't get direct sunlight. Grocery is only 4 miles away so I stop in most days I'll be cooking and only buy what I need - 1 chicken breast instead of a pack of 8. A few loose carrots instead of a 2 lb pack. etc.

[Teacher Terry]

I always put fruit out in bowls. We grocery shop once a month. Then just pick up milk and fruit as needed. We have very little food waste because I plan the meals for the month. I love not having to cook everyday. I usually make enough for 2 days.

[Tea]

Re dishwashers - funny, we sold ours years ago because I could not abide letting dirty dishes accumulate until we had enough for a load. Especially since we would run out of mugs and bowls before that happened (for some reason we had about ten plates for every one bowl at that time.) But, if you can do it, running a FULL dishwasher is actually supposed to be slightly more efficient than washing dishes by hand. They say it both uses less water and, since some of the water being saved is hot water, basically off sets the electricity of running the machine. It's only wasteful when people run them half empty. So don't worry Tybee, you're not a heretic just for having one.

[Teacher Terry]

I only run it full. I have a 12 piece setting for 2 people so never run out of dishes.

[SteveinMN]

I will run mine "sorta-full" if we need a bunch of what's inside. At four gallons of water per use, that's not much time spent standing at the sink and everything is cleaner than I could wash it (our DW heats its own water). In a universe of choices on how to burn off carbon, I don't stress as much about that one as I would the clothes washer (14 gallons per load) or the water heater (our water usage in this house is so low we replaced the old heater with one 10 gallons smaller; still haven't ever run out of hot water).

[catherine]

With just 2 of us, I tend to wash the dishes as we go, by hand. Up in VT, I didn't use the dishwasher for 3-4 months, and we considered getting rid of it. But it's a small one, and I have started using it more when people come over or if I wind up with a lot of dishes in the sink.

I typically don't put "oners" in the dishwasher--things you only have one of, like potato peelers, or kitchen knives, or soup ladles, because there's nothing more annoying than having to dig the dirty one out of the dishwasher when you need it.

[Teacher Terry]

There are very few items I only have one of. I have a knife block full and 3 soup ladles. In Vermont it seems like the kitchen is to small to do that. I can’t remember but do you have a storage shed in Vermont?

[catherine]

There are very few items I only have one of. I have a knife block full and 3 soup ladles. In Vermont it seems like the kitchen is to small to do that. I can’t remember but do you have a storage shed in Vermont?

Yes, the kitchen is very small, and yes, I do have a storage shed, but I'd rather have no more than I need, so I'm fine with hand-washing the oners. I do that in New Jersey, too, and I have a much bigger kitchen there.

[Williamsmith]

In my world there is only one noise more annoying than the dishwasher, and that is the electric sweeper. I would ditch the dishwasher in a nanosecond and put a nice lazy susan for storage in......yet the veto goes to the chief executive.