Remember last winter's cold, drafty nights? What about the electricity bills as you tried to force out the low temperatures? Getting rid of air leaks is a first step to raise the inside temp while lowering energy use!

Air Leaks?

Locating and sealing your home's air leaks is green, because you're using less energy. It's also frugal, because less energy means lower energy bills. Thankfully, it's simple, too, because the air that makes your house cool is air that's easy to identify!

I was glad this week to find the link (in a 5 minutes for going green article) to a DIY guide for conducting a home energy audit. Because I live in an apartment and don't have a heater, not all the tips are relevant to me (though check it out if you own a home and can add insulation or replace outdated heating systems).

What I can do, though, is seal up air leaks. Here's how.

What to Do

1) Find air leaks
2) Caulk & seal air leak sources

To find air leaks, the how-to guide suggests a pressurization test, which you can read about in the article. Basically, you close off everything (door, windows, etc.) and then feel for spots where air is still moving (a wet hand will feel cold). Make sure to read the directions first for a few tips and warnings.

The guide then explains which types of cracks should be caulked and which should be sealed. Because it is dangerous for combustion appliances to not have enough air, you need to read the details in the article to make sure you're not sealing necessary vents.

Anything else?

As an added bonus, If you're like me and battle insects inside (which take advantage of some of those leaks, like windowsill cracks) during other seasons of the year, you'll take care of that problem at the same time, too!

...and you?

Share your links or tips for other ways to reduce energy use during the cold months. I'll meet you in the comments section!

I was never particularly interested in subscribing to blogs until I read that RSS stands for "Really Simple Syndication." It had me at the word simple. Here's the how to & the why to for using RSS readers.

How To

1. Choose & sign up for a reader: Downloadable software is available but I prefer keeping online things online. Try Bloglines, Google Reader (just use your Google account name), or My Yahoo. I'm currently moving over from Bloglines to Google Reader.

2. Add blogs: See the orange logo on the top right-hand corner of this page? Clicking that logo anywhere on the web will allow you to subscribe to the website where you found it. You might sometimes see text instead: look for "subscribe to feed," "xml," "rss," "atom," or "subscribe with (name of reader)," and click there. Do this on all the sites you frequent - hopefully including Simple Makes!

If you can't find that logo on the website itself, Firefox users can use the find the RSS logo (blue instead of orange in the current version of Firefox) to the right of the address bar url.

3. Organize blogs: If this is going to be a time-saving tool, you don't want a long unmanageable list of website titles. In bloglines, I use the folders (create 'em on the left toolbar). I have a folder per blog topic I like to read: one for home, family, green, craft, and web2.0. I also have a personal category for my friends' blogs. Every day I limit myself to opening and reading only one folder. I subscribe to a LOT of blogs, but this way I can read every blog I like at least once a week. Also, I can weigh whether to keep subscribing to a particular blog; if it hasn't had any content I'm interested in during the whole week, I may unsubscribe.

SimpleMom also has an excellent (and more visual) post on rss readers: read hers here.

Why To

What used to take hours, pre-RSS readers, now takes no time at all. You'll save precious time:
* typing in one website (your reader) instead of the url for every single blog you like
* never gingo to a blog that hasn't been updated since when you last checked
* never rereading a post with realizing it
* never digging through your history to find that url you can never remember
* seeing all the blogs displayed at once, making it easier to scan through them all to find just posts you're interested in reading
* by clicking "keep" or "save" instead of bookmarking every single post you want to reread later

Simple Makes Feed

What a convenient time to say, I’d love to have you subscribe to the Simple Makes RSS feed! Just click that link or the big orange button at the top-right of every page.

...and you?

I’m just getting started with Google Reader and haven’t tried the others. Share your thoughts on the pro’s and con’s of each tool and method of reading RSS feeds in the comments here. Or, if you’re not keen on the idea of using subscriptions to read blogs, let me know why! I'll also try to answer your questions and help with any trouble you run into while trying to subscribe.

Note: Welcome visitors from SimpleMom.net, which just so happens to be my favorite blog to read myself! Check out this list of some top Simple Makes posts in several categories, and subscribe to the RSS feed so you can get upcoming posts like this on composting and green living, plus simple living in home, family, and crafting!

Interested in composting, but stuck with small quarters and no yard? These how-to guides walk you through each step which I myself use for my windowsill compost pile. Start composting now, and share your success!

Basic Steps in Composting
Click each link below to read that step’s how-to guide.

1. Make a container to hold your compost pile.
2. Layer your container with brown and green materials.
3. Maintain your compost pile weekly.
4. Use your compost.
5. Remind yourself of what to do with my downloadable Composting Guide.

Also see...
If you’re not convinced that you should be composting, check out livingsoil.co.uk
If you want to know all the science-y reasons why this works, see this article

...and you?

If you compost already, what do you think of these steps? What steps do you take in composting?

If you haven’t composted before (or lately), will you start now? Does it sound easy enough? If you’re not interested, what’s keeping you from doing it?

Comments and praise, doubts and criticism all accepted :-)

Your photos of compost piles, compost-happy plants, and composting families in action (with a link to this post in the photo description or as a comment) are all welcome at our flickr group... photos with Creative Commons licensing may be featured in future articles with a link to any of your websites you’d like to promote!

As much as I'd love for you to visit Simple Makes daily, I can't really imagine you running with a handful of vegetable peels from the kitchen to the computer to make sure you're putting it in the right layer!

No worries. Enter my Composting Guide, a free printable how-to! I've compiled the important highlights from all the Start Apartment Composting articles into a one-page chart. Here you'll find reminders on what to do each week as well as lists of what's okay and what's a composting no-no. Print it out (in grayscale, for the color ink cartridge conscious) and tape it up near your pile. Simple!

And, since I've used the same Creative Commons license for the PDF that all www.SimpleMakes.com text is under, you can share it as much as you like, so long as you attribute it to "Lori Ann Gregory of www.SimpleMakes.com"!

Candle wax stuck to their glass holders? Here’s an easy fix - and a solution to prevent it from happening again!

The Fix

1. Stick the glass in the freezer. Wait.

2. After an hour (or two, or three, if you want to be sure or if it doesn’t seem to budge at first), take the glass out.

3. Using something that’ll reach into the glass without scratching it up, like a dull butter knife or a spoon, push at the wax. It might take just a minute (not long, and not lots of scratching at it), but then should come off, leaving hardly anything.

4. Stick the glass in the sink to wash any remaining reside with soapy water.

5. Use the glass again... but read the "prevention" tips first!

Prevention

Next time, do one of two things first. Either put a little bit of water or a little bit of dishsoap in the bottom of the glass before the candles. It’ll keep the wax from sticking. Simple!

...and you?

Try it out, and let me know: did it work? It did for me - and I was using drinking glasses (hey, there was a power outage; I didn’t have time to go buy candlesticks)!!

What other simple household cleaning tips can you share? They may be featured in later posts!

Waxy glass photos welcome at our flickr group! Photos with Creative Commons licensing may be featured in future articles with a link to any of your websites you’d like to promote.

It’s a beautiful transformation when those old, fungus-ridden veggie peels and cotton dryer lint become a dark, nutritious, earthy compost. But... not beautiful enough to frame. The beauty is in compost’s function, and here, I’ll give you mini-recipes for the 3 simplest ways to use your compost. Enjoy!

Your compost is ready when it is:

* dark brown or black in color
* soft
* crumbly
* mostly smooth (you can throw that stubborn corncob back in the pile)
* earthy-smelling

I’ve read estimates that you will have useable compost anywhere from “4-6 weeks” to “3 months” based on the size of your pile, but I don’t keep track; as long as you maintain the pile weekly, it should be clear when it’s ready.

Here are 3 mini-recipes to use your compost:

Plant Seeds
Make a potting mixture of 1 part compost to 3 parts soil and put in pots, about an inch short of the brim. Plant your seeds in these pots just as you would any other soil.

Plant Seedlings
Plants that already have roots can handle more compost, so your potting mixture for seedlings or transplanting plants can be 1 part compost to 2 parts soil.

Nourish Established Houseplants
If your potted plants (or flowers, herbs, vegetables) are already growing, use the compost with nothing added and sprinkle on the surface of the dirt. (If you don’t have room, you can shovel out a layer of the dirt that’s already in the pot and replace it with the compost).

What to plant?
I use all my compost for my herb gardens - we have pots in the living room, kitchen, bedroom, and the staircase landing outside our apartment. Stay tuned for an upcoming post!

More on Composting
This post is step 4 in my Start Apartment Composting series. Check it out to see all the steps, plus a free printable guide to hang near your compost pile.

...and you?

What recipes do you use your compost with? I’m especially interested in “compost tea” - I’ve never tried it but would if I had some simple instructions!

Still accepting photos (with a link to this post in the photo description or as a comment) at our flickr group... photos with Creative Commons licensing may be featured in future articles with a link to any of your websites you’d like to promote!

This is step 3 in our Start Apartment Composting series. If you’re new here, see the original composting post. For all you already composting (through this series or otherwise), “Maintaining your Compost Pile” gives you the know-how for what you do as time goes on with your compost pile. This is probably the easiest step, so don’t fear - just read on!

You’re doing great! You have a container to hold your compost and you’re adding brown and green materials as you come across them. Now’s the easy part, because your compost pile will do pretty much everything else for you! All it needs is a little weekly maintenance, following the pointers below. Don’t forget, as long as you leave a little room in the top of your container for air to circulate, you can still add materials at any time.

Weekly Maintenance
Either as you add materials or on a set day each week (say, the day you clean the kitchen, if it’s in the kitchen windowsill), you’ll want to see how things are going and nudge it along in its composting. Here’s what to do:
* Stir or “toss” the pile, perhaps with a small hand shovel, to work air into it.
* Water it if it seems dry.
* If your pile is cold (composting piles should feel warm when you put your hand over them, especially after stirring the pile), add more green material.
* If your pile stinks (it happens, but you can prevent it), add more brown material.
* If you notice worms or white fungus - do nothing! These guys are great composting assistants.

That’s it! Really! Just keep adding, keep maintaining, and when you realize that your pile (or a lot of it) has become dark, soft, and earthy-smelling, you’re ready for Step 4.

...and you?

How’s your compost pile doing? Are you finding composting (whether you’re using SimpleMakes how-to’s or you’ve been doing this for years) easier or more challenging than you expected? Are you glad you’re doing it?

Don’t forget to add your composting photos (with a link to this a post in this series in the photo description or comments) to our flickr group... and, as always, photos with Creative Commons licensing may be featured in future articles with a link to any of your websites you’d like to promote!

This is step 2 in our Start Apartment Composting series. If you’re just checking in, see the first post. For everyone else, this how-to provides the nitty-gritty details of what you actually DO to compost!

You have your compost pile container from Step 1. What now?

It’s all about the Green and the Brown. Green and Brown materials are the two categories of what you put into your container - these are the materials that will break down, leaving you with that wonderful compost!

Every day as you go about your life, cooking, cleaning, and otherwise living, you’ll run into these materials that you don’t need. They’ll either fit into the “brown” or the “green” materials category. Following the guidelines below, you’ll throw them in the container, and watch your scraps compost themselves! Here’s how.

First, here are the basic rules you’ll follow in composting:
* Shred material before adding in to the pile. I try to get thick materials to the size of my thumb and flat materials (paper) postage-stamp sized.
* Keep the pile moist by adding water when it seems dry.
* The bottom and top layers should be brown materials (to keep it from stinking).
* There should be an approximately 50/50% ratio of green to brown material.
* Let it breathe (don’t fill it up to the lid).
* Don’t put anything in it you don’t want in the end (i.e., don’t throw weeds that have seeds in there if you don’t want ‘em in your houseplants you’ll later add compost to)

Brown materials:
* dead leaves * pine needles * straw * sawdust (from untreated wood) * wood chips * dirt * newspaper * twigs * tree bark * cardboard & toilet paper rolls * hair * fur * dryer lint (assuming it’s not chemical-ridden) * cotton cloth (old rags, socks)

Green materials:
* grass * fruit scraps * veggie scraps * eggshells * coffee grounds * tea leaves * tea bags * nut shells * trimmings from most trees and plants

NO-NO’s:
(i.e. DON’T add these - some won’t compost, some attract rats, some negatively affect your finished product i.e. plants you add compost to)
* meat * bones * fat * oil * grease * black walnut leaves or twigs * chemicals like pesticides * dairy products * human or pet waste * flour * food sauces * ashes * charcoal * nonorganics (like plastic) * diseased or mildewed plants * weeds

It’s an art, not a science.

While that’s probably technically inaccurate, my point is that you’re making a composting pile to add to what you do in your home, not to suck the life out of it. Don’t stress. You’ll learn what you can tinker with and what you shouldn’t. You can’t get that corn cob any smaller? Shrug and throw it in there whole. It’ll compost eventually. No time to shred up some old toilet paper rolls after throwing in a bunch of fruit peels? Worry about it later. Has your pile been dried out for a week? Water it, and move on. Enjoy composting; don’t be enslaved to it.

...and you?

How does it sound? Manageable? Complicated? Don’t worry about keeping up with the brown/green/no lists - they’re all in my all-inclusive Composting Guide - you can print it and hang near your pile.

Comment with your thoughts on the feasibility of implementing a compost pile into your home life - questions are welcome, too!

Composting photos (with a link to this post in the photo description or as a comment) are welcome at our flickr group, and photos with Creative Commons licensing may be featured in future composting articles! I’ll thank you with a link to any website you have which you’d like to promote.

Want to start composting, but no yard space available? Stores sell special indoor compost pile containers, but the cost can be prohibitive. Here’s how to make your own windowsill compost bucket, step 1 in our “Start Apartment Composting” series.

Step 1 - Choose a container

For a windowsill compost pile, you need a container that:
* holds the compost in (unlike a pile in your yard, which can be more loosely “contained”)
* keeps everything wet (not TOO many holes)
* allows for ventilation (we’ll add holes in Step 2)
* has a capacity greater than the amount of compost you’ll have in it at any one time
* fits in your windowsill, or wherever you want it

We chose a cheap plastic bucket with a lid to keep it from drowning during the rainy season. It’s thick enough plastic to be sturdy, but thin enough that it was easy to poke ventilation holes in it. Ours is 22cm in diameter and 19cm tall - not quite large enough for the amount of scraps our 2-person family produces, but the perfect size for our windowsill, so we make do.

Step 2 - Alter the container

You need air to flow though your pile to get all the chemical stuff I don’t understand to start happening. Use something sharp you already have around your house, like a screwdriver, to poke holes in your container. Be careful - avoid poking holes in yourself. We poked small (pencil-diameter sized) holes every 10cm around the sides and evenly spaced 5 holes in the lid and the bottom of the bucket.
note - Poking one of the holes, we accidently split a good 15 cm long crack into the plastic... if you do this, don’t worry; it really doesn’t matter so long as there’s not an actual chunk out of the side big enough to let compost fall out. We’ve used our bucket for months with no problems.

Step 3 - Place the container

When choosing where to put your pile, consider:

* It’s really best for your container to be outside. Once it becomes compost, the pile gets a quite pleasant, warm, earthy smell... but before that, it sometimes stinks (especially if you don’t have enough brown material).
* The pile should receive as much sunlight as you can get it.
* You want your pile accessible from wherever you produce food scraps (to avoid carrying dripping vegetable peels across your home).

For me, the kitchen windowsill, which gets sunlight all afternoon and is easy to access when cooking, is the best option. However, don’t give up - just be creative - if that won’t work for you... put it rooftop, on a balcony, on your doorstep... anywhere you can access it without it getting in the way.

What now?

Well, a bucket won’t do much to produce compost on its own. See the next post in this “Start Apartment Composting” series, “Composting How-to: Green and Brown.”

...and you?

What compost pile container do you use? What do you recommend? Snap a picture of yours and upload to our flickr group for a chance to have it featured!

Make simple living a reality in your own family and home!

Simple Makes at www.SimpleMakes.com launched September 2008 as a source to read and share ideas for family activities, household tips, guides to green (sustainable) living, make-your-own craft and other project how-to's, and much more!

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