Saving Money and the Environment - In the Kitchen

• We just got a new energy-efficient fridge. I loves it. So far, it loves me back. Beautiful.
• I wash baggies. People probably think this is freak-y but I don't see the point of throwing away plastic just because everyone else does.
• We're trying to move away from paper towels and using more cloth towels, etc. Though I think I might always keep a secret stash for cat messes, because ewwww.
• We recently started air drying the dishes in the dishwasher. With this setting, the dishwasher shuts off before the heated-drying portion, then we open the dishwasher and let everything dry. We've noticed fewer water spots since doing this.
• We just started using dishwasher detergent from the dollar store. It's doing a better job than anything else has so far.
• I discovered something wonderful about my big old house this year. I spent the last couple of summers fretting that I could never get the kitchen cool (we don't have central air). But I also realized that no matter how hot the kitchen gets, it never heats up the rest of the house either. Which means I can just keep on baking, even in the summer. Though we use the crockpot occasionally too.