Perform A Trash Autopsy To See How You're Wasting Money (PHOTOS)

From The Daily Green's Jeff Yeager:

Archeologists say that digging through a civilization's garbage can reveal more about peoples' lifestyles than just about anything else. Take a minute to look through your trash -- items you're recycling as well as sending to the landfill -- and learn how you can save money and the Earth's resources at the same time.

Read more advice from The Green Cheapskate at The Daily Green, and check out Jeff's latest book, The Cheapskate Next Door

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Dryer Lint

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Dryer lint represents the life of your expensive clothing being beaten and cooked out of them by an electric dryer. Save hundreds of dollars a year by drying your clothes on a clothesline instead; they'll last much longer, and you'll save on electricity and appliance costs, too. Check out these 12 surprising things to do with dryer sheets.

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Dryer lint represents the life of your expensive clothing being beaten and cooked out of them by an electric dryer. Save hundreds of dollars a year by drying your clothes on a clothesline instead; they'll last much longer, and you'll save on electricity and appliance costs, too.

Check out these 12 surprising things to do with dryer sheets.

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Comments

[Gitti Menzer]

05:36 PM on 09/26/2010

I like to take my magazines to the VA clinic when I go. There is usually nothing to read that a woman would like so they RE WELCOME!

[Yvonne Coffey]

02:45 PM on 09/26/2010

Don't know if anyone ever tried this but, I make shit cookies(we call them) or Kitchen sink cookies out of leftover food,veggies, spaghetti,sauce,meats,fruits and on and on.. The spices are what makes them delicous. everything is put in a processor or beaten then add flour,spices etc. I have been doing it for years.Its just like eating spice bars, or cookies. It's great and you should try it. you won't be dissappointed

[RuthlessDictator]

08:31 PM on 09/26/2010

Are you serious?!? Sounds yecchy!

[Yvonne Coffey]

04:44 PM on 09/27/2010

Yes I am serious,And they are Absolutely wonderful. Believe it or not, many women years ago did this to clean out their fridges. It tastes exactly like the spice bars you buy.maybe better.I have the recipe.if you want to try it sometime.I used cream cheese icing on mine,homemade of course

[m320753]

03:35 AM on 09/26/2010

there are a lot of good intentions here. most good intentions are not feasible. try making a compost from leftover food in parts of NYC then sit back and watch the homeless and the rats fight over it.i love the smell of fresh sheets that were dried outside, but in new england where i live about 4 months you pull in frozen clothes not feasible.i have never heard of using flourescent bulbs ,which i use cutting my electric bill 75%. as far as dryer sheets they can waste oodles of money because if you don't wash the lint screen the cute smell of daisies in spring time is clogging the screen resulting in longer drying time. i do recycle bottles and cardboard and things like them but i don't make it my lifes' work. everything that goes in the trash comes from the land and will take care of these objects in due time

[RosieRetro]

11:14 PM on 09/25/2010

I don't compost dead bouquets unless the flowers come from my house, because lots of flowers in bouquets now come from Chili and other nations that use pesticides that are banned in this country. You should not compost anything with any kind of animal fat in it, nor if you think the dyes on the fabric are not vegetable based. Many dry dog and cat foods contain animal fat. A good compost pile should not stink. Don't put anything in it that will make is smell really horrible. The last thing you want in your garden is any toxic waist. Dryer lint from synthetics, not a good thing.

[RosieRetro]

11:06 PM on 09/25/2010

Our homeowners association will not let us have clotheslines in our backyard.

[judibluiz]

02:51 PM on 09/26/2010

We lived in a neighborhood like that about 20 years ago. I challenged them by putting up one of those nifty spring loaded clothes lines that hide when they are not in use. No one reported me, I never had a problem hanging out clothes & linens. You might be surprised.

[EcoCatLady]

07:13 PM on 09/26/2010

I'd be starting a petition to the HOA if it were me. I think those kind of rules are just ridiculous! What kind of message are they trying to send anyhow? It's like they're saying "see, we're far more concerned with looking neat and tidy, than with the planet we're leaving to our children!" Sorry for the sarcasm, but I just can't wrap my brain around that sort of logic.

[I3addog]

12:28 PM on 09/25/2010

Speaking of junk mail, if I could get the dam Credit Card companies to stop sending me applications I could cut my junk mail pile in half. I don't want your card now just like I didn't want it two weeks ago when you sent me the last application.

[Brenda Betts DeShields]

11:05 AM on 09/25/2010

I do not buy in bulk from those bins at the grocery stores. I feel it is unsanitary with everyone opening the bins, getting dust or what ever in there every time the door is open, germs on the utensils. It just grosses me out. I rather buy a small package of flour etc.

[Jeff Majors]

03:04 PM on 09/25/2010

It may sound unsafe but I don't think I've recall anyone sickened by bulk food CAUSED by shoppers. Herbs are often antibacterial so germs cannot live on them. Flour - who eats them raw? You cook them and heat destroys them. Nuts and seeds are often "vended" where you pull the knob and you get them. Bacteria cannot thrive on sugary sweets - sugar absorbs their water and as a result, kill them. Salt is the same.

[Genders]

04:07 PM on 09/26/2010

You going to cook it right? I would love to see a testing for th ready to eat bulk candy, etc... That's a good test for Mythbusters!

[sabelmouse]

06:48 AM on 09/25/2010

what is up with people in america> i was watching ths program called' the middle' set in indiana and the main family was in desperate need for a new dryer. they obviously did not have too much money and the weather there seemed quite nice.
why would they waste money on a dryer?
it's a tv show , how much does it reflect real life?

as for containers with beans and cereals to fill up your own bags from. they where around a lot in london health food shops at the beginning of the 80's.
i have not seen that kind of thing since but i am living in a small town in ireland now. trying to order big bags of things in my local healthfood shop. it's still plastic though.
it seems all but impossible to avoid that stuff.

[tomteboda]

04:51 AM on 09/27/2010

I don't know about the show, but first of all Indiana has a climate whose temperatures are not conducive to using the clothesline 4-5 months out of the year. It actually freezes and snows.

As far as cost of a dryer, suppose a family of four does eight loads of laundry a week, and that each load costs $1 to dry at a laundromat. If they have to take their clothes to wash at a laundromat, they're almost certainly not going to take them home to line-dry, particularly if they live in an apartment (which a lot of Americans do). Assuming then that they do this, that's $416 / year in laundromat dryer charges alone. Dryers can be bought for under $400. One model currently available at many stores retails for $378, and the EPA estimated electric costs annually are $41. The dryer pays for itself the first year, plus you have the convenience of not having to go to a laundromat.

[sabelmouse]

07:15 AM on 09/28/2010

they live in a house and have a washing mashine well. who only has a dryer.it was sunny too during that episode.
why would cold not dry your clothes? i have often found frost very helpfull there.
our problem is incessant rain. that makes drying difficult, even though we still manage though some things dry in the house like fleece.

[mlaiuppa]

03:02 AM on 09/25/2010

Dryer lint can be put in the compost. I wear cotton so my worms get the lint.

Yes. Packaging is wasteful. But if you cook from scratch you can eliminate a lot of it. Beware of too much buying in bulk as some products have a limited shelf life and bulk buying can result in food waste rather than packaging waste. The best part about buying from the bulk bins some stores have is that you can also buy small portions so you don't have a lot of excess left to spoil.

Since I got my worms I use the garbage disposal very little.

All of my paper, cardboard, etc goes in the blue recycling bin, as does the aluminum, plastic and metal.

I've got compact fluorescents everywhere I can and I have very few magazine subscriptions left.

I will admit my one wasteful practice is buying bottled water. Not just any, but just Fiji. I find it difficult to drink water but I'll drink Fiji. I stopped buying it and switched to a Britta filter. I went from two bottles a day to almost no water consumption at all. Just a little juice at meals. This isn't healthy for me but I hate tap water, even filtered.

Why do people who can tell the difference between different beers or different sodas assume that water is water? I taste tested all of the bottled water I could find and Fiji was the one I liked.

[EcoCatLady]

04:56 AM on 09/25/2010

Have you tried a faucet style filter like PUR? I didn't like the taste of Brita water, but I discovered that it was the plastic taste from the pitcher that I could taste.

[mlaiuppa]

05:37 PM on 09/25/2010

I used to have a filter system hard installed into the tap. Still didn't like it. I don't want to invest in more filters, taps or pitchers if I just am not going to like the water.

I don't think it's an issue of what's left after the water is filtered. I think it's an issue of what minerals are missing from the local water that the Fiji water has. Filters don't add, they just subtract.

[WYHKTai-Tai]

05:52 AM on 09/25/2010

I don't know where you are living, but there are many water testing labs in most cities, that can identify the different minerals in waters, (they DEFINITELY taste different, & the different minerals give it a specific taste) and learn what it is that you like about it; see if you can find out where Fiji comes from, what is in it, etc... & see if you can get it bulk/refillable bottles.

[mlaiuppa]

05:39 PM on 09/25/2010

Fiji water comes from an artesian aquifer on the island of Fiji.

I don't think I'm going to be able to buy it in bulk. I buy the largest bottles I can find. I can easily drink a large bottle a day, which I should.

If it's not Fiji, I can go days without drinking water. I'll drink juice instead. Not that good for me. But I just hate the tap water, filtered or not.

[JScott]

01:58 AM on 09/25/2010

Another good place for recycling magazines-jury assembly rooms.

[JScott]

01:57 AM on 09/25/2010

I just did this yesterday most of it was plastic packaging and those newspaper flyers and most it went to the blue recycling can.

[EcoCatLady]

01:00 AM on 09/25/2010

Is there some sort of trick to re-using aluminum foil? I've tried washing it but I always manage to catch a ragged end and shred it beyond all usefulness, so I've given up. I suppose it could be that the only thing I use foil for is to cover lasagna, so it's always covered with stuck on melted cheese... Any advice?

[mlaiuppa]

03:03 AM on 09/25/2010

Use both sides. Try not to crumple it.

[EcoCatLady]

04:57 AM on 09/25/2010

Hmmm... that's worth a try. It might be sort of gross to have all of the old cheese stuck to the outside of the foil though...

[Lee Einer]

01:22 PM on 09/26/2010

It can be used for removing the tarnish from silver.

Put a piece of aluminum foil on the bottom of a glass baking tray, and put your tarnished silver on top of it. Add a couple of tablespoons of washing soda (sodium carbonate, not baking soda, which is sodium bicarbonate) and pour on boiling water to cover. give it about 20 minutes. It will fizz and hiss, as the sulphur compounds in the tarnish are released in the form of hydrogen sulfide. The aluminum will look pretty eaten up, the silver will be clean.

[EcoCatLady]

07:15 PM on 09/26/2010

Ha! That's a great suggestion, except that I don't own any silver!

[PRONESE]

06:26 PM on 09/24/2010

Let's see.
Garbage to the red worm bin.
Telephone books to CoCo (U2 Cockatoo). Check
Toilet paper rolls to Cockatiels. Check
Magazines to recycle bin @ elementary school parking lot. Check
Clothes to Goodwill. Check
Cloth Dishtowels. Check
NiCad and Lithium batteries to Home Despot for disposal. Check.
Burn bag for paperwork with personal info. Check.
Wall warts on power strips. Check
Vegetable matter and outdoor plants to compost. Check
*
Hoarding Incandescent light bulbs. 2014 is not that far off. (CFL's suck. It's my Money.) Check
*
That is all.
R/ PRONESE

[mlaiuppa]

03:06 AM on 09/25/2010

I'll trade you my incandescents for your CFLs if I can keep drinking my Fiji water.

I shred my personal docs and use them in the wormtopia for the worms.

[missouriwatcher]

04:09 PM on 09/24/2010

I recycle all they will take.  As for the rest, I think a great long-term investment for anyone would to be to secure mineral rights on the garbage landfills.

[tomteboda]

05:01 AM on 09/27/2010

Yeah but would you want the toxic residue liability? People are tossing the new light bulbs and are almost universally ignorant that they contain mercury, and that many states forbid them to be thrown in the trash (rather appropriately).

[missouriwatcher]

11:29 AM on 09/27/2010

I agree with what you are saying; but in SW Missouri, the whole concept of recycling if fairly new.  It is really difficult to find "homes" for everything that should be recycled . . . sometimes not even possible.  And when one considers all the recycleables that have been sent to the landfills over the many decades, it becomes obvious that there's some money to be made down the road "mining" these.  Currently, we are starting to use some of the methane produced by them to power our electric plants.

[Melanie Awe]

04:09 PM on 09/24/2010

As much as I love the clothes drying on the line, it is against HOA rules all over the place. And highly impractical and downright impossible depending on the climate or weather you're dealing with. I have five children and couldn't possibly line dry the amount of laundry I have unless I lived someplace like, oh, say - The Sahara? I do line dry delicate things all the time, and have to be really creative to find indoor venues to do this. Just sayin'.

[EcoCatLady]

12:58 AM on 09/25/2010

I think it totally sucks that HOA's make such ridiculous rules. I'd never live someplace that had one! I've even heard that some of them prohibit vegetable gardens?!?

[mlaiuppa]

03:10 AM on 09/25/2010

My Mom had three kids and line dried for years. She still does.

I try to but my line is pretty short.

I agree about the HOAs and that is why I bought my home in an area that is not controlled by an association.

I'm lucky to be able to line dry most of the year, but I also have a small rack that fits in my bathroom.

[EcoCatLady]

04:59 AM on 09/25/2010

Personally, I'm a compulsive line-drier. But it's not entirely altruistic on my part. I love the excuse to be outside, plus I just like the crisp feel and fresh smell of sun dried clothes. Of course, I live in a very dry climate, so it usually takes less time for the clothes to dry on the line than in the drier.

[TeriA1]

08:01 PM on 09/25/2010

Interesting! Silly me thought that I'd be dragging our wet clothes to the laundromat until are dryer was replaced. It's six months and I don't miss it. We'll probably get one for teenage emergencies and jeans/towels in the winter.