A few small things add up big

by Lorraine Bartlett / Lorna Barrett / L.L. Bartlett

Back in the day (long before I was born), Monday was laundry day. Ha! These days, laundry day doesn't happen on a regular day basis. I made it my business to buy enough clothes for us so that laundry day might not happen for two to three weeks--and sometimes longer.

I have three weeks worth of underwear. Four weeks worth of socks. And enough towels to outfit a high school swim team. I also separate my clothes by color. I have a lot of reds, greens, blues, and pastels. I might not wash a certain color of clothes for a month or more.

Last week, I did a load of reds. (Red isn't really my color--hence the length of time it took to wash them.) Mind you, we were snowbirds for almost three months, so I only accumulated enough reds to do that load last week. Among the shirts were three Christmas sweatshirts and a pair of holiday socks. Towels have a faster turnaround.

And then there are the "cleaning cloths." As a (hopefully) responsible keeper of our fragile Earth, I try to use old washcloths (and boy do I have a LOT of them. My mother bought about six dozen at yard sales, which I now own) instead of paper towel. I figure one load of these washcloths replaces a roll or two of paper towels

Where did I get the idea from?  Martha Stewart. Since I'm rather anal, I fold them in half and then roll them so that they look like spring rolls, and then put them into vintage cardboard veggie boxes. I can get more than 30 washcloths in each box. I only have to wash them every other month or so. Win-win!

Now, a 12-pack of paper towel lasts us about six months or longer. Mother Earth is very pleased.

We can't keep abusing our planet. What I do are very small things, but if all of us did small things, it could be very big. Like wearing masks when we go out and about. They protect you from me and me from you.

Let's all stay safe--and home--and read. Boy have we got a lot of things we can read. (Check out the Cozy Chicks back list of titles). And as an author, I hope you'll read my books, too. They range from 99 cent to $19.99 (for my 6-book Jeff Resnick box set).) Check out my websites (Lorraine Bartlett, Lorna Barrett, L.L. Bartlett) for more information.

So, what are you doing to help save the planet?
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If you'd like to add to your laundry pile, for my first July giveaway, I'm offering a VICTORIA SQUARE MYSTERIES T-shirt. To enter the giveaway, just comment below. I'll be choosing a winner on Saturday at noon, so make sure you come back to see if you're the winner! You can find the list at the upper left sidebar. The winner can contact me at bartlett.lorraine2 @ gmail.com (close up the spaces) and we'll figure out the size and the color.

Good luck!