The Rain Barrel Experiment, Liquid Gold, & Drying Racks

The summer has been one of experiments. Two lesbians getting legally married without protests and mean people. With the exception of a few inconsequential people, most folks here in the Bible Belt have been pretty nice to us. Once we won our right to marry, we had ice cream.

We are always trying to find ways to save money and be more efficient. So following the 30 minute ice cream honeymoon, we tried prepping our meals for the week every Sunday. We could predict how much money we would spend every month. Normally it was between $50-80 per week for 2 people eating 3 meals and 2 snacks.  If it wasn't on the list for our meal prep, we didn't purchase it. Sunday was busy, but the rest of the week was free from cooking. It was superb.

Then came the mason jar salad incident ...well, lets just say, it didn't go so well. We dropped that idea like a hot, well seasoned, skillet.

Finally, we hit pay dirt. One of our biggest money savers so far, RAIN BARRELS!

The idea came from where all ideas come from.... Facebook.

A friend took a photo of his rain barrel and I found out that they were only $40 each, with free delivery. At first, we ordered one barrel and Jamie's dad installed it.

Then it RAINED, I tell you....it RAINED.

Like, a lot. 

The water hitting our eastern facing roof all funneled into the barrel and was coming out of the overflow valve.

We were stunned. We had no idea how much free water we had been missing out on.

One rain barrel quickly became two.

Then a huge rainstorm hit.

Both rain barrels quickly filled. The 5 gallon buckets under the overflow valve couldn't keep up. 

 My dear sweet, stubborn and money conscious better half, filled every bucket we had. Soaking wet, she carried full buckets, emptied them in the house and went back for more. She rinsed out and disinfected 50 gallon trash cans and put them under the overflow. It was like money running in these wonderfully full garbage cans.

At least until we discovered a tiny hole in one garbage can had emptied every single gallon.

No worries, however, as the rain continued for days. The bad garbage can was used for.....well....garbage and another was used as an overflow tank.

We filled bucket after bucket over the next few days using at least 200 gallons of free water to wash laundry, water the pets, water the plants, mop the floors, and with added bleach, even wash dishes.

Our water consumption has dropped dramatically. One single rain storm can keep us flowing with free water for a week. We have found that less laundry detergent is required with rain water. Perhaps it is not as hard as tap water.

We hang our clothes outside when the weather allows, but we invested a small amount of money that allows us to dry our clothes inside instead of using our gas-powered dryer.

I would show you a picture of the laundry room, but my underwear is hanging out to dry. However,  I will tell you about some of the items we used to dry our clothes inside.

First we bought a sturdy  3 Tier Drying Rack from Wayfair for $25. Next, for about $10 each, we purchased two Pressa Hanging Dryers with Clips. These are perfect for hanging socks, undies, and family cloth. (Family cloth is small strips of organic cotton that we use after utilizing our beloved bidet instead of toilet paper). Locally, we purchased two portable garment racks. With these, we hang our shirts or pants on the clothes hanger, hang them on the garment racks, put the rack under our ceiling fan, and tada! Dry clothes. Our final purchase was a big $1.00 plus tax for enough indoor clothes line that now hangs in our laundry room. That you can see. :)

With the rain barrels and indoor clothes lines and racks, we have spent very little money on laundry. A little electricity for the washer, and inexpensive, but effective, laundry detergent.

We've considered purchasing another barrel, but we have to create a good storage system for the water. In the summer, the standing water would help mosquitoes breed successfully.

For now, our friends are giving us their empty cat litter buckets with lids. For us, its liquid gold.

So while I hope we can forget the evil that befell us from the mason jar salads, I am thankful for the lessons learned this summer. The money we have saved can go where its most needed...our animal rescue.

Until next time.....

Namaste.