18 February 2009

Low-tech Wednesday Revived

Yes, it's been a long time since we've had a low-tech Wednesday, but given the amount of stress and tiredness in our house right now, I think it's time to revive this habit. We've been watching far too much TV, and spending far too much time on the internet, so I think a regular day without would not only give us some time away from these distractions, but get us back into the habit of considering alternatives to our electronic entertainers.

And before you point out that I'm here posting this online, I'm actually writing it on Tuesday, but scheduling it to post on Wednesday! Clever huh? I'll be back on Thursday to let you know how the day went!

4 comments:

Dalinz said...

I loved reading about this low-tech Wednesday. Had not heard about it before. So I thought I would see what my two boys would say about it. I knew straight away I had to do this if at all, while my hubby was in Brissie. He would not agree to it. And he didn't, bugger him.

Anyway I mentioned to the boys that I wanted to try something new. No DS, Wii, TV, DVD, Computer, No water used (uses electricity for the pump) only useing buckets of water in the shower or from the tank outside without the pump on it. For dinner we would have sandwiches, previously home baked without butter so didn't have to open the fridge, with stuff out of the pantry. I would not do any washing that day either. At night or when it got dark, we would use candles, (This is always a winner as they love the atmosphere). We could take turns reading books to each other, spend time together chillin or play a board game or two.

I also mentioned that it would not be too painfull as they are at school most of the time anyway.

Well I have two boys that are dying for next Wednesday... And I am too. I am going to see what our power usage is for the day compared to a 'normal' day as well to see the difference and show the boys.

I want to thank you for your post from the bottom of my heart. I am always saying, turn that off, you are wasting energy, electricity etc etc etc but this will really show them on paper what the difference is and now easy it was to achieve it. This week we are trialling it but I firmly believe that we are on a winner and will do it from now on every week.

Thanks Damaris

Rinelle said...

Thanks Damaris. I'm so glad to hear that the post has helped you out, and I hope your family has a wonderful time with Low-Tech Wednesday. We've certainly had a few revelations about it ourselves, which I'm going to post about tonight hopefully.

Dalinz said...

Well the figures are in Rinelle.... And I am very excited but know that we can do even better.

Wednesday this week we had our first 'Low tech Wednesday'.

I knew that I would have to turn off power at the box or the kids would accidently use it. I took a reading of the meter before they got up, turned off all power except the phone, fridge, deep freezer. I had to also use the car to get a service as I couldn't get in any other time. I turned power on again for their night lights at night and that was all.

We used during the day around 15 litres of water for washing hands after toileting or eating. This was in a 20l drum collected before our special day.

I must admit we didn't do any washing up during that day as I had no hot water. We did access fridge for milk for brekkie and for day-before baked crepes that we had for dinner.

We started playing Monopoly at 6am in the morning. By the end of the night we had candles all over the place and the boys had hardly fought all day. They both acknowledged that they were fighting less and getting along much better when they didn't have DVD, computer, DS etc on all the time. They actually loved spending the time with me as well. Not just the isolation that they have away in their rooms. They told me stuff that I had wanted to show them about the day and they can't wait for next Wednesday.

Anyway here are the results. On the Wednesday we used only 5kWh and yesterday, Thursday we used 12kWh. I am getting readings with my hubby being home as well to see what the difference is again as he loves his computer and shed with lots of tools.

So there you go. Lots of lessons learnt and I think that next week we can do even better. Again thank you so much for reviving this so that I could read about it. I really appreciate it. Love your blog.

Thanks Damaris, Maryvale, Qld

Rinelle said...

Great Job Damaris! And so glad to hear that your family was on board! Thanks for updating me.