apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

1. Use less paper towels
Seems like a no-brainer but this is a hard habit to break (for us at least). It's not that we use an excessive amount of paper towels, it just seems we use more than we need — primarily in the kitchen. When Bacon was a puppy and we were dealing with accidents on a regular basis we quickly switched from paper to old, cut-up white t-shirts but didn't think to reform our kitchen habits. Now that he is older and those t-shirts are long gone we've resolved to restricting our paper towel usage, heavily, and when we do buy them, to buy recycled. We purchased a 6-pack of cheap, washable kitchen towels to help break our habit of cleaning the counters with disposable materials. This will cut down on our paper waste and be much more sustainable.

2. Buy a coffee maker with an automatic timer / Cut the Starbucks cord
We don't own a regular coffee pot at the moment. On weekends we use either a french press or Bialetti stovetop espresso maker. These are great and fairly quick but impractical on weekdays when we're trying to run out the door. It will be such a luxury to wake up to the smell of fresh coffee, not to mention that it will pay for itself by rescuing us from the daily $4 Starbucks. We haven't settled on a coffee maker yet but look forward to a new year of mornings that begin with the aroma of fresh coffee...

Are you planning to change your household habits in 2009? Tell us about it!