In the depths of this hideous New England winter, I find myself longing for warmer days – the sweet smells of summer, the taste of a fresh picked tomato, and the flapping of shirts on the clothesline. Strike that. I know I should love my clothesline, it is eco-cool, saves money, and reduces energy consumption, but my clothesline and I have a strained relationship. I can’t blame the clothesline; I think my own personal hang-ups (so to say) are at fault.

When my husband first installed our clothesline, he went on and on about energy savings and reduced electricity bills. Apparently he was right, since we do see a significant drop in our payments to the energy lords during the six drying months we have here in the arctic tundra. But, I don’t think my significant other factored in my energy and costs.  My theoretical salary, as a stay-at-home mother, of $90,000/year without overtime (thanks Salary.com!) averages out to about $19.23 per hour. Given it takes me about a half hour to lug the soaking laundry from the basement to the porch, hang dozens of miniature pieces of clothing courtesy of our children, then remove the items once dry – and repeat as necessary – I am not convinced we save any money. We will see when my paycheck arrives one day.

Beyond the obvious cost and energy savings, a clothesline brings certain nostalgia, a sense of the return to simpler times without the expensive gadgets with breaking parts. However, this isn’t the case. One would think a piece of rope, a couple of trees, and two pulleys would leave little room for technical difficulties. Not true. This past December we had a significant ice storm, causing eight days of power outage at our homestead, and the demise of many trees, including one holding up said clothesline. Oh, and a broken pulley. So come this spring we will need to replace our clothesline entirely (not to mention the tree). On the other hand, our fifteen year old dryer has had no technical difficulties since it was purchased.

Despite my clothesline reservations upon its installation, the science teacher in me thought it would be a great learning experience for our children. Not only is it a visual icon of environmental conservation (not to mention one of the simple machines), but I thought it would inspire the offspring to partake in some higher order mental exercises. So imagine my surprise when my five year-old responded to my question about how long it would take the load of laundry to dry taking into consideration the variables of sun exposure and wind speed and direction, by walking over to the sandbox and ignoring me.

Finally, I must consider my husband’s relationship with the clothesline. He is so enthralled by his handiwork and our energy cost savings, that he takes it upon himself to do the majority our laundry during those splendid six warm months. Wait, never mind – for this reason alone, I really do love my clothesline.

By Lori Stewart: Green Gigs – Virtual Jobs with a Green Twist

I like greentomato’s pragmatic ethos, they believe that everyone can be kinder to the planet but know we aren’t going to start giving up our comforts any time soon. That’s why they’re here to help us figure out all the green conundrums of everyday life.

One of the latest innovations from these guys is the greentomatokit, which they very kindly sent me to try out. The first thing that struck me as our postman handed me the parcel was that the packaging itself is biodegradable – It even explains, saying that excess packaging is bad for the planet and that’s why they chose this potato starch covering. Nice one guys! I’ve ordered stuff from various suppliers of environmentally friendly products and too often been disappointed by the excessive use of bubble wrap and polystyrene (yuk!).

This starter kit is for those wanting to go green at home but don’t know where to start and straight away I’m thinking what a great house-warming (hmmm… or house-cooling?) gift this would make. It contains all the essentials covering the major areas to make change in your home:

• Heating = Radiator panels & room temperature thermometer
• Electricity = Energy saving light bulbs & ‘turn it off’ stickers
• Water = A ‘Save a Flush’
• Waste = ‘No junk mail’ ‘don’t forget your bag’ & ‘recycling’ stickers

Plus it all comes in a giant cotton bag (much bigger than the regular tote style ones) to re-use for shopping and cut out the nasty plastic variety – I have a bag addiction so naturally I love this.

I have to say though that aside from all these goodies my favourite part of the kit is the sheet that explains why each item will help green up your home and how much carbon or water you can save when you use them. For me this is the most important item because this kit isn’t for an already enthusiastic greeny it’s for those who need a nudge in the green direction. We can’t expect people to make any kind of a change to such a personal part of their lives (their home) without explaining why it benefits them as well as the planet.

OK, so how do you get one of these kits? Well, you can go straight over to the greentomato website and hit ‘buy’ or you can sign up to the GGG Newsletter and get a special discount coming up for newsletter subscribers only! The first GGG newsletter comes out Friday 8th February so make sure you’re signed up before then where you’ll receive full details of the offer.

In the meantime mosey on over to the greentomato website anyway and check out what they’re doing.

To learn more about the thinking behind the greentomatokit and the measurable benefits it can help you make in the greentomato’s January 2008 press release.