Why waste?
Living in the United States we have many things at our convenience, so we tend to be wasteful. Working in a group home, I see electricity, water and food wasted instead of teaching everyone ways to prevent waste.
Electricity is one of the biggest waste I see in the house. When I enter the front door, I can feel a nice cool draft. One of the men who lives there, has his door open, with the air conditioner on full blast. Walking into the common area, I hear about four different genres of music and different television shows playing. I can see the house is lit up like a Christmas tree. Every room has a light on even the empty rooms. All four individuals who reside there have their televisions on and radios playing. Staff is watching television in the living room, and the radio in the common area is playing low. The house is room temperature with the central air conditioner on, but the backdoor is open to let the cool air out. Everyone needs to make it a point to switch lights, air conditioners, radios, and televisions and other appliances when they are not needed on. It takes less than a second to throw a switch. Not wasting electricity reduces the bill appreciably. Why pay for the electricity we are not using?
In the evening time is when I notice another big waste, water. It is as if someone turned on a sound machine and chose to play the soothing waterfall sound. The housemates are doing dishes, cleaning the kitchen, dining room and fridge separately with the water running the entire time and the dishwasher going. The men are washing a few pieces of clothing at a time. In the bathroom, the faucet is running the entire time one of the men is brushing and shaving. Another one of the men is letting the shower run to warm up while he is brushing his teeth.. The men and staff should get in the habit of turning off the water when they are not using it. They should wash full loads not just an outfit or one piece of clothing they want to wear the next day. Everyone should also learn to fill the sink up with water to wash dishes rather than letting the water run the entire time.
Once a week is when you see the last big waste, grocery shopping. Every week grocery shopping is done for the four men who live in the home. The two refrigerators are stocked with everything needed to follow the menu as well as the cabinets. At the end of the week is when I clean the refrigerator. Sometimes when you open one of the refrigerators this smell will smack you in the face. You can almost taste the spoiled food. There is milk with a foul odor, fresh vegetables and fruits that are molded and rotten, cheese that is molded, and slimy cold cuts. I have to scrape cold, slimy food from bowls. Others times there are perfectly fine meat, rice, and pastas that I have to toss. We have special diets in the house, so leftovers are prohibited. However, staff does not like to throw the food out. They would rather let it sit in the fridge and spoil. The staff that is going grocery shopping needs to buy food in less quantity such as the meat. If they can’t find meat with smaller packaging, they should separate the meat into proper portions according to the menu before freezing it. This way only the portion needed is being defrosted. Also, an inventory check should be done before grocery shopping. There might be items in the house that do not need to be purchased again.
It is better to not be wasteful. I discovered there is a simple method of not wasting things, which is: use only what is needed. Do not touch what we do not need. Practicing this is how we can all stop being wasteful and save a few dollars.