frugality

I'm working on a list of real ideas we can use to save some money around the house. The car, after all, needs its 90,000 mile service, and it's going to set us back about a thousand dollars. HELLO, economic stimulus package, it was nice to have you in my hands for TWO SECONDS.

We're renting, so there are some things that we can't/won't do. Such as converting the back yard to a sustainable vegetable garden. I'm all about making things myself, though - I can't wait til I'm done with the current bottle of laundry detergent so that I can make my own!

Read on, and then be heard!

- collect warming-the-shower water in a bucket and use that for flushes, for watering the plants, for bathing the dog, for mopping...
- drying clothes on a line
- lowering the water heater to 130 or 140
- fans instead of AC; closing the blinds on the sunny side of the house

Pretend I don't know anything. What would you recommend?

Also, what are some hardy vegetables that grow well in pots? I have a keen interest in growing things but I also have a black thumb to the extent that I even killed lucky bamboo but not by letting it dry up. (Sorry daffodils! Sorry poinsettia! Sorry all those seeds that didn't make it!)