Without fail, the one thing I am most asked about is tucked in the far corner of our kitchen above the sink.

Yep.  It’s our water meters, the one thing that has made me more conscious of just how many resources I use every day.  The $9/gallon gas and electricity that costs 3x as much as I paid in the US don’t affect my subconscious near as much as these meters.  They measure my hot and cold water use To The Liter.

I don’t know about the rest of you, but in the US, Martin and I paid a flat fee of around 35 bucks a month for unlimited water.  Now there is no faster way to drive ourselves crazy than watching these German water meters run.  A liter is 4.2 cups.  We drink that much water in one sitting.  With a little Q&A, let me see if I can answer the questions I’m most often asked by many of you.

Do you cook differently, like using less water with your pasta?

At first I did.  I would let the water trickle while I tried to wash something, and it was impossible.  I’d skimp on water in our noodles, which made them cook unevenly.  Now we keep filling our pots just as full as we did in the US.  If the water doesn’t need to be turned on all the way (like to wash hands), we keep it lower.  Some of our water goes to the plants, though we usually put them outside in the rain for a free drink.

Do you brush your teeth with the water running?

Do people actually do this?  (Confession:  no one actually asked this question.)

Do you take faster showers?

I really tried; I failed.  Now I play with the shower nozzle so the shower is off when I don’t need water.  Some people call them Navy showers.  They’re probably also American expat showers.  It’s what a lot of expats seem to be doing.  Then we go and compare water usage notes with one another.  The best things you can do are get a low-flow shower head and take fewer showers.  We don’t have a bathtub.  As nice as a bath is every once and a while, they’re huge wastes of water.

What about toilets?

Well they don’t use very much water.  Newer toilets have features where you push the small flush button when you’re flushing small things, and you push the big button for, well, the bigger things that need more water to get going.

Do you worry about how much water your appliances use?

We really tried to find the best appliances we could while keeping to our budget.  We’ve compared washing machines that are top-loaders versus front-loaders (and chose a half-size machine so we’d always wash full loads).  Then I scoped out the dishwashing versus hand washing conundrum, though I admit it was really because I was hoping that being lazy (ie dishwasher!) meant I could save water.

Do those meters drive you nuts?

Yep.  They also remind me of just how lucky I am.  Every time I see that meter, I think of all the people who don’t even have access to water like me.  Things could always be worse.

What about you?  Any tricks that you have to cut down on your water usage?  I just looked at our meters, and I know we could do better.  So do share!  And while you’re at it, let me know if you have more questions about our little German life.  Thanks for the ones you’ve asked so far.

It’s time to take the cake!  Short of the gifts, I’m pretty sure cake is pretty high up there in the list of things to get excited about on birthdays.  Before you grab those parfin birthday candles, scope out the latest part of our Green Birthday Guide below.  It’s your how-to on everything eco-cake related.

The cake

1.  Try to buy organic ingredients.  They’re better for the environment and you, which I know you’ve already heard more times than you’ve eaten birthday cake.

2.  If you’re grabbing a cake mix, look at the label.  Try to buy something that has the fewest amount of ingredients.  Make sure you know what those ingredients are, too.  A lot of cake mixes have artificial yuckies in them.  Who knows.  A healthier cake might just mean more birthdays down the road.

3. When buying from a bakery, ask about their ingredients.  One cake shop I know uses Crisco for all their desserts except the ones that go to the local organic grocer who won’t accept transfat.  Ask what your bakery can offer.

4.  Watch out for unnecessary packaging.  From plastic containers for store bought cakes to plastic wrap on containers of frosting, make sure you’re using as little packaging as you can to get your cake home.

Frosting

1. Use all-natural food coloring.  If you’re using a lot of food coloring – like to make that blue frosting as bright as the sky – natural dyes are well worth looking into.  Seelect makes a large range of colors, and check out the ingredient list for their yellow:  water, glycerin, turmeric extract.  That’s it.

2. Same rules as with the cake:  organic, read the labels, avoid unrecognizable ingredients.  Artificial butter flavoring + Crisco does not equal any kind of butter frosting I recognize.

Sprinkles

1.  Sprinkle sugar on top.  Brown sugar can resemble sand.  You can also mix a little food coloring with sugar to sprinkle on top.

2.  Chop up nuts, organic coconut, or chocolate for the top.  Seasonal organic fruit, too!

3. Use natural sprinkles that aren’t made with chemicals and dyes.  My favorite is Lets do… Sprinkelz.  Their sprinkles are German, though it’s not why I love them.  They have four ingredients, all of which I recognize (even in German, so you know they’re basic).  Plus these cute things are organic and vegan.  I actually find it a little creepy that one of their promotions is being a vegan (animal & dairy free) sprinkle.  What, do you suppose, are “regular” sprinkles made out of?

Cupcake Liners

1. Large cupcakes need paper liners so they don’t crumble in your hand, so why not pick recycled or unbleached paper?  You can find several brands including Beyond Gourmet that sell 48 cups for less than $1.50 in the US.  We haven’t had any cupcake cravings here, so I’m not sure about what’s available in Germany.  (Anyone know?)  

2.  Make mini cupcakes and skip the paper liners all together.  Bite sized cupcakes are cute and perfect for dropping into your mouth in one bite.  We’ve tried both ways with and without the paper cups.  Now our vote is to just skip the unnecessary waste.

Candles

1. Buy beeswax candles.  The problem with your regular old candles made from paraffin is that they burn really fast and create a lot of smoke.  Who else has struggled to get all of the candles lit?  Or how about set off the smoke detector?  Those problems kind of disappear when you use bees wax candles.  You can get them at a lot of organic food or candle shops or Amazon.  Plus they smell so amazing you might not want to blow them out too fast.  Gives you time to think about your birthday wish.

Don’t forget about all the other green birthday ideas we’ve covered when you start thinking about that cake – like greener plates and napkins.

Please let us all know if you have any eco birthday cake ideas or if you’ve tried any of the above mentioned items.  I love learning more.

(Images from Amazon)