Susan Gillin

I am spending two hours a week helping high school students file their FAFSAs, write personal essays and apply for scholarships. This is always a rewarding experience, working one-on-one with kids who can really use the help of an adult mentor.

I've been using water bottles -- the refillable kind -- for years and love my stainless steel flask however the rubber straw piece that overlays hard plastic has totally delaminated. Makes me wonder if my lip gloss is toxic!

I spent a half hour Saturday morning in my recipe file to plan meals for the coming week. Sunday was shopping day. I'm set for the week. Fewer trips to the grocery store and less waste: Hooray! The challenge will be to keep it up when the weekends are more hectic.

My focus will be on improving the efficiency of my home. Since my husband and I moved into a new home in August we have dismantled the water feature to save water and energy, cut down on irrigation, and changed most of the light bulbs from CFLs to LEDs. I took the good CFLs to the local Habitat for Humanity store for re-sale and recycled the two that were burned out. There's more we can do; just getting started.