Going Green :)

[Yari]

Thank you so much for the info and link!

[Birdie07]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Yari Thank you so much for the info and link!

You're Welcome...its really not hard to do!

[Sherry]

What a great thread! I can't believe that I just noticed it now!

 

We try to do a lot of the little things too:

 

- no plastic shopping bags (always the canvas reusable ones)

- started using biodegradable trash bags for our household garbage

- recycle as many items as we can

- only run the dishwasher full

- we're not vegetarian, but we've cut out red meat and minimize our non-vegetarian meals

- use Method cleaning products (they're sold at Shopper's Drug Mart in Canada)

- don't use airconditioning in our home

- are switching to energy efficient lightbulbs as the old ones burn out

- cloth napkins instead of paper

- ebills instead of paper bills

- never buy bottled water

 

I think the biggest thing we've done though, is bought a home in the inner city, so we walk to work. Actually, we walk almost everywhere. We have two vehicles, but both of them almost never move on a weekday. Pretty much the only time we drive anywhere is on the weekends. I fill the gas tank of my car maybe once a month, usually more like once ever 6 weeks!

[-Kate-]

I'm bumping this bc of something we just started...eating local products.

 

I read Animal, Vegetable, Miracle and decided to give a local lifestyle a chance. Most of the food we bought for meals in the last week were from the local farmer's market. The stuff we bought at the grocery - we tried to get as local as possible (stuff like olive oil is hard). For example, tonight we has pasta and pesto - all homemade and all from farmer's market products - flour, eggs, basil, nuts, etc. Also, we are limiting our meat consumption to 2 times a week - and that has to be local meat as well. We are getting ready to sign up for a local dairy that delivers - we'll have a milkman! We are going to do a CSA next season. We wanted to do it this summer, but it's kinda hard bc there are only a couple months of deliveries left in the season. Until then we are going to make do with the farmer's market.

[rodent]

my mom gave us a towel holder for the kitchen as a wedding gift. we don't need it because we just hang our towels on the fridge. so I bought it to my lab & hung a towel from it. Now I can stop using so many paper towels. I wash my hands all the time because I work with bacteria. Our paper towels are so non-absorbant that I run through so many of them a day.

[NHPT]

i just wanted to say that i am not really "green" at all- i mean i try to save energy by turning up the AC when we are gone, unplugging all our stuff when we arent using it, and buying organic stuff whenever possible.......but really nothing else

BUT.............this thread has totally inspired me. Today i bought 3 reusable shopping bags, started recycling (i know, i know i should have been doing this one WAY sooner), and am going to attempt to try to make Avery's baby food myself with organic produce. Also i am looking into doing part-time cloth diapering (we cant do cloth at her nanny's)- i saw the Bum Genius brand the other day and thought they looked cool.........we will see.

 

so thanks ladies and keep the tips coming!

[Birdie07]

Quote:

Originally Posted by NHPT i just wanted to say that i am not really "green" at all- i mean i try to save energy by turning up the AC when we are gone, unplugging all our stuff when we arent using it, and buying organic stuff whenever possible.......but really nothing else BUT.............this thread has totally inspired me. Today i bought 3 reusable shopping bags, started recycling (i know, i know i should have been dummoing this one WAY sooner), and am going to attempt to try to make Avery's baby food myself with organic produce. Also i am looking into doing part-time cloth diapering (we cant do cloth at her nanny's)- i saw the Bum Genius brand the other day and thought they looked cool.........we will see. so thanks ladies and keep the tips coming!

Congrats! There is a great baby food recipe book...The Healthy Baby Meal Planner by Annabel Karmer. I've used it making food before. And it's so yummy you'll eat it! Bum genius diapers are adorable. And if you look on Etsy there are SAHM's who make cute diaper covers too! Also you could do G diapers the other part time. (I personally don't think they're as great as cloth but for part time I'd do it). They have flushable inserts. PM me if you CD questions!

[Samantha S]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Christa My favorite - our compost heap! It's amazing to see how much vegetable waste comes out of your kitchen when you stop throwing it in the trash & start accumulating it in a pile. We throw our grass clippings in there as well.

Can you tell more about food composting? How do you do it? what does it entail? FI and I do most of the things people have listed but not this one...

[Jenn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Samantha S Can you tell more about food composting? How do you do it? what does it entail? FI and I do most of the things people have listed but not this one...

We started composting this year when we bought our house. Our garden waste (grass/leaves/etc) was insane, so we started with that. There are a lot of ways to do it, but we went pretty simple. We built a large 4 sided box (open top and bottom) out of extra fence panels we had (you could use plywood or other material). Ours is about 4ft wide by 3-4 feet deep and maybe 3ft high. We started with garden waste. It breaks down fairly quickly, but turning the pile with a pitchfork or shovel definitely helps to speed the process (totally DH's job!). Once its been sitting for a few weeks, you'll notice that the compost is producing heat. This is when we started adding food waste. We only compost our vegetable matter because I worry about meat attracting animals. We usually put our food waste 'into' the pile - meaning we cover it with existing materials.

You can also research worm composting. We may upgrade to this, but for now, I'm happy with our pile and next year our garden will get a healthy dose of vitamins from this year's waste!

[ginalynn]

Quote:

Originally Posted by Morgan A few to add * You can call your credit card companies & tell them to stop sending anything that isn't neccessary. I do like getting my bills because I keep a folder of my credit card statements with my bank statements. But, I get a lot less junk mail. It's also a lot safer to not get those checks in the mail. *https://www.optoutprescreen.com/ you can opt out of being prescreened for credit cards. then you no longer get those preapproved cards in the mail. I did this about a year ago & have maybe received 2 since then. Mike needs to do it because he gets several a week *I always drink tap water. *we buy the powdered gatorade to mix ourselves to avoid the waste then I do a lot of the things people mentioned above. I eat meat, but at most once a week. I've never really liked it. *maintain proper tire pressure. I was just at a discount tire & they will check your tires for free in 3 minutes. it improves gas milage *i keep my driving minimal. I also have a honda civic that is 9 1/2 years old. It's better for the environment to keep a car longer than to get a new one often even if they are more fuel efficient. I know there is much more I can do. I need to get better about paper towels. I go through a lot of napkins. I've also been planning to call more people who send me junk mail & get it to stop. I throw away so much mail a week.

Awesome website, thanks!!!