Going Green

Simple things... unplug your tv's and other not in use electronics. Use reusable things for picnics and schools - silverware instead of plastic wear, reusable plates (I have sturdy plastic plates instead of glass ones to avoid breakage) reusable containers instead of plastic baggies or plastic wrap. The less you throw out the better - can you reuse, find a new home for, or recycle what ever you were about to throw out? Do you know someone who can use it? I have a friend who makes things using caps off of everything and another who is using buttons to create holiday wreaths. I conserve water- put a brick in the back of an older toilet (newer ones don't need it) put a bucket in the shower to catch extra water for the garden. There is a lot of things out there but some take money. We are going solar with wind back up but we have to do a bit at a time to afford it and we have to do it ourselves. Lots of research.

I bought the rags from Norwex....you use NO cleaning products with them at all! Just water....you can't get any greener then that! They are especially great for people with allergies.... For Christmas last year my daughter got me two of these nylon bags that are in little carrying pouches....when you open them up you can't believe how big they are....I used one for a carry on after I left New York...they are great for shopping and cut down on those plastic bags from the stores.

You can use less or even no non biodegradable things. There are certain things which are locally available in reusable packing and even at a cheaper price, you can give them a try. I mean you can prefer to home made stuff to those branded things packaged in plastic available in supermarkets. Also it is better to opt for refill pouches or packets rather than using or buying new bottle every time your old one finishes, like in the case of liquid soap. Using less of your air conditioner, giving a break of half an our a day to refridgerators also helps. Deleting junks of read and useless mails from the email account also helps you to control the carbon it emits. You can ask for electronic bills and completely discard the paper bills. Wste as less as paper possible. And whenever you can try planting a sampling, say on your or your baby girl's b'day.

One of these ideas is to help more and more people to become a greener like youself, let them know how important it is to treasure our earth mother together.It may not cost much money at all, and it's easy! You may persuade some of your friends to join you stop using the shopping bags, and you can take part in the activities around your strees such as collecting the newspapers and bottles...I am happy that you have become a greener now, and you will also be happy that if you can help others become a greener...which means you as well have done a lot to make our earth much more beautiful... It won't be you alone here going green, your friends will help you too... beeduzhe

Something else I love (they are not cheap, but worth saving up for) my Bissell steam mop and Bissell steam shot cleaners. You wash with water that gets converted to steam. My house is so clean you could eat off any surface, and it is a chemical free clean, which is fantastic. People say oh, how do you know it is so much better - I live in an apartment with all linoleum floors - not one stitch of carpet. I clean my floors weekly, and we do not wear shoes any further than the front door. My son runs around barefoot all the time. Even not wearing shoes in the house, the floors are always ready to be done in a week. After like 3 weeks of using the steam mop I started noticing that my sons feet were still pink and socks were still white a week after washing - it is so fantastic! I also use Shamwow's and old rags to clean with 90% of the time. It's amazing how much money you save on paper towels! And I always do laundry in cold water, and more often than not, I do the laundry at night. Good luck!

I made a pledge this last weekend to begin transforming our household into being totally self-sufficient. We started up a fruit & vegetable garden, I am going to bake our own bread, make our own pasta, and soaps and washing liquids. I like the idea of making briquettes out of old papers to use in our fireplace instead of more firewood. All our fruit and vegetable scraps will go into our compost bin.

Buy things with less packaging, that helps the environment. Drink tap water or use a filter pitcher and fill reusable bottles, instead of buying chemical drinks like pop, and artificially sweetened/colored stuff. Recycle anything that your community will recycle. Instead of buying books, magazines and newspapers, read them at the library, that will be a good memory for your daughter as well. Walk when you can instead of driving.

Someone on my friend list posted a discussion with a link that showed how to make really cute reusable containers out of milk cartons. That is the sort of thing I do. Instead of carting things off to the recycle center, when I buy something I often analyze the container it came in and think how I will use it over and again. You might call the project I did at home today a "green" one because I recycled a vinegar bottle by turning it into an upside down tomato planter. Oddly enough, my neighbor had the same day thrown away two topsy turvy planters she had bought and didn't like. Oh, well. I don't think we should have to pay more to do green things!