Over the years I have developed some habits that I am proud of (and others I am not, of course, which I will be keeping to myself).
In a world with an ever-changing climate, it's important for everyone to take steps to save our precious resources. I want my children, their children, and grandchildren to enjoy the same mountainous beauty I enjoy right now. (And, I want it to snow, dammit! It's Dec. 4th, 40 degrees and barely any snow left on the ground....that ain't right!)
Below are five things you can do at home to make a difference for our future. These are easy things I've been doing for years now, and I enjoy the simplicity of each conserving task. The best part is, they will save you money! (Disclaimer: They are things most of you may already be implementing, but if not, it's food for thought.)
These days, all products we buy come in some serious packaging. When you buy things like yogurt, cottage cheese, or sour cream, don't throw the containers away - reuse them! I know in many places they can be recycled, unfortunately I don't have that option here in my high-altitude mountain paradise. So, I am never short on tupperware. Actually, Lars is always frustrated digging through our tupperware drawer because it is stuffed so full it barely closes. If you love sharing your creations, but hate giving away your prize piece of tupperware, this is the perfect solution. And, instead of using plastic baggies in your lunches, you can use these instead. You will save money on baggies and feel good about it!
On the same lines, bread bags are very versatile. I save mine and use them to store open packages of bacon, or spinach and greens from my garden. Brown-bag lunches could become bread-bag lunches. (Since we're in the bread aisle... Not into heels? Don't throw them away! Dry them out and make homemade breadcrumbs in your blender or food processor.)
In our society, cloth napkins have been packed away and only brought out for special occasions. Not in my house! We only use cloth napkins, and it's a nice luxury. We probably use, at the most, six rolls of paper towels a year. (How many do you use?) For cleaning up messes, napkins and dish cloths work much better than paper towels. You have to do laundry anyway right?
My husband is notorious for having three or four water glasses out at a time. On my daily round up, I gather all the water glasses and use them to water my houseplants instead of just pouring it down the sink. That, obviously, saves precious water and lowers bills at the same time. Can't beat that!
The final item, which may be harder for some people to implement than others, is composting. All those food scraps (no meat or dairy items) can make great fertilizer for your garden and lawn...for free! It also saves room in your garbage can (and the landfill) which can also keep more hard-earned money in your pocket.
If we all work together, we CAN make a difference to help Mother Earth!
good post! the only bummer is, we do all of that already! post some more and hopefully give me some ideas! LOL!
ReplyDeleteTheresa sent me to this blog via Facebook.
ReplyDeletethis is great... I also do most of them. I've got a few to share if that's ok:
Sometimes ya just need a plastic baggie, ya know? So we wash them, hang them to dry, and reuse them at our house.
And we do dishes in a dishpan, only running the water for a rinse, then use the dishpan water (using natural soap only) for the plants.
If it's yellow, let it mellow. :) My girlfriend even uses little cut-up washcloths for #1's and wet-wipes for the other... She literally never uses TP. (I'm not really hardcore enough for that one yet)
We have a shower head that has a button to turn the flow off, but not lose that perfect temperature, so we can not have the water running while soaping up.
Oh, and we keep the heat at 60 in the winter and just throw on an extra sweater if we're cold. And, of course, who really needs the AC in places that aren't the desert? Hell, I even lived in the desert without an AC... it can be done. :)
leighanna-i have been on the same box of plastic baggies since 2005. i even have a rack from drying them out after we wash them! LOL! it actually was the bottle drying rack, but it works perfect for drying out the baggies! LOL! i will send you a link to making your own "family cloth", in case you & kristin are interested in it!
ReplyDeletep.s. that's also one of the rules of our house, "if it's yellow, let it mellow". it just means i have to clean the toilets more often, because of how quickly the rings build up in there, but at least we're saving a ton of water, so that we can send ours to vegas so they can water their golf courses. ha!
ReplyDeleteso true...dang vegas fountains. i definitely clean the toilet a lot because it does get yicky so often. family cloth is a great idea....after washing poopy diapers and undies, i am over it! thank buddha for recycled toilet paper! makes it much easier to flush it down.
ReplyDeletethanks for sharing all the tips guys! i haven't washed baggies in a while, i think because I just use old containers now. Lars sometimes uses them in his lunch, but they never come back to the house for reuse. shame on him! i was thinking about paper towels today too, and we used to use maybe one roll a year, and now we use more. i couldn't figure out why...then it dawned on me. I started eating meat....and buying BACON! that's the only thing i use paper towels for. got any ideas for bacon de-greasing?!?!
yes! i haven't bought paper towels for as long as i can remember. we just use dish towels and old towels to replace anything paper towels would do. except bacon grease! we actually keep paper bags in a cabinet specifically for bacon grease. every once in awhile when we get takeout or i forget my tote bags at the grocery and have too much stuff to try and carry out in my arms, i'll get a paper bag. we use them just for bacon grease and they work awesome! they also work awesome if you get candle wax on a rug. put the paper bag over the ruined area on the carpet, then iron on top of the paper bag. the bag actually lifts the wax out of the carpet once the iron gets hot enough!
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