In celebration of Earth Day last month, I got to thinking about what more I can do in my own life, and I want to share with you some of the ways that I have gone green. As you may or may not know, I made a New Year’s Resolution to be even more green. We are more than a quarter of the way through 2011 and I am happy to report that I AM being more green than before! (Please don’t ask about some of the other resolutions…the Great Spring Craft Quest has been deferred to spring 2012 ~ I just couldn’t get enough stuff made to hit the craft fair circuit and I feel soooo guilty about it!)
Anyhoo, to be more green this year I have done a tidy little list of things that I hope will make a difference.
1. I am on year 2 of making my own laundry detergent from low impact products (washing soda, bar soap, borax and white vinegar)
2. We make a trip to the recycling center EVERY WEEK with paper, plastic, glass, and metal. Along with this, I have started to buy more bulk staple foods at the grocery store to cut down on packaging and I no longer buy the newspaper either. (So much of went straight to the recycle bin, it was shameful!)
3. We have added insulation to our home to lower our energy use.
4. We have changed all but 4 light fixtures in our house to CFL bulbs. (I am working on those last 4 – but can’t find bulbs that fit yet.)
5. I am learning to do my own canning of fruit and veggies from our garden.
6. We are going meatless 2 to 3 evening meals per week.
7. I am trying the art of bento for lunches and I LOVE IT! (If you haven’t seen bento lunches – check it out – it is a great way to use leftovers, eat meatless, go lean, use less packaging…really it’s great! Gee, do I sound like an over-zealous commercial pitch?) My favorite places for info and inspiration are lunchbots.com and justbento.com.
8. I have stopped buying almost all commercially made cleaners and mix many my own with simple ingredients like baking soda, salt, vinegar, olive oil, lemon juice, and aspirin (did you know it helps whiten laundry?) I still buy dish detergent and bleach but I try to use them sparingly by diluting with water.
Here are some pix of what I have been up to in my quest to go green.
~laundry supplies~
For each large load of laundry:: 2 T of washing soda & borax mixed 50/50 on the left, 1 tsp of grated bar soap on the right, and white vinegar for the rinse cycle instead of fabric softener
I found a wooden clothes drying rack at the thrift store just yesterday for $2. I use the outdoor clothesline as much as I can in the warmer weather and now I can skip the electric dryer during the winter. Yay!
~lunch~
~carpet refresher and fridge refresher~
glass cheese shakers full of baking soda:: 1 in the fridge, 1 in the freezer, 1 hidden in each bathroom, and 1 to sprinkle on carpets before I vacuum
~canning supplies~
I started small – only 2 jars on my first try ~ but it worked! It worked!
Now if I only were able to work from home and deep six that awful 40 minute commute to the city every morning!
Celebrate Earth Day everyday!
yarnchick 