Living Green

Now that the first blog is out of the way... hopefully this will be much easier.

Living green is really an effortless task once you get going. I, by no means, profess to be the greenest person on this earth, but it is safe to say, I am one of the greenest, if not greenest person I know. And that, is a problem.

I deal every day with people making silly "organic" comments. I glory in the knowing that everywhere I turn, everyone is going green. Whether they are doing it to make dollars or make change... I don't care. The ones who are in it simply for the money are helping the rest of us perpetuate something that is very important.

When I say going green, I refer to it on several levels. First things first, start recycling. Even if you have to drive to your local recycling center, please do it. It truly is the most elemental thing about going green. If you are lucky and have a garage, create bins. Do not take recycling out until it has been washed and removed of lids etc. Now... if you have a spouse and children, just getting them to put it in the can is a successful accomplishment. When your 4 year old can determine what is trash and was is recycled, you have already made a huge accomplishment.

How you choose to keep your recycling effort is completely up to you. Always give your items a thorough rinse. This is purely to keep the bugs off of them and to keep vermin out. If you can, remove all wrappers and lids and dispose. Honestly though, it is incredibly hard to determine what can be recycled in specific areas, so if you put it into the can, the jobs you have created by doing this earth service, will do some sorting for you.

If you haven't already... project one is to determine how you plan to recycle. In our small home, we have a plastic, 10 gallon container with lid in a small cabinet under the sink. When it is full, all items get a once over and then out to the city provided can they go. One thing I am have been looking into is composting. When I come to a conclusion on that, I will let you know.

Also, and I have been extremely guilty of this, bottled water. Oh but the flavors taste so good! This is my effort for this weekend to attempt to stop in our household.

On my to do list I have the following items:
1. Stainless or Glass Bottles for storing and transporting water.
2. Determining the best way to switch our water.
3. Finding a flavor substitute that is organic and good.

In accomplishing #1 I am aware that any bottles other than the above, truly aren't clean for storing water. With this said, I have also seen the price tags on such containers, so I am going to have to go for a case load. Hmmm... ebay the rest?
In accomplishing #2 Do I convert the whole house so essentially all of the water in the house is filtered? Oh if I lived in heaven. So I need to do pricing on that. Also, how easy is this going to be? I am no plumber.
In accomplishing #3 I know they are out there... and in introducing new products to my families entourage of items, I have sworn that nothing will be anything but organic.

Yes... organic is a few cents more, but not in all cases. You will also notice that by making changes to these sometimes more costly products, you use less which means you waste less. You don't have to go Vegetarian and in my house, that would never fly with my farm boy husband. However, there are alternatives to making sure the moo on your plate had a good, healthy life and is serving your table, healthy, choice meat.

And speaking of food: The bags you lug get smaller (OH YES.... no more grocery plastic bags EXCEPT if you need them for pooper scoopers.) We've all been to the abyss in our hall closet. All of the totes you have acquired for this and that that you never use, if it is washable, it will work.