My confessions on going green.
I've been trying to be "green" for about 8 years now (I'm a late bloomer okay?) and it's been quite the ride. Full of ups and downs, thrills, and spills (yes, I'm talking about YOU cloth diapers), and mistakes.
What works for me:
1. Recycling..it's easy. If you can't recycle a can, you're an idiot.
2. Keeping a compost container in the kitchen, it's also easy. It gets taken out every day to the compost container.
3. Using the compost container that the city requires us to pay for anyway.
4. Using mason jars for EVERYTHING.. drinking glasses, food storage, spices, tea making, soup..you name it.
5. I also have a thing for cute jars (jam jars, honey jars, peanut butter jars..) I keep some of them and reuse them around the house (q-tips, toothbrush cups, cotton balls, nails, screws, hair ties, homemade lotions, pens and pencils..).
6. I buy a lot of our food in bulk. Dry beans, grains, rice, nuts, seeds, mixes, etc. I store them in large jars. It saves money and there's no wasted cardboard.
7. Using cloth napkins. We use them 75% of the time. It's easy, and they last.
8. Hand-me-downs for our kids. We've got 3 girls, so it's a no brainer to me that we'd keep the good stuff and pass it down to the next child. It only works for me because I keep the things that I actually still like. The other things get taken to the children's resale shop or donated.
9. I make a lot of my own moisturizers using coconut oil and other essential oils. My main thing is that I don't want all those chemicals on our bodies.
10. I use organic shampoos and conditioners. They're cheaper than the fancy shampoos and work better because they don't strip your hair.
11. We try to buy as much organic and natural products and groceries as we can. Organic veggies are cheaper than that bag of chips you normally buy.
12. I grow a vegetable garden every year. Along with many potted herbs and things like strawberries.
13. I buy most of my produce and all of our honey from the local produce market.
14. I use paper bags for our recycling and compost in the kitchen. Also for arts and crafts, we always end up using them up.
15. Canning. It's time consuming, so I only can things we use a LOT. Like chicken stock, chili sauce, BBQ sauce, jam, and pickles. I like that I can control how much sugar goes into my sauces and jam!
16. Natural cleaning products. Mrs. Meyer's rocks my socks, so does Method hand soap, white vinegar (even though Eric hates when the house smells like vinegar ha ha!), and baking soda.
17. Natural "pesticides" for the garden, meaning it's all natural..you can eat it. Also, natural fertilizer/plant food for the garden/plants.. compost, ground egg shells, coffee grounds, etc.
18. Reusable water bottles. This is a no brainer and tap water tastes better anyway.
19. Use scrap paper for kids to draw on, to-do lists, and so on.
20. Line drying about 1/3 of our laundry. I live in Portland where it rains 3/4 of the year, so I rely on my big accordion style drying rack in the laundry room. It still holds an entire load!
21. We bought an HE washer and dryer, and let me tell you..those suckers save SO much water and electricity! With 5 people in this house I do at least a load a day, so it was very noticeable when we switched.
22. Eric takes a big Stanley thermos of coffee to work.
23. Reusable containers, ice pack, and water bottle in Eric and Veda's lunches.
24. There's a lot of little things like energy efficient bulbs, turning off the water when we brush our teeth, etc..that we do because it's an easy habit that makes a difference.
25. Rags. I cut up all the old towels, shirts, cloth diapers, and use them as rags. Cheaper to wash some rags than it is to buy more paper towels, they work better anyway and it's better for the environment.
What does NOT work for me:
1. The bike riding. Not.My.Thing.
2. Taking the bus/max for day to day things. I've got 3 kids, I know some people can handle it, but I'm not one of them.
3. Having our own compost bin. I don't want rats, I don't want another chore.
4. Reusable bags for grocery shopping..I have them, yet I forget them EVERY time. I'm too busy remembering my grocery list, my coupons, and making sure I remembered all my kids ha ha! I do however, use reusable bags all the time for our day to day outings. And like I said before, I use those paper bags wisely!
5. Mushroom picking. Nope nope nope.
6. Kombucha making, grain sprouting, or fermenting. Ew.
7. Cloth diapers. Been there, done that for about 6 months. No thank you.
8. Don't even get me started on the reusable baby wipes or panty liners..you've gone TOO FAR people!
9. Not flushing when it's just pee. I don't like cleaning the toilet every 3 days, and it makes the whole bathroom stink. Not to mention, who wants to see your pee? Nope nope nope.
10. Chickens. I know, I'm not very "Portland" if I don't have chickens ha ha. I just don't need the extra chore. But I do buy organic eggs.
I know I'm forgetting about a dozen things that we do or don't do, but you get the point.
Call me lazy, but I think you just have to do what works for YOU.
Hopefully I have inspired you or at least made you laugh ;)
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