Green Progress

Wow... has it really been two months since I last wrote in my little blog?? That's way too long!

I've been pouring all of my efforts into our family and lifestyle, and I've made a lot of changes. I thought it might be interesting to some to see what we do to be green and how we have made changes in our lives. So in the interest of keeping this (somewhat) short and sweet I'm just going to make two lists - changes we have made and changes we plan to make. Some changes are good for the environment, some are good for us, some are good for the budget. Most of them are good for all three! Here we go...


Changes we've made (in no particular order).

1. Composting - we put all of our food waste, food soiled paper, egg cartons/pizza boxes/berry cartons, etc. into a small garbage can with a lid under the sink. It is lined with a compostable bag and when its full we tie it tight and take it out to the yard waste bin to be picked up by Waste Management. In the winter it will be only kitchen waste and not yard waste since we wont be mowing the lawn so we will probably cancel our yard waste bin like we did last year. I'm working on some kind of plan to keep up composting through these months (maybe a back yard compost bin?).

2. Turning off the lights/heat - seems obvious, I know we were all taught that in elementary school, but I'm a light nazi. Jack and Justin are the biggest offenders, always leaving lights on after they leave a room. I almost never have any lights on during the day, I just open the blinds and call it good even if its a dark/cloudy day. Lights come on only if absolutely necessary. In the winter time we are heat nazis too. Heat goes off in rooms that are not being used and doors closed so only the rooms we are in are being heated. Every time we leave the house we shut off all the heat, and as long as its not sub-freezing we turn off the heat in the main part of the house at night and only heat the bedrooms. In the summer I leave the blinds closed and keep the house dark when its really hot out, that helps it stay cool. We don't have AC so that's not an issue.

3. Eating Organic - Originally I made a big deal about this being way out of our budget, but I was so determined to make it work that I just kept buying more and more organic food. It started with just produce, then it was dairy, and most recently meat. I think most of the reason we are able to afford it is because we cut out all of the packaged junk and stuck with just whole foods. We still eat a few pre-made things like bread, salsa, hummus, yogurt, cheese, etc. but most of our diet is fruits and veggies and lean meats with a few whole grains mixed in. I know we are so much healthier and we really don't miss the junk food at all. Now that I am committed to organics, I will rarely buy something that isn't organic (if I have to I will go for all natural instead) and it really helped us to break our habit of eating out regularly. I am no longer tempted to go through the drive-thru when I'm short on time, I just find a way to make it work and make sure to always have healthy food at home so we don't feel desperate.

4. Buy Used - I do most of my shopping between craigslist, thrift stores, and consignment shops. I am able to get nearly all of the kids clothes and toys, furniture, etc for really cheap. I also sell pretty much everything we ever get rid of, anything I have that isn't worth selling is donated to goodwill. Buying used is the ultimate green because it saves an item from ending up in a landfill AND it saves a new item from being purchased. Plus there are great deals to be had, and I'm so picky that I honestly don't think any of our stuff really looks "used". I will hunt for something for a couple weeks before I give in and buy it new. I am trying to lead a non-materialistic life and teach that to my children as well, though it does take some work to retrain everyones brain away from WANT WANT WANT. The less "stuff" we buy/use, the less waste we make. And honestly, we don't need all that "stuff"... I think we're much happier without it :)

5. Reusable Everything - We have pretty much eliminated disposable food packaging in our house. We use stainless steel water bottles, snapware glasslock food storage (ditched the plastic tupperware), reusable cloth snack and sandwich bags, reusable lunch boxes, etc. We use reusable shopping and produce bags, we never use paper plates or plastic silverware, and I'm working on using up our costco pack of paper towels and napkins so we can (finally!) switch to cloth. We are also, of course, using cloth diapers/wipes/bags for Kaden. We have very few disposable items in our house... I'm still trying to find solutions for getting rid of other disposable things. Here's a great source for reusable items.

6. Monthly Garbage Pickup - I just (today!) downgraded our garbage pickup to monthly instead of weekly. Between recycling, composting, and cutting down on disposable items in our house we are making very little trash each week. There is usually only one bag in the gan and even that is not completely full. I am very confident that we will be just fine with monthly pickup, though it is a little nerve racking at first. Fingers crossed!

7. Laundry & Dishes - I wash ALL laundry in cold, except the diapers which have to go on hot for obvious reasons. I make my own detergent which is cheap and eco-friendly (costs about $2 per batch, equivalent to the $15 bottle from costco). I stopped using dryer sheets a long time ago because they weren't compatible with our diapers, instead we use wool dryer balls. The wool balls bounce around in the dryer softening the clothes and de-staticing them. They are not scented, but after a couple months without dryer sheets we forgot all about their scent. I also have 2 drying racks and a new clothes line in the garage (thanks to my wonderful hubby!) which I am experimenting with. I haven't had great success so far but I'm going to keep trying. We also stopped using the heated dry and high temp wash features on the dishwasher and I am going to try making my own detergent as soon as we run out. Always washing full loads of dishes and laundry is important too.

8. CSA Box - We recently signed up for a CSA (community supported agriculture) box and I LOVE it! All organic, appears at my doorstep every Monday morning, and I don't have to think about what or how much produce to buy that week. The items are selected for me, but I can go online and change anything I don't want and substitute something else. We signed up for the large box (recommended for 4-6 people) and it is helping us make sure we are always eating plenty of fruits and veggies. Now that my produce is all done for me, and most of my meat/cheese/bread is from costco, my grocery list is so small and manageable. Shopping trips with the boys are not nearly as brutal as they used to be.

9. DIY - I've started making my own cleaners with water, vinegar, baking soda, and lemon juice. It's super green because everything is completely non-toxic, plus the containers are being reused and you're not paying to ship something that's mostly water. I still have some of my old cleaners, which were already eco friendly, but I figure why not take it one step further. I'm really not into beauty products, I don't do my nails ever or slather up with lotion all the time, but I am looking into some all natural DIY alternatives for future use if I decide I want to pamper myself. My goal is to replace as many store bought products as possible with ones I make myself, or eliminate those products completely (like nail polish, hair spray, things I can definitely live without). So far my strategy has been to use something up and then not buy more... eventually I'll find a way to make it work, right? Right now I'm working on a shampoo alternative which is still in the testing phase, I can't say I have a new method I'm going to stick with just yet. Recipes for DIY cleaners can be found here, recipes for DIY bath & body products can be found here.

10. Misc. - We already use CFL lightbulbs and I've recently gotten into the habit of unplugging kitchen appliances like the toaster and blender when they're not in use to keep them from sucking unnecessary energy. We installed water filters on our shower head and our kitchen faucet. We drink so much more water now that we have instant filtered water and nice bottles to keep with us (we also stopped buying pop, that helps too).

12. Practically Green - I signed up for this site to track my green progress and so far I love it! I can make off all the things I've done and add items to my plan for the future. Which leads me to my next list -


Changes we plan to make.

1. Be a disposable-free home - I cannot yet say that we are a disposable free home, but we're getting there. Like I said above, we're still using up the last of our paper napkins, paper towels, ziplock bags (which I may just donate), plastic wrap, foil, etc. I do not plan to buy more of these items when we are out, but until we are really used to living without them I don't want to mark this one off the list. There are other disposables that have crossed my mind (kleenex, q-tips, toilet paper?, tampons?... sorry, tmi?) but I don't know if I'm quite ready to tackle those.

2. Home installations - Instal a dual flush convertor on the toilet. Instal a programable thermostat at least in the main room to help regulate heat in the winter. Possibly improve weather stripping/caulking around windows and doors before winter and/or instal draft guards. Purchase smart-strips for items that have to be plugged in all the time like the TV and phone chargers (because they're plugged in behind the bed, not really realistic to unplug them each morning).

3. Tackle the water - Ideally I'd love to have a gray water system, but that's not really possible in this house. However, I do want to take a good look at how much water we're using and when/where the most waste is so we can work on conserving. We've already done this with our garbage and electricity so I know we can do it with water too.

4. The plan - here is my detailed plan on practically green of all the little changes I'd like to make.



That's all I can think of for now... I would love if more of my friends were on Practically Green! They have a community setup that you can connect to Facebook and see what your friends have accomplished and share ideas and plans. Its always so much easier to make changes when you're not the only one :)