Happy Earth Day

In honor of Earth Day I thought I would do a quick roundup of a few simple ways we went green around the house. Of course we could always do more, but we’re also real people with real lives and messes and mistakes and budgets and needs. Hopefully we will do more in the near-future, but for now these are some small steps we’ve taken that work for us. And every little bit counts right?

Our Current Efforts:

1. CFL Bulbs.
2. Greener Cleaning Supplies and Detergents. Vinegar, Baking soda. Seventh Generation, Mrs. Meyer’s, Method, Charlie’s Soap are a few favorites.
3. Use fewer paper towels, more dishcloths and washcloths. 
4. Recycle. Recycle. Recycle.
5. Redo, Reuse, Repurpose, Resell, Donate, Freecycle. I’m a natural pack rat so it’s my natural tendency to keep things for a future purpose. I need to do more re-selling of things we don’t need any more, or give them away.
6. Buy vintage. Helping keep things out of landfills by buying secondhand items - furniture, accessories, clothing, baby clothes, baby toys, books etc. It saves money and the environment.
7. Composting. On a small scale, then a bigger one.
8. Grow an organic garden with buried soaker hoses. 
9. Plant a tree. Or 30.
10. Plant native plants to support local ecosystems.
11. Visit and support local farmer’s markets and farm stands.
12. Install ceiling fans to cut down on the AC.
13. Install an attic fan to keep the upstairs cooler.
14. Replace leaky doors (and someday windows for now we insulate them with plastic).
15. When buying new appliances, go energy star.
16. Set back the heat, especially at night, using a programmable thermostat.
17. Cloth diapers (more on that this week).

In the future we would like to do more. Like build a rain barrel, plant more (less grass, more gardens), and even eventually replace our windows with energy efficient ones. But for now we are just trying to be more mindful and do what we can.