Two years ago, I wrote a post about Recycling and what I am doing in my own house to help decrease the amount of trash on our landfills. Looking back, I can say that I am doing great AND that I have found new ways to reduce.....
- Yes, I am still a fanatic when it comes to recycling. I even go to birthday parties and bring home the empty water bottles because I hate them being thrown in the regular garbage. (I know I am weird.)
- Yes, I am reusing bought containers, especially glass jars from pickles or olives.
But my favorites are the glass containers that I invested in a while ago. They are awesome. Not only do they not stain from the stuff that I am storing in them, they also don't smell like last week's spaghetti sauce, and I don't feel like I have to throw them out after a month's worth of usage. To top all that: I can put them in the oven (can't do that with plastic!), and I prefer to use glass in my microwave. I am really not sure what happens when one sticks plastic in it, but I prefer not to.... 
Yes, I am using cloth diapers on baby number three... most of the time. I bought and got a bunch of fuzzies, and I got my neighbors old prefolds that I just started using today. - And yes, I am still hanging up my clothes in the laundry room - my dryer is being used for sheets and towels only. I would so love to be able to have a spider outside in the backyard - because I really love the smell of clean clothes dried in fresh air! ... dreaming of a better future.
- I did start a new thing last year: a compost pile in the backyard. Then came the pregnancy and a new baby and I got a little lazy with that..... but I am proud that I tried it and I will restart it again, I am certain of that.
Okay, now comes all the stuff for which people will declare me insane, or at least that I have completely lost my mind.... or maybe they will be encouraged. I hope so because I really am proud for sticking with it.
About four months ago, I bought a bunch of rags, well really they are suppose to be wash gloves, from Walmart for super cheap! They are colorful and very handy. Now you are wondering what I am doing with it. A long time ago, I got rid of paper towels in our house! Yep. I just hated to see it being used for every little thing, spills and tissues and what-not. I just had enough and stopped buying them, then I hid the rest of it in the pantry (I guess for emergencies) and told everyone that we are using those rags from now on. You would think that I encountered resistance.... Nope, the kids loved the idea. Whenever they spill, they automatically grab one of the rags and clean their own mess. Colorful ones for the floor, white ones for the table or counters. They know it and it works. I love it.Because this was so successful, my wheels kept spinning some more and I found another area where we used too much paper (besides in the bathroom!). Napkins at the table. I mean it got so bad that they wiped once and threw them out, just to get a new one. I had enough and thought and thought and thought..... and came up with: cloth napkins. I mean, duh.... why did I not think of this before?
I could have sewn my own, I do have enough fabric in this house, but I also have a little one and sewing is just not my priority right now next to homeschooling and other things going on. So I thought of bandanas! They come in soooo many cool colors and prints, and when I told the kids, they were all for it.
Here is our colorful wheel of choices. We went to two different places to pick them up. I had initially only bought five, but when they were dirty, we had to go back to paper and I did not like that. So we went out again and bought more. They are not that cheap but right now, cheap enough not to sew them myself. Some of them are a specific person, like Spiderman is for Coqui and Dora is for Peanut. But the rest is for everyone to use..... The kids are so excited about this and love it. Which makes me a happy Mama. My best friend Beth loved my idea and has blogged about it already (yes, she does not have a newborn to take care of, so I am lacking behind on my blogging!). I hope I can inspire more people with this fun idea.....
And because the Hubby was using bandanas as handkerchiefs (yes, he has done so for years! and I am very proud of him for that!), we had to come up with a plan.
Everyone has those Paisley ones now, Coqui has orange ones, Peanut chose pink, and the Hubby got red (I have regular handkerchiefs for women with flowers on). So yes, we are also using cloth tissues!
Being green means alot to me and it makes me happy when I find new ways to help the environment (and my conscience!).
1 comments:
You inspire me!
I think getting rid of paper towels (or MOSTLY getting rid of them) is my next step. I like the idea of having colors for the floor & white for countertops.
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