Going Green :)

So in the past year Andy and I have tried to start living more "green" in an attempt to lessen our "footprint" on the environment.

It's so overwhelming when you start to think about all the ways we are affecting the world, and I start getting anxiety when I try to take it all in!

I want to know some of your tips/tricks for living more green. What are some small changes we can all make to live a bit greener?

Here are a few "green" things we have done so far......

*The biggest change is that I went totally Vegan in the past 4 months, which I feel really good about since it saves about 100 animals a year, and helps to decrease the overexploited natural resources, deforestation & water and air pollution.

*Replaced all of our most used lightbulbs with energy efficient ones

*Bought new front loading HE washer & dryer

*Recycle everything we can

*Never use plastic bags (have the canvas totes for groceries)

*Buy local produce as much as possible

*Buy organic produce & products

*Buy organic & vegan face, body, and personal care items

*Use water jugs daily instead of water bottles

*Only run dishwasher when full

*Use "green" cleaning products (Method from Target are the best!)

Any more tips

Amy, that is so cool that you are doing all of that.

I have to admit that Matt and I don't really do much. I could never give up meat! But we did switch over to the energey saving lightbulbs.

I'll keep up with this thread to see if there is anything else we can do.

Oh, and I always recycle my plastic shopping bags, use for trash or other things like that. Bring them back to the store.

Amy,

that is awesome CONGRATS! FI and I also try to live as green as possible.

Some other things are...

* carpool, only drive when necessary. walk or bike if you can

*get rid of 2nd car or get more fuel friendly car

*unplug electronics when not in use (cell phone chargers, toasters, hair dryers, radios, etc.

*plant some trees in your backyard or neighborhood

*compost

Good for you Amy. I'm too picky to go vegan. and I do admit we are a bit wasteful around the house. We actually just started recycling it's hard to get in the habit, but it's a start and better late then never, right?

*We use cloth napkins instead of paper.

*No paper towels, we use cloth rags for cleaning.

*Wash all our clothes in cold water.

*Line dry our clothes in warm weather.

*I'm already vegetarian, so I eat meatless dishes, drink soy milk, have some vegan clothing, use non-animal tested products, etc.

*I don't use dryer sheets (they have toxic chemicals)

*I make Aiden's baby food using organic, locally grown vegetables

*I use a combo of cloth and disposible diapers.

*I make some of my own cleaning products

*I use a power stip to plug in everything so I can cut off the power to things I'm not using (i.e your cell phone chargers still uses energy when plugged in to the wall even if your phone isn't attached).

I'm sure I have more, that's just off the top of my head...

I love this thread! In fact, I think I am starting to drive Jamie crazy w/ my efforts to make our home more green - I have recently started spewing facts about how environmentally friendly/unfriendly certain things are...

* I'm crazy about recycling

* Energy efficient light bulbs

* We have two cars, but use only one on a daily basis - I take public transportation to work

* Stopped buying bottled water, use filtered water in reusable bottles

* Canvas grocery bags and a thermal insulated bag for perishables while grocery shopping

* Switching all my cleaning products to 'green' products

* Use a reusable lunch tote instead of plastic or paper

* Use reusable containers in place of plastic bags for snacks etc

* Change my bills to e-bills to cut down on paper

* Buy our meat (and freeze it) and non perishables in bulk so there is less packaging waste

* Buy local and organic as much as possible, although difficult in the winter

* Unplug all appliances and chargers not in use

* Refurbishing used furniture instead of buying new (reuse)

* We will be replacing our lawn mower with a push mower when our current one dies

We are still working on going completely organic, but vegan is dedication I just don't have! Good work Amy!

This is a great thread! Congratulations everyone!

I am really trying to be as green as possible. Here is some stuff I do:

* I drive a Prius and Fi has a Civic, so we get really good gas mileage

* I use all green cleaning products, laundry products, dishwasher detergent, soap... (Method, Seventh Generation) and have a green cleaning lady

* I use chemical free soap (Alba), lotion (Burt's Bees), shampoo (Alba), sunscreen, deoderant (Tom's of Maine)

* I never use disposable shopping bags. I have tons of canvas bags and some Baggu's (nylon bags) that I take with me everyone.

* We try and eat all organic and as much local as possible.

* We are not vegetarians, but I try and have a couple of meat free days per week.

* I use all recycled toilet paper, paper towels and napkins. I am trying to get rid of paper towels and I bought a lot of rags to use instead.

* I have garbage bags made of recycled plastic.

* The aluminum foil we use is 100% recycled.

* We recycle everything!!

* Wash all clothes on cold

* Use biodegradable doggie pick up bags.

* We are getting biodegrable plates, cups, and cutlery made from sugarcane for our AHR.

* I am trying not to buy stuff we don't need and I am also trying to buy furniture from the consignment store.

Stuff I want to do:

** Start composting

** Get a line for my backyard to dry stuff on

I love seeing what everyone else is doing to get ideas!!! A lot of the time people think I am some crazy radical hippie. I know and I am not and I know there is so much more I can do. Thanks for sharing everyone!

A few to add

* You can call your credit card companies & tell them to stop sending anything that isn't neccessary. I do like getting my bills because I keep a folder of my credit card statements with my bank statements. But, I get a lot less junk mail. It's also a lot safer to not get those checks in the mail.

*https://www.optoutprescreen.com/

you can opt out of being prescreened for credit cards. then you no longer get those preapproved cards in the mail. I did this about a year ago & have maybe received 2 since then. Mike needs to do it because he gets several a week

*I always drink tap water.

*we buy the powdered gatorade to mix ourselves to avoid the waste

then I do a lot of the things people mentioned above. I eat meat, but at most once a week. I've never really liked it.

*maintain proper tire pressure. I was just at a discount tire & they will check your tires for free in 3 minutes. it improves gas milage

*i keep my driving minimal. I also have a honda civic that is 9 1/2 years old. It's better for the environment to keep a car longer than to get a new one often even if they are more fuel efficient.

I know there is much more I can do. I need to get better about paper towels. I go through a lot of napkins. I've also been planning to call more people who send me junk mail & get it to stop. I throw away so much mail a week.

If you go to www.terapass.com and click on offsets they have a calculator for figuring out the cost of carbon offsets for your wedding. Basically, you pay them to invest money into renewable engergy resources.

Renee

This is such a good thread!

One thing we do at home is turn the air conditioning down (i.e. warmer) while we go to work during the day, and if we go away for the weekend, we turn it off completely and leave our windows open. We recycle like crazy and only have one car - I walk or ride my bike to work. We also do all of our laundry in cold water.