I have been meaning to address this for a while. There are all these bags, t-shirts &stickers out there with the saying go green- live simple. Green living is definitely not simple, who comes up with these slogans??
I realize this on the third trip hauling all of our recycling down our long hilly driveway, then rinsing our indoor recycling receptacle to start the process all over again. It is way easier to use the store provided bags than remembering to bring your reusable ones. I could go on and on, but lets not.
I feel like we have made some good changes towards being more “green.” I made reusable shopping bags and actually have been using them. I immediately put them back in the car after unloading them, or I will forget them. The really awesome thing is my grocery store gives out Green Points, you get 50 points per bag you bring with you. You can then redeem the points for items, I have redeemed my points for a free gallon of milk, a box of butter, juice, bread and a few other things. I love this program. On the rare occasion that I forget my bags, I ask for paper because I can use them for my newspaper recycling.
We have been using the cloth napkins I made, we leave them in the napkin holder on the table and use them just like we use to use the paper ones. We still have to use paper once in a while, but we have had the package of paper napkins for twice as long and there is still a quarter of a package left. I throw them in with the laundry I am doing daily anyway and we pretty much always have clean napkins. They look cute too:)
My Mom and Grandma use to watch the girls when we would go on trips, and when I would get home, they would tease me about the amount of products in my bathroom. I had a large tub with this two foot deep shelf, it held A LOT. Bubble bath, shampoo, conditioner, body scrub, bath salts and many more. The sad thing is there was more than one of each item. I also had two medicine cabinets with hair, body and face products and under my side and part of Chad’s side of the double sink. What is the point of this you ask? I moved almost all of that stuff, minus a few that were just icky across the US from CA to NC. I decided that I am using it all up before buying more. I am also recycling the containers if they are recyclable. I have made a dent in the stash, however it may be 2009 before I use it all.
I am also trying to buy organic and natural cleaning products whenever possible. There are a lot of great ones out there. My grocery store has a line called full circle, and they make a great window cleaner. I feel like this is not only better for the environment, but better for the health of my family. I have yet to see a cleanser that is natural. Maybe it is out there and I haven’t found it yet?? Anyone found any great products, I would love to hear about them?
I know you are suppose to recycle batteries, where on earth do you take them??? I had a bag full of old yucky batteries sitting on the sink for about a week and Chad was freaking out- He says “These are a fire hazard.” I say “I want to recycle them.” This pacified him for a few days then we had to leave for vacation and he made me throw them out.
I have been recycling my paper towel rolls, which leads me to thinking about toilet paper rolls. Should I be recycling these? Probably. How is this living simpler?? I don’t mind doing it, I just think the saying is funny! I am now getting my bills online to reduce paper, hope I can remember to pay them:) Actually my bank has an automatic bill delivery system, it works out great.
There are a few things that I have going against the whole Green thing, that I can not give up. I have a big ole gas guzzling SUV. I also use diapers from the store. Although they go back and forth about which is worse the diapers in the land fill or the energy used to clean and dry the diapers. There is no way on Gods green earth I could deal with cloth diapers. My hats off to all you moms out there who have and do use them! Another is my air conditioner, I know it uses a lot of energy, but I have a ten degree comfort zone(according to Chad) and if I am really hot I am USELESS. The according to Chad references the ten degree zone and the uselessness is a fact. I’m sure there are more, but it is getting late and I want to show you a few photos.
I made this today, it is yet one more attempt to be GREEN. It is a lunch bag for Gabby. It is made out of oilcloth I had in my stash. The nice thing about oilcloth is it is super durable and easy to clean. Last year Gabby was too cool to carry a lunch pail, so she used brown bags. We have been getting ready for school to start next week and I asked her if she wanted to make a reusable one and she loved the idea. I let her pick the fabric of course she chose the black and not the cute pink with the strawberries. The really cool thing is, while I was sewing she asked if she could make some reusable napkins for her lunch bag. I said of course, pick out some fabric you like. she picked out 6 different fabrics and tomorrow she is going to serge them. Fun for her and earth friendly.
This is my brown bunny Gwen, she got the good olive skin from Chad and not the pasty WHITE skin from me! She is making a funny face, guess it is the age. She is sporting her new school bag. I, in the old school term call it a book bag, they have no idea what I am talking about when I say this. We made this yesterday. A friend in Napa had given me a ton of old jeans a year or two ago and being the saver of everything brought them across the US. It pays to save things! I say this because Chad goes CRAZY with my- lets keep it just in case.
We decided this would be another way to be GREEN, by not buying another back pack that gets thrown away or given to the good will at the end of the school year. We are both happy with how it turned out.
I let her help design it, which was fun for her. She had enough ideas for about 10 bags. I started with a pair of old jeans, added some vintage barkcloth to the bottom, ironed on a cute birdie that I got from a swap buddy, sewed the belt material and ran it through the belt loops, I then made the little charm thing from some discarded jewelry, I used part of the cut off leg for the straps, I lined it with a vintage sheet, I used denim pockets from another pair of jeans on the inside and pinned a flower to the back pocket.
Close up of the birdie and the charm thingy. The cool thing is we reused a pair of jeans, a sheet, some old jewelry and fabric from my stash.
Inside view. She actually chose the vintage sheet for the inside:)
Rear view.
Now miss Gabby and I are going to come up with a bag for her to use for school. She wants skulls and black and crazy designs, we will see how that goes.
I know this was a looooong post, however as soon as I get in bed I will think of something I forgot to write about. If you have any GREEN ideas, I would love to hear them.
XOXO Jen
