Matt and I finally bought some bins to recycle with (corny, I know, but I wanted it to be all neat and organized). Here are some other things we are doing:
- It is pretty amazing how often we would leave the house with lights on, the radio on , or even the TV on. Again, remember we seemed to be living under a rock! We are now very good at turning things off before we leave.
- We've worked on turning off the faucet when we brush our teeth.
- We make sure to turn off our children's nightlights in the morning (they use to stay on all day).
- I bought reusable cloth bags for the grocery store.
- I try to recycle the plastic bags I get from other stores by using them again.
- Used Energy Star appliances.
- Had a Reverse Osmosis system installed (this really reduced water bottle use).
- Had energy efficient windows installed.
- Had our exterior walls made thicker to keep heat trapped in - reducing energy costs.
I know compared to some of you this list may seem pretty basic...but for us it is a step in the right direction!!! What are you doing in your homes to "go green"??!!
"How wonderful it is that nobody need wait a single moment before starting to improve the world!"
--Richard Bach
8 comments:
Good Post JAMIE!!! We too are behind, but are doing a few things to help. I started unplugging our microwave and dvd/vcr player each night. I read somewhere that just having them plugged in takes energy since there is clock, etc. Not sure if this saves very much energy but now I am in the habit!!! ALSO I have heard that cell phone chargers take the MOST energy! And that most people charge their phones all night even though they charge in a few hours. So when I wake in the night I unplug our phones!
Thanks for stopping by Jamie! Your blog is so cute and your kids are just adorable.
If you go on BSF's website http://www.bsfinternational.org/ you can enter your information and see if there is a class near you. They offer evening and day and their is a children's program (I think your child has to be 2). I love it and was so happy to be there last night in God's word.
Don't worry about not being up to being green, we aren't at all...bad!
Great start Jamie! You will find yourself doing more and more. Recently I added paper to my recycling...you know all of that junk mail and all of those magazines!! As is usual for me, I go overboard. Once I think of something that should be recycled, I feel guilty if I don't. So I have found myself finding things in our varies trash cans that got thrown away!!! And I have been doing a lot more recycling in my class as well. We recently closed all of our vents in the basement and we have seen a huge decrease in our electric bill. Even though it has been summer we are using the same amount of electricity as we did last year in the fall. Yeah!
We recycle and use cloth bags. We need to do more.
Hey, Jamie. I need your current e-mail address! You certainly can borrow this book. It's very good. I can drop it off tomorrow after I pick Jonah up from school (I'm carpooling this week...speaking of going green...so that's the only day I'm driving). Or you can pick it up anytime. Just let me know!
sarahburkstein at gmail dot com
Thanks!
Great start, and I LOVE the bins! Where did you get them?
HI Marika. We got them out of a magazine called "Solutions".
Thanks for the comment!
jamie
We try...but your picture and your ideas were inspiring...Kevin will be after you after I let him know my friends great ideas and how it has inspired me :) We are pretty good about the energy conservation and water conservation. I have thought of getting the energy saving light bulbs, (Kevin even suggested this), but I don't care for the color of light they give off...I guess that is not what is important, saving the planet for our little ones is more important than a complaint about light color. As the Tessa's Shirt says "Help protect my World"!
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