Going Green

Our family has been at least alittle "green" before it was the in thing to do. It helps a little that Mike is an ENVIRONMENTAL consultant. We've always recycled and can't understand why so many people, in our neighborhood for example, don't. I'd like to try even harder to have less throw away garbage, and I am amazed each week when I see how much garbage other people in our neighborhood have (sometimes FIVE cans for example and we have garbage pick up twice a week!). Jonathan has been interested in garbage and recycling since he was three. When he was a preschooler his favoite vidoes to check out from the library were "Garbage Day" "Crunch, Smash, and Trash", and "There Goes a Garbage Truck". At 12, he still always runs outside (or at least to the window) when the garbage or recycle truck come. We recently purchased an eco-friendly reusable bag from Target (I was so excited that is only cost $1.49 becuase I was under the impression that the Publix ones were about $9, but I found out today the Publix ones are 99 cents...we'll be getting more). I also just pulled out some other canvas bags that we've accumulated and I plan to make a conscious effort to bring them with me when I go to the store. Mike and I met while we were in college and both working at the UCOON CO-Op Bookstore. We joke to this day how even back in the early 90's we used to say to the customers "do you NEED a bag" instead of "do you WANT a bag"...it made a difference. I always try to bag my own groceries and have never liked how many bags they try to give you at the store (a bag for milk? a bag for a bag of potatoes?). So while we've always tried to reduce the amount of bags we've used, we plan to do even better with the canvas bag system. We always d0 a pretty good job of reusing the plastic bags we do come home with as well. Even though we buy the regular kitchen garbage bags, we always use that as a liner and then we put in a small grocery store plastic bag to catch most of the garbage. That way we just take out the smaller bag when it is full and can reuse the big bag again. I am genuinely excited when we get a big store bag that can actually fit in the kitchen trash can. Well who'd've thought I could have so much to say about bags?

Originally this post was going to be about our new clothesline. One more way to help the environment (and save money too!). It's only been a few days, but as of right now Jonathan, Madi and I are all excited about the clothesline...we almost fight over who's going to do it (but I'm a nice Mom and so I usually let them win!). Jonathan actually said yesterday, "We should sell our dryer at a yard sale"...I don't plan on going that far, but every little bit does help. Getting the kids excited about laundry can't be a bad thing either. I'm sure the novelty will wear off right about the time that the summer heat comes, but fot now we're loving it!