Wednesday, June 11, 2008

No more Green Guilt

It's not east being green...but we're trying. And when I don't I do feel guilty for not doing enough.
Trying to change the world for ten bucks or less?

Here's a few things we do at our house to save the blue planet...

- Give up Walmart. As a New Year's Eve resolution, I stopped going. Not because of the fluorescent light and that smell, but in an effort to force me to buy local.

- Park it. If you need a double double, stay out of the drive through. The less idling the better.

- Buy bulk. I buy bigger containers of hand soap and laundry detergent and fill up the dispensers around the house.

- Make your own cleaners. I don't do this for everything but here are some great recipes for non-toxic cleaners.

- Give it away. Call Diabetes Clothesline, drop off at Value Village, try freecyle or kijiji - but never throw away clothes. Just give it away.

- Organic once a week. Take one thing you use regularly and switch to organic. Of course, along with that shop local -- Lester's Farm here we come.

- Use paper again and again. We have a recycling bin under the kid's craft table. You'd be surprised how often they reuse with the scraps.

- Buy fair trade coffee beans. They are slightly more expensive but taste way better. There's my favourite Hava Java, Jumping Bean, and the newly opened Sweetrelic in St. John's now carries Birds & Beans.

If you need more reading, I love Change the World for ten bucks or less (thank you Paul!!) and also Gill Deacon's Green for Life