I’ve always been a proponent of the environment. I mean, come on, I like to breathe. I’m an avid recycler. I don’t take shopping bags at department stores, I bring my own bags to the grocery store, I shred my junk mail for packing materials.
I don’t know why, but in the past few weeks I’ve decided to take my environmentalism to a new level. My household, consisting of myself, my boyfriend Robert, and my Golden Retriever, Tucker, are going on a Green Diet. We are going to do things to help the environment and reduce our negative impact on the planet. Here are some examples:
- All cleaning materials in the house are now Mrs. Meyers. All phosphate-free, chemical smelling free, and generally all around good for the household. This includes everything from toilet bowl cleaner to laundry detergent. We live in a lavender field at this point. :o)
- I, who told everyone I knew how great those “cleansing” wipers were… am no longer using them. Well, I should say I am no longer purchasing them. I even have a package of unopened wipes, a three-pack, from Costco, that’s in the car ready for a return. I will now only be using rags that can be washed and reused. I’m going to use up the open containers of wipes on the toilets. Even though I want to be friendly to the environment, I’m still grossed out by toilets. I’ll conquer that fear, as soon as my wipes disappear!
- No more bottles of water in our house. I’ve been wanting to do this for a long time, but we often have poker night at our house, and quite frankly, it’s been easier to just have bottled water. No one ever said that saving the planet was going to be easy. We have filtered water at our tap, and an ice-maker in the freezer. It’s going to be glasses for everyone from now on, no excuses.
- I purchased some Nalgene bottles to keep in the fridge, we’ll fill them up with water and take one when we need it for a day of errands, etc.
- I “Freecycle” as many things as I can. When we no longer need it, but it is still useful I just post it on this website, and it’s normally gone within hours. It’s a great way to clean out the clutter without filling the landfills.
- I spread the word to my friends via email. Now I’ve moved on to this blog.
I think I am going to like blogging. I know that I have a lot to say, and this way friends can just check it when they want to rather that me inundating their inboxes with my rants about phosphate-free dishwashing detergent, where to get it, and my personal reviews. (In case you’re wondering, go for the Ecover dishwashing tablets.) Best place to get them is Whole Foods, $4.99 for a box of 25.
Anyway, this is where I’ll talk about changes that we’ve made, how they’ve worked out for us, and any other random thoughts and or ideas we might have so that we can leave the world a better place for our children.
Any comments, suggestions, or ideas would be greatly appreciated.