Living Green // Around My House

Awhile back I shared a post about things I do to be more environmentally friendly in my daily life. I thought I would share some photos of things around my house that are part of my "green" lifestyle. I love sharing my ideas and hearing new ones from you as well. I am always looking for new ways to go green.

ENERGY SAVING LIGHT BULBS
This is a pretty common one, I know. I remember when the CFL bulbs first came out and how expensive they were. No one wanted to buy them due to the cost. Our last house had so much lighting in it, that when we got our first utility bill we about had a heart attack. That is when we realized that we better consider the energy saving bulbs. It made a huge difference in our electrical bill cost. Also, I still have light bulbs that I used in the house back from 2007. The cost of the bulbs is totally worth it in the end. They aren't a just a gimmick.

REUSABLE SHOPPING BAGS
I've talked about this a few times on my blog. Reusable bags have come a long way. There are so many out there now and they come in a million different sizes to fit any shopping need. Plastic takes over 100 years to biodegrade in a landfill. Plastic bags are polluting our planet big time and wasting our non-renewal resources. All for a silly bag that is used for a short period of time. I love my reusable grocery bags. They are strong and durable. We also reuse the plastic produce bags week after week.
REUSABLE COFFEE MUGS
Think about how many people you see daily holding a Starbucks paper cup? Even my tiny town has four Starbucks in it. I use this coffee mug when I go to work everyday and also when I treat myself to a cup of coffee while out running around. Starbucks will give you a discount on your drink if you bring your own cup. They also give you a free cup of coffee if you return a empty Starbucks coffee bag. They take them back so that they can recycle them.

VINTAGE PYREX AND GLASSWARE
The bowl I use for my pets water bowl.
Buy secondhand and vintage items to use in your home. Even if they are being used as decoration. You are keeping things from ending up in landfills and new things from being mass produced. I love owning vintage items because to me they are a part of history. Sounds a bit cheesy I guess, but I tend to love things from the mid-century modern period. Also it's very rewarding to donate things that you don't currently use to your local thrift stores.

REUSE GLASS JARS
We have instant "canisters" for our spices by saving all our peanut butter jars. It's nice because they are all uniform looking as if we store bought them. Someday I hope to get some nice labels for them. For now I just write what the spice is on top of the lid. Why go out and buy a bunch of jars when you already paid for them when you purchased a food product?

REUSABLE WATER BOTTLE
This is another product that has come a long way. You can get many different types and sizes of bottles. They also have them with built in filters to give you that bottled water taste. I love my Camelbak bottle because I can easily carry it around just using only one finger.
RECYCLING TRASH CAN
Since almost everything we use is recyclable we now use our old trash can just for recycling. Once it is full we dump it in our large recycling trash can outside. It's so nice not to be throwing out a full trash bag of garbage daily. We now have a tiny trash can for the trash that we can't recycle.
PLASTIC BAGS

What do you do with all the plastic films and bags that products are sold in? In our kitchen we have a cabinet where we store all of this. Once we get a lot of it we take it to a recycling area. Our city doesn't pick up bags with the other recycling. This plastic is things like plastic that is as packaging around products, bread bags, bags that grapes come in, things that just can't be avoided when purchasing things at the store. The main large bag holding all the bags is a bag that was used to cover a pillow I purchased. It's hard to avoid getting all this plastic in our homes. It's used for everything.

DECORATING IDEAS

I framed some old maps that were in my cars glove box. They also have special meaning to me because I picked them up during a cross country road trip. They are of Phoenix Arizona and L.A. California. It's nice to be creative using things you already own instead of going out and buying new stuff.

SECONDHAND FURNITURE
I've gotten really good about buying vintage furniture verses new stuff. Honestly as much as I move around, I need the old sturdy furniture. That's what I love about mid-century modern things. Its durable and lasts forever.

BIODEGRADE TRASH BAGS

Since we recycle most of our trash we can get away with using smaller garbage bags now. These bags are actually less then $2.00 and we only use one a week. It works out really well for us and I'm keeping a lot of plastic trash bags out of the landfill. It feels good to make a difference. :)

BUY A DRY ERASE BOARD

We used to use paper every week to write out our grocery lists and meal plans. We bought a dry erase board for our fridge to eliminate that. I now type out my list on my cell phone. I find that I don't forget things at the store anymore since doing this. Once the list is completely cleared off on the phone I know I got everything. It's helped me out a lot. I always would forget something when I used my handwritten lists.

MAKE YOUR OWN HOUSEHOLD PRODUCTS

We all know that websites like Pinterest are flooded with ideas for making your own household products. I do make my own cleaner that I use mainly in my kitchen. It's pretty much half vinegar and half water with some scented oil added. I also make my own laundry detergent. Which seems to last forever and has worked out really well for us. I sure don't miss buying it! :)

This is just some of the things that I do in my daily life that I feel are making a difference.
I would love to hear some of your ideas as well. I've also just learned to not buy things that I don't need.
Here are some links to other posts I have done related to this topic:

Ways I have Gone Green
Bag It in a Reusable Bag Please!
Be Green at Starbucks
Netflix Must See: BAG IT
Why I Recycle & Hope You Will 2

Inspiration: Tiny Homes & Living Mortgage Free

I have spent the last few days sick, which was a horrible way to spend my three day weekend. I haven't even had the motivation to read emails or other blogs. I am hoping that in the next few days I will feel better and things will go back to normal. Yesterday while lying in bed, I was browsing YouTube and stumbled across some great videos about tiny houses. I usually don't like to post this many videos in a blog post but I really felt inspired by these people. Kirsten Dirksen is a film maker who interviews people about their tiny homes. You get to learn why these people are choosing to build them and how they do it. The first video is about a lady who started her house from a free shipping container.


I found her story very inspiring. I have really started to come to the conclusion that I don't want a mortgage. I don't want to be paying all this money every month for the rest of my life just because it's what is considered the normal thing to do. My dream is to travel. If I didn't have to spend tons of money on a "roof over my head" I could achieve my dream of traveling the world. Which I've always felt would never be able to happen. The below video is of a 16 year old who has started building a tiny home in his parents backyard. What a smart kid!! He is going to have a very promising future ahead of him. He is building his first home already and it's on a trailer so that he can move anywhere he wants to.


Then there is the tool shed house in the video below. This one is my favorite. I love the style and size. Out of all of them I find this one the closest to the amount of space I would want. I will admit, these homes may not be for everybody but when you are building something like this yourself the designs and options are endless. I want something small but not super tiny. Even though I think building your house on a flatbed trailer is pretty genius. Moving wouldn't be a burden ever again!


I really look forward to researching these homes more. I did always dream of building my own home someday! Little did I know that this would be the direction I would go. It went from a dream of huge mansions with a million rooms I didn't need to an off the grid / mortgage free tiny house. HA! Aren't priorities great? ;) If you are inspired by these cute little homes or even just curious about them, below is the film We The Tiny House People by Kirsten Dirksen. Or you can just visit her YouTube Channel HERE.


What do you think of these homes? Tiny, yes. I would need an additional tiny home just for my pets. hahaha Right now I'm off to work so that I can make money to pay for a house I don't need. Ironic.

Homes of the Future // Living Green

From a very young age I always dreamed about building a huge house. I always dreamed of designing all the details myself. I would sketch out ideas and look at design magazines. Design and decorating has always been a creative outlet for me. Over the past few years I stopped dreaming of a big houses. I started to ask myself, "Why do I need something huge?" Yes, more rooms to decorate, but that means more stuff. Which equals more money. No thanks. Even our current home is larger then we need. I have always loved homes with a modern and contemporary look, like this one...


It almost looks like a piece of artwork or at least an art museum I suppose. Since our life has changed so much due to the military, we have no idea what our future holds. Where will we live? Will we stay with the military or will we break free? The thought of breaking free is AMAZING! To be able to live where ever I want in the country, yes please! After searching the internet for green type houses I stumbled across a company called Blue Sky Building Systems. They build these very modern looking homes that are almost completely made from recycled materials. Ever since I watched the video below I haven't stopped thinking about them..




Even though they say the homes are affordable, I doubt that they are for my current income! ;) I find these homes so fascinating and they look a lot like the houses I used to dream of having. I love that it uses solar energy. This is such a huge thing for me. If I can't afford one of these particular homes someday, I at least want some solar panels! There are so many companies out there that specialize in solar energy products. The company VELUX has all kinds of information and products on their website for sustainable living. I really enjoyed this video from their site...


Roof windows and solar panels? Sign me up!
VELUX also designs blinds that custom fit all their roof windows.
I think it would also be neat to just buy an older house and convert it into a green home by adding solar and wind energy to it. Or how about buying an old school bus and converting it into a home? May not be for everybody, but it's pretty cool! Here is an awesome video about how one couple did it...



There are so many ways to live a greener lifestyle. I look forward to the day when I can put some of these things effect into my own life. Now my dream of owning a large fancy house has been replaced with living in something green and environmentally friendly! I found this website which shares 21 Amazing Off-the-Grid Houses! Very inspiring!

A few months back I did a post called Ways I have Gone Green, check it out if you missed it.
Happy Earth Day everybody!

Netflix Must See: If A Tree Falls

I've actually wanted to share this film on my blog for awhile now. I first watched it months ago and today I watched it again for thd second time. The film is called If A Tree Falls. It's a documentary about an "eco terrorist" group that protested by burning buildings down. Sound insane? I was shocked at how many emotions this film evoked in me.


I laughed, cried, cheered and felt my heart break for these supposed eco terrorist. I hate that term so much. To some their acts were acts of terrorism, to others they were heroes. They never actually physically hurt anyone. They did however leave businesses shut down and some peoples lives ripped apart emotionally. The film mainly talks about Daniel McGowan who was on of the main people connected to the fires that were set against companies that did logging and other harmful things to the environment. The acts were extreme but these individuals knew it would send a strong message.


Something I really enjoyed about this film is that they showed both sides of the story. Yes, it mainly was Daniel and others talking about the things that they had done, but he wasn't looking for pity. It's a nice insight into the mind of a very passionate environmentalist. Even if you don't agree with some of the actions that he and others did, you get a chance to really understand it.


The film isn't just about fires by the way. It shows all kinds of peaceful protests that built up the anger that lead to the fires being set. Things like women being peppered sprayed in their eyes while they literally sat there helpless. The girl is screaming, "Please don't do this! I just want to save some trees!". This movie shock me to my core. I could really relate to a lot of the things they were saying and feeling. It's ashame that things turn out this way in our world. I don't want to tell you what happens to Daniel and the other group members. You should watch it yourself to see. Here is the official trailer for the film....

Ways I have GONE GREEN

I wanted to do a post that included all the things I have changed in my life to better the environment. I thought it would be a good way to give others ideas and hopefully you can leave me some MORE ideas in your comments below. I know there is room for improvement in my life. Let's see my list...


We would like to use less plastic packing, everything seems to come in plastic. Rice bags, bread bags, pizza crust, etc.. Why do I HATE plastic so much you may ask??? Because I find it so very wasteful. It's made from crude oil and takes over 100 years to biodegrade. So much plastic ends up blowing around in our trees, gets in our rivers and lakes and ends up in the ocean. This is one of those "REDUCE" things. When recycling isn't good enough in my opinion.

We finally found organic pasta that comes in a cardboard box! I won't buy strawberries that come in the little plastic container anymore. We buy our mushrooms out of the bins at the grocery store. I also buy celery now that doesn't come in a plastic bag. If there is a "better" package option, I buy it. We will probably start going to Whole Foods to buy more things in bulk and make our own bread more often to help cut down on plastic.

This is one of those super easy things that we can all do. It makes me sad when I see people at the grocery store getting 10 plastic bags and thinking to myself, "Those are probably going to go straight into the trash can." We have three really nice grocery bags that seem to always be enough for us every trip to the store. I have the foldable one I use and keep in my purse for all our other shopping.

We still get looked at like we are crazy sometimes. Lots of cashiers are caught off guard when you pull out your own bag. I even do it for tiny items because I want everyone around me to see me with my bag. People NEED to see them and get used to the idea. We also are currently reusing our plastic produce bags week after week. I plan to buy the cloth bags eventually, but the plastic ones are working out fine. It's the same thing as getting a new one every time. They do just as good as a job the second time around. Less plastic, less waste, less need to recycle them and less wasted crude oil. YAY!

This one is more Cody then me. He only uses bar soap now. No more bodywash. I however tried the bar soap thing and hated it. I missed all my suds from my bodywash. I currently have been using the same huge gigantic bottle of bodywash for months. When it is close to running out I plan to start making my own bodywash from bar soap and reusing my big plastic bottle. What to do about all those plastic shampoo bottles though? I've seen shampoo that is actually a bar of soap but haven't tried it yet. My hair is bleached so I need stuff for damaged hair. Any suggestions?

Cody got a straight razor for Christmas. He hasn't actually started using it yet because it has to be sharpened. It's so funny when will tell people about it because they seemed scared for Cody. Like he is going to cut his throat open. This decision was all his. No more plastic razors!!!

We are now using our own homemade laundry detergent. We have been using it for almost 2 months now. Everything seems clean to me. :) It doesn't have a strong scent to it but I suppose we could add more scented oil. We also switched to biodegradable dryer sheets. You can view my blog post about us making our laundry detergent HERE.

Instead of recycling all our glass jars, we reuse them to store our rice, peanuts, spices and other food in. It's way cheaper then going out and buying a bunch of glass jars or canisters. We already paid for them so why not use them?

I am a firm believer that buying bottled water is a joke and a waste of money. We used to do it though. Week after week. We liked that "filtered" water taste just like everyone else. We purchased a PUR water filter for $25 and hooked it up to our faucet. Now we have filtered water when ever we want it and use reusable plastic bottles. Paying for water is silly and wasteful. There are countries that don't even have clean drinking water! :(

We used to go to Starbucks a lot, so it made sense to me to just buy a glass reusable mug from them. I use it everyday when I go to work also. They give you a discount on your coffee if you bring your own mug. All the plastic cups that us coffee addicts drinkers waste everyday is mind boggling! When all we have to do it take our own! You can read my blog post about the coffee mugs HERE.

We recycle tons. Almost everything we use is recyclable. We use so many less trash bags. One bag a week and it's never stuffed full. It's mostly all food waste so in the spring we plan to start composting what we can. We are also switching to biodegradable bags. We don't mind spending more on them because we don't even use that many anyways. :)


One of my things on my 32 Things Before 32 List was to recycle, reuse and reduce MORE.
In a perfect world I would bike everywhere everyday. That may be in my future eventually.
Also buy a Prius. My dream car, complete with bike rack...


Okay, now give me some more ideas please...
This post is part of my MAKE A DIFFERENCE series. View more posts like this one HERE. All the images are mine taken using Instagram.

Netflix Must See: Vegucated

Cody and I watched an amazing film on Netflix last night. I had been meaning to do a Netflix Must See post for awhile now, so I am very excited to share this film with you today. It was also great for me to watch since I have been criticized a lot lately in my real life for being Vegan. The film is called Vegucated. The whole point of the film is to answer a lot of questions people may have about being Vegan. It also breaks a lot of the stereotypes that come along with it!


The film educates and informs you in so many ways. As I watched the film I felt my heart fill up with hope. The main storyline in the documentary is three people switch to a Vegan diet and lifestyle for 6 weeks. The movie is filmed in New York city and the three "test subjects" are meat eaters,...more like meat LOVERS and eat meat everyday. They were perfect volunteers!


The best part of this movie for me, since I am Vegan, was watching these people transform right before my eyes. Go through everything I went through in the beginning. I watched the light bulbs go off over their heads as things just started to make sense to them. When they understood that Vegan wasn't so "crazy" or hard after all.

The film gave me so much hope for the future. Not only for myself, but the world. I saw such compassion in these 3 human beings and it made me realize there are so many other people out there like me. :) Also, I should mention that going Vegan was different for me. I didn't do it at first for animal rights, that came later for me. These people pretty much jumped straight into that and it was amazing to watch. I strongly urge you to watch this film. It's also VERY FUNNY. The movie was done so well that it's not offensive or pushy. It's just facts. It will give you the knowledge and information that everyone should have anyways. It's simply inspiring.

So did they stay Vegan????
You will have to watch the film to find out! You can however watch this very well done movie trailer below!
Let me know what you think or if you have seen this film!

VEGUCATED trailer from Marisa Miller Wolfson on Vimeo.

I've also came to the realization that people are so scared of CHANGE. After my post last week about Facebook and all the comments I got, it just clicked in my brain. I can't reach people because they are scared of CHANGE. I get it, because I used to be that way. Over the last few years I have been forced to change. So now I embrace change in my life. I get excited about it. What's life without change or fear? We can't all stay the same our whole life and never grow. That would defeat the whole purpose of life really. :)
Visit the Vegucated website HERE.
This post is part of my MAKE A DIFFERENCE series. View more posts like this one HERE.

BAG IT IN A REUSABLE BAG PLEASE

I have become obsessed with plastic bags. I want them to GO AWAY! Ever since I watched the film BAG IT on Netflix, I realized how much our lives are filled with plastic. Wasteful plastic!! I stopped using plastic bags immediately after watching the film. I was already using reusable shopping bags at the grocery store, but not for all my other shopping. It's such a simple thing that we can all do to make a huge difference. Almost every store seems to have reusable shopping bags for sale now. Most of the time they are right in front of you at the cash lanes. The other day when I was at Target I found this bag over near the stationary area...


What makes this bag better? It folds and could easily be placed in a coat pocket or purse. It's also way cuter then the generic red ones that Target sells at the registers. I am always amazed at how many people carry one item out of a store in a huge bag. Heck, you can just use your cart and place your items gently in your car. That's what I do when I go to IKEA and other stores that have no bags. We are all programmed to get a bag. It's normal right? You just don't think about it.


So what is taking us all so long to realize that we don't need these evil little plastic things? I personally believe it's education and knowledge. Plastics are made from crude oil and when you start to realize HOW much of ALL our daily items come in some type of plastic bag, plastic packaging or it is plastic itself,....that's A LOT of resources we are using up. Wasteful. It takes one plastic bag over 100 years to biodegrade in a landfill. 100 years! We use it for 15 minutes to get our treasures from the thrift store home, one top you purchased at Target or you get about 20 of them for your groceries every week! Think about how many other people are doing the same thing?!? It's a bit scary when you think about it? We all have to spread the word and tell people that this is a serious problem.


Our wildlife and planet is paying the biggest price. Cody and I live in one of the windiest cities in the United States. I hate to say this so bluntly, but people are lazy and there is trash blowing all over the place. When you live here, common sense tells you that leaving a half empty trash can outdoors or all your kids plastic toy balls is probably not a good idea. Yet I am always looking out my window at trash, toys and plastic in my backyard. We get wind gusts up to 60 m.p.h. here. You shouldn't even have outdoor furniture. No one cares. Some days I finally get mad enough that I go outside and just start picking it up myself. The more ironic part to me is that it's ALL RECYCLABLE, so it goes into my recycling bins. :) I learned from the movie BAG IT, that all our loose trash ends up in all our water ways. Which in the end goes to the ocean....


LINKS
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There are many cities that are BANNING PLASTIC BAGS. Another great thing about the BAG IT film is that their website gives you tools on how you can start your own BAG IT campaign in your own town or city. I am REALLY considering doing this in my city. I think I have the drive and the passion to do it. As you can see from this post alone, I feel very strongly about it. I love the saying, "It takes more effort to care about something, then to not care at all." That is so me. I have become a more "angrier" person because my views have changed so much. I guess it's not just angry, I am just passionate about making the world a better place. I have such a strong drive and desire to make a difference. Now I want to share with you the reusable bags that I use on a daily basis. I picked this Chico Bag up for $4 at Natural Grocers....


I love it because it can hook on to your purse or even a belt loop on your jeans. It folds inside of itself. It's a lot more convenient then the bigger tote bags that all the retailers sell. I actually made a quick video of myself opening it and closing it that you can watch below...


We shop at Target a lot. Every time I go this bag goes with me. When I go through the checkout I try to quickly and politely say, "No bag please." The reacts I get are almost priceless.
"Really?"
"Are you sure?"
"Okay?" (with a rude undertone)

You have to inform your cashier very quickly that you don't want a bag because they are always ready to just start stuffing. Most stores have the bags ready and open! Target is one of these places. They do give a 5 cent off discount for every reusable bag you use at Target. The signs are very tiny though and I wish they would promote this on their doors when you first come in the store. Plastic bags can not be cheap for all these stores to provide their customers. I cringe thinking about all the holiday shopping that's getting ready to kick off and all the shoppers proudly carrying around their plastic shopping bags.

My bags I use every week for grocery shopping. We also reuse the plastic produce bags weekly.

Yes some of us recycle our bags, so what's the big deal right? Well, recycling is not enough when it comes to the amount of crude oil that is being used to make our plastic world. I urge you to watch the BAG IT film. It's a humorous documentary that keeps things "light", but still is VERY educational and leaves you with the tools you need to make a difference in our every day lives. Leaving us all with a more hopefully future and cleaner planet. YAY! :) Another great thing about using a reusable bag is you are making a statement. When people watch you leaving a store with a reusable bag, they see it. It's instantly making people think about it. It's like a walking billboard in a way.

In collusion, if you actually read all that,...I am giving away the reusable bag that I purchased at Target.

The giveaway is hosted over on Emily's blog Tea Tree. When she approached me about being included in her "Giving Thanks" group giveaway on her blog I was super excited. Emily is also passionate about using reusable bags and it's a great way to give thanks to our planet. Head over to Emily's blog to see all the great prizes in her Giving Thanks Giveaway! The giveaway ends November 21st! Good Luck!
I hope I have left you inspired. :)

This post is part of my MAKE A DIFFERENCE series. View more posts like this one HERE.

Netflix Must See: Yellowstone - Battle For Life

I wanted to share with you one of my favorite nature documentaries on Netflix. It's a documentary about Yellowstone National Park. WARNING: It may make you want to go! Which really is a good thing anyways. It's such a beautiful place and I hope to visit it next year. Being that close to nature is what life is REALLY about if you ask me!


The documentary is visually striking and you learn so much about nature. It's 3 different episodes each featuring a different season. It shows you how the animals struggle to survive in mother nature and against each other. This series really changed me and opened my eyes. I didn't feel as strongly about environmental issues until I watched this documentary.


It really made me realize how important it is to leave nature alone and protect our planet. It really proves that nature is a circle of life and every animal is an important part of the ecosystem. I highly recommend this film! Here is a 10 minute clip of the beginning of one of the episodes. Enjoy :)



If you don't have Netflix, there are many clips of the film on YouTube.

Be GREEN at STARBUCKS

I have become more increasing frustrated with the fact that restaurants and stores do not provide recycling bins. I really started to think about how I wanted to make a difference in my local community. We actually stopped going to Starbucks for a few weeks, because I didn't want to have to be given a "to go" cup and not be able to recycle it there after drinking it 10 minutes later. Didn't make much sense to me. This was also influenced by the film BAG IT that I blogged about a few weeks ago. You will probably get sick of hearing about the movie BAG IT, or you'll think that it must be awesome because I talk about it so much. ;)

Our solution was to go buy glass tumblers that we can take with us every time we go out to Starbucks....


We chose these glass tumblers (12oz for Tall coffees) instead of plastic. We are also not using plastic as much either. Again, thanks BAG IT! :)

Cody got on their website before we went to Starbucks and it had all this great information about their recycling and reducing waste procedures in there coffee shops. It cheered me up. I didn't feel as frustrated. It even says that their shops should have bins for recycling, so I probably just didn't see them!


Call me crazy to worry about coffee cups! LOL I think it's awesome that Starbucks let's you do this. BUT, why didn't I know sooner? There should be signs in their shops promoting this. I guess I need to look harder and ask more questions! I encourage you to do the same. The tumblers are really cute anyways....



It's just another simple thing that anyone can do that all adds up to make a huge difference!
Recycling and doing simple little things like buying a travel mug to reuse at Starbucks is so rewarding for me.
It's very similar to the feeling I would get when I adopted out a homeless animal at the animal shelter.
I don't care what anyone says, one person can make a difference!

Text and Information below is taken from the Starbucks website:

How You Can Help?
Use a tumbler

Use a Tumbler at Starbucks
You save 10¢ and a paper cup every time.

Use the Right Can Every Time
The waste receptacles in our stores are all marked with detailed lists of the materials they’re intended for, like paper cups, plastic lids, food waste and more. Scan the tops of the cans before you toss to make sure your putting rubbish in the right place.

Improve Recycling in Your City
Could your city do a better job at recycling? Write to your mayor and ask for more action on this important issue.

Please visit Starbucks Recycling & Reducing Waste page for lots of great information HERE.
This post is part of my MAKE A DIFFERENCE series. View more posts like this one HERE.