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
