Going Green

I firmly believe that the Lord put the earth in our hands to take care of, and I want to do my part. I have a long list of things I eventually want to do to help sustain the earth, so today I'm going to share what I'm already doing and the next steps I want to take this year. I believe that baby steps are the key to accomplishing any goal, so I'll take this one step at a time!

What I'm already doing:

• Recycle. I was so excited that Hammond has a recycling program! They pick it up with the trash every week. I bought a cute basket to keep in our kitchen so I can put all our recyclables in there and empty it into the recycling bin on trash day.
• Bring reusable bags to the store. I decided to start using reusable bags when I moved to Hammond. I keep my bags in my car at all times, making sure to put them back in there as soon as I unload my groceries. This has helped me a lot with remembering my bags when I grocery shop! Sometimes I forget to take them into other stores (like TJ Maxx, Hobby Lobby, etc.), and I often forget to grab them if Casey and I take his car, but remembering most of the time is a great step in the right direction!
• Drink out of a reusable cup instead of bottled water. Casey's grandma got us some travel mugs that keep hot stuff hot and cold stuff cold. I love it for keeping my water ice cold! We bought a filter for our faucet so we have filtered water and don't have to use bottled water!
• Use cloth instead of paper. I'm a messy cook. So I have an entire drawer FULL of (cute) dish rags and towels. We keep a basket on the counter to put the dirty rags until it's time to wash them. Next I need to get us some cloth napkins so we can stop using dish rags for dinner! I also have a basket in each bathroom with blue cleaning rags and the main bathroom has a specific basket for dirty cleaning rags. I have to wash them separately or they turn the laundry blue! I do keep one or two paper towel rolls in the house for certain things (like when I have a sick puppy), but I rarely ever use them. 
• Turn off the faucet while I brush my teeth. I almost forgot to include this one because I started doing that a few years ago. It's super easy to do!
• Let the sunshine in! We are blessed to have a TON of windows in our house. I literally prayed for a home with lots of windows, and God answered! During the day, I never turn on lights, but choose to let the natural light in!
• Shop at the farmers market. Casey and I love to walk to the farmers market on Saturdays, and I usually pick up some strawberries. I'd love to start buying more of my produce there and support our local farmers and economy. Plus, the food is so much fresher!

I'm honestly pretty proud of myself for what I've done so far to "go green." Most of these changes have been easier to implement than I thought they'd be! Here are some of the next steps I'd like to take this year.

• Hang dry more laundry. I already hang dry most of my clothing (I worry about it shrinking in the dryer), but I would like to hang dry more. I've started putting my bathroom rug and blankets on the fence to dry, but I got a foldable drying rack to dry more of our laundry. 
• Switch to green cleaning products. I need to do more research on this, but want to use cleaning methods that are better for our home and environment.
• Use stainless steel straws. And bring them to restaurants with me! I need to get some of these soon!
• Collect rainwater to water plants. It tends to rain in the afternoons here, so all I need to do is set out a bucket! We don't have a lot of plants to water anyway, so I wouldn't have to collect much.

My ultimate list has more items on it, but I am choosing to focus on the above things first. Here are some other things I'd like to eventually do!

• Use bamboo toothbrushes.
• Carry my own reusable utensils in my car or purse for when I grab something quick to eat.
• Carry my own containers to restaurants for leftovers.
• Unplug items I'm not using.
• Create a compost bin for food leftovers.
• Choose products with less wasteful packaging or buy in bulk using my own containers. 
• Grow some of my own food, probably starting with herbs.
• Plant a tree.

I've been enjoying gaining more knowledge and information about things I can do to help this beautiful planet that the Lord gave us! Some of them are big steps from where I am currently, but I know that lots of little steps still make a difference. I also hope that perhaps something I do can inspire others. My friend is the reason I started carrying recyclable bags to the store, so perhaps one of my actions will inspire one of my friends to do the same! 

If you're interested in making steps to going green with me, pick something out of these ideas that seems the easiest for you and do that! I truly believe our actions can make a difference--even if they are small. Let's make this world a better place together!