Happy Earth Day

Happy Earth Day!  One of the reasons I love Earth Day is because Target always gives out free bags!  There are other reasons to enjoy the day though; one being that it’s a great reminder to examine how our living is directly impacting our world.  In the past few years there’s been a huge push to “be green”.  While the slogan is overused and a bit tacky, many companies have been jumping on the bandwagon and upping their recycling efforts.  By now, recycling is pretty thoughtless; most of us have recycle bins at work and home that accept almost anything.  I found out the other day that we can recycle plates at work – plates that have BBQ sauce and coleslaw smeared all over them, as long as you scrape them off.  That’s just plain craziness!

A few years ago I went on a natural/eco-friendly kick but I realized that it’s important to do what works for your lifestyle and time. I’m not suggesting to only do what’s easy, but if you have 10 kids and live in a snowy climate then drying your clothes on a line probably isn’t going to work for you.  Here are a few small, but easy things we’ve continued doing at the Centner house to do our part for the environment.

We ALWAYS take our reusable bags to the grocery store.  It was difficult to remember for the first few weeks but eventually it became a habit and I just grab them when I grab my grocery list.  We bought a few large canvas bags from Whole Foods and what fits in one bag is equal to about 4-7 plastic bags (BTW, what’s up with those baggers only putting 2 items in each plastic bag?).  We’ve had the canvas bags for at least two years and they have held up great.   Most places give you around a 5 cent credit per bag as well so theoretically the bags would pay for themselves in ten years….ok, maybe sooner….

We even went a step farther and bought our own produce bags as well.  I ordered these from a wonderful shop on Etsy, Love for Earth but I’ve seen them popping up in a lot of stores lately.  We get lots of compliments from cashiers on these so if you’re trying to pick up a cashier these might be your meal ticket!

We also use small bags from Whole Foods for our lunches.  Previously I would take plastic grocery bags to work and end up throwing them away when I was finished which  just resulted in a lot of trash.  These do wear out eventually but last a good year if you take care of them and I've seen so many other cute lunch bags.

We purchased reusable ziplock type bags to use for things like veggies, fruit, and sandwiches in our lunches (also from Love for Earth).  I have to admit that I haven’t been using these as much as I used to, but if you pack lunches they are a great investment.  We also use Tupperware type containers for things I used to put in ziplock bags, such as grapes, chips, veggies, etc.  These require a small investment in the beginning but have definitely paid themselves off since I’m not buying ziplock bags like they are going out of style anymore.

Last year I decided to try to cut out as many paper products as possible (I'm never getting rid of toilet paper though...that’s a bit too far for me!).  We started by buying some basic cloth napkins that we use everyday.  I love that they can be bleached and they look much nicer than paper napkins.  I found these on Etsy from Love for Earth (I REALLY like their products if you can't tell) as well.

Lastly, I switched to mostly Norwex products for cleaning.  My friend began selling them last year and I was hooked from the beginning.  The cloths are all antibacterial which means that I can clean my bathroom counter and mirrors (among other things) with just the cloths and water.  I’ve saved so much money on cleaning products and I appreciate that I can avoid using harsh chemicals.  Eventually I purchased the sweeper and mop which work like a swiffer except that I can wash the pads instead of throwing them away.

I’m setting more eco goals for myself this year and hope I've inspired you to set a few for your house this year.  For one, I’m hoping to actually begin using those reusable Target bags. 

The little things really do add up, especially if everyone is doing their part.  When I change the toilet paper roll and think that it would be so much easier to throw it away than to walk to the recycle bin (which isn’t honestly that far away), I just think about how my 20 second laziness will mean that there’s one more item going to the dump.  I find my way to the recycle bin pretty darn quickly.

FYI - I’m not being compensated to endorse any of these products/companies – I just enjoy their products and hope you will too.

Happy Earth Day!