I posted over on the Green Phone Booth yesterday about our goals regarding food this year. It's the area we've put the least amount of effort into greening thus far in our journey.I can't say that we've been completely "brown" in this area. I've learned to can some fruits and veggies; I've started making things like muffins and banana/pumpkin/zucchini breads from scratch rather than a package; and we've eliminated almost all individually packaged items like yogurt cups and single serving oatmeal.
You can read all about our food-related goals over at the Booth, but I'm thinking less meat, preserving more local foods when they're in season, getting away from store-bought cans (with BPA in the lining), making more from scratch, and having a more successful garden this year.
Here are some goals we have in other areas~
Bathroom
I'd like to find some recycled toilet paper that is somewhat soft and also affordable. I've also been mulling over cloth wipes for a long time and think I'm ready to at least test it out. Crunchy Chicken does a challenge each year that intrigues me. One of her posts on this issue has some interesting facts about annual tp usage~
"...if all U.S. adults used only..."virgin fiber" with 0% recycled content or post-consumer waste, the environmental cost is approximately (not including the issues with Dioxin):
I've also been mulling over shampoo bars instead of shampoo in a plastic bottle. The thing is, I use a shampoo/conditioner in one right now so that I only use one plastic bottle instead of two. If I switch to a shampoo bar, I would still need a bottle of conditioner...unless there are conditioner bars too? Something I need to research.
Energy
We had an energy audit recently after we received an electric bill for $650+. More on the audit later, but we've identified a few things we need to save up for doing and a few things we can do ourselves right now. We're planning to do the "right now"things, well, now.
I need to make drapes to cover some of our windows. Mr. Greenhab will be caulking some drafty windows and walls and inserting foam into outlets that are on outside walls.
There's even been some talk about getting rid of the chest freezer in our basement....GASP! I like to be able to freeze chicken stock, soups, berries in the summer time, etc., so we may look at a more energy efficient model, or just see how we do without one for awhile. The one we have is very very old; we bought it at a yard sale a few years ago. I'd rather give something like that new life, instead of seeing it go to the landfill. Plus, if we buy a new one, there is the manufacturing impact. But with all the energy it uses...well, let's just say that cost is Mr. Greenhab's biggest concern.
One of my easier goals is to remember to turn off my laptop at night, which I rarely do. Yesterday, Mr. Greenhab put all of our electronics (with the exception of the Tivo) on a power strip, so we've been turning them off when not in use. Oh! And we got a Kill-a-Watt which I can't wait to try out today.
Stuff
As much as we try not to buy things we don't need, I still feel like I'm just swimming in stuff. I'm planning to weed through our stuff over the next few weeks, room by room, and donate things to various charities.
As I said over at the Booth, we don't normally make New Year's Resolutions per se, but we do try to continuously make improvements and set goals, so I'm sure I'll be adding to this list as the year progresses.
Happy New Year everyone!
13 comments:
I really dig the recycled TP that we buy at the Superior Costco. We recently ran out and had to buy some at King Soopers and I forget the brand they sold, but the rolls lasted half as long and the tissue was not as soft. I'll try to get you the specs and I can maybe get you a roll or two for a test run (how crunchy!) -- maybe at the Mile High Mamma's event later this month.
Awesome goals. Have you thought about pressure canning some of those things that you now freeze? The soups and stocks can be easily canned. The soups just can't be canned with thickeners, pasta or rice. I do it all the time and add those items when I heat them up. The berries can be canned or dehydrated. Just a thought.
Two quick comments - I use cloth wipes and I was really scared at first. It's really easy - I just cut a whole batch of them and shoved them in an old empty tissue box. I hang up a 'net' bag (used for washing delicates) in a discreet place and fill it w/used ones. I toss it in the laundry when it gets full. I have noticed no problems in the female area - yay! So far I have been the only one doing this. I use cloth on the baby but that's no problem either. As far as shampoo goes, we all use the shampoo bar. I used to be heavily addicted to conditioner! I used to have long, wiry, thick hair and it got so unmanageable and staticky! Now it's shoulder length and I use no conditioner at all. It took a month or so for my hair to get back to it's natural balance, but now that it's happened, it's been about 2 years w/o conditioner. I make sure to only suds up the crown of my head and not the long stuff. I comb it out from the crown, where the natural oils are, to let my body be it's own conditioning agent =) Good luck w/all the goals you have and email me if you have any ?s!
I saw a tip on Fake Plastic Fish forever ago that she buys Seventh Generation TP from Amazon in their subscribe and save program, so that's what I've been using ever since. It's not the softest TP, but it's affordable and gets the job done.
I use a Lush shampoo bar and their conditioner bar too, but they have some questionable ingredients so I've been looking for something else. I'm intrigued by the no 'poo idea. Might try it this year.
I'm interested to hear how much your freezer actually costs. Are you going to try the killawatt on it? I'd think the money saved from freezing foods would outweigh the cost of having one. Hope you'll update on that!
@Alison - Funny enough, we had the tv on today and there was an ad for quilted Charmin or something like that. My husband was like "Ooooh!" (He has kind of a weird thing about soft tp, lol.) I told him "No way - we're going recycled this year!" and told him what you said about the Costco kind. He actually said he would at least try it once. We'll see!
Thanks for the offer to try some. That cracks me up - in a totally good, crunchy way! :@)
@The Mom ~ I'm definitely going to look into pressure canning. Truth be told, I know next to nothing about it. I have heard that's really the way to go - especially with things like green beans, which are my son's fave!
@Mel and Moses ~ I have various scraps of flannel left over from sewing projects, so I think I'm going to give the cloth wipes a shot this week.
It's good to hear that your hair adjusted to not using conditioner. My hair sounds similar - it's long, curly, thick and wiry - so even going to a shampoo and conditioner in one was an adjustment. But hey, I'll try anything for a few weeks!
@Erin~ Now that you mention that, I think I read that on her blog too. I might try out 7th Gen tp at the store and see how hubby likes it.
I tried the no poo thing for a few weeks and it was too much of a PITA for me. Mixing up the baking soda and trying to work it into my long thick hair seemed to take forever. Then I could never get rid of the apple cider vinegar smell from the rinse.
I was looking at the J.R. Liggett bar shampoo today: http://www.mothernature.com/shop/detail.cfm/sku/56603 The ingredients are: Tea tree oil, hemp oil, almond oil, olive oil, coconut oil, castor oil, fresh pure New Hampshire spring water, sodium hydroxide. I might give that a shot!
Awesome! I'm going to post our goals on my blog as soon as I can. (panamamama.blogspot.com) I haven't found a really good recycle toilet paper either. Don't like 7th gen's but found Marcal's is acceptable.
Could you just move your freezer outside for the winter and let nature keep its contents cold?
OMG! I freak out when our electric bill goes over $100. If I opened up a $650 bill I think I would have a heart attack! You must have electric heat? I hope. The power strips are a good move. I was able to cut our electrical consumption in half by using power strips and line drying year round. Everything in our home (except the stove, refrigerator, and freezer) is on a power strip or gets completely unplugged when not in use. It was a PITA for the family at first, but now it seems normal. Both the kids and hubby switch on and off the strips without giving it a second thought.
As for the recycled TP... that nearly caused a divorce! My husband has or, I should say had, a thing for ultra-soft TP too. When I switched us from Charmin to 7th Gen it waged a war. He hated it! I was not all that fond of it either. It was very thin and scratchy. Akin to wiping with sandpaper or dry leaves. We found a happy middle ground with Green Forest recycled TP. It is made from 100% recycled paper with a minimum 90% being post-consumer and is PCF (processed chlorine free). The only drawback being the plastic packaging. It is a good place to start. Kind of a small step-down from the ultra-soft stuff your hubby likes. Once the family gets used to that, maybe you could go all the way with 7th Gen. Huh, I should try that.
About the freezer--just this week we got rid of our ancient freezer. Our power company has a program where they will come pick up your still-working non-energy-efficient appliances AND give you a $25 rebate! The appliances get recycled. Check around to see if your area has a similar program!
LUSH makes a solid hair conditioner bar :)
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