A Greener New Year

Have you been thinking about “going green” and not sure where to start? There are several things that you can start today and they are so easy!

Make at least one resolution to “go green” in 2012 or add one more item on your “green” list!

Here are some ideas:

Recycle – it’s free. Anyone can do it. (Savannah, two years ago!) Find out what you can and can not recycle in your area and start!

Use reusable bags. They usually only cost a dollar. You can use them over and over again and wash them. Keep some in your car if your that person that always forgets. There are even ones you can keep right in your purse. They fit into a little bag.

 

Stop buying bottled water. We stopped several years ago and we all use reusable water bottles and love it. Of course you need to have tap water that is drinkable. Or get a water system. It’s cheaper in the long run and think of those water bottles you will keep out of the landfill. If you have to use bottled water, at least recycle! I was so excited when my youngest stepson finally gave them up!

Stop unwanted catalogs and junk mail. I use to get so many unwanted magazine and catalogue. It was terrible! Visit https://www.catalogchoice.org/ and register to stop yours.

Use cold water in the laundry. I only use hot when I wash my towels, other than that I use cold/cold. My mom taught me long ago that the clothes get just as clean with cold as they would with hot.

Give up the clothes dryer? I wish I lived in an area where I could at last try this. The town I live in isn’t fond of clothes lines. But I am going to get one of those wooden dryer racks to put a few things on and try it.

Use less paper products! We hardly use paper towels and when I do buy them, I buy those ones that break into half. That way I’m only using a small piece instead of a whole sheet. I’ve to other people’s houses and tore the whole sheet in half. 🙂 Buy some cheap towels, rags or washcloths and keep them in the kitchen to use instead!

Oh… and paper plates, don’t get me started. The kids would use a paper plate for a pop-tart and then throw it away! I finally stopped buying them! I don’t buy paper napkins either! I made my own and we just wash them once a week with the towels!

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What will you do this year? Anything new?

 

Anne

I'm a mother of 2 who likes to get involved in too much! Besides writing here I started a non-profit, I'm on the PTO board, very active in my community and volunteer in the school. I enjoy music, reading, cooking, traveling and spending time with my family. We just adopted our 3rd cat and love them all!

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Comments

  1. I really wish we had the curbside recycling in our area.:/ It’s such a pain to bag everything up separately and haul it down to the recycling place.
    And can the town actually tell you not to put up a clothesline?? That’s totally ridiculous!

  2. I love these tips. I’m even more happy my family and I do so many already!

  3. Thanks for the link to stop the catalogs! We are even getting doubles of some…

  4. Great tips, I am excited to finally use a clothes line this summer!!

  5. awesome tips! We do almost every single one of them including washing on cold and hang drying since it’s so freakin’ hot in Florida they are dry in just 10-15 minutes on some days!
    I never knew about the cateloge thing so I just signed up and already stopped 3 places (since I have no idea how I get them in the first place!)!

  6. Fantastic tips!

  7. Thanks for the catalog registry link!

  8. great tips! Everyone should try to make a change

  9. I didn’t know you could stop catalogs from one spot…thanks.

  10. Wonderful tips. I do about half of them. Time to step it up and do more!

  11. Great green tips for the new year! I am going to try to use more unpaper towels and recycle more.

  12. These are some great tips!

  13. I would love to have an outside line for clothes drying and i am going to try and use reusable water btls more this yr

  14. When we go camping, we use the big, empty Gatorade bottles as water bottles. I fill them up with water and freeze them.

  15. Some great tips! Even though I try to be green, there’s always room for improvement.