eastowners

Current Mood: I’ve got an Idea!

No, not green around the gills or anything of the sort.  Green as in Earth friendly.  I have been making some effort to try and change our way of living in the little ways to promote a better life for not only us, but our planet.  I’ve always been a big recycler, and a supporter for doing things that aren’t so wasteful that it ruins our dear little planet.  I remember when I was younger turning the water off when brushing my teeth so we could save water….not necessarily money as we lived in the country and had a well.  I’ve also been known to pick up liter when walking down the street, and doing little things like that.  I was super excited when we moved into our house and had recycling, as when we lived in the apartments they didn’t have anything of the sort and I always felt bad about throwing away things I knew could be recycled…but those dumpsters are oh so addicting (I don’t need this anymore…I’ll just toss it in the dumpster).   I became even more excited when I learned that now in the city of Grand Rapids you can recycle plasics with the numbers 1-7 on them (previously you could only recycle 1’s & 2’s).

So, this past Spring I began by searching for better laundry detergents and house hold cleaners.  I have fallen in love with Eco’s laundry detergent!  I buy it in large jugs from my favorite warehouse Costco.  You can buy it in smaller jugs at Meijer and health food stores, but it’s not as good of a bargain.  It is made from things that our planet can break down as I am washing my laundry, and it makes my laundry oh so soft!  This stuff not only smells good, but it has a soy softner built right in it so you don’t always need to add softner to your wash.  I also add about 1/2 a cup of Baking Soda to my wash for that extra boost it needs with stains and a 5 year old!  I have found though living in MI in my drafty, extremely dry, and electic shock prone house that I do need to do softner sheets to help aid in the static in my clothes.  For that I use the Naked Method dryer cloths.  They don’t have a scent of their own, so I can keep smelling my fab Eco’s, and they are also biodegradable and infused with plant-based softeners right into the fabric as it dries. So your clothes feel soft when you pull them out of the warm dryer - I love warm clothes!

I have also taken to buying Method’s all purpose surface cleaner, and window wash among other things.  The all purpose surface cleaner is great, and has a nautural degreaser in it so it works wonders in our kitchen.  It’s also great for our island, as that’s where we tend to do a lot of prep work for our martini nights.  Plain ole’ hot water just doesn’t get the stickiness off like the cleaner does.  The great thing about the cleaner is that I don’t have to scrub like I would had I used water on the counters.  I love the window wash because it’s mint scented.  I almost want to wash the windows just to smell the stuff!  Although I am not as great about washing windows as you’d think - like I said “I almost” want to.  I think Spring may bring a new attitude though.  For those looking to purchase the Method stuff I buy most of mine at Target, as they have just about everything always in stock when I go shopping and it’s a decent price.

Now, onto my most recent attemp to make our household a little bit Greener - drum roll please.  Yesterday while I was out shopping for office supplies after dropping Clare off at school I decided to swing into World Market.  I LOVE this store, and they have some great stuff (even greater when you can find a bargain).  They had a few rows of 50% off stuff, and I figured I’d do some quick “looking”….as I went in with only one thing in mind to look for.  Looking always somehow ends up being buying though - I can’t figure out how it happens, but it does.  They always have great place mats  & cloth napkins, but they always cost more than I’m willing to pay for.  I found on the clearance rack some cute greyish cloth napkins with black & white trim for 99 cents each, and they had roughly 12 of them, and then I found 6 yellow and green fringed cloth napkins for the same price.  So for $17.82 I have 18 cloth napkins for us to use instead of paper napkins which are BAD for the environment (due to bleaching and tree usage as well as some other things).  I know, your saying…but the laundry!  I don’t think it’ll be too big of a problem for me as I have enough for about a weeks worth of dinners and some other meals, and very rarely do I go over a week with the laundry.  I don’t think we’ll get away from using paper napkins right away, but at least it’s a start!  I also bought some cute multi-colored placemats to spruce up the dreariness of winter for our dining room table.

So, I am feeling a bit Greener today, and much better about helping out our planet (it’s the little things people).  Of course I still have more stuff that I want to try or do to help us out, and I am always looking to my pal Look Mom Look! for ideas with her Tweenie’s Greenies posts (she is the queen of environmental friendliness in my bloggy world).  I hope that you are helping Earth out too - because we ALL live here, and I want it to be around (as well as some of those cute polar bears) when Clare’s kids, and their kids, and their kids, etc are living here.  Just remember every little bit helps!