I've been intending to "green" up our lives for quite some time. It was kind of in that back of your mind to do list. It became time to put it on the real to do list so that it would actually start to take place. I want to make sure my kids know what I am doing and why, so they can hopefully follow along.
The first thing I did (thanks for the suggestion/idea Melissa Zanni) was to clean and keep any jars. I had been keeping jars here and there, figuring I might find some use for them at some point. Well now they are my drinking glasses! I save the lids so that I can also store certain left overs as well. I have tiny mason jars that the kids seem to find fun to drink out of. So now we use a "water jar" as my daughter calls it. I'm forming a strange attachement to my "water jar", that will probably be a whole other blog, but I'm just throwing that out there.
Second, I made my own cleaner (degreaser, counter spray). I have heard for years about the many, many uses of vinegar, so I decided to put it to use! I filled spray bottles with half water and half vinegar, plus I added some fragrant oils to mask that nasty vinegar smell. I used lemon verbena this first time around. I am in love! It is non-toxic, smells great (any trace of vinegar is gone quickly), it cleans beautifully, and is very inexpensive to make! It will do your countertops, toilets, walls, floors, bathrooms, appliances, and so on and so on. The funnest part is that I can add whatever fragrance I wish! Plus, I can put the kids to work, no chemicals!
I have many paper towel rolls to finish off from our last Costco trip, but once those babies are gone I am going to give it go without them. I'm not sure yet how this would effect my laundry, but we shall see.
I need to get into the habit of bringing my reusable bags to the store with me. They are in my trunk, they are ready to rock, but I always seem to forget to grab them after getting baby out, making sure the big girl stays out of the street, and being sure I bring the wallet, diaper, and wipies just in case.
Next on my list is to try some homemade laundry detergent and dishwasher detergent. This intent has been here for about two years, just never happend. The laundry soap I currently use is all natural and derived from plants, it smells amazing and I love it, but I think we could save some plastic in the packaging and some money at the same time.
After that, I think we can give up toilet paper and just use leaves from the yard. Okay I'm totally joking. I like my toilet paper and my clean behind.
I REALLY want to start a garden. Our yard needs lots of work, but it will get there. Even if I have to start with veggies in pots, it's a start.
Due to have a family of seven, we have a vehicle that fits us all. This vehicle is not shy to gulping up tons of gas. I've limited driving to when only necessary. If I need to shop out of town, I try to plan it all around a day that I can knock out a few birds with one gas guzzling day.
To get the kids involved and aware, I'll be showing them the book "50 Simple Things Kids Can Do to Save the Earth, from the EarthWorks Group. This way they can each pick a "new" way to help save our planet and feel it is their very own.
That's all for now, thought I would share what green goodness is going on with the Augerlavoie family.
RottenRed
