Tips for going green- what do you do?

[Sandras_soul]

Ladies,

         Some of us are veterans to green living and others are new and looking for great advice on how to become greener. I would like to give everyone an opportunity to share recipes and suggestions on becoming green.

   

[Sandras_soul]

*I started by recycling. That was my first step in taking responsibility for our home and that alone began to motivate me to do more.
*And conserving utilities ( water, electric)
* I bought the reusable bags.
* I use natural cleaners and I love it. I have found recipes to make my own.


There is a great website that has recipes:
http://www.thegreenguide.org/article/diy/household

All-Purpose Cleaner:
Mix one teaspoon of liquid soap or borax with a gallon of hot water. Lemon juice or vinegar added to the mix will cut grease and leave a fresh scent. Vinegar is a great deodorizer.
For shower soap scum, add 1/2 cup baking soda and 1 cup of vinegar mixture. It will foam up when the vinegar and baking soda are mixed, so don't be alarmed. Use a brush to clean the tile and rinse with warm water.

[sherriet]

Here's what I'm doing -

I use non-toxic, green cleaners in my home
I recycle and reuse everything I can
I use my own grocery bags
I buy foods in bulk or reduced packaging
We have a low flow showerhead & have cut our water use (in cleaning, flushing, etc)
We turn off everything when we're not  in the room
We keep the tires properly inflated so we get better gas mileage
We're looking for a house closer to my husband's workplace so we can cut his commute  (I work at home so no commute there)

That's it so far.  When we have our own place we plan to install solar panels.
Sherrie

[Sandras_soul]

Wow, that is great!  We can all take those steps.

[ksquarednlove]

recycle
use the reusable grocery bags
conserve electricity
by organic foods to eliminate environmental wastes
use earth friendly cleaners
don't use plastic
do all our errands in one trip

[Cass5224]

1. RECYCLE everything I can
2. Reuse what I can't recycle or what I can use for homemade cleaning products, etc...
3.  Make as many homemade cleaning products as I can... out of safe ingredients (of course)
4.  Buy at least one 4pk of recycled TP, one pack of recycled paper towels and one pack of recycled napkins  a month (pushing for 2 or more!)...
5. Decrease dependancy on paper towels and napkins... I'm using cloth napkins for dinners.  Using socks, old shirts, towels, etc  for cleaning. 
6.  Changing to energy effecient light bulbs as old ones burn out. 
7. TURNING OFF unnecessary lights, unpluging unnecessary items (radios with clocks, toaster,
8.  Turn off my computer EVERY night, turn off monitor when not in room with computer.  Turn printer on only when using.
9. Turned heat down to 64 degrees... putting on extra layers of clothes. 
10.  Use my slowcooker more... uses less electricity!!

[lucysmomrocks]

I too started with recycling a very long time ago and that really has jumped started everything else.
-We too use reusable grocery bags
-I raise free range vegetarian fed chickens for the best eggs around.
-I have a large garden we utilize all times of the year and plant according to our region.
-We compost anything we can.
-We switched all of our toilets out to 1 gal. flush toilets.
-we heat our house with corn.
-we hooked rain barrels up to all of our gutters so we don't use potable water just to water our gardens....it has really helped with the drought restrictions in our region this past year.
-stopped purchasing bottled water...the energy and oil used to make and transport bottled water is insane...we now fill up with reverse osmosis water at one of the local health food stores.
-i started making our cloth diapers.
-we make our cleaning supplies.
-one of our cars runs on used cooking oil.
-AND I REALLY THINK THE MOST IMPORTANT THING IS....We buy locally grown produce and meat to not only cut down on the oil used to transport it across the states but to also support our local growers that are the backbone of all of our communities.

[Karmarka]

I started out recyling papers, cans and plastics.
I use cloth napkins and very few paper towels only use those for grease clean ups always use dishclothes and towels for clean up. I sew my own napkins.
  I have always used vineagar because I have allergies and the perfumes are hard on me.
 I grow a vegetable and herb garden
 my mother, daughter and I all car pool for errands so that we are not driving that much and make our trips count.
 We have always shut of things when we left the room. Tv is not on unless someone is watching it.
 We burn wood for heat.
 We have replaced all our light bulbs with the efficency bulbs.
  We pass our magazines around so that every one has read them in the family and then give them to someone else to read.
 I put all our scrap food out for the birds and animals. The ravens have come all the time this winter along with foxes to eat.

[musictheatremom]

I subscribe to Grist.org...its a daily email about all things green going on in the world.  They usually put a nice witty spin on things to make some of the articles not so depressing :)   xoxo

[cleangreenmom]

I started my own "green" housecleaning company in order to spread the "gospel" of going green. My website is www.imcleaningreen.com.
We also belong to a community organic garden where we grow our own fruits and veggies, compost at home, recycle, bring our own bags, and I make all of the household cleaners that I can.

[feministmama]

Of course, we recycle. We also have a large compost pile and we compost anything we can. I use natural, homemade cleaners, reusable shopping bags, I collect rain water to water my plants and garden, we use energy efficient light bulbs and unplug anything not in use. We also buy organic whenever we can and local fruits and meat. I also use http://www.blackle.com/ as a search engine. It's powered by Google but since it uses darker colors on the screen, ends up using less energy.  We only have one car and I use public transportation when I can't walk somewhere.  It can be a hassle with a pre-schooler, but I try to do it whenever possible instead of driving.