The following is a list of changes we've made that have had little or no negative impact on our lifestyle or pocketbook.
- Recycle -- Our town mandates that we recycle paper, plastic, and glass, but it's the easiest thing to do. We keep a small box under the kitchen sink for glass and plastic and a box in the dining room for paper -- we empty both every 2 or 3 days into big bins in the garage, and take the big bins to the curb on Friday mornings. I'm trying to be better about recycling mail and other small pieces of paper in addition to the newspaper and junk mail.
- Compact fluorescent bulbs -- We've changed about 90% of the bulbs in our house to CFLs (the others are odd-sized or incompatible with CFLs for some reason). There is a difference in the quality of light between regular incandescent bulbs and CFLs, but it's only something I noticed right when I changed from one bulb to the other. A few of our CFLs take a while to "warm up" (the light is dim at first but comes to full brightness in a minute or so), but I've read that bulbs now don't have that issue. I just read a general FAQ on GE's site about CFLs that's pretty informative.
- Canvas shopping bags -- We bought 4 standard size canvas bags at our local grocery store and they're great. I also bought a hot/cold bag at Whole Foods about two years ago that is fantastic for transporting ice cream home on hot days and keeping cold things cool in general. I take my shopping bags with me now when I go to the mall or to run errands, and I've found that having one bag full of stuff from multiple stores is easier to deal with, both while I'm shopping and when I bring in stuff from the car.
- Low thermostat in winter, high in the summer -- In general, the thermostat is set at 68 during the winter and 78 in the summer. That's not low or high enough for some environmental stars, but it's about our limit (to be honest, my husband prefers the A/C to be set at 74, and if he's sweating inside we turn it down). The heating is a little tricky at night because we've had a baby for the past two winters that kicked off her blanket (and that was only once she was old enough for it to be safe to use one at all), so we keep the main part of the house at about 64 at night. Our bedroom is on a separate thermostat, which we kept at 58. I am a serious wimp about the cold, but we have a down comforter that keeps me warm and toasty (really!). This change definitely saves us money. I'm convinced that our shades also help keep the house warm in the winter and cool in the summer.
- Cloth napkins and more dishtowels -- I wasn't sure this change would work for us. Switching to cloth napkins didn't seem that big of a deal, but I imagined that using dishtowels for the many spills I clean up every day would mean doing lots of extra laundry (and how environmentally friendly could that be?). As it turns out, I'm really not using more dishtowels in the course of the week than I used to. I don't understand why that is exactly, but maybe it's because most of the spills involve water on a table and I don't mind hanging the towel over the oven bar to dry and reuse. I do still use paper towels, but far, far fewer than I used to -- maybe one roll per week.
- Different beauty products -- I'm not that into beauty products in general, but I do wash my face and body and hair and wear make-up on occasion (rare occasion now that I have two kids!). I read an article about microbeads in exfoliating beauty products (which I had two of, one for my face and one for my body) and how they end up floating in the ocean (and will be there, like all plastic that makes it into the ocean, for approximately the next 1,000 years), so when I ran out of my facial cleanser I looked for one without microbeads. I went to the natural foods store in my town, which had a whopping selection of TWO kinds of exfoliating facial scrubs, both Queen Helene products. I bought the Oatmeal 'n Honey Scrub, and it's working great for me and my husband. I also switched my shampoo and conditioner, and now buy Burt's Bees Super Shiny Grapefruit & Sugar Beet shampoo and conditioner. I also use the Mama Bee Nourishing Body Oil on my skin and in my hair (yes, my hair!) to keep the frizzies at bay (and I have pretty frizzy hair -- it works amazingly well).
- Household cleaning products -- My favorites are the Mrs. Meyer's laundry soap, surface scrub, and (handwashing) dish soap in lavender; and the Seventh Generation all-purpose cleaner (no need to buy the window cleaner, too, as I did -- the surface cleaner works well on windows and mirrors).
- Full loads for the dishwasher and washing machine -- Another easy one. I was so relieved to learn that a dishwasher is more efficient than hand washing. I still do hand wash some pans and utensils, but I try to be diligent about turning off the water while I scrub.
Comments