Green Tips & Tricks

Is there any place you can collect and drop off materials to be recycled on your own?

I haven't researched Clorox Green cleaners, but I'm suspicious of a big name saying their stuff is "Green".  One guideline, is if they print the ingredients list it's more likely to be green, and you can always look up the ingredients online to be sure.

There are many cleaning solutions you can make yourself, starting with vinegar, water, and baking or washing soda.  Google will give you dozens of options :-)

You can switch to cloth diapers.  The diapering board on iVillage has great advice.

   

 

Hi Jen and welcome!!!

There are so many things you can do. The best way is to pick one thing and start and then add another thing etc.

I do not buy the "green" cleaners. What I do is i purchased a couple spray bottles. I use about 1 cup of vinegar in a 32 ounce spray bottle with water. This is my all purpose general cleaning solution. If you like scents you can add a couple drops of essential oil (tea tree oil, lavender, lemon, oregano are some popular ones). The vinegar kills germs on its own, but if you are concerned, some of the essential oils are also known to kill germs as well.

I also cloth diaper. I did disposables with my first and with the second I did both, but with my 3rd the only disposables he has had have been at the hospital. :) I was so worried that it would be hard or time consuming, but it is not. In addition to being better for baby and the environment, it has another benefit....it is WAY cheaper. WOO HOO!

I live in a rural area and there is no recycling pick up. I will admit, I do not recycle in that sense. That said, newspaper is used for lighting fires, we also make newspaper "logs". I try to find uses for things before we throw them out. Like yogurt cups are saved for starting seeds in them. So many times I am reusing instead of recycling! We compost any raw fruits/veggies scraps and cooked foods are fed to our chickens or when we have them pigs.

Another thing to do is start using cloth bags at the store. This takes a while to get used to, but it becomes a habit. I use the bags for small trips, but when I go to Walmart for my "big" shopping trips I use the cloth I have then for all the extra stuff I use the plastic. I do return the plastics for recycling.

An easy green thing to do is consolidate trips when you can.

Other green things
-compost pile
-garden
-shop at local farmers markets, ask the farmer what pesticides they use and get to know what is in season in your area
-buy larger packages of chips and repackage into smaller sizes.
- reduce, recycle, reuse

hope this helps give you some ideas, let us know how it is going for you.