Green habits

My husband and I were raised by frugal folks.

My grandparents remember the depression and the Dust Bowl. My parents came into adulthood in the 70s - 'nuff said. "Waste not, want not." should be on my family crest.

So, when we hear about "new" ideas for saving money and resources, Hubby and I usually just look at each other with raised eyebrows, because that's what we've been doing all along.

Turn lights off when you're not using them? - Duh.

Turn off the water while dish washing/teeth brushing, etc. - Been there, done that. (Hubby takes it a step further and insists that we conserve water with tandem showers. I'm sure he is motivated purely by ecological interests.) ;)

*Tip: Fill a milk jug with water and put it in the holding tank behind your toilet - instant low-flow toilet.

Set your thermostat to 85 - *snort* We don't usually turn the darn thing on until we hit triple digits. And a whole-house fan is on the short-list of home-improvement projects. We'd love to go solar, actually, but the conversion is just too darn expensive right now.

Only run the dishwasher/clothes washer when they are full - What?! Are there really people who run the washer for just one or two items?! We've recently gone back to line-drying, too. Takes a little extra effort, but it saves a lot of energy.

*Tip: When line-drying, take the clothes off the line and throw them into the dryer for 5-10 minutes with NO heat, BUT with two of those bumpy dryer balls - softens them right up for just a few pennies' worth of energy. :)

Reusable shopping bags - My grandma has been using these since the depression. They are GREAT. I really don't know why more people don't use them? When we DO use plastic for one reason or another, we always re-use them, of course. In fact, we have this great cloth bag that my grandma "invented" to store and dispense plastic bags.

Home recycling - My city FINALLY started providing those "blue cans" this year for residents to "start" recycling. Pfft. I learned how to separate recyclables before I learned how to ride a bike. My parents separated paper, plastic, cans, etc. AND we used the bio-recyclables to make mulch for our vegetable garden. (Which, by the way, had a clever irrigation system that did not waste water.)

*Speaking of renewable resources: I LOVE my bamboo bed sheets. You should get some.

Organic food - My grandma made everything from scratch. I mean picked-from-the-garden, milk-from-the-cow, eggs-from-the-chicken-coop, meat-from-their-own-livestock scratch. Mom didn't go quite that far too often, but, she could do it, too. (Have you ever gathered eggs from chickens? It is so NOT a fun thing to do. I would rather have fed the pigs, any day.)

At our house, Hubby is the cook (Gawd, I love that man!) and - while we don't make much of anything from scratch - he is very conscientious about where our food comes from and what is in it.

We don't have much room to grow food at our house. This year, the crop was just a few tomatoes and peppers and some cucumbers. But a bigger garden plot is on the long-term to-do list. In the meantime, we try to buy our fruits and veggies from the local Farmer's Market whenever we can. And I am pleased by the growing selection of organic stuff at our local market, too.

* Remember to take your cloth shopping bags to the Farmer's Market, too.

Informed Consumers - This seems like the simplest one of all. But it can actually be quite difficult. It can be hard to balance the need to get the most out of our dollar with the need to make socially responsible choices.

It shouldn't be so hard to buy local, to invest in renewable resources, to support green businesses, to NOT support foreign dictatorships and human rights violations. But it is. Cost is a factor. And so is information. It can take a lot of work to learn enough to decide who I want to give my money to.

But, it's worth it. Because what we BUY has an even greater impact on our country (and, by extension, our whole planet) than how we VOTE. As consumers, our dollar is our voice. And, while mine might be just one little whisper in a crowd, I have a responsibility to put my money where my mind is.

We are not the "greenest" family on the planet, not by a long-shot. But - because of the values and habits instilled by our families, and because we are informed consumers - we are going to keep doing our itty-bitty little part to improve the world.

Sometimes, I admit, it's not the easiest thing to do. But it's the right thing to do.

What gets me, though, is this: SO MANY of the things you can do to save money and resources ARE easy! So, why isn't EVERYONE doing them?!