What is one thing you can do this week...

[baxjul]

to help the environment, and become more "green"?

I'm making some cleaning rags from old cotton tee shirts, and recycling.

[nuisance26]

~I have a very stubborn toddler that doesn't want to be potty-trained. The last two weeks were an adjustment to the pull-ups and a dozen tries on the potty. This Monday she's going in every hour and every time I go in. Trained= Less disposable pull-ups and less laundry from the training undies.~

[Momto2Boyz]

Used vinegar to kill my weeds instead of chemicals, recycled (as always), haven't driven (as always), been using rain water to water my inside plants. Skipped showering for 3 days because I couldn't find the time! Accidental environmentalism...but hey, I still saved water!

[blitzen]

~I have a very stubborn toddler that doesn't want to be potty-trained. The last two weeks were an adjustment to the pull-ups and a dozen tries on the potty. This Monday she's going in every hour and every time I go in. Trained= Less disposable pull-ups and less laundry from the training undies.~

Me too! My son has zero interested in the potty. Ugh!

We are making a compost pile. We already recycle everything we can so between composting and potty training, we should really reduce our garbage quite a bit!

[Jayne]

reuse grocery bags, recycling more

[missyali]

Taking stuff to the consignment store to give them a second life with another family.

[Grayce]

Last week we made 2 rainbarrels. Now we are just waiting for rain lol. When we do get some rain I will be using them to water my flower garden. Today I filled my line up with laundry saving use of the dryer.

[itsahumanzoo]

I've reduced my driving to almost nothing. That should help out a bit.

I'm also ripping up all my junk mail and I'm going to make a pinata with DS. There's not really an occasion for it, but I think he would enjoy doing it.

[Tater]

Bumped up my recycling. Used to recycle EVERYTHING when I was a SAHM. Since I've gone back to work, I haven't felt like I had the "time." I'm determined to rekindle that effort.

Taking a load of clothes to Goodwill this week.

Sounds weird, but I cut up two ragged cotton t-shirts and made gun cleaning patches for dh. He's a hunter, and uses small cotton squares he buys at the store to clean his gun. This way, at least the tshirts won't end up in the landfill.

Washed and reused baggies.

REALLY wanting to make some rain barrels for the garden.

[Ali Lee]

Will start to use 3/4 c vinegar as fabric softener this week....
Haven't dried clothes in dryer, except for sheets in the winter, since Jan/08. Racks in basement/clothesline.
Recycle, Recycle
Pass on magazines, which were given to me
A/C turned up...
Lights off!
Seldom drive car...
Picked up a penny today
I used to see many many cans on the side of the road...now it's those plastic h2o bottles! Makes me cringe...........
And I've copied recipes for HM laundry detergent, prewash, dish washer detergent--plan to use soon...ps..copied on the inside of used envelopes!!

[acidcookie]

I brought my big bag of paper to campus today to recycle it. No paper bin at my apartment for some reason.

[zakity]

Hung clothes out on the line to dry instead of using the dryer

Drank water from our osmosis filter instead of drinking bottled water or soda pop and used my reusable water bottle

Closed up the house and threw sheets over some of the windows to keep the sun out instead of using gas to go somewhere cool. It is 12 degrees cooler in the house than the temp outside.

We didn't use any ceiling fans yet today (we might later on in the evening, but we saved electricity all day).

recycled what I could

used a cloth napkin instead of paper


Reused:
a Nancy's yogurt container to hold the opened can of spaghetti sauce

several bread sacks - we save them to put our lunches in them when we go places, we also put homemade waffles in them to throw in the freezer

saved several of those tabs that come on bread to reuse later

milk jugs - filled them with water and threw in the freezer. I have large "blue ice" things, but I can't find them in the mess that I call the garage. So, I figured I would use the milk jugs instead and then use the melted water to water the garden when we were finished with them.

[laurieah]

I am a long time lurker, thought i'd jump in and post. I would like to thank you all for all the great ideas. Not only have I been saving money, but I'm helping the environment too.

I have been hanging clothes on the line to dry.
using vineger in the rinse.
recycling plastic jugs to make iced tea in.
cutting up an old holey sheet to use for rags and to replace paper towels.
not driving as much, and down to using one car instead of two.
turning up the A/C.
convinced everyone to take shorter showers.
unplug everything at night.

Laurie

[miss_annie]

I am using reusable grocery bags (which i absolutely LOVE, by the way).
I have stopped leaving the back door open for the pets to come in and out as they please because I realized all of my A/C is just going straight out the door.
I purchased the natural, environmentally friendly, live culture something-or-other version of pet stain remover since we go through it quite a lot these days.
We are experimenting with leaving windows open at night to get (fresh!) cool air in and allow us to turn off the A/C for awhile.
We have been cutting back on eating out, and therefore cutting down paper waste drastically.
I have also been forcing my poor DH to carpool to work whenever humanly possible.

They are small things but it is a start, right?

[Palooka]

I'm so bad about this but I have made a conscience effort to turn off the ceiling fans in the room that I am not in. I always leave them on but getting way better.

Making sun tea instead of using the gas stove or microwave.