Have I ever told you guys how I think blogging has made me a better person? Besides reaching my weight loss goals blogging has influenced me in so many good ways. Maybe it’s the nature of public journaling and opening myself up to advice. Maybe it’s purely the fact that I recognize my progression because I have a way to peer back into my own life and literally read thoughts from my past. Regardless of why, here are some observations about my own progress towards a healthier, greener life…
- Eating More Whole and Less Processed Foods: Slowly but surely I have eliminated all TV dinner style meals from my diet. It wasn’t an overnight change but I’ve learn to cook more meals and use leftovers in reusable containers for future lunches. That’s got to be better for me (lower sodium, cheaper) and the environment (less waste from individual packaged meals.)
- Stopped Using Paper Plate: I’ve written about this before in What I learned from Paper Plates and Broken Microwaves post. I was really dependent on paper plates. I used them for everything from breakfast to mini cutting boards for my fresh fruit desserts. Then when someone made a constructive comment about my usage it got me thinking. A few weeks later I eased my usage and haven’t bought a package of plates since!
- I Eat More Locally Grown Food: Since overhauling my diet and introducing tons of fresh fruits and vegetables I can’t WAIT for farm stand season. I love buying locally grown fruits and veggies while supporting local farms. I’ve made it a habit to hit the farm stand before my weekly grocery trip throughout the spring and summer months.
- I Garden: My Mom makes fun of me for this every spring. When I was in High School I’d laugh at her and her gardening obsession. Like a typical teenager I thought it was "stupid." Fast forward 15 years and I’m counting the days until I can plant my seedlings, I eat my home grown food and share my gardening adventures online.
- I Take Sunday Runs instead of Sunday Drives: This one may sound crazy but the husband an I used to take Sunday drives. Not being Marylander natives we would drive around exploring the area, checking out houses and just enjoying the weather. Now I do that same thing on foot! My 9 miler was a great example. I did drive to my destination but overall I spent way less time burning gas and way more time burning calories!
I have a long way to go and a lot more changes to make but I’m proud of these few accomplishments. Where is this all coming from? Well, Divine Caroline posted this great article on composting (something the husband and I have actually talked about but never really made any attempt to do) and SunChips asked (another benefit of blogging, people and companies send me ideas) if I’d help spread the word about it’s new packaging that is made of 33% renewable materials. By 2010, they plan on having every SunChips bag made 100% compostable.
Have you seen SunChips recent campaign on living greener? SunChips is interested in spreading the word about their new bags and they are donating $100 for a green giveaway on my site! Money for you, tips for me! How can we go wrong?!? :) Simply leave me your best living green tip. What other small changes can I make to live a greener healthier life? Out of the suggestions I will pick (well random.org will pick) one lucky winner for the $100 prize on Friday!
So lay it out me! What’s your best Green Tip?
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What's Cooking in my kitchen?
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You know that tradition 7 Layer Mexican Dip? The one with the cream cheese, guacamole, salsa, lettuce, cheese, green onion and olives? Yea. That's the one. Well I had a craving for it the other day. Well, not exactly for it as I can never make anything the way it's suppose [...] -
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*sigh* I was really hoping to share an awesome turkey burger idea. I had grand plans for my leftover ground turkey. The results was alright but they could have been so much better. I added diced pineapple, red pepper, green pepper, oats and soy sauce to the meat and formed 2 patties. In hindsight I [...] -
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Did you hear? The Laughing Cow recently launched Smooth Sensations a line of 5 cream cheese spreads. There's Classic Cream, Classic Cream Light, Strawberries & Cream, Garden Vegetable and my favorite… Cinnamon. It's a sweet wedge of creamy goodness! Today I decided to use my new favorite flavor [...] -
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Yesterday I was dreaming about a salad. Not just any salad, but a chickpea filled, cucumber, and red onion salad with a fun, tangy dressing. Unfortunately, I had no cucumber or red onion. Well, that's a lie. I had a half of cucumber but it was a mushy mess and [...] -
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"RT @indoob: Kissing over a dead dog, if that's not romance, I'm not sure what is. #revenge— RoniNoone
About Roni
Roni started this blog in '05 to journal her weight loss. 70lbs later, she's committed to living a conscious, healthy life and hopes to inspire others along the way. Read more on the about page.Like the new look of Roni’s Weigh?
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Buy concentrated laundry detergent so that the empty containers you end up throwing away or recycling are much smaller and take up less space.
Use your clothes dryer as little as possible. When it’s warm and sunny your clothes will dry super fast outside. I used to lay mine on the walkway in full sun or drape them over the bushes. For larger items like sheets and towels just drape them over a chair. Especially when it is hot and you are running the AC, electric dryers are a huge waste. If you are able to, string a clothesline even.
I gave up plastic grocery shopping bags almost a year ago. I bought the canvas bags at my local Wal-Mart as soon as I saw then and I haven’t looked back.
We use cups–not water bottles. We rarely use paper plates (once a year MAYBE). We have swapped out all the light bulbs in our house for the better more energy efficient light bulbs.
We are looking at getting a wind mill installed in our back yard. We WANT one but coming up with the $$$ is the hard part.
All of our bills are paid online.
My milk comes to me in glass re-usable bottles that I rinse out once the milk is gone and set them out for the ‘milk man’ for the next delivery.
We recycle everything we can. We are the only ones on our street who do, though. :(
These small things are our way of making sure our kids have a brighter future. I think that about covers it for me.
Like most everyone else I use the canvas bags for my groceries. What used to be like 10 cheap plastic bags is now always less than 4 of my canvas bags!
Also trying a garden this year. I have little tomatoes and green pepper seedlings in my dining room just waiting to be planted outside….just a few more weeks indoors to be safe from the frost!
Thanks for sharing your tips!
You are doing great, I also recycle like crazy. I have been told I am obsessed. Nothing makes me madder than to find something recyclable in the trash. In our small village they make recycling so easy, they give you the totes to sort into and you just set them out when you set trash out. The trash truck comes and the recycle truck comes shortly behind it.
I also use the reusable totes for stores, and have replaced all of the light bulbs in my house with the new bulbs. Also we have turned down the thermostat and layer it up even inside.
I also have learned to shop “in town” this was hard for me. It used to be to easy to run to Walmart, 25 min drive away. Now I try to plan ahead and if it is something that isn’t in town I try to make a list and only go once a month or so. Has help with impulse buys as well as saving gas and wear and tear on the van.
Thanks for the awesome giveaway. Sun Chips are honestly the best and I love the commercial. Great idea on the Tshirts.
Thanks.
itsjustmerene2003 at yahoo dot com
I save all the fabric softener sheets and tuck them into old socks in my clothes drawers. They help keep our clothes smelling fresh. I also tuck them up under our sheets and inside our pillow cases.
We are considering replacing our hot water heater with a tankless one to save on energy. We will need to replace it in the next few years and are researching ahead of time to find out what the most efficient one is.
That is the other thing that we do. We research the big purchases ahead of time so that when it comes time to spend money on something we can save money and help the environment at the same time.
I have stopped throwing out items that I am done using by networking on freecycle.org I have given away everything from old bedspreads, pillows, and furniture to tulip bulbs and old rollerblades.
Thinking twice before tossing items in the trash can keep alot of stuff out of the landfills. It amazes me the things people are looking for on free cycle and will find a use for my trash! It benefits everyone.
At work, I print documents on both sides when possible. And I recyle memos, etc as scrap paper. When my children were small, that’s what they used for artwork.
When it’s too cold to garden, I often sprout seeds to eat instead of imported fresh produce.
My green tip is to re-use the plastic grocery store bags. I usually use the heavier material reusable grocery bags and just walk to the store to pick up a few things. But if I stop by on my way home after work I don’t usually have a bag with me and they of course put my groceries in a plastic bag. I then use the bags for lunch sacks for hubs & my work lunches as well as garbage bags for our bathroom trashcans and bags for the dirty cat litter. I just store them under the sink and I always have one ready when I need it.
Like lots of others, I try to re-use canvas grocery bags at the store. I can’t even imagine how many plastic bags I was going through before. I really like the big canvas bags that I get at Aldi.
We replaced all of our light bulbs with compact florescents. We also only use canvas bags for grocery shopping now, which is pretty cool because I don’t have a million paper and plastic bags floating around my house now.
I’m also a recent paper plate user, it was hard going off the teat but well worth it I think. We are saving money and the environment at the same time. Now I just need to manage to give up plastic cups :)
Roni,
To me there was nothing like having my little girl to give me the kick in the pants that I needed to start taking care of myself and the earth!
My hubby and I now recycle and reuse everything we can. We don’t use paper plates any more either!
I too have been thinking of getting a composter, but since I live in a townhouse, I have been concerned on whether or not they smell, especially in the summer heat. I don’t want to be the stinky neighbor! I will have research this some more. I’m interested in what you find out too.
We have replaced all of our light bulbs with the new energy efficient ones, and I am crazy about turning off the water and lights when not in use!
We can all do a little bit!
There are many things we do in our house but my favorite is walking to our local library for story time instead of driving. I get exercise and my daughter enjoys her wagon and some fresh air.
Roni,
Have you looked into all the local farms CSAs? I think they are a wonderful idea.
http://www.bradsproduce.com/
I think almost all the farms around Harford County have them.
Crystal
Recycle, recycle, recycle. I’ve even talked a few friends into doing the same. Reuse what you can and don’t let it make it’s way to the landfill. Basically, try to respect Mother Earth.
We use Compact Fluorescent Light Bulbs in all of our light sockets. We also only own one car and walk as much as possible and use the electric streetcar (we live in New Orleans so easy to walk places).
Also, weird as this sounds, we eat less fast food. It’s amazing how much garbage fast food produces compared to cooking at home!
We use the compact florescent bulbs as often as we can, use reusable grocery totes to eliminate all of those plastic bags, use a Nalgene reusuable water bottle. We also recycle everything that can be recycled!
I use a reusable water bottle that I refill at home, don’t use paper plates, try to use cloth napkins instead of paper towels (at some meals, this one is hard), limit dishwasher and washing machine use (we used to do these whenever which could end up being several times a week, now it’s more like twice).
Recycle! I’ve started keeping old glass jars around for drinking glasses, too.
As far as gardening goes, I use old newspapers as mulch for the garden to prevent weeds. After we lay the newspaper down, we cover it with straw.
Also… I love the joys of coffee grounds!!! We go to local coffee places and collect coffee grounds for fertilizer. Some places in our town even have garbage cans of grounds outside for anyone to use.
If you add a half pound can of used grounds to water in a five gallon bucket, and let it sit outside for a few hours, you have your own liquid fertilizer! You can also sprinkle grounds (or eggshells) around the base of a plant to get rid pests, mix into soil for houseplants, add to compost with the used filter (even tea bags work here), and sprinkle on plant beds before it rains for even more fertilizer!
I didn’t learn this stuff until I worked in a sweet old lady’s garden and started looking things up online. Oh the joys of google =). If you can do all of that in your garden with coffee grounds, what else can you do?
This is a Goodie! This is too good to just name one!
1. I leave my tote bags in the trunk so when I go food shopping they are always there, I bring them in with me so I use LESS paper or plastic!
2. Energy saving light bulbs! Only leave the lights on in the room you are in! duh!
3. Brick in the Toilet tank… helps you use less water each time ya flush!
4. Eat a veggie diet, its good for you AND the earth. (I’m a vegetarian)
5. Buy products with Less packaging.. and cal the companies and tell them WHY you are NOT buying their products! They’ll catch on!
6. Use Natural ingredients to clean, Vinegar and water clean a Mirror really nice and USE newspaper instead of papertowels to dry them, it really does work!!!!
7. Turn off your AC and OPEN A WINDOW!!!!
8. Walk for ride your bike.. do you really need to drive???
These are a few of MY tips!!
Leslie
I reuse my grocery bags and we have those energy saving light bulbs also I am a freak about walking around the house and turning off lights that don’t need to be on.
I have also been ditching the paper plates in favor of my regular dishes. As a food blogger, it “looks” nicer anyway!!! And I have been making a conscious effort to see that everything that I use that can be recycled goes in the bin. Sometimes laziness takes over and I just want to throw it in the regular trash instead of walking it out to the recycle bin! I catch myself though – it’s that Catholic guilt thing ;)
We finally have a recycling service and I am much more conscious of saving plastics and glass for recycling. I also use Method, a “greener” cleaning product which I very much enjoy.
I dont use the styrofoam cups at work…that helps a lot. I use the grocery store bags, but only b/c I have a kid in diapers still and we use those for the dirty ones to contain the odor. After he is out of diapers, we will use the reusable ones. We dont use paper plates very often, limit our paper towel/napkin use, take short showers, wash everything on cold/cold, and keep our house ‘dark’. Turn off a light when we leave a room, etc.
Cool ideas in these comments, thanks all!
We buy energy saving light bulbs, switched to a brita filter from bottled water, use cloth grocery bags, shop for seasonal produce as often as possible, limit grocery shopping trips to once a week (I used to go almost daily!), save food containers for leftovers and other purposes, dry laundry on the rack instead of the dryer.
I’ve encouraged my bf to recycle and he’s enjoying how much less trash it creates! We have to pay $2.25 for our garbage bags, so it really encourages people in my city to think about the amount of waste they create and how much they’re willing to pay to put it curbside each week!
We make our own cleaning products, laundry detergent, and dishwashing detergent. No yucky chemicals!
We use canvas bags for all shopping. Brita filtered water for home instead of water bottles. Aluminum bottles for kids to take to school instead of plastic. Recycle all junk mail and magazines. Mulch grass instead of bagging it. These are just some of the things that came to mind as I sit and think about how we are trying to live greener.
We switched from the plastic bottles of water to each of us having an aluminum water bottle. It was an easy switch and sure helps the environment. Plus, the water is much colder now!
Great post and great ideas!
The biggest “green” thing we do, that I am most proud of is composting. It helps us make better purchases and buy better (pesticide free) produce.
We also donate the the carbonfund.org when we fly or take long drives.
I buy a lot of stuff second hand to save money but, reusing is better for the environment and it directly contributes to my local economy. With that, we get a lot of reading material and movies from the library.
Use a mug or cup instead of a plastic water bottles.
I love this! My whole philosophy is that if you make it easy and fun to be green, more people will do it!
I love all the tips people had. My best tip is to buy used! There is so much stuff already in this world. And in this economy, it can save a ton of money. I’ve found some adorable clothes at thrift shops and on eBay and Craigslist.
I also keep a cute reusable bag like an Envirosax in my purse at all times. It rolls up really small so you can use it anytime – grocery shopping, clothes shopping, take-out food, etc! I also try to bring my own silverware and keep a fork or spoon in my purse (real, or a leftover compostable one)!
Wow…great ideas. We definately use the clothes line!!!! (only in the summer). I find many treasures at Goodwill. They usually have really interesting plates. When I make gifts of food….I just give them the plate or serving dish it comes on. (NO PLASTIC OR FOIL CONTAINERS). I am definately not too proud to wear something that has already been owned. :) I love trash to treasure…..nothing more challenging! :)
Awesome post Roni, we all can use some ideas on going green!
We use florescent light bulbs, keeping lights turned off if not needed. We use canvas shopping bags. I am planting a garden this year. I wash everything on cold. That’s about it for now. Want to get a brita water filter and eliminate all those water bottles.
Keeping reusable bags in the trunk of my car so that I never have to ask for plastic!!
I used to drink a ton of bottled water. Now, I have a re-usable bottle that I never leave home without. Not only am I helping the environment in a small way, but I’m able to add ice to it; which makes it just that much more enjoyable…lots better than bottled water!
My husband and I are avid lunch takers instead of lunch buyers, but we were so tired of all those plastic baggies being thrown out! We invested instead in a few cheap recyclable plastic containers to take our sandwiches, fruits, chips, etc. in to work. Now instead of tossing out 7 or 8 plastic baggies each day, we wipe it out and repack a lunch for the next day! If one ever breaks or loses its seal, we can recycle it. It’s great :)
I realized that I can re-use things. I don’t need to stick a cup in a dishwasher after washing it once. If a shirt isn’t dirty, I can rewear it. A water bottle can be refilled. It saves energy and materials.
I try not to use disposable materials – I bring a bag to the supermart, drink from a reusable bottle, use tupperware for my food etc.
I think that I am known as the Hippie Chick at work.
1. No Paper Towels, no paper napkins, no paper/plastic plates, no paper/plastic plates. I use glasses, glass plates, and cloth napkins (I bought 2nd had). I really freaked my Aunt out on Thanksgiving..she hated the fact that we had cloth napkins, glass plates, etc.
2. I use a stainless steel water bottle and take it EVERYWHERE.
3. I use reusable bags and have not used a plastic bag in years.
4. I LOVE PYREX. That is all I use. No plastic bowls with spaghetti stains. lol
5. I have been known to fish plastic bottles out of the trash at work to add to my recycling bag that I take to and from work. There I also add paper, glass, etc. I then take it home and add it to my weekly recycling bin.
6. We have a compost pile.
7. CFLs
I use my own tote bags at the grocery store. If I forget, I get paper bags and reuse them for trash bags. They are great for when you clean out the fridge or to put shoes in when you move (I did this a lot in college). I believe by bringing your own bags, you save a tree and everytime you don’t use plastic, you are saving the environment. Plus, at TJ’s you get entered in for a chance to win free groceries if you bring your own! ;)
Go online and read about what your recycling company will accept. I did and I was astounded by how much they accept. Now we have double the amount of recyclable items than we do trash. I keep multiple recycling receptacles throughout the house so that there is no excuse not to recycle something.
Caution… TMI….
I switched my tampon brand. I use the ones with no applicator so I’m wasting less. I noticed how much waste my monthly friend was making and decided to try to find a better choice.
I think the best way to “go green” is something that everyone always overlooks, which is to stop or limit your meat consumption. Becoming a vegetarian significantly helps reduce your “carbon footprint” because of all of the waste and pollution caused by the entire meatpacking system in America.
I’ve been using green household products–dishwashing liquid, toilet cleaner, etc. I don’t even notice the difference! I’ve also noticed that since moving from Indiana to Massachusetts, I recycle everything and walk so much more. The little things add up!
I don’t take plastic bottles to work, the park or the gym anymore. I refill my plastic drink carrier instead. I just wash before each use.
I also take my own bags to the grocery store. I bought Trader Joe’s reusable bags and now take them to every grocery store I visit. I just leave them in my car so I don’t forget em’.
I have also taught my kids what recycling is and make it fun for them to participate and pitch their recyclables into the bin.
I try to do the little things too….lately it’s been trying to re-use my grocery bags…until they give out then I can use the canvas ones I have gotten.
One thing I learned today….sometimes it’s cheaper to fix the broken freezer than to go buy a new one!!
I also do alot of the above. I recycle anything that I can. I set up a plastic recycling bin in my classroom and now my students will bring in bottles and cans from the lunchroom. Plus, we have a recelying bin in the staff lounge but waste management doesn’t pick it up so I haul it home every other week and put it out with my own recyclables!