5 Simple Steps to Going Green
1. Turn off lights when not in use. Energy saver bulbs are truly amazing, your electric bill will decrease and the bulbs last a heck of a lot longer than standard bulbs. Any local hardware or grocery store will most likely carry them, (sometimes you can come across a couple at a thriftstore), just make sure you read the label and get the equivalency of wattage you want, ie. a 15 watt energy saver will have the light power of a 75 watt standard bulb.
2. Turn off the faucet while brushing teeth, if only one family of four did this they would save about 8 gallons of water a day. I tested this at home with a gallon pitcher under the faucet and pretended to brush my teeth (so I could reuse the water) it was almost full when I was done, multiply that gallon by number of family members and how many times a day you brush and voila.
3. Wash full loads of laundry and separate clothes by weight, what this means is t-shirts and mid-weight cottons together, socks and undies together, pants and heavy-weight shirts together, towels and rags you get my drift here, the reason being it will save you drying time and temp.(you can dry on perm press instead of high). Please please empty that lint trap every time you dry, it really does improve the dryer’s performance.
4. Keep track of your accomplishments. There are so many more ways to reduce our consumption but these are a good start. I’m sure there are ways that you already reduce and may not give yourself credit for. Writing a list (on recycled paper of course) of all of the things your household does to help and checking it off is a good way to teach yourself and your children the value of saving while stimulating thoughts on new things to add to the list.
5. Recycle. If you don’t already do it, it ain’t to late to start. Most facilities take just about everything, find out what you have to separate and what you can’t take and go for it. My family makes a trip out of going to the recycling center once a week, the kids enjoy throwing the items into the bins and it feels good to see that some of your waste is on the road to reusing. Your local thriftstore is a great way to recycle goods you no longer want or need and shopping at one is not only fun but a good way to lessen your consumer impact. You never know what you may find at a thriftstore that you won’t have to buy new.
Please remember that we all contribute to the health of our society, so be careful not to judge yourself or others too harshly for what you do or do not do, just take it a step or two at a time and be kind. Peace.
