I'd like to know... What's stopping you from going green?
From using cloth instead of paper products? (Paper towels, diapers, rags, bags, pads, etc.)
From using earth friendly products instead of ones full of chemical's (House cleaners, shampoo, body wash, etc)
From recycling (Plastics, paper, clothes, etc.)
And anything else you can think of. I'd really like to know, so leave me a comment :)
I'm planning a future post on this, so I'd like some ideas of set-backs people have.
10 comments:
I'm working on it...in some ways. Probably inconvenience and money are my biggest thing. Paper towels, I am doing without. and don't miss them much. I wash my plastic "silverware" and re-use it till it either gets lost or broken. I dislike doing without paper plates, but am working on that one whenever possible. One of the hardest things is totally going without paper napkins. I have cloth napkins, & like using them, but it does mean alot of laundry for us. Also I find it hard to do without them for covering things in the microwave...and HOW do you drain bacon without them or paper towels??? www.flylady.net has some wonderful "purple rags" that work awesome for cleaning, washing glass.
I do recycle. Paper, cans, plastic, bags, however I haven't gotten any reusable grocery bags YET. Mostly because I'm too cheap to buy them when I have the material already to make them, but haven't taken the time to do it.
Clothes...well, you know how much I recycle them...hand me down's...lol! It's harder to find "green" things in the stores. I don't like to buy things on the internet, and alot of my fav. "earth friendly & non-chemical" stuff I like is more expensive.
I'm getting there, but it's mostly the money. More the initial investment than anything.
I've done away with Tampons (using diva cup),Plastic grocery bags (reusable), we rarely use disposable dinnerware but do use paper towels and napkins, I haven't done away with the pt because if I do get licensed for daycare, we're required to use them. (sanitary purposes.)
I don't use antibacterial soap and have just bought Burts Bee's shampoo for the kids & me, and plan on going "all green" with the next shampoo purchase. Most of the cleaning supplies I use are "green" because I detest breathing the chemicals in the others, but I would like to get something like you mentioned.
I've gone Green on my laundry soap and love it, and it's even lasting me longer than I thought it would, so definitely cheaper than my ALL free & clear that I was buying before!
I don't recycle because it's such a pain and I don't have a convenient place to put the recycling containers. The city doesn't pick it up here, we have to take it wherever their bins are so that's a pain too.
As far as the cloth (diapers & pads) it's just the initial investment that's stopped me from doing it - that's really my only excuse!
I have started waxing my legs instead of shaving - surely that counts for something since I'm disposing of WAY less razor blades, and no shaving cream bottles!
Speaking of disposable razors, I've been doing mostly electric razor for some time now. Don't know how much it costs to charge it, but I'm sure it is cheaper than the cost of plastic & then having to dispose of them.
I'd recycle gladly, but there isn't a place here like Kearney has that you could just take newspapers/magazines, or bottles, etc. and just dump them in. There is a red bin you can get for certain things and have it picked up for a fee - but that's just one more fee. There's the rub - a lot more things I would do if what is green/natural were cheaper/more convenient! I'm not the make your own detergent/shampoo, etc type either! But I do garden/can in the summer, so that is green! Also plan on making more food for the baby, instead of buying so many lil jars.
I don't want to do cloth diapers - I just can't quite get into that idea. But I do use gDiapers sometimes - I like them, but they don't work for all night, or for when I take the kids to the child watch program at the Y while I work out.
I'm wanting to do less plastic, but I don't have enough re-usable bags yet.
Don't know what I would do without pt, baby wipes, etc! Altho I try to use cloth more when I can to clean up lil kids after meals.
I'd like to buy more organic made clothes, if they didn't cost more!
I did just buy some organic/green household cleaners, tho, and I LIKE them so much better than the ammonia/clorox smelling products I had before!
Another thing is that being more green does take more effort, if not always expense, and sometimes, with the 3 lil munchkins, it's easier to do the usual thing!
Anyway, lil by lil, I'm going to try to do the things that I can.
For me it boils down to lack of knowledge, inconvenience, & money. For HBA's the "natural" products always come w/ a higher price tag and sometimes I feel like I am getting scammed. Same w/ cleaning products, although I know that vinegar & baking soda can be used i haven't had time to figure out all the combinations. I do have Basic-H, I should get some spray bottles for it, maybe I would use it more. Our biggest consumption of paper products is probably kleenx.
What we are doing - I just started using a shampoo bar, thanks for the recommendation on that. If it works out I don't think that expense is going to be any different then shamp&cond. I have switched to reusable grocery bags (much easier to carry than plastic!), kleen kanteen has eliminated our use of plastic water bottles, recycle everything I can, and I have a stash of cloth diapers & wipes for when we get an adoption - we'll see if using them is as much fun as buying them was!
i absolutely hate paper towels! i just have to put my 2 cents in,but seriously,theyre such a waste! when i worked at amigos we used about 1.5 rolls each day,sometimes more,when we could be using regular dishtowels or washclothes,it really really bugs me.
Dalayna - You should check out Jill & Kelli's blog (A Hippie and a Cop). Kelli is the Queen of Green! (Hop on from Jane's blog.) Kelli has great ideas and websites. Her latest is how to do a rain barrel. If you have been to Emo conv., they use rainwater for almost everything except drinking!
I am mostly 'green' The only thing I haven't gone cloth on is diapers and pads. I am seriously considering going cloth on the pads. I also use paper napkins....just easier. However we try to burn most of our paper, cardboard, ect... as we don't have a recycleing center here.
I'm working on it too. I found some recipes for homemade cleaners. I plan to make my own laundry soap too. You use so much less of it and I tend to do a lot of laundry.
We have to recycle here so that helps.
I'm all for more ways to go green. I'd love to see a list of ways of going green
recycling is easy here on campus...they have bins everywhere. i also take pop bottles and cans back and cash them in. i reuse plastic grocery bags for carrying things and for trash bags...i do have some cloth(ish) grocery bags but can never seem to remember to take them in the store with me. paper napkins i don't use here in the apartment. i do use paper towels once in a while. i wash plastic silverware and cups and baggies to reuse. i don't use paper plates. for covering things in the microwave i have a plastic cover thing instead of paper towels. i use old cloth diapers for cleaning purposes. i also recycle clothes...have all my life!
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