Being Greener

One of my goal for 2014 is to be a ‘greener mom,’ to do more than just the basics.  I made the same pact last year and these are the things our family achieved.

2013 GREEN GOALS

1. We rarely use paper towels in the house now. Instead we use towels for wiping our hands, cleaning up spills and wiping down the counter and the floors.
2. We recycle a lot more now. (You can recycle a lot more than you think.)
3. We don’t leave the water running anymore when brushing our teeth and washing dishes.
4. The kids and I walk to a lot of places and activities instead of driving.
5. We stopped using plastic water bottles and now I take stainless-steel water bottles with me whenever we go out that are easy to refill when anyone gets thirsty.

stainless steel water bottles

I know there are even more things that I can do, so this year I’m trying to do 5 more things to help us be a greener family. While doing some research, I came across a wonderful, local online company called Organically Hatched which has everything you need to be a green family, starting with every  baby product all the way to beauty and hair products. This company is helping me achieve my goal with some great products I’m going to try and I love the fact that I’m supporting local!

2014 GREEN GOALS:

1. I want to start using cleaning products that are better for the environment and natural, like this one.
2. The one place I do still use paper towels still is when I’m cleaning the bathroom because I feel like the bathroom is so dirty that I need to use something disposable. These E-Cloth’s seem like the perfect solution to that.
3. I want to make a compost. I feel so guilty every time I throw away a banana peel or egg shell knowing that it’s just adding to the landfill when I could be composting it and making it into soil. So it’s high on my priority list to get this compost bin going.
4. We live in a condo right now, but we are looking to move so when we do, a space for our own garden is essential so we can grow some of our own herbs and vegetables to use in the kitchen.
5. No plastic wrap or plastic baggies when I’m make lunch to go. We are only using containers and cool reusable sandwich bags like these.

All of these goals will hopefully help our family have a smaller carbon footprint, reduce the amount of garbage we make and realistically, it’ll save us money in the long run.

 

What does your family do to try and be more environmentally-friendly? What’s your best ‘green’ tip? I’d love to hear it and add it to my goals!

 

*I was not given any compensation or products to write this post. Everything is 100% my opinion.

 

22 thoughts on “Being Greener

  1. I have been working on being greener as well. One way I love to be green is canning! I waste a lot less! I love how much making whole foods makes less waste. We also use cloth napkins and lots of other green ways in the kitchen.

  2. I think these are fantastic ideas. We all should strive to be a little greener in our every day lives. I think it’s also important to get kids started on it while they are still young so it becomes part of their normal every day lives.

  3. Great ideas! It’s always good to be as environmentally friendly as possible!

    We’re hoping to redo some things in our house to become more energy efficient (new siding (with improved insulation) a new furnace (much more efficient than our current one) and hopefully a new roof (if my writing goes well). All that should help reduce our energy consumption for years to come.

    Good luck on everything!

    Michael

  4. Believe it or not, I recycle my aluminum foil! My grandmother used to do it, and I take after her!

    My partner also makes our washing soap and our cleansing soaps. I no longer buy them in the store and we reuse our containers!

  5. I love all your ideas, Salma. The towels in place of paper towels is a catch 22 though. The paper towels are biodegradable and the regular towels use water and electricity when we wash them. Food for thought… I bought my home last Spring and we started our composting right away and even had a little garden last summer. This year we plan on expanding our garden and learning how to can our harvest in the Fall. I also need to find some natural cleaners to use. I still use a lot of chemicals in cleaning but lately have found myself using vinegar for a lot of my cleaning. Thanks for all your great suggestions!

  6. Great ideas Salma. We’ll be moving soon too (just put our condo on the market this week!). The plan is to get a yard this time around cause I want a garden too! It’s environmentally sound AND I’ve heard when kids are involved in the growing they are more open to eating a variety of veg… We’ll see!

    1. Congrats Renata! In our condo in Winnipeg, we had some vegetable pots on the balcony and the kid’s loved eating what they picked, so there is some truth in it.

  7. Great post Salma. Like you we’ve been doing our best to live green for years, and also walk lots. It’s good for fitness too, and saves money. We are fortunate that our local authority collects paper, cardboard, glass, some plastics for recycling and all kitchen waste for composting. Also use environmentally friendly cleaning products similar to the ones you’ve found and those e-cloths. (And yes, also vinegar!)
    But of course there’s always more we could do and I have friends who buy only second-hand clothes. I can’t bring myself to do that, but do buy organic clothes whenever I can.
    You might also like the Kids Konserve range of containers, they are metal with non-BPA plastic lids and great of snacks on the go.

  8. great goal! I’ve been wanting to get reusable baggies. I still use zip locks for some things, but I found out they can be recycled in my town if they’re bundled in one bag so they don’t blow away when dumped at the recycle center.

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