Green Living
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Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
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Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Our tech team has launched updates to The Nest today. As a result of these updates, members of the Nest Community will need to change their password in order to continue participating in the community. In addition, The Nest community member's avatars will be replaced with generic default avatars. If you wish to revert to your original avatar, you will need to re-upload it via The Nest.
If you have questions about this, please email help@theknot.com.
Thank you.
Note: This only affects The Nest's community members and will not affect members on The Bump or The Knot.
Tips on Where/How to Start
Hello!
I'm trying to get started in living greener/more responsibly. I'm very budget focuses, so sometimes I find it hard to go green when it's way more expensive than the cheap crap stuff. I've learned to live with crap stuff for the sake of my pocketbook so I'm trying to change my ways without going broke.
We recycle. We have no yard, just the balcony of our condo, so line drying and composting are out. We're not vegetarians although I want to start buying local organic meat.
Any other easy, obvious things to get me started? How did you all get started? I'm sure there are a million little things that would be easy to implement into our daily lifestyle, I just need help brainstorming.
Thanks!
Re: Tips on Where/How to Start
Edit:
I'm very budget focused
,....not focuses.
There are all kinds of places to start. A random list of stuff I do:
-reusable bags when shopping (not just for groceries - try to remember as often as you can everywhere you shop)
-bike or walk to work, to pick up milk, etc. Lots of car trips are
miles, which is pretty quick to do on a bicycle. Even one less trip a week is something!
-switch cleaning supplies to homemade recipes (vinegar, baking soda, hydrogen peroxide)
-reduce food waste. Everything that could have been eaten that gets thrown out is a total waste, and a lot of energy goes into producing that food.
-eat less meat - how about "Meatless Mondays" as a start?
-keep your apartment a little hotter and the summer and cooler in the winter
Oh - and all those save money!
I have a whole blod decicated to living green on the cheap that might help you with some ideasL http://moregreenforlessgreen.blogspot.com/.
Just remember to make one change at a time. You don't have to do it all at once!
My blog (see siggy) is all about living green on a budget. It's just getting started, but I post coupons and deals for organic/natural items almost every day.
Just take it slow, and try to do a new thing maybe once per week! We've been "going green" for two years now, and just starting to do things like compost! I'm always learning and implementing new things. Buy a couple organic food items every week (especially those on the "dirty dozen" list), check out the farmers market, switch cleaning products to more natural ones, use cloth rags to clean instead of paper towels. Soon enough it will all add up!
Ditto PP's.
So much of going green involves buying less stuff and doing things that can save you money. For instance buying 2nd hand/used is totally green and totally cheaper than buying new stuff.
I feel that there is a lot of green-washing out there in the media, that makes you think you need to buy a lot of new stuff to be green, when that's the farthest thing from the truth. Chances are hanging on to what you have is the greenest option over buying new.
Even though you live in a condo you could still hang dry some stuff using an indoor drying rack. I lived in a studio apt and used to set up a drying rack for stuff in my bathtub. I couldn't air dry a TON of stuff, but I found that air-drying underwear, t-shirts, tank tops and other stuff like that (stuff you would just do on low or tumble dry) saved my clothes from a lot of wear.
Also when you do laundry and dishes only run the machines if the load is full.
Don't use the heated dry on your dishwasher (just open the machine when it's done and let the dishes air dry)
Wash your clothes using cold water.
Use 1/2 the detergent you think you currently do for both your laundry and your dishwasher- chances are that's all you need- just an article in the Wall Street Journal about this.
All of these things will save you money!
Thanks for the replies and tips! The ego-boosting part of this is that I already do many of the things mentioned - but I always did them for $$ reasons, not environmental reasons (only running full loads, using cold water, buying used, meatless meals a few times a week). So that makes me feel better! Maybe this won't be as difficult as I'm trying to make it.
Question - what are the dirty 12 grocery items? This scares me because I probably buy them (rarely buy organic now) and so I need to know!
I meant "dirty dozen" - what are those?
I started with getting rid of paper towels. I bought a pack of napkins at Target for $9.00. It came with 12, so I think in the future I may buy one more, but we've never run out so it can wait.
I then made my own laundry detergent which was $13.00 up front, but I've only made one batch, and still have left over ingredients for another one, which after that I will only have to spend $3.00 for more soap.
I got reusable shopping bags for free from work, and keep an eye out for free tote bags when we go around to different fairs and what not.
Most recently, I've decided to make another really easy, really simple change by no longer using liquid body wash and shower poofs by switching to bar soap and a towel.
I bide my tide on all kinds of stuff because I don't want to buy new things. I've found that I really have a niche for repurposing/reusing things, so it's actually quite enjoyable. For example, when making my laundry detergent I needed a bucket, but the idea of using my mop bucket was gross
. So what I did instead was I asked around to all my friends with cats, and got ahold of a kitty litter container. It took 3 weeks, but I will get to use it forever, and I know that it is one less thing in the trash.
You have to find what motivates you on your green journey. It will help you feel less like you're giving up stuff, but that you're accomplishing something great.
As far as saving money, I don't know how old you are, but the older you get (I'm 26, so not old), the more you realize that it's better to have quality over cheapness. And quality doesn't mean brand name either. I'm in love with Oxo kitchen stuff, but I've bought things of theirs that turn out to be just crap. Being green really boils down to being smart about your resources, money being one of them. I would recommend taking the time to think about the easy, small, and free stuff you can do around your house first, and let that snow ball. For example, the money you save on not buying paper towels or heating and cooling your house, or purchasing things new that you can find used, you could funnel into healthier meats eventually.
The dirty dozen are the produce items usually most contaminated by pesticides. They are: peaches, apples, sweet bell peppers, celery, nectarines, strawberries, cherries, pears, imported grapes, spinach, lettuce and potatoes.
The least contaminated are: onions, avocado, frozen sweet corn, pineapples, mango, asparagus, frozen sweet peas, kiwi, banana, cabbage, broccoli, papaya.
a lot of the things I do that are green, I actually started doing just to save money. for example, keeping the house a little colder in the winter, not using air conditioning in the summer, line drying, washing laundry in cold water.
I am also all about hand-me downs. They are awesome. I've gotten quality furniture, clothes and tons of plants for our yard. You never know what your friends and family may be trying to get rid of if you don't ask.
As PP said, the dirty dozen are the 12 food she listed that are the most contaminated with pesticides, so you should buy those organic. The Clean 15 have the least pesticides so you don't have to buy those organic. The Environmental Working Group updates the list every year, it's here:
http://www.foodnews.org/walletguide.php
You can download the iPhone app for it there too.
I also have a going green blog about my adventures in attempting to go green.
goingkelligreen.blogspot.com
I am new to going green, but it has been a very fun adventure and I am slowly seeing significant changes in my life.