Green Living
Dear Community,
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.
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.
Newbie - How to be Greener
hi ladies!
the hubbs and i are new to being 'green. 'as i google and search it just seems like so much. what are some basic, easy, and the most important things/changes we can make to go green?!
we plan to cloth diaper once jellybean is here. i've switched to green cleaners - basically vinegar and baking soda - omg what a difference!! we have a small patio and i'm going to be doing some gardening tomorrow! (so excited!)
OLD NESTIE///NEW NAME
Re: Newbie - How to be Greener
I'm no expert, so a lot of the posters on here will be of more help, but here are some of the things H and I do:
1. Recycle (plastic, aluminum, paper, plastic bags, etc)
2. Shop the local Farmer's Market (when we can)
3. Use reusable bags when shopping
4. Like you, we use vinegar and baking soda to clean
5. We use wheat cat litter
6. Reusable lunch bag and containers instead of using brown bags for work lunches.
If you have a yard and can line-dry clothes that uses a lot less energy. We got dryer balls to use in the dryer and ditched all dryer sheets and use vinegar instead of clothes softener.
Those are the top easy things to incorporate into daily life that I can think of.
How does the vinegar work s clothes softener? Do you pour it in same place you would the liquid fabric softeners? Do you notice that your dryer is more efficient using dryer balls?
Yep, we put a mix of vinegar and water into the fabric softener hole (I don't know the technical term). Not really sure WHY it works, but it does. I like the feel of my clothes and since i don't like overly-scented perfumey things, I like that my clothes just smell clean. Here's a good little article about it http://planetgreen.discovery.com/fashion-beauty/replace-fabric-softener-vinegar.html
I like the dryer balls - they are a little noisy but nothing we can't live with. It saves $$ versus buying dryer sheets and I like that they are no chemicals or trash afterwards. Our clothes are just as soft as before. Supposedly it can save up to 40% energy but honestly I can't tell a difference. http://www.wisegeek.com/what-are-dryer-balls.htm
Wheat cat litter? Please elaborate... what do you think of it? Where do you get it? Pricing compared to usual cat litter? Does it keep odors down? Scoopable?
my read shelf:
Oh my gosh - switching to wheat cat litter has been the best thing housekeeping-wise that I've ever done. I just used generic clumping clay litter when I got my first cat, because it's cheap and I didn't know anything about different litters. We had litter dust EVERYWHERE, even though there's a lid on the box (probably b/c we keep the box in the small laundry room so the dust was really noticeable - not much space to spread out). I hated it. Dust all over everything and upset my sinuses.
The wheat litter is my favorite. You can get clumping wheat litter. It doesn't smell like much of anything. It doesn't smell perfumey, but it neutralizes the smells. I throw some baking soda in with their litter to help neutralize smell also. I find it easy to clean, it doesn't hurt if they ingest it while grooming, and there is literally NO DUST. It tracks the same as any other litter, but no dust made the biggest difference for me. It is more expensive than cheap clay litter, but about the same price as name-brand (Fresh Step/Arm & Hammer) litter.
I use Nature's Miracle:
am going to have to try this wheat litter!
living green ideas:
meatless dinner nights
walk/bike not drive (when you can) we live in a rural area and going to town to just get one item is not an option, before we head to town i make sure to have my list of to do's, to buy's etc and map our route so we are taking best route, we also carpool on errand day with the MIL to save on trips/gas
instead of tossing something, post, on freecycle (or similar site) also great resource for things instead of buying them new
compost/garden/ eat local food as much as possible.
and of course all the lovelies from PP