An old post...

Here's a post from my myspace blog. I thought that it was appropriate for reposting here. This was originally posted on April 3, 2007.

I've been reading a couple of pretty cool books recently. The first is Living Green by Greg Horn. It offers a boat load of things that everyone can do to help out the environment, and you don't have to spend any money to do most of them. The other book is The Maker's Diet by Jordan Rubin. It offers ideas for clean dietary living. And while we can't afford to go all out on organic food, we're trying to do some stuff. There's a bonus to most of this stuff too. In many cases, it SAVES you money! Since we're on a strict budget while Hubs is in school and trying to be good stewards, this is important to us.
Here are some examples of what we're doing.
1. We replaced our old school thermostat with a digital thermostat (our furnace had to be replaced this winter). Bonus: lower electric bill
2. We have a clothesline in our backyard that I try to use on laundry day when it's sunny (which happens a lot here). Bonus: lower electric bill
3. We have a compost pile in our backyard. Hubs continues to make fun of me about this one. But I don't care! I know that my garden (when I get around to planting it) will love it. And we aren't sending as much trash to the landfill with the grass clippings and food scraps that we use in the pile.
4. We are buying organic fruit and veggies (when available) with our second choice being locally grown stuff (LA has a lot to offer, who knew?), as well as "yard eggs." Also, I'm trying to stay away from pork and other not-so-great foods, like processed stuff.
5. We try to open the windows as much as possible to air out the house. Also, we turn off lights that we're not using (duh!). Bonus: lower electric bill.
6. We are recycling. For most people, this isn't a big deal. But around here it is. We don't have curbside pick-up anymore (another casualty of Katrina), so we have to take our recycling clear over to Biloxi, MS.You're thinking, doesn't that gas use offset the recycling? In our case, no. We have to go there every month for groceries, and a trip to the retail store on post. So, we just load up the recycling and take it to their center.
7. We have bought organic pajamas for the boys. We will continue to do so as money and need permit. Also, I'm trying to shop at consignment stores for the boys clothes (saves money and is a version of recycling!).
8. The next time I have to buy replacement bulbs, we will buy CFL bulbs instead of incandescent. Bonus: again, the electric bill.
9. Once I run out of my cleaning chemicals, I plan to replace them with good old vinegar and lemon, pending more research on the exact formulation. Bonus: vinegar is A LOT cheaper than the regular stuff.
10. Instead of using chemicals on our lawn, we're pulling all the weeds (there's lots of them) by hand. It helps our compost pile too! Bonus: money saved, no yucky chemicals for our kids and dogs to roll around in.
So, this is proof that a redneck and a stay-at-home mom on a tight budget can be environmentally conscious. I'm sure that you can figure out at least one thing to change. Try it. You may even save some money!