My goal is to get GREENER!

[emily26505]

I took a great quiz online to calculate my carbon footprint and I was astounded..and mine was still lower than the average! I consider myself a pretty eco-friendly person; I recycle, re-use, and am very frugal with my electric appliances, heating, and air conditioning. That being said, after taking the quiz you can choose from a *huge* list of personal pledges that require no money at all to get your lifestyle on a greener path. Many of these pledges I had never even heard of, but they are excellent ideas!

Such as..

Putting a filled plastic bottle full of water in your toilet's tank can save a few gallons of water each flush!

This can greatly reduce the amount of water you use per month.

Anyhoo..just wanted to see if anyone else had any similar goals/ideas for this. The environment is such a huge issue to me, and it just kills me to see that such a beautiful creation being trashed and ruined.



As a side note to this..does anyone else have any guilt about buying/stockpiling so many products each month and the environmental effect that it makes by purchasing these things? Because after all, it's not just the fact that what you buy and use will end up in the trash (or recycle bin) but the fuel and electricity and CO2 emissions that were created just to manufacture or produce a product.


Sorry so long, I just have a strong opinion


Oops..the website with the carbon calculator is:

Global Warming Community - Reduce Your Environmental Impact | EarthLab.com

[hotcouponmama]

Have you been to Hotcouponworld's green sister site, Organic Grocery Deals

My thing is, not everyone can afford to be green. Sometimes, we have members who can barely make ends meet. Green might not be for them in purchasing, but they can do thinks about how they handle the waste from packaging, reusing jars, etc.

I think once you've gotten to a point where you're comfortable, then you can start making changes in your purchasing. But you have to be there financially first. You can't let going green break the bank for you because THAT'S not sustainable. So Organic Grocery Deals is really about where shoppers are starting to add to their stockpiles the green element.

Certainly, individual applesauce cups for example, are going to have an impact whether there is organic or non-organic applesauce inside the cups. But being ready financially to start couponing for the organic variety might have an impact on how the apples were produced and what that does to the land, and then of course, recycling the containers from either brand is a good way to reduce that environmental footprint.

It's all about baby-stepping to a greener way of life. But you have to be in a good spot with your finances to be ready to spend the $1 difference on the organic applesauce cups over the non-organic. And that's what the folks at OGD are looking to do.

Hope that makes sense!

[queenofthehivemomof5]

I think going green is a great goal and to help you we have a sister site to hotcouponworld called organicgrocerydeals if you are interested...

of course green discussion is great and allowed here I just thought I would let you know about our other site where you will be sure to find more like minded folks and topics!

[emily26505]

Thanks for the reference, I had never heard of your sister site before, I'll definitely check it out!

Couponmama, I totally agree about the financial burden of "going green". As of yet, I cannot say that I am financially in a position to only purchase organic/eco-friendly products. I am just insinuating that there may be ways that we are not aware of to reduce in other ways as well (ie, the toilet-bottle idea). Another great tip from that website was to go for a run or bike ride outside instead of running on a treadmill in a gym (which uses electricity). This is still a free way to exercise that reduces the impact on the environment. They offer tips on energy saving such as using your windows as solar heat/ac for your home instead of using electric heat/ac.

And as far as the waste from all of my stockpiling products goes, that is where my real dilemma lies..I wanted to have input from anyone as to what they do with all of their waste. I recycle as much as I can, but there are certain things that cannot (that I know of) be recycled, such as razor cartridges, or empty tubes of toothpaste.

It is inevitable that I am forced to throw things in the trash can, so I try to come up with other ways to get green to offset my waste a little.

Just wanted to know if anyone else shares my view or has any tips/ideas etc for ways to reduce!
Thanks to both for the reference to that site, I am really excited to learn how to change my shopping habbits :)

[chitownmelli]

Hey Emily! Great goal, and really hope to see you over at OGD!

We are re-users and recyclers as well. I totally agree on you with the waste involved and I sure do wish that it was more wallet friendly to coupon in a more eco friendly manner. I hope we all get there some day :) I'm gonna head over to that website that you listed, we are always interested in new ways to be green :)

[Kyrthira]

Being a follower of a religion that has great respect for the earth, I say you're doing a great thing. Keep it up!

It does indeed take time, resources, energy, etc to produce the items that we use. As long as we are RESPONSIBLE about how we use and dispose of the items, I don't see it as a problem. For instance:

I bought a bottle of Powerade. I don't usually get it, but they're $.88 and I had a $.75 coupon. Before I bought it, I checked the recycling symbol on the bottom (1). My local area can recycle #1 or #2 plastic -- so I'm good on that. BUT BEFORE I RECYCLE IT, I'm going to be reusing it by putting juice in it for my husband to take to work. Why throw it out, when I can reuse it a few times and make sure he drinks something HEALTHY instead of Pepsi? I just covered two steps all in one -- checking the recycling number and reusing what you have.

The next big thing is reusable bags. I spend a ridiculous amount of my time knitting and crocheting, so I make reusable bags to take to the grocery store. Occasionally I've had people compliment me on how pretty they are, and when I tell them what they're for I make sure to encourage them to get their own -- whether they craft them on their own or buy the store reusables, I don't care. I've gotten dirty looks from idiot cashiers before when I hand over the bags, but I don't let that stop me from handing them over.

If I forget the reusable bags, I usually end up consolidating stuff into fewer bags. When the cashier puts the one bottle of dishwashing liquid in its own bag, I take it out and put it in another bag that has a bit of room. That loaf of bread doesn't need its own bag, it can go on the top of the bag with the yogurt. (Those are both examples of last night's excursion.) By watching what the cashier was putting into the bags, I was able to take home two less plastic bags.

We have a bit of a collection of plastic bags from before we started paying attention to just how many we were carrying around all the time. Now, we use them as can liners instead of buying them. They work perfectly fine for the smaller cans that we have around the house (particularly the bathroom), and they come with their own handles you can use to tie them up when they're full! We also keep some in the car in case we forget the cloth bags at home.

Instead of buying individual servings of, say Jello, buy a box of mix and make it yourself! Use an old margarine container or yogurt cup to put the Jello in. Don't get the kid-sized bags of Cheetos, get a big bag of them and put them in a Ziploc bag and reuse the Ziploc bag every day.

I didn't mean to go on so long, but I kept coming up with ideas and when I get started talking it's hard for me to stop (:

I do want to point out a brand of laundry soap that's fairly green and ISN"T HORRIBLY EXPENSIVE -- Ecos liquid detergent. A 100-load jug costs $10.99 ... that's not much more than Tide in my area, and when I did a cost-per-load comparison I figured out it was actually CHEAPER, particularly when it's on sale. You'd be surprised at how some organic/natural products are affordable.

Last bit of advice: Consider the packaging your food comes in. Sure, you love that microwaveable Indian dish, but every ingredient is individually wrapped. Or the organic tea that has PLASTIC WRAPPING around the individual tea bags?! UGH. Look for things with a minimum of packaging, and encourage companies to STOP using unnecessary packaging!

[chitownmelli]

I like that Ecos laundry soap, I used to buy it at Jewel and Dominicks, and it was fantastic!

[Mothernature]

This is my favorite topic.

I understand the dilemma Emily. Your stance is actually antithetical to the purpose of the board. Many people fail to correlate the relationship of their current shopping habits and the impact their choices will have in the future.

I do not agree green requires copious amounts of money. I have found the antithetical result. Living a green lifestyle entails choices, a little research, and understanding. For example, instead of purchasing cleaning products, why not make your own with static plastic bottles? Club soda for window cleaning, baking soda and vinegar to clean many things in your home, grapefruit and salt to clean your bathtub. When shopping at CVS or Walgreens, purchase bar soap instead of liquid soap, eliminate shave cream, do not purchase disposal razors, and buy only what you need. Make one trip per week instead of multiple trips; rideshare! Purchase toys for your children which have reuse value; not plastic junk. Make your own food, grow your own garden, some great trips from above. Shop and support thrift shops. The possibilities are endless

The organic end is not as difficult either. I've saved $200 on organic merchandise using coupons. It is actually cheaper for me to purchase organic v non-organic.

[austinmomto2]

I LOVE this thread! I am a Mod over at OGD and love all the suggestions, tips etc I receive from all the members.

A more environmentally friendly lifestyle is what my family strives for. All of the previous tips and suggestions are wonderful. Since I have 2 young children, I am trying to instill the importance of limiting consumption, thriftiness and recycling into their everyday routine.

Our family does almost everything that has been mentioned. As far as clothes and toys for my children, they have a lot of hand-me-downs as well as consignment store purchases. My house is not a toy box so we minimize the amount of toys my children have. They have a nice collection of toys but many times they are happy to use their creativity and do a lot of pretend play with every-day household items. Also, I clean and if necessary, tape, many of our containers and boxes that our purchases come in ie cereal boxes, ketchup containers, hair bottles. My daughter then uses these in her pretend kitchen and house.

[emily26505]

WOW..thanks so much everyone, I wasn't really expecting much a response on this topic! I am registering at the OGD site, I had no idea it even existed! Mods, are we allowed to link this in our sig? It would just be a little way to spread the word about this site!