Tag Archives: going green

Maybe I just need to join a commune…

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Or not. I like my deodorant too much.

You may have gotten a taste of my earth-friendliness through these pages and I’m afraid the older I get, the worse I am going to be.

My husband and I were watching some Paul Rudd movie where he and his wife get stuck on a commune and he commented that he could totally see me doing something like that.

Living sustainably, off the land like that would be incredible. One thing I am really not happy with is the fact that we aren’t allowed to have chickens in this neighborhood. I am obsessed with chickens. And gardens. I am turning into a crazy person!

Two things today have made it even worse: my new cookbook and the show Doomsday Preppers.

Finally spent the last of my Barnes and Noble gift card my mom sent me for Mother’s Day (thanks mom!) on two books Homemade Pantry and Almost Amish (which I haven’t read yet). I’ve been trying to make as many of my kids snacks as possible or at least buying the big bag to reduce waste. This book just made so much sense to me. It’s beautifully written, I feel like I am sitting in her kitchen as she cooks, the pictures are stunning and the message is sincere. Making these types of foods is almost thrilling. You don’t HAVE to buy them. I am very excited to try to make cheese crackers. Crackers! Who makes their own crackers anymore?! I know. I have serious issues.

Secondly, I stumbled across the show Doomsday Preppers. Many of the people have a very different philosophy and mindset than I do, and just about everyone on the show is prepping for a different “end of the world as we know it” scenario. And while I don’t necessarily want a bunker, 150 rifles or 40 cases of Spam, I really like watching the stories about the people who are already trying to live as much off the grid as possible, in case there is suddenly no grid. So now I want an urban garden, milk goats and a rain collector. It’s an illness people!

So yeah, don’t be surprised if when my husband retires from the military in ten years I have talked him into buying a farm.

I don’t know if I should start on Almost Amish or go read Shopaholic to counteract my go green tendencies!

Why I Can Never Be An Extreme Couponer (besides the fact that I am lazy)

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I read LOTS of blogs and a few of them like to post pictures of their crazy shopping trip where they bought $100 worth of stuff for $10. Which is fantastic, I would love to be able to get $100 worth of groceries for so little money. The problem is they are usually buying $100 worth of crap. No real food, just weird combinations of stuff.

I love to use coupons, but I learned very early on that I can only use coupons for stuff that I am already planning on buying. I have no loyalty when it comes to toothpaste, for instance, so I’ll use a coupon to buy the cheapest one. Buying something that you don’t normally buy or use just because you have a coupon doesn’t make sense. (Well it does for the company putting out the coupon!)

But really? My biggest issue with it is the insane consumption of stuff. Many of these couponers find coupons that are worth more than the actual product and buy 8 or 10 of that item so they get overage, basically taking extra money off the bill.  I get the theory, buy this stuff for free and get money off other stuff you are buying.  But it’s just so wasteful! Just how many bottles of vitamins or air fresheners do you need?

I am really to the point now where I am trying to stop buying stuff just for the sake of buying it. All of that stuff just ends up in a landfill and didn’t need to be purchased in the first place. I know I may sound like a ranting crazy person but I just wish people would look at all of this stuff they are buying and realize that they need very little of it.

Now if you’ll excuse me, I’m off to research compost bins.

 

My love letter to my daughter’s lunchbox.

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So. I am an Environmental Management major with a minor in Natural Science. I have really been inspired to try and eliminate as much trash as possible in our household.  As of right now we throw away one bag of trash about every 7-10 days for our family of four.  It’s not bad (at least compared to the average American) but I know we can do better.

This year when I was shopping for lunchboxes for my daughter I wanted to try to have her have as little trash as possible at school.  After searching for ages I finally found THE ONE.

The Goodbyn.

I love this lunchbox so very much.  It has 5 different compartments separated from each other and there is no need to have anything packed in plastic bags.

Here are some of her recent lunches:

Hawaii rolls and meat and cheese... and a dang granola bar, gotta get on making some of those!

This one is not the best example, I have a granola bar and a piece of leftover valentine candy in there.  Homemade granola bars are on my to do list! Fruit leather too, fruit snacks are the other thing killing me! Those plastic film packages aren’t recyclable!

Better… I did wrap the sandwich in a piece of parchment this day.

The square compartment fits a regular sandwich cut into halves perfectly. My daughter just prefers the hard Spanish bread for her sandwich.  It’s also nice that she packs a LOT more fruit and vegetables.

The middle spot holds a drink container but she prefers to just drink water at lunch.

Her favorite part is the stickers that it comes with to customize your lunch box….

The only downside is the fact that the original size (which this one is) is pretty big and does take up a lot of space in her backpack.  Also its up to me to remember to wash  it or at least wipe it out every day!

So while it isn’t necessary for you to go out and buy THIS lunchbox, try NOT using plastic bags for your lunch! There are SO many cute reusable products out there, get to it!