The Environment..... What Can We Do?

Over the past few years we have all been provided with so much information about the environment and the pain we are causing due to our ‘disposable’ lifestyle. As the information has been increasing my feeling of understanding and guilt have increased and sadly only 2 years ago I decided that we would endeavour to make a few changes in our home and try to a difference. I truly believe that if each one of us did ONE thing different each month collectively we could make a huge difference. Good Old Mother Earth would benefit greatly.

With all the information in hand and in I (probably like some of you) had absolutely NO idea where to start. Although the information and ‘what was happening’ was great, the information on what my family could do in our little patch of heaven was desperately lacking. I did what comes most naturally to me…. I started to talk to my friends and people who I thought were ‘greenies’ to obtain some kind of information. I also did my research and before long my little family was making a difference and it felt great.

Here are some of the very simple things we’ve done:

Drink Bottles – when the kids or yourself come home with a drink bottle with left over water don’t tip it down the drain, use it to water your indoor plants. Use left over water from dinner water glasses, anything just don’t tip it out.

Bucket in the Shower – place a bucket in your shower and collect water. Again, use this to water indoor plants or do some of your cleaning.

Composting – we had a compost bin in our backyard so I jumped online and became a composting queen. The kids got involved and we really began to understand what was happening, not to mention the incredible decrease in our rubbish each week. It’s super simple and all it requires is an inexpensive bin that you can buy at your hardware store and off you go. For more information check out http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Composting. This comes naturally to me, as some of you know I grew up on a farm in Canada so our composting came in the form of a few very large pigs and another cute Vietnamese pig…..we never wasted a drop!

Potty Training – This is a funny one but one that makes a difference. I wasn’t good with fabric nappies/diapers…yes I used disposable however I made it my mission to get my children potty trained sooner rather than later ~ I couldn’t stand seeing the week’s nappies in the bin.

Household Cleaning Products – I went back to the basics here and used some good old fashion tips here. I used vinegar on my mirrors and bi-carb soda to clean the sinks and baths. This not only helps the environment but also helped my children who are eczema sufferers as well. Sometimes simple is best.

These are just a few of the simple things I started doing in our home to make a difference. I know that some of my friends were inspired (as I was by some of my ‘greenie’ friends who were already doing things) by what our family was doing and they then made small changes in their home as well. I’m no expert on any of this I’m just someone who decided to do a little research and see what we could do to play our part. These changes were made slowly and not all at once, and strangely enough they have become habits.

I hope this helps you on your path to making your home a little more environmentally friendly. I know some of thefamilyroom girls will jump on and share some of their ideas. Also, we plan to make this segment a regular, similar to Jane’s nutrition segments so enjoy and join us as we endeavour to make the world a better place.

Take care, keep smiling and please keep in touch ~ please share any of your tips on saving the environment.

Susan xoxo