Thursday, May 5, 2011

Trying to go green?

One of the biggest trends over the last 10 years, is the efforts of normal people to “go green”. Whether it is to save money, celebrate Earth day, or just your way of trying to help our environment, going green definitely has it’s benefits!

We all know some of the simple little things we can do to help, like turn off lights when you leave a room, or sparingly use water. Lots of people are buying hybrid or smart cars to reduce pollution or even carpooling with others to work or school and some have gone as far as to completely cut out the use of a car by riding a bike or walking to work.

All of these are such great ideas to help the earth but there are still so many other things that we can do to help and to save ourselves some money. For instance, what about growing your own food. Believe it or not, growing a garden isn’t  hard to do and you can even go as far as to grow your own fruit, veggies, and herbs! Once it gets growing, you can cut out about 10-25 percent of your grocery bill depending on how much fresh produce you normally buy. A garden measuring 25x25 feet, with 7-10 different kinds of produce and 20-25 plants total can feed a family of four for three to four months!

If you do garden, instead of buying expensive fertilizers, start a compost pile! I do this now and can save about $50.00 per growing season on fertilizers and I now have something to do with all the left over scraps from my fruits, veggies, dead grass, egg shells, and dead annual plants (at the end of the growing season; tomatoes, squash, corn, etc..) It takes little tending, once a week, mix it up and water and add soil.)

Instead of using plastic grocery bags at the store, try using reusable bags!! Even though the bags are around $1 each and chances are they will not pay for themselves before they are slowly destroyed,  you keep 20-35 plastic bags per reusable bag out of land fields. This is a great number!! If you spend $10.00 on reusable bags and use these instead every trip, in 10 trips you've saved 200-350 non-biodegradable plastic bags from being dumped in a land field!

Instead of throwing out old paper towel rolls, egg cartons, empty baby wipe containers, old shoe boxes, foam containers, etc.., try taking them to a local preschool. These are some perfect items that can be used for craft projects for those little youngsters!! And trust me, the teachers will greatly appreciate it!

There are so many different ways to help our planet! Lets try to do all we can, even the smallest things and make significant improvements for mother earth!

5 comments:

  1. Wonderful informational post! I love the garden ideas! Thanks Christin!

    XO Shar

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  2. Great idea's I will have to try and plant a garden this year. I'm a new follower from Bloggy moms.

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  3. I think your post about gardening and growing your own vegetables is great. I took this challenge on this year, and am not watching almost 100 little sprouts work their way up to planthood.

    It is not that complicated or difficult, just takes a good variety of seeds, some potting soil, a seed starter kit and some pots, time on your hands and a little bit of online research. The rest is up to mother nature and it really is a miracle.

    It is a great way to teach your kids about where their food comes from. From seed, to the garden, to their plate is a much healthier and more sustainable path than the one we normally take.

    I am looking forward to reaping the harvest. It is not too late to get started. Go plant some seeds today!

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  4. Great post! We are big recyclers and trying to get a bit greener in oour home too :)

    I've hopped over from VoiceBoks and am following along!

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  5. Where can I get more information on compost piles, or maybe you could do a post on one!? I would love to start one but am unsure what you can add to them and wonder where you keep yours: in a container or just on the ground.

    Love all the info on your page. Also, thanks for all your work on VB. You guys are doing a great job. You've compiled everything I want in one site! Thanks tons.

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