Trying To Do My Part

Today is Earth Day. Earth day is a pretty big deal in my town. Why? Well, I live in Clear Lake, WI. Why is this important? It happens to be the birthplace of Gaylord Nelson. You're probably all, "Who?" Gaylord Nelson is the founder of Earth Day. He is a pretty big deal around here. There is a sign on front of the house he grew up in. The school Ethan attends is named after him. There is a HUGE display case full of pictures, articles and other things inside the school. He is buried in our cemetery. So, we must be pretty green, right? No. Earth Day is pretty much the only day I've seen around here where we make a fuss about the environment. Ethan takes an eco-friendly lunch to school. They talk up reduce, reuse, recycle to all the kids. He comes home telling me how sick the Earth is. By the time school rolls around again the following Monday, it's all forgotten.

So, I've decided to green it up a bit. I've replaced all of our cleaning products with Seventh Generation products. I've been cleaning with them for about a week now, and I love them. They smell like Thyme. They laundry soap has a light scent, and I've noticed the clothes feel different after washing with it. The toilet cleaner is awesome, and works just as well as the other toilet cleaners out there. The thing I really like about them? When I'm cleaning, I don't breath in strong chemical smells. It smells like Thyme everywhere. My hallway doesn't smell like bleach after I put toilet cleaner in Ethan's toilet to soak. Seriously, I gagged on that smell, and I dreaded having to go into the bathrooms to scrub them out after that. It's better for me, for my kids and our home in general. I think my lungs will thanks me.

I bought reusable shopping bags. No more plastic bags. I'd like to get reusable produce bags, but I don't know where to get them. The only bags I haven't bought are Target bags, but Target wants 99 cents a bag. I got 4 bags at Wal-Mart for $2. I don't want to pay $4 for 4 bags at Target. Maybe I can find some neutral reusable bags somewhere at a reasonable price for Target shopping. Any plastic bags we do get we reuse in someway. Doggie doo on walks. Garbage bags in Ethan's bathroom.

I know there are other ways I can make our home more green. Right now I'm researching cloth diapering and looking up Fuzzi Bunz on e-bay. Claire is on her way to potty training, but Grayson still has quite a bit of time in diapers, and I think cloth is the way to go. I've read some things about it being just as expensive and disposable with all the wash you do, but I do laundry twice a week as it is, so throwing cloth diapers into the mix really wouldn't bother me much. Besides, if all I have to do is wash a diaper and not drop $20 on a box of diapers, I'm all for it. We buy diapers every other week, that's $40 a week. Double that with two tushes to diapers, and that's $80 a MONTH on diapers. REALLY? Even with my coupons and our Target discount, it's still insane what we're spending. I know buying a lot of diapers on e-bay is going to run us up, but I'm sure they'll pay for themselves. I plan to just get a couple and see what they're like. If we can't handle cloth, then I plan on getting a greener diaper, like Seventh Generation.

Here's to a greener lifestyle!