Since I've been a teenager I have been interested in "saving the animals" and "helping the environment" but I didn't really know what to do and as I became an older teenager and then college student these ideas were pushed out of my mind in favor of boys, friends, and getting a job. After living on my own for awhile I started to think about choices I made at the grocery store. This was the first step for me. Standing in the grocery store aisle looking at the paper towels and thinking, "I guess it would be better to buy the recycled ones." It was a very small step, but when you are just starting out it is a step in the right direction. Eventually, I switched to recycled paper towels, toilet paper, tissues, and paper napkins. Currently, we are thinking about trying to be even better about some of these products and maybe doing things like making our own tissues, but that will come later.
I tried buying biodegradable trash bags, but that was a fiasco! If you use these corn-based bags and go away for a few days with trash in them, they will start to biodegrate- right there in your trash can- and that is a big mess! So I gave up on that for the time being.
Other small and basically painless steps were to buy environmentally-friendly cleaning products. In the end I have learned that a better step is to go to cleaners you make yourself.
Vinegar and baking soda can be used to clean most things and they are cheaper than products that are say they are good for the environment but may have questionable ingredients and are also at a premium price. Over time I have learned that even green products are not always as green as they say and often have ingredients that you don't have a clue what they do. Vinegar and baking soda are pretty straight forward and I have faith in the idea that they have been around a long time and I have yet to read that they cause toxic mutations to our DNA :) If you are interested in this, there are lots of recipes on the internet about make-your-own natural cleaners. I will say that we keep straight vinegar in a spray bottle to clean up the kitchen, although I do use bleach if we have meat. It works great as a fabric softener and to clean your glasses as well as a floor cleaner.
Reality check: I will include my own foilables and admit that I give in to the marketing glitter at times (or many, many times). Recently, I gave in and bought fabric softener because our laundry was a bit musty. This happens when you get busy and forget to change the loads- shame on me. So I got what I thought was Method Fabric Softener and was adding it to the clothes. Until today when I realized I has bought detergent (the Method bottles look pretty similar and I got confused). The end result was that I was adding double soap to the loads. Now I feel pretty dumb and think I will go back to the vinegar.
Also instead of softener or in addition to it, you can buy wool dryer balls. These are awesome because they are quieter than plastic ones and also I think that plastic gives off weird chemicals when you heat it up. I have three and that is a good number for an average load. I have heard you can take a wool dryer ball and add a few drops of essential oil and then put it in an old sock. This way you can have a nice smell to your clothes and the sock protects your clothes from getting oil on them. I have not tried this yet so please let me know if you do.
Product endorsement: I don't get any money from any companies to say I like stuff so this is my true opinion. I will tell you actual products I think are good from time to time. This one is for the Rubbermaid Reveal Spray Mop. It's $36 at Amazon athough I got it at Target. I like it because you can use your own cleaning solution (we use vinegar). It has pads for sweeping and for wet mopping. Personally, I think the sweeping pads have not been that great. The wet mop pads work well for both. We just dry mop up the crumbs and then dustbust up the pile at the end. It is a lot better than the Swiffer disposable pads.
Stay tuned for further ideas from this environmental/ shoppaholic/ materialistic-tendency-fighting girl :)
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