starting out

I have been a very bad person. I have never recycled, I wash almost every load of laundry on hot water, leave my various chargers plugged in all over the house, flush every time (and teach my two daughters to do the same), drink bottled water and take plastic over paper at the grocery store. All that is about to change.

It is a hot summer day, I am looking for our plastic squeeze bottles to pack some juice for an outing with my kids. I remember the half full glass Snapple bottles I had thrown away just yesterday. How those would be handy now! Why is it that we throw away commercial packaging, only to buy our "own" packaging for our stuff? This is an intruguing question. I have never thought about reusing before. So, if I apply a little thought, I can save money and be eco-friendly simultaneously. Maybe if environmentalism were marketed as a money-maker, more and more of us would find the motivation we need to start making a difference. It makes sense. These days, with the current global financial crisis, more people are finding out that we just canot afford to be wasteful anymore, and doing something about it! This blog is dedicated to the many families and people who have already figured this out and especially to those who haven't.

Here is my objective: I will be writing about my family's journey into green. I will be documenting each new idea that I implement in our lives. In each report, I will be detailing the degree of difficulty, the amount of extra time it demands, and what the savings or cost incurred is. I will also be keeping track of my overall financial success over the duration, since no doubt I will be investing in some items that I might need to purchase, for example: canning equipment for jarring vegetables. These investments may create a "loss" immediately but will realize a gain over a period of time by the savings they create. I will also be giving you a glimpse of how these steps change how we think and act and what kinds of reactions our family has to them. I hope you enjoy the ride and I encourage you to get involved and share back any successes, failures, thoughts or suggestions you have. Share your stories, suggest something your family has tried, or something you have been thinking about doing but haven't quite figured if you wanted to. We'll gladly be your green guinea pigs.