20 Green Things I Don’t Do (Part 1)
It was the first time I hosted a party and used real plates and silverware.
“That wasn’t so bad,” I said after I filled the dishwasher. “Just another green baby step.”
“Do you really think you only do baby steps??” questioned my sister.
“What do you mean?”
“You’re probably the crunchiest person we know. We’re just soggy,” chimed in my brother-in-law.
That conversation happened almost a year ago, but it stuck with me. Am I giving off a perfectly green image? Am I being honest about how green I really am?
There certainly are many ways that I strive to be green, but it isn’t always easy. There are some things that I don’t do because of cost, time, ignorance, local access, and even laziness.
But that is ok!!
Today I’m revealing the “soggy” in me. It is time to let go of that not-green-enough guilt!
20 Green Things I Don’t Do (#1-10)
- Remember to use my Cloth Grocery Bags – I have gotten much better at this, but I do not remember all of the time. Plus when I realize that I’ve forgotten them, I don’t turn back to get them unless I haven’t left the house yet.
- Take Short Showers – In general, I’m not that great at “saving water.” This is especially true with my long hot showers. Sometimes it just feels too good to turn the water off!
- Use Glass for Food Storage – I only have a handful of very small glass containers, but a whole drawer full of plastic ones. In my defense, I have asked for a glass storage set for Christmas 2 years in a row.
- Use 100% Green Bath & Beauty Products – All of Grace’s products are green; toothpaste, body wash, and even her diaper rash cream. Mine are not. I have a hard time with the price. Today I received an order from Vitacost.com with some new organic products for me to try. Maybe there is hope! (If you are new to Vitacost you can get a $10 off coupon here.)
- Unplug Unused Appliances/Electronics – Even when you aren’t using your TV it is consuming energy. Some people swear by unplugging anything that you aren’t using to save money and electricity. I am not one of those people. I’m too lazy.
- Do Paperless Billing – I know I should do this, but paying the bills is already a pain. I don’t want to learn how to do something new.
- Eat 100% Organic – I would love to only buy organic, but the cost is too high for some things and my access is limited. My local grocery store doesn’t have a very good selection of organic items. Currently I’m not willing to give up the convenience of my store in order to eat more organic foods.
- Compost – Growing up we would throw a lot of things into the field behind my house. Now that I live in town it all goes into the trash.
- Bike/Walk Everywhere – I live in an area that makes it possible for me to walk Grace to the park, to pick up my prescriptions or take-out food, or to stop at the post office. Sometimes I walk. Usually I drive. I never bike.
- Drive a Hybrid – And when I’m driving Grace to the only-a-few-blocks-away park, it is not in a hybrid car.
Next week I’ll share with you 10 more green things that I don’t do. UPDATE: Read Part 2 here!
Anything on my list surprise you? How does your level of crunchy compare?
This post is being linked to Your Green Resource because sometimes green folks need to be released from that not-green-enough guilt!
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I am horrible at using my cloth grocery bags! I even leave them in my car. I just forget to bring them in the store. Then when I get in there I realize what I’ve done and I’m too lazy to go out and grab them. Pathetic.
Remembering to take them in the store doesn’t even mean you’ll use them. I’ve had them in the cart and forgot to give them to the person bagging my groceries!
I think we all have areas that we are a bit soggy. I love that term applied here. I have 8 children – there is no way I am hanging laundry on the line in the winter. No way!
Christy, I see a lot of laundry hung outside in the winter in my area. I’ve often wondered how long it takes for the clothes to dry when it is so cold outside!?!
About 48 hours. I used to do it pre-parenthood when I lived in an apartment where I had a balcony but wasn’t allowed to hang a clothesline in the basement. Now I line-dry everything in the basement, so I don’t have to worry about weather and I can do laundry at night! (I have a full-time job outside the home.) One of our requirements when buying a home was a basement that didn’t smell damp or musty.
Great List! 🙂 I’ve done a Green Things I Don’t Do Confessions post and it definitely felt good to get it off my chest! No one can do it all! Thanks for being real and honest!
Thanks, Emily. After writing this post (and the post of 10 more things for this next week), it kind of made me think… What green things DO I do???? 🙂
in france plastic bags have been banished, so (ironicly) the only place you can still get them is at little, local shops…of course they still have grocery bags at the big stores but you ha
(sorry, accidentally hit enter)…but you have to PAY for them. I get so annoyed paying for another bag when i know i already have a whole shelf-full at home that somtimes i just put everything back in the cart, loaded in the car, and bagged it at home as i brought it up to the house! (but that’s more for economical than ecological reasons 😉
now, i have to say, that i am MUCH more motivated than personal/human health concerns than a simple “save the earth” mantra…and my choices are usually prioritized in that regard. Also i love food and cooking so Organic food is one of my first picks, (untill i get inspired by other blogs on how i should be saving more money…then i pull in the budget and compromise for a while, then i read a whole foods blog and “splurge”…and so it continues…) 🙂
I am a sucker for natural beauty products…
the one area i REALLY would like to do better in is buying our clothes in organic/fair trade coton (and that would be for ethics, not health, so much) but with how many kids we have, and the fact it is ALL mail-order (can’t try it on first) it is cost and practicality-prohibitive. The only one of those things i feel guilty about is when i buy conventionally raised meat and when i choose to drive instead of walk for saving all of 10 minutes in the end…
Thank you for sharing your soggy side, Jessica. I can relate to a lot of what you said. Also, I’m sure that if I had to pay for plastic grocery bags that I would do the same thing when I forget mine!
Recently found your blog via Frugal Lancaster and I love it!
I’m with you on the long showers. I’m a money saving blogger and I was just thinking recently that I should do a post like this on things that I do that aren’t money saving. Funny thing was, the long showers was on my list too. I LOVE taking long, HOT showers. It’s one of my “little pleasures” but it is not a good way to save money (when you have to pay for water esp.) and neither is it green. But hey, like you said, we can’t do everything! 🙂
I love the idea of a not-so-frugal post. A lot of my things would probably cross over from the green list. It is amazing how many green things can actually save you money (walking more, turning off lights, using a clothes line, homemade cleaners, etc). If you write the post, be sure to share it with me!
I share many of these with you! Remembering my grocery bags is… ugh.
Can I just say that you shouldn’t necessarily go paperless with your billing? I did this for years, and then the few times that I had a problem, it was murder to fetch the documents. Especially scanned checks. Your bank can lose them. And they just say “oops, sorry!” and there’s nothing to be done. So now I’m a dutiful recycler of envelopes and inserts.
Good point, Sarah. Now I can feel less guilty. haha!
Of course I should probably do better at recycling the paper though….. hmmm… back to guilty…. 🙂
Hey, nobody can do everything! It took me years to get into the reusable-bag habit, and I still take excessively long and hot showers.
About the glass food storage: Consider buying foods like nut butter and salsa in glass jars and reusing the jars.
About bath & beauty products: Have you tried washing your face with honey? For washing the rest of myself, I use Dr. Bronner’s liquid castile soap, which is all-natural and partly organic; it seems expensive, but it lasts a long time because it takes just a few drops to make a nice lather. It works really well for refilling a hand-soap foamer!
I’ve heard of using oil to wash your face, but never honey!
I’m a Dr. Bronner’s fan, too. I had problems when I used the peppermint variety for foaming hand soap. The soap didn’t blend well with the water and the water ended up getting gross. Have you ever had that problem??
I’m trying to get better at the long shower as well. Although not for “green” reasons. I’m trying to save money on our gas bill for the water heater. I’ll be buying a timer soon and using that when I take a hsower. Although, the showers may be a little longer when I wash my hair. 🙂
I’ve thought about the shower timers, but… Every time I think about showering with one, I picture myself feeling guilty when the timer runs out. every. single. time. haha!
When I was growing up my Dad always timed the showers. He would shut-off the water mid-conditioner,, I hated that! So the rebel in me won’t let me limit my shower time. I do however unplug alot of stuff. I plug frequently- used stuff into a power supply strip and just hit the one switch. It also protects your electronics in case of a storm. I do hang stuff to dry in my shower where I installed another shower rod over the center of the tub. I put the clothes on plastic hangers and in a few hours, they are usually dry.
Sandy, was your dad trying to save the world with his timed showers or did his little girl’s showers cost too much money on the water bill? 🙂
There was no water bill. We lived on a 103 acre Plantation surrounded by water on 3 sides. The water returned to the earth via septic field. So no to both questions. So the only thing I can think of is that he wanted to save the few cents that it cost to fill the hot water heater? Either that or he just liked to torture us kids? lol
Well what a stinker he was! haha!