Happy Earth Day!

Happy Earth Day! Today, I’ve got a list of 13 ways to embrace Earth Day, every day. Living each day like it’s Earth Day is good for us, good for the budget, and good for the environment. Each of these steps take effort every day and at our house, it’s been a gradual process with getting my family on board.

Adopting one of these new habits every month and making small changes to established habits really help make the changes stick. Here’s how we’re trying to make Earth Day an every day occurrence.

1. Add recycling basket next to garbage can under sink in kitchen. We’ve also eliminated garbage cans from several rooms and use recycling baskets instead.
2. Place fruit and veggie scraps in metal bucket next to sink to compost. Once added to our compost bins in the garden, we’re adding nutrients back into the soil.
3. Set up recycling area with bins/buckets on our side porch for convenience. Rather than going outside, we have a recycling station that’s easy to reach and even when it’s rainy, we can get to it.
4. Add scratch paper basket in kitchen – envelopes, junk mail can be note paper. Snail-mail can easily be reused.
5. Save plastic grocery bags, produce bags for recycling and bring our bags when shopping. Because the amount of garbage we’re generating is less, we only have once-a-month garbage collection.
6. Use cloth napkins and not paper napkins. Each person has their own color of cloth napkin – which cuts down on confusion and washing.
7. Designate water bottle and carry along rather than buying plastic water bottles. This has saved us from buying bottled water!
8. Use wash-cloths instead of paper towels. I’m down to buying 1-roll of paper towels a year – and yes, I keep them hidden.
9. Save veggie scraps and chicken/meat bones in freezer to make stock. What doesn’t get composted, gets made into broth that we can use when cooking beans or in soups/stews.
10. Buy items second-hand, first. Instead of buying items brand new, we’re being patient and looking at garage/estate sales. Shopping trips begin at the second-hand store!
11. Buy food from bulk bins and limit food packaging. This has really saved us money on our grocery bill and there’s no waste.
12. Meal plan dinners and reduce/eliminate food waste. With weekly meal planning, we eat the food we have rather than letting it go to waste.
13. Hanging laundry to dry. 10 minutes in the dryer is all our clothes really need and then we hang them. Well, Brad and I do ours that way. Not sure what the teens do but their laundry is their responsibility.

Yes, happy Earth Day but let’s make it happy Earth year, shall we?

How do you celebrate Earth Day?

Go Gingham related links:

Reusing glass jars and how to get them ready for re-use
Frugal grocery shopping – without coupons!
Composting tips – add richness to your soil with scraps from the kitchen
How to invite bees to your garden – we really need bees
5 spots to start a garden – even in small yards like mine
How to use egg shells in the garden – you can do this today!

More related links:

I’m sharing more about Earth Day over on Relish.com and a very special project I did for Glad©. They’re putting “Waste In Focus.” Search the hashtag #WasteInFocus to read more about it!

If you live in Portland, Oregon, I’ll be buying groceries for unsuspecting shoppers at New Seasons Market stores today. Look for me at the Concordia store in the morning and the Seven Corners store in the afternoon. Earthbound Farm is paying for the groceries so make sure you’re cart is full of sustainable, organic products and – BYOB – bring your own bags!

There’s more about Earth Day! My appearance on AMNW and tips for reducing food waste is below…

http://swfs.bimvid.com/player-3.2.15.swf