At my house we’ve got some various categories of green living goals. I’ve got some personal goals. I’ve also got some full household goals, and some goals that involve getting my boyfriend Dave and his girls up to speed on what we’re already doing well. My son Cedar and I are pretty good at some green stuff, for example; recycling, buying organic food that falls in the higher pesticide range, always carrying reusable bags, using less paper products, never using paper towels, green cleaning, and turning off lights.
But we’re not perfect by any means. Before we merged households I had some specific green goals in mind that I want to work on during the next year, such as…
Buying less packaging. As a single mama and a busy family it’s easy to fall back on buying packaged foods, or not browsing the bulk section first. This is, in my opinion, one of the largest green challenges we need to take on and it’s a big green priority. Right now we have way too many packaged items in our pantry.
Greening up body care products. We’re ok at this, but far from perfect. For example, I do buy Cedar only organic, non-toxic bath supplies, we only use recycled toothbrushes, and we use eco-friendly toothpaste. On the flip side, I have some questionable hair products and lotions in my bathroom right now, can’t find a recyclable razor I like, and have never been able to find a decent non-toxic deodorant. So we could use 50% improvements in this area.
Clothing. I’m actually pretty green with my clothing being that I almost always buy used clothing, have eco-friendly shoes, and organic clothes. My son is another story. It is VERY hard to find eco-friendly clothing for anyone between the ages of 4 years and adult unless you buy all used. Organic, and other sustainable clothing companies appear to believe that people come in two main sizes – baby or full on adult. Kids and preteens have been majorly shafted in this area.
Eating healthier. My son was raised vegetarian, and now will barely touch meat of any kind (sometimes fish or chicken) plus is happy to eat a meal consisting of all veggies and fruits. Dave and me eat more meat (not red meat or pork ever, but more chicken and turkey), and we eat more prepackaged foods than we should. I used to make most food from scratch – bread, soups, etc. but lately I don’t. I think that getting back to cooking healthier will go hand in hand with limiting packaging.
Getting out in nature more. Cedar and me used to go on a lot more nature hikes. In the last year we’ve been crazy busy and while we go outside often, it’s more around the neighborhood than into the wild. Dave’s girls don’t like hiking (or so I’ve heard) but in my opinion, a major part of living green is getting the kids outside often, so I want to work on this.
Using recycled toilet tissue. We haven’t used paper towels in my house for literally years, but we don’t always buy recycled toilet paper, and we should. Partially this is because Dave only likes one brand so far, and we have to go to a different store than we usually frequent to get it.
Greening the kitchen dishes. For the most part we don’t use plastic in the kitchen, but we could clear it all out, we also need to test some of our older dishes for lead and we need to make sure all our cookware is safe and non-toxic. This is sort of limited by price. Non-toxic cookware is more expensive, and I’m guessing we need to switch out at least a few big pots and pans.
So, these are my own current goals for a greener house. In priority news I’d say less packaging, greener dishes, and recycled toilet paper maybe top the list. Later I’ll post some info about how I plan to meet these goals and also post about some of the goals I’d like Dave and his girls need to work on.
What green goals does your family have – do you have any plans in place about how to meet them?
