So, in an effort to try new things that can both save my family money, and be beneficial to their health, I’m tackling toothpaste!
You might be saying to yourself, “How can that be important?” Well, without a healthy mouth, you have a harder time digesting your food, because your digestion starts by chewing the food with your teeth. There’s also the pesky problem of cavities, plaque, and gum disease that can make you either suffer greatly, or pay a dentist a small fortune.
So in looking through the internet, I found so many recipes I could use for toothpaste that I couldn’t even begin to try them all thoroughly. I have, however, attempted to try the most frugal methods I found.
The first method that was mentioned a lot was to just use baking soda. Wet your toothbrush, dip it into baking soda, and scrub. This method does help to keep your mouth in the alkaline balance that it needs to be to be healthy, and it most definitely gets your teeth clean. The only thing I worry about with using only baking soda is that it might be too abrasive on its own for everyday use, and I found that my mouth seemed to dry out while brushing.
A different method was to combine 3 tablespoons of baking soda, 1 tablespoon of table salt, 1 teaspoon of glycerin, then add water to get it to the paste-like consistency of your choice. This works as well as the baking soda on its own, but it’s not as dry. It also tastes salty (naturally), but I’m not that fond of salt, so I won’t use this very often. The glycerin adds a sweetness to the toothpaste, but it’s hard to say how much it might help your teeth. In my research about glycerin, some scientists believe it coats your teeth, and that this can prevent your teeth from remineralization (basically it prevents them from healing), but others believe that it is fine to use.
The final toothpaste recipe that I tried was made up of 2 tablespoons of coconut oil, 3 tablespoons of baking soda, a half packet of stevia powder, and 20-30 drops of peppermint oil. Mix it together with a fork, and it has the look and feel of store-bought toothpaste! It also worked well at cleaning my teeth and making them feel smooth like the commercial stuff.
The next batch I make, I’ll be changing the recipe a little. I will be using 2 tablespoons of Xylitol for the sweetener instead of the stevia. I will be also be using 10 drops of cinnamon oil, 5 drops of orange oil, and 3 drops of clove oil.
Why will I be making these changes? Clove oil has long been considered an herbal help for toothaches, but it has a VERY strong flavour, so the cinnamon is to help mask a bit of that flavour. The orange oil is to also help alleviate the strong flavours, but it is also a bit of an anti-inflammatory and has antiseptic properties.
Coconut oil is thought to be able to combat tooth decay, which surprisingly was in a CBC news article in September ("Coconut oil can combat tooth decay, study suggests”). It also helps prevent yeast overgrowth known as Candidus Albcans, and encourages calcium absorption into the body.
The reason I will be using Xylitol as a sweetener in place of stevia is that it has been proven to help fight plaque and yeast growth. In fact, many sources have suggested that 6 grams a day is needed for the best dental health! As for storage, all you need is an airtight container. I use small, glass, baby food jars — they are the perfect size for the amount the recipes make.
Wednesday, October 17, 2012
Sunday, October 14, 2012
Been a while
I know it's been a long while since my last post, but it's been a very hard couple of weeks. I took my family to get Vega testing done, and our world has spiraled out of control since then! OK, so I exaggerate but it has been hard to learn new ways to eat! What is Vega testing you ask? Well, it is a machine that reads what your body needs more of, or what your body can no longer tolerate. It's very easy to do, and requires no needles (a prerequisite for my youngest son), all you do is hold a wand like end in your right hand, while the person running the machine gently presses what looks like an embossing needle (rounded tipped metal thing with a plastic handle) to one of two pressure points on two of your left fingers. Seems strange, and unreal, but sometimes it is dead on to what you already know is true that you know it works! (For more info on what it is and what it does, look here: http://www.wholisticresearch.com/info/artshow.php3?artid=80 ).
We are very lucky to have a person in Williams Lake that does the testing, or we may never have gotten it done (time travel and planning are sometimes too hard when you include four peoples schedules)! Body Connection by Joe offers a wide range of holistic therapies, and help. Our tests for the four of us took just under two hours, and told us some things we did not expect! First being that we all suffered from an overgrowth of Candida (Candidiasis), which is an overgrowth of the yeast bacteria that naturally occur in your stomach and throughout your intestines. When it really gets out of control you can get what is called "Leaky Gut Syndrome", which is where that candida is VERY overgrown, and is growing THROUGH the intestinal wall. Then the Candida can "leak" undigested foods and toxins into your bloodstream, thereby causing your body a multitude of symptoms and stressing your body. (for more info on this, check here: http://www.holistichelp.net/candida.html ).
How can something that your body produces on it's own to protect your body become overgrown? Sadly the answer is simple: the american diet combined with antibiotics. You may say "Wait a minute, I'm not American, so why would I have it?" Well, the American diet is a generalized statement of the over processed and high in sugar diet that is become more prevalent in North America. Believe me...I LOVE the taste, and instant gratification of the American diet, so having to give up quite a few things and do a "diet" hurts me, especially since I have lived my life opposed to "dieting" having seen first hand the stupidity of yo-yo dieting. Most of the time people wind up right back where they were BEFORE they started the diet if they were lucky, others wound up WORSE for it! Either ill because of improper diet that starved their body of vital nutrients, or wound up heavier because they had not fed their body enough food so when they WERE off the diet their body screamed "Keep excess fat for emergencies!".
I know, I am trying to lead a greener life, but giving up wheat is REALLY hard for me! I often would have an artisan flat bread for a lunch meal, with other things, but the exciting part was ALWAYS the bread for me. With the testing my family also found that wheat was in our body's does not need more of list, along with nuts, and cows milk. So we have had to make alot of changes in our diet. Eating local is still important to us, so we are still buying our meat and milk locally, our produce locally as much as possible, but now we have had to get more inventive for other things. Now we are looking at wheat free, yeast free, starch free, sugar free, and cow's milk free. At least goat's milk is ok, in small quantities, and my youngest would die if we hadn't found goats milk cheeses, and tofu cheese slices! Bread is now buying Squirelly bread (made from sprouted grains, making it ok to eat), while I figure out how in the heck to bake in this style.
It used to be that I could make something out of the "nothing" that my kids and hubby saw in the cupboards, now I am wrestling with it myself. We have so far spent two weeks slowly getting rid of foods that our bodys cannot take anymore of, and now we are trying to be on the strict diet section of the candida diet. Nothing that can promote yeast growth. So most fruit is out the window, and what little we can have is limited because fruit has sugars that can help the candida live. Potatoes have starch in them, carrots have sugar! >_<
You get what I'm saying, we have been busy learning about this, and I've been searching for recipes for snacks and treats so my kids have some when they go to school. I think the best thing to come out of this is that now my kids are learning how important it is to read the labelled ingredients on all food, and that the choices we used to make were not very healthy to begin with. So what started out as a change in our mindset on garbage and how to dispose of it, and the costs of buying things outside of our community actually cost more for the environment has now turned into an even bigger lifestyle change. I guess that when I make changes in my life it winds up being "go big, or go home"! :)
We are very lucky to have a person in Williams Lake that does the testing, or we may never have gotten it done (time travel and planning are sometimes too hard when you include four peoples schedules)! Body Connection by Joe offers a wide range of holistic therapies, and help. Our tests for the four of us took just under two hours, and told us some things we did not expect! First being that we all suffered from an overgrowth of Candida (Candidiasis), which is an overgrowth of the yeast bacteria that naturally occur in your stomach and throughout your intestines. When it really gets out of control you can get what is called "Leaky Gut Syndrome", which is where that candida is VERY overgrown, and is growing THROUGH the intestinal wall. Then the Candida can "leak" undigested foods and toxins into your bloodstream, thereby causing your body a multitude of symptoms and stressing your body. (for more info on this, check here: http://www.holistichelp.net/candida.html ).
How can something that your body produces on it's own to protect your body become overgrown? Sadly the answer is simple: the american diet combined with antibiotics. You may say "Wait a minute, I'm not American, so why would I have it?" Well, the American diet is a generalized statement of the over processed and high in sugar diet that is become more prevalent in North America. Believe me...I LOVE the taste, and instant gratification of the American diet, so having to give up quite a few things and do a "diet" hurts me, especially since I have lived my life opposed to "dieting" having seen first hand the stupidity of yo-yo dieting. Most of the time people wind up right back where they were BEFORE they started the diet if they were lucky, others wound up WORSE for it! Either ill because of improper diet that starved their body of vital nutrients, or wound up heavier because they had not fed their body enough food so when they WERE off the diet their body screamed "Keep excess fat for emergencies!".
I know, I am trying to lead a greener life, but giving up wheat is REALLY hard for me! I often would have an artisan flat bread for a lunch meal, with other things, but the exciting part was ALWAYS the bread for me. With the testing my family also found that wheat was in our body's does not need more of list, along with nuts, and cows milk. So we have had to make alot of changes in our diet. Eating local is still important to us, so we are still buying our meat and milk locally, our produce locally as much as possible, but now we have had to get more inventive for other things. Now we are looking at wheat free, yeast free, starch free, sugar free, and cow's milk free. At least goat's milk is ok, in small quantities, and my youngest would die if we hadn't found goats milk cheeses, and tofu cheese slices! Bread is now buying Squirelly bread (made from sprouted grains, making it ok to eat), while I figure out how in the heck to bake in this style.
It used to be that I could make something out of the "nothing" that my kids and hubby saw in the cupboards, now I am wrestling with it myself. We have so far spent two weeks slowly getting rid of foods that our bodys cannot take anymore of, and now we are trying to be on the strict diet section of the candida diet. Nothing that can promote yeast growth. So most fruit is out the window, and what little we can have is limited because fruit has sugars that can help the candida live. Potatoes have starch in them, carrots have sugar! >_<
You get what I'm saying, we have been busy learning about this, and I've been searching for recipes for snacks and treats so my kids have some when they go to school. I think the best thing to come out of this is that now my kids are learning how important it is to read the labelled ingredients on all food, and that the choices we used to make were not very healthy to begin with. So what started out as a change in our mindset on garbage and how to dispose of it, and the costs of buying things outside of our community actually cost more for the environment has now turned into an even bigger lifestyle change. I guess that when I make changes in my life it winds up being "go big, or go home"! :)
Thursday, September 20, 2012
Greener Hair Care
Today I'm going to talk about my hair care regiment, which is pretty much nothing at all! I use a total of four items to care for my hair! Baking soda, apple cider vinegar, water, and (once in a blue moon) olive oil!
I know, you're asking yourself "What the heck?", but I wash my hair with 2 Tablespoons of baking soda mixed into one liter of warm water. Now you're saying to yourself, "That's not shampoo!", and you're right, it's the no shampoo method (Some call it the "No 'Poo Method", but it sounds bad..lol!).
Now why would I rather use baking soda and water to wash my hair? Simple, it's a green choice, and I know that the ingredients do not cause cancer. Why would I say that shampoo can cause cancer?! I'm not saying that ALL shampoos cause cancer, but it sure is hard to find the ones that DON'T have ingredients that cause cancer, AND when you do find them, they are quite expensive!
With Baking soda as my "shampoo", I can get a box of it for a dollar, and wash my hair possibly over 100 times for that $1. After all, currently water in our town is free from the tap! All you do is dampen your hair with water, use the baking soda water, and scrub your hair with it, then rinse well.
Now for my "conditioning" method, up to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in one liter of warm water. I get a liter of apple cider vinegar for about $4, and (again) water is free! How does it work? Simple, after washing your hair and rinsing it, douse your hair with the cider vinegar water, scrub well, then rinse well! That's it! If you rinse well, your hair will not smell of the vinegar, although I personally put in about 5 -10 drops of lavender essential oil because I like the smell more than the vinegar, but it is not necessary.
So now your wondering why I have olive oil on the list, since I have the "shampoo", and the "conditioning" covered. Well, every 3-4 months I like to give my hair a hot oil treatment, meaning that I take 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, heat it to body temperature, and let it sit for ten minutes, then wash my hair. It helps make it feel silkier, and (even though it's bad for the environment) I like to die my hair, so it also keeps it from getting that dried out look.
Now, do I suggest you try these methods, heck yeah! Do I say you have to, no. If you do try them, remember that it takes about a month for your hair to adjust to this method of cleaning, since store bought shampoo strips your hair of it's natural oils, and this method works on using the natural oils of your hair to keep it healthy. Even if you don't want to wash or condition your hair this way, try the olive oil, it's great! :)
I know, you're asking yourself "What the heck?", but I wash my hair with 2 Tablespoons of baking soda mixed into one liter of warm water. Now you're saying to yourself, "That's not shampoo!", and you're right, it's the no shampoo method (Some call it the "No 'Poo Method", but it sounds bad..lol!).
Now why would I rather use baking soda and water to wash my hair? Simple, it's a green choice, and I know that the ingredients do not cause cancer. Why would I say that shampoo can cause cancer?! I'm not saying that ALL shampoos cause cancer, but it sure is hard to find the ones that DON'T have ingredients that cause cancer, AND when you do find them, they are quite expensive!
With Baking soda as my "shampoo", I can get a box of it for a dollar, and wash my hair possibly over 100 times for that $1. After all, currently water in our town is free from the tap! All you do is dampen your hair with water, use the baking soda water, and scrub your hair with it, then rinse well.
Now for my "conditioning" method, up to 2 tablespoons of apple cider vinegar in one liter of warm water. I get a liter of apple cider vinegar for about $4, and (again) water is free! How does it work? Simple, after washing your hair and rinsing it, douse your hair with the cider vinegar water, scrub well, then rinse well! That's it! If you rinse well, your hair will not smell of the vinegar, although I personally put in about 5 -10 drops of lavender essential oil because I like the smell more than the vinegar, but it is not necessary.
So now your wondering why I have olive oil on the list, since I have the "shampoo", and the "conditioning" covered. Well, every 3-4 months I like to give my hair a hot oil treatment, meaning that I take 2 Tablespoons of olive oil, heat it to body temperature, and let it sit for ten minutes, then wash my hair. It helps make it feel silkier, and (even though it's bad for the environment) I like to die my hair, so it also keeps it from getting that dried out look.
Now, do I suggest you try these methods, heck yeah! Do I say you have to, no. If you do try them, remember that it takes about a month for your hair to adjust to this method of cleaning, since store bought shampoo strips your hair of it's natural oils, and this method works on using the natural oils of your hair to keep it healthy. Even if you don't want to wash or condition your hair this way, try the olive oil, it's great! :)
Sunday, September 2, 2012
Upcycling
I have to say that I am a little bit different than the average person, as you have seen from my choices in videos, it's true. But being different from everyone else is better in my opinion, simply because if the "herd" goes charging at a cliff, I know I won't be the one falling off. It's kinda like the "big" stock market crash from when I was little, people were investing like mad because eveyrone said it was the best way to make money fast, then the balloon popped, and people were jumping off of buildings because they couldn't face their loss of money. The way I view things is that money isn't the first and foremost thing in life. Yes, it is necessary to purchase things, and to pay bills. What I AM trying to say is that PEOPLE are far more important.
Besides, I am trying to not be a big consumer, so I am working on making do with what I have. People of the depression era had things right! Waste not, want not! One of the things that I do to succeed in this is that I repair items that I can, and if I cannot, then I try to upcycle it.
What is upcycling you ask?! That's a very good question, and the answer varies depending on a person's point of view. My point of view is that upcycling is taking an item that is no longer usable as is, and making it into something that IS usable!
I'll give you an example; I had this metallice tank top that was made of stretchy material, and I really liked the material, but I never wore it (except at home behind closed doors), simply because it was too short for my comfort. Now, MOST people would have gotten rid of it, or banished it to the back of their closet, never to be seen again. Now, I'm sure that we've agreed that I am not most people, so I pulled it inside out, put the side seams together, and sewed the bottom of it together. It now has a new and ever useful life as my FAVORITE reusable (and easily washable!) shopping bag!
I have to say that sewing is my favorite way to upcycle, but another method I have been trying my hand at is upcycling the plastic mesh bags that people buy their oranges/grapefruit in. I crochet one end together, then go to the other end and do a few rows along there, and make handles, Voila! Upcycled produce bag!
Another way I have upcycled in the past was when I had a waterbed frame that I no longer needed, but my shed needed shelving, so the frame became shelves in the shed. It's like I said, waste not, want not!
I DARE you to try it yourself! ;)
Besides, I am trying to not be a big consumer, so I am working on making do with what I have. People of the depression era had things right! Waste not, want not! One of the things that I do to succeed in this is that I repair items that I can, and if I cannot, then I try to upcycle it.
What is upcycling you ask?! That's a very good question, and the answer varies depending on a person's point of view. My point of view is that upcycling is taking an item that is no longer usable as is, and making it into something that IS usable!
I'll give you an example; I had this metallice tank top that was made of stretchy material, and I really liked the material, but I never wore it (except at home behind closed doors), simply because it was too short for my comfort. Now, MOST people would have gotten rid of it, or banished it to the back of their closet, never to be seen again. Now, I'm sure that we've agreed that I am not most people, so I pulled it inside out, put the side seams together, and sewed the bottom of it together. It now has a new and ever useful life as my FAVORITE reusable (and easily washable!) shopping bag!
I have to say that sewing is my favorite way to upcycle, but another method I have been trying my hand at is upcycling the plastic mesh bags that people buy their oranges/grapefruit in. I crochet one end together, then go to the other end and do a few rows along there, and make handles, Voila! Upcycled produce bag!
Another way I have upcycled in the past was when I had a waterbed frame that I no longer needed, but my shed needed shelving, so the frame became shelves in the shed. It's like I said, waste not, want not!
I DARE you to try it yourself! ;)
Ideas for My Retirement
I have to say that my hubby and I are opening our minds for how we want to live when we retire. We want to live in a tiny house, which has a lower carbon footprint than the "normal" houses and lifestyles. You definately need to look outside the box for it. Here are a few out of the box videos that I enjoy!
Friday, August 31, 2012
Our Locavore Forray
Last year I found out about Road's End Farm, which sets up every Saturday at the Oliver Street Market from 9AM until 2PM. What I found out is that if you get onto their waiting list for the following summer, and are willing to pay a lump sum in advance (usually in spring to help with their seed starting), you can get veggies EVERY week that are locally grown! When you pay the lump sum, you get the veggies every week without having to pay, and how much you get depends on the size of the bag you want(which is determined in advance so that you pay the right amount).
I love going to the farmer's market and getting veggies that were probably pick fresh the day before! They always taste better than grocery store bought, AND they travel a far shorter distance! No, I know that not everybody can afford to pay in advance, so don't fret, they sell produce to people who are not part of the presale.
Road's End isn't the only local farmer selling their wares at the market either! There are 14 other venders there, varying from honey, eggs and meat, to spices and veggies. Heck! There's even entertainers playing music while you meander to look at everything!
There is also the Williams Lake Farmer's Market in Boitanio Park on Fridays from 9AM until 3PM. They have a great variety there as well!
The only problem with being a locavore is that you have to learn to cook for the food that is in season. This means that you eat what is readily available from local farmers. A true locavore would not go to the grocery store and buy oranges in December, because there is NO WAY a local farm could have grown them.
I am trying to be a locavore as much as I can be, but I am not able to totally commit to it solely yet. It's hard to change ones ways immediately, I have to say. The changes that I HAVE made though, are slowly putting me on the path. For example, I no longer buy plastic jugs of milk from the grocery store that (more than likely) have travelled from the lower mainland to get here. I now purchase bottled milk, which has travelled less than 100KM to get to my door.
I also (of course) buy produce from the Farmer's market, which has probably (I'm not absolutely certain though) travelled less than 100KM to get to me. I try to buy from the Cariboo Growers Market, which is open all year round, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I'm not entirely sure of their hours of operation on those days, but you can check it out on Oliver Street, across from the KFC.
I do, however, also purchase from the local groceries stores, because I like variety. Although, once I figure out how to can some of the produce that I purchase from the local farmers, I'll be a bit more of a locavore than ever before! :)
I love going to the farmer's market and getting veggies that were probably pick fresh the day before! They always taste better than grocery store bought, AND they travel a far shorter distance! No, I know that not everybody can afford to pay in advance, so don't fret, they sell produce to people who are not part of the presale.
Road's End isn't the only local farmer selling their wares at the market either! There are 14 other venders there, varying from honey, eggs and meat, to spices and veggies. Heck! There's even entertainers playing music while you meander to look at everything!
There is also the Williams Lake Farmer's Market in Boitanio Park on Fridays from 9AM until 3PM. They have a great variety there as well!
The only problem with being a locavore is that you have to learn to cook for the food that is in season. This means that you eat what is readily available from local farmers. A true locavore would not go to the grocery store and buy oranges in December, because there is NO WAY a local farm could have grown them.
I am trying to be a locavore as much as I can be, but I am not able to totally commit to it solely yet. It's hard to change ones ways immediately, I have to say. The changes that I HAVE made though, are slowly putting me on the path. For example, I no longer buy plastic jugs of milk from the grocery store that (more than likely) have travelled from the lower mainland to get here. I now purchase bottled milk, which has travelled less than 100KM to get to my door.
I also (of course) buy produce from the Farmer's market, which has probably (I'm not absolutely certain though) travelled less than 100KM to get to me. I try to buy from the Cariboo Growers Market, which is open all year round, on Tuesdays, Fridays and Saturdays. I'm not entirely sure of their hours of operation on those days, but you can check it out on Oliver Street, across from the KFC.
I do, however, also purchase from the local groceries stores, because I like variety. Although, once I figure out how to can some of the produce that I purchase from the local farmers, I'll be a bit more of a locavore than ever before! :)
Wednesday, August 29, 2012
Reduce, Reuse, Recycle, these are the basics of turning your home into a green home. So I've talked about recycling in my previous post, but I think that I'm still talking about it for today as well. I want to discuss Compost.
Composting can be gross, depending on how it is done, and what you place into the compost. Most composting does not include meat being added (either cooked or raw), as that make it smell bad, takes ages to compost, and add a whole new element of different kinds of bugs and health safety for everyone.
I'm not the best at composting, and I live in a townhouse where there are only two little gardens available to me. Not enough room for a true compost heap that my family might create, so I totally cheat. I have a bucket that I keep under my kitchen sink for raw veggie scraps, when it gets filled, I take it to "The Potato House Project"(http://www.facebook.com/potatohouseproject ) and put it in their compost pile.
I have the option of taking it to the dump's bin that takes plant materials, which anyone can do, but I love "The Potato House Project" for the education about the environment and growing. I also like the fact that it is on my way to work as well, *smile*. Mary Forbes and her husband told me that I could take my scraps there, and gave me a list of rules to go with it.
So here are the rules that I was given: No banana peels, coconut shells, avacodo skins, pineapple skins, or anything with tough skins of the same, as they take longer than a year to break down, and their goal is to be getting newly composted soil out to the garden beds every year. Absolutely NO meat whether cooked or raw, as it has the potential to cause sickness and contaminate the plants that they grow. They prefer no pitts from fruits be tossed in, again the reason being that they take longer than a year to compost. And the final rule I was given: NO cooked foods. I am not sure why this is, but I know there must be a good reason for it. Possibly a rodent attractant (no one wants those in the house!), along with other bugs that might destroy the benificial bugs for composting. As I said, I do not know for certain, so this is speculation, but I guess I will have to read up on this to further my knowledge on the subject.
I also believe that composting is a great way to recycle AND reuse! ;)
So that you can further YOUR knowledge about "The Potato House Project:, I have included a few interesting links, hope you enjoy! :)
Sunday, August 26, 2012
My Road Begins...
Well, my road has begun a while ago, but now I'm blogging about it. Here's hoping that I'm able to keep up with it...I have little faith in my being able to maintain regular posts, but I'm giving it a whirl.
Anyways, as I was saying, my road to going green started a while ago, with recycling bottles. My main reason for doing this was, of course, self serving: money. I buy stuff in bottles, like that bad for me bottle of Pepsi, and would save the bottles until I was desperate for money. Had I been truly green, I wouldn't have bought the bottles of pop to begin with.
So I'm not trying to say that I AM a green person, or that I could educate anyone on it by any means, but this forces me to try to be a more responsible steward of the earth. After all, one day my kids might give me grandbabies for me to spoil, and they MIGHT like to be able to breath without a bottle of air...
Now onto my current endeavors, how I am working on become a greener household, and attempting to get my family to follow suit. I have a recycling "centre" in my house, which is really just a fancy way to describe my three plastic shelves with two old freezer baskets, and a mid-sized blue recycle bin, plus on plastic "bin shopping" tote. The blue recycle bin is always lined with a bag for returnable beverage containers. One of the freezer baskets is for newspaper, the other for cardboard, and the tote is for plastics and cans. I live in a townhouse, and if we want to recycle, we have to sort it and take it to the recycling centre on Frizzie Road.
I have also cut down on our plastic intake by a fair amount, especially since I switched to Avalon bottled milk (you can buy it at Marget Meats in Williams Lake). I like having the bottled milk, but my kids aren't so keen, they insists that it tastes different. I tell them that it's because the milk doesn't have plastic seeping into it...lol! I have to say that this was a more expensive en devour, as 1 liter of milk there cost almost as much as a 4 liter jug of milk from other grocery stores, but it was a choice that I made, and refuse to turn back from (what can I say, I'm pig-headed some times!).
I also take the recyclables from work (excluding returnable beverage containers), and take them to the recycling centre as well. The only problem with this is that I have to take the recyclables from work every day, or else they will toss them away. There is no room to store them for an entire week there, and the amount that comes from work is more than I can store at home as well. This then means that in order to get work to recycle, I have to use gas in my car in order to get these recyclables to where they need to go. I'm still fairly certain that in the long run it is better for the environment, but I wish that I didn't have to go everyday. But if wishes were pennies, EVERYONE would be rich! :)
Well, this is enough for one day, I'll try to write more tomorrow! :)
Anyways, as I was saying, my road to going green started a while ago, with recycling bottles. My main reason for doing this was, of course, self serving: money. I buy stuff in bottles, like that bad for me bottle of Pepsi, and would save the bottles until I was desperate for money. Had I been truly green, I wouldn't have bought the bottles of pop to begin with.
So I'm not trying to say that I AM a green person, or that I could educate anyone on it by any means, but this forces me to try to be a more responsible steward of the earth. After all, one day my kids might give me grandbabies for me to spoil, and they MIGHT like to be able to breath without a bottle of air...
Now onto my current endeavors, how I am working on become a greener household, and attempting to get my family to follow suit. I have a recycling "centre" in my house, which is really just a fancy way to describe my three plastic shelves with two old freezer baskets, and a mid-sized blue recycle bin, plus on plastic "bin shopping" tote. The blue recycle bin is always lined with a bag for returnable beverage containers. One of the freezer baskets is for newspaper, the other for cardboard, and the tote is for plastics and cans. I live in a townhouse, and if we want to recycle, we have to sort it and take it to the recycling centre on Frizzie Road.
I have also cut down on our plastic intake by a fair amount, especially since I switched to Avalon bottled milk (you can buy it at Marget Meats in Williams Lake). I like having the bottled milk, but my kids aren't so keen, they insists that it tastes different. I tell them that it's because the milk doesn't have plastic seeping into it...lol! I have to say that this was a more expensive en devour, as 1 liter of milk there cost almost as much as a 4 liter jug of milk from other grocery stores, but it was a choice that I made, and refuse to turn back from (what can I say, I'm pig-headed some times!).
I also take the recyclables from work (excluding returnable beverage containers), and take them to the recycling centre as well. The only problem with this is that I have to take the recyclables from work every day, or else they will toss them away. There is no room to store them for an entire week there, and the amount that comes from work is more than I can store at home as well. This then means that in order to get work to recycle, I have to use gas in my car in order to get these recyclables to where they need to go. I'm still fairly certain that in the long run it is better for the environment, but I wish that I didn't have to go everyday. But if wishes were pennies, EVERYONE would be rich! :)
Well, this is enough for one day, I'll try to write more tomorrow! :)
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