Going Green?

Recently I have been super inspired by one of my favorite bloggers ( Celee at Miscellaneous Musings) to share what we're doing to go "green". Let me clarify what I believe going Green means. I believe God gave us a beautiful creation, a creation marred by floods and sin, but a creation none the less. He gave us a duty to work and keep the land and animals, therefore I believe in being GREAT managers of that. I completely reject the modern concept of "saving Mother Earth", and also reject all forms of "green movements" that put animals, insects, or land ahead of the lives and safety of humans (notice I said safety, not convenience).

But I am convinced that as we do our best to be resourceful and good stewards of what God has given us, that we will not only shine our light to others, but we will live better, healthier lives.

Having said all of that, here are some very small steps my family and I make to be good stewards of God's creation.....

First, we recycle. We recycle most plastics, glass, and cardboard materials (we also do this for money because every little bit counts ;-). We even recycle foil for money!


Secondly, we practice a "re-using" style of recycling. Here are some ways I am doing this.....
I am trying to use less and less paper towels so, on top of the cloth napkins we already own, I am planning to sew more from this old long pillow sheet, pictured below.


Also, here you can see my homemade BBQ sauce that I am storing in a "recycled" peanut jar.(you save money and at the same time help Creation by not adding more production and waste)

And again, below pictures how I am re-using a plastic butter container for storing more food in the fridge. (never put very hot food or liquids however in most plastics as they can leak chemicals into your food)




One more Re-using idea is simple window coverings. I took two yellow pillowcases that we are no longer using in my sons room, and made them into curtains for my kitchen window. It was an odd shaped window and these fit just perfectly! I am not expecting you to put these in the rooms you entertain the most in, but I think they are perfectly acceptable in a kitchen, bathroom, sun room, or laundry room. The best part is you do not need to be good at sewing! I am not a very good sewer by any means, buy most of us can sew a straight line and make a seam. That is pretty much all I did here. Then I tied them back with some ribbon I had in my ribbon drawer. Like I said these aren't award winners, but they are very functional. I use them frequently at night due to the fact that my kitchen window faces the street (well that, and I happen to do dishes late at night in my pajamas, just sayin')




Air purification. This is something I might file more under the category of saving money, but you could make the case that you are also saving a LOT of plastic and production by skipping the expensive air purifier and buying special plants that Nasa has proven purify your house air almost as good (and in some cases better). Here are a few I picked up at the local nursery free with a coupon. I plan on getting more because only one of these was on the list.



Lastly, buy used. I know not everything can be bought(or should be) used, but there are definitely quite a few things you can. And you don't have to be one of those spectacular, trash to treasure, shabby chic women either. Here is a picture of an old dresser (I think that's what it was, although it seems a bit on the short side) that my husband and I bought at the Salvation Army for 10 dollars. We painted it white, and left the old knobs on instead of buying new ones. We put it in our son's room to hold all his legos. He loves it! It stores beautifully, and we couldn't be more happy with our purchase.