Tuesday, January 13, 2009

2008 in review

Well I have now officially been on the green bandwagon for 2 years now. I have learned a lot and I have found that I still have a long way to go. I thought I would record my big changes from 2008 and think about what I want to accomplish in 2009.
I accomplished most of my goals for 2008 but I did not get to all of them.

Here were my goals for 2008
1. Order natural nail polish. So I can paint my nails again.
I did not do this but my mom did and I tried hers it works great with no smell.
2. Use less paper towels and more washable towels instead
I bought cloth napkins and dish towels. I rarely ever use paper towels. In fact I this year we never even bought paper towels this year.
3. Find a way to stop buying bottled water. I hate the taste of our tap water.
We are now using a Brita to filter our water and it tastes much better this way.
4. Get reusable non plastic water bottles for the family
Done we LOVE our Klean Kanteens
5. Buy non plastic storage containers for leftovers
We use mostly glass for freezing food and BPA free plastic for storing food other foods.
6. Change the cats litter to something better for the environment
Still working on this one
7. Buy more organic cotton and eco friendly fiber clothes, towels, etc and less conventional materials
I buy organic when ever I can although I still buy conventional materials sometimes.
8. Work on a plan to produce more veggies from our garden and store them using my new food saver.
We have over 15 peppers from our garden in the freezer right now (around here that should last a month or two).

Other things I have done in 2008
Got a bread machine so I can make organic bread and pizza crust.
Bought mostly only eco friendly and handmade gifts for Christmas.
Bought these reusable produce bags for when I buy fruits and veggies.
Started making and freezing my own beans so I no longer use canned. HEB has organic pinto and black beans in their bulk section.
Made playdough for the kids instead of buying the chemical filled stuff.
Purchased reusable plates, cupcake holders, and other party supplies.

Saved power by not using it for 2 weeks after Hurricane Ike :)



Goals for 2009
1. Try the everlasting vanilla
2. Work on the garden to produce enough veggies that I do not have to buy them any more.
3. Give eco friendly gifts
4. Make reusable fabric gift wrap
5. Change the cats litter to something better for the environment
6. Buy only what I need and donate everything we do not use.
7. Give my kids eco friendly birthday parties.

I am going to keep thinking of other goals. Let me know if you have any suggestions.

2 comments:

Cindy said...

Kudos to you!!

We started using cloth napkins this year and have become bigger users of dish towels. Each roll of paper towels last for months now. Do you have anything that works well for mirrors other than paper?

Because I am an English teacher, I make sure I save any paper that has printing on only one side. I stick it back in the printer and print rough drafts/grade reports on the other side. I suppose that's only helpful if you're printing a lot.

We use fabric grocery bags, but that's so basic I'm sure you're already there. That, and I refuse any plastic bags even if I don't have a fabric one on me.

Let me know what you find out about the litter!

Jenifer said...

I use a special cloth just for glass for mirrors. I think I got it at WalMart.
I do you grocery bags and I am pretty good at remembering them. I am working at always remembering them when I go into any store not just the grocery store. Just another thing I have to keep in my huge diaper bag.