Small Things DO Make A DIfference

Sometimes with the drudgery of trying to keep things simple and taking extra effort in lots of small ways to save and conserve, you sometimes wonder if it's making a difference in the grand scheme of things. You know since there are so many people who don't care gobbling up the world's resources without a second thought.

With only a couple of simple changes, our power bill from February to April has gone down nearly $30 (new bill: $86 for 2 months). That's $180, which is more than 4 months of electricity use we conserved in two months.

"With weekly use of just one reusable bag at the grocery store, each person can divert approximately 100 plastic bags from ending up in landfill sites each year". Click on that for one of the many bags we use for shopping. Cloth bags are great as they hold so much. They're also easier to lug around, sturdier and it's great knowing one small thing can make such a huge change.

"If every household in Canada replaced 1 roll of virgin toilet paper with 1 roll of recycled toilet paper we could save thousands of trees for more highly valued uses." Even though we use mostly cloth (except DH ;) ), after the toilet paper we do have in our storage is used up, I am going to switch to this. It's generally not any more expensive than the other ones. Now I don't agree with what they say about it may take more energy to use reusable since we wash everything in cold water. I don't care what they say, cold can wash clothes clean without special formulas. Our homemade laundry detergent is super effective, super simple and cheap to make. I'll post the recipe later.

Use compact fluorescent bulbs wherever possible in your home. They use 75% less electricity than traditional bulbs and last years longer. One compact fluorescent bulb can save you three times its cost in electricity. We have been using them for more than 2 years now and it really does make a difference. We have also switched to all LED nightlights. They cost pennies a year to run. The one we have in our family bedroom is sensitive to light so when it's dark, it comes on but at night, it doesn't. I believe the label said it costs less than a dollar a year to leave it plugged in all the time.

Cloth diapers make a huge difference. If you take all the disposable diapers a baby would use in a week, put it all in a bag and leave it in your kitchen, how pleasant would that be? Imagine that, every week your child is in diapers, sitting in a landfill somewhere, not able to decompose in plastic garbage bags buried in the earth, full of human waste, which is technically illegal to put in most landfill sites, multiplied by each person alive, as that's how many diapers there would be if no one used alternatives. Considering some kids don't potty train until they are 3-4 years old (I know, many train earlier), that is a LOT of waste. For some REALLY good facts on the toll disposable diapers have, Check Out This Website: Real Diaper Association. I like that site so much, I will add it to my links here :)

Another is reusable containers. Where I live, it is estimated that anywhere from 25-35% of all garbage on the side of the road are Tim Horton's coffee cups, which are made from non-recyclable, non compostable materials. Walking down any street in town, you can see how bad this situation is. Now, we have three Tims in our tiny little town, and they are always packed to the gills. They actually had to rebuild one so the drive-thru traffic would no longer interfere with one of the main streets in town (it still often does though). So we have hundreds and hundreds of people hourly getting coffee from just one chain in these cups that will never break down. It's almost mind boggling how much waste that would add up to over time. They offer alternatives for reusable containers but few take them up on it. I think there should be greater incentive for that or they should at least switch to compostable cups (other places have done that). Fortunately it's not an issue for me since I don't even go to Tims, I just have to wallow in it's filth. An article from a few years ago (they didn't solve the problem and it's worse now). Here's a blog which gives a great visual impact of the cup problem.

Wow, those are just a few of the many, many things that may be small changes but make a huge difference.

Frenchy Shopping & The Compact

I may mention this here time to time that I/we've gone Frenchy shopping. What this means is we've gone to one of the many second hand stores in our area :). Guy's is the chain, but there are lots of them in thetown where I live.

I have come to realize that I cannot abide by the no spending rule I wanted to uphold. I will do reduced spending, which is more realistic. I will do smarter shopping.

Why am I mentioning all this? Well, mom took the kids and I Frenchy shopping yesterday. I wasn't going to buy anything but it was hard. I bought some scrapbooking supplies, books (a bunch of great ones I've had my eye on), a scarf for me (handpainted silk, lovely!), an interlocking squares mat and Mr. Potatohead for the kids. I didn't touch the clothes knowing how much we had just gotten rid of. I'm not going to feel bad. While mom was doing her retail shopping, I brought the kids to the playground. I really could have done without getting the kids a toy but I thought the compromise of one toy was better than the dozens they were bringing to me while we were there.

I have been reading a lot lately about The Compact. I'm surprised I haven't mentioned it lately as I find it so facinating and it gave me the inspiration to go ahead and simplify my life, even though I don't feel ready to commit yet. I first heard about it on the Mothering message boards.

Links:

• Yahoo Group
• Compact Blog
• An Article
  
• What really got me inspired to simplify my life; a must see!!

Basically:
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• To go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of disposable consumer culture and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step that, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact.
• To reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er).
• To simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

We've agreed to follow two principles (see exceptions etc. on our blog).

#1 Don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
#2 Borrow, barter, or buy used.

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I couldn't find the exceptions on the blog but I may not of looked hard enough. I think some of the exeptions would probably include items that fall under the category of health and safety, food, possibly crafts and things needed for livelyhood (example, if you need clothes or footwear for work). I would say some homeschooling items would have to fall in the category of need to buy but some may debate that. I think it is a matter of finding what works for you and doing the best you can to reduce the impact you have on the earth.