I'm reporting on my recently implemented going green changes...
1. Reducing Junk Mail... I collected all of my mail for one week in this pile
to show you how much I currently receive. Here are the steps I took to reduce my junk mail. Step One: Collect all mail in one spot all week to see exactly what you recieve and from whom. (You may have to do this multiple weeks just to make sure you recieve those once monthly mailers as well.)
Step Two: Locate phone numbers or websites in periodicals or magazines. Call or email the companies to request your name be taken off their delivery list. I did this with the Scotts Valley Times, Press Banner & Business Week.
Step Three: Find out which of your bills offer e-billing or paperless statements and sign up for these, again online or by phone. I was already receiving quite a few bills online, but I went thru the rest of the accounts to sign up for "e-bills", "eco bills" or "online biling". There are a few though which I cannot opt out of.
Step Four: Log on to the Do Not Mail website and fill out their "opt out" form. This will stop other unwanted mailings. You know the kind that dont have a phone number or website to contact.
This process only took me 25 minutes, once I had saved my mail for the entire week, 25 minutes total to call, email or log on to end my paper billing or mailings. Not bad! I should see results within the next month. I will continue to save my mail up week by week to visibly see how much I am reducing.
2. Reusable Bags: I have faithfully brought my reusable bags with me everywhere, and even remembered to bring them into the stores with me. Thanks to Erin, I am also washing these regularly to avoid nasty germs like E. coli. Now what to do about the small plastic bags for my veggies (you know the ones that are sometimes wet from the veggie misters)??? I don't bag most of the produce I buy but sometimes you almost need to. And what about the handy plastic bag for meat products, I definitely do not want meat juices to touch my other foods. I'll let you know what solution I find.
As I continue to work on the above steps I will also concentrate on:
* Reducing household electricity usage
* Reducing waste.
3 comments:
Nice! I have little reusable mesh bags for produce. I think Erin got them for me.
The meat-I'm still using a bag for anything that looks like it might drip, otherwise I just brave it without a bag.
this is a great idea! We use a lot of junk mail to help start the BBQ :) and the other half of it I let Rachel use to "cut coupons" out of. She likes to pretend to find coupons and cut them out for me, but really its just her having fun with scissors.
We then take it all and dump it in the recycle bin in the garage.
I liked these ideas a lot- thanks!
I got some super cute mesh produce bags off of etsy. They are great. If you rinse the plastic bags (if they are dirty) and bag them together, they are also recyclable, either in the bin at home, or at the stores.
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