Sunday, January 06, 2008

going green

I am not an enviromentalist. Honestly I had trouble remembering how to spell it. I am not a tree hugger or a granola person. However lately I have been seriously annoyed by something. Ok a few things.

1) There is no recycling on Guam. There is no truck that comes and picks it up. You can drive your recycling down to the NEX, but that is not everything. I may be wrong but I believe it is just aluminum cans.

2)Because of #1, my trash can is constantly overflowing. For example say I buy a box of fruit roll ups. They come in a box ( which I would normally recycle) then they each come in their own individual wrapper and then inside is the paper that it is rolled on. There are 8 in the pkg. so that means 2 for each of my kids. By the time that is gone, a 1/4 of my trash can is filled. But that is just one example. So many of the things my kids eat are individually wrapped. And I am starting to get frustrated by it.

3) Yesterday I went to the commissary for very few items. Literally, hardly anything. But I swear I got 50 plastic bags! I bought a refill pkg.of baby wipes...own bag. And the sad one? A double bagged box of crystal light on the go packs. This is not a joke. Those little teeny tiny boxes...2 bags!! You have got to be kidding me!

4) And I will end here...I promise. Water bottles. We are better about drinking water when it comes from a water bottle. I don't know why. Convenience maybe? Whatever the reason we are much better about it. our kids love the little kids sized ones and down them in a second. 1/2 of my trash bags are filled with water bottles.

So I have decided to go green. Here is what my goals are...

**not be as nice about bags at the commissary. Use tote bags ( when I remember) and use paper. No more plastic. Seriously. I have enough here to line my bathroom garbage cans for the next millenium.

**no more water bottles. Refill the many nalgene water bottles and bottles that the kids have. Do it every night, with a Brita filter ( the water here is TERRIBLE). That way it is cold, convenient and not filling my trash can.

** not using as many plastic baggies in the kids lunches. I realize that many frugal people wash plastic baggies. To me, I would just rather use containers. I am going to start making my kids take leftovers more often, so hopefully that will limit my use.

** frugal and environmental...stop using so many prepackaged foods. Last night the boys wanted kids cusines. So that would be 4 boxes x's any other packages that were in there. I decided to buy one box of corndogs, which are now sitting in their resealable bag in the freezer. The kids are going to have to tough this one out. As will I ( making a full pitcher of crystal light instead of a waterbottle full)


That is all I can think of for now. Anybody else going green? Have any ideas/suggestions. I think this helps me with my want of organization, keeping my house clean and helping with the whole budget thing.

Feels so good to get that off my chest!

5 comments:

Sheila @ Dr Cason.org said...

Hi!

I'm here on Guam (in Yona) and also going green! Just found out that Andersen Air Force Base recycles the following: cardboard, glass, 1&2 plastic, cans and white paper!

Susan said...

Nope, no suggestions, but good luck! We recycle, but we also have the recycle truck come every week, and there are recycle bins everywhere, so it's not difficult to do. If it was less convenient, I honestly wouldn't do it.

Good luck to you, though! I'm sure you will feel better when you're a little "greener!"

Beth said...

I totally understand the plastic bag at grocery store thing. I was at Wal Mart the other day and the double bagged my milk! I usually don't even have them put it in a bag, but he just did it before I could say anything. Maybe I should have spoken up...maybe next time. And I totally agree with you on the water bottle thing. I think your ideas sound great!! I think I may also start using tote bags at the store.
Good luck to you!!

Darla said...

Good luck, like Susan I don't really have any good suggestions. I don't recycle at home but I'm good at saving the stuff, just not getting it to the recycling center. That being said, I save my water bottles for people that do recycle at work.

Mark and Tammy said...

Hey marie-You'll never guess who this is??? Yep Tammy Brennan (Torrey). I cheated and got your blog site off of your sister. I am just so excited that you 2 have blogs and now I can keep up with you. I am attempting my own but it will not be as cute and wonderful as yours is-that is for sure. As for recycling-have fun is all I can say. The only Idea I have is to tie all the plastic bags together and then you might have a chain from the store to your house then you can just load your groceries on and they will slide on the bags (like a belt) all the way to your house. I think you would make it a little "greener"then. Though you might get in trouble.
Love Tammy