Thursday 24 May 2012

Goal 69: Healthy Homemaking Step #1

I was really happy to get Stephanie Langford's e-book Healthy Homemaking a couple of years ago. Stephanie's website, Keeper of the Home, was a really welcome find when I first got into improving the nutrition in our diet. Stephanie lives somewhere near Vancouver, BC which is just a hop, skip and a jump from my old neighbourhood, which means that she faces many of the same food sourcing challenges that I do.
Source.
I think I have mentioned that I love lists. So when I can find an e-book that is essentially a list of steps one can take to be more healthy, frugal and environmentally friendly, with a bunch of information on how to do it, I'm sold. I have wanted to work through this book in an organized manner for a while, which is why it is in my goals, so here is what I am learning and have learned as I have read and re-read this book over the past year. Hopefully you can find some ideas that inspire you to!


Her first step is to Reduce Waste because just by considering what goes into your trash can really make you reevaluate what you are doing. I like to use the idea of reduce, reuse, recycle.

Reduce
There are a huge number of areas that need to be reduced and the first step is to simply question your purchases, as well as the packaging they come in. I once bought a huge package of toilet paper from costco, but once I found out that each roll was individually wrapped within the package, I knew I would never buy this again. Then once you have stemmed the tide of items coming into your house you can start to get rid of the junk!

A GREAT place to start this task can be kitchen paperTwo of the best things we have done is to eliminate both paper towels and napkins. We have some cloth napkins we can use if we have company, or we just simply deal with dirty hands until we are finished eating and then wash them. Sometimes we might choose to wipe down our glass if we want to continue using it. It's not a big deal.


We also have eliminated paper towels which is something I was really hesitant to do at first, but I think the trick is to be super simple about rags. Just have a bunch of rags that are available, and don't be too concerned if you feel you want to throw them away or bleach out the colours. If the idea of using them to clean you toilet and then other things grosses you out remember at the hospital we use face clothes to wash everything and then just wash them in really hot water with strong soap. Now as we find shirts and pi's that need to be replaced we just cut them up, ready for the rag bag. We have a constant, free supply. And we have used these rags for everything from checking oil, draining bacon to washing windows. They work great every time.

Reuse
You know why your Dad never lets you throw anything away? Because many things can be really useful later. Containers, art supplies, scraps of wood, old frames, scraps of fabric. There are many many things that can become useful later. The trick is to only keep what you can realistically store, and to actually look for opportunities to use it. Whenever you feel like you need to buy something, first take a moment to try a find a solution from items and stuff you already have. If that doesn't work, try to just do without!


Recycle
The other kind of paper that can be a real challenge is junk mail and handouts, which seems to only increase if you have kids. The first line of defence? Open mail near a recycling bin. Now, I don't even read most of my mail. I just look at the envelope and if it is personal or a business that I actually use I will open it. Everything else just gets immediately recycled. We also choose to recycle computer paper, and will often use the 2nd side for less important things. In out office we have a divided tray that holds our paper, including fresh paper and recycled paper. Also check out how I organized my files and decided what to keep.


 Let's just assume you live in North America in a town or within a drive of a town. This means you have access to recycling. But is your house set up for you to recycle? Do you currently have a place to store your recycling? Is it in an area of your house that no one ever goes to? Think about your garbage can. Most people have them under their sink, right where they would need them, yet we put our recycling bins in the garage. Maybe you can leave those there, but put a small tray near your mail, one in your office and one in your kitchen for recycling. Just having access will make the process a whole lot easier.


Also consider what you do with bottles. Do you hate going to the bottle depot? Then don't! In large cities there are many homeless people who go around collecting bottles. Give your bottles to them. Or if that isn't convenient simply save your bottles for a charity. Just throw them all in a big bag and once it is full give them to the next person you can find who will take them. Just don't worry about it!


Also, start considering Goodwill as a recycling depot. It is a place where they will take your old stuff that you don't want and use it to fundraise for charity. I have gotten some great stuff at Goodwill that I am glad others wanted to get rid of! I find that thinking of the people who are using these services makes me feel a lot better about giving the stuff away, and it certainly feels much better than just throwing it away. However, Kanga and Tigger have worked at Salvation Army before and have had people just deliver trash, which means these people, who in some cases are volunteers, are now having to throw away your trash for you. Make sure whatever you are giving could actually be useful to someone else. I have set up a "donation box" at my house, so whenever I find something I could donate, I just stuff it in there. Once it's full I pack up a bag and drop it off. Super simple.

Just in Step #1 there is a whole lot of stuff to do and changes to make. We will explore the rest of Stephanie's suggestions in future posts so check back to see what else she comes up with! Do you have any tips for reducing, recycling and reusing? Please comment below!

1 comments:

  1. Nice one. I am now going to review my use of paper products. No reason not to use cloth more. Thanks.

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