Greening things up!

I am definitely NOT the GREENest person out there.  But I do have plenty of hippy in me.  I don't know why, maybe the movie that Al Gore made really hit home with me (you know An Inconvenient Truth, if you haven't seen it, you probably should).  Maybe I learned a few things in school, maybe I've always been a bit of a hippy and now its coming out more as I get older.  Or maybe I'm just taking some of the things I learned in Germany to my here and now...Germany is VERY "green"!  Whatever the reason, I've decided that our household needs to become more "green".  We can only do the things we can afford, and we can only do a few things here and there, but I still feel good about our choices.  Plus, it comes with perks...saving money on your utility bill, feeling good about what you are doing, and helping the environment.  If everyone put forth just a small amount of effort, our world would be a better place, awwww...see I can be corny sometimes!

So what am I doing to help?  What types of things have I implemented into our household?

The very first thing I did when we got here, was add recycling to our monthly trash bill.  Its only about $3 more a month, which isn't a HUGE deal, but it still makes an impact.  I don't think a person should HAVE to pay if they want to recycle, I think it should be a free service that is supplemented by the government.  Still, I am willing to pay that extra $3 a month to help out.

 

 

 Another thing we are doing is replacing our lights with energy saving lights....not only do they last longer, but they can get brighter in a lot of cases, and you will save money on your electric bill!  Drawbacks...sometimes they aren't pretty, but you can get the ones that are prettier, and they are also way more expensive.  For me, the good outweighs the bad.

  We have been planting trees, and I hope to do a lot more in and around our house.  I have a Pachira Aquatica aka Money tree in my bathroom..its a beautiful tree, and its getting bigger everyday.  Plus its resilient to my not so green thumb!

I also have a cute little bamboo plant I the kitchen!

There is my little bamboo plant.  If you look on the window, you'll also see the some homemade bird feeders that my kids made at a Lowes build to grow event.   It is one of the ways we are attracting more birds into our yard, so that hopefully, we will have less mosquito's.  Don't know if anyone has told you...mosquito's SUCK!  Ha ha!  I know...bad joke.  I have learned from my husband, so blame him.

Another thing I'm super happy about, is our new trees.  We bought some semi mature trees, an Oklahoma Redbud tree, and a gorgeous Ash tree.  Both are supposed to do well in this climate.  The Ash is more of a shade tree, and it will grow quickly here.  The shade will cool the house eventually, and help out with the air conditioning bill.  My pretty Redbud tree is more for show than anything, but hey, I'm helping the environment.  Depending on the time of year, the blooms will eventually look like this: 

Photo courtesy of Shade Maker Trees

So how are you going green?