Green Within Reason

I am a conservative with a dash of green.

My friend Sara encourages alot in this area. She is reasonable. She is not militant or judgemental. If you did not know, you would not know. She thinks I am greener than I am. She was shocked to find out that I do "retail" exclusively for Christmas. Sadly, I had never given any thought to any other way. I look at my stack o' retail gifts and think, could I have done things differently? Do I want to do things differently next year? I'll be thinking on that. It requires a whole lot of thought to be creative. Sometimes it requires twice as much money as well.

I thought it might be interesting to you to see my green inconsistency. I would love to see yours as well.

• We get a real tree every year. It takes approximately 6 years to grow a Christmas tree. To be green, we would purchase a balled and burlapped tree and plant it after Christmas. Knowing both my limited income and my lack of skill with growing things-we would be much better off just burning up a $100 dollar bill than buying a balled and burlapped tree! The next best thing would be to get an artificial one(made in a foreign country by children-different guilt trip/post for another day) and reuse it over and over. I have no skill at "arranging" branches and our artificial trees always look pathetic. I have no guilt over getting a real tree every year. It is so much fun and I love the tradition and the memories we make while doing so. We buy from family Christmas tree farms. This year, we may drive quite a way to support a family farm. But we still will-or try anyway! My commitment to local area farmers is stronger than my desire to "be green". We have even thought of how cool it would be to have a tree farm ourselves, then I remember the bolded item above.


• I so wanted to use cloth diapers with my baby number one. I told everyone to buy us those. My family balked-They HAD to use cloth diapers. They filled our home with disposable diapers and wipes. They told everyone who bought us a present to buy us disposable diapers. They thought it was a money thing-it wasn't. However, I got used to the ease of disposable diapers and never looked back. I wish I had grown a backbone and done it. My kids probably would have potty trained before they were three. I usually buy diapers as a baby gift??? I have no shame. Pitiful. Also, I would not even consider a CLOTH reusable maxi pad. UGH. They do exist and true greenies embrace them. Also there are mooncups. I truly lack this kind of commitment!!


• I hate paper plates, napkins and cups. There is something so wasteful about creating something that is made to use one time and then throw it away. I use them all the time though-at church, cookouts, birthday parties. I do not use them on a daily basis though. Even when we host care group. I like real dishes. I reuse alot of things meant to be used only once. I firmly believe in REDUCE, REUSE, RECYCLE. But I am not very zealous in the recycling my trash area. I do recycle useful containers. I consider yard sales to be a form of recycling as well. The one area I am weak in is napkins and paper towels. However, I plan to remedy this by buying some real napkins. Enough for company. I also have a gift wrap addiction. Love it!(There is something so wasteful.....blah blah blah.)


• I don't balk a bit though about throwing away poopy toilet paper. I do try to follow the ten square rule-depending on the TP quality. BTW-I have totally switched to Cottonelle. I bought it a few months ago because it was soooo much cheaper than Charmin and I have remained in the Cottonelle camp ever since.


• I make alot of food from scratch because convenience foods are both unhealthy and have a ridiculous amount of packaging. I don't feel this way about all foods though-I love a cake mix. I make my own biscuits and now also-my own rolls. I buy frozen veggies more than canned-but this is a taste preference more than it is a "green" one. I would love to can my own veggies, bake my own bread, make my own yogurt, have my own chickens, grow my own beef and pork-but I know my limitations here. I am not "that" woman. If we had to live off of our garden, we would surely starve.


• Someone gave me a basket of used clothes as a baby gift when Lilly was born. I loved it. I not only appreciated that she thought enough of me to do so-but that it took much longer to select those purchases that it would have to do retail. I also appreciated how much more she was able to purchase for the same amount of money. It stands out as one of my favorite presents ever. I'm too worried about what others would think to do the same for someone else. WIMP! HYPOCRITE!!!

So, now a quick recap of me being a hypocrite greenie.

1. I lamented adding disposable diapers to a landfill somewhere-but not a bit over pads.
2. I don't mind wasting gift wrap a bit. (maybe a little)
3. I waste an entire tree once a year-we use it and then we burn it up in a bonfire at some point the next spring or fall. (We usually invite friends and waste paper products.)


4. I hate using throw away plates, napkins, and cups. I don't mind throwing away toilet paper a bit.


5. I reduce, reuse, and recycle-but not anywhere near what I should.


6. I try to be conscious of all the packaging we buy and truly seek to keep it as minimal as possible. I don't buy anywhere near the amount of convenience foods that I see others buy. Our trash company still brought us another can because we have so much trash.
7. I like getting a thoughtful used gift, but I don't give them because I fear what the recipient might think.

Please make me feel better and share your wasteful ways. OR give me a tip or two on how to be greener. No chastising or lectures though, I don't need any more guilt. I keep a good amount of it around already.