going green - getting started

Going green!! Whew, where to start?

How about with that nagging feeling up there…

Yes, you know what I mean, don’t you. It’s that I-know-I-should-but-I-don’t feeling you get when you throw your junk mail in the trash. It’s wishing that you knew how to make things just a little better but feeling too intimidated, too busy, and too lazy (I like to call it “tired”) to get going. It’s that inner perfectionist subconsciously screaming “since I’m not going to get this all right, I’m not going to get it at all!” Yep, that feeling has been hanging around, and that’s not healthy.

Do you know, we actually have a box decorated with a cute little recycling sign upstairs in the office. My six-year-old daughter came home from school a few months ago and decided we needed a recycling spot for paper “just like at school.” She made a little sign, slapped it on a box, and voila, we’ve been throwing our paper in there ever since. I just never bothered to let her know that I empty that box into the trash can the night before pick-up! My rationalization for the fib: well, I’m just not sure how to recycle paper, so I’ll at least help her get into a habit of recycling. Nice, huh?

So perhaps it was this nagging feeling “up there” that initially prompted me to write in to the Go Green challenge. Could this be a way that I would hold myself accountable to changing habits? I’ve always been bothered by our personal and societal addiction to consumption. I’ve always felt that conservation at home might help give our budget a boost. I’ve always been sickened by the wasted food that goes in our trash because I didn’t get it used up before it started to grow.

How exactly this will all play out, I do not know. I am sure, however, of this:
1. My kids are excited, and will therefore learn plenty.
2. My husband is on board, so this will be a positive experience.
3. We are finding out an awful lot about ourselves this week.

Stay tuned! We have around 90% of our initial audit complete. Whoa! Lots to share!