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Today I’m participating in the Ultimate Blog Swap. You’ll find me posting over at The Humbled Homemaker about making tooth powder from pantry staples, and I’m excited to welcome Mandi Ehman from Life…Your Way to Tan/Green:
 Source: Dicktay2000 Several times over the past few years I’ve gotten fed up with the amount of trash we produce each week and done a trash challenge, where I actually write down every single thing that we throw away. We’re usually able to get down to 1-2 bags a week (which still seems like a ton, although there are six of us at home all day every day), but within a few months, we’re back up to 4-5 a week.
As I think about the future for our kids and grandkids and their kids and grandkids, I can’t imagine that our current disposable culture will be sustainable for very long. At some point someone is going to have to pay the price for the bags and bags of garbage that we contribute to local landfills each year, and that’s just not something I can ignore.
(Although, there is a pretty cool park in Virginia Beach called Mount Trashmore, built on top of an old landfill!)
Here are a few strategies for reducing the waste in your garbage can:
Change your spending habits.
What you buy has a huge impact on how much trash you throw away:
- Buy less, and you’ll inevitably have less garbage.
- Buy from bulk food stores. (To be clear, I don’t mean necessarily buying from warehouse stores, where you receive 24 individually packaged juice boxes with an extra package around them, but from actual bulk food stores, where you can fill a jar or reusable container with however much food you need).
- Choose farmer’s markets over grocery stores, or better yet, grow your own produce.
- Avoid disposable products, choosing their reusable counterparts instead.
Repurpose as much as you can.
Rather than using something once and then tossing it, look for ways to repurpose it. My girls can use almost anything for a craft if given the chance, and a lot of packaging can be reused for organizing, storing or gifting.
Similarly, look for ways to repair or repurpose items rather than throwing them away when they break. For example, my husband fixed my favorite wind chime as my Mother’s Day gift this year, and I couldn’t have been happier!
Compost and/or recycle.
A lot of what’s thrown away can actually be recycled or composted instead. Review the current list of recyclable materials from your city or local recycling center and look for additional items that you can recycle instead of trashing.
Even if you don’t want to recycle for the amazing dirt it produces, consider composting as a way to dispose of kitchen scraps and paper products.
Cook from scratch.
A huge source of trash comes from the packaging of processed foods, many of which come in plastic bags or foil wrappers that can’t be recycled. And most of these things – from granola bars to taco seasoning – can be made at home fairly easily.
Don’t try to do it all at once, but try making something new from scratch each week instead of buying it premade, and you’ll expand your repertoire fairly quickly. To save time and money, make large batches of your favorite and freeze the extras for later!
The first step to reducing the amount of trash your family produces is to simply be aware of what you’re throwing away each day. Use this worksheet to help track the things in your trash can and brainstorm ways to reduce them.
Mandi Ehman lives in wild, wonderful West Virginia with her husband of ten years and four beautiful, spunky little girls. As a full-time work-at-home, homeschooling mom, she runs Life Your Way and Jungle Deals & Steals and consults for a variety of websites and brands. Mandi loves coffee, chocolate, easy meals, beautiful things and minimalist spaces!
Visit Life Your Way to see all of the Ultimate Blog Swap participants!
Do you have family heirlooms? Maybe you have items generations old or maybe just handed down from your own childhood. Are they out in the public space, being used and adored? Or are they packed away for “someday” or even just to be handed down yet again?
Recently we found a bowl and plate set in Dante’s closet. We had been holding onto it for almost 3 years without using it after Nathan’s father thoughtfully sent it when Dante was born. It had originally been sent to Nathan when he was born…in 1977. The set was in the original box completely unused. For 35 years.
No more. Now we are using the bowl and plate routinely. We put it in the regular plate rotation so Nathan and I use it as often as Dante and Gabriel, being one, has to wait a little longer before we trust him with bone china. (Side note: where did the tradition of gifting infants with fine china come from? Note the text selected from Peter Rabbit for this.)
We have other items that have been handed down: toys, rocking chairs, jewelry, vintage clothing, artwork…we use them all. And here are the two biggest reasons for this.
- Reduce, reuse, recycle. I will start with the “green” reason. Receiving what others in your family greatly value and are done using reduces what you need to consume. Clearly you are reusing the item – or at the very least continuing the use of an item. Some thinks, like dining room furniture, may be in continuous use while children’s items may be resurfacing after 20 or 30 years. You may not be recycling the item to a new use – or you might. We have silk scarves handed down that the boys used as play silks since I am not much of a scarf wearer.
- Stronger connections heritage With items put away they are truly forgotten about and the connection through that item to the person who gave it cannot thrive. That lovely Beatrix Potter gift set from 1977…Nathan thinks he knows who gave that to him though he can’t be sure. By comparison, we can and will talk about how their grandmother created the Tigger wallhanging in their room because it is right there in front of us.
Yes, there is a great chance that with use will come wear and tear and maybe even damage. So many things can be fixed and, if used by children as age dictates and with care, most anything can be repaired.
Fixing this car with Dante will give Nathan the chance to tell him how his grandfather made this for him as a little boy. It will also reduce our waste and our likelihood of purchasing another toy car.
Using heirlooms is an easy way to be green and keep the connections to family and heritage alive in our everyday world. What heirlooms are hiding in your closets?
Our priest let us know this morning that Mother’s Day is the third mostly highly attended service of the year after Christmas and Easter. I can totally understand that – there is magic in the idea that the whole family would tidy up, sit quietly, enact the lessons of the gospel and be ready for brunch to boot. Weeks and weeks of evidence let Nathan and I know that this would not be the morning experience we would have. And given our 2pm brunch and strangely sleepy kids, part of the Mother’s Day plan became me heading out to church alone. It was the first time I was really able to focus on the words and prayers in quite some time – I missed having the kids being part of the community but it was actually very nice. It was also wonderful that the gospel and readings focused on love and how God has chosen us and guides us in order for all kinds of love to grow. Mother’s Day is all about love though that isn’t the direct connection that was made in the sermon. The words there were more about what in our lives – every day and through all channels – show us love and joy.
Recently I heard about a survey released that determined the happiest year of your life will be when you are 33. I heard this repeated on a few stations that morning. My first thought was, “Is it really all downhill from here?” You see, I turn 34 in about a month. My next thought was, “I could believe that this would be the happiest year of my life.” I don’t anticipate anything falling apart – though I do always live a little bit in fear of that. I also wake everyday right now with joy in my mind and heart that I couldn’t have imagined as a younger adult. The radio show hosts supposed that this was the best year because you finally have it together – family, career, sense of self. And I can see how whenever those things all come together you would have a very fine year and how it would stand out as “best” even among other very fine years.
I reflected on this in combination with the words of my priest and her talk of love surrounding us and it being Mother’s Day. My own family is as of this year formed, fully we think. Gabriel is a joy – all sweetness and light, love embodied, spreading happiness with his presence. Dante is a joy in a whole other way – all curiosity, starting to know and show his own self, touching strangers through his inner spirit. I marvel at them. They were angles as we ate a very nice brunch – as if they could really understand Mother’s Day (Dante wished me many times since Friday a “happy birthday”). It gave me a chance to watch them and see what talk, what food, what interaction made their eyes light up. I marvel at Nathan in different ways – I am amazed that he loves me so thoroughly; loves our children completely and is a true partner to me. We actually share the duties of house and home and family nearly fifty-fifty – something still too rare in a world where half the workforce is female and something that I was sure I would never find. I was so surprised to find myself married by thirty. It could only have been to him.
Oh yes, I can see how this year of pure joy could be the apex though I truly hope it is not. Everything is stunning and truly joyous – even outside my home. I was promoted last summer to a job I find challenging and fulfilling. I work for an amazing family-owned business. I am thankful for my co-workers – my peers, bosses and the amazing people who work for me. I take very seriously that my job affects their lives. And I feel comfortable in my own skin in a way that would have been impossible a decade ago. There is value in that going beyond words.
So on this Mother’s Day and on the month’s eve of my 34th birthday, I say it has been the best year of my life. You can see the four of us a year ago – and I thought that was the best time of my life. Then you see us today. And I think this is the best time of my life. Are you 33 yet? Have you had that moment when family, career and self come together? I hope you recognize that moment and appreciate it for how significant and amazing it is.
 2011 
As someone who loves to learn, part of my job that I truly enjoy is being able to hear speakers from many industries. Working in AV and supporting keynote speakers with microphones, projectors and lighting, I have learned about all manner of things – trauma medicine, eye surgery, banking, electronic retailing, LED technology, the wine and spirits industry…this all makes me feel more well-rounded if nothing else. Today I was fortunate to hear a very interesting man speak. His name is Don Marinelli and in his 30+ years at Carnegie Mellon University he headed the School of Drama and founded the Entertainment Technology Center. He spoke about the latter and I was impressed to hear of all the projects they had worked on – for clients ranging from the FBI and Lockheed-Martin to children’s museums, online schools and amusement parks. Underlying all this was a passion – and I mean passion – for integrating what we think of as entertainment into education. He talked about video games, interactive displays, basic button pushing – all those things that kids currently gravitate towards and that I sometimes carelessly lump into the “fast food world.”
I had a flash in insight listening that perhaps I am overly judgmental about technology and how my children interact with it. Dr. Marinelli’s position is that the new generations are “post-literate” and that providing written material only will never satiate their hunger for information, interaction and engagement. They need more – and that could be in the form of any sensory stimulation. Examples that stood out to me where a request to his group to create video games for kindergarteners that teach STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) topics. It is, apparently, too late to get high school or junior high school kids interested in these infinitely complex and highly valuable (and eventually commoditized) topics – but they eat up these games and improve their understanding. Another project involved a museum with the largest collection of puppets in the world, but due to their age and fragility no one could play with them – severely limiting their fun factor. This team from the Entertainment Technology Center found a way to digitize the puppets and allow for virtual manipulation and play.
That is amazing. And is a product of the technology driven, dare I say “fast food,” world we live in.
And I have no idea how it works.
Another point made today was that the up and coming generation – more so than ever before – knows more about technology than their teachers or parents. It is a big step for me as a parent – and other parents I believe – to hand over our children to evolving technology that we don’t understand and don’t know the effects of. The world is truly chock-a-block full of unintended effects. Nonetheless, this is the basis of the future for which, as parents, we must ready our children.
I find myself sometimes lumping in technology with excess waste, poor quality food and goods, and that bigger is better mentality of today. But technology – “advancement” – can be entirely different. I would challenge even the crunchiest granola mom to find fault in developing new ways for children to interact with toy puppets from hundreds of years ago even if it involves the newly dreaded “screen time.” To discount the premise without regard to the outcome is…well, part of human nature, I think. It is so easy to do as you settle into a mindset whether that mindset be “going green” or “math is learned from a textbook”. One of my favorite lines from a play is “the world only spins forward.” I think it to myself often.
I am not interested in seeing my children left behind the technological curve because we stress a “granola” lifestyle. As Dante edges towards school age I am slowly seeing how very much he will be involved with that I will not full know about or understand – both technology based and not. All of that is a big leap for a simple mom. Folks like Dr. Marinelli don’t just offer me a best possible outcome to unleashing my kids into the world full of technology but give me true hope that they can actively participate in the shaping and shifting of the world around them.
**Reader-Friends, take some time to Google Don Marinelli and the CMU Entertainment Technology Center. There are too many and varied links to include here. Very interesting projects, philosophies, and people.**
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