New Years Resolution Update…
So my New Year’s resolution was to try to be more green. I think I’m doing pretty good. We’ve been recycling EVERYTHING. Even the gross food containers of spoiled food, I plug my nose and clean them out for recycling. We recycle junk mail and the newspaper ads we get.
I looked into replacing our bulbs in the house with energy-efficient bulbs. I found big lots of them on eBay which is probably the way we’ll go… but maybe next month because we have a lot of wedding gifts to buy!
I did pick up some sweet reusable bags from baggubag.com. Josh is embarassed to be seen with me because everytime we’re at a checkout at like Target or Albertsons and even Macy’s this weekend I pulled out a bag from my purse and said “Don’t worry about it, I have my own bag.” Btw, they don’t make it easy to use your own bags at the self checkout counters… “unexpected item in bagging area, please wait for assistance”… ugh. And they’re afraid to touch your bags at the grocery stores and department stores they just hand you all the stuff to bag it yourself
I also use a lot less paper towels now and I’ve been cleaning windows in the house with a squegee and water instead of paper towels and windex. I am feeling very good about my newly green ways 
It reduces all the plastic bag clutter we usually have under our sink and we have way less garbage on garbage day too!
Another tip… you can recycle all those plastic bags at local Ralph’s stores or Smart & Final stores! That’s where I took a whole bunch of our bags.
That’s a great idea with the bags- I have massive amounts of those bags under the sink and have so many that I throw out all the time. I actually use alot of paper towels for cleaning up messes, etc. I felt it was better to use paper towels than an icky germy sponge. I’ll have to look into alternatives. Good job with your resolution!
I think cloths are better for cleaning than paper towels and they hold less germs… but for cleaning mirrors or glass I’m not so sure…
I started using a mug at work instead of the supplied paper or styrofoam cups too!
As far as “Energy Saving Bulbs” go, You still cannot use 95% of them in dimmer or photocell lamps. I find this perplexing (big word alert) because many homeowners have these types of light fixtures in & outside their homes. Here is a site that stocks these types of bulbs:
http://www.edf.org/page.cfm?tagID=633&fixture=0&shape=0&feature1=1
I see a lot of dimmer bulbs that are energy saving bulbs… maybe because we’re in California there’s more selection?
The thing about dimmers that are energy saving bulbs is that they don’t have the range a traditional dimmer bulb does.. they go to about 20% and then off… it’s lacking that 0-10% range.
jake and i are into re-usable bags but i’m not crazy about buying the ones with PUBLIX or KROGER on them b/c if i bring them to a competitor, they frown at us! i’ll have to check that site out. bringing a bag all the time - even on shopping trips for clothes or shoes or etc is a good idea too. i can put it in my purse and bring it out when i need it.
good post!
i see those bags at tops, but i feel too stupid. im wasteful in that respect. but i use the plastic bags i do have all the time at home. They’re good for wastebasket liner bags. I went out and got those energy saving lights too. I dont know if i’ve noticed a difference in my bill or not though, cuz i think joe’s fish tank wastes a lot of energy.