I came up with this resolution because I hate trash. I hate things that are lying around my house that I don't know what to do with. I hate plastic containers that I know will not get recycled. I hate excess packaging. It seems like we take a bag of garbage out every other day. There is litter all over our local beaches. I find litter in the wooded area of our yard. It's all just too much, and people don't seem to give a damn, so I decided to do my small part to help save our planet.
My first thought was to make my own laundry detergent. I've seen plenty of posts on it and it seems fairly easy (most recipes call for just 3 ingredients). And if I could make my own and keep using the same big jug over and over I could save us money and reduce waste. But then I started looking into it more and found out that homemade laundry detergents don't really work. Trust me, I was crushed. I was already to get my crunchy granola self in gear, save a ton of money, and never have big bulky plastic containers to throw away ever again. But the explanation made sense so I abandoned that idea for other ones.
My next step was reducing the amount of plastic packaging that I buy. Now, when I go to the grocery store, I don't use the plastic produce bags, I try to buy produce that is not wrapped in any sort of plastic or in a container, and I avoid most prepackaged foods if I can. And, of course I bring my own shopping bags (duh).
Ok, now what?
Randomly, I saw a post from a dear friend on Facebook that inadvertently became a thread about Norwex. Nor-what? I had never heard of them yet plenty of people were professing their undying love for the brand. So I did some investigating and fell down a rabbit hole of environmentally-friendly, sustainable products. I started with the Norwex body cloths because my friend said she loved how well they worked and hadn't bought face wash in over a year (!) thanks to these cloths. My expectations were low but as it turns out I was pleasantly surprised and now I don't have to buy face wash anymore!
This is as far as I've gotten with my quest to lessen my carbon footprint but seeing as it's only March and I plan to make this an ongoing part of my life and my family's life (whether they like it or not!) I think I'm doing well so far, especially since my resolutions of year's past never made it past the first week of February or I just never bothered to make them at all.
If you have any suggestions for ways I can further reduce my carbon footprint or be environmentally conscious, drop me a comment!
PS I do not get any kind of compensation for the products I talk about, I just like sharing what I love.
PPS Whenever I talk about New Year's Resolutions I always think of the scene in the movie Mermaids where Winona Ryder's character is talking to her little sister (played by Christina Ricci) and she asks her if she wants to make any New Year's resolutions. Ricci's character asks "What's a resolution?" to which Ryder responds "They're kind of like wishes." No, Winona! No No No! That is not what a resolution is at all! It's always been my pet peeve.
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