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23 April 2011

Earth Day

So I'm a little late to the party, but hey, you don't have to go "green" on any specific day. You can do it ANY time.  I do my part as much as I can--here are some of the simple things I do and I hope they inspire you as well!

  •  I don't use paper towels but on very rare occasions
  •  I use my washable plates and cups
  •  I bring coffee cups with me to school instead of buying a cup at the store.
  • I type notes for school on my netbook instead of in a notebook
  • I repurpose all old t-shirts
    • Some become rags
    • Some become underwear for my son
    • Some are made into yarn and crocheted into hot pads
    • No clothes go to waste! :)
  • We recycle plastic, paper, cardboard and metal

We keep a relatively modest household anyway--we use our stuff until its dead and then we recycle it or repurpose it. I don't really feel like its "on purpose" or a conscious decision, I just think it comes with being a poor college student and being raised in a farm country where you save everything because you might need it elsewhere. My dad has jars of assorted nails and screws "just in case" and sometimes they came in handy.

Don't misunderstand. I'm not a hoarder. I have no problem getting rid of stuff that I flat out will never use BUT the difference is I don't tend to accumulate a lot of stuff like that in the first place. At least I try not to. Probably someday that will change, once I begin my career and have my own home and not have to rent and move things from place-to-place every few years.

Now for the good part! In the spirit of Earth Day, I'm trying to build up my inventory of items for the home. Including my new reusable cotton dishcloths.  I have several other items in the works to decorate your place that I'm so excited to start on!  In the meantime, I'd love to do a giveaway of a set of my dishcloths to YOU.

Visit my facebook page for a full range of colors :)

I loved making these because some of them are knitted, some of them are crocheted, and I freestyled all the patterns. Each cloth is unique in its own way. The cotton allows them to be machine washed, although I would probably wash them in cold water alone the first few times as I am unsure of the colorfastness of this yarn. These can be used for facial cloths in the bath, or for washing dishes! They are very versatile. They are also quite large--each is 9" x 8" so they are a bit rectangular. Sizes vary slightly due to the different patterns of each cloth, but as you can see from these pictures they fold up nicely and the size difference is undetectable.


There are three ways to enter (and you can do all three)--

***Just leave one comment stating what all you have done to enter the drawing***


These are the three entry methods, then I will draw a winner at random.org next week and that lucky winner will get to choose three of my dishcloths for their very own!  Please share with your friends as we need to have lots of entries to make things interesting ;)

Have a great week!
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16 comments:

  1. veggieApril 23, 2011 at 5:32 PM

    -recycle as much as we can
    -my daughter and I are vegetarians
    -use cold water to wash clothes
    -hallogen light bulbs

    ReplyDelete
  2. KatieApril 23, 2011 at 5:57 PM

    I commented on your FB.

    We use cold water to wash clothes and recycle.

    ReplyDelete
  3. CarolineApril 23, 2011 at 6:03 PM

    This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  4. CarolineApril 23, 2011 at 6:04 PM

    Those are awesome suggestions! I need to take notes from you (especially on the paper towels...).

    We have energy efficient appliances & wash in cold water.

    Only one car, and we try to walk or take the train if possible. My husband drives a scooter to work b/c it uses so little fuel.

    We try to buy from local farmer's markets.

    I'm also a follower & fb commenter!

    ReplyDelete
  5. UnknownApril 23, 2011 at 6:29 PM

    We converted almost all of our appliances to energy efficient.
    Our next purchase will be a tankless water heater.
    I only wash clothes on cold cycle.
    We compost all our fruits and veggies.

    I am now a follower. :)

    ReplyDelete
  6. mamamoosApril 23, 2011 at 6:42 PM

    i'm a follwer and commented on FB!

    i'm not very good about the green stuff, but i'm trying to make a more conscious effort. i have reusable shopping bags (although i don't always remember to bring them with me). i've started packing lunches for work in a reuseable lunch bag (it also means i'm not driving out to get lunch every day). i repurpose old towels and rags, and avoid using paper towels unless it is to clean up after my dumb-jerk dog. ;]

    ReplyDelete
  7. EllenApril 23, 2011 at 6:46 PM

    I am now a follower.
    We recyle as much as possible. I live in a town that does curbside recycling and recently added more accepted items for curbside pick up.
    My kitchen is hideous! It is the original 1941 kitchen from when the house was built.....metal cabinets and ugly been counter tops. Ick!

    ReplyDelete
  8. EllenApril 23, 2011 at 6:48 PM

    Oh, and we have a tankless water heater. It is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
  9. AnonymousApril 23, 2011 at 7:26 PM

    I commented on FB.
    I am now a follower.

    I cloth diaper part-time and use cloth wipes too. I wash almost all the clothes in cold water and hang most everything to dry. We recycle. We use reusable snack bags, lunch bags, and water bottles. Our light bulbs and most of our appliances are energy efficient.

    ReplyDelete
  10. UnknownApril 25, 2011 at 11:18 AM

    We try to unplug appliances, tvs, etc when they are not in use to save energy, have energy efficient appliances, and love pick up items on the side of the road to re-purpose them :)

    I'm a new follower to the blog and have posted to fb

    ReplyDelete
  11. rabbitApril 25, 2011 at 6:30 PM

    just became a blog follower!

    ReplyDelete
  12. rabbitApril 25, 2011 at 6:31 PM

    I commented on the blog, became a follower and recently, I started making my own baby wipes to save money!

    ReplyDelete
  13. GoAgainstTheGrainApril 25, 2011 at 7:02 PM

    commented on your FB post!
    sadly I'm not as GREEN as I'd like to be. We use halogen bulbs, wash clothes in cold water, buy energy star rated products, I re use my shipping boxes that I receive to send stuff back out.

    ReplyDelete
  14. EricaApril 26, 2011 at 3:23 PM

    I recycle, and now have expanded to two gardens, use reusable cloth bags and shop organic as much as possible. Occasionally I use cloth diapers.

    ReplyDelete
  15. JanApril 27, 2011 at 9:40 AM

    I commented on your FB.
    I follow your blog.
    We do a lot to "green" our lives - BYOB to the store, use cloth napkins, recycle, reuse, turn down our heater and water heater, compost, 'green' cleaning supplies, buy local organic meat and produce, etc.

    ReplyDelete
  16. UnknownApril 27, 2011 at 12:04 PM

    I commented on your FB post.

    I am a follower of your blog.

    We have energy efficient appliances, but that's about it as far as our green-ness goes, unfortunately. Oh, and I re-purpose grocery bags as cat litter bags. That's a little green, right?

    ReplyDelete