Hutchings Family Goes Green

When most people think of Washington State and the Seattle area they think of grunge music, coffee, Microsoft, and granola "tree-huggers." Seth and I joked about this stereotype as we prepared for our move here. We have now lived here six months and in that time we have made some "green" changes in our lives. Maybe Washington is rubbing off on us!

Here are some of the "green" things we have been doing:

1. Recycling - This one is pretty easy because we don't have to sort our own recycling. We simply put all our recyclables into the separate bins by our dumpster and once a week the recycling truck comes and takes it to a near by facility that separates the recycling for us. You can read about it here. All I do is keep a recycle bag next to my garbage can under the sink and take it out when it is full. Here is my recycling bag full and ready to be taken out.
2. Reusable Grocery Bags - I have always used the regular plastic grocery bags. I am very good at saving them and taking them to one of the recycle bins in a grocery store. However, I stumbled across a website that made me reconsider my choices:
Battle of the Bags: Paper vs. Plastic
We bought some reusable bags at Fred Meyer because they are inexpensive (less than $1 per bag) and they have a lifetime guarantee, so when they wear out Fred Meyer will replace them for free. Plus, I think the bags themselves are made of recycled, recyclable material. It is green all around. You can read more about them here.
An added bonus is that most grocery stores give you a credit of 3-5 cents per bag used. So you only have to use the bags 20-30 times before they pay for themselves. Plus, these bags make it a lot easier to carry my groceries in from the car. I use fewer bags, so less trips to the car and back, and they are comfortable to carry on my shoulders instead of the plastic of 5 bags digging into my hands. I leave my bags in the back of my car. Every once in a while I forget to bring them into the grocery store with me, but I remember at least 90% of the time.
3. Seth bikes to work - Most days, Seth rides his bike to work instead of driving. We are lucky to live only about 3 1/2 miles from Seth's work and with only one car, it is very convenient to have him ride his bike instead of drive. We save on gas and Seth gets his exercise in!
4. Dryer Balls - They may look like doggy toys, but you can use them instead of fabric softener. Just toss them in your dryer with your next load. They cut out the waste and chemicals of liquid fabric softeners and dryer sheets. Plus you save money because you don't have to buy fabric softener again. To be honest our clothes are a tiny bit stiffer when using the dryer balls as opposed to regular fabric softener, but it is not anything we really notice. I might not use them if I lived in a dry climate because they don't do much to stop static cling. They also are suppose to shorten the time needed to dry your laundry, but I have never scientifically tested that. This one probably has the smallest environmental impact, but at least Kayla likes to play with them when we fold the laundry.
Currently I am using a more environmentally friendly bottle of cleaner in my bathrooms because I got it free with a coupon. Just recently we bought some organic apples that went on sale for less than regular apples. Our efforts may be small but at least it is a start.