So many ‘green’ options are so expensive. I am amazed when I see a great idea and then I get sticker shock. At first, I felt it was really out of our budget to attempt to go green while on one income, but I have managed to find ways to get our family on a greener path and not break the bank.
Cloth diapers can be pricey up front, but they really do save you money in the long run. According to Kelly’s Closet, the average family will spend roughly $1,600 on diapers by the time the child turns two. When reading the price tags of diapers, keep the following in mind:
*Disposables generate 60 times more solid waste than cloth
*They use 20 times more raw materials (ie: crude oil and wood pulp)
*No one knows the decomposition rate of disposables – speculation is anywhere from 250-500 years
*They are the 3rd largest single item in landfills – representing about 4% of solid waste; 50% of household waste
*”Over 92% of all single-use diapers end up in a landfill.” (Where do you think the other 8% are? Take a look next time you drive down the road, go to the beach, etc…)
*They actually use twice as much water as cloth – mostly in the manufacturing process
*One ton of garbage is created for each baby in disposables
Depending on the system of cloth diapers you use, you can spend as little as $300 (on prefolds and covers). However, you can also spend well over $1,000 (on fancier, plush diapers!)
Cloth grocery bags have been another area we have saved in. I buy one every now and then from Target, spending roughly $1.50 on a large bag. There are also some websites that occasionally offer them for free.
The following facts are from Worldwatch Institute:
*Plastic bags start as crude oil, natural gas, or other petrochemical derivatives, which are transformed into chains of hydrogen and carbon molecules known as polymers or polymer resin. After being heated, shaped, and cooled, the plastic is ready to be flattened, sealed, punched, or printed on.
*The first plastic “baggies” for bread, sandwiches, fruits, and vegetables were introduced in the United States in 1957. Plastic trash bags started appearing in homes and along curbsides around the world by the late 1960s.
*North America and Western Europe account for nearly 80 percent of plastic bag use—though the bags are increasingly common in developing countries as well.
*A quarter of the plastic bags used in wealthy nations are now produced in Asia.
*Each year, Americans throw away some 100 billion polyethylene plastic bags. (Only 0.6 percent of plastic bags are recycled.)
*The Irish have been known to call the ever-present bags their “national flag”; South Africans have dubbed them the “national flower.”
Homemade cleaning products have helped us ‘green’ up our home as well as save us money! For us, it was also important as our son has asthma and both boys have very sesitive skin and eczema. For the most part all you need issoap, water, baking soda, vinegar, lemon juice, borax, and a coarse scrubbing sponge. This can take care of most household cleaning needs.
The Worldwatch Institute has this to say about cleaning products:
*Cleaning products were responsible for nearly 10 percent of all toxic exposures reported to U.S. Poison Control Centers in 2000, accounting for 206,636 calls. Of these, nearly two-thirds involved children under six, who can swallow or spill cleaners stored or left open inside the home.
*According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, the air inside the typical home is on average 2-5 times more polluted than the air just outside—and in extreme cases 100 times more contaminated—largely because of household cleaners and pesticides.
*The Janitorial Products Pollution Prevention Project reports that 6 out of every 100 janitors in Washington state have lost time from their jobs as a result of injuries linked to toxic cleaning products, particularly glass and toilet cleaners and degreasers.
*In a 2002 U.S. Geological Survey study of contaminants in U.S. stream water, 69 percent of streams sampled contained persistent detergent metabolites, and 66 percent contained disinfectants.
If you can’t work these ideas into your home, you can always consider recycling. Not sure where to take your recyclables?
By Terra Jones
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