Happy Earth Day!

Today is Earth Day! I happen to care greatly about the earth because God gave us the earth to live on and care for.

So how can you honor God by caring for the earth? By being a good steward of the earth of course. Here are some tips:

reduce:
-buy less food (so you don't have so much waste; even better take the next week, do not buy any food and only eat from your pantry, this will allow you to use up all the food in your house, and save the money you would have spent)
-evaluate what is a need, only buy what you need this week (maybe challenge yourself to go a whole month of only needs, how about 6 months? a year?)[just in case you forgot real needs are: food, shelter, clothing, and medical care]
-do not by any gifts this week, if you need a gift make something (do you take great pics, paint well, make jewelry? these make great gifts), regift something, or do something (bake a meal, clean a house, offer your organizational skills, etc)
-make a goal to remove clutter from your house (my goal is 365 items this year given away) if it is trash throw away immediately, if it is give away get out of houses asap (offer on freecycle or facebook or drop off at local thrift shop)
-buy larger portions of products so you don't have so much plastic to dispose of
-wrap food in recycled jars instead of plastic wrap/foil
-use less water (turn water off while brushing teeth, take short showers, run dishwasher and washer with full loads, get a rain barrel to water your garden and yard)

reuse:
-if you have some receiving blankets that baby has outgrown, sew into a larger blanket or cut up to use as baby wipes, hankies, or cleaning rags; same for old towels, sheets, etc.
-need a pencil holder use an old coffee can (let the kids decorate it first and it is also an art project)
-use the other side of paper before you recycle it
-melt old crayons and pour into chocolate molds (to make shape crayons) or melt old crayons in muffin tins for chunky crayons
-old couch outdated, don't toss it recover the cushions for a new updated look
-use old cereal boxes to organize paper in scrap booking or kids art area (construction paper fits great in each box, so you can sort colors)
-use old food boxes for art projects (you + your kids + internet = great art projects)
-need new frames, take some old ones and spray the frames with spray paint
-save wax from burned down candles and melt down to make new candles (I found wicks on clearance, bonus)
-save plastic netting veggies and fruits come in, scrunch them up (with a rubber band or any way you think is good) and use to scrub dirty dishes
-start seeds in egg cartons (get the cardboard ones)

recycle:
-take the time sort your glass, cans, paper, plastic, cardboard, etc
-get a can for outside so you have a separate place for the items you separated
-find out what night to put your recyclables out and what you can put out, add to calendar so you don't forget
-if your neighborhood does not recycle, find out why and encourage them to start
-if you can't get recyclables picked up at your home find out where you can drop them off
-buy recycled toilet paper (Seventh Generation is a great brand)
-buy recycled paper
-buy products that are made from other recycled products
-buy recycled batteries
-find out where you can drop off batteries and do so

What can you add?

-Becky