friday high five - earth day

Since this past Wednesday was Earth Day I'm sure you've all been wondering what the BlogMother does to help reduce her carbon footprint. So for this week's Friday High Five (hosted by Angela's Adventures and Minor Mishaps) I'm going to let you know the 5 big things I am doing to help make this world a little better.

1) We do our laundry in cold water, wash with biodegradeable detergents and in the warmer months we line dry our clothes. When we do use the dryer (or the diswasher) I am trying to get the in habit of putting it on later at night and not during peak hydro periods. Then when Ontario hydro starts their smart meter program I'll be paying a lower hydro rate for off peak times. So, very good idea to get in the habit early.

2) Just recently I have been taking my travel mug to work with me. This replaces my (double cupped) paper cup for my tea.

3) I had been toying with the idea of going veggie once per week, but instead I read about this great idea over at a peek inside the fishbowl and I'm going veggie for breakfast and lunch every day. So it's been big salads all week. Although I will admit to having a turkey burger for lunch one day. What can I tell you, Darlene brought me lunch for my birthday. And it was the most delicious lunch ever!

4) I recycle water. We live in a rural area and our property has no well. There is no city water available out here, so we have water trucked in put in our holding tank. We collect rain water from the roof and are very concious of water conservation to help make a load last as long as we can. I also reuse dehumidifier water and the water from warming up the shower to flush the toilet.

5) I have stopped buying single use packages wherever I can, like juice boxes, the girls take litter less ones. The one I'm most impressed with is remembering to bring our reusable shopping bags with us shopping every week. No more plastic grocery bags to get rid of!