Tips to Help Reduce Your Carbon Footprint

Keep on top of leftovers and eat for lunch or incorporate into another meal. Less food waste!

I always bring cloth bags with me when I shop. It doesn't matter if I get any money back for using my own bags. I use them in every store, every time. I also always wash my clothing in cold water and only run the dishwasher and washing machines when I have a full load. All my blinds are open during daylight hours and no lights are used. Lights are only on when someone is in a room and needs the light.

I use vinegar in water to clean everything. Eliminates odors and inhalant allergies, is safe for people & pets, inexpensive, and kills germs.

recycle, reuse, compost bin, re-purpose, magazines/books to retirement community, Spiral lights & lights out, rechargeable batteries, local growers-Farmers Markets, co-op, organic foods, gardening/my own fertilizer, chickens & guineas/weeders & insect pest eaters. Dog Cat- mix Purina w/ homemade. Haul groceries/ sacks, totes, satchels, soft suitcases, flight bags, etc. burnable trash is kindling, wood stove, flush when full, 5 min shower. make cleaning products, don't eat out create recipes, freezer full of home grown veggies. little waste & go to the Recycling/Dump once every 9-12 months w/ back of car load, news paper is kindling Wood for stove & wood reclaimed & culled. No cell phone,land-line. only run water when something under it. waste/cooking water used on plants. Voltage regulator strips so flip off appliances. Errands in one trip. Back side of papers as scratch paper then kindling. Plants from charity plant sales, & donate my plants babies, etc.

We cloth diaper our children, and use a small manual clothes washer when possible to cut down on hot water usage. We also line dry the diapers.

I fill buckets with water as it warms up for the shower, then I pour them into my top loading washing machine. Saves a TON of water when doing laundry.

To reduce my carbon footprint I signed up for Bill Pay with my bank so that i can start E-Statements instead of receiving them in the mail. The paper would normally result in wasted shreds and clutter. Now I feel like i will be saving a few many trees in my time. When earth day comes, we will be planting more!

Compost, you won't regret it. Especially if you are growing vegetables or even just flowers. You cannot beat the material you will get from composting your food scraps. There are plenty of composters that are animal proof. And as long as you take care of it, the smell should be minimal.

At our home, every day is Earth Day. We recycle, repurpose items, use the library, donate/ share magazines with others, and try to minimize use of the automobile when we can walk, ride our bikes, etc.

We recycle what we can, compost what we can and try to minimize the amount of trash we send out. We also have a large garden, so we eat as locally as possible and preserve a ton of food for winter.

Def. the water in showers needs to be turned off while shaving or conditioning hair. This saves sooo much water and washing your clothes in cold water with such products as Seventh Generation, Woolite COMPLETE( not Organic but I love, love the Woolite line. It is non-toxic though) or any eco friendly detergent. The Disney Store and Target are giving free re-usable totes in exchange for your plastic bags. Origins @ Macy's is giving non-toxic facial cleansers in exchange for nasty, toxic cleaners you may be using. Non-toxic products go hand in and with Earth Day (every day in my house) . Toxic chemicals destroy our earth and bodies (parabens counteract cancer meds that patients need and are found in breast cancer). Every spring/summer my youngest children and I go around the neighborhood and pick up trash and cans (the kids get the $$ from the cans when they help me) they love it and learn what "green" really means.

We compose food scraps and recycle paper, cardboard,bottles etc. I save water by washing clothes in cold water @ using gray water for plants. My husband and I both live near where we work so we save on gas. I recycle all paper at work.

We have a recycle station set up and recycle as much as we can. I used large square wicker baskets off our kitchen/laundry area to organize our recycling and to keep the baskets clean I line them with cardboard or newspaper and change it out as needed. We are also mindful of our water usage and do our laundry in cold water.

I usually recycle everything I can - even junk mail (shredding any with my name and address first and bagging those) which can be a lot each week. In addition to using cold water, I don't separate my wash (lights and darks and thus 2 loads) because with today's color-safe fabrics, I haven't found any color leakage problems. I turn the thermostat down to 63 in the winter (for heat) and up to 75 in the summer (for air). My last tip is walking to places instead of getting in the car. I have a grocery store not quite down the street, but within walking distance - exercise AND energy saving. What can be better than that!

I dilute 1 cup vinegar to about 1 gallon hot water and use for mopping solution. Also I use vinegar to wash windows also I use news paper instead of paper towels. I make my own washing powders using arm and hammer washing soda and borax and a bar of soap. I use arm & hammer baking soda to scrub bottoms of pots, and last but not least, I use tooth paste to clean my jewelry.