3 Days, The 3 R’s and 3 New Mother Earth Lovin’ Tree-huggers

lilmommythatcould — Tue, 22 Apr 2008 09:49:31 -0500

My entry in an Earth day essay contest- didn't win:( but the kids had fun that is all that matters!

Day One:

I will admit we are not a very Green family. More so out of the force of habit I think. I can honestly say I do not recycle everything that I am suppose to and at any given moment of the day more then five lights will be on in the house. I decided the best way to start our first steps to make the planet a better place was to truly look at what we could do in our own home to “Go Green.”

After we woke up and had our breakfast we went to brush our teeth and noticed our first “r,” reduce. The water was running when it didn’t need to be. We turned the water off and only used a slight trickle when we were rinsing our brushes. I realized I usually do have the water on when I brush my teeth, a small change I can make for the Earth.

When I went downstairs to do some laundry, I took a peek at my washing machine to see what my settings were at . I noticed another “r”, reduce. I lowered the water level from extra large load to medium load. I also changed the temperature from warm to cold. I am happy to say that my clothes were clean! The other thing I noticed with my laundry were my dryer sheets, I tried running the dryer sheet through the dryer for two loads. This works okay, not as soft clothes but no static. I did notice the dryer sheet stilled smelled nice after being used. Perfect little sachets , take your used dryer sheets put them in some old pantyhose, cut to size, and tie with a bow! “R”euse!

All throughout the day we “r”educed by playing the lights off game. I yelled “marks, get set, GO!” We went all through the house turning off all the lights on in the house! The first round we had five lights on! Nolan loved racing around the house, he was laughing the whole time afterwards he said “for the earth!” Before we left the house we checked the lights and turned off the T.V. I will admit I do leave the T.V. on when we walk out of the house. Another small change for the big planet!

Day 2

We are doing everything we learned yesterday, teeth brushing, laundry and keeping lights off we do not use. We have to up an “R” today so our focus will be on “r”ecycling. So if digging through the trash and dry heaving doesn’t teach me to recycle maybe the fact that half, yes I said HALF, my trash was recyclable. Boy I am public enemy #1. On to the recycling bin it went, half a bag of garbage WOW!!! I think recycling will take a little work for our family, throughout the day I caught myself throwing away things that could be recycled.

Today was also a day I sat down and did a little leg work, I signed up at

Greendime per a mommytalkers forum post. Super easy and you can do it for free! I found out that I can recycle my phonebooks. It seems every “little” thing I do is adding up and there is always something new I can do.

Day 3

We had some fun today, we planted seeds. We “r”eused some egg cartons to start are bean and pea seeds. We decided this year to expand our garden. Bean, peas , tomatoes, peppers and lettuce. We are excited to start planting, whenever the weather warms up. Not only are we encouraging healthy eating and sustaining the environment but we are showing the kids that hard work will have its rewards.

That has been the best thing out of these three days, one great lesson about protecting the earth has rolled into another great lesson. Nolan and Megan have enjoyed learning, and that is the best part. Watching Nolan’s excitement as he turns off the lights or seeing at Megan enjoy putting seeds into the egg carton. We have made some great memories, and learned to give back to a planet that has given us so much.

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3 Days, The 3 R’s and 3 New Mother Earth Lovin’ Tree-huggers