Becoming "Green"

Living in Germany we are forced to become a bit more "green." Recycling is mandatory and non compliance comes with HEAVY fines. The same was true in Korea; however, we frequently discarded trash at the base dumpsters (shhhh, don't tell). Again, not an option here. Base residents must also recycle. At first, it was very hard. We have 3 bins--paper, bio and residual, as well as gelb (which means "yellow" in German) bags for plastics/aluminum, etc. There are pictures on the yellow bags for us, stupid Americans who aren't quite sure, but the rest of the bins leave us dumbfounded. We have finally figured it out, although there are certain items that may fit in the category of "bio," they cannot go in that container, for example, cooked meats. Anyway, it is now routine and part of our life. Our kids are slowly figuring out where their snack wrappers go and where to dump their excess food. It is rather eye opening how much packaging and excess we have each week. The bummer part of this system is that the pickup of each container rotates. So, for example, week 1, is trash and bio, week 2, is residual, week 3 is gelb bags and bio. We end up having a VERY full paper can. That stinks.

To give you a better idea of the method to our madness, we have 3 separate cans in our house. Two regular sized trash cans--1 for paper, 1 with a yellow bag for plastic, then 1 small covered trash can for our bio waste, which is emptied more frequently than the others.

Through all this newly acquired knowledge, I've discovered reusable fabric bags. Since I have to pack lunch for Mya each day, we go through several plastic ziplocs. Using the fabric bags, we are a bit more eco friendly. They are totally cute and very well made. I will be ordering a few more in addition to the reusable towels, but that will have to wait a bit. We're eyeballs deep in Dave Ramsey right now, whose philosophy is to not spend. For me that means, "Power above Purchase." Ha. I am not very good at that. Not to mention that Christmas is right around the corner and I don't think I've shared the news here yet, but we are BUYING a HOUSE! It may be crazy, but it is an investment that will be paid off in less than 15 years. Anyway, that topic deserves a post of it's own written while consuming a whole bottle of wine ;) Do you see now why we are eyeballs deep in Dave Ramsey? Ha. Frugal and green have never been me, but I will learn.

Here's the link to the reusable bags. So cute.
http://www.etsy.com/shop/mamamade

I should also add that NO, this does not mean I will be buying TOMS anytime soon or stop shaving under my arms or cease taking my 1-2 showers per day. Sorry. No can do! :)


I should add this all began with my find of bouncingwoolies.com. Try them! They make our laundry smell heavenly each and everytime. The lovely scents last for such a long while and they dry our clothes in half the time. Win, win and WIN!