10 Ways To Appreciate Planet Earth Now!

1) Reduce water usage ~ I have kids who drink water and leave cups laying around with water in them. Instead of dumping the water down the drain, we use it to water our indoor plants. I also like to keep a bucket in the sink and catch the water from handwashing or teethbrushing and use it to flush the toilet with.  

2) Use bamboo toothbrushes ~ I love my bamboo toothbrush and did you know that bamboo is a renewable resource? I watched a lot of documentaries on plastic and how badly it has been affecting our oceans (which sustain life on our planet) and I really try to reduce plastic as much as possible. It would be nearly impossible to ever completely exclude plastic from your life so just do it whenever and wherever you can.

3) Use reusable bags ~ it took me a while to really get used to it but I have been using my reusable bags for years now and I just love not having a giant bag full of millions of other plastic bags and just knowing that I am helping reduce the amount of plastic in the landfills and oceans makes me feels good too!

4) Turn off your lights ~ we have become so accustomed to turning off our lights and just not really using them that we sometimes walk around when it is pretty dark and realize wow we are crazy haha. But we just have gotten so used to it. I'm not saying you have to be that hardcore but to just turn off lights in rooms that are not being used, even if you plan on coming back to that room because a lot of times we get sidetracked and never return. 

5) Eliminate useless unnecessary trips in your car~ People have become so uncomfortable with just being with themselves that they feel the need to always get out of the house. Reduce your carbon footprint and condense your trips. Make the most out of them. Run as many errands as you can in one trip. 

6) Recycle your clothes ~ did you know H&M clothing store will give you a discount for recycling some of your old clothes? I think that's pretty awesome.

7) Buy organic clothes or only buy necessary pieces ~ honestly who needs alllll those clothes and don't we usually just wear the same things all the time anyways? Buy key pieces and try to buy organic as much as possible. It can be expensive but I like PACT and I have purchased basic pieces like black t-shirts that I wear alll the time. If you're interested in finding out how bad the process is for manufacturing clothes you should go to YouTube and check it out. All the chemicals and water that is used is harming the environment.

8) Compost food scraps ~ we have a big outdoor compost bin but if you live in a place where you have no yard it seems kind of impossible but did you know they make countertop compost bins? You can also buy green biodegradable bags to put just food scraps in and that can go to the landfill where it'll decompose and hopefully help the landfill out.

9) Plant a community herb, vegetable and fruit garden or share your harvest with other growers. I know some years we get plenty of tomatoes and parsley, too much to be able to eat ourselves. So we can either jar them, freeze them, or exchange with others who got an abundance of some other foods. 

10) Donate ~ we hoard and clutter our homes, attics and basements with so much crap, seriously, that someone might find useful and we aren't using it. Whenever you declutter and clean, keep a bag for donating close by and make sure things that can be used again are put in there. This is also a good time to have a bag for clothing and material to recycle.