This is Day 2 of the Green in 365 series! I want to encourage you as we begin this year of making green changes, to start small. I'll be posting tips and ideas every day, but please don't feel like you have to do them all! Pick just a few changes that will work the best for you and your family, and make those changes into a habit before you move on to the next thing. Slow and steady wins the race, right?! Our family has been on our green journey for around five years now, and we still have a … [Read more...]
Simple Steps — Clean Out Your Fridge
It's the first Monday of the month, and I want to get back to posting in the Simple Steps series. Simple Steps is all about making a quick and easy change that will help you to go a little greener, and save money at the same time, without too much extra energy or effort on your part. We're all about baby steps here! Here are some of the past posts in the Simple Steps series: An Easy Step to Conserve Water Turn Down Your Thermostat Declutter Around Your House Make Recycling Easy … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Start Planning For Your Frugally Green Christmas
I know, I know, it's only October 5th, and I'm starting to talk about Christmas. I am normally one of those people that doesn't even like to start thinking about Christmas until after Thanksgiving is over. I don't like seeing Christmas decorations in stores before October is over, and I definitely think that our culture over does the whole Christmas season. That being said, I do love Christmas and celebrating the birth of our Savior, and I think it's a really important and special time for … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Hang Your Laundry Out
Clothes on the line, blowing in the breeze and bright in the sun. It's a picture of days passed, or of driving through Amish country not too far from where I live. Although it seems like fewer and fewer people hang their clothes out to dry these days, I also think that hanging clothes out is making a comeback. It's natural laundry month here at Live Renewed, and I wanted to start with taking the Simple Step of hanging your clothes out to dry. Hanging out your clothes is any important part of … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Make Recycling Easy For Your Family
We all know the phrase - Reduce, Reuse, Recycle. The three R's of going green and good stewardship of our earthly resources. While reducing and reusing are the most important of those three, the reality is that we still buy and consume stuff with packaging, or get unwanted junk mail, or sometimes forget to bring our reusable grocery bags to the store and come home with groceries loaded into plastic bags. (Okay, maybe you never do that, but I unfortunately do!) Photo by Steve … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Declutter Around Your House
I will be the first to admit that I am not a very organized person. I'm just not naturally gifted that way. I have to work very hard at being a home manager by setting up a routine and schedule, making a meal plan, and cleaning routine, because if I don't.... well let's just say it's not pretty! (And even when I am working hard at it, it's still often not very pretty!) As you know if you've been following along here, I've been working on Project Simplify this past month, and it has felt … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Green Spring Cleaning
The snow is melting, birds are chirruping, the first spring flowers have pushed their way through the frozen ground. It's that time of year again - spring cleaning time! I am definitely ready to get my green spring cleaning and organizing on this month because I know once the weather gets warmer (which really won't happen regularly here until at least April) I won't want to be spending my time indoors cleaning! We've already talked a lot about green homemade cleaners here at Live … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – A Month to Review
So we've been doing the Simple Steps series for 6 months now and I thought this would be a great time to take a break and review our previous Simple Steps (that and the Super Bowl, and still fighting a cold, means I didn't have a post ready for this morning), to see the changes we've made along the way and remind ourselves to keep taking these Simple Steps - in case we, ahem, I might be getting a little lazy on some of them. (P.S. Do you like my new button? I did it myself!) Simple Step #1 - … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Move Your Paper Towels
Happy New Year! There is just something about a new year, isn't there? The dreams, the goals, the possibilities. Wondering what this year will bring, and looking back at how far we've come and how much has happened over the past year. I love the freshness and new beginnings that a new year brings, but I also know that somehow it doesn't seem to last very long before things kind of slide back to the way they were before. Baby steps, small changes; whether making a new year's resolution, or … [Read more...]
Simple Steps – Turn Down Your Thermostat
We're having our first big snowfall today, and it is hitting me - not the snow - but the fact that it's officially winter. I'm not a total winter hater, I love sipping mugs of hot drinks, cozying up with a blanket and a good book in front of a fire (oh, how I wish we had a working fireplace!), warm sweaters, wool socks and snowflakes that stay on my nose and eyelashes. Okay, maybe not that last one, I've just heard The Sound of Music soundtrack a few too many times over the past few … [Read more...]
