How Green was 2008

by Mary Ann Romans | More from this Blogger

04 Jan 2009 10:42 AM

Many analysts predicted that 2008 was going to be a green year in terms of the home. More people would adopt materials and practices that saved energy and were good for the environment. My own New Year Resolutions for the beginning of the year included being more green in our home. But then we had a downturn in the economy. So did everyone live up to the expectations? Yes and no.

Let me start with my own home. We live pretty frugally and normally try to avoid waste whenever possible by reusing items. We do recycle quite a bit and have cut our garbage down to about one to one-and-a-half kitchen trash bags per week. We have more trash during the holidays, during birthday parties and with company visiting. We have five people living here, including one in disposable diapers. Diapers are the bulk of our trash, as we tend to avoid prepackaged food and buy thing such as flour that comes in paper sacks that can be recycled.

We haven't been that good with grocery store bags. We often forget to bring our own bags to the store. Despite this, we do usually ask for paper bags which are then reused for wrapping packages, for carrying items and as drawing paper before being recycled. When we do get plastic bags, we reuse them for diapers and garbage, although we need to be better at avoiding them completely.

We installed some insulation this year, along with a programmable thermostat, and these things have made an impact in heating our home. We also installed fireplace doors to further block out drafts. One thing we were hoping to do is to replace our old windows with new insulated double or triple paned windows to reduce the need for heating and cooling. Unfortunately, it just wasn't in the budget for this year.

So what about the rest of the country? Check back tomorrow when I talk about what analysts predicted versus actual outcome.

Mary Ann Romans writes about everything related to saving money in the Frugal Blog, creating a home in the Home Blog, caring for little ones in the Baby Blog and now relationships in the Marriage Blog. You can read more of her articles by clicking here or subscribe to the blog using the subscription box on the right.

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Learn more about Mary Ann Romans

Mary Ann Romans is a freelance writer, wife and mother of three children. She lives in Pennsylvania with her husband, the kids and a 16-pound cat.

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Samual (11722) 04 Jan 2009 12:52 PM

You can buy degradeable nappie bags, as far as carrier bags for food shopping goes, we keep ours in the boot of our car, if we forget to take them in we wait until we are at the car to pack all of our stuff.

Mary Ann Romans (26886) 04 Jan 2009 04:31 PM

Oh that is a good idea Samual