Thanks for the welcome guys
We had an apartment together for a little over a year, but I had to move back in with my parents due to my father's health, and my mom having to quit her job to stay home with him. Everything has seemed to settle out now, and they're doing good on their own, but I'm waiting until we get married to get our own place again (house or town-house this time, though).
I'm very interested in many different aspects of being "greener" in my home. I'd be most interested in learning more on how to make my home efficient. I would rather spend money on making my house require less energy than to pay the gas or electric companies more. I'm a very minimalist by heart, and I hate excess and abundance. Also, I've already taken great strides to never buy anything new (other than food, and toiletries obviously
) but would like to learn more about being able to reuse salvaged, used, or at the very least recycled materials.
The one step I think is most important in "greening" your life is not having a "disposable life". Everything these days seems to be a one-time-use product, and people have generally lost all respect for their property, and for their belongings. Everything from paper-towels, to food containers, to "snack size", to disposable cameras, bottled water, anything else you can think of! I even saw a TV ad for individually packaged "Single Dose" cough syrup, and thought to myself how ridiculous this country is becoming. Are you suggesting that we as individuals are too ignorant to be able to measure a teaspoon accurately?? Are we so lazy we won't get off our a$$es to find a spoon to measure it in?? Are people out there so uninformed or clueless about germs and bacteria that they can't share a bottle of cough syrup with others in their own family?? I get so annoyed when people look for the easiest/laziest options out there. But I think it's hillarious to watch people spend so much money on things that cost so much because the companies use wayyyyy too much packaging. I'm working very hard on cutting out things that are disposable in my life. From using towels in the kitchen and cleaning my car rather than paper towels, using an aluminum water bottle wherever I go, not buying anything in haste or splurging, buying used cars (and maintaining them with salvage yard parts), buying food/toiletries with a VERY minimum amount of packaging, and other methods whenever the choice presents itself.
(stepping down from the soap-box now
I could rant all day long, believe me)