Earth Day, Everyday at MilitaryAvenue

My husband is the budget guy, I am the environmentally conscious one.  I love hanging the laundry on an outdoor rack/line.  I am using less electricity (“non-renewable resource”) and letting the sun and the wind do its job.  My husband loves it because it helps keep our gas bill down during the summer.  I love open windows in the spring, summer and autumn!  For me, it’s all about the fresh air in the house using renewable resources.  For my husband, it’s all about the lack of air conditioning to drive up the electric bill. 

There are other simple things we do to live in harmony.  I make homemade yogurt.  Not only is it delicious but *less packaging*, less garbage.  My husband calculated it (yes, yes he did!) and it is about half as much to make as it is to buy the individual packages in the store.  Our family of six eats about four 8oz-jars of yogurt a day.  It adds up.  I imagine you  are starting to see the theme.  It it is economical to make Earth Day everyday. 

Another way I enjoy Earth Day everyday, this year I have been so much better about keeping our reusable bags in the trunk and then remembering to pull them out at the grocery store. Those blue bags are actually VERY nice. They hold a lot more grocery per bag. They sit up nicer in the trunk of my van. They are much less awkward then the store-plastic bags when carting our new purchases into the house. It is win-win-win for me to use these bags!  “Earth Day everyday” is about making a new routine a habit.  Then it all falls into place.

Here are some more thoughts about Earth Day everyday on MilitaryAvenue:    

Earth Day

I will tell you I’m not a ‘tree-hugger’. I spend probably too much money on pre-packaged foods. I always seem to forget to bring my own environmentally-friendly bags to stores – even though I do have a few of them. I don’t drive an oversized-SUV but my smaller size mini-van isn’t exactly the most economical vehicle out there.

But I do care.

I do know that I can make a difference.

Continue ReadingThe Many Benefits of a Garden

We had our first taste of spring here in Northeast-Ohio this week. Windows cracked, doors open, breathe in that fresh air! With this taste of weather to come brings thoughts of my summer garden. I have bought the seeds, diagrammed what and where I am going to plant, and dreamed big thoughts about this upcoming summer’s produce. The Garden, my passion, on so many fronts. It embodies good health, good stewardship, and good eats!

Continue Reading

Ways to Cut Home Energy Costs – Conserving energy not only helps your budget, it helps conserve other earth-given resources.  Use cold water instead of hot water to wash your laundry, use less air condition and more ceiling fans, look for EnergyStar appliances when you need to replace older appliances.  There are many more tips in this article from USAA. Continue Reading

Household Penny Pinching from the House Guy! (Conserve water, buy a programmable thermostat, and other helpful tips that conserve our earthly-resources)

We owned homes while on active duty but spent a lot of time in military housing too as we moved so many times. One of the challenges of post military living has been household expenses and budgeting. We chose to live near family in a cold winter environment with a propane tank due to our country lifestyle. As we try to control electrical and propane bills we also saw the rise of fuel prices so it became critical to maintaining our costs. We like to travel and needed to see what we could do to save precious resources. We also saw it as a way to decrease demand and increase supply and help our environment. Our dollars saved can go into the penny pot for travel! So here are some Household Penny Pinching ideas that we found to be very helpful:  Continue Reading 

My tomato plants are growing in a sunny spot in the kitchen, waiting for warmer days to plant in the family garden.  My husband said to me just yesterday, “I can’t wait to get these planted so that we can stock up on homemade pasta-sauce.”  He loves the taste of homemade sauce and the economics of not buying the jars of sauce on the grocery shelves.  I love the process of growing a plant, putting it in the ground and then enjoying the fruits of my labor.  Earth day everyday.  Let’s all enjoy the fruits of our labor for many years to come! 

– Leanne from MilitaryAvenue.combyUnknownonMonday, April 18, 2011Email ThisBlogThis!Share to TwitterShare to FacebookShare to PinterestMilitary Life:Earth Day,Leanne,saving,USAA