apartment therapy changing the world, one room at a time

I'm a big fan of cloth instead of paper/plastic. Cloth bags for shopping, to be sure, but also handkerchiefs for blowing B's nose (much kinder to his nose than paper, especially when he has a cold), cloths for wiping up the ubiquitous spills, cloth napkins, etc. The little bits of usage add up.

One word: COMPOST! I feel SO much better about all those uneaten toddler food scraps, paper towels (I do use them more than I should), etc. since I have a composter and can throw them all in instead of filling up another landfill. Honestly, between that and cloth diapers (which we got up the courage to try with baby #2), our trash goes out 1/2 - 1/3 as often as it used to with our first kid...

1) cloth diapers
2) laundry with very little vegetable soap soda, no detergents.
3) dishwasher with half a tab of detergent instead of a whole. I've heard about Borax but nowhere to be found here in italy
4) compost and recycle
5) no bath in the house, just showers.
6)very diluted dishwashing soap
7) avoid using the dryer. Only for very damp cold winter days.

We keep two trash cans under our kitchen sink. One is for garbage and the other for recycling. It makes recycling so convenient! Plus, it has helped our children to learn early on what they can recycle.

1) keep vegan -- the biggest waste of energy and resources in our society is animal products, which there's absolutely no reason to use for food/clothing/decor/etc.

2) walk/bike/take public transportation

3) don't buy things you don't need -- freecycle, make it out of something you already have, or do without

4) recycle everything, take recyclables home if nowhere to recycle it at work or while out, and encourage recycling facilities where not available

5) take reusable containers with you for takeout, leftovers, water, coffee, etc.