Why oh why?

I've been thinking a lot lately about why I am doing this weekly green change in my life, and there are many different reasons. I don't consider myself to be a radical eco-warrior, I am just your average concerned citizen. I just heard about this terrific blog called Green as a Thistle, and this woman has made one eco-change every day for a year. Every Day. Not just once a week. That is some serious change.

I am doing this not because I like to walk around for one week a month with a submarine sandwich between my legs, or because I am the kind of person who likes to deny themselves pleasure. It's because I find it so easy, and I want to share these small changes with others and maybe inspire them to do the same. I want to live simply and happily, and I want to change my life for the better. A lot of these changes that I have made I have been thinking about for some time, but I have just been too lazy to do them. So now I have no excuse. I am changing one thing each week for the entire year of 2008. 

Here's a little recap of my year so far:

1. Reduce garbage. This is my biggest challenge and it is something that I think about everyday, with every purchase I make. Because of this I no longer buy any packaged or processed foods. Mike was searching through the cupboards for something to eat the other night, and really there is nothing there! We have a tonne of  food and if 8 people dropped by for dinner I could whip up something divine, but there is no snack foods. I took pity on him and made him some chocolate chip cookies.
   
2. Compost. I love this. I was digging around in my compost pile this afternoon, and it's looking good. I learned that you can add dryer lint and hair to your compost! Fabulous!
   
3. Reusable menstrual pads. Don't love it but I haven't found a suitable alternative yet. Still experimenting with the Diva Cup.
   
4. 100% recycled toilet paper. Don't even miss the quilted soft kind.
   
5. No more tissue! Elias has a cold right now and I have been wiping his nose with reusable hankies from Hankettes. I Love them and Elias doesn't mind either. His nose isn't even red from all the wiping.
   
6. I gave up coffee for 3 miserable days. Then I realized that I still have to ENJOY my life so I changed it a little. No more starbucks, no more paper cups, only fair trade organic beans. So far I have only had one latte from second cup. (my sister had a coupon, I couldn't resist!)
   
7. Reusable bum wipes. Why did I wait so long? These are much better than the alternative.
   
8. Homemade bread, granola, and yogurt. So far so good on the bread and granola, have not done the yogurt yet, although we always used to make our yogurt...
   
9. Bulk spices= less packaging.
   
10. Organic meat only in our house.

That about sums it up for tonight, sweet dreams if anyone is reading.