Gift bags/Tissue

I have alot of tissue paper, and gift bags.
Anyone is more than welcome to reuse these.
I have alot of baby themed gift bags, along with some wedding, flowers, and Christmas.
The tissue is mainly white. I also have pink, some blue, and some other odd neat designs.
Now, when I get someone a gift, I can save money and not buy the wrapping stuff.
But, Like I said, you are all more than welcome to it.

Junk Mail

What?! No comments on Made in China? I was sure that would get some motors going!

Well today I finally got out the thank yous for the boys birthday party and was reminded of the cool gift that Emily gave us to help reduce junk mail, a subscription to greendimes.com

For $36 a year you can reduce your junk mail by 75-90%, and have a tree planted for you monthly. How cool is that?

A few months back I wrote to the 4 major junk mail clearing houses and that drastically cut down on our junk mail. But some still manages to make it through. Now I can just log into our account on greendimes, and type in the company I no longer want to receive stuff from. I love it. Thanks again Emily.

Oh, and I'm following in the footsteps of No Impact Man. I'm taking the weekends off from my one-a-day post. I'm about half way through, and I'm starting to loose steam a little. I think giving myself a break on the weekends will help.

Using Less Tissues

Ok I have to gloat, here's me with our family's garbage for the week. 1 bag! It's a biodegradable bag too! And yes, if you zoom in, you can see the Styrofoam... still room for improvement. :)

One of the small changes I've made that seems to be making a big difference is reusing tissues. I don't know if it's a bad habit, mild allergies, or what, but I "dab" my nose many times throughout the day. Also quite often one or both of the boys have the sniffles so I'm getting their noses too. Most of these "dabs" do not require a whole tissue, but my old way was to use once and toss. Now I have my right pocket for my tissue. My left pocket for David, and a back pocket for Brian (if they both have runny noses). Sure my jeans are a little lumpy, but I can't believe how many fewer tissues we are using!

second life use

Another little thing I do is try to give envelopes and other paper a second life before the recycle bin. I use the envelopes from bills and such, plus the backs of flyers or other papers received in the mail (that do not have personal info on them) as shopping lists and other note making uses. Gives them a second use before heading to recycle. Also, I will turn printed-on paper over in the printer if the item I am printing is just for my use and get a second use of the sheet. (saves me on printing paper, too!) I'll feel even better about this practice once I restock my paper supply with 100% recycled! :-)