Sixth Step

OK, another small, simple step. I have to be honest, for a while now I have been throwing away recyclables upstairs because throwing them down the laundry chute to the basement and then finding them throughout the clothes and having to sift them out and bring them up to the basement landing was getting annoying. So excuses, excuses--I finally dug out some little boxes from the bathroom trash and saved them from the landfill (hopefully--sometimes I'm not sure I trust those recycling companies...not for any informed reason, but because the bins are always overflowing in our town). And I put a little box for recyclables that is probably too small under the table next to the stairs for easy take-down-the-stairs capability. I will find a bigger one if necessary, maybe big enough for paper from the office now that our town has paper recycling instead of just newspapers. There is no curbside pickup, so I take everything when I'm out and about.

Little boxes and plastic bottles in the trash are the little things I've been guilty about for months and "meaning to do something about" for just as long. My brother, an environmental expert, says that recycling is not the best thing you can do--reusing and not using in the first place is better, along with making your home more energy efficient. But this mom is glad to at least be doing something. Hopefully I'll be able to take bigger steps like composting or collecting rain as times goes on. But again, no guilt. I just want to be a good steward of the resources we have on this earth and use them wisely, without making life impossible for me or my family. BTW, we got to Chicago OK after an exhausting day! The kids are in bed and I'm about to be. Another BTW, don't you love our desperate peach toilet and lime green plastic tile? Now that is a bathroom that could use some LOVE.