Some Things I Already Do, Lots of Things I Can Improve

I'm not a green newbie. I've been slowly going greener and greener over my whole adult life, but I'm ready now to take the plunge into the extreme green.

These are things I already do:

• vegetarian
• recycle
• make my own household cleaners
• shop at the farmers' market
• bake my own bread
• make my own yogurt
• avoid individually packaged foods
• avoid unnecessary chemicals in beauty products
• use reusable lunch boxes
• use CFL light bulbs
• use cloth napkins
• use cloth diapers
• use re-usable bags for shopping

My dream in life is to buy 5 to 10 acres, build a passive solar house, grow all my own produce, raise chickens and goats, and live as self-sufficiently as possible. But that's the long term goal, and I'm ready to take some baby steps now.

The New American dream has a Wallet Buddy on their site that you wrap around your credit card so that every time you're tempted to buy something you can be reminded to spend your money wisely. This is their criteria:

1. Do I need it now?
2. Was it made sustainably?
3. Were the workers who made it treated well?
4. Does it have too much packaging?
5. Is it worth the money?

Great words to follow.