No more little juicies and milk containers

A week has gone by in this new America. Last week I came up with a mission of my blog: inspire others by example and giving them good reasons to make environmentally friendly choices. Because it matters. Occasionally I get overwhelmed by all the things I should be doing but can't seem to get around yet. Then I remind myself that it's better to do one little thing at a time than to give up and not act at all. So here is another small change that was fairly easy and left me uplifted about the possibilities.

If you have kids and you pack their lunches and various snacks you are likely to find yourself buying small containers of milk or juices. What happens next is that the kids ask for juicy at home and it's tempting to get out the small container because it's more spillproof than a cup, once it's gone it's easier to argue, that they can only have one. Before you know it, you are throwing out 6 juice and milk containers a day. Plus the small packaged milk that needs no refrigeration is ridiculously expensive compared to the gallon price (for 6.75 ounces you pay between 3-6 times(!) as much depending on what kind of gallon milk you buy), not to mention that the sugared up chocolate, vanilla or strawberry versions are actually cheaper than the pure white stuff.

Last week I finally came across a set of reusable insulated plastic drinking containers, supposedly the kind that doesn't leak any chemicals into your liquid with a great new spillproof concept. I will just poor milk from the gallon jar and put an ice-cube in it for keeping it cool. This should do since it's usually only about three hours without refrigeration. For the juice I am able now to stretch a recycable half gallon with water, which makes the juice last longer and gets less sugar into the kids. With the above mentioned savings the drinking containers will pay for themselves in no time. Now I just need to teach the kids responsibility to make sure to pack them up. Hey, that's actually a good thing, too.

That's another expample of a little thing that matters. Instead of producing all the trash I will be able to recycle the big containers. Now if 50 000 parents did the same, can you imagine? And what I really like about it: It's a green choice that is actually cheaper than its alternative. That's the way it should be anyway. Unfortunately all too often the cost of damage to the environment is not factored into our prices and that is one of the biggest obstacles for many to choose green over dirty. I'll keep looking for those easy to do changes that actually save you money and share them with you.

Because it matters. Let's matter together. Yes, we can.