BellaOnline Forums Home and Garden Natural Living Do you live in a "green" home?

I would love to do this, but it's soo expensive. Since we can't build or buy a green home, I'm looking into at least using all eco-friendly products to decorate/furnish the home. Any suggestions? I've found lots of links online but am looking for feedback from people who've actually used these types of products.

I live with my younger sister and her boyfriend as my roommates. We're in a rental house, so we can't really change the house itself, and everybody's pretty poor so we can't change all our hand-me-down furniture. However we do a lot to try and lessen our environmental impact.

We use cloth napkins instead of paper ones, and they don't get used just once before washing. Also, instead of using paper towels, we tend to use old t-shirts torn up into rags. About twice a month all of those make a nice small load of laundry instead of all that trash.

We're experimenting with more natural or make-your-own cleaning products. A gallon of vinegar and a box of baking soda can clean a lot of stuff and do it less toxically too. Since we have a cat and a parrot in the house, anything we use on house surfaces has to be safe for them too.

That's what we do. I did purchase an outdoor table/chairs that are eco-friendly, but for the most part I think secondhand is just as friendly.

We're big on composting and reusing. Anything that can be composted is. My birds get first dips on water then it goes to plants or the garden - same with the duck pools. Bird seed goes to the parrots first and then dishes dumped for the wildlife (because they never eat it all). Sometimes it sprouts and it becomes a new source of food for the ducks. We've got beer and soda bottles that have been around for years - I make beer & soda for the family. If I have a good growing year I also can my own veggies.

I also think the cleaning products are the biggie. We're experimenting with a few alternatives, but when they don't work out I tend to stick with stuff from Whole Foods or the Allergy Store (they use natural - not chemical).

Thanks to you both for responding. <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> We're about to move from Orlando to Columbia and while we can't buy a true green home, we'd like to buy eco-friendly furniture, sheets, towels, etc....Do you guys do any of that?? We never have before.

I moved to Seattle in December of 2005 to get away from the higher prices of the Bay Area. I'd love to do stuff like that, but right now, I'm the most cash-poor I've ever been in my life.

I was happy to find that Seattle has a lot of organic produce so I'm eating more of that, plus my housemates (my younger sister and her bf) are avid gardners and we've been eating stuff out of the backyard since April. We've got three water barrels that catch our rain run-off to help keep the garden going.

One of our neighbors has solar panels and we've talked about the idea of incorporating some of that into the house (mom and dad own this rental so we do have supportive landlords, hahaha).

I can relate. We're moving from Orlando to Columbia because it's soooooo hard to live on one income here because housing is astronomical. In Columbia we're actually going to have a mortgage that's managable so I'm hoping to buy some eco-friendly stuff when we get there. We'll see how much we can afford.

We need to do the water barrel idea!!! Are they just plain barrels?

I particularly love that eco-friendly is often frugal <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> It's win-win!!

When it comes to building a new home I'd go as green as I could afford while still getting what I want aesthetically and practically. IE: I have a lot of kids. I currently live in 3500 sq ft and plan to build bigger when we're ready, which takes a huge toll on the environment. However, I would make other decisions such as using as much solar power as possible, having the pool be a salt system rather than chemical, etc.

Often those things that cost more in the front end up saving over a course of a few years.

We had a rain barrell when we lived outside of Orlando way long ago when we only had 1 or 2 kids. We used a barrell meant for a water garden and it collected rain water as well as water than ran off the roof. The landlord didnt even really notice since we had a few papayrus growing in it, she thought it was a garden, LOL. Rain barrells are common sights in other countries it's sad that they are being banned from so many places in the US (HOAs, ya know)

Water from the rain, especially if there was a thunderstorm, is ionized (or is it deionized?? either way...) and it's way better for your plants. You can also mix a small amount of natural fertilizer or compost into it to make a "tea" that is great for plants. Also, if you use cloth feminine products you can use the soak water to accomplish the same thing. Since ours collected water from the roof and we didn't own that roof and didnt know what was on it I didnt give it to our animals or put in bird feeders.

If you can't manage a rain barrell, water from the outtake of your air conditioning unit is similar.

Jan..are you seriously moving to Colombia? as in South America or a city in the states that I can't think of at this exact moment? Didnt you just build a house? Am I confused? One of my very best friends in Orlando grew up in Colombia, her family owns coffee plantations.

You could always join me here in NW GA, LOL. We're in a brand new house 3 times the size of what we had in Orlando and it cost almost the same as what we sold that falling-apart fixer-upper in Orlando for! We're 20 minutes from Atlanta (ok, 30 on a good day) and have all the perks of big city living in the small town. We need more liberal homeschoolers here though <img src="/images/graemlins/laugh.gif" alt="" /> I have a ped here that you would love!

Meg

LOL

Columbia as in the State Capitol of SOUTH CAROLINA!!!!! <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" />

Yes, we bought a house this weekend. The houses up there are soooooooooo cheap compared to FL. We fell in love with Columbia on vacation in June and were floored when we saw a real estate flyer. Before we were moving out of state, we were building here but downsizing because we were sooo stressed regarding bills.

With the move to Columbia, we'll be able to live on one income COMFORTABLY which we've never done before due to our large mortgage payment.

We're going to have a HOA for the first time so I'm a little nervous about that...

Oh South Carolina....ahhhh, gotcha <img src="/images/graemlins/smile.gif" alt="" /> I was thinking a move to south america was a huge undertaking and knowing how stressful the move from Orlando to Atlanta was for me I can only imagine the move to a whole new country!!!

This is our first HOA and it's not that bad. We can't do everything we did in FL but there are benefits for sure...they clean the pool, LOL. Ours is pretty easy-going though, I've heard of some that are much more restrictive.

When it comes to natural/frugal things...we can't hang laundry out to dry. We can't plant a garden in the ground and the fruiting plants we do have must stay on the back porch. We cannot tint our windows or line them with reflective materials to save on energy use. We cannot use lined drapes (though we do have these awesome opaque heat blocking paper blinds).

We've lived on one income for 10 years and knew if we wanted to stay in orlando either I'd have to work full-time also or we'd be stuck in the same tiny old house forever. We hadnt planned on moving and were pretty much forced to if my husband wanted a job, but it's worked out (and I accidentally picked up a career to boot!!)

meg

Our rain barrels are made for collecting rain, and they are hooked together so the water flows from one to the second and then to the third as it comes down from the roof. My folks have several of them at their house as well. Sadly, this summer has been very dry and our barrels ran dry back in early July.

We use biodegradable soap for dishes and laundry. The dirt in the yard is kinda [censored], so there are raised beds for the veggies. I don't own a car, and neither does my sister and everyone's got bicycles too.

When I hear the restrictions you ladies are dealing with in regards to HOA, I'd never live someplace that had such energy-inefficient and earth-bad policies in place.