Going Green: Before it was cool

For Earth Day I decided I would dedicate my blog momsfirststop.com to the person that taught me the most about recycling, reusing and re-purposing, my mother. The reason my mom had a black belt in recycling, reusing and re-purposing was not because she lived through the depression nor was it because she is a tree-hugging ex-hippie; she was simply trying to support a family of 6 on a teachers salary. In the past she had been accused of being cheap but I would like to suggest that in reality she was just going green before it was cool.

Here are a few tips you can use straight from my mother’s book of recycling, reusing, and repurposing.

Wax paper from your cereal box: Once you finish the cereal from the wax paper bag it was contained in then you can re-purpose the wax paper for cooking or other uses. Simply pull the bag apart until its flat and you have a perfectly good piece of wax paper.

Welfare Gore-Tex: My parents couldn’t afford to buy special winter gear for us so if we didn’t get it second-hand then we would have to make do. This is where the “Welfare Gore-Tex” (nickname my brothers gave it) came into play. My mother would save bread sacks and we would layer socks and bread sacks to form a warm water-proof barrier for our feet and legs. Our Welfare Gore-Tex would enable us to play for hours in the snow.

Butter/Margarine wrappers: Once you have unwrapped your sticks of butter or margarine fold the wrappers and keep them in your refrigerator. These wrappers have little bits of butter/margarine stuck to them so the wrappers are great for greasing cookie sheets or frying pans.

Toilet paper CAN be recycled: Growing up my brother’s and I were in sports so usually during Homecoming our house would be toilet-papered. Most people would look at this as a big mess to clean up. My mother saw this as free toilet paper. We would have to gather up all the bits of paper off the trees and bushes and then this would be our every day toilet paper for the bathroom. There would be little bits of twig on some of the paper so you would take caution in wiping.

Expiration dates are just a suggestion: My mom never believed in expiration dates. If the food looked ok, smelled ok, then it was ok for consuming. *To her credit none of us went to the hospital for food poisoning.

All grease/oil is reusable: My mom kept a container on the stove for storing any sort of excess grease or oil from cooking. This was especially useful when cooking bacon since there is always lots of excess grease. This bucket-o-grease was then handy for the next time you needed some sort of cooking lubricant. Besides being VERY bad for you the only down side to this was that everything my mom cooked had a slight bacon taste to it.

Tin foil, plastic wrap, and plastic bags are all washable: I think this one is self explanatory.

Recycling dinner: My mother was a firm believer in leftover’s. If one night we had bean soup, the next night we would have bean soup tacos and then perhaps the next night we would have some sort of bean soup taco dip.

Plastic ware: This includes plastic forks, knives, spoons, plates and cups. If you have the luxury of buying plastic ware you can get months use out of them by simply washing and reusing.

You can freeze everything: If my mom found something on sale at the grocery store she would buy several months supply. This would include food items that wouldn’t normally keep several months like bread, cheese, meat, etc. All of this food would be placed in our large freezer for use at a later date.

Great tips Angela!  I especially liked the TP recycling . . . that made me laugh remembering the number of times our house was TP'd when I was a kid!  Sounds like you had a fun childhood with a very resourceful mom!

My mom did all those things too, plus a few you didn't mention.  We almost always hung the clothes outside on the line to dry or in the winter we hung them over the floor furnace on wooded dowels.  When we had a drought and was still using the wringer washing machine, we carried the rinse water out to the garden.  We always had a large garden and had really good homegrown food.  As I told me daughter recently, "the freezer is our friend!"  My dad would wear his clothes until they were almost threadbare.  Mom would have to "force" him to wear new clothes.  Mom cut everyone's hair.  We saved pretty much everything that could be reused or repurposed.  We lived in the country and didn't drive into town more than twice a week (shopping and church).  Just like you we were on "the cutting edge" of the green movement and didn't even know it!!!!  Now when I hang laundry out to dry I'm doing a "green" thing and not being cheap for trying to use less electricity.  Telling the kids to turn off the lights and TV--going green!  :)   This whole movement could make all of us thrifty people look really smart!  

 Sounds like we were living parellel lives.  We had a large garden, raised our own meat, hung out our laundry, WALKED to just about everywhere and went into "town" about once a month for groceries.

When I was growing up, we couldn't afford to keep my Barbies in high style.  So I improvised. My grandmother was proud, she would brag to all of her friends about my doll "accessories."

*Empty toilet paper rolls and fry boxes from fast food made sofas and chairs.

*When I got holes in those frilly-ankled socks, I would turn them into evening gowns for my ladies.

*Old washrags made trendy blankets for throw pillow beds.

*Plastic tubs from my grandmother's visits to the hospital made nifty swimming pools.

Don't know if these count or not

april

 If you reused or re-purposed it, I would say it counts and it was quite creative!  Another thing--I work as a secretary. If I send out letters and notice one of the addresses is wrong on the envelope, I keep the envelope.  Instead of tossing it (which most everyone does), I white-out the address and printed return address and use it for my personal mail.  I don't put labels over a wrong address because that wouldn't be professional looking from the business, so I use it myself.  I don't think the post office cares as long as the address is legible.  Often I print out an address on plain paper and cut it to size and glue it on as a label (much cheaper).  I also use the back sides of recycled paper to print things for my own use, i.e. instead of writing down the info from an email, I just print it.  I also save and reuse large padded or non-padded envelopes which comes in for the bosses.  One day I was at the post office mailing something (personal) in a recycled large envelope and the clerk made a remark about it being a smart idea.  It sure beats buying new large size envelopes.  I've also donated used paper to an elementary school I worked at several years ago.  Most schools can use all the paper they can get.  Just "going green!!" (If thrifty people ran businesses and government, maybe the national debt wouldn't be so high!) :)

My parents were much the same way, and their parents before them.  I can remember my Dad taking glass and tin in to some sort of recycling center when I was young.  Both my parents grew up on a farm, and back then, they simply were not a throw-away society.  I picked up their habits (like washing ziplock bags) without really realizing it was sort of... not the "norm".  Tebaliah, almost everything you mentioned, I do.  Having our own business, it really helps to reuse paper, envelopes, even boxes (instead of store-bought plastic bins) to help organize.

Now with the way things are going with oil and all, being green is FINALLY catching on, even becoming "cool".  This planet is so beautiful.  I hope it will remain so for the generations that follow.

Stephanie,

Way back when I was in college, I always carried my books in a backpack.  When I used the restrooms on campus, there were always partial rolls of TP NOT on the dispenser.  I figured as much as I was paying in books and tuition, the school could spare a few rolls of TP.  Hubby and I lived off-campus for our Jr. and Sr. years, and I think I bought TP more than a couple of times.  It is NOT stealing.  You are paying for it already.

Angela, fun post!  Reminds me of the saying take care of the pennies, and the dollars will take care of themselves.