Our Daily Garbage

My habit of picking up a piece of trash or three when out walking has rubbed off on my children (much to my delight). Somewhere along the walk home from school it got a name. "Have you found your daily garbage yet?" "I got some daily recycling", "My daily garbage is bigger than yours". Whatever. We're cleaning up and paying attention to our environment. Our garbage pail is on its third week without being brought to the curb, same with our recyclables. I have a neighbor that puts out about 6-8 bags per week. For one person. No recycle bin. The average american throws out almost 2000 pounds of garbage a year. How many people live in this country? (I just checked, something like 304 million.) Thats alot of garbage folks. Surely we can do better..

I borrowed a great book from a friend. I know there are lots of good Simple Living books out there, but this one really inspires me. It is"Living Simply with Children" by Marie Sherlock. I think one of the best thing that i have garnered from the book so far, is remembering to have conversations with my children about Simple Living on a regular basis. We have talked about saving money, about reducing our impact on the environment, but there are so many occasions in our day to teach the whys of Simple Living. I think I teach by example and yet if im not clearly explaining why, how are they going to learn?

Sunday night we went out for pizza with some friends. After dinner my children wanted to go to the local chocolatier for some dessert. Truth be told i coulda gone for some chocolate covered popcorn too. But we had just bought dinner out. I kinda brushed it off for the night with an "I would rather not spend the money'. We went home to snuggle on the couch, watch a movie on the computer (first time!) and make our own popcorn with chocolate chips. But the next day, while gathering firewood, we really talked about it. They know about not shopping for environmental reasons but popcorn? They know we like saving money, putting money in the bank, but popcorn? As my son said at first 'what does popcorn have to do with you being around?" So, I laid it out and offered it like the choice it is, like the book suggests. If we spend lots of money, if we buy all those things, then Mommy would need to get another job. I love being with you and I think you like having me around. What do you think? What do you want? 'I want you here. I want you around. I would rather be with you than spend money'. That was it, it was that simple, that clear for them. That settled, we finished with the kindling, found a board in the shed, laid it across a log and made a see saw. Another beautiful day.