In the cycle of trying to live a more environmentall friendly lifestyle, one of the easiest steps to forget is the part of “reuse”. Most people do it to a limited degree, but not as much as they could, yet this is probably the most affordable way to help the environment.

Much of this is actually my favorite way to shop. I love haunting used book stores. Libraries are fun as well, but I reread most of my books often enough to make ownership reasonable. I have several bookshelves full of books. My husband is the same way, and books stick around until they fall to pieces from reading. And yes, it does happen.

One of the things I need to get back into the habit of, though, is going through the resale shops, especially for the kids’ clothing. You know how fast children go through clothing. It’s harder to find good outfits for them at resale now than when they were infants, but I know it is still possible.

Between resale and handmedowns from relatives, we barely had to buy new baby clothes when the kids were small. I loved it and really need to get better at taking advantage of resale.

This is of course the kind of philosophy that encourages me to use our compost heap. If food scraps must be thrown out, far better that they become something useful whenever possible.

It’s a bit trickier with electronics, although you can get some good deals in used and refurbished models. It does help to remember to recycle your printer cartridges, which at least in my area is now offered by companies such as Office Depot. Very easy to recycle the old when you need new.

[tags]reuse,recycling,environment[tags/]