My slow turn to "green"

bumgenius diaper, the coolest ever

So one of the goals this year is to become a little more environmentally conscience.  So for I've accomplished the following: cloth diapering (thanks to Cotton Babies, who make a fantastic cloth diaper!), and recycling. Starting this weekend my garden gets up and running with a fall crop going in, and I hope to start composting.  At first my reasons for doing the above was all about money; either money saved (i.e. cloth diapering vs. disposable; eating fresh, organic CHEAP veggies) or money earned (turning in my glass and aluminum for cash back).  But now, I'm starting to see everything I do as a way to give back, or to avoid "trash".  I started thrifting, and using freecycle.org to find cool things (on a stay-at-home mom budget), and I dig the idea of using something used instead of buying new, which cuts down on the amount of waste I create!  Plus, using freecycle.org and other venues (i.e. craigslist or ebay) I can get rid of some of my used stuff too, giving it a good, new home!  I've even started looking at ebay.com as a way to find pre-owned, usually expensive items that will last me longer than the Target knockoff version.  I can't wait to score the Steve Madden boots I have my eye on!  

Also, I've been converting cool, vintage clothes that I find at the thrift store into things I can actually wear: the awesome shirt I found that is 4 sizes too large which I'm cutting down to fit, the amazing printed jacket that is way '80's ugly which I'm turning into an apron (not my idea, but a great one!) Oh, and eventually this idea of giving clothes a Second Chance will turn into my next business project...but that's another blog post altogether.   So as I told a dear friend once, I'm not green for the sake of "saving the earth" but for the kinder effect on my pocket (which I dubbed "teal")...but somewhere along the way, a shift has happened.  I'm started to turn green, or maybe just a cool verdigris.

 (Cottonbabies.com is running a contest, and this is an entry; pray I win the free pack of diapers!)