Kellie's Comment

I've always found my friend, Kellie, to have very good life advice. She's very wise. And she dispenses it in just a very down-to-earth manner. She's not looking to sound all profound, she just is. Her life is very much rooted in the gospel and she seems to see the big picture and how things, even the simple things, tie in so very well. Many conversations we have had over the years have stuck with me and i'm so grateful for some of the things she helped me see differently.

Here is her comment that she wrote in response to my "Greenish" post--"Hi Ashlee...I have been reading, just not commenting much. This is an impressive list, however. It is easy to be motivated when the reason is more than just political or out of fear. I love that it has become part of your cadre of homemaking skills. Frugality and provident living went the way of the dodo in the decadent 80's and it is good to see them coming back."

I love her last sentence! That is really what so much of "going green" is all about--frugality and provident living (but could i have formed that thought?? No!). We've all probably seen the little wall hanging that says, "Simplify." Growing up, it was a normal thing for my mom to keep the plastic bags from, say, loaves of bread, for reuse (maybe plastic grocery bags weren't standard then). Paper grocery bags were reused (colored on, used for wrapping boxes to be shipped; etc.). Aluminum foil was reused. Yogurt containers were reused for left-overs. And i don't think my folks spend much time worrying about the environment, but they've recycled for a long time. So i had to laugh at myself as i've had to make a conscious effort to bring fewer plastic bags into my home and start recycling again after our move. i had this "epiphany" that just about everything in my kitchen was already wrapped in plastic bags that i could reuse--bread bags, carrot bags and all that. Anyway. Kind of a silly example but in some ways i'm just going back to the basics. With "progress" and new technology, we have complicated things in some ways more than necessary. Do we really need to use toxic commercial cleaners or antibacterial soaps in our homes? No. It's certainly convenient and at a time it was probably a luxury to be able to stop using baking soda and vinegar and just buy a can of Scrubbing Bubbles (one of my favorites as a kid, although i was very disappointed that the animated bubbles from the commercials didn't come out and race around the tub, cleaning it for me!). My neighbor who recently joined the church was excited when i told her about the cleaners i've been making (guess what SHE got from me for Christmas?). She had been thinking about this issue and asked me "why isn't this something all LDS do?" I had to laugh. I mean, really, don't we have TOO MUCH to do already??! She feels like this is something that is right there with food storage and preparedness and self-sufficiency.

And i'm not trying to sound all preachy and obnoxious (i can't stand when people push their beliefs, whether religious, personal, professional, environmental; etc. on me as the only way, so please don't feel like i'm doing that here. This is just my blog and journal, sooooo). I'm just slowly figuring out what works for me. It took me four years to decide to change things in the way i clean. Do what works for you. If you want to make changes, simplifying or recycling or whatever, yay for you! Just take baby steps. Don't try to do it all at once. The little things do count and add up!