Green War

The word "eco-friendly" has been on my mind a lot as of late. My otherwise fantastic roommate and I have one major difference. I'm eco-conscious and she's... well, as far away from it as you can get.

Besides having minor contentions over the thermostat level (I'm arguing to turn the air up to 78-80 degrees while she's more comfortable at 68-70 degrees), I've found myself developing some new habits:

1. Buying eco-friendly and recycled household products such as toilet paper, detergent, and cleaners. Although the brand Seventh Generation is a little too pricey, I was surprised by the selection of less expensive environmentally conscious brands
2. Shutting off the air vents in my bedroom so there's one less room for the central air to cool off.
3. Following my roommate around the apartment, turning off light switches that she left on (gotta figure out how to be more subtle about this one).
4. Digging through the trash can, salvaging any recyclables to take to the recycling center.
5. Driving less. Carpooling more and taking the bus to school whenever possible.
6. Canceling subscriptions of magazines I don't read anymore. Opting out of paper catalogs. Also, opting out of junk mail through DMAChoice Mail and opting out of prescreened credit card offers.
7. Being more vigilant about using reuseable shopping bags. There's been many a time when the wide-eyed bagger watched me stuff more than he/she ever thought possible into my two bags.

There are a few things I'm still trying to work on, however:

1. Using less water when I shower. I still have a hard time shutting off the water when I'm soaping up, but I do try to keep my showers under 7 minutes.
2. Buying local. There's a Farmer's Market down the street from campus on Wednesdays that I'm going to start frequenting between school and community group in the fall.
3. My car. Something is up with the engine and it's now only getting about 20 miles to the gallon (it's supposed to get 27 miles in the city). I don't know why since it's passed all the inspections and everything. I've been perusing craigslist for a cheap car with better mileage so I can sell this car, but nothing falls within my price range (and by price range, I mean the amount I'm willing to ask my parents to loan me). I'm taking it into the shop tomorrow morning to get it checked out and hopefully I can get it to run a little more efficiently.
4. I'm considering buying a bissell sweeper instead of using a vacuum cleaner. They come pretty cheap and are easier to use, in my opinion, than a vacuum.
5. Using less paper at school. I have a nasty habit of really marking up everything I read, and find it very very difficult to read papers on the computer.
6. Buying recycled school supplies.

It's really hard to make some of these changes especially on a tight budget. Organic or local produce sometimes just costs more than regular produce. But I wonder if spending is just like time management. Sometimes you don't need more time, but better time management. Maybe what I need isn't more money, but just better money management.