A few years ago some of my friends used to really give me a hard time for my frugal/green ways, but not so much anymore!

some of my efforts:

I strung 3 laundry lines in my basement and hang my clothes to dry there in winter.
I quit using dryer sheets – instead I pour a dab of white vinegar into the laundry detergent dispenser and that takes care of the static.
I became an absolute zealot about water bottles and switched to metal water bottles, and I keep spares in my auto just so I always have one
on hand.
I keep 2 string bags in my purse, just in case.
I bought a battery charger and now only buy rechargable batteries, and I bought a few of those flashlights that you just shake a few times to get them to work.
We buy virtually everything we need second hand, and we don’t mind hunting & waiting until we find what we’re looking for. Patience pays off!

I can my own fruits and veg, so I have a lot of canning jars and I use them for everything: from storing homemade butter to homemade laundry detergent.

For water, the same jars I use for canning work wonderfully for water, and I can put ice cubes, mint, sliced up oranges or lemon in them.

I can totally relate to your CAKE comment, too — where I worked before I was laid off a couple weeks ago, when we celebrated someone’s birthday, I’d always bring my own china plate and metal fork. Everyone seemed terribly amused by that. But, most of the time, I’d skip it, because as you said, it was gross — ours wasn’t even from a mix, it was premade from the grocery store and full of preservatives, yuck.

You guys inspired me; now I now what to do with the old jeans in the basement that are too worn even for cutoffs. Soft napkins! Katy, that’s a great idea. At work, I kept a kitchen towel, which was my all-purpose wipe-it-up, dry-off-my-china-and-silverware-that-I-used-to-eat-my-lunch, but until I read what you wrote today, I didn’t think to take my own cloths when I go out to eat! Also due to your inspiration, I took my own Tupperware to a restaurant for the first time a couple months ago. I did it again when my husband and I went out with friends more recently, and they applauded me for it rather than making fun of me as I’d expected!

I buy nothing new (it’s time for me to join The Compact), and I don’t eat meat. Those are probably my biggest green things so far.

But we have agreed to start moving away from plastics. Pyrex sets were half price at the local supermarket, so we bought two. (The same plastic tableware gets used for each big dinner party or picnic, then run through the dishwasher.) We all had colds in December, bought a huge cube of tissues, and have yet to crack it open. So it looks like a ten year supply now!

Our biggest green contribution has been eating at home. Almost no take-out cups or containers in the course of the month! And there isn’t the food waste that restaurants and take-outs engender as well – the bread not eaten, the not-so-nice veggies tossed rather than served. Leftovers are lunch, or at our laziest, dog food. Since we are eating whole, natural foods, I am comfortable serving them to the dogs as well. Odd, isn’t it, that we humans will eat junk food that we would not let our pets have, but shovel into our kids!