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Go green with Liz's Mom

Ten practical ideas from an old-fashioned "green" woman

[March 2, 2010]

Elisabeth Hooker, STCU education outreach officer

What does green mean to me?

It could mean money, St. Patrick's Day Irish pride, jealousy, or saving the earth, but my Mom has taught me that green doesn't have to be complicated. Just practical, creative, and kind to the environment. 

Mom, as it turns out, was "green" long before it became fashionable. She's an old-fashioned green woman who has a talent for taking an everyday item and using it to its maximum potential -- Tupperware, paper, furniture, food, and stuff in general.

Her compulsion to save may be extreme to some, but the outcome is always positive. Here are 10 ways Mom lives "green" throughout the year:

1. Christmas morning, Mom is always the last to finish opening her presents. She meticulously opens every package to save the wrapping paper for another use. Mom has bags full of rolled-up used wrapping paper, ready for the next special occasion.
2. Her yogurt, sour cream, jam, and Cool Whip containers are all rinsed and sitting in a box, ready to carry home leftovers from the next family dinner.
3. Mom keeps a giant bag for fabric scraps. These are used for sewing practice, or given to quilters.
4. Family meals are a lesson in creativity as Mom stretches the food budget. Monday: chicken. Wednesday: chicken salad. Friday: cream of chicken on toast.
5. Don’t pour the grease from the frying pan down the drain, Mom says. Use a tin can to collect it.
6. Mom uses plastic grocery bags to line garbage cans.
7. And paper grocery bags are for storing newspapers until they're recycled.
8. Old bath towels become new rags for Mom's garage.
9. Magazines go to schools for craft projects.
10. And when I was six, Mom turned the laundry room curtains and an old pair of jeans into a fashionable first-day-of-school outfit.

Mom isn’t out to save the world. She’s just following a lesson she learned growing up -- don’t waste anything.

Think of all the money you’ve wasted because you chose convenience over creativity and effort. Start living like Mom, and you may notice a few extra dollars in your pocket. 

What does Mom do with her extra money? I've tried to get her to send some my way, but she usually saves it in her STCU First5 Savings Account or money market account. She knows that your savings can add up over time.

It's hip to be a modern green woman. But like Mom, I’m content to be old-fashioned green.