Going Green?

I used to cling to my California roots, believing that recycling and such was for these Pacific-Northwest hippies, but now that I've been here almost 5 years, and in light of our current global warming/global economy situation, I've really warmed up to the idea of "going green."

Would you believe that our neighborhood has an annual "Green Halloween" event that looks like a carnival but has a recycling, healthy, no-candy, educational theme?? I personally feel that this is going a little far with a message (we want the candy!). Also, the homes in our 'hood were all designed with very narrow garages, which I always thought was weird, and then I later learned that this design is to accomodate small, fuel efficient vehicles rather than big gas guzzlers! I can barely fit my gas guzzler in the door! And the street parking is very limited, which I later learned is to discourage homeowners from owning multiple cars. Is it just me, or is that weird? Who thinks of this stuff while designing a community?

Anyway, my point being... I've been hearing that you can save money on your energy bill by unplugging anything that isn't being used--even if it isn't turned on. I have always unplugged the blow-dryer, toaster, blender... but I've found a whole new lot of items to unplug (printer, electric pencil sharpener, VCR (yep, still have one!), a lamp that never gets used), so I am going to experiment and be somewhat of an unplugging-nazi and see if my bill goes down. The main suggestion has been to plug your entire tv, cable, entertainment unit to a power strip with an off/on switch so that these items don't drain energy while turned off... but that seems a bit extreme for this month. I am going to start small and let y'all know how it goes. Are any of you doing this already?

Does anyone else have any tips?

Is this the most boring blog ever? It just felt relevant as I sit on the floor surrounded by bills.

Oh, also, we finally bought re-usable bags at Safeway for $.99 each, and they are awesome! First of all, their handles are nice and long so that I can carry grocery bags on my shoulders. Second, they hold a lot more than plastic bags, which means less trips to the car to bring the groceries in (though this makes them a bit heavier), and lastly, there is a $.03 rebate for each bag when used, so after 33 trips to Safeway, these babies will have paid for themselves!

Now, if I can just figure out how to get the solar panel on the roof... haha