A "Green" Challenge

Shortly before school started for Lauren, she and I spent an entire weekend doing a "deep" clean of her bedroom.  By the time we were done, we had filled up six bags to throw away.  Yikes!! I thought we were pretty good at recycling and not throwing so much trash away, but I guess I was wrong!!! The hubby even asked me yesterday as I was bagging up our kitchen trash, "didn't we just empty that recently??" I told him yes :(  My challenge for the month of September is to make our family  more "green."  Lauren is taking an art class this semester and if she donates some art items she'll get extra credit points.  To me that's a win-win.  A local charity comes through our neighborhood about once a month or so. They are scheduled to be in our neighborhood tomorrow, so I am spending the better part of today going through the kid's clothes and getting some boxes ready to donate.  If we have clothes that are full of holes and/or stains, they become rags to use around the house or to dry off the cars when we wash them. I want to see if I can donate our gently used toys to a local homeless shelter.  I got a few books out from the library this week about composting and living the "zero waste" lifestyle that I plan on gleaning information from!!  At the grocery store, I'm going to start asking for the clerk to bag my groceries in brown paper bags, not plastic. I have been taking my used printer ribbons from our printer to Office Max for a long time and they recycle them for me and give me credit.  For the past couple of years, I have had Dominic's school signed up with an organization called TerraCycle - here is the link:  http://www.terracycle.com/en-US/ .  You will be absolutely amazed what you can send to them! I currently send the Capri Sun drink pouches. They pay for the postage - all you need is your own box or shipping envelope. When you accumulate enough points, you can donate them to the charity of your choice. I have also been the coordinator for both the Box Tops for Education Program and the Campbell's Labels for Education Program at his school for several years.  It takes just a few moments to clip those box tops or labels.  If you have kids, see if their school has either of those programs. If they don't, start it - it's a great way to volunteer! If you don't have kids, see if you can donate your box tops or labels to your local school.  Do you drink beverages with those pop tabs? We have been donating our pop tabs to the Ronald McDonald House for ill children around where we live for several years. I would love to hear from others who recycle and/or are more "green" than our family.  I'm sure I could learn a thing or two! Anyone up for taking the September "challenge" with me???