One Small Change or "Switch" at a Time!

I was raised to turn off the lights.  My dad would get downright irate if we left the lights on when we left a room.
But I'm sad to say, through my adult life and in my own home I am a terrible light-leaver-on-er.  I like a bright house, and with our rainy days of winter on the west coast, I'll often turn all of them on in the morning and leave it that way all day!

Today I'm breaking that habit.  I'm turning the lights off.  Only turning them on if I'm going to be in that room for a while.  And you know what?  Since I spend most of my daytime hours in the kitchen, I haven't noticed that the other rooms are dimmer.  With the stark reality that 11% of our monthly energy bill comes from lighting your home I'm hoping that the simple "flick of a switch" will make a difference!

Just making a difference.....one small change, or "switch" at a time!

Starting from Scratch in 3, 2, 1....

For the last several years I've had a deepening desire to seriously change up the way I run my life and my home, as an ordinary, harried, suburban mother of three.  But "serious change" seems so...well... daunting.  I'm intrigued and inspired by all the philosophies behind those fancy buzzwords like sustainability, eco chic, the 100 mile diet, frugal living, going green, minimalism, zen habits, living off grid, clean eating and the list goes on.  But could a mini-driving, stay at home, three children chasing, house in the 'burbs ordinary mom really experience the life I'm imagining?  That less will in fact be more?  That I can be the change that I want to see in the world?  Or will the tyranny of the urgent become the thing that drives me to the fast food lane at the Golden Arches, wearing my made in China cheap runners bought at Wal-Mart?

I want MORE out of life...by spending less, consuming less, wasting less, and stressing LESS.  I'm gonna try.  I'm starting from scratch in 3, 2, 1.....

Is the grass greener on the other side?