Over the past week I’ve been working on a tree house type of raised deck for my family.  Since my 6 year old is at a stage where she loves watching TV and playing on the computer the tree house is a way to get her out of the house to enjoy some fresh air.  You might be wondering how a tree house has anything to do with “green home improvements”?   Here are the benefits for our family so far and the tree house is not even done yet;

-No more “daddy, what’s on TV”, instead I hear “daddy can we play in the tree house”.

-No more “daddy, can I play on the computer”, instead I hear “daddy can I help you in the tree house”.

-No more “daddy, look at the the _____on the TV”, instead I hear “daddy look at the squirrels” or “daddy look at the swans”(we live on a lake).

The tree house gives our kids a reason to get out of the house and away from the TV/computer.  This saves a little electricity since we have a bunch of solar powered lights in our backyard that provide light for them to play long after dark.  The tree house provides us with a place to relax while we enjoy the fresh air with the birds, squirrels, and wildlife on our lake.

I will post some pictures once the project is completed but here are some pictures for the crowd over at Yahoo Answers.

Most people don’t mind taking baby steps in order to help our environment while improving their own homes and lifestyles. Going green does not really require you to sell your home and live in a bamboo hut while eating off of the land! Here’s a short list of changes that you can make without any pain and you will love the rewards.

1. Invest in reusable shopping bags. Most supermarkets sell these bags at a low cost in order to reduce the amount of paper and plastic bags that end up in the landfills. Imagine going shopping and not filling your garbage can with the bags that your food came in? These bags can be used when you shop at other stores, rumor has it that they also work well at bookstores and clothing stores.

Benefits=Saving the landfills and less garbage to dispose of.

2. Say no to excessive packaging. Have you ever noticed how some products are sold in packages that are several times the size of the product? The next time you go shopping look to the left or right of the large package and you might find a similar product with less wasteful packaging. Depending on how much you shop, this could save you a couple garbage bags a month!

Benefits=Saving the landfills and less garbage to dispose of.

3. Plan your shopping trips and save some gas. Have you ever noticed that you are running out every day or so to go shopping? Are you passing by the stores that you shopped at on Monday when you are shopping on Wednesday? Take an hour or so to make a list of all of the places that you shop at over a period of a month. The next step is to map out the locations and see how many of the stores you can visit in one trip. Hopefully you should only have a few “routes” that you need to make once a month. Now try to plan one shopping trip a week instead of running out 3,4,5 or 6 times. Depending on your shopping habits this should save you several gallons of gas a month. Here’s an example:

A) Go to the bank (on-line banking saves this trip)

B) Go to the supermarket (some supermarkets offer home delivery)

C) Go to the bookstore since it is next to the supermarket.

You get the idea, map out your stops and save some gas.

Benefits= saving 1-5 gallons of gas a week ($150-$800 a year!), freeing up 1-3 hours per week.

Over the next few weeks I will try to post a few of these green project tips. My plan is to introduce these green projects in baby steps so people are not flooded with a bunch of tasks at once. Feel free to post a comment with any questions or if you would like me to include a tip of yours.