There's an ongoing debate around my household about the adage "less is more."  My husband argues that in that case, even less is even more.  While at the time I think he was applying the argument to minimalist modern art, it has come around full circle to me today when I saw a cartoon on chainsawsuit.com, by Kris Straub.

[Image courtesy of chainsawsuit.com]

While at first I just thought this image was funny, and forwarded it on to my husband.  After I hit send, though, I realized that while hilarious, the meaning behind it is true.  Less is more, and even less is even more.  What I mean by that is less waste more healing, and even less waste would be even more healing.

Here at Green Groove, we've mentioned before that reducing your waste is good for sustainable living.  When you purchase less that would make waste you can  keep the carbon footprint for your household down, since there is less packaging and shipping related CO2 coming in.  Recycling is a great way to combat massive landfill waste, but that only goes so far.  Composting is also a good step towards creating less useless waste, but again it only goes so far.  The key really is less is more.

Things you want to avoid are items packaged in a plastic with no recycling number and Styrofoam.  Don't buy individually wrapped things when you could buy that same item in bulk and individually package it yourself.  Be mindful every time you purchase something, and think about where it could end up when you are done with it.

This applies to all purchases, not just groceries.  If you're going to buy a new pair of shoes, think about what you're going to do with your old ones.  Think about what you'll do with it when the new ones wears out.  Is there a place you can recycle old shoes in your town?  Is there somewhere that you can donate them?  Knowing these things ahead of time is very helpful.

While it may seem like an already hard task like shopping for your household just got harder, it really hasn't.  Every purchase you make you're already mindful of a set of needs your family has, like allergies, taste preferences, and cost.  You're just adding one more thing to think about, and in the long-run, thinking about our planet when you're shopping is just as important as thinking about your family.