When we were growing up my daddy always said that it's "Good to own your own piece of dirt... and to take care of that piece of dirt." When I bought my first house he asked, "How's it feel owning your own piece of dirt?"
I LOVE owning my own dirt and now I have a LOT of it. With five acres of sand surrounding our daily lives there is never a shortage of dirt hanging around my house. I gladly share my dirt with my friends who visit and happily send some home with them on their shoes.
In a small effort to take care of 'my piece of dirt' there are several things that we do at our house... simple things that I thought I'd share with you.
1. We love books at our house. In effort to cut down on spending and waste I've started taking more and more books from the library. If it's a must-have book I'll buy it after reviewing it. This has saved me many many dollars.
2. We have found that using Craig's list works for us! We've recycled furniture and goods that we no longer need and we've found some things that we were looking for at an incredible price - thus being able to recycle!
3. We compost our leaves, garden extras, sticks and more. It is important for us to create our own garden fertilizer! Saves on bags to bag up our leaves too!
4. I'm trying like the dickens to use primarily reusable bags while shopping. I have a horrible habit of leaving them at home, but I'm trying to save on plastic bag usage.
5. As much as I have time for I try to cook from scratch. I like to avoid cans if possible. Not only does it cut down on waste, but it cuts down on my recycling too.
6. During the warmer seasons I turn off the dryer and hang my clothes on the line. It saves pennies on the electric bill.
7. We wash our dishes and napkins too! We rarely use paper plates at our house and usually use cloth napkins too. It's more work to wash the dishes, but overall it's better on the landfills. Washing the dishes by hand (gasp!) saves on the electric bill too.
8. We were always told in school to "turn off those lights!" and I listened. Somedays it feels like I have to turn them off a lot, but overall we use natural light through the day and keep it to a minimum at night. It's amazing how quickly one can accustom themselves to lighting the room that they are in.
9. We reuse paper in our home. First print on one side of the paper and then the other. Then we save the paper and use it when we start our fires in the winter. It's a great way to conserve and reuse.
10. When we leave the house it's for a good reason. We make lists and combine efforts and trips to conserve on time and gas. Living 10 minutes from town makes it important to know the direction that we are heading before turning on the gas tank.
These are just a few ways that we try and save our dirt... to keep it clean! I'd love to hear your ideas too. If you don't own your own piece of dirt and have ideas, or want to buy a piece of dirt for yourself I'd love to hear from you!
If you are looking for professional real estate services I am only a ring away! I am looking forward to working with you.
Lindsey Hasford
Coldwell Banker Vision
231 Main Street - Elk River - MN 55330
763-241-5488 (office) 763-218-1347 (cell)
lindseyhasford@coldwellbankervision.com
http://www.hasfordhomes.com
Sometime this week Minnesotans should be receiving a blue bag in their mailbox from their local post office as a reminder that Saturday, May 9th, is their yearly "Stamp Out Hunger" event! 
