Americans are feeling guilty about a lot of things, but the thing that is making them feel the most guilt is the waste of food! American families are wasting around $600 a year on food costs and they are feeling increasingly bad about it.

The survey of over 1,000 people found that the average household throws out 470 pounds of food every year. This food waste is actually the largest component in our nation’s landfills. With all of that food in the landfills, almost 40 percent of Americans said wasting food caused them the most “green guilt.”

Wasting food caused more green guilt than other causes such as leaving the lights on when leaving a room and wasting water. Throwing away extra food also made people feel guiltier than not unplugging electronics that are not in use and not recycling.

Other habits that people felt guilty about were:

1. Forgetting to bring reusable bags to the store, which I could understand only if you SEE someone else with the reuseable bags

2. Letting the water run while brushing teeth, washing dishes, etc. Which I understand until someone says you should turn the water off when you are showering and washing your hair and body. You would get so cold!

3. Not buying CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs) or LEDs. I like the new lights, other than you can’t really dim them at all.

4. Not sticking to an energy-efficient thermostat setting. If I’m hot, and the AC is on, I’m making it colder. Safe with the heat

5. Using chemical lawn or plant fertilizers. You aren’t going organic, trust me.

6. Not being careful about when or how long to water the grass. Just let rain do it, way cheaper.