Living Healthy and Green

My green tip, is check out this article..

2009-04-07T06:49:00.001-07:00

For those myths about being green, here are the answers...

http://earth911.com/blog/2009/03/30/8-ways-to-not-get-tricked-while-going-green/

Toilet paper???

2009-03-31T14:21:00.000-07:00

How do you recycle that?? Well I have to admit I didn't even think of this one. I seen someone ask about it on a message board I'm on. She wanted to know if you can recycle the empty tubes. Well of course you can, it's just cardboard. So throw your empty toilet paper tubes and paper towel tubes in with your cardboard, and drop them off the next time you recycle.

I seen another post where someone said they put it in their compost pile!!... So instead of filling the landfills with more cardboard, recycle them...

Happy recycling...

JenD

Save some water!

2009-03-24T05:30:00.000-07:00

I actually seen this tip on a show on PBS a while back. I hoped I never had to use it. Of course that's because I had a working dishwasher at the time. Well now that is broke down (hopefully not for long) and I am now using this tip.

When you wash dishes in the sink, save some water and use a large bowl instead of the whole sink. WHY? Well very often, even if we only have a few dishes, we fill the sink to the top and use way more water than we need. So if you fill a container ( I use a cake carrier top), you won't use as much water. The interesting this is, I originally did this because our counter is to small to hold the dirty dishes and the drainer, so I put the drainer in the other sink. If I use a container for the water, than I can put the washed dishes in the same sink as the water, to rinse them. Confusing, I know, but it works for us. Well my oldest son, marky comes out there and says, "cool, good way to save water". That's when I realized, WOW they do pay attention, and yes I was saving water...

Open those curtains!!

2009-03-17T05:30:00.000-07:00

Here's a tip that EVERYONE can do. Even if you don't have time to recycle, feed the birds or wash your baggies lol. Open your curtains, and turn off those lights!!.

Save some electricity and use some passive solar energy, that means the sun shining thru your windows, it helps heat your home. Close the curtains at night not only for privacy, but to keep the heat in.. Of course there are more benefits, like the less electricity you use, the less your bill is, also your light bulbs last longer (which saves money) and your helping the environment by using less fossil fuels (used in making the bulbs). So take advantage of the bright sun GOD put on this earth and open those curtains during the day..

Living Green!

A recycling tip!!

2009-03-10T05:16:00.000-07:00

In the spirit of reduce, reuse, recycle here's a tip.

I collect all my recycling in my backroom to drop off when I'm heading into the nearest Granger center. Well I have to transport it of course, so what should I use?? Well we have cats, and cats need litter. I buy my litter in a large bucket, one I washed and use to store our cat food in. I buy the 18 lb bag for them (it's cheaper to buy in bulk). Well I have a few others as well, so I found that they make the perfect recycling containers. They have a handle and a lid too. I will collect a few more and use them to sort and carry.. For glass it works perfect, in case a jar breaks while transporting..

So large containers?? Save them and make them your recycling containers...

Happy Recycling..

Feed the birds....

2009-03-03T05:06:00.000-08:00

So my green tip for today??? Feed the birds.. and rabbit's... and yes the squirrels too...

Do you find, that no matter what you do you end up with bits of crust, biscuits and even fruit that just don't get eaten and get stale or old?? Well how about instead of throwing them away, put them outside for the animals. They need to eat too and in the winter especially, it's hard for them to find berries and seeds. A bird feeder is a wonderful idea, but go ahead and put your dried crust and apples out there. I recently went thru and cleaned out my kitchen. You wouldn't believe the bits I found that would never get eaten. I had a bag of dried fruit, of course only about 1/8 c that was now stale and NO ONE would eat. I had some crust that were hiding under the bags of bread. I also found that my son had poked a hole in all our apples, so the bottoms of them were all browned. Well I cut the apples in half, gathered all the biscuits and bread and bagels and fruit together, broke them up into smaller pieces and took them outside. The animals LOVED them. I recycled AND fed the animals. In the Fall and early winter we even found deer in our backyard eating old bread I'd put out there. Now I enjoy birds, rabbits, squirrels and chipmunks around my feeders all the time.

So throw it all to the birds!!

(a tip, don't throw it out before in rains, you'll end up with mush in your yard. If you have a hard spot, or a trash can lid to flip over and put it on, it will keep the mess off the ground)

Happy recycling..

Batteries

2009-01-27T10:00:00.000-08:00

Do you have a ton of battery powered items?? Do you wonder why you have to spend so much on batteries?? As a mom, I DO!! So as a way to save us $$ and to be more environmentally friendly, we replaced many of our batteries with rechargeable. Yes, they do cost more in the beginning, but they last a LOT longer. For controllers and cameras considering using rechargeable. For kids toys that you don't want to last forever (hehe, yes I am a mom who understands LOL.) consider buying them from a liquidation store. Save-a-lot or Big lots for example. They are cheaper and they are selling the ones, the big stores can't sell. They would otherwise end up in a landfill anyways.

Concider finding ways to recycle them when your done. Many places have a box to collect them in. Schools and large office buildings can get these as well.

For more great information on "disposable-vs-rechargeable" you can find it here.

Bills, bills and more paper!!

2009-01-20T16:05:00.000-08:00

As I was cleaning my office today, I was surprised by the amount of paper I was shredding. Old bills, that I no longer needed. Just from ONE year it was a pile that filled my shredder almost to the brim. So how does this relate to recycling? Well for every paper bill you receive a tree had to be cut down. Most companies don't print on recycled paper (I'm sure a few do) so lets save some trees on our own. Consumers are making an impact on companies to become more green, therefore they are offering your bill in email form. Consumers Energy, AT&T, Verizon these are just a few that now offer a way to save the paper clutter. So if you can stand to NOT receive that paper reminder in the mail, opt for a paperless bill. Get your reminder in email. I know this isn't practical for everybody, but just eliminating one bill in paper form can make a difference. Every bit we do, HELPS!!

Get a day planner and use it to write down your bills, so you don't forget about one. This is a help in general budgeting too, but it goes even farther in eliminating the extra paper waste.

So until next Tuesday

JenD

Sponge or Washcloth

2009-01-13T16:00:00.000-08:00

Part of being green is finding ways to replace disposable items with reusable.

Another great replacement is using a washrag instead of a sponge in the kitchen. Aside from the money saving factor (not buying sponges all the time) it is better for you. Sponges hold bacteria inside of it. Yes you can boil them, put them in the microwave or even put them in the dishwasher to kill the bacteria.

Or you can invest in some washcloths that have a scrubby side on them. Microfiber Scrubber dishcloths are a great replacement. I've seen these at Walmart as well.. They are made for washing dishes with. I replace it with a new on everyday, and throw the used one in the laundry.

Here is a great article on tips for using a sponge safely (if you must).

If you have other plastic scrubbers you can clean them in the dishwasher as well. They are sure to get disinfected and cleaned. If you don't have a dishwasher, a safe disinfectant spray or boiling it on the stove is an option as well. I don't recommend using the microwave, but that is another story all together..

So throw away that sponge for the last time and invest in some reusuable dish rags. You'll feel better for it....

Fresh produce wash

2009-01-06T10:21:00.000-08:00

Do you eat lots of fresh fruits and vegi's? I don't have to tell you, it's a good idea right?? Well another good idea is to wash them before eating them. If you aren't using organic it's even MORE important. All the of the chemicals used to clean them in the processing is still on them. Many fruits and vegi's are also coated with wax or other chemicals to keep them "fresh" longer. So how do you effectively and safely clean all of this off?? Well I have a great solution..

Tough and Tender

If you area already a customer of Melaleuca, than you may already know this. If not, I'd be glad to show you how to become one.

The diluted mixture of water and concentrate makes a perfect wash. Just spray it on the produce, let it sit for a minute and wash it off. This works great for potatoes, grapes, broccoli and apples just to name a few.

The best part is, it's a "green" product. There are NO chemicals, phosphates or any harmful ingredients.

The uses don't stop there, it's an multi-purpose surface cleaner. We use it to clean the table, counters and even walls. If we need to disinfect than we use Sol-U-Guard Botanical..

So now what's your excuse for not eating more fresh produce???

The cost of water!

2008-11-11T17:41:00.000-08:00

Do find yourself buying bottled water from the store? Have you noticed the amount of plastic that goes to recycling from them? Have you wondered how to reduce that amount while still drinking better, safer water? I have and found a way to greatly reduce it.

As well as all the added plastic buying bottled water adds, it also cost alot. There is also alot of valid information on the effects of plastic bottles to the water. So if you must buy water and can't put a filter in your house, try buying a pitcher filter! Here is the one we use, we got it on sale for half price, the refill filter cartrige cost me less than $8 and last 2 months.

http://www.walgreens.com/store/product.jsp?CATID=302577&navAction=jump&navCount=0&nug=VPD&skuid=sku2460142&id=prod2460705

If you need to have water to travel, buy a stainless steel travel mug. If your looking for more info on the downside of plastic bottles, you can find more info in this very interesting article:

http://www.cbc.ca/news/background/consumers/bottled-water.html

2008-10-21T12:33:00.001-07:00

So my once a week is a little behind. We went "very green" and went camping for a few weeks. No Internet so we weren't able to post. So I'll rephrase it to as often as I can, our goal is once a week.

So here's our next tip. I get this awesome newsletter in my inbox every week. Some of the tips are odd, but some like this one is quite useful.

"Here, for your recycling pleasure, are just a few tips that have washed up on my desk recently:

STORING SCARVES. Use the plastic rings that are attached to a six-pack of soda to organize your scarves. Hang the entire plastic ring intact, over a hook on a clothes hanger. Pull your scarves through the rings so they hang loosely, wrinkle-free. Sue, Massachusetts

CARPET THE GARDEN. We have a mole problem in our neighborhood and the critters get into everything, leaving lovely mole-hills all over our lawn! My neighbor placed old pieces of carpet, fuzzy side down, on the bottom of his garden boxes with the dirt on top. It works great because moles dig but they don’t chew. In 15 years, he has never had moles munching on his veggies. We are planning to replace the carpet in our sons’ room with laminate and now we have a use for the old carpet. Katrina, British Columbia, Canada

Got a unique way that you use “this” for “that?” Send your ideas to me, mary@everydaycheapskate.com. "

If your interested, you can go to http://www.cheapskatemonthly.com/ed_cheapskate.asp
and sign up for the newsletter to get tons more ideas.

Recycling??

2008-09-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

When someone says "living green" the first thing that usually pops into mind is recycling, right? So what exactly does that mean to you? Save plastic and cans and take to a recycle center? Reuse plastic bags as trash bags. The great thing is, every little thing helps. Here are a few ideas of how you can start small and help even if just a little.

Reuse plastic grocery bags and trash bags, or better yet, buy some cloth ones they sell. They are only $1 and they hold 2-3 plastic bags. I only have 5 and rarely run out, even when i have a cart full. They won't rip, and they save the earth.

If you want to help even more, start collecting your plastic bottles, cans and boxes. Find a recycling center close to home, or close to where you will be. For us, that's 45 miles away from home. Our here in our "glorified campground" (hehe), we don't have a center, so we take it into town on Sundays with us to drop off.

Here's another idea, have stuff you know someone might be able to use, but you don't need anymore??? Well I have the perfect solution, find your local freecycle group online. Yup it's a online website, find your local areas and you can post what you don't want anymore. From empty jugs, to clothes, someone will probably need it. Great thing is, they come get it, or you set up to meet them. Here is a link to the world wide site

http://www.freecycle.org/

It's a great way to FIND something you need as well. It's all free and the idea is to save un-needed and un-used items from the landfills.

So there you have it tip #1. We'll post a new one each week, some simple, some will take some work. Bottom line, it all helps our environment and ensure our future here!