Living Green 101

Do you ever think about making the choice to Live Green? Or did you just start doing it without thinking twice?

For me, I had to think about. I was 'trained' to do things a certain way and they weren't always green ways of doing things.

So I thought I would take a few of the different areas that you might be easy to 'think' about or even do without much thinking at all.

Harness that Energy Power:

Do you ever think about how much energy it takes to get through a day? Lights, computers, t.v., radios, DVD's, fans, air conditioners, heaters, electric garage doors, pole lights, stop lights, microwave clocks, cordless phone chargers, cell phone chargers, printers, faxes, copiers, and there are so many other things that uses electricity just in a day.

So what can you? Be smart about the energy you use:

• Purchase only CFLs (compact fluorescent light bulbs)
• Set your thermostat at 65' in the winter and 78' in the summer

So what can your choices really do?

• If you choose CFLs then you are helping to save about 300 lbs of carbon dioxide a year because CFLs use 60% less energy than a regular bulb.
• If every home in the United States used just one CFL bulb, we could prevent greenhouse gases equal to the emissions of almost 800,000 cars.
• By turning your thermostat down by just a couple degrees in the winter and/or up a couple of degrees in the summer you can save over 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide a year.
• Purchasing a programmable thermostat and programing it to turn off when you are aren't at home can save you about $100 a year in electricity.

So look at what this one choice can save you...Think about it and share it...Make your choices count...Hugs...

Living Green 101

Okay, I came across something a little unusual today....Soap nuts...

Have you heard of these? I'm amazed and a little curious...what about you...would you use them?

I think I would...I like using vinegar in my laundry to make it softer and tomato paste as a facial mask is also something I like to do, so why not use something called soap nuts to do my laundry...

I'm going to have to do a little more research before actually trying these, but wouldn't it be fun to go to work and someone ask how you got your shirt so clean and you say...with soap nuts...grin...

Lilfix

Living Green 101

There are some very simple things you can do to reduce the amount of trash you throw away each day/week/month/year.

• Using cloth kitchen towels and napkins instead of paper towels and napkins will help reduce the amount of trash more than you might think. Do a little experiment. Every time you use a paper napkin and/or towel, put it in a separate trash bag and at the end of the week look to see how many you have used. You might be surprised at the number of paper towels in your bag. Cloth can be washed and reused over and over again.
  

• Store leftovers in plastic containers like Tupperware® that have lids so you don’t have to use aluminum foil or plastic wrap to cover the leftovers.

• Get your family off the junk mail merry-go-round (find your post about this on Brenda’s Page)

• Pay your bills online. Most companies offer email billing so you won’t get a paper copy in the mail. Sign up for online newspapers and magazine subscriptions…I mean, honestly, we both know those magazines are just going to sit in a pile never to be looked at again…and all those recipes, etc that you want will never be made. So why not get your subscriptions online…this way if there is a recipe you want to try, you can copy and paste it into your recipe word file on your computer…and pull it up when you are ready to use it and this way you don’t have to sort through all those piles of torn out recipes.

• Make your own coffee at home and get a travel mug to take with you in the mornings. Not only will you be saving the environment by not getting those Styrofoam coffee cups, but you will be saving gas by not traveling to the coffee shop and time. Coffee makers these days are equipped with timers so you can get it ready the night before and then you can wake up to a fresh brewing cup of coffee.

• If you just have to have a Starbucks or Duncan Donuts coffee and you don’t want to make it at home, still purchase the travel mug…some stores will give you a discount for using your own mug and not their cups. Ask your local coffee shop if they do this.

• Canvas bags! I know you’ve heard this one over and over again. And if you are like me, you tend to forget them in the car when you do go inside the store…so try this little trick…When you are going grocery shopping try putting your shopping list inside the canvas bags, this way you have to remember the bag because you need your list.

• Or keep one bag up front with you…put your pocket book inside it, so when you go to get out of the car you will remember it and you will remember to grab your other ones.

• Buying rechargeable batteries can be a little costly upfront, but think about the money you will save in the long run. If you have a child who plays video games all the time, they can go through a lot of batteries. So with a battery charger, you can charge 2 batteries while they are using the other two and switch off. No more having to make a stop for batteries to keep the kids happy.

• Just like the coffee, stop buying bottled water. They make some great filtering systems now and they make some very cute and reasonable looking reusable water bottles…you can refill your reusable bottle over and over again…and by using the water filtering system, you will save a lot of money.

• Does your company waste a lot of paper because they can only use one side? Why not bring it home for your kids to draw on. And if you don’t have any young children at home, why not donate it to a daycare (as long as the information on the other side isn’t anything that would violate someone’s privacy, etc.)…Or cut the paper in half and use it for messages or scrap paper, etc in the office.
  

Do you know what the biggest litter problem in the world is? Plastic grocery bags…so don’t use them!

Living Green 101

Today I thought I would borrow a December, 2008 post from my original blog, Brenda's Page and discuss Shoes and what can be done with your old ones...

Nike has a program called ReUSE A SHOE. Once on the site, if you scroll down a little bit, you will see an old shoe with the words 'see it in action' above it...watch the slide show. I thought it was quite interesting what they use old shoes for now...it also amazes me that it took them this long to realize these uses, but at least they are trying now...

The second site is Run the Planet. This site gives you other links that you can go to and learn more about recycling old shoes...

SolesUnited takes old Crocs, recycles them and then donates them to people around the world...

Save up old boots, shoes, etc. and plant a garden in them...if you have young children, this is a fun thing for them to do...you can plant a vegetable garden or a flower garden...think about it...what child wouldn't love to tell their grandparents that they grew a tomato in daddy's old work boot...grin...

And of course you can always take your gently worn shoes to the Salvation Army stores, thrift stores, women's shelters, etc so that others in need will be able to use them...

Women's shelters are also a great place to get rid of your old cellphones...cellphones can call 911 even when they are not on any cell plan...so these phones are given to abused women in case the abuser comes around, etc. the women always have a way to call for help...

Remember...almost everything you have can be reused someway, somehow...just think outside the box...

Living Green 101

Living Green is starting to become important to a lot of people. Some don't know where to start, others have been doing it forever...

Here at Living Green 101, I'm going to give some simple tips to get people started and hopefully throw in one or two tips that will help even those of you who have been doing this for a little while.

Living Green 101 -

This little idea could also be a craft idea, but I'm putting it here because it reuses items...which is an important form of recycling...

What you need:

• Hammer
• 1 big nail
• 1 small nail
  
• 1 clear (20 oz) plastic bottle with screw lid (empty and washed out)
• 2 small twigs (make the twigs as long as the bottle)
• 1 piece of wire (about 1 ft long)
• birdseed

Take the hammer and big nail and punch 4 holes about 1/2 inch from the bottom of the bottle. You want two holes across from each other and the other two holes up a little higher and across from each other.

Push one of the twig through the bottom holes so that one end of the twig is sticking out of each side of the bottle. Push the other twig through the other two holes...again, so that you have twig sticking out of each side. These 4 "perches" will be for the birds to stand on when they eat.

Now punch 4 more holes further up on the bottle. Not too far up because you want the birds to be able to reach the holes while standing on the perches.

Now take the small nail and punch 2 small holes just below the lid. Fill the bird feeder with the bird seed (leave about a 1 to 2 inch empty space at the top of the bottle.

Feed each end of the wire through the hole, so that the ends of the wire are inside the bottle. Twist the two ends together, so that the ends won't slip out of their holes. Put the lid on your bird feeder and hang from a tree close to a window so that you can watch the birds eat.

Lilfix