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10 Minute Green Home Makeovers
March 10, 2010 by Alicia
Filed under Apartment Living, Go Green
When people tell me to “go green” I sometimes think of the task that it’s going to actually be. I feel as if it’s going to be expensive and take lots of time, so I’ve been putting lots of it off. Recently I decided to just “dive in” to going green. What’s the hold off, everyone says I’ll be saving more money annually and I want to be a part of that. I found an article NewsOn6.com that featured making your home more green in 10 minutes. Who doesn’t love 10 minute fixes?
Living Room- Take a look around your living room. Do you have any electronics that can classify as E-waste (meaning their major job is to collect dust)? E-waste is a big problem in landfills since there are lots of hazardous materiels in electronics. Look for a program or an E-wast event where you can take your unused electronic.
Bathroom- Are you using too much water? An average faucet’s flow rate is two gallons per minute! A five minute shower uses 10-25 gallons of water. Try turning off the water when you brush your teeth, shave and take shorter showers. If you want to do a bit more install a low-flow showerhead or an aerator on your sink. These tips will reduce your household water by up to 50%!
Office- If you have tons of paper lying around, look around and collect all the used paper. If little to nothing has been used make it a scrap piece of paper. You can use it for notes. When it’s all filled RECYLE! Also turn off your electronics that are office worthy, you can also activate sleep modes so your electronics will notice inactive periods of time.
Photo by Hyokano
More than one way to use your dryer sheets!
February 11, 2010 by Alicia
Filed under Apartment Living, Go Green
Who would’ve thought there was actually more than one use for dryer sheets? After reading this article from The Daily Green, there are about 12 extra uses for dryer sheets. I know my mother also uses them as closet scents but they can be used as soap scum wipes and as a lint brush. These facts are pretty cool and I’d love to know if there are actually more uses than the list provided.
For the full list of uses click here!
* Use them more than once. Although my wife disagrees, I’ve found that the same softener sheet can be used up to three or four times in the dryer and still get the job done.
* Anti-static dust wipes: The anti-cling chemicals in dryer sheets make them perfect for dusting television and computer screens and other electronic dust-magnets.
* Lint brush in a pinch: Used fabric softener sheets can be used to remove pet hair and lint from clothing and upholstery.
* Pot scrubbers: The softening chemicals in dryer sheets help loosen food particles stuck on pots and baking dishes; place a used sheet in the dish, cover with hot water, and let soak overnight. Rinse thoroughly after cleaning.
Charging Toward a Greener Christmas
The holiday season is undoubtedly the time of year when the most battery purchases are made.
But, that means the entire planet is also dumping a lot of old batteries throughout the year. Hardly a healthy thing for Mother Earth.
We found a great guide for the best rechargeable batteries and battery chargers, so as you are purchasing batteries for the gifts that require them, give Mother Earth a gift as well and purchase the rechargeable types and a charger for them.
Cracking on the Peanuts
If you’re all out of wise cracks for Segway riders, maybe you can drag out all those comments of ridicule and repurpose and redirect them at the Peanuts.
Peanuts?, you ask….. Honda revealed the concept P-Nut, or Personal Neo Urban Transport, at a press conference on Wednesday. The car company says the quirky three-seater has been designed “exclusively around the city lifestyle.”
Although, a lot like a Segway, it might elicit as many laughs as looks.
Read more about it here.
Did you know…..
Did you know that cooking grease is one of the main causes of City sewer blockages? The spilled sewage eventually reaches Oklahoma streams and rivers, causing unsafe conditions. By following a few simple steps, you can help prevent costly sewage overflows in the future. Find out more here.
Have you ever had a drain blockage?
Start Recycling
It looks like we have got to get serious about recycling. Today I have decided to link you to a web site that is a great resource for finding a recycling center in or near your area.
Do you have access to one of these?
On this web site you can find ways to recycling household items such as, plastic bags, aluminum, glass, and electronics just to name a few.
I make sure that I take plastic bags, bottles, paper etc. to a recycling center. I know it may not be much or all that I can do, but it’s a start. I would also like to know how you take steps to make the planet a little greener.
Check out the web site and let me know what you think.
The Environmental Impact of E-Readers
A recent study by the Cleantech Group revealed the much lower environmental impact of e-readers – specifically the 
Kindle – compared to traditional publishing, but the devices still require charging from the grid. LG’s new e-reader takes care of that: it’s outfitted with its own integrated solar panel, allowing it to run on clean, renewable, solar power.
Stop Wasting Food
Cleaning out your refrigerator can be a disheartening experience. Piling moldy and old fruits, meals, and vegetables into a garbage bag can make you realize how much money you’re wasting.
Americans waste 14 percent of their food purchases. It is estimated that the average family of four tosses out close to $600 per year in fruit, meat, and vegetables.Here are some ways to stop wasting food and save your hard-earned money. The first way is to try drying your food. It is the easiest way to preserve food. When you suspect something is about to go bad, put it in the dehydrator. For nine pounds of fresh produce, you’ll get about one pound of dried produce.
Another way is freezing. This is a great option if you have purchased a large quantity of fruit and vegetables to use in pies and smoothies. Put the produce on a cookie sheet and place in a freezer. Once frozen, seal them in an airtight container.
The third option is to vacuum seal. You can find a vacuum packer device in most mass merchandisers. It sucks out all of the oxygen that causes oxidation and your food will stay fresh five times longer.
The last option is to bottle or can your food. It’s an old process that has been around for a while. There are plenty of recipes around the net to pickle or make chutney of your produce.
What are some of the things you do to save your food and your money?
Light It Up with Fluorescent Bulbs
You keep hearing the term “Go Green” all over the news, in magazines and on billboards but just how do you do that?
You can actually do something very simple to get started on the “Going Green” path: simply purchase compact fluorescent light (CFL) bulbs.
CFL bulbs are those funny-looking bulbs with swirls of glass tubing, lit with argon gas and mercury vapor. They are slightly more expensive than traditional incandescent light bulbs, but they pay for themselves in six months and can last 10 times longer than the incandescent light bulbs you’re using now.
That means if you have a light fixture you use quite a bit and find yourself changing the light bulb in it every six months, using a CFL bulb means you won’t change that bulb again for five years. The higher the wattage of a CFL bulb, the longer the bulb will be, with more fluorescent glass spirals. That means a 40 watt CFL bulb is smaller than a 100 watt CFL. You can even purchase CFL bulbs for recessed lighting.
And since CFL bulbs use less energy, you will eventually notice a dip in your energy bills in the coming months and years.
No need to replace your incandescent bulbs all at once; that would be quite an expense. As your incandescent bulbs burn out, replace them with CFL bulbs. Don’t forget that since each CFL bulb utilizes a small amount of mercury, you can’t just throw away a burned-out CFL bulb, it must be recycled. Many recycling locations will take your used CFL bulbs at no cost or give you a discount on future CFL bulb purchases.
