Archive for the 'Green living' Category

Crystal’s guide to clutter-free gift giving

Published by Crystal October 6th, 2008 in Green living and People and pets. 0 Comments

While we work on reducing clutter in our own homes, it’s only fair that we avoid cluttering up other people’s homes too! Here are a few of my suggestions for sensible, sustainable gift buying that won’t lead to bulging closets and clogged attics.

  • Steer clear of material gifts. Consider presents which are consumables, services, charitable contributions, memberships, or those which involve your time and friendship rather than material stuff someone probably doesn’t need. Doesn’t everyone already have too much junk?!
  • Beware of gift cards. Giving a gift card to a chain retail store can be a bit better than a material gift; however, these are not the necessarily the best choice either. Think of it this way: often people feel obligated to pick something out at a store - not necessarily because they need it but because they have a gift card in their wallet which someone gave them. Unnecessary spending is exactly what leads to clutter! However, if you feel you must give a gift card, choose one from a local, independent store so that the money stays in the community.
  • Generate memories, not junk! The greatest gift you can give someone is the time you spend with them. Generate nice memories by doing things together. Making plans that include talking, eating and/or walking is always a good start.
  • Buy local. If you must buy stuff, shop locally. One of the best place to find unique, handmade/homegrown gifts is your local farmer’s market!

Some of Crystal’s personal favorite gift ideas:

  1. One-year gift membership to Consumer Reports or Angie’s List - both are so useful! These are truly gifts which keep on giving.
  2. Donate to a charity in honor of someone! Kiva.org, Women for Women International, public radio and local libraries are my favorites. You will feel good about this, and so will the recipient!
  3. Passes or a membership to a museum in the receiver’s home town. Great!
  4. Theater or concert tickets. Awesome!
  5. Lessons or classes. Give the gift of cooking or pottery classes, or salsa dance lessons! Even better: take the class with them!

Have additional thoughts or ideas to share? Leave a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!

One way to reuse yogurt containers

Published by Crystal September 20th, 2008 in Green living. 1 Comment

Here’s a bit of nerdy Sparkleizing for you. I helped my husband organize a huge box of “miniatures” (little plastic figurines) for his Dungeons & Dragons game. We used plastic food containers, including yogurt containers, and a shoebox to separate the miniatures by type. (As you can see, some of the miniature types he came up with are real funny - e.g., “Evil humanoids, includes kobolds”.)

Yogurt containers are typically #5 plastic (check the number inside the little recycle symbol on the bottom of the container), so they are actually not recyclable. Thus, reusing them to organize small items is better than putting them in the landfill!

Have additional thoughts or ideas to share? Leave a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!

3-minute bathroom maintenance

Published by Crystal May 19th, 2008 in Bathroom and Green living. 2 Comments

Investing just three minutes a week in lightly maintaining your bathroom will keep all that hair, scum and mildew from building up. A great time to do it is on a weekend, right before you take a shower.

A note about vinegar: the effective, natural cleaning product. There is no need to use dangerous disinfectants, antibacterial products or cleaning products that contain chlorine in your bathroom, all of which cause negative health effects and are bad for the environment. This 3-minute bathroom maintenance guide recommends using only white vinegar and water. You can read more about the amazing natural cleaning power of vinegar here. And for $1.79 per gallon jug, white vinegar is a steal!

The following bathroom maintenance steps will only take you about three minutes:

  1. Clear everything off the bathroom counter.
  2. Sweep the dust and hair off the floor.
  3. Use a clean rag, a piece of toilet paper or a washcloth to wipe the hair off the counter and out of the sink.
  4. Spray white vinegar on all the surfaces of the toilet: the lid, frong and sides of the tank, the top and bottom of the lid, top and bottom of the seat, and inside and outside the bowl. Pour a little white vinegar into the toilet bowl.
  5. Wet a clean rag with warm water and wring it out well, then use it to wipe down the surfaces of the vinegary toilet. If you are squeamish about cleaning toilets, use disposable rags for this job.
  6. Scrub the toilet bowl with a toilet brush. Flush the toilet, then swish the brush around in the fresh water to clean it off.
  7. Spray the sink, counter and faucets with white vinegar. Scrub the sprayed surfaces with a scrub brush or rag.
  8. Spray the mirror with white vinegar. Wipe the mirror dry with a slightly used towel, then use it to dry the sink, counter, faucets, and, last of all, the floor. Then throw the well-used towel in the hamper.
  9. Spray the floor with white vinegar, then wipe it dry with another towel.

After the bathroom surfaces dry, the vinegar smell will disappear, leaving lovely clean air behind!

Thanks go to Organic Housekeeping by Ellen Sandbeck for these helpful tips!

Have more ideas to share? Post a comment or write to Crystal and let her know!

How to stop junk mail

Published by Crystal April 19th, 2008 in Green living and Office and paperwork. 0 Comments

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Not only is junk mail bad for the environment, it is also just plain annoying. Thankfully, you can stop junk mail from coming to your mailbox!

To stop junk mail, write to the following three addresses:
Mail Preference Service/Telephone Preference Service Direct Marketing Association
PO Box 90008
Farmingdale, NY 11735-9008
(Request that your name not be put on any new mailing lists)

ADVO - System, Inc.
Director of List Maintenance
239 West Service Road
Hartford, CT 06120-1280
(Request to be removed from current mailing lists)

Customer Services Department
National Demographics and Lifestyles
Denver, CO 80202
(Send a request every 9 months asking to be removed from new & current mailing lists)

You can also:

  • Return the unwanted mail to sender, or send a note asking to be removed from their list in their postage-paid or return mail envelope.
  • Call unwanted catalog companies and ask to be removed from their list.

Thanks to the City of Durham for these great tips!

Have more tips to share? Leave a comment, or write to Crystal and let her know!

Snag a bag!

Published by Crystal April 14th, 2008 in Green living and Kitchen. 0 Comments

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  1. Right this second, head over to wherever you keep your reusable cloth shopping bags.
  2. Grab at least one, and put it either in your purse (yes, they can fold up pretty small) or in the trunk of your car. Better yet, put them in both places!
  3. Now use them whenever you go to the store (any store!). In doing so, you will help to cut down on the sad, sad environmental impact caused by plastic grocery bags. Hooray!

Don’t have a cloth shopping bag? You can get them at most grocery stores for $.99 near the check-out line. You can also order really fun, crazy colorful ones here. There’s also this beautiful set from Amazon. Cafepress does many witty bags. If you’re the DIY type, check out this how-to and make your own bag!

Already have a ton of plastic bags at home? Reuse them, or recycle them!

How to set up your own rain barrel

Published by Crystal March 30th, 2008 in Green living and Yard and garden. 1 Comment

Rain barrels are great! These big plastic beauties are the latest garden fad to hit drought-stricken areas such as ours. They are a terrific way to capture water naturally and for free. The barrel will fill up fairly quickly, even with a very small amount of rain. This water can be used to nourish your potted plants and gardens! Among other things, we also plan to use ours to fill up our dogs’ water dishes.

How to set it up:

1. Locate a rain barrel, buy it and bring it home. It fit easily in the backseat of our Toyota Corolla. We wanted to support local business, so we bought one that was made by a local company (RainWater Solutions) and available to purchase from a local garden store.

2. Choose a gutter downspout where you want to capture the water. We selected a downspout in our back yard, guessing that the rain barrel would be too appealing to thieves if it was in the front yard…

3. Create a stable platform to put underneath the barrel. Because the area where we chose to put the rain barrel was a patch of muddy, lumpy lawn, we wanted to ensure that the barrel would have a flat, stable area to sit on. To do so, we went to Home Depot and bought four large decorative concrete slabs ($3.99 ea), and we lined them up on the ground under the downspout. (FYI, there were much cheaper ones available (e.g., $1.69 ea), but we wanted the kind that look like brick.)

4. Gather the tools to install the barrel:

  • Small hacksaw
  • Small pliers
  • Screwdriver
  • WD-40

5. Shorten the downspout by removing its lower section. Per the instructions that came with the rain barrel, we needed to adjust the length of the downspout so that the rain barrel could easily fit underneath. Three inches above the rain barrel lid was the suggested distance. Indeed, our downspout was much too long. To adjust, we first squirted WD-40 on the rusty screws to loosen them. Once they were greased up, Clinton used pliers to unscrew them. This allowed us to remove the lower section of the downspout.

Downspout

6. Use a small hacksaw to cut the gutter downspout. One of us held the downspout steady while the other one sawed. This took approximately 5-7 minutes to complete. We fitted the elbow back onto the now shortened downspout.

7. Scoot the rain barrel so it is lined up under the downspout. Almost done!

8. Install the rain barrel attachments, if applicable. The rain barrel you purchase might be different than ours. Per the instructions that came with the barrel, we installed two spigots and then tightened a hose clamp to attach a long plastic tube to the side of the barrel. This tube cleverly directs any barrel overflow away from the house. Finally, we screwed down a piece of screen to the top of the barrel.

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9. Voila! Watch the rain come down the spout and into your barrel! The leaves, bugs and other debris will be filtered by the mesh screen at the top of the lid.

Eight steps to easy dishwasher maintenance

Published by Crystal February 6th, 2008 in Green living and Kitchen. 0 Comments

You’ll need: rubber gloves, small crescent wrench, two liters of white vinegar, scouring pad, dish soap

  1. Put on rubber gloves, and open the dishwasher.
  2. Slide out and remove the bottom dishwasher rack. Remove the upside-down basket-looking thing from the bottom of the dishwasher. To do this, you will most likely need to unscrew the little bolts using the crescent wrench.
  3. Once you’ve removed it, examine the basket and any other removable parts from the bottom of the dishwasher. Are they covered in slimy blackness or food residue resembling curdled cheese? Probably. Scrub these parts in the sink with hot water and soap until they sparkle.
  4. Check out the area of the dishwasher from which you removed the basket thing. Is it clogged with old food and nastiness? Probably. Scoop that stuff out and throw it away.
  5. Reinstall the (now clean) basket thing and any accompanying parts.
  6. Put the bottom dishwasher rack back into the machine.
  7. Pour 1 liter of white vinegar in the bottom of the machine, close it, and let the dishwasher run on its normal cycle.
  8. Once the cycle is complete, repeat step 7.

You will notice that your dishes come out much cleaner!

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