Make It Burn – Firestarters

What can you do with empty toilet paper rolls and a whole lot of dryer lint?  Make these awesome firestarters.  I hate when you are trying to light a fire on a quiet dark night and you are trying to enjoy some nature, but you can never get the fire going.  So you pull out the lighter fluid only for the fire to blaze for a few minutes.  That stuff is crap.  It is totally unneeded now that you have these FREE firestarters!

Directions:

1.  Do a few loads of laundry.  This is something you are bound to do anyways, unless your parents still wash your clothes.  If they do, you have awesome parents.  But see if they can part with their dryer lint.

2.  Collect lint from the dryer.  We typically only dry our clothes inside when there is still snow on the ground so the time for us to prepare these are only through the winter season.  *Sadly our winter is from October through April.  So, had I started these earlier, I would have had a butt load!

3.  Collect toilet paper rolls.  Generally my husband and I are too lazy to throw these away, so they end up collecting on the back of the toilet.  Surprisingly I must have been on top of my game this week at cleaning because I only found one.  *You can use paper towel rolls as well.  (Do you see a face in the pile of lint in the below image?  I see Yoda smirking at me).  {I didn’t know the name Yoda so I had to ask my husband who the gremlin looking feller was in Star Wars}.

4.  Stuff the lint into the roll.  Voila!

I think this blog can go under being thrifty as well.  You can save money, reduce waste and live green – all at the same time!

Spring Ahead

Spring is not only known for spring cleaning, but also for getting ready for gardening, flip flops and long weekends.   Maybe a few extra beers in there too.  In any case, I look forward to gardening, the scents that come with spring and fresh produce the most.  Also, the disappearing act of snow.  Unfortunately, we do not have a lot of room, actually, no room to plant a garden.  But we hated the idea of paying the ever increasing costs of produce at the grocery store, and it’s not even organic.  AND it’s shipped from all over the country and some from Latin America.

There is a solution!  Subscribe to a local CSA (Community Supported Agriculture).  In essence, you pay an upfront “subscription” fee, then for months June through October you get a box of veggies (or two boxes depending upon the size of share you opt for).  My husband and I did the CSA thing the last 2 years.  We picked up our box once a week from a designated pickup site and the produce (organic – our CSA was anyways) vary from week to week, based on the season.  Initially we received a lot of lettuces, herbs, radishes and potatoes.  Then,  tomatoes, raspberries, beets and cucumbers towards the middle of the season.  Then for fall, squash, pumpkins, garlic and anything left over was in our share.  2 years ago our CSA actually allowed all those interested to come down to the farm and pick as many tomatoes as we could fill in 4 HUGE pails.  We managed to can enough to take us through 2 winters.

The benefits to CSA are numerous.

1. You have the ability to try new veggies.  I found that I REALLY love kohlrabi and I have never tried one before we signed up for a CSA.
2. You are more apt to “eat your vegetables.”   Every meal we had featured vegetables of some sort.
3. You support the local economy. The farms that provide CSA’s need subscribers like you to continue to operate, in some cases.  CSA’s may be their only means of income.
4. It’s a less carbon footprint.  Our veggies only traveled 45 miles to get to us.   As opposed to coming from California, Mexico or Florida to Fargo ND.
5. It’s fun!  You never know what you are going to get.  It’s like opening a present.
6. It saves you a trip to the grocery store.   Some CSA’s actually deliver to your work place (if there’s enough interest).
7. Many CSA’s are organic, so you are not getting veggies covered in synthetic fertilizers.

With all of those benefits, why not?  Especially if you do not have the ability to garden yourself.  As you are taking out the flip flops and the lawn furniture, why don’t you consider signing up for a CSA!  It is worth it in so many ways!

Frugality: You can save money being green!

I like saving money, especially if I can also be green at the same time.  Being frugal is what I like to call it.  I like saving a little here and there, try not to be wasteful and not spending on things that are not really needed.  I am not saying buying some name brand clothes is off limits, but buy clothes that is good quality and will last.  Being frugal is different than being cheap…a point my husband makes very clear to me at times.  Sometimes I have been known to be cheap.  For example, I will never buy a can opener at Walmart ever again just because it’s cheaper.  It is cheaper for a reason.  For certain hard working kitchen objects, it is essential to buy good quality so you do not have to replace it every year.

I wanted to give some examples of being frugal (saving money) and being green (helping the environment).  It is nice to multitask.

1.  Buy rechargeable batteries.  You will have to buy a battery recharger, but in the long run, you will save money and lots of batteries will NOT be sent to the garbage.  If you do have batteries that are used up, you can bring them into stores that will dispose of them responsibly.

2.  Hang dry your clothes when you can.  It lengthens the life on the clothes considerably because they are not tossed around in the dryer.  Also, you save lots of money and electricity by using the dryer.  I personally think that the clothes smell better when they are on the line.  The clothes dryer is one of the highest energy hogs in the home.

3.  Use ceiling fans. It is cheaper than running your air conditioning and it uses less energy – thus saving you money.

4.  If you can, purchase re purposed ink cartridges.  You know the ones that you send in that are empty.  They can refill them and resell them.  This completes the recycling cycle.

5.  Reduce your gas consumption in 2 ways.  First, bike when you can.  Last year I biked to work and back.  I was able to postpone filling my gas tank for over 2 months.  This is over $100 savings on just gas for that.  Gas is becoming obscenely expensive so it will just be easier to spend more and more money on gas.  Second, buy a push mower.  One of those old fashion kind.  Mowers can release lots of fumes in to the air.  Or you can dig up all of your grass and plant a flower bed or vegetable garden.

Those are just a couple of ideas that come to my mind now.  I plan to add more as I go because I want you to save money, and be green as well!  Cheers!

Weekly Going Green Tips: Stop the Junk Mail!

Per Earth911.com, “each year 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers.”  For these 19 billion catalogs, 53 million trees are cut down.  Also, “most catalog companies don’t use recycled paper.”  A high percentage of this mail is considered junk and is tossed out immediately.

Instead of just bringing in your mail, throwing it or letting it pile up on the table creating clutter, why not take care of it right away?  Your table will stay clean and you will produce less waste.  What I mean, let’s remove our names from unwanted mailing lists!  It will save us time and frustration down the line.

Going forward, for all of the catalogs that I get that are unwanted, I am going to take action to remove my name from mailing lists.  I used to work in a call center for a catalog company. The way it works, is catalog companies can sell your name to other catalog companies.  The pile of unwanted catalogs can add up if you don’t take care if it right away.  Just think of the 53 billing trees that are being cut down for junk mail.

Besides just calling the contact number on the catalog there are other methods of removing your name from all mailing lists.

1.  www.catalogchoice.org – you create an account, then log in when you have a catalog you wish to be removed from.  Search by catalog name then it will pull up a summary of what the catalog is.  You can use multiple names (can include all family members names) and addresses (which you update from your profile.)  One thing I like about this site is you can opt to receive an email from the publisher once they acknowledge your request.  The site seems very user friendly.  However, I am not sure if the publishers are required to remove your name, or how they get your request OR how long it will take.  A lot of unanswered questions here.

2.  dmachoice.org – you log in, click on the hyperlink of the catalog that you want to remove your name from.  You then are given the contact email or phone number.  Maybe I assumed they would do the dirty work for you, but it seems like just as much work to locate the number on the catalog and call without logging in.

If you removed your name from all of the mailing lists you do not want, just think of all of the time savings you would have?  No more sorting through all the junk you receive, but you will only get mail that you want/need.  So far, catalogchoice seems to be my favorite for now.  I urge you to take 5 minutes to sign up and save a few trees!

Is Packaging Free Products In Our Future?

I hope so!  And the sooner the better!  I came across an article today about a designer named Aaron Mickelson.   He is attempting to solve the overproduction of waste created from packaging.  Just think of all of the “single-serving” products you use every day.  My coffee creamer and stevia packets are all single serving.  I go through one or two every day.  We have become so accustomed to these items that it would be hard to live without.  

Anyways, just a visual image: “Every year, Americans generate a lot of solid waste. In 2010, 250 million tons, according to the EPA. A full 30 percent of that (about 76 million tons) comes from packaging — it’s the biggest culprit.”

Mickelson intends to rid of packaging all together.  His thesis project called, The Disappearing Package, was created to improve the functionality of packaging.  By picking products that consumers purchase regularly, like Tide, Twinings and Nivea, for example, will give consumers the chance to see these products in a different way.

He researched materials and processes that would be non toxic, create the least amount of waste possible, and packaging that is safe.  Packaging does serve a purpose of getting products safely from production to homes, but mostly is “over-engineered.”

I think this article shows futuristic thinking and hopefully will become something that is readily available.  Kudos to Mr. Mickelson!

 

Blog Spotlight: Guy Goes Green

If you want to learn a little something about being green, I suggest checking out the blog Guy Goes Green.   My husband started this blog to make me happy, sort of.  The intention was to go a year, each week there would be one green task for him to take on.   We attempted to pull him away from plastic bags, reduce water usage and to stop junk mail.  The blog is full of educational articles and ways to reduce our dependency on energy and waste.

If you are looking to have a greener Christmas, you should read these articles:

1.  Overconsumption

2.  Green Shopping Websites

3.  Pictures of our Recycling Christmas

4.  Real or fake Christmas tree – Which is greener?

5.  What are some ways to cut back on electricity costs

Those are our best blog posts that will help you save this holiday season!  Enjoy!

Modern Conveniences

Sometimes spending the extra bit of money on something due to added convenience is worth it.  This really goes against my ideals of being a more green person.  Lots of convenience items are very non-green.  Like bottled water, automobiles and dryers.  Yet, we can’t see ourselves removing these conveniences from our lives.

Yesterday I spent 30 minutes considering a purchase of 2 items.  A purchase-ready 11 x 17 picture frame or the individual pieces that I would have to assemble myself but for cheaper.  The price difference between the two options were maybe 2 bucks, but the time involved thinking about the savings and the time that would have been spent finding all of the pieces and assembling was worth 5 bucks easy.  I persuaded myself to purchased the convenience-purchase ready frame.

Other instances that can be used as an example are home improvement projects.  Sometimes these projects should be left for the pros.  I decided to save myself about $500 by installing my own tile floor.  This sucked, simply.  It was a learning experience, example…I learned as I went.  Ripping out the carpet was the easy part.   I spent every weekend cutting concrete board, renting equipment that I didn’t have, and lying one tile at a time.  Don’t get me wrong, it turned out marvelously, but I could have spent my weekends doing much cooler things.  If anything would have gone wrong with my install, it could have been very wasteful throwing materials away.

The moral of the story is: sometimes it’s okay to spend a bit more.   Somethings to think about are the cost difference for sure, but also the amount of waste produced by each option, the amount of time consumed (in terms of labor) and the affect on the environment, of course.

It’s Not Easy Being Green

When it is 90 degrees or above almost every day, one is almost excited for winter to come.  I hate having the air conditioner running constantly, having to turn on the sprinkler on so the grass doesn’t die and just being miserable standing outside.  It really makes me wonder if this is a symptom of global warming.

I continue to do my part living a greener life.  I just filled my car up with gas Saturday for this first time in 2 months and 1 week.  That is the longest time I have ever went without filling up.  I have been biking almost everywhere I need to go to save on gas and to cut back my carbon footprint.  I haven’t use my clothes dryer all summer, even though my husband hates how they feel stiff.  I don’t notice though.

I wasn’t too shocked when I heard about Greenland’s ice melt.  Sometimes knowing this stuff freaks me out.  Wondering what else will happen next?  Do I even want to know?  Is what I am doing to help the environment even helping?  We need a lot more environmentalists or “green” people than we currently have.

This blog is more than making stuff, it’s also about educating about environmental news, and simple life changes for living a greener life.

Back to Greenland.  Apparently the ice melt happened in a span of 4 days and affected 97 per cent of Greenland’s land mass.  This melting did increase the sea level but only by 3 millimeters.  Scientists say that if the entire ice sheet in Greenland melted it would have a devastating effect.  However they don’t see that happening right now.  But now is the time to make changes.  We need to help spread the word on living more simply and green.  And hopefully with enough persuasion more people will make some sacrifices.  Let me know if there is anything you have to add.  I would love to hear from you!