Just say NO!

Eco tip for the week!

A really cool website that lets you

opt out of receiving the yellow pages,

all in one click!

CLICK HERE

to start saving some trees!

A New Take on the Old Twist-tie!

My ever so creative mother forwarded me

this idea in an email for our blog.

While we all KNOW that we shouldn't be

buying things that come in plastic bottles,

the inevitable does happen. 

And so we recycle them! 

But we also all KNOW that the tops on

plastic bottles do not get recycled. 

So what to do?

Try this ingenious idea!

Cut up a plastic bottle and keep the neck and top, as in below photo.

Insert your repurposed plastic bag through the neck
and screw the top to seal the bag.

Voila! You're a recycling, reducing, reusing pro!

From Jar Lid to Spoon Rest

This one's a no brainer! 

We don't own a spoon rest, so we are always looking

for something to set our utensils on while cooking. 

So we started using the tops to spaghetti sauce jars,

pickle jars - any jar with a wide mouth.

So easy!

Eating Green While on Vacation

A little food for thought...

For this post, lets just talk about food packaging.  It's something I've been thinking about not only for vacation, but in our daily lives as well.  My husband and I both work full-time.  We have two little girls, the oldest who chooses to participate in soccer, ballet, & gymnastics.  Our nights are crazy and sometimes (though I cringe at the mere thought of where the food comes from) we get fast food for dinner.  My girls are good eaters and Meira loves to get a salad, apples, juice box and sometimes fries.  I think they switched Morgi at birth because she likes a plain old hamburger patty, apples and milk.  You can get this typical combination of foods at pretty much any drive-thru.  But once I read about how a fellow blogger was able to get rid of her garbage service, I started to take a serious look at our habits.  And wow, fast food really fills up the can FAST!  So I thought I'd throw out (ha ha) some tips on how to eat out a little greener, especially on vacation, when not cooking is part of the fun!

Think about the containers.

Can they be recycled? Does your community/hotel recycle their number?

Do the kids meals come in paper that you can recycle? What about what the food is wrapped in?

Think about condiments.

Pack bottles of mustard/ketchup/salad dressing for the trip and decline the packets handed out at the drive-thru.

Think about utensils.

Again, pack your own reusable silverware.  Pass on the plastic wrapped plastic forks,etc. If they toss them in, hand them back. It gets easier the more often you do it!

Take it one step forward.

Does everything need to be packed in individual bags? Think kid's meals.

(And do they really need the plastic TOYS?)

Condense the food order - have the kids share nuggets, drinks, salads, etc.  Sometimes it's actually cheaper to buy adult size and split it.

Think about what the food comes in, from each place.  Qdoba puts practically everything in something plastic, Taco Bell is all wrapped in coated paper, Burger King/Mc Donald's use lots of paper bags and boxes, Chipotle wraps in aluminum foil - catch my drift?

The picture above is a lazy Friday night dinner.  Had I made it myself, I'd have 2 less pizza boxes, 1 less breadstick box, 1 less plastic salad container, no packs of dressing or utensils or non-recyclable marinara sauces.  But as far as trash choices go, it's almost fully able to hit the recycling bins.  On the road, it's the lesser of evils.  At home, I'd be better off mixing up my own dough and chopping up our own salad. It's always good to know where your food comes from!

So have fun on vacation, but don't forget that you can still make good environmental choices when eating on the road!

Wednesday Words of Wisdom ~ 06.16.10

This time it's in a favorite tune of ours, per Morgan's request!! Enjoy!

Jack Johnson performing "The 3 R's."

Eco Tip of the Week - Ban the disposables!

Becoming eco friendly can be a daunting task. Where to start? Do you buy organic, get rid of all plastics, save water, use toxic free cleansers, compost, get a canteen, walk to work, start a garden? It can be so overwhelming to decide how to make these important changes.  So I decided to start posting a weekly tip that is easy to accomplish and easy to incorporate into your daily life.

So without further ado, here we go!

Tip #1:  Ban the disposables!

Remember when using the good dishes/silverware/napkins

was such a special treat?

Now you can treat yourself everyday!  You may have a few more dishes, but you'll have a lot less garbage and save a few trees in the process.

*Use cloth napkins
*Skip the paper plates
*Don't use plastic utensils. Yes, even the little ones can handle real silverware!
*Store items in reusable containers - stainless steel, glass, repurposed cereal bags, etc.
*Use the nice drinking glasses and wine goblets - even if it is just water!

Make the change one meal at a time, one day at a time and pretty soon you won't even miss the paper & plastics goods!

From Rags to Riches!

A lot of our hand-me-downs still have a lot of life left in them. 

But they've also been well lived in, ie: stains, rips, faded patches.

So what do do with those not-so-perfect beauties?  Get out the fabric markers!

The little ladies love coloring their own designs and then showing them off.

We use Crayola fabric markers on clean clothes and

then either iron to set or toss in a hot dryer for about 10 minutes.

And the finished product! Good as new!

From Yogurt Tub to Trinket Collector!

This is an easy one and will take maybe 15 minutes to complete!

Supplies:

Yogurt tub (or any plastic tub)

pretty paper

glue/double stick tape

stickers

scissors

ribbon

knife

Directions:
Lid:
1. Trace around lid on paper.
2. Cut out and glue or tape to top of lid.
3. You will then cut an 'X' in the container. 

               This will allow toys/shells/beach glass to go in, but not tumble out!

Container:

1. Cover container with paper. 
2. Poke two holes on opposite sides.
3. Decorate container with stickers, glitter glue, etc.
4. Take the ribbon and poke through each hole.
5. Tie a knot on the inside that is bigger than the hole.
6. Put lid on container.

Voila! Your recycled container is done!

For the Love of Teeth!

In general, throughout our lives, we go through a lot of toothbrushes.  Lately, I've been thinking about how to make this part of our hygiene a little more eco-friendly.  Everytime I brush my teeth or help my girls do their's, I think, "I need to find better toothbrushes that won't be super expensive and are good for our earth." And then I promptly forget until the next brushing of the pearly whites.

This weekend, we took a trip out to Trader Joe's.  While walking down one of the aisles, my little Morgi found a whole section of toothbrushes. Being the lover of teeth brushing that she is, she asked if she could have one. I read it over and checked the price ($2.99-not too bad) and put four in the cart.

The toothbrushes are by Preserve Products. I haven't researched any other eco-friendly brushes at this point to compare them, but these totally fit the bill.  Conveniently priced, locally located and 100% good-for-the-environment.

       *100% recycled handles made from yogurt cups!
       *BPA free!
       *Made in the USA!
       *100% recycleable when sent back to Preserve!
       *Fun colors!
       *Comes in a wood-based plastic traveling case!

See how exciting brushing your teeth

with an eco-friendly brush can be?!

No Sew Recycled Wrist Warmers

When we go out to play in the snow, even though I do the whole *gloves-on-first-then-coat* with the girls, the gloves manage to eventually wriggle out and leave their wrists exposed.

So, I recalled reading about using socks as wrist warmers for outdoor play.  I dug through our sock bag for a couple mismatched & holey pairs and whipped up a few for the little ladies. 
I even made a pair for myself!

The great thing about them is that if you use knee highs, you get coverage up to the elbow.   It also adds another layer of warmth under their gloves and doesn't interfere with the fingers on mittens.

What a great way to reduce & reuse!

Directions:
1) One pair of socks.
2) Cut the toes off.
3) Cut a hole in the heel.
4) Voila! All done!

Great Natural Scrubbers!

We like to use old t-shirts for cleaning around the house, only I find that they aren't always as thick as I would like for scrubbing in the tub or kitchen.  So I was cleaning out some drawers and came across an old thermal shirt that had seen better days.  The waffle knit in it was large and I thought to myself these would make great scrubbers!

I cut the body of the shirt into small cloths and used the bottom of the sleeves for hand mits. And I was right - the rougher texture made a great scrubber! Even the little ladies helped out with the cleaning and we knocked out the kitchen, bath, & living rooms in no time. 

I'm saving the cuffs and collar for some future creations - maybe a doggie coat or freezerpop cozies!

(You can even sew the end shut so that it stays on your hand better.)

Here's a few recipes to make for your own non-toxic cleaning kit.

One Pint ~ Three Lives ~ One Hour of My Time

A creative way to practice the three R's!

Did you know that donating a pint of blood can save up to 3 lives? Yes, one hour of your time can give THREE other fellow humans a lifetime of hours that they otherwise might not have.  The whole thing takes about an hour and the actual donation takes only about 15 minutes.  I did it 4 years ago for my father-in-law when he had surgery for cancer.  I swore that I would continue to donate and I never did again.  I had all good intentions about finding a drive and with the usual busyness of life, I always forgot.

Two weeks ago a letter came home in my daughter's school folder.  Her school was hosting a blood drive in honor of a fellow classmate who died of a rare blood disorder called ITP.  A sweet little girl, who had an unknown platelet disorder that the doctors caught too late.  It's a heartbreaking story that crosses my mind time to time when I look at my own very healthy, very alive little girls.  The Red Cross calls it a "Pint Size Hero" drive. The kids are supposed to get at least one adult to sign up in their stead to donate blood.  They in turn become Pint Size Heros and get some cool prize.  Perfect opportunity! I went online and signed up. 

The Red Cross website lists all the drives in the area in one place, so it's easy to find a blood drive to fit your schedule. 

So last night my daughter got to be a Pint Size Hero. And I got to be one, too.  Last night I gave a mother back her child, a parent back, a husband, wife, sister, brother, friend back to their loved ones. Last night I got to be a miracle maker and it cost me nothing.

An hour of my time, a pound off my scale, and I received a lesson in gratitude. Because last night while my blood filled the donation bag, I sat there with my daughter and thanked the universe a thousand times over that my family and I were on the giving end of the blood donation.  I was grateful for the chance to express my thanks in such a simple and profound way.  And you can bet that I will no longer let excuses get in the way of my being able to give this gift as often as I can.

Letting go (slowly)

I'm a notorious saver.  I save things that I think the girls will enjoy having as adults to remember things from their childhood.  I save things that I think we might need later, or might fit again later, or might be good-for-something later.  For the past year, my resolution has been to "let go" of most of these things, to clean out the clutter and give up things I no longer use. To reduce and recycle these things I no longer need.

In doing this, I have come to realize why I hold onto so much and I think it stems from being adopted. I was adopted straight from the hospital into my waiting adoptive parents arms.  It was a closed adoption, so the only info I had was a misspelled last name on a document a secretary from the lawyers office should have retyped.  I grew up with no past, no ethnic history, no so-called roots of my own blood.  I had vowed in my teenage years that "when I have kids" I would have things to give them, that gave them a sense of familial history.

So I had three experiences this past year that were the catalyst to my letting go of all these physical memories that I was holding onto.

The First:
My husband's best friend of 20+ years was killed on his motorcycle. Devasting. (Not his fault and he was wearing a helmet.)  So to really shorten a very long story, we ended up moving into his house.  It's a top school district, beautiful woodsy suburb, right on the lake and my home town.  We had to pack up our house of 10 years and move from a 2 story to a ranch.  I couldn't believe the things we had collected along the many years and vowed that it would stay in the garage until I could sort through what was staying and what was going.  I am proud to say that we now have use of our 3 car garage.  And Easter Seals has us on speed dial!

The second:
About midway through my de-cluttering, I got in touch with an old friend.  We were hanging out on the patio and doing some catching up since high school. She told me a story about how she & her husband did some missionary work before they had kids.  They sold or gave away most of their things and left the USA with just their hiking packs on their backs.  That's it.  I was blown away.  And I decided that I wanted that kind of freedom from possessions for myself.  I began anew and started cleaning again with a vengeance.

The third:
And yet another story on a blog I read, of a girl who managed to reduce her belongings to a couple of totes.  In one of her posts, she spoke of letting go of attachments to the past, to the future and it really spoke to me.  So now I ask myself, "if I let go of this item, will I lose the memory?" And most of the time, the answer is, "no."  So with renewed vigor, I've been attacking the memory boxes in the basement.  I want space in my house and space to create.  I want clear counter tops and empty shelves.  I want to be able to pack my belongings in a handful of totes and know that I have all I need tucked away in my heart ♥.