Tag Archives: Eco-Friendly

Saving Christmas

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Whenever I go to my Mom’s house, she is compelled to show me all the things she’s working on. For years I’ve suggested she get a blog because it gratifies the “I MUST SHARE THIS WITH EVERYONE” feelings and may actually inspire others to do the same whatever it is she’s working on. In a perfect world, anyway. This blog definitely satisfies my hereditary urge to share everything I’m working on with humanity. The added bonus is that I’m not constantly pulling my husband away from what he’s doing with a “Lookie! Come see what I did!” And yes, I also realize this must stem from my childhood where I was in constant search of approval from my parents – mostly my father, I suppose.

In my previous post I mentioned how much I hate commercial wrapping paper. Every year it really gets to me what a waste it is. Laziness, however, trumps ingenuity and I end up throwing it away like everyone else. Not this year. This year I’ve salvaged a good portion of otherwise useless Christmas accoutrements.

Pictured above I have bows, ribbon, twine, wrapping paper, boxes, and tissue paper. OK, so what am I going to do with all this? Were I about 150 years old and into scrapbooking, I’d have dozens of options, but I’m not. Therefore, the plan is simple. We’re moving in about a month so the wrapping paper will be used for packing material. The tissue paper that’s in good shape will be used again next year as will the boxes and bows. The bows, even if they’re not fluffy anymore, can be taken apart, ironed and made into new bows. I seem to always need ribbon and twine for various projects so I’ll keep that around for uses as needed. ta da!

Everything that was in too bad of shape to save I put in the recycling bin – that is, whatever the city accepts. They can’t take everything and unfortunately, wrapping and tissue paper must have all traces of scotch tape removed before it’s put in the bin. What a pain. I actually didn’t bother and put it in anyway.

All in all, the sorting project took about an hour. If you’re OCD like me, it’s actually kind of fun and it satisfies my hunter/gatherer instincts. We still have quite a bit of new wrapping paper left over, so I’m pretty sure we won’t have to buy wrapping paper for a few years. A minor cost bonus is that we’re saving an estimated $20-$30 on wrapping paper and bows for next year. This means someone could get an extra present next year.

AJB and I aren’t on the skids or anything like that. We do fine. Some years better than fine. The reason I do this is because I feel a sense of accomplishment in diverting trash from the landfills and making use of things we’d otherwise throw away. The monetary savings are minimal for us, but I’m sure others might not think so and for some people $30 is a big deal. And let’s face it, wherever we can save money, the better. Am I right?

My mother in law, who is a wealth of wonderful old timey information, asked me if I was going to iron out the paper for next year – I imagine this is what people used to do in lean years. I suppose I might do that. I’m also on the hunt for a vintage Pixie Bow Maker so I can remake the squished bows that will ultimately get squishier during the next 12 months of storage.

Look at me saving planet!


*Pixie Bow Maker photo stolen from WellWudJaLookAtThat

So here it is….Merry Christmas

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It’s Christmas Day. The presents are wrapped, the house is a mess and we’ve got people coming over in 3 hours. I’m actually in a great mood.

Last night was truly wonderful. I love my family (as crazy as they are) and I love spending time with them. Not everyone was there, but those who came made the night memorable. My aunt had a neighbor who was dressing up as Santa and offered to come by to treat the kids. My eldest little cousin, Erika, began telling me that she didn’t believe in Santa – she’s 7 years old – but as soon as Santa started up the walkway she lost her shit and began screaming as if Justin Bieber was coming towards the house. As AJB said, there are no atheists in fox holes. All the kids were so excited and I managed to get some video. As soon as I take a look at it and pretty it up for the web, I’ll pass it around to family. For the first time ever, we sang Christmas carols as a family – oh and I got video of that too. It was a night filled with conversation, laughing at Xander every time he did a cartwheel and his butt crack hung out, drinking, eating, and making merry. The kids were high on sugar and ran around like Christmas maniacs. The gift exchange was fun (as always) and some good gifts circulated the room. I ended up with a pair of beautiful chop sticks, a small tiffin set, and Pocky. AJB got the quesadilla maker, which is appropriate because I think he’s the only one in the family who doesn’t know how to make quesadillas – being a Mid-Western Jew and all. Grandma was there and in good spirits. She looked lovely as always. My Mother-in-Law came and had a great time. It was a good night and I hope we have many more to come.

Wrapping paper is the epitome of wastefulness. You use it once and then toss it out. These days, more and more papers are recyclable, but hardly anyone is selling paper made out of recycled paper and it’s often expensive. Furthermore, if your city recycles the paper, you have to remove the tape. What a pain. Every year I TRY really hard to wrap my gifts in some form of recycled material. This year, I made it happen and the results are pretty fantastic, if you ask me.

Most years I simply re-use old wrapping paper, gift bags, or saved tissue paper. I finally found a use for all those paper shopping bags I’ve been saving. I wrapped everything in old paper shopping bags, hemp twine, and paper doilies. I’m not sure how eco-friendly the paper doilies or the scotch tape are, but for the most part I did pretty great and people are telling me they look nice – so I guess they do. I cut the labels out of scrap paper from the bags with scalloped craft scissors. While I was looking up inspiration for this year’s eco-wrapping, I came across a great idea for next year: Old maps. I always see them at thrift stores. I think I’ll start collecting for 2011. I’m pretty happy with the results and I feel really great about not wasting paper. Paper bags are definitely recyclable in more ways than one.

Merry Christmas everyone!

Baby It’s Cold Outside

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I don’t know if I was dreaming, but just before I woke up – and I’m not sure if I was half asleep or not – my brain was shuffling through data and coming up with a great deal of gibberish. Almost as if it were the sound an old VCR fast forwarding through a movie. I remember thinking that I hadn’t landed on a song for this morning and was kind of bummed out. Except, for some reason I’ve got “Baby It’s Cold Outside” in my head. I think I sang it to AJB just before we got up – or vice versa. Either way, it’s morning, it’s in my head.

I went to the house yesterday to peek on the progress and so far lots is happening. Two guys were out in the rain disassembling the murder shed. The murder shed is part of the original house, I think perhaps it was intended for quick storage as it’s right off the kitchen. The house’s large-for-California basement might have been where they kept most of the stored goods and the murder shed was where they kept things they’d need right away. The worker guy, Alex, told me that the wood was so rotten that all they had to do was start pushing and the thing started coming down on it’s own. Good riddance.

It’s really hard to be eco-friendly when you’re fixing up a house. It’s not that it’s hard, it’s just expensive and time consuming. I’m working on coming up solutions and have been carrying on-going discussions with the contractor about how to recycle as much as possible. Anything that looks salvageable I’m putting on Craigslist and looking for recyclers. We have a few pieces going on Craiglist next week.

The first item is a 1950′s Swedish stove (we call it the Dutch Oven) and second is a mid-century style front door screen. Both are in great condition, but have got to go. The stove is a hazard and totally illegal in it’s current location. Someone would have to install it properly and frankly, that’s where our jumbo-tron is going. The screen door is in pretty great shape, but the front door is so pretty we thought we’d like to show it off a bit better. Anyway, if anyone wants to make us an offer on these pieces before they hit Craigslist, let me know. I wouldn’t even begin to know how to price the stove. I’m betting that if you managed to find one in this good of shape, it would cost anywhere from $500-$1000 maybe more. After all, it’s rare and it’s vintage. I love Mid-Century design, we just have no use for it. We’re also not really into the 50′s ski lodge thing.

It’s Cookie Fest with Mom today. I just might have some pics for tomorrow.

GM Promises to Use Alternative Fuels

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In an unprecedented step towards sustainability and effort to lessen America’s dependence on foreign oil (oil in general) General Motors released an ad that talks about using several alternative fuels including coal, bio-mass, hydrogen, and electricity. GM is certainly on the forefront of the Green Movement and taking recent events in the Gulf seriously. It shows that they aren’t puppets to foreign oil, nor do they take their orders from the government. They have shown that the people and the environment matter. With a little ingenuity, alternative fuel can be available to everyone. Sure, hybrids are becoming fairly commonplace, but GM is talking about even better options. Options that get us completely off oil for good. Frankly, I’m astounded and happy that a car company is leading the charge and finally doing the right thing. Bravo GM!

Oh wait. That article is almost 30 years old. It came on the back of a youth magazine that AJB’s friend sent him because it had Epcot articles in it. Oh, so GM isn’t leading the charge? 30 years ago? That was the early 80′s, right? Bummer.

When I first saw that ad, I almost couldn’t believe my eyes. The car companies wanted alternative fuel – for whatever reason, they wanted it. They told us about it and had every intention of doing it. So what happened? My guess is that the oil companies wouldn’t hear of it. Enough said, so long alternative fuel. What boggles the mind is that it’s taken 30 years or more to finally get alternative energy to the people. 30 years! The oil companies have the government and the car companies by the gonads and whenever anyone talks about getting off oil, they squeeze pretty tight.

Try, for a minute, to imagine what the world would have been like had GM actually started providing alternative fuel cars in 1982. Other car companies would have followed. No Exxon Valdez, no Mexican Gulf Spill, and NO WARS! Our air would be pretty damned clean, because think of this: You’re just hopping on board the Green Train. Imagine if your parents hopped on 30 years ago and you were raised to care for the environment. What if recycling was easy in every community because everyone did it and city governments provided simple options? What if everyone composted and people grew their own vegetables? What if people en masse saw the future and realized we could actually halt global warming? People would be healthier. In general, people would have a healthier outlook towards life and wouldn’t need every shaky leg syndrome pill on the market – which eventually causes colitis or anal leakage. Diabetes would be unheard of. Autism, cancer, and AIDS would be non-existent. People would sing and dance in the streets! Places like Wal-Mart and Target might not exist because we only bought what we needed. This would mean that credit card debt would be low and people could afford to see the world they’re saving. Everyone would have solar panels. Our health care system would be free because people wouldn’t be sick all the time and the government knows it’s OK to provide free services that not everyone uses. McDonald’s would have introduced the Veggie Burger in 1986 and people would own cows instead of eating them.

I could go on an on. It’s easy to imagine a utopia based on the eradication of oil 30 years ago. Let’s face it, human beings are human beings and it probably wouldn’t have solved every problem, but it certainly would have helped. The fact that it’s taken the Green Movement 30 years to become part of the 1st world lexicon is staggering. It might have caught on sooner and the world might not be perfect, but it might be a nicer place to live, anyway.

It bums me out that the oil companies squelched these innovations so early on. I wish I knew what really happened and why it took the car companies 30 years to release a hybrid, which is basically just a half-ass compromise. Hybrids still run on gas; albeit less. Realize, it’s really only been the last couple of years that people are starting to become aware of these problems. Just 5 years ago, the word eco-friendly didn’t really exist.

Good news: It isn’t too late. You and your family can change the way you live and make new choices. Think about the world you’re leaving to your grandchildren. Granted, it’s so much easier not to care. One of the common arguments I’ve heard over the years has been “By the time the Earth is totally fucked, I’ll be dead” or “We can’t destroy the Earth, it’s been here for billions of years! It’ll survive long after we’re gone“. True indeed. True indeed. So why then is it important to care for the planet? It’s true that Planet Earth will be here long after we’re gone and the sickly world that Phillip K. Dick wrote about in Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep (AKA Blade Runner) is pretty far off. The time when the air is so thick with chemicals that human beings cannot breathe it is surely down the road.

I suppose the point is that we, this generation, are stewards of this world we inhabit. We live here now and it’s our job not to fuck it up for future generations. I’ll never meet future generations, what do I care? I have step-kids now and I care about the air their children breathe and the food they eat. Even before step-kids, I knew one thing: I didn’t want to be part of the problem. Naturally, we’re not just screwing up the environment for our nameless grandchildren. The problem is already here, as proved by the Gulf Spill. We’re seeing the world become noxious in our time, our food is poisoned and our water is undrinkable.

Ramble ramble ramble. You know what to do and if you don’t, get in touch. I’ll help.

You need one of these

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I drink a lot of coffee. In fact, my brother and I sit at a coffee house almost everyday. I work at home and let’s face it, my social life ain’t what she used to be, so going out for coffee is my little break and gives me an excuse to leave the house. Besides, my brother’s a pretty cool guy and we usually have interesting (and hilarious) conversations.

About a year ago, the veil of coffee consumerism lifted when I realized how many paper and plastic coffee cups I was sending to the landfills. I made it my mission to find a reusable cup I could take to the coffee house with me. It wasn’t easy. I’d heard rumors about Starbucks releasing a plastic iced coffee drink that looked like the ones they give you in their stores; you know with the printing, logo and green straw? I searched high and low, calling stores, and keeping my eyes out. No dice. Note: At the time, no one else was making resuable cold coffee cups. Finally, I found several sellers on eBay that were selling them at double the price. Starbucks said they sold them during the Summer, but sold out almost as soon as they put them on the shelves. Desperate to stop sending hundreds of cups to the dump, I bought one of the high priced ones on eBay. About a week later, various Starbucks stores had them in stock. Oh well. I bought another one just as a back up. About a month after that, I was in Bed Bath and Beyond and saw a company called Copco had come out with their own versions of reusable coffee house to-go cups. They have hot cups and cold cups. I bought a hot cup and I love it.

If you buy coffee from a brick and mortar store everyday, that’s 365 cups (that don’t biodegrade) being sent to the dump. That’s just you! Think about all the millions of people all over the world who buy Starbucks everyday on their way to work, at lunch, or even just a couple of times per month. My brain doesn’t like that kind of math, but I can tell you, it’s a lot. A campaign has begun where consumers are asking Starbucks to start using compostable or biodegradable cups. At the moment, their cups are recyclable, but if you walk by any trash can in their stores, you’ll see a lot of people don’t bother to recycle them.

That said, the only solution is to buy a reusable cup. I love mine and getting used to bringing my own cup wasn’t as hard as I thought. Sure, once or twice I had to turn the car around because I forgot it, but these days, I never do. I have one for cold drinks in Summer and another for hot drinks in Winter. The best part is, I’ve relieved a healthy portion of eco-guilt from my shoulders. Feels pretty good.

As for Starbucks in general, used to be I never went there and hated everything they stood for. I had various local favorites which have gone by the wayside and for a brief time, was forced into the corporate embrace of Starbucks. We’ve recently discovered an old favorite in Altadena that we stopped going to because they didn’t accept credit cards or ATM. They do now. Furthermore, their outdoor tables are shaded and despite the traffic on Lake Ave., it’s a rather comfortable little joint that keeps getting better. It’s a total hippie hang out and the crowd is a whole mess of alright. Coffee’s not bad either. I’m really happy not to be a Starbucks patron anymore.

You may not have the same icky feelings about Starbucks that I have, but do your conscience and the Earth a favor, buy a resuable coffee cup and take it with you every time.

Copco To Go Cup
Bonus: They come in different colors. They’re approximately 16 ounces which translates into a “medium” or “grande”.

Castile Soap Saves the Planet

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Over the weekend, I started writing several blog posts about what I’m doing to improve my life and systematically lessen my impact on the planet. I think about these things all the time and am always trying to figure out how to share my discoveries, especially the really easy ones, with my friends and the two people who read this blog. Except, everything I wrote over the weekend sounded WAY too preachy and was a bit too self-serving. I figure that’s the the wrong approach. All I’m going to do is tell you what works for me, where to find it, and how to use it.

For years I’ve seen this gigantic bottle of Dr. Bronner’s Castile Soap on the shelves of Trader Joes, Whole Foods, and health food stores. I was always overwhelmed by the biblical-era novel written on the packaging and assumed it was one of those creepy soaps that didn’t bubble or foam, that if I tried to use it, I’d end up regretting it as the worst possible purchase. Turns out, it was the best possible purchase in the history of purchases.

Dr. Bronner’s Liquid Castile Soap comes in various varieties like peppermint, hemp, almond, rose, and others. I started out with the mild baby version; not at all sure what to expect. I started using it to replace my shampoo and body wash. Needless to say, it’s pretty awesome, foams like a dream, and has actually started improving the feel and texture of my hair. One thing to note is that if you do use it for shampoo, you need to rinse your hair a little extra, your hair will be squeaky clean – which is an added bonus for the health of your scalp. I also do an apple cider vinegar rinse once a week. I might post on that later.

Along with shampoo and body wash, Castile Soap has replaced my dishwashing liquid. I’ve read that some people even use it in their dishwashing machines but that it leaves a film. I currently wash all my dishes by hand and haven’t noticed a problem. I’ve also started using it as a shaving lather and it works pretty well. I love this product. As an added bonus, it takes very little to get any job done; in some cases just a few drops.

So what’s so great about one product replacing three? Besides the obvious? My preliminary calculations show that we’ll use one 32 oz bottle of Castile Soap every 2 months which means it costs $6 a month. Buying shampoo, body wash, shaving cream, and dish soap costs about $25 a month at $300 per year. Castile Soap comes out to $72 a year. So there you go. Big savings all around. Good for the home, good for the wallet, good for you and your family, and good for the planet. Win times 4.

From http://www.drbronner.com/DBMS/LS.htm:

A combination of organic extra virgin coconut, olive, jojoba and hemp oils, together with pure essential oils, creates a unique soap that cleans effectively without being aggressive and produces a velvety-lather that leaves the skin silky-smooth and refreshed.

* Completely Biodegradable and Vegetable-Based
* Made with Certified Fair Trade and Organic Oils
* Multi-Purpose: 18-in-1 Uses
* No Synthetic Foaming Agents, Thickeners or Preservatives
* 100% Post-Consumer Recycled (PCR) Cylinder Bottles and Paper Labels
* Simple, Ecological Formulations Based on Old-World Quality and Expertise
* #1-Selling Natural Brand of Soaps in North America

Now, they say it has 18 uses. I’ve come up with 4 practical uses which saves me over $200 per year. I think that about covers the addition of more channels to our cable line-up and I can finally watch the Sundance Channel, BBC-America, LOGO, IFC, the Biography Channel and more. Honey, are you reading this? LOGO is playing episodes of Buffy and Biography has Shatner’s Raw Nerve. Must have.

Whenever I find a product that rocks as much as this one, I can’t help but feel on top of the world. I’m also super proud of myself when I manage to save this much money with one simple product. Dr. Bronner, you may be one crazy religious mo-fo, but you make the best soap on the planet.

Where to Find:

* Online at http://www.drbronner.com
* Target
* Whole Foods
* Trader Joe’s
* Most health food stores

Note: If you use for washing dishes in the sink, the basin water will not foam up like you’re used to. Water will turn milky, but trust me…it still works.

Conquering Eco-Guilt and Saving Money

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Several years ago I signed up with a company called Green Dimes; they’re a company that does all the hard work of removing you from marketing and catalog mailing lists. It was around $36 a year and I figured it was worth saving me the aggravation.

Sometime at some point, our subscription expired and we started getting a new influx of catalogs and marketing mailers. This time, I figured I’d bite the bullet and make the calls myself. I started this morning and made 23 calls. I was surprised at how easy it was. Most companies have easy to use options via phone for removing your name and address. Often, you don’t even need to talk to a person. The majority of companies were pleasant and never once did anyone try to dissuade me. Each call, except one or two, only took a minute or less.

Some are harder than others. Target, Kenneth Cole, West Ways, and Trader Joe’s don’t make it easy. Target makes you visit their site, log into your account, and update your settings. The lady I talked to wasn’t able to help over the phone. I’m still not sure if we’re off their list. The catalog comes to AJB so I have no idea what his account info is. That one will have to wait. Kenneth Cole makes you dig through their website and fill out a form. West Ways requires a written request (see address at bottom). Trader Joe’s apparently, does not have a phone number. I couldn’t find one in the Fearless Flyer nor on their website. I ended up submitting a general inquiry form on their site asking to be removed. We’ll see if it works.

All in all, it wasn’t an unpleasant experience. It was a lot easier than I thought and I’ve done two very valuable things: I’m saving trees and reducing clutter in our home. Truth is, AJB and I are both catalog junkies, even though I know better. When they come, we both ooh and ahh over furniture and gadgets, but we hardly ever buy anything from them. I figure, if we want to actually buy something, we can visit the store or buy online. Besides, out of sight, out of mind. It helps us conquer our American-bred addiction to consumption.

Since I was 11 years old, I’m always trying new things to reduce my impact on the planet. It’s just what I do. I don’t do it because it’s trendy. I mean, please…since when do I follow trends? Not often, I can tell you. Green Dimes (now called Precycle) is a great idea if you just don’t have the time, but it really didn’t take that long and I just saved us $36 dollars. I’m keeping a spreadsheet of the companies I called and will watch the mail. This will be an ongoing process, but it beats eco-guilt over all the useless catalogs that pile up in our home that just end up in the recycling bin anyway. I figure, it’s something I can do as the piles accumulate and over time. It makes me feel better and it helps the planet. Hooray!

How To Tips:

1. Grab all your catalogs and make a pile
2. Locate their phone number (usually 800 or 888); most times it’s on the back or somewhere inside the catalog. I found that the inside numbers were usually on every page at the bottom or top or near the front.
3. Look at your address and find your customer number. Most companies will use this to identify you. 9 times out of 10, it’s in a blue box near your address.
4. Call and ask to be removed. Simple.

Because mailing labels are pre-printed, you will continue to receive up to two more mailings before you’re permanently free from their list.

Some companies want written requests, like West Ways Magazine. I’m going to send a postcard which saves on a full price stamp. Ain’t I thrifty?

Attn: Jim Dooley-Green
Westways and Journey Publications
3333 Fairview Rd., A327
Costa Mesa, CA 92626

Toilet Sink Combo Saves the Planet!

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In my life-long quest to live more efficiently and eco-friendly, we’ve purchased and installed a toilet/sink combo. Undoubtedly, you’re asking yourself why anyone would need a toilet/sink combo. What’s the point and why would you wash your hands with toilet water? I find myself answering (as best I can) these questions to just about everyone. The first thing people tend to think is that you’re washing your hands with dirty toilet water (grey water).

Here’s the basic gist: When you flush your toilet, water flows from the tank into the bowl, moving your waste into pipes, out to the street, etc. The tank and bowl refill with fresh water for the next flush. The toilet sink combo acts as a middle man during this process. When you flush the toilet, fresh water is rerouted through a faucet into a small basin that drains back into the bowl, ready for the next flush. While the water is flushing and refilling, you wash your hands.

What’s the point? Think about this: Most toilets use about a gallon and a half of clean water to flush your waste into city pipes and out into the septic system. This is clean water, the same municipal tap water you walk over to the sink to wash your hands with. By cutting out washing your hands in the sink and using toilet water you save water; which over time, adds up to gallons and gallons over the course of a year (depending on how long you wash your hands for). You’re not using extra water to wash your hands. Get it?

I never quite feel like I’ve explain it very well, but it does make sense. In the end, it’s a better use of water. The water that ends up in the toilet bowl is the water you just washed your hands with. It’ll be a little soapy, but your poo doesn’t care. I figure, you get more bang for your buck this way. Plus, it’s a lot more pleasant than the “If it’s yellow let it mellow. If it’s brown, flush it down” method. I also can’t help but wonder if the soapy water will eventually keep the pipes cleaner. *shrugs*

The savings here are small, but green living is about doing small things that add up. I’ve always sort of thought that toilet flushing was such a waste of water. All that water, just to move your poop out of sight. Sure, the modern toilet is a miraculous invention, but it’s hardly efficient. Like I said, most toilets use about a gallon and a half of water to flush. That’s a lot. How many times do you flush your toilet everyday? Double that on Burrito Night and that’s a whole lotta water.

If I haven’t accurately described the wonders of the toilet sink combo, you can find more info here: Sink Positive

Toilet Sink Combo Saves the Planet!

Toilet Sink Combo Saves the Planet!