Think Green. Act Green.

"Frugal beginners guide to going green."

pinkflats — Fri, 15 Aug 2008 20:23:54 -0700

Huddler's Green Home, found at Yahoo! Green, just posted a blog on how the cheapskates...cough, cough...I mean the frugal human beings can help save the our beautiful planet without a dent in the pocket.

AND thank God! Because if there's one thing I love hearing about being "green," it's how it won't cost you much!

Here are several of the tips:
1.
Do This: Keep up with car maintenance.
Conserve This: Gas
Costs...: Variable ($130 per 15,000 miles of driving with one air filter change, oil changes, and filling tires).
Saves...: Clean air filters can improve your mileage by as much as 7%. Using the wrong grade of oil can reduce your mileage by 1-2%. Properly inflated tires will improve gas mileage by 3%. That means, if you're driving a car that should get 25 MPG, and you're not taking care of it, you're really getting 22.25 mpg and therefore spending an extra $296.63 on gas (at $4/gallon) every 15,000 miles.
Saves In 5 Years: $1,186.52
ROI In 5 years: 228%

2.
Do This: Take extra weight in your car down (i.e., take off roof racks, bike racks, etc., when not in use). This saves 1-2% fuel efficiency per 100 lbs.
Conserve This: Gasoline
Costs...: $0
Saves...: $0.04-$0.07/gallon (or $31.20 per year if you use 10 gallons of gas a week).
Saves In 5 Years: $156
ROI In 5 years: N/A

3.
Do This: Lower your hot water heater thermostat to 120° F.
Conserve This: Energy
Costs...: $0
Saves...: 36 to $61 annually in standby heat losses and more than $400 in demand losses.
Saves In 5 Years: $2,242
ROI In 5 years: N/A

4.
Do This: Wash your clothes in cold water. This saves 80-90% of the energy used in washing.
Conserve This: Energy
Costs...: $0
Saves...: 10 to 20 cents per load which results in about $40 per year.
Saves In 5 Years: $200
ROI In 5 years: N/A

5.
Do This: Wash your clothes in cold water. This saves 80-90% of the energy used in washing.
Conserve This: Energy
Costs...: $0
Saves...: 10 to 20 cents per load which results in about $40 per year.
Saves In 5 Years: $200
ROI In 5 years: N/A

6.
Do This: Fix leaky faucets. One drip can waste 250 gallons of water a month, which translates to 3,000 gallons of wasted water annually.
Conserve This: Water
Costs...: $0 if you do it yourself, $50 if you call someone
Saves...: 8% of your water bill (around $38 per year).
Saves In 5 Years: $200
ROI In 5 years: 380% (if you call someone once in 5 years).

Visit: http://green.yahoo.com/blog/huddlergreenhome/7/frugal-beginners-guide-to... for more of these frugal tips!

EJF - Charity T-Shirt Campaign

madmoiselle — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 13:16:50 -0700

Get your exclusive designer charity t-shirt and help stop child labour in cotton production.

EJF's t-shirts are ethically made with 100% organic cotton and Soil Association-certified printing. The cotton is guaranteed by the producer not to come from Uzbekistan. All proceeds go to support EJF's work.

I think this charity campaign is really great idea. I am definitely going to get that Luella shirt, for helping that children.

Safer Cosmetics

glamourgal — Fri, 18 Apr 2008 06:36:29 -0700

I have started using safe cosmetics for my face and body. I learned that our skin absorbs something like 60% of what we put on it.

I am using all natural products that offer recyclable packaging like Burt's Bees and Kiss My Face.

Etsy :: gracegraphics :: Handmade Plantable Greeting Card for Happy Birthday Hoppy Birthday Frog

htiduj — Tue, 15 Apr 2008 19:46:30 -0700

etsy.com

Being Green has become a huuuge deal lately. Makeup companies like Cargo have created makeup packaging that can be planted. I thought that was a pretty ingenious idea, but its been trumped by Grace Graphics of Etsy. She makes handmade Cards for all occaisons that can be planted in your garden! Not only do you get a birthday card, but you get flowers as well! Its a great way to eliminate clutter (I always feel badly throwing out cards) and to help the environment!

30 days of green deals from The Daily Green

Cocoangel — Wed, 02 Apr 2008 09:54:07 -0700

TheDailyGreen.com is offering coupons and deals during the month of April. Check it out, sign up for their newsletter, make good choices
http://www.thedailygreen.com/living-green/green-discounts-deals/?src=nl&...

5 little ways to living a greener life.

pinkflats — Mon, 17 Mar 2008 16:46:38 -0700

1. Think outside the recycling box. It's simple: These days you can recycle a lot more than paper, glass, aluminum and plastic. Even better: Reuse stuff--less energy is wasted on making it new, and less pollution gets spewed out. A few of many options: Drop off your old prescription eyeglasses at an eyewear store (find one at givethegiftofsight.com); give that outdated cell phone back to the store; hand over old sneaks at Nike's Reuse-a-Shoe program (nikereuseashoe.com) and they'll be turned into playground flooring. Also check out freecycle.org, a network in which people offer up free gently used items--futons, quesadilla makers, you name it.

2. Sign up for online banking. It saves you time, and it saves trees. If every American did this, 2.3 million tons of wood could be spared annually, and 3.9 billion pounds of greenhouse gases (directly to blame for heating up the planet) would be eliminated. When you visit an ATM, skip the receipt--those scraps of paper are a top source of litter.

3. Shop online, too. By some estimates, every minute spent driving to a store uses 10 times the energy of doing that same shopping on the Web. For eco-driven sites so good you'll never miss the mall, visit nau.com and thegreenloop.com for fashion, and econsciousmarket.com for home finds.

4. Buy local, whenever possible. Purchasing a sweater made by a neighborhood knitter and baked treats from farmers' markets instead of buying goods from far-off locales drastically reduces pollution and fuel use.

5. Switch to green power. You don't have to build a windmill in your backyard or anything. Just find an energy company that uses good old wind, sun or water (but not from a big dam) for power. Visit eere.energy.gov/greenpower to find a local supplier.
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Source: http://www.glamour.com/lifestyle/articles/2008/03/green_tips?currentPage...

Parked the SUV!

glamourgal — Wed, 16 Jan 2008 10:10:46 -0800

Unfortunately I am stuck in a 3 year lease in a Jeep SUV but I have still found a way to keep it and be green. I limit myself to driving 250 miles per month and carpool the rest. If I bought a hybrid and drove 1,500 miles per month, I'm pretty sure it would be worse for the environment than the small amount of driving I'm doing. I feel so much better to know that I can still make a difference while I ride out this lease.

Geeky Concepts - Monitor your gadgets energy usage with the Saverclip | Geeky Gadgets

Schaianne — Tue, 15 Jan 2008 22:55:38 -0800

geeky-gadgets.com

Very cool gadget to help you monitor your electric usage! Helps you see what your using, wasting ... where you could improve, etc.

You could still be "green" when you go out.

pinkflats — Wed, 02 Jan 2008 12:37:43 -0800

I feel like sometimes it's hard to continue being eco-friendly when you are out and about with your friends and such, unless you drive a hybrid, walk everywhere you go, etc. (Which I don't have and I don't do.)

Thankfully the lovely Rachel McAdams and her friends head a site called greenissexy.org. In it they suggest simple ways that you and I could be "green," and here are simple ways we all can continue saving the planet once we have stepped out of the house:

1. "Is your wallet busting at the seams? Maybe not so much with money but with paper printouts? While we can’t solve your finances, we can suggest recycling your receipts as they start adding up to a lot of paper over a period of time. If you’re worried about leaking personal info, shred them first or cut them up like you would a credit card. Some merchants will print with soy ink so that your receipt can be composted too. If you think of it in time, ask the cashier if they can skip the receipt altogether or just pay the old fashioned way - with cold, hard cash. "

2. "Here’s a quick and easy way to reduce waste in your life: give condiment packages and napkins back to the restaurant that gives them to you. Try asking fast food chains and takeout joints to leave out the extras from your next lazy dinner, but if they still throw in a handful of ketchups or a months worth of napkins, consider giving them back to the person who doled them out. By actually returning these wasteful extras, you’ll be reducing your own impact while reminding the restaurant that no means no. Who knows? Maybe they’ll think twice before overdoing it on the soy sauce for the next customer."

3. "When you're out on the go and need to grab a cup of piping hot joe, you might discover that your coffee cup has been served dressed with a coffee sleeve. While it's not very trendy for your coffee to have a wardrobe, here's a way to make sure to let its style carry into the next season: keep your sleeve to reuse when your through with your brew. Ladies, you can even tuck one in your purse. Let that little cardboard sweater protect your precious mitts from the heat time and time again - tre chic!"

4. "Reusing and recycling are important, but reduce is the best of the three R’s. The next time you get takeout or have food delivered, ask the restaurant to leave out the napkins, plastic utensils and condiments. This might seem like a tiny amount of paper and plastic, but it all adds up. Skip the free, flimsy stuff and use your own. You’ll feel good that you’re making yet another green choice."
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Tips and photos can be found at: http://www.greenissexy.org.

Hybrid vs. vegetarian?

foxie — Sat, 01 Dec 2007 23:34:54 -0800

That cow you're eating for dinner every night is more damaging to the environment than the SUV that your neighbor drives. Factory farming is bad for public health and the ecosystem. I don't understand why more emphasis isn't put on a vegetarian lifestyle in the green community. Thoughts?