May 07 2008
Tipnut.com is a neat little site for all sorts of tips - as it says, a “desperate attempt to archive all the household notes, scribbles and clippings of tips, crafts, recipes, DIY projects and neat-o hints I’ve collected over the years.”
They’ve put together a list of the 20 casual items that you can use twice before tossing - read it here.
My favorite? Used envelopes make excellent grocery list or to-do list fodder.
Apr 25 2008
From an article on Planet Green, they talk about the reasons not to top off, including:
So break the habit and when the pump clicks, that’s your sign to hang ‘er up.
Apr 21 2008
Earth Day is almost upon us and so I’ve been thinking about what I can do for Earth Day and what might be good for someone else interested in saving the environment but without a lot of time or money to give right now. So without further delay:
1) Eat Locally (even if only a little)
You don’t even have to change your eating patterns much this time of year to try and eat locally. Most areas will have a farmer’s market, or if you’re rural, an actual farm, where you could buy some local vegetables. It might cost you 2 or 3 extra dollars a week, but you’ll get fresh food which tastes better and will reduce the amount of gas spent transporting food around.
2) Donate $5 to an interesting eco-charity.
The hardest part of donating to charities for me is finding one that catches my eye and does something specific and meaningful. A lot of charities are so broad, I feel like my money is going into a big sea where I’ll have no idea what it was used for. But for example, you could donate to RelightNY, which “[supplies] low-income housing units with energy-saving CFL bulbs, both helping families to save on utility costs and fighting global warming.” Started by a 16 year old, this is the kind of effort where you know where your money goes, and it could have a very real, practical effect on climate change. Find a charity that is useful and donate $5. A little money - real effect.
3) Work from home
Not viable for everyone, obviously, but those with flexible employers can save some gas by telecommuting and getting some work done from home. If you’ve never worked from home before, perhaps you’ll find it works out well, and you can shift to a day a week from home, giving you regular savings in gas bills (with gas prices skyrocketing, that’s nothing to sneeze at) and helping the environment out a little.
4) Drive a little slower
If you do have to drive in to work, why not try going a little slower? I’m not saying become one of those hypermiler folks who are drafting behind trucks and never going faster than 55. But if you’re anything like me, you’re living in suburbia and don’t have a lot of access to public transportation and it is near impossible time wise to bike or walk anywhere. So, you’re driving around a lot and probably driving 10 miles over the speed limit, which seems to be the norm. So, for Earth Day, commit to a week or so of driving a little slower - maybe 5 mph less than what you’d normally drive. I started doing that and found that my commute time didn’t really change, which seemed counterintuitive to me, but was proven true over and over again. If you’re driving on a highway, those 5 mph can make a substantial difference in your gas mileage.
5) Think in terms of capitalism
As mentioned above, charities are a good deal if you find the right one for you, but I also firmly believe a lot of good can be done by convincing companies that there is a huge market out there for changing the way they work to be more eco-friendly. If there is a profit to be had in it, they’ll make the change. In that line of thinking, my Earth Day contribution will be signing up for NC Green Power. Technically a non-profit, those of us in NC can donate in $4 blocks through our power bill. In their words:
The goal of NC GreenPower is to supplement the state’s existing power supply with more green energy – electricity generated from renewable resources like the sun, wind and organic matter. The program accepts financial contributions from North Carolina citizens and businesses to help offset the cost to produce green energy.
While my $4 “adds one block of 100 kilowatt-hours of green energy to North Carolina’s power supply”, that’s not a tremendous amount. The more important thing, in my opinion, is to make sure the power companies realize that there are lots of people out there who are willing to pay more if their power is green power. Maybe if enough people are on board, power companies will think twice about building another coal burning plant.
Jan 21 2008
Sunday is our regular grocery store day - we normally like to get up early and get to the store while it is still quiet. This time we bought some reusable canvas bags to hold the groceries in, rather than using the flimsy plastic bags. We ended up buying 5 bags - they’re branded with the Kroger logo and are insulated on the inside. For $1.99/bag, that’s not a bad deal. 5 bags ended up not being quite enough - we had a relatively large shopping trip this week - so we’ll need to get 1 or 2 more bags next week. But overall, even putting aside how much more eco-friendly these are, I much preferred the experience using them. They carried more, so less trips taking the bags inside the house, and the sturdy handles made the carrying easier. I highly recommend these things.
