Pump It Up

Within the past year I have become a car owner, and therefore am very new to the whole thing. I learned only recently how to inflate tires properly. I also learned about how important it is to make sure that the tires stay inflated properly (not just for better control, but also for a healthier environment.) Under-inflated tires increase fuel consumption and reduce the lifespan of the tire because they contact the road more: resulting in greater resistance. This creates more pollution and waste, and costs you more money. On average, the US uses 142 billion gallons of gasoline per year, and of those gallons 1.25 billion of them are consumed due to under-inflated tires. That's a lot of waste! Also, if your tire is under-inflated by 10%, then its lifespan will be decreased by 10% as well. The heat and flexing caused by the increased resistance causes it to wear down more quickly. So, take out your tire gauges and test your tires. Head over to a gas station and inflate them properly, and start getting the best mileage out of your car!

Method Cleaning

I am not very good at cleaning regularly, so I am all for easy solutions. Method has developed a shower cleaner that is not only easy, but also green. This shower spray won't clean a dirty shower, but it will prevent a clean shower from getting dirty. You just spray it on anywhere that gets wet after you take a shower or bath, and you don't have to rinse. Why is that? Because the product's formula is completely plant-based, non-toxic, and biodegradable (and therefore non-polluting). Since it doesn't contain any toxic chemicals I expected the label to be comprehensible. To my dismay, organic chemistry names are still confusing. However, Method continued to impress me with good news. On their website they have a list of all of the ingredients and a description of what they are and what they do. Here is a link to the description for this shower cleaner: http://methodhome.com/shop/daily-shower-spray/. How cool is that? Method has other plant-based cleaning products for sale, so honestly give them a try. I found this at my local Stop and Shop, and I assume it would be at my local Whole Foods as well. Happy cleaning!

Keeping Track

I use a paper planner to keep track of my life. Yes: it would be more green to use a calender on my computer or phone, but I am a little disorganized so the paper planner is what works best for me. However, if it would work for you I strongly recommend switching to an electronic planner to save paper. 

However, I am not all bad with my paper planner. In the back of it are a lot of pages for notes. I don't use these pages much, so when it came time for me to switch to a new planner I decided to find a use for this paper. The page is little so it is not ideal for me to take school notes in. However, it is ideal for things such as recipes, grocery lists, to do lists, etc. Above is where I copied down a soup recipe from the internet. So, if you use a paper planner be sure to use every inch of its resources! And when you're done, recycle all of the pages!

Hand-Me-Downs and Rags

I know that I don't always love everything that is in my closet, and sometimes I feel the need to just get rid of some clothes. Trends change, bodies grow, fabric fades. It happens. But don't just throw away your clothes! Give them to a friend or donate them to a charity like GoodWill. Just because you don't fit into your clothes anymore doesn't mean that somebody else can't! Plus, you get a tax deduction for what you donate! If the clothing is stained or has holes, still do not throw it away! Use it as a rag for cleaning or for wiping off your dogs feet. My dad uses old socks and T-shirts for cleaning his bike and padding his bike case when he travels. There's always a continued use for your old clothing. It doesn't need to go into a trash dump somewhere.

Colors, Colors Everywhere

I am a proud owner of a pretty decent number of nail polishes. However, I am also guilty of not using some of them that much and just throwing them away when they get old. I always felt sort of bad about that, but I have realized that I shouldn't be so wasteful with my nail polish. So, here are a few tips:

1. If you are tired of a particular color, switch with your friends. Rotate your colors around. I'd love it if my friends did this. You get to try a new color, and the bottle is much more likely to get used up. Heck, have a nail polish party!
2. Get creative. Use you old nail polish to decorate something like a card or picture frame. 
3. Use little dots to color code household items.
4. Use old clear coat on the bottom of metal shaving cream bottles in your shower to prevent them from rusting.
5. I am not 100% sure about how necessary this last tip is, but I don't think it would hurt if you did it: You can bring your bottles or nail polish and nail polish remover to your local Household Hazardous Waste (HHW) facility for them to properly dispose of and recycle. Here is a website that will tell you where your local facility is: earth911.com

Catalogs Everywhere!

My family gets a lot of catalogs in the mail, most of which we've never heard of and have no interest in. While the mail business may be struggling, there's no reason to waste tons of paper and fuel to ship these magazines to people who immediately throw them out. Talk about wasteful. But good news: you can make the mail madness stop. Just give the company a call and ask to be taken off of their mailing list. That's easy enough. Tell them thanks but no thanks, I am more interested in the environment than your product. They'll understand, right?

GoodGuide

Ever wonder how environmentally friendly the things in your house are? There's an app for that! It's called GoodGuide. It scans the barcode on the item and then rates it on a scale of 1-10 on how healthy it is for the environment, for you, and for its workers. It seems a little rough around the edges, and it's not always perfect, but its definitely entertaining and interesting. The highest ranked item that I have found so far was a surprise: Scrubbing Bubbles got over an 8. Most items are surprisingly low. The worst item I found was my Revlon cream eyeshadow which got around a 2. The app also gives an explanation for the rating. It's usually pretty brief, but it's helpful for pinpointing dangerous ingredients. I've learned to be more weary and to think differently about what I purchase. Dangerous chemicals and pollutants can be anywhere!

A Breath of Fresh Air

Believe it or not, indoor air quality can be much poorer than outdoor air quality. Yes, there's pollution indoors too! Indoor plants help to keep the air clean by filtering out volatile organic compounds (VOCs). Anything green is good, but here's a list of plants that work particularly well:

1. Aloe Vera (Easy to grow, absorbs byproducts of cleaning products and paint)
2. Spider plant (Resilient, filters formaldehyde and carbon monoxide)
3. Gerber Daisy (Bright flowers, eliminates chemicals from dry cleaning and ink)
4. Snake plant (Does best in bathroom, filters formaldehyde from cleaning products)
5. Golden Pothos (Fast growing, very green, good for hanging in garage, doesn't need light)
6. Chrysanthemum (Bright flowers, filters benzene, good in office or living room window)
7. Red Edged Dracaena  (Filters pollutants from lacquers and varnishes)
8. Weeping Fig (Tricky but long lasting, filters pollutants from carpeting and furniture)
9. Azalea (Does well in cool temperatures, good for improving air quality in basement)
10. English Ivy (Pictured above)

 There's many many more plants that would be great options, but I will leave you with those 10 to think about. Enjoy brightening up your home!

NOTE: The night of this post I went to the grocery store and happened to find a Dracaena. I bought one for my room, and it became my first official plant. It brightens up my bookshelf a little, and is totally easy to take care of. I love having some plants around.

Hang It Up

Clotheslines might seem old fashioned, but maybe they're so old that they are making a comeback now. Electric dryers use about 6% of all residential energy, and it is estimated that electric dryers take 30-40 cents per load, which adds up overtime. That's a lot for one appliance. My mom grew up with a clothes line, and recently installed one in our yard. It can hold a lot, and definitely gets the job done. My mom likes it especially because the breeze causes the clothes to come out softer and better smelling than with an electric dryer. If you live in an area with seasons this probably won't work year round, but try it out while its still warm and dry.

Turn the Lights Down Low

Ever install a dimmer switch? My dad has, and he's not even an electrician! The ones pictured above are fancy looking, but you can always get the simple ones that lay next to the regular light switch. Dimmer switches are an easy and awesome fix. Dimming the lights will extend the life of your light bulb. The percent that the light is dimmed by basically corresponds with the percent of energy that you are saving. Therefore, when dimmed by 25% the light will use about 25% less energy, and 50% less energy when dimmed by 50%. Also, saved energy always equals saved cash! I know that I like dimmer lights at night that I do during the day, so I will turn them down low when I am doing something like watching TV. Also, I like to dim the light just a little and try to leave it there. That way, even if the light is not noticeably dimmer, the light will never be running at full brightness. The unfortunate news is that dimmer switches are not reccommded for flourescent lightbulbs, so if you went and put in all CFL's then do not try this at home. The good news is that if you already put in CFL's than you probably don't need to worry too much about the energy that the dimmer switch would save you.