Borrowing My Way to Savings
Nope, I’m not talking about taking out another loan or racking up credit card debt. Been there, done that, and don’t want to visit again. Nope, this idea is cheap but pays dividends throughout the year and is a great source of entertainment. You can give it as a gift or keep it for yourself, and it works well for people of all ages, genders, races, and life situations.
What’s the secret? A library card membership!
I LOVE my library membership. I get to read as many books as I’d like for one price the entire year (you can find your local library by checking out the PublicLibraries.com site)—the average American membership costs $20 or less annually. That’s the cost for about 2 new books, so the return on investment is pretty great.
Plus, the library carries a lot more than just books. They’ve got up-to-date magazines and newspapers, DVDs, CDs, recorded books (great for road trips!), academic materials, and lots of other community resources, too. So you can cancel your magazine and newspaper subscriptions and stop buying new music and movies.
I love my library card so much that I’m considering it as a gift idea for people on my list this holiday season. And it’s a green gift to boot. Here are the benefits:
- Less wasted paper: One library book loaned 10 times saves the book’s weight in paper by a factor of 10. That leaves trees in place for generations to come.
- Lower fuel costs: Most libraries are now part of shared collections. By working together, libraries share their materials with other counties and communities, so you can request items from other regions and have them delivered to your local branch. This will save you driving around to other locations.
- Fewer bookshelves required: By borrowing from libraries, you don’t have to worry about buying new storage boxes and shelves for your expanding personal library. Instead, they’re stored for you at the library.
Add convenience to your borrowing habits with a resources like Library Elf, an online service that will hook up with your local library and send you notices for when requested items arrive, when books are due, and more.
- Lucy
Green Asanas: Eco-Friendly Work Outs
Down dog, up dog, tree, proud warrior, mountain pose.
The New Year is upon us, and with it, the desire to get back into pre-holiday shape. And for me, that means getting back into my regular yoga routine. Thankfully, this is one area I’m already pretty green in, but I thought I’d share some of my tips for making any workout a little more earth-conscious.
- Nontoxic workout equipment: Whether you’re running, doing yoga, or lifting weights, you’ll likely need things like mats, bags, blocks, clothing, and other implements to make your workout more constructive. You can improve your workout by choosing options that are free of toxins like dioxins, synthetic dyes, and the like. Look for natural wood, non-synthetic fabrics like cotton and bamboo, and products made without PVC (flexible plastic). Check out some clothing ideas at Green Living Ideas.
- Reusable water bottles: Don’t spoil your eco-routine with disposable, one-use water bottles. Not only are these likely to be laced with BPA (bisphenol-A—a hormone disruptor), they require a lot of energy and resources to create, and are often chucked into the landfill rather than recycled. A good quality reusable water bottle (I recommend stainless steel) will keep you hydrated without the eco-ills and health concerns.
- A clean wash routine: When you’re done sweating, consider how you clean up after yourself. Whether you’re washing your laundry, in the shower, or wiping down equipment, choose cleaners that won’t contribute to indoor air pollution by looking for low-VOC, fragrance-free cleaning solutions (or make your own). Also check package labels to be sure your brand of cleaning products will biodegrade quickly in the environment. Oh, and don’t forget to go easy on the water consumption, too.
Those are just some quick suggestions for greening-up your New Year’s resolution to lose the holiday fat.
- Lucy
She Said What? Holiday Coping Ideas for Stressful Relatives
I don’t know about you, but I’ve got some pretty ungreen relatives and it can be a serious tax on my mental nerves trying to have conversations with them about eco-issues that are important to me. First, there’s the oil millionaire, Uncle Jack, who tries to argue with me about the necessity of the petroleum industry. He regularly accuses me of being duplicitous in my values since I drive a car. Needless to say, we don’t agree on energy issues.
Then there’s Uncle Harold and Cousin Marvin. They’ve been in the dairy farm business for decades and can’t understand why I’m a vegetarian. And I actually think they’re personally offended by my lifestyle choice, taking it as an attack on their livelihood. Oh dear.
And who can forget my climate-change-denying father, who, bless his heart, is convinced the whole thing in a huge conspiracy by Al Gore and the scientists behind the numbers. Arguing with him is a losing battle, for sure.
Dealing with relatives around the holidays can be a difficult challenge. Especially if you’re trying uphold your green values while maintaining your sanity. And sometimes you want to do more than that—you want to help others understand the very reasonable choices you’ve made and perhaps help them live greener lives as well. Is that even possible?
When I stumbled across the Sierra Club’s Holiday Survival Guide, I knew it was for me. Filled with ideas for how to politely converse with difficult relatives about hot-button environmental topics, this guides is a must-read for anyone hoping to get through the holiday season with the eco-dignity intact. They’ve even got Holiday Survival Support Group where you can laugh and cry with others like you, share tips and coping strategies, and get ideas for meal making, too.
- Lucy
Dealing with Toxic Holiday Waste: Recycling E-Cast-Offs
We really scaled back on the number of gifts we gave this year in order to adjust to a smaller budget, but it was a very nice season and we enjoyed ourselves nonetheless.
That said, we’re still left with some items that need recycling now that the holiday is over. For instance, my husband received a new cell phone as a gift, and so we’re left with his old one. We weren’t exactly sure what to do with it until I did a little digging. Here’s what I found:
Donate your old phone to a charity or phone reuse campaign: Our old phone happens to still function fairly well (why did we need a new one you ask? Beats me), so a donation program is likely the way we will go. These programs allow you to give your old device away so that it can be used by someone else. In many cases, these old phones go to communities where it would otherwise be impossible to afford a new device. And when they connect communities, family members, or business women, it’s even better since a phone can truly be a lifeline. Here are some options:
- AT&T Reuse and Recycling program for used phones and PDAs
- CollectiveGood Mobile Phone Recycling programs in Staples stores
- Recycling for Charities
- Sprint Buyback and Project Connect programs
- Verizon Wireless HopeLine recycling and phone donation programs
Recycle your old phone: Of course, if you’ve dropped your phone in the toilet or run over it with the car, then you likely won’t be able to donate it to anyone. But there are still great programs to ensure these devices land in good hands. After all, like most electronics, cell phones can contain heavy metals and other nasty chemicals that would poison our planet if thrown into the landfill. So check out Earth911 to find an e-waste recycler in your area to be sure they’re handled properly. Many big box stores now offer recycling bins for PDAs, chargers, cell phones, and more right in their stores.
- Lucy
Stop! Those Aren’t Disposable!
I’m determined that our holiday celebrations won’t result in a bunch of leftover disposable giftwrap plates, cups, and cutlery. Sure, it’s more convenient to serve meals and beverages on paper plates, in plastic and Styrofoam cups, and with plastic utensils, but those are expensive (and we’re all about saving money this season) and they pile up in a gooey, wasteful mess. And when it comes right down to it, there’s nothing convenient about disposable paper giftwrap…
So, I’m going to be using some eco-friendlier options for our holiday festivities. I’ve got an attack plan that should make my non-disposable holiday simple and low-stress. Here’s what I’ve lined up:
- Really easy gift wrapping: I purchased some inexpensive holiday fabric at the season-end sales last year. With that fabric, I’ve sewn up some really simple cloth bags that we can use to wrap up all of our gifts. And they’re so easy to use. Simply slip the gift into the bag, tie it up with a reusable ribbon, and you’re done! This will save an enormous amount of time for me as I wrap up gifts for the kids and other family members (I often spend hours locked in my room taking care of this aspect of gift-giving, wrapping myself ragged!). The best part is, these gift bags can be reused from year to year to year, so I’ll save money on wrapping paper, ribbon, tape, and other gift wrap supplies.
- Dish washing schedule: I made sure to purchase enough dishwashing detergent, knowing that we’ll likely be serving more meals than normal. I’ve also devised a handy dish schedule, giving every individual in the household responsibility for a different meal throughout the holiday week so that one of us (namely me) isn’t stuck washing all of the dishes the entire time. This will alleviate the stress of using real glasses, plates, mugs, cutlery, and so on.
- Filtered tap water: Instead of buying bottled water (so expensive!), I’ve stocked up on filters for my pitcher filter (not the most green choice, but better than individual bottles) so that we have lots of clean water to drink. That will also cut down on the number of trips we have to make to the garage recycling bin with used bottles. To reduce drink waste even more, I’m encouraging everyone to keep track of their glasses and mugs so that they can be reused multiple times each day. Cup charms help with this a lot!
- Lucy
Billion Bag Pledge: Make a pledge and we’ll give you a free tote bag
Make your pledge today. Send us an email about your pledge along with your name, address, and email address to Book@MamasHealth.com and we will send you a reusable tote bag (while supplies last).
Water-Free Carwash?
Who wants to be outside in the cold during the winter washing their car on the curb? Not me! I’m not a big fan of the cold weather, so my car tends to go a little longer between washings when the weather is chilly.
There’s always the commercial drive-through car wash option which helps to avoid the problem of the cold for the most part. And apparently that method is a lot better for the environment than washing your vehicle at home. That’s because commercial car wash facilities are required to treat the water from washed cars before it ends up back in our municipal systems, which ensures the chemicals used for washing the vehicles are taken out or neutralized.
Nonetheless, I still feel like those systems use way too much water. And of course, there’s the expense. It’s not cheap to sit in the comfort of your vehicle while jets of water and scrubbing brushes do the work for you. Even wand-washing seems water-wasteful.
Consequently, I’ve been looking for some car wash alternatives and I think I’ve stumbled upon a method that’s pretty great. Using microfiber (yes, there it is again!), I can do a waterless car wash (without scratching) using nontoxic cleaning products (even homemade!). Water-free car washing is good news for the environment, since the average curbside car wash apparently requires about 140 gallons of water.
And they say this is a quick and easy way to wash the car, it saves on cleaning chemicals, it’s greener than other options, and if I stick to using the microfiber for many years, it should save me money, too! Plus, there’s no messing with bulky hoses, sponges, pails, and all of the other paraphernalia you normally use to wash your car at home, so it’s less hassle to boot.
I did some looking around and found some very nice waterless carwash kits (Lucky Earth, for instance), and I’m considering buying one for my husband. Any thoughts? Has anyone tried this method? I’d love to hear your opinions.
- Lucy
Ca-ching! Easy Money Savers in the Cleaning Closet
I just read some frightening stats on cleaning products:
- Add up the disposable cloths and pads used by Americans every year and we could collectively fill a caravan of 18-wheeler semi-trucks 68 miles long.
- Americans send 3,000 tons of paper towels to landfills every single day!
And this isn’t a cheap habit, either. I was astounded to discover that I may be spending about $50 every month on cleaning supplies! Apparently the average American’s yearly budget for disposable cleaning products and chemicals is around $600!
Consider, for instance, that a couple of jumbo-sized paper towels used per week costs me about $2, adding up to nearly $100 every year! And a motorized one-use floor mop that uses replacement pads, cleaning solution, and batteries can cost up to $468 every year.
So, goodbye to things I use only once… those one-use mops and paper towels, as well as sponges, scrubbers, disposable toilet bowl cleaners, those “magical” and “brite” scrubby pads, dusting, disinfecting, and shining wipes, and any other disposables I can find in my cleaning closet (well, I’ll use up what I have, but I’m not replacing them!).
Instead, I think I’m going to opt for microfiber for many of my cleaning requirements. Really good quality versions of these cloths will apparently last more than 10 years after hundreds of washings and can do almost any cleaning job. And the best part is that you often can get away without using chemicals at all when using microfiber. According to the Sustainable Hospitals Project – Are Microfiber Mops Beneficial for Hospitals? report, many US hospitals are now using microfiber instead of harsh cleaning chemicals.
So not only do I save money on disposable cleaning supplies, I also cut down on the number of cleaning concoctions I bring into my house. That means an even lower cleaning bill and a less toxic home, too. Sounds like savings to me!
- Lucy
