Category Archives: For The Home

Going Green to Save Money

Going green to help protect the environment doesn’t have to mean spending more. There are plenty of ways that greening your life can help keep more green in your wallet. In fact, in many cases, living green can save you money. Here are three simple ways you can help protect the environment and save money.

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Eat Smart

Livestock production accounts for about 18 percent of all human-caused greenhouse gas emissions and accounts for about 23 percent of all global water used in agriculture. Meat costs a lot at the store, it’s even more expensive when you consider the related environmental and health costs.

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5 Easy Water Saving Tips You Can Adopt Today

Guest contributor Mike Sorensen is here today to share 5 tips for conserving water.

Water is in the news all the time it seems, and the use of water and rights to it are predicted to be a huge source of conflict in the world in the near future. In the United States, the average amount of water used by each person every day is 100 gallons, and that number is rising.

Water is a precious natural resource that is not infinitely available – there are limits to how much we can use and not be taking away from others in the world.

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Reduce Your Packaging Waste In 5 Easy Steps

We cannot all afford to buy organic produce and environmentally friendly detergents when we go shopping every week, but we can make a difference to the environment by reducing the amount of packaging that we waste every day. Cardboard and plastic make up the bulk of our weekly garbage so by being mindful about what we buy and use, we can make huge improvements on both they type and amount of trash we throw away.

There are 5 easy steps you can take to reduce your packaging waste:

1. Always take your own bags when you go to the grocery store to do your weekly shop.

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Eco Friendly Bedrooms For The Newlyweds

Eco friendly bedrooms for the newly weds

After the euphoria of the wedding and the honeymoon, comes the time for the young couple to settle into routine life. They may be moving into a new flat or house and will naturally have much to do when it comes to the interior decor. Two different individuals with different tastes in style will have to merge their preferences into one acceptable choice. This is where eco-friendly products can come into their bedroom as a neutral choice to start with. Recycled and sustainable material is all the rage now for any bedroom and the young couple can cash in on this.

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Green Beginnings with Sustainable Wood

Guest contributor Joanna joins us this week to talk about the option of sustainable wood for baby furniture. Beauty and earth-friendly all in one.

Babies need furniture!

If you’re looking for alternative materials for baby furniture other than plastic, then wood can be an appealing option. However, when you’re purchasing wood furniture it’s best to look for sustainable wood to avoid deforestation for furniture production. Try your best to stay away from slow growing trees such as oak, redwood, beech and Colorado spruce. Look for medium growth rate trees such as red oak, birch and red-bud. Most importantly, they should be purchased from sustainable resources.

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7 Eco-Friendly Tips to Redecorate Your Living Room

Does your living room need some help? Guest contributor Joanna shares some eco-friendly tips on redecorating your living room.

Change of slipcovers and pillow covers

Easy touches like changing your sofa and pillow covers makes a big difference in your living room. The best thing is you can have multiple options throughout the year to change the look and wash the old covers in the mean time. Slip covers are one of the few accessories that doesn’t cost a fortune to give your room a complete face lift. The best options are always organic cotton covers as they are softer and contains no chemicals in the making of the material – perfect to be around small children in the home.

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Growing Green Kids

As adults we understand the effects of our lifestyle. We can see how eating healthy foods makes a difference in the way we feel and function. We know the responsible things to do are Reduce, Reuse and Recycle. But, what about our kids?

My parents raised me and my seven siblings on a very healthy diet of whole foods. We made or bought whole wheat; everything from bread to cookies. We drank real fruit juice and ate real cheese. Dad refused to buy things like cheap hotdogs, bologna, and processed lunch meats. We were taught to be responsible with all our resources which meant not wasting food and supplies, taking care of our tools, cars, and home and of course, never littering.

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Straws – A Plastic Alternative

If you’re looking to eliminate plastics, you need to check out this post from The Nourishing Gourmet.

Honestly, I never thought of using anything but plastic straws. I didn’t even know there were alternatives.

Thanks to Leah at Abundant Life for pointing out this post.

Now I want some pretty glass straws to slurp down my fruit smoothies!

Image credit: GlassDharma

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Washing the Dishes

We all have that chore that we hate around the house, don’t we? The one that we leave until the last possible moment? The one that we would gladly never do again in this lifetime? I have such a chore, anyways. The household task that I loathe above all others is washing dishes.

When I was young and single and still in university I did not have a dishwasher. I often resorted to tactics such as washing a single bowl because I wanted some cereal and all of the other bowls were dirty. It was not pretty. So when I got married and moved in with my husband, one of the requirements that we had for our first apartment was that it must have a dishwasher.

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Plastic in the Dishwasher

In my last post for 5 Minutes for Going Green I explored the environmental impact of using the dishwasher vs. washing dishes by hand. You may recall that there was not a clear winner, but as someone who hates washing dishes, I declared that I would continue using the dishwasher myself. When the answer isn’t clear, I tend to make the decision based on personal convenience.

After that post went up, one of my friends got in touch and asked me about washing plastics in the dishwasher. She has been debating the topic with her husband. I didn’t know anything about the safety of plastic in the dishwasher myself, so I decided to look into it.

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