Understanding your home energy usage is an important step to to reducing it. You can get a good first start by just looking at your energy bills and thinking about why there are peaks and valleys and how this year compares to last. To go beyond looking at your bills and save even more, you need […]
Getting Started with Bulk Purchasing of Dry Goods
Posted on February 2, 2010 Written by 2 Comments
I recently wrote an article on bulk purchasing that focused on buying things in larger quantities. Two of the comments pointed out the environmental and local economic benefits of buying dry goods in bulk, however, I had never done this! Somehow I had decided that that food in bins couldn’t be as clean, or as fresh […]
To Cloth Diaper or Not To Cloth Diaper?
Posted on January 26, 2010 Written by 17 Comments
We had a tough time deciding whether or not we would use cloth diapers. We thought they’d be expensive, that the laundry would be too much, that they’d smell or that I’d be grossed out by them, but through the debates, we kept coming back to the fact that they are just much better for […]
Greening Your Home Before Travel
Posted on December 23, 2009 Written by 5 Comments
As we prepared to leave for the holidays today we realized that there were several things we could do to save money and energy while we were gone. While Jon is driving, I have a spare minute to write about some of the things we did and you should consider doing as well. We […]
Taking the Brown Bag out of Brown Bag Lunches
Posted on December 7, 2009 Written by 7 Comments
I have been trying to find ways to reduce my family’s impact on the environment in ways that are low-impact on our family. I also try to find things that are inexpensive or save us money at the same time. Regardless of how much money you have, it’s always good to save money where you can, […]
Alicia’s Green Gift Guide
Posted on November 24, 2009 Written by 1 Comment
There are a plethora of lists of “green gifts” out on the web, in magazines and on tv. I believe that the best gifts for the environment are ones that are not tangible at all. I know a did a posting on consumable gifts, but I’d like to take that one step further and […]
Teaching Young Children About Environmental Issues
Posted on November 8, 2009 Written by 2 Comments
I mentioned in my Starting With Children post that I would post additional information about what our preschool did when teaching about environmental issues. I asked their preschool teacher for information about what books she used with the children so that I could share the information with others. She says: “I just wanted to quickly […]
Eat Your Presents
Posted on November 7, 2009 Written by 3 Comments
Consider classy consumables for presents. It really makes people feel good to give gifts to people they love, even if they don’t need anything, and as much as some people protest, it’s hard to find anyone who doesn’t love receiving a thoughtful gift. I’ve been telling Jon for years that I really don’t need […]
Greening Birthday Parties – Invitations and Location
Posted on November 3, 2009 Written by 2 Comments
We just had our twins birthday party and we tried to make it as green as possible, without being too expensive or too difficult. I’d like to share with you what worked and what didn’t work for us. There are so many ways you can make parties green that I’m going to start with […]
Tip: Skip the coffee stirrer by adding sugar and milk first
Posted on October 29, 2009 Written by 1 Comment
I hate those plastic coffee stirrers you find next to the coffee machine at work. Unless you are making hot chocolate or mixing honey into tea, stirring is so unnecessary. Instead, do what I do by putting the milk and sugar in first and then adding the coffee. The act of pouring the coffee (or tea) […]
