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 […]
Tip: Save Water, Time and Money: Train Your Hair To Need Less Washing
About ten years ago I decided that I wanted to grow my hair very long. I searched the web for resources and learned that the best way to have healthy hair is to not wash it every day. There were tips for training your hair to not need washing every day. I followed these […]
Greening Birthday Parties – Invitations and Location
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 […]
Deep Energy Retrofit Example
So, we were wrapping birthday presents in the local newspaper when we noticed Jon’s picture on the front page. He recently went to visit a house on which the owner had done a deep energy retrofit. The article points to some of the more extreme things that can be done to make a very efficient […]
Love My Fleece Nursing Pads
New babies traditionally bring a lot of disposable things with them, and the first thing that comes to mind tends to be disposable diapers. I’m currently doing a trial of different cloth diapers, and I’ll definitely do a post or two on what I’ve found. However, many women also find nursing pads to be very […]
Warmer Inside Than Out!
Over the past week I’ve noticed several times that our house is significantly warmer inside than it is outside. So much so that I’ve checked a few times to see if the heat was on. Each time our programmable thermostat was set to be much cooler than it actually was in the house (indicating the […]
Tip: Paper recycling
When I forget my cloth bags at the supermarket, I always ask for paper. Then I have a collection of paper bags to use for recycling. Our city requires that all paper recycling be in paper bags. I try to place a paper bag conveniently to locations where I will generate recycling. For example, I […]
How and When to Teach Children About Green Living?
How early can you teach your children about doing what’s best for the environment? The earlier the better, but it’s never too late. You’re learning, right? Ellie learning about incandescent and LED lightbulbs I walk around with my new baby and say “let’s turn out the light to save electricity.” By the time my twins […]
Getting Started
Often people want to start “being green” but they don’t know where to start. It’s overwhelming, there are so many things to do, so they don’t start anywhere. I’d like to give you some suggestions on how to get started living a greener lifestyle. To paraphrase Confucius, every journey starts with a single step. Deciding […]