Vinegar and Vodka = Natural Cleaners

I realized the other day that I have never, not even one time, talked about how to make cleaning supplies with vinegar. Which is just awful because if you look at any other green blog it's probably going to be one of the first things they will tell you to start doing. But today I am going to remedy that by not only telling you about the wonderful things you can do with a little vinegar in a spray bottle but about another, surprising, liquid that can help you clean around the house and avoid using nasty chemicals - vodka. Yup I you read it right, vodka. Now you'll have an excuse to have a little drink while you're cleaning the house. How much better can it get?

White Distilled Vinegar
The most basic surface cleaning recipe I found for vinegar is this:

• Equal parts water and white distilled vinegar
• Essential oils as desired for smell
• Shake well before using to be sure that everything is mixed up
  

I mean, how much easier can you get? I looked around for a recipe that could be made using apple cider vinegar (since you might already have a bottle in the house if you have decided to go no 'poo) but I couldn't find any. However, I did stumble across this page from the Vinegar Institute that has recipes that use vinegar for everything from freshening up your laundry to making sure that your car windows don't frost overnight.

Vodka
Yes, that's right. You can use vodka around the house as you clean ... can you imagine being able to take a swig out of your spray bottle whenever you wanted to and not having to call the poison control center after you do it? Oh the freedom (and the fun)! With these as one of my household cleaning tools, I might actually want to do some cleaning.

Here are few of the things you can do with vodka, all of which I found on a page from a website called the Daily Green.

• Bug Repellent
• Spraying directly onto the bugs or on yourself will help to keep you from becoming a moving buffet.
  
• Hair Beautifier
• Adding a jigger (1 1/2 ounces) to your bottle of shampoo (you'll need to add 1 1/2 oz for every 12 oz in the bottle) will help keep your locks soft and shiney.
  
• Mold Killer
• Load up your spray bottle and let fly. Let it sit for about 15 minutes and then attack with a toothbrush and your problem should be solved!
  
• The Natural Version of Febreeze
• Just spritz it on your smelly clothes and let it dry in a well ventilated place. When the vodka's dry it won't leave an odor and it will take the nasty ones with them! (A tip that can also be helpful the next time you want to sneak out to the bars ...)
  
• Poison Ivy Remedy
• When poured directly onto the affected area right after exposure, vodka will wash away the oil that will make you itchy and give you that nasty rash. It just one more reason why taking that flask with you on your next camping trip is actually a great idea!

Method Body Wash - Follow-up Review

It's been almost 3 weeks since I started using my Method body wash and I have to say that I am still digging it as much as I did the first time I used it. My skin is soft and smooth and I smell good when I get out of the shower. I mean, what else is there to say?

I would recommend getting a loofah or a sponge or so meting to make the wash lather a little before you put it on. I usually just use my hands and get it all sudsy before I wash but this body wash doesn't lather all that great. The bottle will last longer and you'll be able to wash more of yourself if you use something.

Final Verdict:
I am really digging this product and I will buy it again when I run out. It smells great and it delivers on its promise to give you ridiculously soft skin. But, like I said, it's probably time to get a loofah.

Kiss My Face Deodorant - Follow-up Review

Well, so much for the two week mark. It's more like a 2 and a half week mark. I have been faithfully applying my deodorant everyday to make sure that I can get back to you with an honest review and because I care about you, my readers, I spent more time that anyone should smelling my own armpits. But after many a smell test and several sweat tests I have this to report back to you: This stuff rocks!

As you may know, I live in Kansas where it's not just insanely hot it's muggy too which means that any time spent outside in the sun means that you will be sweating like crazy. Last week while I was babysitting I decided to put the kids in the stroller and take a spin around the neighborhood to see how well my deodorant stood up to some real sweating. When we got back to the house I was soaked in sweat (and ready for a nap) but my armpits smelled just fine. I was shocked.

I even asked my mom to do a pit smell test, just to make sure that there were smells that I was missing. And let me tell you folks, she had her nose in my armpit taking some very deep sniffs and she says that she couldn't smell anything. She was so impressed that she has decided that she is going to start using it to.

I have found that it works the best when you apply it liberally to your pits, but even on days when you go a little on the light side you still don't have to worry about smelling bad. And while it might feel a little weird to put liquid in your armpits for the first few days you start to use it, you will grow to love it. I love it. My armpits have become quite sensitive (which is the whole reason that I bought it in the first place) and when I get out of the shower and they hurt from shaving, nothing is quite as soothing to them as rolling on that cool liquid. It's pretty awesome.

The Final Verdict:
I love this product and I am going to start recommending it to everyone I know. I mean, you know it's good ... I even got my mom to switch from her old spice stick (she has sensitive armpit skin too and it's all that used to work for her - until now!).

Buying Green Products Responsibly

I'm sure that at some point in your life you've heard of businesses who are caught using child labor or exploiting works. Kathy Lee Gifford comes to my mind and I found this article that talks about worker exploitation in New York City. So how can you avoid buying products that have been greenwashed into looking like sustainable, responsibly made products when they're really being made from trees from the rain forest by children in China, Japan, Vietnam, or some other far away country that has a record of using child labor.

A website that I happened to stumble upon called Rate It Green can help. It's an online community of people who are concerned with purchasing their products from green retailers who are really green. Although it seems like it's used more for people who are contractors, you still might find something helpful.

Green People is a website that is dedicated to bring you the resources you need to bring your shopping to the next level. They have links for everything from baby products to eco tourism. All of their lists of suppliers are available to view by location or as a complete listing depending on what you're looking for. This site looks like a great resource for finding what you need.

I also found a website called Green Seal that will only give it's seal of greenness to companies whose products have passed their stringent testing and comparison to other products in its class. They also provide resources to find the products that they have given their seal to. Their list isn't very long but it is another good place to start looking to find the products that you might need.

Keep your eyes open and please feel free to let me know if you find any other websites that do the same! I would love to keep adding websites to this list.

Online Shopping vs. The Mall

I know that I provide you with a lot of links that take you to websites where you can purchase things to help you green up your life ... but have you ever wondered weather or not online shopping is better or worse for the environment? It's something that I've been thinking about lately. Sure, I could buy all of my 7th Generation products from Amazon but I know that I can also get them at some grocery stores. Is it worth purchasing everything online? I decided that I wanted to find out.

There is no getting around the fact that in order to get anything you need you'll probably have to burn some gas to get it. Unless you have a big basket on your bike and live fairly close to the store and you have the leg power to get you there and back (if you do, you are my hero). But if you consider the distances and the number of trips it takes for you to get the item that you're looking for, you will probably find that online shopping is better suited for some products while physically going to the store is better for others.

The Grocery Store
A typical trip to the grocery store for me has two legs: I drive there and then I drive home. As long as I know that you will find everything on my list in one store, I figure it can't hurt to drive there. But you can get your groceries delivered to your door if you would rather. You can read an article about it here and you might want to look at companies like Netgrocer and Dinewise if your local grocer doesn't have their shopping site online yet. Personally, I like to get out of my house every now and then and I think grocery shopping is something that you don't have to take online if you don't want to.

If you want to be a little greener about it (and have more fun at the same time), ask your neighbor if they want to go along with you. You'll save gas when you carpool and it will be great bonding time for the two, or maybe three, or you. If you're scared to ask your neighbor to go with you because you've never talked to them before, you can start the conversation by making them a batch of cookies just to be nice.

The Mall
This was quite interesting to read about online when I was doing my research for this article. There are several things that malls are doing these days to green up the way they run business. This includes providing recycling options for retailers when they are disposing of their cardboard stock boxes to putting a garden on the roof! However, this doesn't make up for the fact that these sprawling malls take up a ton of land space, space that probably was a farm at one time, and covers it with tons of asphalt. This alters the landscape and can cause all sorts of drainage problems when rain water can't be absorbed into the ground like normal. You can read about all the different problems that can come from paving large areas in this article from Florida.

But again, you can make a mall trip only have two legs: one to get there and one to get back. And usually when I go to the mall I go with another person so I carpool too. But depending on where you live, your mall could be very far away (it takes me 20-30 minutes to get to mine) and the traffic could be terrible on the drive over. My mall is in the middle of a commercial area with tons of apartments and neighborhoods around it which means that there is always traffic and there are tons of stoplights.

Shopping Online
There are many benefits to taking your recreational shopping habits online rather than to the mall.

1. You save gas, time and energy.
• You save money on gas because you don't have to drive to get to your computer, hopefully.
  
• You save time because you don't have to drive anywhere and you can find websites with the wares you want in 5 minutes with a Google search.
• You save energy in two forms: it costs less and does less harm to the earth when you run an internet search than it does for you to drive to the mall and back home. Also, you don't have to wear yourself out walking around the mall to go to every store that you need to.
  
2. You can shop and compare from multiple stores at once, in the same browser.
• The next time you're at the mall and you see a pair of pants you like but you want to compare them to the pants that they have in the store down the hall, you have no way of doing that without getting tackled by a security guard in the end.
• Using the internet you can read reveiws and compare your pants to any other pants your little heart may desire without the fear of getting any shoplifting charges added to your rap sheet.
  
3. You can find exactly what you want instead of settling for something close.
• There are lots of times when I go shopping I have a picture of something in my mind but I can't find it anywhere and I end up settling for something that's close but may be something that I don't necessarily want.
• You may have trouble finding all the eco-friendly products that you need at a store near you. Rather than drive all around town, you can check around online and find exactly what you want.

I found a couple articles that are worth reading about the benefits of shopping online, for you and the environment. This EcoIQ article sums it up very well and while this New York Times article may not be about online shopping, it talks about how shopping malls affect our environment. Quite interesting.

The bottom line is, if you can get everything in one trip at the same store without spending a bundle to get there, then shopping in the real world is the way to go. If you know that what you want is going to be hard to find then I think that online shopping is the way to go. Use your head, be smart, and shop on my greenie friends.

Line Drying - Back in Style

Line drying your clothes isn't just for your grandmother anymore. There is a movement afoot in the green community to get back into the habit of line drying your clothing for a few reasons.

1. It will save you money.
• No joke! Your dryer, refrigerator and washer are the biggest electricity hogs in your house.
• The sun acts as a bleaching agent and it's antibacterial which means that you don't have to buy any more bleach.
  
2. It's relaxing.
• Just pretend that you're playing house in the 1950's. Dig out that apron you have with the ruffles and saunter into your back yard to get to work - I like to do it at least. The trick is to reward your hard work with a martini when you get back in the house.
  
• Lots of blogs I've read on the subject mention that it's just nice to spend some time outside and getting their chores done all at the same time, and I agree.
  
3. Your clothes will last longer.
• The lint that you pull off the screen in your dryer comes from your clothes, but did you know that it's because they're being destroyed? I never put 2 and 2 together until a few months ago.
• The less time your clothes spend in the dryer the more fibers stay in your clothes which will make it much easier to make it through the 365 no new duds challenge with your pants in one piece.
  
4. Your clothes will smell "sunshine fresh".
• Another common 'thread' (haha) in blogs and articles about line drying is just how good your clothes will smell when you bring them down off the line.
• You can stop paying more for the smelly detergents because you are now getting the smell for free.

Don't believe me? Check out this Mom Advice article on the subject as well as Thrifty Jinxy's thoughts on the matter (which also happens to be an Ideal Bite tip!). They will pretty much tell you the same thing. The Mom Advice article also give you some great ideas on how to reduce the amount of wrinkles in your clothes as they dry on the line.

Don't let your line drying days come to an end when it starts to get cold outside! You can just as easily dry your launder on a few folding racks, which is what I use right now anyway. I find that my clothes get dry just as fast as they do when they are in the dryer and I haven't had any trouble with stiff clothes at all, something that can happen when you dry outside.

Now that I know you're all ready to get out there and line dry your clothes you will need some supplies to get you started. Here's where to get the goods:

1. A clothes line
• I found this outdoor clothes line setup that was something I thought I might like ... if I had a backyard.
• You might also want to consider a retractable clothes line if you don't want a giant thing standing in your back yard all the time.
  
2. A drying rack
• Thanks to Ideal Bite, here is a site that is dedicated to sustainable production of wooden drying racks and boy do they have a bunch of styles. I was really impressed.
3. Clothes pins
• You can't get the clothes to stay on the line without these little guys! You can find them several places around town probably.
• Here are some wooden clothes pins and here are some plastic clothes pins. I personally prefer the wooden ones.
  
4. Clothespin bag
• Here is a basic clothes pin bag.
  
• But you can also make your own with things that you already have in your house. Check out these awesome instructions I found for this style and these other equally awesome instructions to make another style.
  
5. A ruffled apron and martini shaker
• This apron will blow your neighbors away.
• These aprons have a very vintage look to them if you really want to look authentic.
• I found a site called Martini Art that should become your one stop shop for any martini supplies you might ever want or need. They even have drink recipes!

And there you have it. Every question you may have had about line drying your clothes answered and several resources at your finger tips. So what are you waiting for? I'll see you in the back yard!

Conserve: Water in the Kitchen

Since I recently looked at the many ways that you can conserve water in your bathroom, I thought I might look into conserving water in the kitchen. And when you look at conserving water in the kitchen you can't help but stumble upon the question that everyone is asking ...

Is it better to hand-wash dishes or use the dishwasher?

Well, I am here to tell you that every website I looked at said the same thing. Dishwashers use less water overall than you would if you were hand-washing your dishes. Especially if you have a energy star dishwasher. There was even a study that proves that using a dishwasher is better for the environment than if you were to wash your dishes by hand. This is a link to an article on Tree Hugger than also has a link to the study.

So now that we have that figured out, are there any other ways to save conserve water in the kitchen? You bet there is.

1. Make sure the dishwasher is FULL before you run it.
• It not only saves water, it saves you money and the time that you would spend putting away those 5 loads that could have all gone in at the same time.
  
2. Don't let water run down the drain.
• Don't defrost meat by running water on it. Plan ahead and let it thaw in the fridge or use the defrost feature on your microwave.
  
• When you rise your veggies, do it in a plugged sink or in a bowl of cool water.
• Consider keeping a jug of tap water in the fridge so that it's just the right level of chilly so that you don't have to wait for the tap to get really cold.
• Save all the grey water you can! You can use it to water the garden or anything else you can think of.
3. Use your garbage disposal sparingly.
• You will save quite a bit of money by not running the water to wash all the nasties down your sink.
  
• What is your other option? Start your own compost bin! Save water and make your own dirt for your garden.
  
4. Get an aerator for your kitchen sink.
• By these work like a low flow shower head and can significantly cut down on the amount of water you use.
  
5. Be sure to have any leaks fixed.
• Leaks = wasted water (and a higher utility bill).

I found these and other fabulous tips at the Queensland Government site, Savewater.co.au, and The Town of Cary site.

Container Gardening - Part 1

If you're like me and live in an apartment without a yard, we face the same problem when it comes to gardening. If you want to grow some veggies at home to help offset your grocery bill and to help conserve our food sources, what are you going to do if you don't have anywhere to plant your plants? Have no fear, you can garden in containers just as well as you can in a yard!

This article I found on the benefits of container gardening from West Virgina University. It even has a table that tells you all about which veggies are best suited for growing in your garden. It is very informative article that is really easy to read and understand. They also offer some ideas for planting arrangements of flowers as well as other useful information.

If you are more into being organic and want to bring that to your container garden, I found this article on the Gaiam Life website all about it. It has a nice organic soil recipe (1 part soil, 1part compost - better get that box started- and 1 part sand) and other tips on how to avoid using synthetic media, fertilizer, and insecticides in your container garden.

Another great article I found was this one courtesy of Texas A&M. It is another great article, although there is some overlap of information with the West Virginia article, with another good media recipe and ideas for treating some common problems that you might encounter in your container garden. Best of all, it has fun little pictures! I love the tables at the bottom of the page which tell you which types of veggies do well in containers, when you can transplant the seeds if you're germinating them yourself, and lists common problems that you might find in your container garden as well as an explanation and solutions to the problem.

Part 2: Going to the garden store to talk to them about container gardening and possibly picking out some seeds.

A Closer Look: Reducing

Here we are, at the final R of the trio. I have to say that this was the hardest R to research out of the three. I had to try a couple searches in order to get the right keywords to bring up pages that were relevant. But I did find a few gems.

Reducing is just as easy as it sounds. And if you are practicing your other two R's (reusing and recycling) you are have already laid the ground work to start effectively reducing your waste as well! By shopping smart and cutting back on the amount of stuff you throw away, you are reducing! A compost box is a way to reduce your trash output and so is taking canvas bags to the grocery store instead of using the plastic bags they give you. The Minnesota Pollution Control Agency has a pretty cool website that has tips for reducing waste divided up by where you want to reduce your waste output (like at home or the office).

I found this consumer handbook put out by the Environmental Protection Agency to help you start reducing your trash output, and from the parts that I've read it pretty much says things that you already know. But it does offer links and information for educating others which could come in handy if you're a parent or if you know someone who wants some more information.

And I found this article from that lovely website by the California Waste Management Board (they cover so many topics!) about how to reduce waste during the holiday season! Which, when you think about it, is probably the time of the year that we produce the most waste. I know how much wrapping paper we use at my house every year and it boggles my mind to think about the landfills if everyone in America had the same amount as we do.

So there you have it ... the three R's explored a little deeper. I hope that these few articles have helped you learn ways to incorporate the three R's into your life and possibly even gotten you excited about doing it!

Brown Bagging It ...

If you don't already take your lunch with you to work, then it's something that you really, really should consider making a habit. Once you start I will promise you that you will wonder why you haven't been doing it for years! I know that you will get several things out of taking your lunch to work: the satisfaction of reducing the waste you send to the landfill, eating healthier (hopefully), and you will save money. How do I know these things you might ask? Because I bring my lunch to work with me almost everyday and I have experienced these results first hand.

First, lets look at how you will be reducing the amount of trash you send to the landfill. By bringing your lunch with you to work, you have the opportunity to have a waste free meal if you pack all your food is reusable containers and carry it all to work in a reusable lunch bag. Just take a moment and think about how much waste is produced when you're done with your value meal:

• The cup, including the straw, the straw wrapper, and the lid
  
• The bag
  
• The napkins in the bag
  
• The wrapper for your burger or the box for your nuggets
• The container for your fries
  
• Any little extras like ketchup packets or receipts
  
• The wrapper from the toy (if you get a kid's meal), any instructions it comes with, and ultimately the toy itself when it breaks (they always do)
  

By taking the single, small step of bringing your lunch to work you will be practicing two out of the three R's: Reducing and Reusing. I spent a while looking around on the interenet to find products that are stylish, Earth friendly, and so easy to use that there could be no way that you avoid wanting to use them. These are my favorites:

• I thought that this lunch bag from Built NY was super cute and functional (I'm thinking about getting the one that folds out into a place mat). How could you go wrong? I would also take some time to check out the Built website, their products are awesome.
• These sandwich "baggies" aren't plastic! But they do just as good a job according to the reviews. Plus, they act as a plate too which would help cut down on the number of crumbs on your desk after you're done eating your sandwich.
• If you are feeling crafty and want to creatively recycle some of the stuff in your home, consider making your own sandwich wrapper! I found these instructions for making your own. Here is the post where I got the link to the blog article.

Now, I don't want to make your stomach turn, but do you know what you're eating when you go to McDonald's? Do you understand just how many calories you are consuming in one single sitting when you have your double cheeseburger with large fries and large Coke? You might be shocked by the answer: Over half of your recommended calorie intake for an entire day. Not to mention the fact that while McDonald's has been talking about it, not all of their restaurants use trans-fat free oil to fry their french fries and so you could be getting about 7 grams of it every time you eat an entire serving of fries. Don't believe me? Check out the nutrition page and calorie calculator on the McDonald's website and see for yourself.

NOTE: But don't get me wrong, I eat at McDonald's every now and then and I am not fat or sick with a heart condition or at a greater risk for a heart attack (I hope) or anything. The name of the game when it comes to maintaining a healthy body weight and healthy eating habits is moderation. If you want it, don't make yourself go without it forever - that can sometimes lead to overeating in an effort to make up for whatever it is you're craving (believe me, I've done this before too). In fact, talking about McDonald's is really making me want some. I might go get some for lunch.

If my other two points had no effect on your desire to start brown bagging it at work, maybe my last point will. I want to give you a quick breakdown on how much money you could save if you didn't eat out for lunch everyday. Let's assume for a moment that you get a $5 meal at a fast food place everyday.

• Lunches for one week means that you've spent $25
• Lunches for one month means that you've spent $100
• Lunches for one year means that you've spent $1,200
  

$1,200?! Just think of what you could do with that much money! You could go on a pretty sweet little vacation with your family or maybe just that special someone. Or you could pay off that credit card debt that just won't go away. That money could also equal 120 hours of babysitter pay (if they charge $10/hr) so that you can start dating your spouse again. Or you could start funding your retirement account. Or you could use it to help green up your house like installing solar panels on the roof or buying an energy efficient appliance to replace an old one. The possibilities are endless and just think that you could earn that much by getting up 10 minutes earlier and throwing together a salad or a peanut butter and jelly sandwich.

Kiss My Face Deodorant - My First Product Review!

Well, I've decided that I to start reporting to you about my switch to organic and earth friendly products. Last night I went to target and decided that I would take a look around their health market to see if they sold any all natural products like what I have been looking at online. I specifically was looking for deodorants.

I was pleasantly surprised to find that they carried three lines of all natural deodorants! They had Jason, Kiss My Face and one other that I can't remember the name of. I took the time to sniff all of them, and my conclusion is that either you can choose to smell like nothing (the aloe sticks for sensitive skin), you can choose to smell like a giant lavender bush (they aren't kidding around with the lavender smell), or you could choose to smell like a hippie (which may sound terrible, but I do know some hippies and I know what they smell like. They smell like patchouli.).

The whole reason I was looking for natural deodorants in the first place was due to the fact that my regular stuff has started to make my armpits itch really bad. Which is embarrassing and gross. Have you ever had an itch in your armpit that was so bad that you were willing to scratch it even when you were sweating like a pig? Those were the kind of itches that I was having at work. Not fun. So I chose to purchase the Kiss My Face Liquid Rock roll on with aloe and no smell for my sensitive pits.

This is the first morning I've used it and so far I really like it. The liquid took a while to totally dry and so for about an hour this morning, every time I lifted my arms to do something I got a completely wonderful little breeze in my armpits. It might sound weird, but I really liked it. So far I'm not smelly at all which is great but I'm also not doing any major amount of work. Sitting behind a desk = no sweating. So we'll how it handles this afternoon's heat. I promise to write up another review in two weeks to let you know if my opinions have changed about my switch to all natural deodorant.

A Closer Look: Recycling

Well, here is the first article in the series I promised you about looking closer at the three R's. To organize my research I asked my friends and family what questions they had about recycling and as it turned out, they all seemed to want to know the same thing more or less. While they didn't all ask the same questions, I figured I would narrow them down into only a few instead of answering the 20 I had on my list when I started my research.

1. Where are the recycle centers in my area?
You may be one of those lucky people who live in an area that offers curbside recycling. But what if you aren't? I would recommend saving up your recyclables and taking them to a local center at the end of each month. Well that's all well and good, but how do you go about figuring out where you recycling center is within your community? Earth 911 has a wonderful recycling center locating tool. Just put in your city and state and what you want to recycle and it will tell you where to go in your community. It's brilliant!

2. What exactly can I recycle?
These days you can recycle a lot more than just plastic, cardboard and glass. If you can find the right facility in your area you can recycle just about anything, including motor oil (who knew!). The California Zero Waste website has tons of information on what you can recycle and even goes so far as to provide links to the information or locator's you need to find the centers in your area (even if you're like me and don't live in California).

3. Can I do more to recycle that what you've already recommended?
There is, and always will be, more that you can do to cut back on your contributions to your local landfill, like starting a compost box to take care of your organic wastes. However, I feel like this question would be better answered in my next article about the second R: Reuse. Reusing things that you would ordinarily send to the dump is a great way to recycle and reduce your landfill contributions.

Slow Posting

Hey guys - I'm sorry for the slowness of my posting lately. Things have picked up at work and I really haven't had any time to sit and do the research I need to.

I promise that I have 3 articles in the works and many more that have yet to be typed. But all of them need a little more in order to be posted. I will try to get some of them up this weekend.

Greennie love - Beth

Organic Dog Care

As you may already know, I have a couple of pooches who have just been dieing to hop onto my new neon green band wagon. So I decided that I would spend a little time looking around on the internet to see what kinds of products are out there for my puppies. I ran a simple search on Google and I thought I would post the websites I found that I could consider buying from.

Botanical Dog had some adorable toys and they even carry the green line of the AKC toys. This is a big deal for my pups because my smallest dog is in love with the AKC squirrel that I bought him the day he came home with me from the shelter. I am so excited to be able to buy him a new, and more Eco-friendly version. My larger dog loves to tear squirrel to shreds which means that I have to buy a new one every few months or so. I wonder if they sell in bulk ...

The Holistic Pet looked interesting too, and they had tons of products for dogs and cats but also for horses and birds! No toys though ... just food and wellness things.

I would recommend reading this article I found from USA Today. It popped up when I ran my search; it's about organic pet foods. It recommends talking to your vet before you take Fido all-organic, as the industry isn't very well regulated quite yet, and I agree. I plan on having a discussion about it with my vet next week when my dogs go in to get groomed. I will post what my vet's thought are when I have the chance.

Driving Green

I know that for some people, like me, not driving my car is not an option. I have no other way to get to work unless I wanted to get up at 5 am and leave on my bike by 7 am in order to get to work on time. And, as much as I want to, I cannot afford to go out and buy a hybrid right now. So what am I to do if I don't want to pollute every time I go to work? Well, there are some things that you can do that will help to reduce your tail pipe emissions and improve your fuel economy. I found this article that highlights most of the things I've been reading online lately.

If you don't want to read the whole thing, here are the highlights plus some tips that I've picked up from reading various other articles online about conserving your fuel.

1. Don't race the guy next to you to see who's first off the line when you're at a stop light. As fun as it is, it wastes your gas.
2. Try to anticipate your stops and let your car coast to a stop, or at least close to it. You need to use your breaks at some point, but costing before you apply them will save you wear and tear on your breaks and a little gas too.
3. Avoid idling as much as you can. When you idle for more than 30 seconds at a time you start to waste your fuel. I know that this isn't always avoidable but there are times when you can just turn off your engine. Like when you drive through the bank or if you go to the Sonic drive in.
4. Avoid driving in rush hour (if you can). Talk to your boss; you might find that he would be OK with you coming in and leaving an hour early so that you can miss the traffic!
5. Using your air conditioning only when you're on the highway is a good idea. Your fuel efficiency is better and so you don't end up using as much gas. Driving around town with your windows open not only gives you that sexy wind-blown look, but it will save some of your gas since your car isn't burning fuel as well as it does on the highway.
6. Something I found interesting is that for most cars 60 MPH is when they are at their most efficient at burning fuel. Sure, you may have to add 10 minutes onto your travel time ... but isn't that extra time worth saving some fuel? I think so.
7. Combine your errands. A warm engine is more efficient than doing a cold start up every time you need to run out and get something. So go to the gym right from work or pick up your dry cleaning before you head over to the bank to deposit your paycheck.
   

Even just reading this article has made me more aware of my accelerating and braking habits and I have started making a more concentrated effort to combine my trips out of the house. Starting next week I am going to go all out and keep track of how many more miles I can get on a tank of gas. Usually it's 300 miles if I use the AC, almost 400 if I don't (I've been a minimal AC user in my car for a couple years now) and I am interested to see if I can add any miles to that with these other tips. I will report back to you next Friday with the results of this highly unscientific study.

Green Online Shopping

Well I have begun scouring the Internet to find some shampoos that won't destroy the earth and I ended up finding a website called Green Feet that has deemed itself "the planet's homestore". They have almost anything you could ever want, including low flow shower heads. That means that I might not have to start taking baths. YAY!

For those of you who want to get your hands on some Earth friendly canvas tote bags, I found a site called EcoBags that sells every kind of tote you could ever desire. I've also been keeping my eye on Craigslist hoping that I might be able to score something in the free section (which is something you might want to check out if you need something. My free section had everything in it - old TVs, tree saplings, and furniture), but so far I've had no luck.

As for the indoor/patio composting, I've discovered that it's quite easy and it doesn't have to smell bad at all! Plus, there are usually worms involved which means that you get a ton of news pets out of the deal. How much fun is that? I read a few articles about it that you can read here, here and here.

I also have signed up for a newsletter that sends me little tips once a day (or maybe once a week, I can't remember at the moment) about simple ways to go green in your daily life. It's called Ideal Bite and are a community of "light greenies" who are working towards being a little more Eco-friendly. If you don't want to deal with another email coming into your inbox, I will be sharing the tips on my posts when they send me some.

So there you go. The first little baby steps towards becoming neon.

Going Neon Green

I've decided that I don't just want to go "green", I want to go NEON green. I want to be so eco-friendly that the enviornment and I will end up being BFFs. The kind of BFFs that talk every night on the phone for 3 hours at a time and never run out of things to talk about. The kind of BFFs that tell each other everything and would never lie or hurt one another. How exactly do I plan to because so awesomely neon? Well, I'm glad you asked.

#1. I plan on getting canvas tote bags to use at the grocery store and at the mall.
#2. I will only buy local and organically grown food (farmer's market here I come!)
#3. I will recycle everything that I can, even if it means saving it all up in the garage and making a monthly trip to a plant.
#4. I will use as little water as I can ... which means that I might start taking baths and emptying the water with a pan to water my plants. Which means ...
#5. I will use only bio-degradable bath products to cut down on the nasties in said bath water (I also have learned some tricks that will let me use fewer bath products overall).
#6. I will have a tiny veggie garden on the patio to help with the finances.
#7. If I can figure out how to do it without pissing off my neighbors, I plan on starting a compost pile to cut down on my overall landfill contributions.

At this point, that's my plan of action. I plan on doing more research to find more neon green ideas ... I will let you know of them as I become informed.

Also, as of this posting, the name and focus of this blog will be changing. Instead of focusing on myself, the focus will switch to green living. My hope is that you will find some tips that may help you live a life that has a smaller footprint on the Earth, even if you don't end up going neon green like I hope to over the coming months.

Creative Recycling

Recently I have been looking around on the internet at personal finance blogs because I, like every other American, want to pay down my debt until it's gone and improve my credit score. I find that these personal finance blogs are really useful in giving advice that I can actually apply to my life, and that I might want to use it because it has obviously worked for other people in the past.

So, on one of the personal finance blogs I found a highlighting of an Australian site that encourages people to stop and pay attention to what they are throwing away and make something from it instead. Check it out here. Anyway, if you look a ways down the page you'll see a "bean" bag that is in fact filled with old plastic shopping bags.

Now, I have a ton of plastic bags hanging around my house. I hate throwing them away because I use them to line trash cans and carry stuff from my house to my parent's house when I need to. But I also have two dogs who would like to have new beds. So I think that I am going to make them dog beds that will be stuffed with old plastic bags. In fact, I made a return to a store yesterday and when she asked if I wanted her to throw away the plastic bags the shoes that come in, I told her no and that I was going to recycle them. I felt SO green and eco-friendly, which doesn't happen very often.

I want to be sure that who ever reads this doesn't think that this is something that every dog in the world needs to have. I know that it would be ok to give these plastic stuffed beds because they don't shred their bedding. If you have a dog that you might like to make a bed like this for ... please consider their chewing habits before doing anything. If your dog likes to chew or has a habit of destroying their bedding, this is a BAD idea for your dog. Ingesting the plastic could cause all kinds of problems and could possibly kill your pet if a piece of the plastic manages to cover their windpipe.