Earth Day Freebies!

I do love the earth. It's pretty awesome. I love celebrating Earth Day, too! Not only do you get to take some time to appreciate the planet, but some really great freebies and events happen to encourage you to adopt habits that are good for the earth! Here's what's going on for Earth Day 2011:

*My absolute favorite Earth Day freebie (did it last year) - trade in any cleanser bottle (full or empty) for a FREE full sized Origins facial cleanser! Only on Earth Day (4/22). You have to fill out this form in advance, and I'd recommend going early before all the supplies run out!

*FREE coffee or tea at participating Starbucks on April 22nd when you bring in your travel mug!

*FREE coffee at Whole Foods when you bring in your travel mug, too! Check your nearby store to confirm they are participating.

*FREE eco-friendly workshops at select Home Depot locations!

*Lowe's is also celebrating Earth Day by giving out a million FREE trees on Saturday (4/23)! See if your nearby Lowe's is participating. While you're there, make a FREE birdhouse with the kids at 10AM with the Build and Grow program.

*The best way to celebrate Earth Day is in the great outdoors, right? FREE entrance to all national parks!

And don't forget - celebrate Earth Day by doing something good for the planet! Take a shorter shower, turn off your lights, turn down your heat (or AC, if you're having better weather than me!). Maybe even hug a tree!

Happy Earth Day!

Clean and Green: Making Your Own Eco-Friendly Cleaning Products

Do you ever feel like you're spending a ton of money on cleaning products and then literally watching it go down the drain? Are you searching for eco-friendly cleaning options? Do you feel like I'm one question away from advertising an "As-Seen-On-TV" product?

Seriously, all you need to do is raid your cabinets. White vinegar is particularly versatile. It's a natural deoderizer and disinfectant. Here are a couple of ways to use vinegar:

*Mix equal parts vinegar and water for a multipurpose cleaner.

*Pour 2 cups of vinegar around your toilet bowl and let stand for an hour or so to clean your toilet.

What else can you use in your kitchen? Baking soda and coarse salt (good for scrubbing), olive oil (good for cleaning stainless steel appliances and polishing unvarnished wood), and lemon juice (cleaning copper and brass).

Here are some articles and posts I love with some great ideas!

25 Ways to Clean with Vinegar (thanks to my good friend Taiece for pointing this one out)

Non Toxic Home Care

How to Clean Your House the Eco Friendly Way

Do you all make your own eco-friendly cleaning supplies? Any other tips or methods to use what you've got to save money and the environment?

Earth Day Freebies and Deals

I love saving money - obviously. But I love it even more when saving money goes hand in hand with saving the environment. I honestly don't know why more people don't put an emphasis on going greener - it's good all around! As you probably know, Earth Day is coming up tomorrow, and some businesses are doing their part to get you to think about the environment AND take advantage of awesome deals!

*I found this hard to believe, but bring a beauty product container (empty or full) to your Origins store and get a FULL SIZED cleanser - either the Checks and Balances face wash or the Perfect World cleanser! Awesome, right? And it doesn't have to be an Origins product you bring in. And to think I was just about to go pay money for some more face wash...oh, and PS, any day of the year, bring in ANY cosmetic container to Origins (again, regardless of brand) and get a FREE sample of a skin care product as part of their Origins Recycling Program!

*FREE admittance to over 100 select U.S. National Parks, now through April 25th!

*FREE classes and a plant for kids at Pottery Barn from 11 AM - 3 PM on April 22nd.

*Send a FREE Earth Day e-card from the World Wildlife Fund.

*A chance to win a FREE reusable bag from Earthbound Farms when you answer 9 of 10 questions on a quiz right. Next chance to win is at this morning at 9 AM Pacific Standard Time!

*In a previous post, I mentioned the BBC's Planet Earth "Pole to Pole" episode for FREE, courtesy of iTunes. Download before April 26th.

I like Earth Day because it gives me a chance to refocus on doing good for the environment. I'm going to start bringing my personal mugs to coffee shops - it saves paper cups AND many cafes (including Starbucks) gives you a few cents off your drink! I'm also going to be much better about turning on the heat when I get chilled and reach for a sweatshirt (or Snuggie -ha!) instead.

What about you? What are your Earth Day resolutions?

Saving Money Moving

As you've seen from other posts, my husband and I are preparing to move into our new home! While we're busy picking out paint colors and new furniture, we are grudgingly acknowledging that we have to actually move. Ugh! Can't we skip that part?

Since 2000, I have moved a whopping 7 times. Eeek! While I moved every year in college, I could fit everything in the back of my Jetta. Now that I'm married with a king-sized bed, I'm lucky to fit my closet in the back of my car. And of course the more stuff you have, the more it costs to move it from one place to the other. No more moving in laundry baskets and tupperwares - it's time for boxes and packing tape. Here's how I've lowered my overall moving costs in the past, and I hope it's helpful for you if you're in the process or will be soon:

1) Look for boxes before you buy them - this may take a little work on your part, but buying boxes can definitely add up (it takes an average of 30 boxes to move a 3 bedroom home). See if any of your recently-moved friends or neighbors have boxes in good shape that you could use. Go to your local grocery store or retailer and ask if they have any boxes. They are usually in great shape and places like bookstores or drugstores usually have a ton of smaller boxes that are useful for packing utensils, books, or other small items that add up to be pretty heavy.

2) Pack with linens - instead of buying newspapers, bubble wrap to protect my delicate items, I pack with towels, t-shirts and sheets. I'm going to have to pack them anyway, and why not have them protecting my wine glasses or my teacups and saucers? It's definitely a greener way to move and it saves money.

3) Forgo hiring movers and ask friends to help - hiring movers can cost a small fortune. If you're lucky enough to have a handful of friends in the area, see if they have a free afternoon to help, and buy them pizza and beer. It's definitely a lot cheaper and more fun to move with friends.

4) Ask for discounts when looking for a rental truck - do you belong to any clubs or alumni associations? Make sure to ask if the company offers any special discounts - you could save 10% or more on your total bill!

5) Sell/donate things you don't want - you know when you're going through all your stuff and you come across that one item that you've never used yet you KNOW you'll use it when you go ice camping in Alaska or when you pick up curling? Yeah, you'll never use it so get rid of it. It's taking up more space in your boxes, and it'll be one more thing to unpack and find a space for in your new home. When you donate your items to a non-profit, you can get a tax write-off. Or you can also try and sell your items on eBay, Amazon, Craig's List or the good ol' garage sale.

Anyone have any other tips for moving without breaking the bank?

Reduce, Reuse, Recycle!

How much junk do you have around the house that you wish you could do something else with other than take up space in a landfill? This is becoming so apparent to me as I begin the process of packing and preparing to move into our new house! But before you throw things away, I hope you give those items a second chance and head to this website to help you use things that might otherwise end up in the garbage.

I came across How Can I Recycle This? when I was looking for how to use up broccoli stems. Eat them? Well, yeah, but they are kind of tough...anyway, this site suggested all kinds of things from peeling the stems, to stirfrying (duh) to soups. So now my 1/2 pound of broccoli I once thought inedible is sitting in my freezer waiting for Broccoli, Cannelini Bean and Cheddar Soup next week. Yum!

How Can I Recycle This? has tips on just about anything you can think of! How can you reuse small plastic lotion tubes? What about reusing an old ladder?

Do you make good use of old things? I'd love to hear some suggestions - what do you do with old clothes/shoes? What about books you don't read any more? Any fun second lives you give to things around the house?

Holiday Help: Having a Greener Holiday

I have a few pet peeves about the holidays: crowds, rude people, traffic. Out of all of the things that bug me from Thanksgiving to New Year's, my biggest pet peeve is how much is wasted - wrapping paper, bows, decorations, food, and plenty more! Don't get me wrong - I'm not a scrooge! But over the years, I've gotten increasingly concerned about the environment and I'm trying to minimize my impact. I figured a lot of you are in the same boat. Here is how I'm planning to have a greener holiday:

*Wrapping presents with something I already have - newspapers are a classic, but what about old scarves or bandanas? What about placing a present in a basket or other container I have lying around the house? I also think it could be nice to get a gift in a reusable shopping bag - something I can use later! If I have to buy wrapping paper, I will only buy paper made of recycled materials. I also love to wrap presents with nice ribbon that could be used by the recipient again - I love to use old ribbons for headbands, belts, or an accent on my purse.

*Giving experiential gifts. I love this one! Last year, my husband and I got my twin brothers tickets to an Oregon Ducks football game. Since we couldn't buy tickets until July, the present they got to "open" were foam fingers that we hid in the house. When they found the fingers, we told them they'd need to use those to cheer at the game we'd be taking them to. It was pretty cute! I plan to do more of this during the holidays this year.




*Giving the gift of my time. I used to think these were so cheesy! My mom would always encourage me to make personal gift certificates, but I thought they were lame. Now, I love them and so do the recipients! Make a certificate for your parents and take them out to their favorite restaurant (or one within your budget) or babysit your niece and give your siblings a night out. People stay relatively connected with technology these days, but nothing beats a few hours of face time with those you love. I promise that will be a memorable gift.

*Giving a membership or subscription. As I've mentioned in other posts, I love giving magazines as gifts (just remember to either pass the magazine onto someone else or recycle it when you're done). Memberships are also great! One year, my mom got me a membership to AAA. With an unreliable car, that definitely got me out of a few pickles, plus it gave me ultimate piece of mind. Maybe you could find a cheap membership for a friend's favorite museum?

For other ideas on how to have a no-waste holiday, go to reduce.org.

What do you think? Is it important to you to give in a way that reduces waste? How are you incorporating being green into your holiday routine?

Slow Cookin'....

The slow cooker. A lazy person's kitchen accessory or a smart person's essential kitchen item? Since I love my slow cooker with all my heart, I will select the latter. My friends and I actually got in a debate - if you could only select one cooking source, which would you select from a grill, a stove/oven, or a slow cooker? While there's obviously merits for all of them (nothing tastes like a grilled burger or cookies fresh from the oven), I think the slow cooker is convenient, versatile, economical, and green!


For those of you who are new to slow cooking, welcome! Basically, a slow cooker cooks food at a constant and low temperature for hours, making food more flavorful. Ever notice how people sell things by adding taglines like "slow-cooked"? Yeah, because it's delicious. And it's also great because you can take 10-15 minutes chopping and prepping your food, throw it in the slow cooker, leave for work for 8-10 hours, and when you come home, your dinner is ready. How awesome is that?!

You can cook just about anything in a slow cooker, making it a super versatile piece of equipment to have in your kitchen. Just some quick glances at my slow cooker cookbook and here are some of the recipes: hot artichoke dip, butterscotch fondue, beef bourguignon (I'm sure Julia Child is not thrilled about this), Jamaican jerk pork sandwiches, pasta with sun-dried tomato sauce, rosemary chicken and potatoes, and decadent raspberry brownies! YUM!

A slow cooker also helps you get more bang for your buck in your grocery budget. You can buy cheaper, tougher pieces of meat, and put it in a slow cooker for a few hours. What you end up with is a tender, flavorful piece of meat (sorry vegetarians!).

And something I definitely love about slow cookers - they're an energy efficient way to cook. Now, this probably depends on a few factors - is your oven energy efficient? Do you have a low-wattage slow cooker? How long will you leave the slow cooker on? In most instances, your typical slow cooker is going to have a lower wattage than your oven. Surprisingly, it will even use less energy in 8 hours than an oven would in an hour! Check out this planet green post on the author's research on slow cookers v. ovens.

If you are interested in dusting off your slow cooker, the recipe book I love is Better Homes and Gardens Biggest Book of Slow Cooker Recipes. Anyone else out there in love with their slow cooker like I am? Anyone inspired to give it a try?

Oh, and PS - dinner tonight: slow-cooked white chicken chili with corn bread muffins.

FREE CUPCAKES!

Okay, sorry to all the non-Seattle readers....

But Cupcake Royale, one of my very favorite cupcakeries, is handing out FREE cupcakes tomorrow at their brand new store on Capitol Hill at 1111 E. Pike to celebrate their grand opening. All you need to do is say "legalize frostitution" (cute, right?) and they'll give you their cupcake-of-the-month (mmm...strawberry) for FREE! I don't think there's anything much better than that to beat the Hump Day Slump. Thanks Megan for the tip!

Oh, and here's a great article from Wise Bread about how plain ol' vinegar can replace a ton of products you're buying! It's frugal and definitely a greener way to clean.

Eating on the Cheap - Seasonal Produce Edition

Whenever I read articles or listen to people about how to save money on your grocery bill, I hear over and over to buy seasonal produce. Well, that sounds easy enough! But how do you know what's in season? Unfortunately, I have zero agricultural knowledge and I can only gather what's in season by perusing Pike Place Market every two or three months...so I have no idea. And if it's in big numbers at the grocery store, I usually assume it's on sale (there's the value of marketing for you). But I did find out for you! Here's what in season for summer:

Apricots
Beets
Bell peppers
Blackberries
Blueberries
Boysenberries
Butter lettuce
Cantaloupe
Cassaba melon
Chayote squash
Cherries
Crenshaw melon
Cucumbers
Eggplants
Figs
Garlic
Grapefruit
Grapes
Green beans
Green peas
Honeydew melons
Jalapeno peppers
Lima beans
Limes
Loganberries
Lychees
Nectarines
Olallieberres
Okra
Passion fruit
Peaches
Persian melons
Plums
Radishes
Raspberries
Strawberries
Sweet corn
Summer squash
Tomatillo
Tomatoes
Watermelon
Zucchini

What is an olallieberry? No clue. But buying produce on this list will save you money on your grocery bill because they don't take as much effort to produce. Bonus - try to find the seasonal produce in your area from local farmers so it's better for your community and our environment.

For seasonal produce in fall, winter, and spring, visit Fruit and Veggies - More Matters

Lunch!

We all know that eating lunch out every day is equivalent to taking money out of your wallet and lighting it on fire. Typical lunches out usually cost at least $7 - multiply that by 20 days a month to make math easy...that's $140 just on lunch! The cost to your wallet is not all to think about - there's also a health cost. Eating in restaurants gives you less control of what you're putting in your body, and most of the time (depending on the establishment), restaurant food is less healthy, too.

Solution: BYOL (bring your own lunch). I have a really hard time getting psyched about eating a brown-bag lunch. PB&J...boring. Leftovers...gross. But I've been trying really hard lately to put an emphasis on bringing my lunch to work. Here's some of what I've put in my lunch this week, and maybe it will inspire you!

*Lowfat cream cheese and sliced strawberry sandwich

*Celery with hummus

*DIY trail mix of almonds, dried cranberries and dark chocolate M&Ms

*Fresh fruit (on sale) like cherries, bananas, and raspberries

*Nonfat or Greek yogurt

*Tuna with mayo/horseradish on a French roll

*Pretzels and peanut butter

*Slices of lemon (for my ice water)

*Babybel cheese with whole wheat crackers

*On Friday, I'm going a little crazy and making a Thai wrap (on pita bread with grilled chicken, cabbage, green onions and a peanut sauce - I'll let you know how it goes)

Packing lunch definitely takes some getting used to and planning ahead. Here are some suggestions I have for making things easier and cheaper:

1) I like to use multipurpose condiments, like hummus, peanut butter and cream cheese. Not only are these good to put on sandwiches, but they are also good to dip veggies, fruit, and crackers in. More bang for your buck!

2) Make lunch the night before. This is so much better than racing around the next morning. Then you can't use the age-old excuse "I didn't have time" and go get a Big Mac. Nope. Not this time.

3) Don't fall for the easy lunch "snack size" stuff at stores. You're paying more for someone to put things in bags for you. Do it yourself - get some reusable containers at places like Target or the Container Store (I heart their lunch storage stuff), go green and save money.

4) When you get bored of the standards, try some new recipes. I like to search for "easy lunch recipes for lunchboxes" or "back to school lunch recipes". If they have to get past a picky kid, I'm sure it'll pass your standards.

5) Get a cool lunchbag so it'll make you feel slightly less dorky. I have repurposed a shopping bag I got at Lululemon Athletica last January. It's perfect for the amount of food I bring and it's washable. Plus this is what it looks like:

Cute, functional, free (with purchase, in my case socks and a headband) and motivational? Bringing lunch is more fun than I thought!

Who brings their lunch to work? Any suggestions for good stuff to put in your lunchbox?

Save Green by Being Green

Green - it's definitely been a popular term for awhile. Buying all-organic, free-range, pesticide-free, chemical-free...it can be spendy trying to do better things for our environment. So here are some inexpensive ways to go green and save some money:

• Use a reusable bag to do your shopping. Most grocery and retail stores are selling them now for pretty cheap prices. When you do your grocery shopping, most stores take a 3-5 cent deduction for every reusable bag you bring. I keep 2 bags in my car, so I always have them on hand if I have to pick up a few things from the store. One reusable bag will keep hundreds of plastic bags from being used (fact: the petroleum used to make 18 plastic bags could drive a car for one mile). Basically, you're doing a great thing for the earth, but saving yourself a few cents every time you shop. It adds up!
  
• Get compact fluorescent light bulbs - these energy efficient light bulbs use 75% less energy and last 10 times longer than traditional bulbs. They are a little more expensive than other light bulbs, but pay for themselves in energy savings in about 6 months. If you wanted to know more about how to use CFLs or what makes them different, go to: http://www.energystar.gov/index.cfm?c=cfls.pr_cfls
• Switch to eco-friendly cleaning products. These can definitely be expensive...what I tend to do is buy one regular sized container of, say, dish soap. After that, I buy my products in the largest sizes (cheaper by unit pricing) or in bulk at Costco. The Kirkland brand "green" cleaning products are very good. You can also make a lot of cleaning products with items you have around your house. Start using old dryer sheets to dust instead of buying specific dusting cloths. You can mix equal parts white wine vinegar and vegetable oil to clean wood floors. Find more homemade green cleaning solutions at: http://www.sideroad.com/Budgeting/homemade-cleaners.html

How many of you have "green"-ed your routine? What changes did you make?