Put Your Clothes On A Line!

Its Summer and its hot in most places. This Season is probably one of the hardest to eco-ofy. The reason is its hot which means people are going to be cranking up the AC and running water hoses 24/7. Every time I see a water hose left out running in the grass it makes me flinch and I think how many gallons of water are being wasted! Anyway, I have found a great way to save some energy (and money!) that will hopefully make up for some of that water being wasted! Instead of drying clothes, just hang them up on a line to dry. This will help cut your energy bill quite some bit! The problem with this tip is that it really only works in places that are dry and hot instead of humid and hot (sorry Floridians). But, there is a way to save money and the Earth even in those humid climates. It may not work to hang out your clothes (considering it'll take a good three days for them to fully dry!) so try drying (and washing) during off-peak hours. Off-peak hours are the hours that are priced cheaper because they aren't being used as frequently. To figure out the times click here.

Filtered Water Bottles

When I'm at School I like to bring a reusable water bottle so that way I'm not wasting plastic. I have a 24 ounce water bottle and I found that sometimes I will drink all of the water in the bottle before I get to my third hour. I usually just refill my bottle with the water from the water fountain and I'm fine. I'm not too picky with what water tastes like so the flavor doesn't really bother me, but I know it does bother some people. I was shopping at Target and I found this new thing called a Filtered Water Bottle. It has a filter that is connected to the lid of the bottle and the water goes through the filter before you drink it. It is made with BPA Free plastic and its proven to remove 90% of chlorine, bad taste, and heavy metals. So that mineral taste that you get when drinking from a faucet or water fountain will be almost diminished. Its good for 200 uses or three months, if your not much of a counter you will be able to tell by the taste of the water when its time to change the filter; the water won't taste as pure. The water bottle itself comes with one filter and costs 13 dollars and the replaceable filters cost around 11 dollars, which isn't to high if you think about it. You would have to buy four filters a year which would be about 44 dollars. Think how much you would be spending if you bought a years worth of bottle water, there is a major difference. So not only are you keeping thousands of plastic water bottles out of landfills BUT you are also saving yourself hundreds of dollars! If you want to check out the water bottle click here!

Would You Like A Spot of Tea?

Now, I am a huge tea lover. I like it iced, hot, sweetened, unsweetened, anyway you can make tea I drink it! So for all you tea lovers, like me, I'm going to share a few eco tips about tea! One is, if your gonna drink it opt for organic. The reason you should drink organic tea is because other teas have the possibly of being treated with chemical fertilizers and pesticides. The conventional way of growing tea is pretty harmful to the environment as well, it leads to soil erosion and disease. Not to mention that the pesticides being sprayed on the plants are harmful to workers who have to harvest it. Teas that are certified organic do not treat the soil with pesticides or anything harmful to the environment. A few great brand of organic teas that I recommend are Tazo, Yogi, and Stash Teas. If your not into any of these brands check out your local Trader Joes or Whole Foods. All of their teas on the shelf are organic! Another great way to go green with tea is to compost the tea bags! They make a great natural soil for your garden! Using tea will allow your flowers to flourish without the need of any chemical fertilizers.

EOS Lip Balm

One night after my Ballet class I stopped by Walgreen's to pick up a leg wrap (I have terrible shin splints), and I was just shopping around and I came by an awesome little lip balm. I read the back of the product package and I found out that it was Eco-Friendly, had Shea Butter in it, was Paraben-Free, Gluten-Free, Petrolatum-free, and Phthalate-free! That won me over right there, plus it was 2 for $5 at my Walgreen's! Right when I got into my car I tore open the packaging and put some of it on. It was soooo soothing and smelled amazing. There are a total of four scents which are, Lemon Drop, Honeysuckle Honeydew, Sweet Mint, and Summer Fruit. I bought Summer Fruit and Honeysuckle Honeydew. Each flavor has a very nice, light scent that isn't over powering. I also found that these lip balms glide on so smoothly and it kept my lips moisturized for over two hours. So when your trying to give your lips some relief in an Earth Friendly way, check out EOS Lip Balms!

Gotta Gas Station In Those Roots?

Many of us girls always have to deal with either flat lifeless hair or greasy hair at the end of the day. It gets so frustrating because it doesn't matter how much time you spend on your hair, it could still happen! Many dry shampoos out their are either very expensive or they aren't very friendly to the environment. Once again, Google being my best friend, I researched homemade dry shampoo recipes. Each one of these recipes are easy and organic! So go ahead, give them a go!

Cornstarch and Cornmeal Shampoo

1 cup of Cornstarch

1 cup of Cornmeal 

Mix them together and place them in a container. If you want, you can add essential oils to them to make them smell good.

Oatmeal and Herb Shampoo

1/2 cup of any favorite crushed fragrance herb

1/2 cup oatmeal

1 teaspoon of baking soda

Mix all the ingredients together and store in a cool dry place.

Eco-Friendly Ways To Dye Easter Eggs!

Happy Easter everyone! Whenever I dye Easter Eggs the first thing I notice is the smell of the dye. Its smells so disgusting to me because of the vinegar mixing with all those nasty chemical ingredients. Of course, once your done dying the Eggs you usually dump it outside or down your sink and then it leaves that icky smell for days. (Yuck!) So for all my lovely readers, I did some research and found a great eco-friendly way to color eggs! 

Materials:

Grape Juice (For Purple)

Red Cabbage (For Blue)

Spinach (For Green)

Carrot Tops, Lemon Peels, or Orange Peels (For Yellow)

Coffee or Black Walnut Shells (For Brown)

Yellow Onion Skins (For Orange)

Beets or Cranberries (For Pink)

Red Onion Skins (For Red)

Water

Stove

Boiling Pot

Vinegar

Eggs

Directions:

First boil your eggs in water with a bit of vinegar and one of the materials for the colors above. Then allow it to simmer for 15 minutes. Then your all done! Simple, right?! Hope you all have an amazing and environmentally-safe Easter!

Earth Hour 2010

Guess what, its that time of year again! At 8:30 on Saturday March 27th everyone around the world is going to turn off all of their lights! That's right, its Earth hour! I believe that this day should just be created a Holiday for everyone to use as little electricity possible! I love when I go outside and look around my neighborhood at about 8:45 on the 27th and almost everyones lights are out! I feel its an empowering experience because when you see lights out you know that someone cares enough about the Earth. If you feel your going to be bored for an hour without electricity, then plan something fun to do that doesn't involve any power! If you can't think of any ideas, I have some suggestions for you! If you want more information about Earth Hour then click here!

• Play a board game with a flashlight
• If you have an outside fire pit, sit around it and roast marshmellows
• Have a late picnic outside in the grass under the stars
• For people with a pool or hot tub, take a dip in it!
• Light candles in one room (be careful not to set anything on fire!) and read a book by the candle light!
• Go outside and play a sport with your friends and family
• Plan a small block party outside, where everyone brings food and drinks to share!

Go Organic!

Have you ever bought an apple and thought wow this thing is the size of my head! If so, that's defiantly not an organic apple! An apple is suppose to be around the size of the palm of your hand and when I mean palm, I mean that you can actually close over half of your hand around it. Now, that may seem small to you, but it is the natural size of the fruit. Natural size is the size of the fruit without growth hormones added to it. Growth hormones are added to fruits, vegetables, and meats to encourage excessive growth in a small amount of time. These are very unhealthy to the Earth and your body. When you eat produce or any food in that matter that has growth hormones in it, it adds unnatural substances to your body. Over time this can be very damaging on your immune system. The way it harms the Earth is it adds chemicals to soil which makes it become tainted and infects everything that grow in and around that area. Now, if this information is new to you this may sound pretty scary, but no worries there's an easy solution. Its pretty easy to figure out if something is Organic or not. You can tell by the size and most of the time if its truly Organic there will be some sort of label that says USDA certified. If you want to avoid the guessing game with your food then search around for a local farmers market. You can find all of your favorite in-season fruits and veggies. Sometimes you can even find meat there too!

Eco-Friendly Homemade Glass Cleaner

Here's a great tip I found from SparkPeople that I thought I'd share with you. Its a recipe to make your own glass cleaner (i.e. mirrors, window, tables). All you need is vinegar and water. Yep, that's it, just those two common household items. You mix 1/4 cup of vinegar with one cup of water and there you go, your new environmentally friendly cleaner. If your not digging the vinegar smell of it you can add 4-5 drops of any essential oil such as lavender or peppermint.

Feeling Creative?

Once again I was surfing Internet and I was just thinking about random things. Like how much I spend on haircare products a year or how much plastic is wasted from the containers and bottles of the haircare products. Then I though, well I wonder if you can make your own hairspray. So I research some more and found out you can! Its so simple too and it will be saving tons of plastic and money! All you need is a lemon (or orange for dryer hair), water, rubbing alcohol, and a plastic spray bottle (a reusable one, of course!) First, you chop up the lemon or orange but leave the peel on. Then you place it in two cups of water and heat it on the stove. Allow it to boil until there is only half of what you began with left. Once it gets to the right amount, strain it a few times until all the extra pieces are out. After, add one ounce of rubbing alcohol in it as a preservative. Then place it into your spray bottle and keep it stored in your fridge. You can leave it in your bathroom, but if you keep it in the fridge it allows it to last longer. It only lasts two weeks when it is unrefrigerated. If you plan on making your own hairspray for a while, then go the extra mile and decorate your spray bottle! It'll keep it fun and cute, plus if your storing it in the fridge then you will know that its your hairspray and not something else! If your not too sure where you could find a plastic spray bottle, check out your local drugstore or target and check the travel section! Remember, using this tip will help the Earth and your wallet! I give credit to free-beauty-tips.glam.com for this tip!

An All-Natural Way To Clean Your Toliets

I was watching the news the other day and a segment came on about being a "smart shopper." Which has tips about saving money and being economically aware. They started talking about ways to clean your toliet and keeping it clean. It included simple household items such as a lemon and table salt. They sliced a lemon in half and sprinkled a great about of salt on it. Then they rubbed it all around the inside of the toliet and the outside. Not only did it sanitize it but it removed that nasty, rusty ring around the inside of the toliet. Now that truely amazed me because not many cleaning products can remove that. Also, you don't have to worry about inhaling the cleaning product chemicals anymore! All you smell is pure lemon! There is no reason you shouldn't try this tip! It saves the Earth from nasty chemicals, plastic (from the container a toliet cleaner would come in), and money! Don't be afraid to try this all around the house, it works on everything!

Eco-Friendly New Year's Resolutions!

I know this is sorta late but better late than never! If you still haven't decided on a good New Year's Resolution that you could stick to then try some of these!

• Stop using and buying plastic water bottles! Invest in a nice, insulated water bottle. This is one of my resolutions and I've been sticking with it ! I've noticed that since I've stopped using plastic water bottles that I've been drinking more water, weird right? If all you buy for water is in plastic water bottles, then you can buy a nice Brita Filter (These are so fun! You can get special filters if you want flavored water!) or start buying the huge jugs of water. (Which is a lot cheaper!) Click here to learn about delivery of water to your house!
• Start using reusable canvas bags when grocery shopping. Like this one!
• Eat more organic food and less processed. Even if you eat only 5% organic food and 95% processed food, it still helps the environment!
• Have a recycling bin for everything!
• Watch the news daily. This will allow you to see what the traffic is like so you know what highway is congested and where there has been accidents so you can avoid them and save gas!
• Carpool with a friend or co-worker
• Use recycled or reusable lunch bag and utensils for lunches.
• Switch your light bulbs to environmentally friendly ones!

Tired of Hand Washing Dishes?

Well, now you have an excuse to use the dishwasher or to buy one! When you wash dishes by hand you use around 5-10 gallons of water depending on how many dishes you wash. With a dish washer you only use 5.8-8 gallons of water. I know that doesn't sound like much of a difference but think about it, your washing a huge load of dishes with a lot less water. Plus, its less work for you! Its easier on the environment oh and not to mention your hands! If your still not convinced, don't forget that you won't have to dry the dishes either! They are steam dried by using the left over water!

Burt's Bee's Natural Acne Solutions

If your looking for an eco-friendly, all natural, non-hazardous way of getting rid of your acne, well I've got news for you! Burt's Bees came out with an acne line called "Natural Acne Solutions. They are certified organic and there are no toxins in them to harm you. They have a very herb-ally scent which reminds me of a spa, which is very relaxing. The ingredients in some of the products are Salicylic Acid (from willow bark), Prime Rose, and Root Beet Extract. As you can tell, these products really are natural. I have very sensitive skin and when I used them I did not have any side affects. This is a great switch from your chemical filled normal face wash to Burt's Bees Natural Acne Solutions.

Rip Em' Apart!

This is probably the easiest tip in the book, and you all probably know about it but I just want to stress the importance of it. Its cutting the plastic on the six pack of soda, beer, or any other drink. This helps prevent fish, dolphins, turtles, and other sea creatures from getting caught in between the holes which can choke and kill them. Remember the movie Happy Feet? Did you happen to notice that Doctor of Love (or whatever his name was) happened to have a six pack ring around his neck which eventually choked him? It was really sad when they had to get it off because they went to see where it all was coming from and there were tons of trash and other gross things in the ocean water! Its horrible because sometimes the animals mistake the trash for food. You may all be thinking right now, "Why do I have to cut it if I'm throwing the trash away and its not being littered in the ocean?" Well, accidents happen and the trash can somehow end up in the ocean. So instead of waiting for it to happen and then deal with it, we are taking the steps to prevention. It only takes maybe two seconds of your life if not less. Also these rings not only choke them, they can stunt growth, make it hard for them to out run predators, and eat.

Just Two Degrees, That's All!

In the Summer many Americans blast their AC a bit too high and vice versa in the Winter. Did you know that if you turned your AC up two degrees in the Summer and two degrees colder in the Winter you could be reducing the size of your carbon footprint by 25% or more! Its crazy how little of effort it is too! You won't even feel the difference. In the Summer I live where it gets extremely hot and I turn up the AC on full blast and I actually get cold inside my house and need a sweater! So really turning it up a few degrees won't even affect me! If you get hot easily in your house and changing the temperature seems crazy then try using a fan to circulate the airflow. For in the Winter you could just bundle up or turn on the fireplace to keep your house warm! Oh I almost forgot to mention that this will save you a good amount of money too! There's no reason you shouldn't be going green! I mean it saves you money and we all know that in these hard economic times we need to save as much money as we can get our hands on!

Start Drinking From Your Tap Water!

Even though your tap water has a funky taste to it and it feels as if its not safe to drink, it actually is! Also it has floride in it (you know, the stuff the use at the dentist to whiten/strengthen your teeth after a cleaning). Basically, its really good for you but you just can't get over the weird flavor, right? Well all you have to do it squeeze lemon juice in it! That's right, lemon juice it'll eliminate that flavor and it will taste great. Plus on top of all that your saving plastic because your not drinking bottled water constantly! If you think of it the way I do, you'll actually be saving money too! Not just from not buying bottled water, but from not buying all that nasty, chemical filled, teeth whitening kits! Its amazing when you truely think about it how much you are helping yourself and the Earth by just drinking tap water!

Organix Shampoo

If your looking for a new organic shampoo then you must check out Organix. Its a drugstore brand shampoo that is certified organic. There are twelve different scents and each one smells amazing. Such as, coconut milk, shea butter, teatree mint, mandarin olive oil, vanilla silk, whitetea grapeseed, mocha espresso, cucumber yogurt, pomegrante green tea, lavender soy milk, grapefruit mango butter, and passionfruit guava. I, myself have the coconut milk and I am very pleased with it. The lather is amazing and I've gotten many compliments on how good my hair smells. Also the best thing about the smell is it lasts the whole day! Each scent has a shampoo and a conditioner and they are $6.99 a piece. Which is not bad, especially when drugstores such as Walgreens has buy one get one free sales! The bottles that the product comes in are 100% recyclable. They even have their own billboard in Time Square New York! To learn more about the product click here!

Simple Green

The other day I was cleaning out the garage and I had to mop the floors. I was digging through all our cleaners until I came upon one I really liked. It was called Simple Green. It was a cleaner that was for floors, bathrooms, kitchens, and more. All you have to do is pour a little bit in the bottom of the bucket your going to be using to clean with. (Trust me on this one, a little goes a long way!) Then add water to it, it foams up right away. Usually eco-friendly products kind of have a bad smell to them or they just smell organic, well this product is not like that at all! It smells fresh and clean, sort of like evergreens. Another thing that is fun about this product is its bright green! I believe that Simple Green works just as well as any other cleaner, even better since your saving the Earth! Its made specially so that when you dump your water it biodegradable and won't harm any plants or insects where ever you dump it. They are also non-toxic so no need to worry about that harsh ammonia smell you get from other cleaners such as windex and clorox. Man, sometimes those smells just suffocate me and I need to stop for like five minutes just to catch my breath! I highly, highly, highly, reccomend Simple Green! This product line has so many different options! From tile cleaner to concrete and driveway cleaner! You can find it at places such as your local grocery store, Walmart, and Target!

Try Using A Water Bottle!

Recently, I learned something pretty scary. In bottled water, the plastic has toxins in it. These toxins are not let out until the water bottle is heated. For instance, leaving it in the car during Summer, being stored outside at the grocery stores, or being stored at the big warehouses until someone orders a shipment. Scientists always say not to reuse water bottles if the bottle had gotten hot. Now over the years they are discovering more and more about plastic which in result is telling us how deadly they can really be. These toxins have been proven to cause cancer over a slow period of time. At first when you hear about them they don't sound like anything to worry about when really they are deadly.

Here are a few do's and don'ts:

• Don't drink water that has been in a hot car
• Don't buy water that is sitting out in front of the grocery store odds are they have the same exact deal/brand inside where its cool
• Do buy a safe reusable water bottle. Buying a water bottle is probably the safest precaution you can take.
  
• You know where the water has been and if its hot or not.

I have been using a water bottle for almost four months now. It keeps your water cool longer, saves the Earth (no plastic is being wasted from bottle water), more quantity, and saves you money (you don't have to buy bottle water!) Another thing is you can customize your own water bottle and make it cute! This way you'll want to carry a reusable water bottle instead of a boring ol' plastic one! Everyone please take this post seriously and think about your Health!