Going Green Tip of the Day: Eat Home Grown

It’s official, home grown food just taste better. If you have a green thumb, then I suggest growing your own vegetables if you have the means. If not, (which most of you do not if you live in an apartment, unless you grow potted veggies), buy from your local farmers.

Whenever I go to a farmer’s market, I feel like a kid in a candy store; there’s so much to choose from! Fresh fish, some of the freshest fruits and veggies that you’ll find, and so much more. (I can do without the smell in some, though).

The best thing about buying produce from your local grocer is that you get quality without the pesticides. You can get a fresh, ripe, tomato harvested that same day! Great incentive, right?

Also, since you’re cutting out the middleman when buying from local grocers/farmers, you’re giving money straight to the local businesses that need it most.

Do you often buy produce from local farmers/grocers?

BYOB: Bring Your Own Bag!

There are BYOB incentives at retail store chains that are ‘going green’. Whole Foods, Kroger, Trader Joes, Albertson’s and Safeway are now encouraging customers to ‘bring their own bags’ with cash incentives in mind for their customers who do. CVS Pharmacy customers will receive a $1 rebate every fourth time they use a non-disposable bag.

Another big chain, Target Stores, has a new program which also means change in your pocket. Target is taking five-cents off at the register for every non-disposable bag a customer brings in to use.

Sounds like making cents for the customer made sense for these companies. Think of the effect that would have on our landfills after just one year and in our own pockets!

Do you shop using your own bags? Will you now?

When Life Gives You Lemons, Clean Your House! :)

There are so many little known uses for household items! Instead of spending so much money here and there on household cleaners, why not use things lying around the house, like lemons for example? (Just make sure that you don’t have any cuts on your hands while doing so! Ouch!)

One thing that I learned recently is that if you get car oil or grease on your hands after fooling around with your car, you can use lemon juice to help get the grime off. How resourceful is that? Lemon juice can also be used as deodorizers for your garbage disposal or garbage can.

Plus, you can use lemons when cleaning your dishes. You just add about a teaspoon of lemon juice to your dish detergent to break up grease easier. Have stains on countertops that aren’t marble? Just drop a few drops of lemon drops on the counter, add baking soda, and scrub.

If you’ve got lingering stains on wood or plastic cutting boards, slice a lemon in half and squeeze juice onto the spots, rub, and let it hang out for 20 minutes before rinsing.

These are only a few of hundreds! My personal favorite is to drop some lemon juice onto a paper towel or something slightly absorbent, and hang it near the main vent in your home. That way, the air will carry the smell, and you’ll have a nice lemony fresh scent in every room!

I’d love to hear your different uses for lemons!

Beauty Rest Recycled

Most apartment communities have trash compactors and or dumpsters throughout the community.  When you move-in or decide that it is time for a new mattress, you tend to take that mattress to one of those two places.  However, this is not good for the environment.

If you leave your mattress by the dumpster, not only is it unsightly but it is not good for the environment.  Waste companies are not required to separate trash and recyclables.  Therefore, they get taken to the landfill, where they take up lots of space and sometimes damage landfill machinery.

About 90 percent of material in mattresses can be recycled. So, donate your old mattress to a thrift store, the goodwill, or take it to recycling center that accepts mattresses.

For more on this article and locations.