Go Green Easily: City Slicker Composting

Go green easily. be a City Slicker composter. Sound unbelievable? It’s not.

The old stigmas no longer apply. Composting won’t smell to the high heavens if it’s done right. You don’t have to fork over hundreds of dollars, either, for a fancy contraption. A little imagination and elbow grease will get you a composter for almost free or with a little extra browsing on the internet you can get one for a serious discount, your choice.

There are all shapes, sizes, capacities and material constructions available now. Yes, there are a lot of them out there and with the increasing demand in gardening equipment for the home grower, you should do some homework to get the biggest bang for your buck.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green, Grow Your Own

Go green by growing your own fresh garden goodies, no matter how small or large your garden area.

All the ingredients for salsa can be grown in two pots on the balcony. Fresh herbs thrive in tiny pots on the window sill as easily as in a side yard. Amaze your guests by letting them pick their own potatoes for the grill at the same time they gather flowers for the salad, no matter where you live. Even tall plants like corn and sunflowers will do well in patio pots.

By catching and storing the cold water that would go down the drain when it’s heating up for a bath or shower you have provided your garden its life source, cut down on your water bill and stretched another resource that much farther. Go greener planting goodies you watched grow from seedlings.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green: Go Local

Go green, go local. When you buy anything made within a 100 mile radius of your community you’re casting a wide net of green mindedness. Whether you’re buying from a farmer, carpenter, winery or a coffee shack, using local resources builds the entire community up.

The money you spend stays circulating within your area, keeps small businesses thriving, cuts down on transportation costs to and from the source and pride in the product will show. Local merchants have a positive reputation to nurture if they want to survive so customer care is generally quite a bit better. Go green, go local and stay happy with the quality of products you get. A local farmers’ market is a treasure trove of unique, personal resources.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green Easily: Recycle

Go green easily and start recycling.

Recycling is more than rinsing the garbage out and putting it in bins on the curb or going to a center.

Recycling is also done by reusing grocery bags for future shopping or poop-scooping. New uses for old items is recycling, as is composting. Searching out post-consumer recycled packaging of your favorite products is also supporting the effort. Reducing our contribution to loading up garbage barges and landfills is becoming more and more important.

The less garbage we have, the less fuel is needed to transport it, the less land is swallowed in trash and the more empowered you feel doing your part for your planet.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green Easier – Plan Out Your Shopping

Go green easier by planning out your shopping and making some very simple changes to your habits. Simple steps will make a huge impact, it just takes a little patient rethinking.

From reusable grocery bags to buying and selling at consignment stores, a little preplanning will stretch your money and your planet’s resources a long way. Take plastic bags. Do you have a pet to pick poop up after? Unless you’re in an area that recently banned plastic grocery bags, why pay extra for tossing out critter waste? These are great for the cat box clean ups or for poop scooping after the dog.

Unless you go through a lot of bags every week, opt for using totes instead of the plastic or paper bags. Some stores use mostly-to-fully post consumer recycled materials in their bags, so ask. If the paper bags aren’t using post consumer materials, don’t use them.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green Easily: Second-hand Is NOT a Dirty Word

Second-hand is NOT a dirty word. People of all classes are realizing that there are great finds on the racks and shelves of consignment stores and thrift stores.

The old adage of “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” has taken on new meaning and new value. Utilizing stores that clean, refurbish, rewire or simply sell items as-is eliminates the need to ship merchandise from around the country.

There’s no added cost to the price tag for fuel fees, warehouse handling fees, trucking companies fees nor the big charge for buying a name brand article at full price.

Read the rest of this entry »

Go Green Easily: See The Light, Save Big

Go green, see the light and save big. Taking small steps to improve your planet will mean big steps toward improving your finances, your health and your community.

Most people are intimidated by the amount of information bombarding them to “go green.” Being told “You have to become a whole new person or else” doesn’t usually sit well. They are concerned about adding new expenses or getting tangled up in high maintenance, frustrating activities.

Products are coming down in price dramatically and many changes can be done at no, or very little, cost. Go green and save big on energy bills. The traditional 60 watt light bulb lasts 5,000 hours and costs about 50-85 cents. That sounds pretty cheap when comparing it to a $4.00 florescent bulb. Now look again. That florescent bulb uses 75% less electricity to work, emits no heat and will last close to twice as long.

Read the rest of this entry »