Hey Laurin, I'm closer to becoming a composter! Sounds fashionable, doesn't it? Well, I can't bear throwing away any more egg shells or lemon rinds without the thought plaguing me..."that's compostable!"
So I've been researching some composters, what goes in them and then what to do with the stuff once it's composted.
Tumbler bins like this range between $169.00 to $325.00. Just to be sure I'm committed, I'm building my own for now out of bricks and will do the turning myself.
And so I don't have to make a million trips to the bin/pile, I discovered that I should keep a small container on the kitchen counter. Compost pails aka scrap keepers have become a little more designer friendly than just using a Tupperware bowl and lid. They come in stainless steel, bamboo, ceramic...they even have little carbon filters in them to keep the smell at bay.
Hmmm...Cookie jar or compost pail?
I know this is a long way from The Rachel Zoe Project and may I also add that my husband is "anti-composting"!!! Anyway, I'm determined to learn more about this, so if you know of anyone else who is composting and can offer some tips, please let me know!
photos courtesy of: Composters.com and Clean Air Gardening.com
Hey Laurin, I'm just now getting back into the swing of things after being in class to get my broker's license for the past two weeks! Sorry, I've been a little out of touch!
I finally got some TV time in yesterday to watch the preparations for the 2008 Democratic National Convention. The news did a feature about sustainable hotel keys that hotels in Denver will be using during the convention. A company based out of Boulder called Sustainable Cards donated 70,000 to be used by the hotels.
These keys are made from sustainable harvested birch and have the host committee logo on on it. Guess what? An average 200-room hotel will use approximately 12,000 plastic key cards per year! That generates over 1,300 tons of waste a year!
Maybe we'll start seeing gift cards made out of wood one day soon.
Hey, we should have a new category called "Why didn't I think of this?"
Good, that is. Hi Kelly. We both use eco-friendly products as much as possible and should probably buy stock in vinegar. I'll look into that.
Since I do a massive amount of laundry, it wouldn't feel right to use anything that would hurt the earth, but I was about to cheat. My problem is that I like a strong fresh laundry smell. Some people don't, and I get that.
I have tried many, many brands of green detergent and softener in the pursuit of that laundry scent that lingers long after the clothes are put away. I just love to walk in someone's house that smells like laundry. I am weird that way. But I worry that when someone comes to my house what they are thinking is "She must have just bathed her dog."
Every product I've tried has failed to live up to my expectations, despite the promise of aromatic ecstasy upon opening the bottle. On my last trip to Whole Foods I was sucked in by the array of Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day products with their attractive packaging and the muted colors I love and decided to give them a try.
I was prepared to be disappointed as I washed my first load with the Lemon Verbena detergent and softener, but it worked! I'm telling you my whole house smells right now! I want to re-wash all of our clothes and towels and sheets so it smells even more! Thank you Mrs. Meyer's Clean Day!
All right, I've calmed down. If buying laundry products purely based on looks is wrong, I don't want to be right because I have finally found the lasting scent I crave. Even if it was pretty shallow of me.
It was fun writing this post as I wrote it for the Problogger Killer Titles Writing Project. I read Problogger like a fiend and highly recommend it to anyone interesting in starting or growing a blog. Hey, it worked for Mrs. Fussypants!
Kelly, CityMouse over at Pretty Bourgeois left a comment yesterday about the vetiver hamper on the Viva Terra post. She mentioned that perhaps she could avoid the daily washing of her running clothes with an odor-neutralizing hamper.
I commented back that it is rather odoriferous around my nest because of having twin five-year-olds. Like CityMouse, I usually wash daily and feel a lot of guilt about the amount of water, power, and detergent I'm using. Then I had an Aha! moment.
I remembered looking through this site called Dormbuys a few days ago, after going down an Internet wormhole, probably chasing back-to-school supplies. I had bookmarked a portable washing machine because I thought it was a cool and inexpensive product.
Get this, the Wonder Washer is ideal for small loads and delicates. No plumbing needed! Just fill with water, detergent, and laundry and set the timer for up to fifteen minutes on high or low cycle. And it only weighs eight pounds. It looks to be the size of a trash can. And it's only $59.99.
I can definitely find room for this little nugget in my garage and then use it for HAZMAT items my husband and kids produce. You know, those items of clothing and cleaning rags you would never wash with anything else? You've never seen my husband's clothes and socks after three hours of yard work. Ew.
And what a great gift for a new mom who is using cloth diapers? Huh? huh? I think I'm on to something big here.
Laurin- I'm sure you can relate to this! I was at the drugstore the other day getting a few small items. At the check out, the clerk was so quick to throw the items in a plastic bag, that I barely had time to get my earth-friendly tote off my shoulder. I took the stuff out of the plastic bag and politely said, "thank you, but I don't need a bag" and put everything into my tote.
So she, CRUMBLED UP THE BRAND NEW PLASTIC BAG AND THREW IT AWAY!
What the....?!?! I could tell she was in no mood to hear how I was trying to save the earth.
When I told my sister about this, she said she's been using bags from Envirosax, reusable bags that are made out of bamboo, organic cotton or hemp. They roll up into a little package to put in your purse or glove compartment. I'm definitely getting some. Oh, and I'm going back to that store to see if plastic bag girl is working again!
Kelly, even though you are in continuing ed all day for two weeks *wince*, never fear because I'll make sure you don't miss anything exciting like the Promom Couture giveaway at Now Entering Momville.
These are the shirts Cindy Crawford said are among her favorite things when she was on Oprah. Also, check out the cool little Green Mom pop-up shop on the Promom site.
They are giving away the Rock N' Rule tee and a Grateful Mom tee, but if you don't win (I'm giving you one of my entries), you should get this one because it's totally you. Like, totally.
Kelly, I just heard about this vacuum giveaway at 1GreenProduct from Threadbeur, but hurry! The contest ends at midnight. And if you don't win it, buying it will only set you back $72.22.
It's the Eureka Envirovac and it really is green because it has a low-energy motor that uses 33 percent less energy than a typical upright vacuum, the HEPA filter is washable and reusable, and it comes packaged in 100 percent recycled unbleached cardboard.
I really need to win this giveaway. I can demonstrate that I am the most worthy recipient, pound for pound of labrador hair, and I think that my Dyson, bless its little HEPA heart, is about to die from severe abuse.
Green and Clean Mom made her own list of the top 100 websites and blogs, and made herself #1. I love it!
A lot of the sites on her list are green-centered and some are just very interesting. Believe me, I spent a good part of my morning reading. I think it is a fabulous job of indexing the best of what the Internet has to offer in the green realm.
Green and Clean Mom has a funny take on why super popular sites like Dooce, ProBlogger and Go Fug Yourself didn't make the list.
Some of my regular reads are what I call the "Big Browser" sites like the ones above and The Pioneer Woman, Unclutterer and Zen Habits, but I love to find new sites and blogs I haven't seen before on lists like these.
I put a bunch of new to me blogs from the list on my Google reader because once again I find myself at loose ends with no work to do and nothing on my to do list, wondering what on earth I was going to do today. I'm so bored.
Kelly, if I continue to buy everything I discover at the big box stores that is eco-friendly or friendlier, I'm going to be very poor. There are so many good things everywhere and if I keep saying "Ooohh organic!" or "Look, made with recycled paper!", I'm going to get a tic.
While making a totally necessary, really, trip to Target the other day I found some cool little organic tees for the twins. I got Erin some pink ones with flowers and birds and stuff. They are cute, but the boy tees were the best. I had to get this one for Jake because I am a huge Entourage fan.
This is Jake after I told him to puff out his chest so I could see the shirt better. I guess he heard "Puff your whole self out." This is also after some photo editing in Gimp because I finally got a new camera and haven't got it all figured out yet. Note the stellar composition of this shot.
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