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There are plenty of cleaners and bleaches out in the market today. But with companies such as Seventh Generation leading the green revolution, other companies are beginning to see the light.
Clorox came out with a line of products called Green Works, and I decided to give it a try.
I squirted a couple of ounces of their toilet bowl cleaner, which I must say smelled pretty good. Definitely better than the smell of bleach or vinegar.
After a couple minutes, I scrubbed the bowl and voila, you can now see my white porcelain throne in all of its glory.
This past weekend I went out and snagged a full length floor mirror off craigslist.
It was in really good shape, but being the frugal crusader that I am, I wanted a better deal.
I had this Ikea gift card that wasn’t being used, so I asked if I could swap the mirror for the gift card and cash. Since she just wanted to get rid of the mirror, she happily obliged.
I guess now my place has the illusion of being a little larger than it actually is. Well, I like it.
I’m pretty sure you guys have way better bartering stories than I do.
Sorry about the lack of posts this past week. I hope everybody had a good Easter.
I’ve stumbled across some goodies recently that I plan on sharing with you guys later this week.
On to today’s post though. I had this old MP3 player that was just lying around collecting dust.
I didn’t want to bother selling it on my own, since it would probably cause way too much hassle. Then I found out about Second Rotation.
Second Rotation allows you to send in your old electronics for cash money. You simply check the value of your item on their website Secondrotation.com.
After they give you a quote, you print out an invoice and pack your item up. They provide free shipping!
I packaged my piece of quite nice, and dropped it off at my local UPS store. Although I have heard some bad things about this place (i.e. sending the items back to you w/o proper packaging)I decided to give it a go.
That beats throwing away my mp3 player, and it’s also like getting a bonus for recycling.
Hopefully I will report back to you with the $48 in my Paypal account.
Over the past couple of weeks I have been forcing myself to bring my lunch at least twice a week. Eventually I hope to bring my lunch the majority of the time.
That means preparing meals “healthy, budget conscious meals” for myself with random ingredients I find lying around.
Needless to say, my foray into cooking has been quite hilarious.
Pictured above is a 100% vegetarian peanut noodle dish; with some meat. Yeah, it kind of reminds me of Rachel from Friends when she made custard with a layer of lady fingers and meat sauteed with peas and onions.
The bottom line is that I’m saving money, and also using re-usable Rubbermaid Tupperware for the green effect.
I should add that I stopped eating for taste circa the dorm days in college.
I just checked out my ecological footprint results, and can happily report to y’all that I have drastically reduced my footprint over the last half year or so.
Now I’m not exactly sure how large my old footprint was, but I think I can safely say that it’s 2 to 3 times smaller now.
My most recent footprint was at 2.5 planets, so I still have a long ways to go.
Check out how you compare to my footprint and others at Ecofoot.org.
Spring is just around the corner, which means it’s time for spring cleaning. Here’s an opportunity for you to clean out your closet the green way.
My friend told me about becohangers, an eco friendly clothes hangers company. Although they might not necessarily cater to your individual needs, a business in the clothing industry (read: dry cleaners) might.
Another suggestion my friend made was to re-use cardboard lying around your house. If you are in a position that can make purchasing decisions, consider green alternatives. In this case, it might even cut your overhead costs as well.
That’s right folks. I am officially the last person on earth to own an iRobot Roomba.
But who cares, because my place is clean! And I didn’t have to lift a finger. But laziness wasn’t the only reason why I bought it.
My apartment attracted a whole lost of dust. I mean I could literally see dust bunnies hopping around my apartment.
So what exactly is dust?
Dust mostly comes from dead/dry skin cells, mixed in with dirt, hair, lint and other small things. Pretty gross huh? I leave my window open all day, so you can imagine how much dust my place was accumulating.
Which brings me to the Roomba. I’ve been testing out the Roomba for a short while now, and I must say that I am impressed.
I come home to a clean floor, which is not only visually clean, but tangibly clean as well.
This is what the Roomba picked up the first couple of times it went around my place(Target receipt and orange peel added for effect). I was living in filth my friends.
I now run it every couple of days while I’m at work, then come home to a dust-free floor.
It takes just a few seconds to clean after each use, which isn’t bad at all.
Since the Roomba doesn’t get along with cords and clutter on the ground, it forces you to keep your place clean and minimalist.
And finally if you’re wondering how much money I blew on this, I bought a remanufactured one for $99.
There are times when I wish I didn’t live in such a small place.
I found this vintage possibly Scandinavian 1960’s sofa in perfect condition for less than $300.
The only problem was that it had a width of 91 inches, which is about 84 inches too long.
It’s cool though, sitting down while watching a movie is overrated anyways. Sleeping while parallel with the ground is also overrated.
So I had to pass it up.
I came home from work today and found this on my footsteps. The box of fruits that I had ordered from Farm Fresh to You had arrived!
Farm Fresh is a Community Supported Agriculture (CSA) Program that is family owned and operated in the Capay Valley. What is a CSA?
It’s essentially a way for local farmers to get their produce to the general public. You get high quality, local grown fruits and vegetables, that are hand picked and selected. Everything is seasonal, so that means not every package is going to be the same.
I found the box placed at exactly where I told them to place it (via the delivery instructions). The package I chose was Fruit Only, which meant 5 different fruits (with a possibility for some alternatives). The cost including delivery was only $29! The only work I had to do was to bring it up the stairs.
I opened up the box, and behold, it was straight up like a horn of plenty! I saw greens, yellows, oranges, browns and Corollas. Haha, just kidding I didn’t see any yellows.
Ok, so let’s see what I got this time around. I think the purple things were pears, but I can’t be sure.
The first thing that I pulled out were the kiwis. Haven’t tried them yet, but I’m sure I’ll have a hoot peeling them.
Since I was heading off to the library, I pulled out an apple, washed it, and polished it on my t-shirt. Kind of sour, but very crisp haha.
The oranges turned out to be tangerines I think, which were sweet and juicy.
I was pretty excited about pulling the half pound of pistachios out, since I can munch on those at work or something.
I’m the type of person who goes to the grocery store, and has no idea what to buy. So naturally, I like the idea of having everything picked for me, since I am completely incompetent of choosing food for myself. Not only that, but you’re helping the local community out by supporting their produce.
When you think about it $29 is not a whole for what you get. I am actually pretty amazed at how they can do this for such a low price. You get a few pounds of fresh organic produce, delivered to your doorsteps, for less than $30.
I am very pleased with what I received(they also followed my delivery instructions), and am happy to report that I will be continuing my support of Farm Fresh to You(once per month). If you live in Northern California, Farm Fresh to You might be catering to your area.
Link to a list of Community Supported Agriculture Co-ops near you
Hey folks, I’m here with another quick review. I just received my Klean Kanteen, and gave it a test run today.
I was looking for an alternative to my Lexan bottle (Nalgene), because the water tasted really plastic(y) after a while. I looked at Sigg bottles, but they use some sort of plastic liner in their bottle, which sort of defeats the whole purpose of a stainless steel bottle.
Edi: My cousin mentioned that water from her Sigg bottle tasted just fine. I had heard conflicting reviews on this issue before.
Enter in the Klean Kanteen. I purchased the 27 oz size, which is the perfect size for the toting along all day. Pictured above is the bottle next to a Pom glass for size reference.
The entire canteen is stainless steel metal, with the cap being a non-leaching propylene. There’s also a cool little loop on top of the cap, so you hold it or attach it to something.
One of the coolest things about the bottle is that it has a wide mouth opening. That means you can put ice in it, and also makes cleaning a lot easier.
As for it being the perfect size, I can fit it into my bag nicely.
The material and construction seems to be of high quality. There is no question that the Klean Kanteen will last for awhile. It’s also pretty light, so you don’t have to worry about it weighing you down throughout the day.
Aside from making a quality product, the company Klean Kanteen is also very environmentally conscious. What better way to help the environment than by supporting eco-friendly businesses!
Some people will argue that Lexan bottles are completely safe. For me it’s more about peace of mind, so if I don’t taste plastic, I’m good.
Although the water is tasting great, I can’t help but notice the metallic “smell” from the bottle. Maybe it’ll go away after a few washes. There is also some squeaking that the cap makes when closing. Other than that, this bottle is way better than using plastic bottles.
A whole slew of ways to save a few bucks around the home. And life in general.
Ripped directly from Reader’s Digest. Link
Check out Toyota’s new super automobile. Easy on the gas, cash, and environment.
What more could you ask for? Link
Erin Burt from Kiplinger Personal Finance wrote a really good article about well, finances.
I think you should read it. The message really hits home because it’s about her very own financial life. Article
I attended a talk at work, and heard something that was pretty intriguing.
One of the departments at my company recently ordered a hoard of new Apple computers, I think he said something like 1500 items. Just think about how much styrofoam packaging that is. A lot. What is one to do with 1500 empty packages?
Cue in Apple again. They offered to take back the styrofoam packaging, and recycle it themselves! On top of that, they said eff it, WE’LL take back Dell’s packaging too!
