Green Living
Three Simple Ways to Go Green Today
March 26, 2011 | 
Author Families today use a great deal of electricity in the home as well as other items that leaves a carbon footprint that can affect the lives of generations for many decades to come. For this reason, it is important to set up a system of reducing the amount of waste that each family uses for the benefit of the future. This is not a new concept but some families are just now making the decision to be more environmentally friendly. If you want your family to do this you can follow these three simple ways to go green:
1. Electronics – The first thing you should do before you purchase any electronics or home appliances is to look for the EnergyStar label that shows that they consume less electricity and that they are compliant with this system. Also, unplug any electronics that are not being used such as laptop computers, printers and phone chargers. These items, even if turned off or not in use, can use a great deal of electricity. Not only does unplugging them offer a better ecology, but also it can save the household a whopping twenty five percent on their electric bill.
2. Purchase Recycled Products – When shopping, look for the recycle label. You should purchase recycled paper for the home office and then recycle it again. Many cleaning products come in containers that have been previously recycled and these products are considered green themselves. This can do a great deal to keep the landfill waste down and is also better for the ecology. Of course you should continue with a recycling program even if one is not in place in the area you live.
3. Buy Local Produce – Rather than purchasing your fruits and vegetables from the grocery store where much is shipped in from out of state if not out of country, check your local farmer’s markets for fresh food that is locally produced. There is nothing better than a fresh piece of fruit that is grown locally and it is also considered to be organic for this reason. You can also save a great deal of money because farmer’s market prices tend to be much less than the price you pay at the grocery store.
Most of the ways that you can go green also saves the family money in the short and long run. Purchase items that have been recycled and turn off any electronics that are not in use. Shop at the farmer’s markets in your area for fresh fruits and vegetables that are not only tasty but also cost less than supermarket foods.
By Lisa A Mason
Posted in 
Creative Ways To Recycle Grocery Bags
Each time you go shopping, unless you bring your own, you return home with several paper bags used to carry your products home from the store. Though a few here and there is not a big problem, the sacks are going to pile up and before you know it, you will have a pantry or bedroom closet filled with sacks from stores all over the place. Using one now and then for garbage will never be enough to cut you supply down to an even balance of what comes in goes out in a few days. If you prefer not to bring your own to the store, consider all the uses you can reuse the sacks for. You could save a bundle on gift bags, just by using from the collection you have accumulated in your house already. They may look dull and plain, but you can jazz them up with paper cut-outs, crayons, markers or stickers. You can even give them to kids to decorate and create fancy options for your next gift-giving occasion.
One of the best ways to reuse supermarket sacks is for kitchen garbage scraps that can be taken to the garden. The right kind of brown sacks they can just be tossed into the compost pile and break down with the food scraps. Fill the sacks with banana peels, egg shells, chopped up veggies and plate scraps, as long as they do not include meat of any kind. This makes for great refuse for compost and with the brown materials, you get a good balance of brown and green, dry and wet, the keys to success when composting.
If you have a pet, you know how annoying it can be when you have a mess to clean up indoors or out and you have nothing in which to put it. If you need to clean your cat’s litter box, these extra grocery sacks work great. When the time comes to empty the litter box of the old litter, you can dump the entire box into the sacks. If you have a dog and take it for walks around your neighborhood, you will need to bring along a clean-up kit. These extra grocery sacks work great for this purpose.
Those in your family who take lunch to work with them every day will find grocery store sacks convenient and sturdy. Instead of buying brand new lunch sacks, reuse the ones you already own. Kids can even decorate these so they have one-of-a-kind sacks all their own. Plastic sacks are great for keeping spills from leaking should a juice box or bottle of soda rupture during the day.
If you still find there are plenty of sacks left lying around you home even after using them for all of these creative purposes, consider reusing them for your groceries. Some places will take a few cents off your grocery bill if you bring old sacks back with you. This is not only a great way to save; it helps cut down on your collection of old sacks.
Ecology cooking – Will you be Green With Envy?
We now have collated a number of kitchen design ideas from recycling food waste to green products that do not necessarily add expense to your home improvement project. Indeed, over time cost savings made from energy-efficient performing materials with the cooking should decrease your carbon footprint for many years.
Here are some high-impact eco-friendly kitchen design ideas:
o Kitchen Recycling Centre
Search for sets of kitchen bins which allow you to easily separate rubbish – paper, food, bottles, plastics, etc.
o Waste Disposal machines
These are generally suitable for lowering the physical amount of food waste into small pieces. Then find a wormery where worms can compost down the meal waste more effectively. Make use of the compost for your garden.
o Energy-Efficient Appliances
When contemplating your refrigerator, dishwasher or washing machine purchases with the kitchen remodeling project, each appliance may have a power Rating. Advanced technology now implies that appliances incorporate the use of 10 to 1 / 2 less energy and water than standard models
o Induction Hobs
Induction cooking uses electricity to produce a magnetic field that reacts with the ferric content in s / s, cast iron, and enameled steel cookware. This excites the molecules and produces heat. The cookware (and therefore the food) gets hot, though the stove-top doesn’t. Less heat is wasted plus the food heats faster, save your time and energy. Induction cooking is about 90 percent power efficient when compared to gas and electric radiant, that happen to be 50 to 60 percent efficient.
o Dishwashers and Automatic washers
Work with a full load as part of your dishwasher and hotpoint washing machine. For anyone who is contemplating buying a different machine, be sure to get hold of a water efficient model. Look at our website where we’ve got collated details on water efficient appliances.
o Stained Concrete or Indigenous Stone Kitchen Counter-tops.
Your kitchen design will include materials which might be durable and water-resistant for both countertops and splash-backs. Stained concrete uses non-toxic, natural pigments rather then surface-applied stains. Number of indigenous stone can be found and will come from salvage sources. Cause them to adequately sealed in order to avoid staining.
o Energy-Efficient Task Lighting and Lighting Controls
Kitchen designs often include 2-3 light settings for instance general, task lighting, and mood lighting. Maximize daylight wherever possible and reduced voltage systems for task and mood lighting.
o Eco-Friendly Kitchen Flooring
Products created from renewable forests can provide a nice, affordable and durable floor – and an environmentally responsible choice. Bamboo, cork, and eucalyptus mature in roughly 50 % of time (or less) that it takes hardwoods, grown in colder climates, to realize market size.
o Wall Insulation
Nothing improves the comfort and energy efficiency of the kitchen greater than a lot of insulation inside exterior walls. To add insulation to existing kitchen walls, blow fibrous insulation material – fiberglass or natural materials like cellulose and mineral wool – into enclosed wall, floor and roof cavities. “Dense packing” the insulation inhibits air circulation in the cavities, thereby eliminating a primary source of condensation, moisture problems and air leakage.
o Kitchen Windows, Doors and Skylights
Well-designed windows and skylights can lighten the design of a kitchen and save the fuel bills as well. Make sure the products used have low heat emission glass with solar shading, which enhances the room’s comfort, protects items from sun-damage and reduces condensation on windows.
Ian D Ludlow helps sales and customer service people and organisations from the business-to-business, direct sales and retail environments to increase their current performance.
Like a Master Practitioner of NLP and Accredited LVT Practitioner, he uses fun and inventive approaches to change unproductive behaviours and to help individuals and teams THINK FASTER and REACT QUICKER to ever changing market conditions.
He states, “If you continue on doing what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” Ian’s specialism is knowing learn about change and ways to change it with minimum effort and maximum return.
Ian helped help the average sales value for just a retail business by 14% which added ?34M in sales revenue over one year from 320 stores. He also helped add to the sales conversion ratio by 7% through quality sales training and to generate leads programmes for your kitchen and bathroom installer; increasing sales by ?24M over one year.