September 2009

  • Cut Your Paper Trail with Junkbusters

    By sarajean on 9/30/09 3:15am
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    You know you’ve been domesticated when an opportunity to declutter your home with little work brings tears to your eyes.

    From junk mail to spam mail to phone solicitors, keeping the junk out of our homes is sometimes out of our hands.  Sure, you can recycle it on your way into the house—but who sorts their mail while walking? Besides, winter’s coming up soon, and that sidewalk’s gonna be slippery. No walking-sorting hybrid multitasking for you.

    So then what are you left with? Piles of junk that require more sorting, recycling, pitching, or diabolical plotting (ever sent those reply-cards with free postage back empty, or with a “surprise” in them? I usually include a leaflet about saying no to fur or something. Fun!).

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  • Paper Towels or Electric Hand Dryer?

    By erika on 9/25/09 10:15am
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    Slate has an awesome video clip investigating whether it's better for the environment to use paper towels or an electric hand dryer when you wash your hands in a public restroom.  I am absolutely in love with this video because they actually did the math.  Doing the math is a rare thing in green discussions. Think about how long the "paper or plastic" debate raged, before "reusable canvas tote" finally solved the argument.  


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  • Vibrant Versatile Vinegar

    By lafeeverte on 9/13/09 2:12pm
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    Embrace it!Embrace it!Are grandmothers ever wrong? Never. Mine used to tell me that nothing was better for washing windows than white vinegar and newspaper. And that rinsing my hair with a half a cup of vinegar and a cup of cold water after a shower would make my hair glow like the sun. Did I listen? No. Was she right? Yes, naturally.

    Sometimes it is hard to believe that the simplest and most inexpensive items on the shelf are in fact, the most efficient. We buy in to the marketing of companies selling expensive cleaners, conditioners, cosmetics, and medicine; when the one product that we have had all along, does not only a comprable job, it does a better job.

    Vinegar is one such product.

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  • Getting Pots And Pans Spic And Span

    By erika on 9/8/09 4:10pm
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    Stainless Steel Still Gets Stained, Oddly Enough: Stainless Steel Still Gets Stained, Oddly EnoughStainless Steel Still Gets Stained, Oddly Enough: Stainless Steel Still Gets Stained, Oddly EnoughFor some reason this weekend I was struck by the urge to get my pans SHINY again.  Not the inside of the pans - those are perfectly clean - but the outsides.  My pans hang in the kitchen, so the dreary griminess is very visible to myself and any visitors!  I spent a lot of time researching solutions, and I had some successes and some failures.  

    Problem: Hard water stains on EVERYTHING.  My house has a well system, and our ground water is pretty darned hard, even after it's been run through the water softener.  I get white mineral deposits anywhere that water is allowed to dry.


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  • Behold: The Mold-Murderer!

    By sarajean on 9/5/09 2:29pm
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    We had a rather unpleasant surprise this week when I came down with an unexpected allergy attack. It was so bad that it was nearly flu-like, complete with drippy nose, watery eyes and aching everywhere. I couldn’t even breath with my nose, which is always the pits (even with those nose strips—they feel so weird when you wear them).

    It seems the air conditioner in our bedroom—which is not connected with the rest of the house, which has central air—started to leak. We didn’t even use it much, but apparently we used it enough to foster some lovely mold on our wall and even a bit in the carpet.

    It’s stinky, it’s wrecking havoc on my allergies…and it’s unfamiliar territory. So how do we go about getting rid of this mold?

    I did some asking around and some researching, and I’m sharing the ones I’ve found and been advised here.

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