Tips:
- Turn down the temperature in your fridge. Set the fridge between 38 and 42 degrees Fahrenheit and the freezer between 0 and 5 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Don't rinse dishes under running water, just scrape them and put them in the dishwasher. Skip the dry cycle and use the "energy saver" or "light wash" setting.
- At home: Make Garbage/Recycling day a fun Family thing to do. When preparing a meal, why not ask your children to help you sort out which pieces they can put in their compost bin? Vegetable and fruit peelings are great.
- Start a compost bin in the garden; teach them the benefits of composting. Composting teaches very valuable lessons to children. They learn to recycle and reuse materials in an earth-friendly activity. It also involves dirt, digging, and water--favorite children's activities.
- Start a new Habit: “Cross the door, Flick the Switch.” Meaning if you’re leaving the room, turn off the lights (and all other electronic devices -televisions, stereos, ipods and computers too). A normal bulb will use 60 watts of energy an hour, meaning that you could conserve nearly 22,000 watts of energy per year by just switching off one bulb for one hour every day. That’s enough energy to power one months’ worth of evening TV viewing!
- Line-drying-and-clothes-lines-Drying your clothes on a good ole' fashioned clothes line in partnership with the sun can substantially reduce your domestic chore related environmental impact and save you money too!
- Kids enjoy helping out and contributing to the family. To involve them more in earth-friendly activities have them take the compost bucket out to the compost bin or make them in charge of the reusable shopping bags each time you go to the grocery store. Take small opportunities like these to teach the big messages about protecting our plant. Empowering our little ones to be proactive in the environment is the easy part; often times it is us grown-ups that don’t want to take the initiative to change because WE (not the children) are too set in our ways. But aren’t our future generations worth a little extra effort? We think so too.
- Salt as a polish-By mixing salt and vinegar into a thick paste, it can be applied to brass silver and copper as a polish. Use a soft cloth to apply and buff, then rinse thoroughly in water and dry well.
- Frost free windows and windscreens-Wipe down the inside of windows in your home and car with a sponge dipped in a saline solution, then dry. This will help prevent ice forming during freezing weather. Also, by rubbing a small cloth bag of moistend salt on your your car's windshield, this will help prevent ice from forming.
- Iron cleaner-Over time, irons pick up bits of junk that cause them to stick when you iron your clothes. To remove the gunk buildup, sprinkle salt onto a sheet of paper and then run the iron over it. Ensure you use a shot of steam to clean the jets after doing this and also wipe down the plate with a damp cloth once it cools.
- Sterilizing sponges-Kitchen sponges are the perfect breeding ground for all sorts of nasty bacteria. By soaking a sponge in a heavily saline solution, it will help kill these bacterial.
- Pest deterrent-Where ants frequent pour a line of salt to prevent them from crossing.
- Earth friendly weed killer-A mix of 1 part salt to 3 parts boiling water can be poured directly onto weeds to kill them.
- Smelly cutting boards-A smelly cutting boards simply means bacteria are present - and this is not only a whiffy problem, but a health issue. Bacteria are killed by salt, so by rubbing salt into your cutting board, let it sit for a little while and then rinse, your board will smell fresh and be bacteria-free!
- Salt drain cleaner-Equal quantities of salt and hot water poured down a drain can help get rid of nasty smells and dissolve grease, plus help slow future buildup. This probably shouldn't be used in blackwater systems too often as it may upset the good bacteria that are crucial to breaking down solids.
- Fire extinguisher-Keep a box of salt close at hand as an emergency fire extinguisher for grease fires. While it shouldn't replace a proper fire extinguisher, it makes for a good backup.
- Invest in green grocery bags. They are much better than the old plastic ones, which we normally get for the grocery store. Plus we help with the land fields the are overflowing now.
|
SHOP
