Tuesday, April 7, 2009

Color your easter eggs (or fabric or yard for you vegans) naturally!

Rhiannon Hull, editor of ecomama.squarespace.com and greenhelps.org has a great little guide on www.mothering.com for how to naturally dye easter eggs. Vegans can always dye something else, like cotton rag balls, fabric or yarn with this same technique:

Check out the full article on www.mothering.com:

"Here is a list of natural dyes organized by color:

Green: boiled spinach leaves
Blue: boiled frozen blueberries or purple cabbage leaves
Purple: grape juice and skins from red onions
Red: boiled fresh beets or cranberry juice
Yellow: boiled cumin or turmeric powder, boiled orange or lemon peels
Orange: boiled orange juice or paprika
Brown: black tea or coffee

Boil each ingredient separately with enough water to cover by 1 inch. Reduce heat and simmer until the desired color is reached. Strain the liquid into a bowl and 3 teaspoons of white vinegar for each cup of liquid.
Dye your eggs/fabric/yarn just was you would with conventional dyes."

Monday, March 9, 2009

Forget dry cleaning your fancy sweaters - Even wool and cashmere can be laundered at home!

Try a non-toxic, delicate wash instead of dry cleaning to avoid use of the toxic chemicals like perc.
Line dry or lay flat to dry - it works!


Save money! Dry cleaning is an expensive habit and we can all cut down on non-essentials.

Save the planet! The EPA classifies PERC, the dry cleaning agent, as a groundwater contaminant - and 70% of it ends up in nature!

Tuesday, February 24, 2009

Make your own non-toxic hand sanitizer!

This article from Mothering.com provides several ideas on how to make your own hand sanitizer - you can simply fill up a little spray bottle with water and combinations of essential oils to carry around.
The article lists combinations for anti-bacterial, and even oils that are effective against staph!

This is a great idea for moms and kids who don't always have access to sinks and soap.

http://mothering.com/articles/growing_child/child_health/essential-oils-as-hand-sanitizers.html

Box-cycle!

This is a brilliant idea - need moving boxes? Need to get rid of moving boxes? Are you a retailer with lots of shipping boxes that you don't need?
Don't send them to the recycling plant - give them to someone who needs them!
Check out http://www.boxcycle.com/!
This genius website connects people with boxes to people who need boxes. Couldn't be easier!
Alex

Tuesday, February 17, 2009

Get your money's worth! Coupons you can actually use!

Growing up my parents spent every weekend pouring over the coupon inserts found in our local paper, cutting out discounts and filing them in our little acordian organizer. I gave up using coupons when I changed my diet several years ago because I couldn't find any of the foods I buy in those same circulars!
Enter: The Internet.
There are loads of ways to save online, and you can drastically cut down on your grocery bill if you do a little planning before you leave for the store.
Try going to the website of the brands you buy - you can often download and print a coupon on your home computer and take it right to the store.
Try www.seventhgeneration.com, as well as other brands like www.organicvalley.com

This month, try: http://www.eatingwell.com/coupons/index.php?ViewAll=1

Enjoy!
Alex

Sunday, February 8, 2009

Don't wankie my Hankies!




Anyone who knows me knows about my little habit...my small predilection...my love of cotton hankies. I own over 20 of them. Mostly flowery, some old school bandanas, but all cotton. And all washable. And all so eco!

Several people I know think that using a hankie and then folding it up and putting it back in your pocket or purse for future use is gross....not so, I say! You can fold that little soft square up in several different ways so you don't touch a soiled portion more than once before washing. And you create much less waste!

It's just like cloth diapers - just for your nose.
(I find mine at flea markets, stoop sales, etc.)

xo Alex

Monday, February 2, 2009

Salt in my wounds - using salt as a budget guide

Hey Budget-eers!

The New Home Eco-Nomics Expert-ess (me) has been obsessed with salt lately - not just using it to liven up my air-popped popcorn, but using it around the house, on my skin and on all kinds of problems!

Here are a few ways to use salt cheaply and non-toxically:

- A mix of salt, vinegar, and water should remove mildew stains on most fabrics. Use up to full-strength vinegar if the mildew is extensive.

- Prevent mildew growth on shower curtains by soaking them in a bathtub full of salt water - about 1/2 cup salt to the tub. Soak for several hours then hang to dry.

- Remove wine spills from cotton fabrics by immediately sprinkling the stained area with enough salt to soak up the liquid. Soak the fabric for 1 hour in cold, water then launder as usual.

- Soak in a tub of salt water to relieve itchy skin. Just add 1 cup of table, Epsom or sea salt to the bath water. This will also soften your skin.

- Remove onion odor from your hands by sprinkling them with a little salt, then moisten with some vinegar. Rub hands together then rinse.

Thursday, January 22, 2009

Sock-A-Thon! What to do with old socks?





My creative fires were stocked by a new book I received called Stupid Sock Creatures by John Murphy.
His designs and the creatures he creates are amazing! But my packed schedule hasn't allowed me to play with any of the ideas he offers yet.

But the idea of using old socks destined for the dust rag pile for something more interesting got under my skin and I ran with it!
I have been looking for long boy socks for L and haven't been able to find anything appropriate. Don't get me wrong, I'm not above putting him in pink argyle if it's available, and I don't think it will hurt his budding masculinity at all. But every store in town was out of long socks! All they could offer me were acrylic leg warmers and tights, which I didn't think would fly too well...and I don't like having non-natural-fiber socks on, so why would I do that to him?

A flash of inspiration! I could make my own toddler sized leg warmers by cutting up my old socks!
Now that 2-3 inch gap of skin between his socks and pants won't get chapped by the winter winds.

NEXT IDEA: CAT TOY!
I bought a new bag of catnip at the Park Slope Co-Op for $.25 - his old stuff was too old and he wasn't getting any pleasure out of year-old herbage. I took the remaining toe portion of said socks and tied the catnip into the toe for a cheap, fun cat toy!
Our cat, The Boy Named Sue, was pretty psyched!

FINAL IDEA: STYLISH CUT GLOVES!
Young hip girls around the city and Bob Cratchit from The Christmas Carol, can all be seen wearing these cute gloves with the fingers cut out - well make your own for free!
Just cut a little hole in the side of a sock for your thumb, then cut straight across the toe to let your fingers out the top - instant hipness!


Anyone else have some great sock ideas? Alex

Saturday, January 17, 2009

Big Box Stores Closing - Great Opportunities!

With medium- and big-box stores shutting their doors all over the country
(see: http://www.sacbee.com/business/story/1549783.html?mi_rss=Business), I had some ideas for what to do with all that empty floor-space:

- homeless shelters
- employ the unemployed to tear them down and return that land to arable farm-land and community gardens
- convert them into schools
- free day care centers
- community co-op style fitness centers with Wii, Dance Dance Revolution, and good old jump-ropes! Employ a few local teens to provide DJ services.

That's just a start - anyone else have any bright ideas?

Alex

Tuesday, January 13, 2009

Choose to Re-Use!

I love freebies - even better, I like walking down the streets of Brooklyn and finding great free stuff that I can use at home - call me a FREEGAN!
There are other ways to get free goods that you can use that don't involve walking the chilly streets of Gotham:

http://www.gigoit.org/index.php - a neat new site that offers an easy way to give and get free goods from other recycle-minded locals

or

www.freecycle.org (their motto - "changing the world, one gift at a time")

Give, get, recycle and save!

Best, Alex

Monday, January 12, 2009

Another thought on smaller amounts

My last blog was about saving money and supplies, illustrated by my experiment with using less dish soap. I took that idea and tried it with everything else in my house this weekend - lotion (watered down a little in the bottle), shampoo and conditioner (same) as well as laundry detergent. All successful!
I think the manufacturers recommend a certain amount of their product per use partly so you'll use up their product faster and need to buy more...when I read how much shampoo I was "supposed" to use each time, I realized it was a sham...literally!

A WORD OF WARNING: Do NOT try this with cat food! I tried giving our cat, The Boy Named Sue, less than the package recommended for a cat his weight and I found out this didn't work for him - at 2am...when he was sitting on my chest meowing for food. Give kitty all he wants.

Thursday, January 8, 2009

Pump up the savings on dish washing liquid


Last week I bought a new bottle of Ecover Dish Washing Liquid because it was on mega-sale and I like that the product is non-toxic. When I got it home I noticed a problem. It was a huge bottle and pretty unwieldy to manage while washing dishes with wet hands. I was using huge amounts of detergent because every time I tipped it over onto my sponge it would gush everywhere!

So, to save detergent and my patience, I fished out a little empty pump bottle from the recycling bin that had previously held an electrolyte concentrate I use in my water. Most people have some sort of reusable pump bottle in their home that would work - even an old lotion pump bottle that you rinse out is fine. I filled up the little pumper and put the huge bottle under the sink - problem solved!

I realized that I'm using much less soap than before - even from other brands of large bottles like Seventh Generation that come in smaller bottles. It looks like this one bottle of dish liquid is going to last at least a month at this rate - pretty good savings!
(pat self on back)

Your Home Eco-Nomics Instructor,
Alex

Monday, January 5, 2009

FREE clog buster?

OMG - and I don't use that expression too often - why didn't I try this AGES ago?

I have a very clogged shower drain - actually, it's clogged more than 50% of the time. I have spent many, many dollars on "natural" enzyme products to clear that drain, and it usually takes more than one bottle of the stuff to get the gunk moving.

So what finally worked...for free?

BOILING WATER!

Yes, cheap, easy, sooooo green and it worked fast! I boiled a whole pot of water, poured it down the drain and now that sucker is clear!

Happy New Clear Year!
Alex