Tips for Living Green: Reuse Common Household Items

Do you recycle your paper bags, glass jars and plastic food containers? Great, but you can still do more to help reduce the never ending garbage problem as well as some packaging that is not environmentally friendly. 

Here are a few tips for living green for reusing common household items as suggested by The Cleveland Women’s Journal West Edition (Feb-Mar 2009).

• Baby Food & small food jars – These small jars with study lids are great for storing spices, keeping fingerpaint, small nails or thumbtacks organized. 
• Aluminum Foil – Foil tips for living green is to simply rinse and reuse. Other tips for living green is to wad up the foil to clean baked-on food inside pans. You can also layer used foil and cut with scissors to sharpen the blades.
• Paper bags – While these bags are more eco friendly than plastic bags, paper bag tips for living green include covering student textbooks, organize other recycling, costumes for kids and can be used for cooling cookies instead of waxed paper.
• Socks – Sock tips for living green include using them as dusting rags especially when you are only left one of the pair. Other useful tips include filling the sock with rice, sew the end, warm in microwave and use as a heating pad. Make a tug toy for your dog by tying knots in the sock or fill with catnip for your kitty.

Remember these tips for living green before you throw the items in the trash or recycle bin.

A Daily Planner that Offers Tips for Green Living

Is your New Year’s resolution to live greener? If it is, then why not have some help along the way? Crafting a more sustainable and Earth friendly life takes commitment, and we could all use some tips for green living.

We also know how hard keeping New Year’s resolutions can be, so there’s no shame in seeking some assistance. And if you’re intent on being more organized along with living greener this year, you can’t do much better than buying Brownline’s EcoLogix Daily Planner.

The planners are made form 100 percent post-consumer recycled paper and the cover is 60 percent recycled content. But that’s not the only reason why this planner is good for the planet. In addition, each page has a daily tips for green living.

The daily planner is available at several major office supply stores. Check here for a list of places that carry Brownline’s products.

More Tips for Living Green this Holiday Season

Previously, we’ve been listing some great Earth-friendly gift ideas, but having a green Christmas doesn’t have to stop with gifts. Here are some more quick tips for living green this Yuletide.

This year why not make it a brown Christmas, too?  Decorating your tree with pinecones and other things you find on the ground. Have a local, organic Christmas dinner with a turkey raised in your area and don’t forget the chance to make some holiday crafts from recycled materials.

3 Ways to Decorate Your Way to a Christmas for Green Lifestyles

Do those energy-sapping holiday lights make you feel a bit guilty? Not sure if buying a Christmas tree is good for the environment? No problem. Here are 3 ways you can make this holiday season more in accord with green lifestyles.

1. Use LED holiday lights: LED, which is short for light-emitting diode, is the way to go if you want your holiday lights brighter and more energy efficient. They’re also cool to the touch, so you don’t have to worry about curious children burning their fingers. Great for green lifestyles, studies show that LED lights use far less energy. 500 normal incandescent bulbs can rack up an energy bill of $30 over 30 days. But the same amount of LED bulbs only cost $2, so LEDs can lead to great savings, especially if you’re the type who likes to go big every year with lots of lights.

2. Rediscover plants: What’s better for green lifestyles than a traditional wreath? Buying a wreath from a garden store, or even making your own will achieve a great, rustic tone. And real wreaths have less of a carbon footprint than plastic ones.

3. Real Christmas trees: It may seem counterintuitive, but going with a real, live Christmas is better for those seeking green lifestyles. Pine trees can always be replanted, but plastic trees are made with a polyvinyl chloride (PVC) that releases harmful chemicals into the atmosphere. PVC has also been linked to things like increased cancer rates and impairment of children’s development.

And after the holidays, real Christmas trees can give back to the environment via mulching or natural decomposition.