Green Living

Coffee Grounds for your Garden

For those of us who don't drink coffee, stop by your local coffee shop and ask them for their leftover coffee grounds. This reduces waste going to the landfill as well as adding nutrients* to your compost pile or directly to your soil. Most chains offer grounds for free but don’t sort out the filters. I only compost the brown unbleached filters, which most coffee shops now use.

*Most of the acid is removed in the brewing process so the grounds are only slightly acidic.

Stopping Static

Instead of using dryer sheets in the dryer use a tightly rolled foil ball. It will remove the static from your clothes in a non-polluting way.

Make Your Own Hand Soap

Put 1 Tablespoon of dish soap into an empty foaming soap bottle. Add water slowly to the bottle until it is filled up to the line on back.

Tips:

1 Tablespoon of soap is the equivilant to holding the dishsoap bottle upside down while counting to 10.

Pour the water onto the inside side of the bottle, not directly into the soap on the bottom to decrease the amount of bubbles.

Seed Saving

Crafty Containers

Make your own containers for school-time snacks. Cut your old juice or milk containers (see photos of how to cut) and make heavy creases at the folds. Add a piece of Velcro and voila, a food friendly storage container that won’t make you cry if it never makes it back from school.

Cold Frame

One of the cold frames in mid-November after 3 snowfalls and several more freezing nights.

Scratch Paper

Don’t throw away the junk mail coupons that arrive in your mailbox monthly. Use the back sides for scratch paper before recycling them. Our neighbor staples them together to make a free pad of paper.

Klean Kanteen

Egg Safety

Check out this fact sheet from the USDA about egg safety.

I just learned that after the eggs reach home, they may be refrigerated 3 to 5 weeks from the day they are placed in the refrigerator. The "sell-by" date will usually expire during that length of time, but the eggs are perfectly safe to use.

Stinky Fridge

Deodorize in your refrigerator by placing a bowl full of fresh coffee grounds on a shelf.

A second option is to pour vanilla extract into a bowl, or onto cotton balls, and place on a shelf.

Water Wise Irrigation

The Irrigation Association has a list of tips in order to save water, and money on your water bill.

Next trip to the local hardware store I am purchasing the rain shut-off switch recommended in tip 7.

Worm Fun

Worm bins are a great way to compost small amounts of food indoors in a small amount of space without an odor. The worms turn our shredded mail and dinner scraps into castings to feed our plants. Come Live with Me is a great resource for starting your compost bin.

Grout Cleaner

Use a narrow head brush and scrub grout stains with a mixture of 1 cup hot water, 2 cups baking soda and 1 cup borax. Rinse with clean water.

Clean Your Shower

Fill a spray bottle with warmed white vinegar (Do not dilute with water). Spray on hard water spots and soap scum allowing to sit for 15 minutes. Apply dry borax and scrub with a nylon covered sponge.

Healthy Home

I just found this quiz on the Sierra Club's site where you can see how healthy your home is. At the bottom it explains the reasons for the questions/answers and links to articles to teach you how to improve your score.

I scored a 3.92 but learned a few quick tips to easily upgrade to a 5! What did you score?

Slow Drain

Pour boiling water into sink/tub. The hot water loosens the clogged pipe without having to use chemicals. After the water has slowly drained, refill the sink/tub and plunge with a plunger.

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