living green – Eco Home Ideas

The Eco-Friendly Beginner’s Guide To Living Green

So you want to be ET and live that green-thumb life. Do you even know where to begin? Starting an eco-friendly way of living can be easy if you follow the right steps and it can be hard if you do it the wrong way. This simple guide should get you going on the right path to living environmentally conscious.

Getting Started

Rule 1: Get yourself in the green mode. Ask yourself if you are ready for the change.

Rule 2: Do research by going to the library.

Rule 3: Ask yourself again if you are ready.

First Steps

Ask friends that are living the green life for some helpful advice.
Tackle the change one step at a time.
Ask a contactor to help guide you with the necessary changes your home needs to go green.
Know that it will take a while until you are living the green life to the fullest.

plants-gardening-eco-friendly-winter — http://ow.ly/Fu4xP

Take anything that is not eco-friendly out of the house. It will be tough getting rid of things but is a necessary step. Fine, you can keep two things.
Start from the inside out. No need to green the outside when the inside cannot benefit from it.
Remember: reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Second Steps

Replace furniture with earth-friendly furniture. Pottery Barn, antique shops, and thrift stores are great places to purchase refurbished items and eco-friendly items.
Remember to recycle old items and turn them into new items.
Use eco-friendly paint to decorate the walls.
Remember LED is for thee.
Keep decorating minimal.

Final Steps

Plant locally because the vegetation has a better chance of surviving because it is used to the weather conditions.
Purchase used stuff instead of new things. Read e-books instead of books.
Stay away from plastic. I mean it! It will kill you…not really, but you get the point.
No more fast food, soda, or junk food. Purchase food from a farmer’s market.

Grow your own crops. Nothing is better than making fresh food with vegetables from your own garden. Just remember to take care of the garden the eco-friendly way.
Say bye to your gas guzzler. You should purchase a hybrid, ride a bike, or take mass-transit.
Keep up the routine.

Extra help:

Look for eco-friendly products while you shop.
Keep reminding yourself that you are helping Earth live longer.
Remind visitors that they are guests in a green home.
Do not be ashamed to be a tree hugger. Trees love being hugged.
At least once a month, you have to watch Fern Gully. (optional)

You’re done!

There you have it. Now you have no excuse on not going green. Better your environment and decrease your carbon footprint. By the time you make your home a fully green zone; you will be very pleased with the outcome. Who knows? You might even change other people’s minds.

I hope this simple guide helps you out in the long wrong. Unlike ET who went home, you get to stay put in your eco-friendly green home. Deal with it. Remember to turn off the lights. Good night.

6 Surprising Items That Can Be Recycled

Ever looked at an old pair of eyeglasses and wondered if it could be recycled or have a collection of old wine corks and didn’t know what to do with them? We have compiled a list of some surprising things that can be recycled.

Eyeglasses

When your prescription changes or you decide you want new frames, don’t just throw away your unwanted glasses! New Eyes for the Needy is committed to providing corrective eyewear to people who need them in the United States, or elsewhere on the planet or in developing countries.

Foam Peanuts

Even though they protect your fragile package from breaking, foam peanuts have to be one of the most annoying things ever when they escape from their box. Since they have been such a nuisance filling up our landfills some companies are making the “foam” peanuts from vegetable starch. The peanuts made from vegetable starch are non-toxic and biodegradable (if you put one in water and it disintegrates you have the earth-friendly ones)! If you have the other kind of foam peanut you can call The Peanut Hotline (not a joke!) at (800)828-2214 for a list of places that will take them off your hands.

Holiday Lights

Got burnt out holiday lights? The folks at HolidayLEDs will gladly take your old lights, shred them, and sort the remaining PVC, glass, and copper. Those raw materials are taken to another recycling center and resurrected as something new. They start collecting lights at the end of October and it accepts lights until the end of February.

Crayons

Don’t toss those broken and stubby Crayolas! Instead, mail them to the National Crayon Recycle Program, which takes unusable, broken crayons to a better place. They’re melted in a vat of wax, remade, and resold. The program has saved over 47,000 pounds of crayons.

Fishing Line

Fishing line is made from monofilament, a non-biodegradable plastic that you can’t put in your everyday recycling bin. At Berkley Fishing, old fishing line is mixed with other recyclables (like milk cartons and plastic bottles) and transformed into fish-friendly habitats. So far, Berkley has saved and recycled more than 9 million miles of fishing line.

Wine Corks

Your recycling center probably doesn’t accept wine corks, but companies like Terracycle and Yemm and Hart will. They turn cork into flat sheets of tile, which you can use for flooring, walls, and veneer.