The Conscious Shopper

Please Help My Family Win a Nissan Leaf!

2011-03-16T13:56:00.003-04:00

My husband requested that I temporarily come out of retirement to ask any lingering subscribers to the Conscious Shopper to vote for us to win a Nissan Leaf. We were able to test drive one a few weeks ago - you can read my full review over at the The Green Phone Booth, but to summarize:

It's kind of small but sporty and fun to drive.
The price tag is kind of high ($32,000), but when you add in the federal tax incentive and the crazy amount you'll save in gas, it's totally worth it.

We would really love to win this car and put our minivan to the curb. You can watch a video of us acting like crazy fools and vote for us here. Please vote and spread the word!

You've probably figured it out by now...

2010-07-17T09:55:00.006-04:00

I've decided to quit posting at The Conscious Shopper. It has been a great two years, but it's time to move on.

Thank you to everyone who commented on my last post, and especially thanks for your support and kind words. And just to clarify a bit - although I was angry and upset about Diane's email, it wouldn't have amounted to much if I hadn't already had those other ideas floating around in my brain about wanting more time to do things besides blogging, and believing that I could have more of an effect at a local level. The overwhelming thought of having to redesign my header just gave me a reason to finally figure things out.

So what will happen to the Conscious Shopper?

:: The blog will stay right here until Blogger decides to shut it down. If you're new to the site, I suggest starting with those green tabs over in the right-hand side bar, especially the Conscious Shopping tab for all my research and tips on greening your groceries and general shopping.

:: If you're a local reader, you can find me over at the Sustainable Triangle, where I'm attempting to create the definitive guide for going green in the Triangle.

:: If you're taking the Conscious Shopper Challenge, I'll be posting the challenges weekly at both the Sustainable Triangle and the Green Phone Booth.

:: And if you're ever in Raleigh, look me up.

If the loss of the Conscious Shopper is leaving a void in your Google Reader, I recommend (in no particular order):

And of course, the Green Phone Booth and all of the lovely personal blogs by the Booth writers.

If you need some direction on your green journey, I suggest that you:

Green yourself first, and then tell all your friends how great it is.
Vote. (And call your Senators and Representatives to let them know what you think about environmental issues.)
Get to know your neighbors.
Perform an act of eco-service every week.
Get outdoors.
Find a local cause you support and work the heck out of it.

Challengicious Monday: Use Public Transportation

2010-07-17T09:31:00.005-04:00

Another late challenge in the Travel Sustainably series:

Use Public Transportation

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Go for a ride. Get your transit feet wet by figuring out an easy route and going for a ride on the bus, train, or trolley. Make it a night out on the town: find your way to a restaurant, club, or movie theatre, and make sure you've figured out how to get back home!

JOGGING STRIDE

Commute using public transportation. Visit your local transit provider's website to plan your trip, and leave your car at home. You'll not only save money on gas and cause fewer emissions, but you'll also relieve yourself of road rage. Let someone else do the driving for you!

MARATHON RUNNER

Get involved. If you don't have public transit in your area or the public transportation stinks, join a local group to improve public transit, or start your own.

Will you take the challenge?

Challengicious Monday: Keep Up with Your Car Maintenance

2010-07-08T21:17:00.004-04:00

This week's very late travel-related challenge is:

Keep Up with Your Car Maintenance

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Keep your tires properly inflated. Every couple of weeks, use a tire pressure gauge to make sure your tires are inflated to the proper level. Keeping your tires inflated can improve your gas mileage and keep your vehicle performing safely.
Check your oil at every other fill-up to make sure it's at the proper level. Add more oil if necessary.
Keep your car clean both inside and out. Cleanliness increases the life of the car and can help maintain its resale value.

JOGGING STRIDE

Change your oil according to your car manufacturer's instructions. Frequent oil changes will maximize the life of your vehicle.
Rotate your tires according to your manufacturer's recommendations or every 6,000 miles.

MARATHON RUNNER

Follow your manufacturer's instructions for regular maintenance, and keep a record so you know what you've done. Keeping up with your car maintenance will improve your gas mileage and keep your car on the road longer.

Will you take the challenge?

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You have hereby been challenged to go green in a year without going broke! Check out the last challenge, or view the whole list of Challengicious Mondays. Sign up for my RSS feed, follow me on Twitter, and join my "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook!

Photo by Robert Couse-Baker

Challengicious Monday: Bike

2010-06-28T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. This week's travel-related challenge is:

Bike

BABY STEPS

Dig out your old bike and take it for a spin. Work up your biking skills by riding in your subdivision or a nearby park or greenway. If you don't already own a bike, check Craigslist for a good used bike and get a tune-up at a local bike shop.

JOGGING STRIDE

Ride a bike to run errands. Fit your bike with a basket or panniers and ride it to the library, farmers market, or corner grocery store. If you've never ridden a bike in a city before, check out these posts (part 1 and part 2) from An Adventure Called Bicycling for safety tips.

MARATHON RUNNER

Commute by bike. Commit to biking to and from work. If you're worried about getting sweaty, keep your work clothes in the basket or panniers you installed during the Jogging Stride step and change when you get to work. You can also combine riding and public transit if you live too far from your workplace.

I'm still at Baby Steps on this one, and because of the three little ones, I don't think I'll be riding my bike much any time soon (unless I get one of these babies). But I am going to try taking the bike out for a spin every now and then - maybe riding with the boys at the park.

Will you take the challenge?

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image by andy_c

Challengicious Monday: Walk

2010-06-21T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. This week's travel-related challenge is:

Walk

BABY STEPS

Check Walk Score to find out the walkability of your neighborhood. Start small and scope out your surroundings.

JOGGING STRIDE

Walk whenever you're half a mile or less from your destination. Transit planners say that a quarter of a mile is the maximum distance most people are willing to walk, but I think we greenies could deal with a half a mile. The average person can walk that in 10 minutes.

MARATHON RUNNER

Walk whenever you're a mile or less from your destination. Figure out what destinations are a mile from your house and make it a point to walk instead of drive. If you don't live in a very walkable area, use the mile rule when you're out and about - park your car in a central location, and walk from point to point. Most people can walk a mile in about twenty minutes. Accounting for traffic in many cities, you may even be able to get there faster by walking! Plus, you'll get your daily exercise without having to pay for a gym membership.

Will you take the challenge?

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Image by pedrosimoes7

Travel Sustainably

2010-06-20T00:15:00.008-04:00

We've Trimmed Our Waste Lines, Energized, and Watered Down, and now it's time to...

Travel Sustainably

We'll be changing our transportation habits with the following weekly challenges:

With the recent oil catastrophe in the Gulf, I'm sure many of us are looking for ways to make a difference. Reducing our addiction to oil and switching to more sustainable modes of transportation will create energy independence, American jobs, and improved health. It's also one of the more challenging areas to change, which is why I think so many of us feel despondent about the Gulf oil disaster.

Luckily, every little bit matters, not only because we're using a little less oil but also because of the message that we send to corporations and the government that we want better cars, more walkable cities, and improved public transportation.

So let's get to it and see if we can travel sustainably in 2010. Come back on Monday for the first transportation challenge.

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Image by suchitra prints

What Happened to My Header Image (and why I'm not sure if I'm cut out for this blogging business)

2010-06-18T09:29:00.003-04:00

On Wednesday night, I had trouble falling asleep, and once sleep finally came, I had restless dreams, and once the dreams finally left me in peace, my Early Bird children began their morning bickering...all culminating with me being in a very foul mood.

The kind of mood that needs fresh air.

So I abandoned my boys to their granola bowls and stepped into the backyard, and ended up spending an hour pruning tomatoes and training cucumbers and planting flowers while my children danced around me like fairies. By the time we went inside, my inner beast was soothed.

And then I decided to take an email break, and the first email I opened was from Diane of Big Green Purse demanding that I remove my header image because it violates her trademark of green purses. Up until this point, Diane is someone I had respected, but her email left a vile taste in my mouth. The image in question is a photograph of one of those glorious how-could-I-be-so-lucky thrift store finds: a green purse for a green blogger who writes about shopping.

Although many un-Christian thoughts passed through my mind this morning, I eventually concluded that (a) Diane probably did have the legal upperhand here and (b) I didn't have the means or the mean-spiritedness to fight it. But when I thought about removing an image that my husband and I had spent hours designing, and when I thought of the future hours that would need to go into creating an new header image, I felt completely overwhelmed.

And those overwhelming thoughts let to more thoughts: About how much time I've spent blogging and how little difference it has made. About how the culmination of all this knowledge-gaining has just given me more reasons to worry and more reasons to be depressed. How dipping my toe into activism has shown me just how exhausting it can be with so little result to show for it. And how after nearly two years of blogging, I've greened my life and met some fabulous people, but I've also been chewed out and criticized and insulted. And to what end?

Finally I knew it was time to face the cloudy thought that has been lingering in the back of my mind for awhile now: Why am I blogging?

Is it because I think that through blogging about green living I can make the world better? At one time I did, but now...the world is so big and I am only one person, and maybe my time would be better spent away from the computer and out in my own community.

Is it because I want to make money from my blog? I've considered trying and dabbled a little bit with the whole Reuseit Ambassador thing, but I have trouble reconciling the non-consumption philosophy behind my blog with the "support my sponsors" message. And truthfully I don't have the competitiveness or ruthlessness it takes to be an entrepreneur.

So why do I blog? When I first started, I had just moved to a new city, and I needed the connectedness, the feeling that I wasn't alone in the world. I still love that about blogging, but I don't think I need it anymore. I also love blogging for the cathartic-ness of it, but I'm not sure that makes up for the emotional downsides. And I love the writing, but maybe it's time to find other outlets for my words.

When I've complained before about people being mean on the Internet, my husband comments, "That's true, so if you're really serious about being a blogger, you need to develop a thicker skin." Well, I don't think I can or want to. And if I quit blogging and go back to my normal life, I might actually get some projects done around here that have been sitting on a shelf for two years, and I might be able to enjoy a morning outdoors with my children without it being spoiled by people I don't even know and events I have no control over.

So after all these thoughts, the conclusion I've come to is that I need a break. I'm going to take a week off to think about some things, and see where it takes me.

My Reusable Life

2010-06-17T00:15:00.000-04:00

Have you ever heard the argument, "You would have to go through X-amount of styrofoam cups to equal the environmental impact of ONE mug, so there's nothing wrong with using styrofoam cups." (Or variations on that theme?)

Here's why I think that argument is totally bogus:

When our lives are filled with cheap disposable products, we develop a throwaway mentality. We don't value things because they're so easily replaceable. We don't value the materials that went into them or the labor that built them. They pass through our lives so quickly, why would we give them any thought?

When I hold a styrofoam cup in my hand, I barely notice it's there. It looks just like every other styrofoam cup I've ever held, and in a few minutes, I'll toss it into the trash without a second thought. When I hold my stainless steel water bottle, I think of the thought process that went into choosing it and how much it cost, and I feel good for making a good choice. I remember taking walks or playing outside with my kids because the water bottle came along. I keep track of it; I don't want to lose it. It's on my mind.

I have a sentimental attachment to my children's cloth diapers, in the same way I grew attached to some of their baby clothes. When I see a disposable diaper, I think, "Ewww...stinky garbage." Even when they're not on a child, don't you think of them as kind of gross? (Or is that just me.)

Even our stained cloth napkins and mismatched food containers and the hankies made from my husband's old shirts carry memories in every use, though perhaps they don't have as much sentimental value as the TV I bought ten years ago when I rented my first house or the raggedy couches that were our first grown-up furniture purchase.

Is it silly to feel attached to inanimate objects? I don't think so because those objects are made from materials that come from the earth, and caring for the materials is one more way to strengthen my connection to the planet I love. Those objects are made by human hands, and caring for the objects shows respect for the people that created them. And those objects enter our homes and become part of us in ways large and small. When we fill our lives with objects we care about, it shows that we care about our lives.

I do not live a throwaway life. Do you?

If you're new to a reusable life, you might want to check out Reuseit.com for cloth bags, water bottles, lunchboxes, and more.

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Disclosure: I am an ambassador for Reuseit.com. Check out my About page for more info on what that means and always remember to be a Conscious Shopper.

CSA: Community Supported...Artists?

2010-06-16T13:49:00.004-04:00

My post today at the Green Phone Booth veers a little away from green living to talk about one way to help musicians make an album without a major record label:

Recently I came across one more way for musicians to bypass the major record label through this appeal from one of my favorite bands, Over the Rhine:

Friends, the good news is this:

In 2010, there is no middleman.

It's just us and you.

So, for the first time in our career, we are simply going to appeal directly to you, the people who care about Over the Rhine's music, and ask if you will partner directly with us in making this new record....

Whatever funds we are able to raise will go directly to our label, Great Speckled Dog, to help take care of this new music we will make. It will be used to help cover actual recording costs, and give the songs the best send-off into the world that we can afford.

Read more...

Does it remind you of a CSA too?

My Big Jobs Day

2010-06-15T00:15:00.000-04:00

When you read a blog, you get a little glimpse into the writer's life, but have you ever wondered what happens the rest of the day? This month, all of the Green Moms Carnival members will be writing about a day in their life, so you can see what our real lives are like.

I decided to write about yesterday (what we call "Momma's Big Jobs Day") because I do laundry and bake bread on Mondays, so it seemed like it would be a consistent and predictable day to write about. But of course, nothing happened like I expected it to happen. Welcome to my chaos.

Monday

6:45 - I can hear the boys giggling in their bedroom. I yell, "Go back to sleep," roll over and try to do exactly that. I am not a good sleeper, so at this point, I've been drifting in and out since 5:00 or so.

7:15 - I can still hear the boys playing in their room, and then finally the oldest knocks on my door - "I'm hungry." I mumble, "I'm coming..."

7:45 - I finally get up, help the two-year-old out of his crib, change him into underpants, and then start breakfast while my husband showers. We eat oatmeal, granola, or toast during the week and only eat boxed cereal on the weekends. I instruct one kid to put out the placemats, the other to get the scriptures, and as soon as breakfast is ready, we take turns reading while eating.

8:15 - After breakfast, I get lazy and loaf on the couch instead of showering while my husband makes his lunch - leftovers packed in whatever mismatched storage containers he can find.

8:30 - My husband starts off on his walk to work. One of the reasons we chose our house is its close proximity to my husband's office, my son's school, the library, children's museum, parks, and downtown. Toward the end of the school year, we started slacking and driving in the mornings, but now that my oldest is out of school for the summer, my husband is back to walking to work.

9:00 - Into the shower (still no poo) with the door open so I can keep an ear out for the boys. The two-year-old hangs out in the bathroom with me, playing peek-a-boo with the shower curtain.

9:30 - A friend drops off her two boys. She teaches my oldest piano lessons in exchange for me watching her kids once a week. This arrangement saves me at least $80 a month. As soon as the boys are busy playing, I get the laundry going and then grind some flour in our hand grinder. It's a long story why I'm grinding flour by hand, and although it's a good workout, I can't wait until we can buy an electric grinder. After an hour of grinding, I take the kids to our neighborhood playground.

12:30 - My friend picks up her boys, and we end up chitchatting for a half hour. We see each other twice a week and there's still always something to say. :)

1:00 - The two-year-old has been whiny all day and I consider just sending him to bed, but instead I make lunch - burritos because I haven't gotten the bread made yet today.

1:30 - The little one goes down for a nap. Phew! The oldest and I take turns reading from The Lion, the Witch, and the Wardrobe. He goes to practice the piano while the five-year-old practices reading from a BOB book. Then they both do their chores.

2:00 - Most days, I read a bit at this point (or catnap), but Mondays are really busy. The loads of pants and shirts are ready to be hung up to dry, the towels need folded, and I've still got to get the bread and yogurt going. When the boys finish their chores, they take turns playing on the computer.

3:45 - The little guy wakes up from his nap and thankfully is in a much better mood. During the school year, this is when we would walk to pick up my oldest from school, but today I decide that we need to make a run to the grocery store for oats so I can make granola. It takes us 30 minutes to get everyone out the door (why???), so by the time we get to the store, it's 4:30. While we're there, I pick up some milk so I won't have to make another grocery trip this week - the rest of our food will come from our pantry and CSA.

5:30 - I heat up some homemade pizza from the freezer for dinner since I'm so far behind on bread-making tonight (normally, I'd use some of my bread dough to make fresh pizza).

6:15 - Get two loaves of bread ready for second rise and shape the rest of the dough into bagels. Then I unload the dishwasher.

6:40 - My husband arrives home from work, scarfs down dinner, and we have Family Home Evening. During lulls in the lesson, I finish up making the bagels and bake the bread. Then my husband gets the boys ready for bed while I do dishes.

8:30 - I write this blog post, check my email, skim through Facebook, catch up on my Google Reader, and then settle onto the couch to read while my husband watches TV. (He's working tonight, but usually he'll fold the last load of laundry. I decide to save it for tomorrow.)

10:30 - My husband and I read our Sunday School lesson together.

11:00 - Lights out.

By the end of the day on most Mondays, I've washed and put away four loads of laundry, vacuumed/swept the livingroom, and made yogurt, granola, two loaves of bread, pizza, and some other bread products. It makes for a long, busy day, but it means that I rarely have to turn on my oven the rest of the week, all of our clothes are clean, my house looks fairly neat, and the boys and I can spend our time playing instead of working.

When I've told people about my Big Jobs Day in the past, I often get asked, "What do you do with your kids?" I don't do anything with my kids. They know that Mondays are my Big Jobs Day, and they keep themselves entertained, knowing that if I get all of my jobs done, they'll be able to spend more time at the library, playgroup, and children's museum the rest of the week. If they get bored, I invite them to help me do my jobs...and that usually knocks the boredom right out of them.

Do you have a big jobs day? Or do you spread your chores out throughout the week? What do you prefer?

You can read about a day in the life of more Green Moms on June 21st at Fake Plastic Fish.

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Challengicious Monday: More Outdoor Water Reduction

2010-06-14T00:15:00.002-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Like last week, this week's water-related challenge is:

Reduce Your Outdoor Water Use

Just a few more random tips for you this week:

Periodically check outdoor faucets, pipes, and hoses for leaks.
Clean your driveway or sidewalk with a broom instead of a hose.
Install water barrels to catch the rain water from your roof.
Weed your lawn and garden regularly so your plants don't have to compete with the weeds for water.
Drive your car through a commercial carwash that recycles water rather than washing by hand. If you do decide to water by hand, wash your car on the grass so you can water the lawn at the same time.
Limit the amount of concrete and wastewater runoff in your yard by using porous materials for walkways, patios, and even driveways.

The main concept with these water-saving tips (and the ones from the past three challenges) is to be mindful of how much water you're using. Every time you turn on the faucet, think to yourself, "How could I reduce the amount of water I need? Is there any way I could reuse this water when I'm done with it?"

In addition to trying to reduce our water usage, we also need to be mindful of what we're putting into our water. Every time you pour something down the drain, it ends up in our water supply.

Are you pouring hazardous materials down the drain? This includes things like paint and motor oil but also cooking oil. Be conscious of how you dispose of materials that could be harmful.
What chemicals are in your personal care products and cleaning supplies? Do your household cleaners contain phosphates, which cause algae blooms that choke out fish and other marine life?
Are you using your toilet as a trash can? If it didn't come out of your own body, it shouldn't be flushed (with toilet paper the exception).
Are you spraying your yard with pesticides, herbicides, or chemical fertilizer? In pursuit of the perfect lawn, many people don't think about the end result of all of those chemicals sprayed in our yards - one good rain, and it runs right off into the gutter, where it ends up in our rivers, lakes, and water sources.

Being mindful of water use is an ongoing process that we're still working on. We bought a water barrel from the Habitat Humanity store a couple months ago that we'll hopefully get set up sometime this week. Maybe...June is a busy month! Stay tuned...

(One more way that we add chemicals to our water supply is through our pharmaceuticals and birth control products. I'd love to have a post about this during our water challenges but don't have time to research right now. If anyone wants to do a guest post on this subject here at The Conscious Shopper, let me know!)

Will you take the challenge?

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Photo by Pink Sherbet Photography

How to Get Your Kids to Eat Salad (Put flowers in it!!!)

2010-06-11T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mix a mesclun salad mix with strawberries, toasted walnuts, green onions, and the pansies that you need to pick out of your garden and replace with the more summery petunias, and drizzle with a basic balsamic vinaigrette. A salad no child could resist!

Balsamic Vinaigrette

MAKES 1/4 cup
COST: $0.80

1 Tbsp. balsamic vinegar
3 Tbsp. olive oil
1/2 tsp. dark brown sugar, optional
salt and pepper to taste

Mix ingredients thoroughly and pour on salad.

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I Need...Sunscreen

2010-06-10T10:24:00.005-04:00

This past weekend, we headed down to Wilmington for some fun times on one of North Carolina's beautiful beaches. As soon as we got there, we dutifully slathered our boys with sunscreen - I had bought a couple bottles of Nature's Gate Mineral Kidsblock because it was on sale at Whole Foods and scores a 3 with the EWG.

Admittedly, we were on the beach for about four hours and forgot to reapply after two hours, but still...Nature's Gate Mineral Kidsblock is total crap. It's so thick that it's hard to spread and even feels a little crumbly the more you rub it. It doesn't soak into the skin, which might be good since it contains nanoparticles (like all mineral sunscreens) but leaves you looking like a chalky ghost. (Yes, my vanity is at play here, but who wants to look ridiculous when at the beach?) When you get into the water, the sunscreen just rinses right off (yay, $8 washed out into the ocean!). And to top it off, my kids went home with one of those sunburns that doesn't rear it's ugly head until hours after you're out of the sun and then gets progressively worse and worse until it hurts to move.

Back to the sunscreen drawing board...

The Environmental Working Group came out with its 2010 Sunscreen Guide a month or two ago, so I spent an hour last night reading every bit of it. Here's what I learned:

There are two types of sunscreens: chemical and mineral. The most common ingredient in chemical sunscreens is oxybenzone, which is potentially a hormone disrupter. Mineral sunscreens contain nanoparticles of zinc oxide and titanium dioxide, but the EWG has determined that these are safer than the alternative.
Some sunscreens contain Vitamin A, and this may be causing tumors and lesions.
Pale white folk like myself and two of my boys should look for a high SPF and slather it on (which I knew) but an SPF higher than 50 is bogus.
It's better to use a cream sunscreen than a spray because you could end up inhaling things you don't want to. I know it's easier to apply a spray to an antsy child, but I personally have always preferred creams because I can tell where I'm applying and if I'm putting enough on (though that's moot if I forget to reapply like I did last weekend!).

Even not knowing all of that, I had picked a pretty good sunscreen as far as safety. It's a mineral sunscreen with both zinc and titanium and it's fragrance-free. With an SPF of 20, it's probably not effective enough for the beach, but it's fine for everyday wear. But the other factors (the crumbliness, the chalkiness, the not-at-all waterproof-ness) have me searching for a new sunscreen.

A couple contenders:

The issue is always price...

The Nature's Gate sunscreen cost me $8 for 4 oz. on sale. Of the options listed above, the cheapest is the Episencial at $15 for a 4 oz., and the prices go way up from there. Considering that we go through an entire bottle of sunscreen every time we go swimming, that's a big deal. I'm wondering if it would be more cost effective to buy all of them sunshirts so we would need to apply less sunscreen. Or maybe just make them wear t-shirts.

Have any of you found a sunscreen you love?

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Grocery Bills, Budgets, and Flawed Food Systems

2010-06-10T10:08:00.001-04:00

In case you missed it, here was my post yesterday at the Green Phone Booth:

Last week, we talked a lot about the cost of groceries - first with my post about how I came to peace with my high grocery bill and then with Robbie's post about keeping her grocery bill inline with her budget.

Even before Robbie wrote her post, I had been thinking about the flipside to the issue. I realize that I'm very lucky to be able to splurge on what some consider food luxuries, and although there are many people who could afford to make cutbacks in other areas and shift their savings to their food budgets, there are also plenty of people (especially in these tough economic times) who are already living as frugally as they can and simply have no money to spare.

So what about them? Do we point our fingers at them and scold them for their poor choices?

Read more...

Challengicious Monday Reduce Your Outdoor Water Use

2010-06-07T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's this week's water-related challenge

Reduce Your Outdoor Water Use

My out-of-control garden, taller than my five-year-old

Instead of the usual Baby Steps etc., I'm just going to list a bunch of random tips today for watering and landscaping your yard and garden:

The best time to water your lawn or garden is in the early morning.
Make sure your sprinklers are positioned so you're watering the lawn or garden and not the sidewalk.
Check your sprinkler system and outdoor faucets periodically for drips and leaks.
If you have an automatic sprinkler system, install a rain shut-off device so you don't double water. Overwatering can be just as bad for your plants as underwatering (not to mention wasting lots of water).
Set up a drip irrigation system to water near the roots where the plants need it most rather than on the leaves where you could spread disease.
Multi-task by letting your kids run through the sprinkler in a spot of your yard that needs some water, and move the sprinkler throughout the yard rather than always turning it on in the same spot.
Water your plants deeply but less frequently to create healthier and stronger landscapes.
Choose plants that are native to your area and/or require less water.
Plant during the spring or fall rather than midsummer when plants require more water.
Reduce the amount of grass in your yard by adding more trees, shrubs, and ground covers.
Mulch around your plants and garden to keep the soil cooler and avoid evaporation. A good source of mulch is the tree's own leaves - collect them in the fall, shred them, and then spread them around the base of the tree. Or skip the raking and leave them on the ground where they fall.
Keep your lawn mower adjusted to a higher setting - longer grass holds soil moisture better than shorter grass.
Aerate your lawn by poking holes about six inches apart throughout the yard so water will penetrate into the soil and reach the roots rather than running off the surface.

Pretty simple stuff once you get into the habit!

Will you take the challenge?

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Homemade Strawberry Jam and Syrup

2010-06-05T00:15:00.001-04:00

My two younger boys and I spent the morning at an organic u-pick strawberry farm a couple weeks ago. The boys were amazingly good and even helped, so I kept picking and picking. Tip for any parents who want to take their kids strawberry picking: Bring a wagon, put a bucket of strawberries in it, and let them have at it.

We ended up with five 5-lb buckets plus I threw in an extra 5-lb box to make a total of 30 pounds of strawberries.

We ate one bucket, made one and a half into jam, made half of one into syrup, froze two, and dried the last 5 pounds.

First Son helped by eating strawberries.

I didn't plan very well in advance, so we picked up some packages of low-sugar pectin and some canning jar lids at the grocery store on the way home one day. Next time, I'd like to use Pomona Pectin because I've heard good things about it, and I'd like to give these reusable canning lids a try.

Strawberry Jam Cost Summary

To make 8 pint jars of jam, I spent...

$21 on strawberries
$7.50 on low-sugar pectin
$1.44 on lids
$1.44 on sugar

Total = $3.92 per jar

Jam in the same size jar costs $5 from my farmers market, and the Whole Foods brand is $4.50 (adjusting for jar size). So it ends up being a money saver, but not a crazy amount of savings.

If I had prepared in advance, I could have gotten cheaper pectin and lids, but it definitely saves to use the low-sugar pectin. For local readers, the strawberries from Vollmer Farm are AMAZING, but my friend Lina told me about Whitted Bowers Farm, where the strawberries are a little bit cheaper. All in all, I think I could get the price down next year to about $3.25 a jar.

I'm hoping these cost summaries aren't turning anyone off of preserving their own food, because I am enjoying it. But I think it's also interesting to see whether or not it's really saving money, rather than just assuming it is because I want it to.

I'll tell you something else...Dehydrating foods is not cost effective AT ALL because we eat them so fast!

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June Extreme Challenge

2010-06-03T00:15:00.002-04:00

Another month, another extreme challenge!

Buy Nothing New

Have you all heard of The Compact? They're a group of people who pledge to buy nothing new for a year. Be happy I'm not asking you to go that extreme, but we will be following their rules, which are:

As agreed, The Compact has several aims (more or less prioritized below):

1) to go beyond recycling in trying to counteract the negative global environmental and socioeconomic impacts of U.S. consumer culture, to resist global corporatism, and to support local businesses, farms, etc. -- a step, we hope, inherits the revolutionary impulse of the Mayflower Compact

2) to reduce clutter and waste in our homes (as in trash Compact-er)

3) to simplify our lives (as in Calm-pact)

So, here goes for the rules:

First principle - don't buy new products of any kind (from stores, web sites, etc.)
Second principle - borrow or buy used.

A few exceptions - using the "fair and reasonable person" standard -- i.e., you'll know in your heart when you're rationalizing a violation:
food, drink, and necessary medicine (no elective treatments like Viagra or Botox)
necessary cleaning products, but not equipment (don't go out and buy the Dyson Animal, for example).
socks and underwear (utilitarian--non-couture or ornamental) pajamas for the children
Utilitarian services (plumbers, electricians, auto mechanics, veterinarians, dog/house-sitters, fire/paramedics, dry cleaners, house cleaners, etc.) -- Support local and encourage used parts (rebuilt transmission, salvaged headlight unit, etc.)
Recreational services (massage, etc.) & local artisanal items - Good sources for gifts, but should not be over-indulged in for personal gratification
Charitable contributions(Seva, Heifer, and the like) - an even better source for gifts
Plants and cut flowers - Whenever possible, cultivate from free cuttings or seeds. Ok in extreme moderation (yo, incoming oxy) when purchased from local businesses (i.e., not the Target Garden Shop)--and again, within reason
Art supplies - First line of attack: SCRAP. When absolutely necessary (for the professionals and talented amateurs in the group), from local businesses
Magazines, newspapers, Netflix - renewals only, no new subscriptions. Even better to consume online Video rentals and downloadable music files (non-material) -- freely shared and legal, please

My family will be doing our best to buy nothing new this month, even while we take a trip to the beach this weekend and to Tennessee later this month. Can we do it? We're going to try our best!

Will you accept the June Extreme Challenge to buy nothing new for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

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How I Came to Peace with My Grocery Bill

2010-06-02T10:14:00.003-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today accepting my high grocery budget:

For a long time, those conversations made me feel ridiculous. I've been looking for ways to add more money to my grocery budget. I pay twice as much as most people for toothpaste, and I never get it for free. I'm trying to drive to fewer grocery stores, not more. I rarely ever find coupons for the products I want.

I've often wondered how I can compete with the message of the coupon shoppers: "If you shop the way I do, your grocery bill will go down by $150 a month" when if you shop the way I do, your grocery bill will go up by $150 a month.

But lately, I've been looking at it like this:

Read more...

Announcing the Winner of the Reuseit.com Giveaway

2010-06-01T22:06:00.002-04:00

The winner of the $25 gift certificate from Reuseit.com is Abbie, who wrote:

Oh, thanks for this wonderful website. As i am thinking about teacher thank-you gifts, and upcoming birthday presents, oh, and father's day! this site will definitely come in handy. I like the Glass Water Bottle with the cool Silicone Sleeve by Lifefactory. I just love their cool poka dotted look.

Abbie, I'll be in touch with you soon, or you can email me at consciousshopperblog [at] gmail [dot] com.

As for the rest of you, don't worry - there will be more chances to win prizes from Reuseit.com in the future, or you can head on over to the store now.

May Budget Round-Up

2010-06-01T00:15:00.006-04:00

This is a good month. Not only are we under budget, but we're also down one more trash bag this month. Hopefully we can keep that up!

One big change, though...I was given a new responsibility at church - I'm now working with the youth, which means that I have to be at church on Wednesday nights as well as Sundays and will also be driving a lot for youth conferences, dances, camping trips, etc. Our church is 10 miles from our house, and our going there is non-negotiable (in case anyone was going to suggest switching churches), so I'm going to look for opportunities to carpool and other ways to keep my mileage down - like switching to a closer doctor and stores.

In case anyone is wondering how we did with the May extreme challenge - we did it!!! I turned on the A/C maybe four times: twice when it was just too hot to sleep and twice when we had company over. The heat is still off today, and we might be able to go longer - if I can convince my husband to quit closing the windows at night. (He says that the outdoor noise bothers him.)

Monthly Spending (budgeted amount) [year average]

Groceries: $623 ($650) [708.75]
Transportation: $167 ($150) [149.87]
Energy: $82 ($150) [151.45]
Utilities: $46 ($50) [44.96]
Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $365 ($400) [362.71]
Clothes: $0 (no set budget) [22.94]

TOTAL: $1,283 ($1,400) [$1417.52]

The Numbers:

Trash: 3 bags of trash (13 gallon bags); 1 recycling bin with plastic, metal, and glass; 1 paper grocery sacks of paper
Miles Driven: 1012
Average daily electricity use: 21 kWh
Average daily water use: 122 gallons

Best of...

Most Popular Posts: Make Your Own: Homemade Febreeze (486 pageviews) and Goodbyn Review (140 pageviews)
Most Commented Post (excluding giveaways): Overshare (18 comments)

Next Month I'll Be...

reading Raising Financially Fit Kids
working on water use for The Conscious Shopper Challenge
buying nothing new for the June Extreme Challenge
taking some vacations!

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Challengicious Monday: More Indoor Water Reduction

2010-05-31T00:15:00.000-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Like last week's water-related challenge, this week I'm challenging you to:

Reduce Your Indoor Water Use

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Defrost food in the refrigerator rather than under running water.
Turn off the water while brushing your teeth and shaving.
Don't rinse your dishes before putting them in the dishwasher. Wipe them off with a dishrag or use the method I describe here.
Reuse your towels multiple times to avoid creating extra laundry. Also wear your clothes more than once (not underwear).
Don't use the toilet as a trash can.
Take baths family style - i.e., Mommy and baby, Mommy and Daddy, small kids together.

JOGGING STRIDE

Compost vegetable scraps instead of using the garbage disposal.
Replace showerheads with low-flow varieties and install aerators in your faucets.
Upgrade your toilet to a more efficient model, put a bottle of water in the tank, or install a dual-flush system.

MARATHON RUNNER

If it's yellow, let it mellow. If it's brown, flush it down.
Consider a compostable toilet.
Pee on your garden.

Since I'm no Crunchy Chicken, I'm not up for peeing on my garden just yet, but I would like to install the dual flush system on my toilets. I may not get to it this month, but I'll let you know as soon as I get to it.

I'm happy to report that after looking back over today's challenge and last week's, I'm doing better on water conservation than I thought. It's nice to sometimes get a pat-yourself-on-the-back week.

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image by Joe Shlabotnik

Seven Weeks of No Poo

2010-05-27T13:05:00.008-04:00

Last night as my husband and I were getting into bed, I made him listen to me gripe about no poo for 15 minutes, and when I finished, I said, "That was the post I was going to write tonight but I didn't get around to it. So now you can write it for me!" He refused. :(

So now let's see if I can remember everything I told him...

I'm going on seven weeks of no poo. Here are a few of my Twitter and Facebook updates to give you an idea of how it's been going:

Day 5 of no poo - my hair looks good but feels nasty. Even hubby noticed.
Day 22 of no poo. I bought a boar bristle brush that has made all the difference. Starting to like my hair again. However, the new brush cost $10 - so far no poo has not saved me money.
Colored my hair this morning, and strangely, it has done wonders for my no poo hair. Feels so soft and "normal"!
Over a month #nopoo, I can go two days between washes but on third day I seem to have dandruff??!!

It hasn't been all bad. Here's what I LIKE about no poo:

Saving money - about $60 if I don't buy shampoo or conditioner for a year.
I don't have to pay attention to whether or not I'm about to run out of shampoo and conditioner or make a special trip out to the Lush store at Crabtree Valley Mall.
I don't have to squint at the back of shampoo bottles or try to translate scientific jargon.
I can pretty successfully skip a day between washing my hair now.

This picture was taken on the day I colored my hair.

This is today. On the days I don't wash my hair, I get rid of bedhead by curling it. The grease holds the curl better than any hairspray. :)

A front shot of today. For some reason when I take pictures of myself I get a weird expression on my face.

Here's what I DISLIKE about no poo:

Even after almost two months, my hair still gets nasty greasy if I try to go more than two days between washings.
Before the grease phase, my hair has a "thick" feeling to it, as if I put hair styling products in it even though I don't. The boar bristle brush helped a lot with that, but the only time my hair really felt good was the three or four days after I colored it. (I'm guessing the harsh chemicals stripped everything out of my hair. Other people who color their hair might know what I'm talking about when i say that my hair always feels softest right after I've colored it, as oxymoronic as that may sound.)
When I brush my hair with the boar bristle brush, it gets coated in a greyish white powder. For the past couple weeks, I've been seeing that in my hair. At first I thought it was dandruff (see Twitter post above), but my husband who actually has dandruff says it's not. So now we're thinking it's baking soda residue???

The white residue is most noticeable on the black bristles.

I feel like I've gone so far now, I might as well keep it up for awhile. But unlike a few others of you that I've already heard back from, I am not having the magical results people often describe after going no poo. Here are a few of the thoughts that have been running through my head:

Has my hair returned to it's "normal" state and I just don't like normal?

Does hair really return to "normal" on no poo, or do people just get used to the change?

If this is really more natural than using shampoo, why is it taking so long for my body to adjust? It seems like if it's natural, my body would catch on pretty fast! It would be like, "Finally you've stopped dousing me in unnecessary chemicals and now I can do my job like I'm meant to."

My husband's about out of shampoo. Since my no poo experience hasn't been completely positive, I'll never convince him to go no poo. Guess I have to make a trip to Crabtree Valley Mall...:(

No poo readers: I need your advice. What am I doing wrong?

Final note: There's no use even bothering to lecture me about how I shouldn't color my hair. I know, I know, I know. It's on my list of eco-changes to make eventually, but like cheap chocolate, it's one that's not going to die easily. I've had red hair so long, some people don't even know I'm not a natural redhead! And yes, I do plan to try henna eventually.

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Reuseit.com Review and Giveaway

2010-05-25T00:15:00.001-04:00

We've talked a lot this year about reducing our trash by switching from disposables to reusable products. As I've mentioned, I was recently invited to become an ambassador for Reuseit.com to continue promoting a lifestyle of reuse. Before I signed on for this, I put a lot of thought into whether or not Reuseit.com is a brand I want my name attached to, and I spent several hours perusing their site. Here's what I found:

Reuseit.com Review

Reuseit.com began in 2003 as Reusablebags.com, offering high quality cloth shopping bags to help people move away from disposable plastic grocery bags. Their product line quickly expanded to reusables in general and now includes bottles, lunchbags, cloth towels, toothbrushes, Diva Cups, and much more. They are a leader in their industry and have established themselves as a go-to source for information on reducing consumption of disposable products.

In case you missed my past posts on Reuseit.com, here are a few of their products that I bought recently:

Goodbyn lunchboxes

Klean Kanteen insulated water bottle

stainless steel straws

What makes Reuseit.com a great company?

Packaging

According to their website, Reuseit.com strives "as a company to continually reduce our eco impact. We consciously reduce the amount of packaging it takes to get your order to you with no damage whatsoever to items. Our boxes are made with 40-60% recycled content and we always choose the smallest one for each order. Whenever possible, we opt for envelopes over boxes we’ve replaced bubble wrap with recycled paper packaging. All packaging we use is recyclable and we never use those nasty packing peanuts"

Materials

Reuseit.com seeks out high quality materials and sustainable fabrics, both for their own line of shopping bags and for the other products in their store. To answer concerns some of their customers have had, they've written FAQ pages on BPA, lead, and synthetic materials that I think are worth perusing. They also provide a Materials Glossary as a guide to some of the sustainable materials and fabrics used in products they carry.

Manufacturing

Reuseit.com manufactures their own ACME bag line in accordance with Fair Labor/Fair Trade practices and they seek to carry products that were also manufactured fairly.

Quality

Reuseit.com was awarded Green America's People's Choice Award in 2007 and 2009 and was a top 10 nominee in 2006. Green America is one of my favorite organizations and holds very high standards for companies in their network.
Reuseit.com was also a BizRate Circle of Excellence Gold Honoree for customer satisfaction and is a member of 1% for the Planet.

Affordability

Reuseit.com's products range in affordability, but they make it easy for you to shop in your price range by enabling you to search by price or sales.

Availability

Reuseit.com is an online store. Check out their FAQ on Why E-commerce is Eco-Friendly.

Visit Reuseit.com for more information.

Giveaway

Reuseit.com is offering a $25 gift certificate to one reader of The Conscious Shopper. Here's how to enter:
Tell me one (or more!) products in Reuseit.com's store that you'd love to own.
You can earn up to two extra entries by sharing this post on Facebook or tweeting it on Twitter and then leaving a comment for each thing that you do. This is completely based on the honor system, and remember that each comment is a separate entry.
You have until next Monday, May 31st to enter. I'll randomly select a winner and announce the results next Tuesday. Good luck!

This contest has ended. The winner was Abbie - congratulations!

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Disclosure: I am an ambassador for Reuseit.com. Check out my About page for more info on what that means and always remember to be a Conscious Shopper.

Challengicious Monday: Reduce Your Indoor Water Use

2010-05-24T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your first water-related challenge:

Reduce Your Indoor Water Use

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Fill up your dishwasher all the way before running it.
Conserve water when washing dishes by filling up both sides of the sink - one with hot water to wash in and one with lukewarm/cool water to rinse.
Only wash full loads of laundry. Also, fill up the washing machine to the appropriate level depending on the size of your load.
Keep a pitcher of water in the fridge for cold drinks rather than running the tap until it's cold.
Wash vegetables, fruits, and herbs in a bowl of water rather than running water. Use the collected water on your garden. You can also use cooled pasta water, potato water, and the water from steaming vegetables.
Plug the tub as soon as you turn the water on, and then adjust the temperature while the tub is filling.

JOGGING STRIDE

Take shorter showers. Shorten your shower time by not shaving in the shower or washing your hair every other day.
Use a refillable water bottle to cut down on the amount of glasses that need to be washed each day. Hopefully, you're already doing this.
Monitor your water bill to be on the watch for water leaks.

MARATHON RUNNER

Turn off the water in the shower while you lather up. Turn it back on to rinse.
Keep a bucket in the shower to catch warming-up water. Use it to flush the toilet.
Check your city codes to find out if you can re-route your plumbing to use grey water in your yard rather than sending it to the sewage plant.
Shower every other day.

If you've been a reader of The Conscious Shopper long enough to remember the post I Need...Water (indoors), you may remember that long showers are one of my eco-sins. I hate baths but have a weakness for very hot, very long showers. Trying to get myself to move faster in the morning was a total failure, but going no poo has helped me reduce my shower time on some days since I have less to do in there without washing my hair.

Another one of the challenges that I mean to work on is washing my fruits and veggies in a bowl of water rather than the sink. I've been concerned about our increased water use with the garden this year, and that would be one way to cut back a tiny bit.

The Marathon Runner challenges are pretty extreme, so don't feel down on yourself if you're just not ready to advance that far. I'll admit upfront that I dream of a grey water system but besides that my green side is a little lighter in this category.

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image by stevendepolo

Water Down

2010-05-23T21:37:00.007-04:00

We've Trimmed Our Waste Lines and Energized, and now it's time to...

Water Down

There are only two categories in this part of The Conscious Shopper Challenge, but there's a lot to do in each challenge, so I'm stretching it out over four weeks instead of two. Over the next four weeks, I'll challenge you with lots of ways to:

Reduce your indoor water use. (Part 1 and Part 2)
Reduce your outdoor water use. (Part 1 and Part 2)

Even if you live in an area where water seems plentiful, it's still important to be conscious of your water consumption. Here in North Carolina, we have a hot humid climate where water seems to flow in abundance. Yet just a few years ago there was a terrible drought, and the greenies around here are in constant discussion about how to protect our polluted and depleting source of water - Falls Lake.

Water is an immensely important resource, both for our own consumption and for the consumption of the plants we depend on for food, and we need to be ever mindful of how we're using it and what we're letting flow into it.

So let's get to it and see if we can water down in 2010. Come back tomorrow for the first water challenge.

**WATER DOWN CHECKLIST** Keep track of your eco-changes by printing this checklist on recycled paper OR be extra green by saving your own editable digital copy.

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Photo by Snap

The Rest of My Loot from Reuseit.com

2010-05-21T00:15:00.001-04:00

As I wrote a few weeks ago, I recently bought several items from Reuseit.com during their big Earth Month sale. Besides the Goodbyn lunchboxes, I also bought a new water bottle and some stainless steel straws.

I was so so bummed a couple months ago when I left my stainless steel water bottle at the playground. I tried to go back and get it, but some very thirsty stranger must have found it, took it home, now uses it every day, and loves the stainless steel treasure they found in the park. I'm hoping...

I am such a rebel at heart that it pains me to buy products from brands that are really popular. I didn't want a Klean Kanteen because everyone has a Klean Kanteen. Yet here I am with a Klean Kanteen and all I can say is, "It was a really good deal!!!"

I went with the 12 oz.wide-mouth insulated stainless steel bottle and also bought the cafe cup lid. The reasons I went with this particular bottle are many-fold:

My last bottle was ginormous and luggy. This time I wanted something small enough that it could fit in my purse.
I wanted something that could be used for both water and hot chocolate so that I didn't have to remember my thermos. Cuz I never do.
I wanted something that would keep my water cold so I could leave it in the car and still satisfy my kids after an hour on the playground (instead of hearing them complain "this water tastes weird!")

So far I only have one complaint about my new bottle: If I leave the water in the bottle overnight, it tastes very strange the next day - kind of plasticky actually, which makes me wonder what they used to insulate it. I've also wondered if I'm just crazy because surely the stainless steel would keep out whatever they've used to insulate the bottle. Maybe it's really metal I'm tasting and I'm just clueless about what metal tastes like...

I also bought these stainless steel straws. Not because I don't love my Glass Dharma straws, because I really really do. But glass and a two-year-old, not the best plan. These straws now hang out in my To-Go Kit, ready to save hundreds of disposable straws from a sad, sad fate.

I feel a little sheepish about this particular purchase because I didn't research it at all before buying and have no idea if it fits my usual standards. I'm trusting Reuseit.com's standards on this one.

If you're in need of some lunchboxes, water bottles, stainless steel straws, and much much more, Reuseit.com has a special free shipping coupon for this weekend only. Simply type in the coupon code NEWCUST25 during checkout to receive free shipping on orders of $25 or more. The code is for new customers only, cannot be combined with other coupons, and doesn’t apply to volume or wholesale orders. Happy shopping!

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Disclosure: I am an ambassador for Reuseit.com. Check out my About page for more info on what that means and always remember to be a Conscious Shopper.

Homemade Applesauce

2010-05-20T14:33:00.011-04:00

Organic apples were on sale at Kroger about a month ago for $1/lb, making them cheaper than I've ever seen organic apples and even cheaper than most conventional apples. So I bought 50 pounds.

I bought a Victorio strainer, a water bath canner, and a dehydrator off of Craigslist a few months ago, and this was my first time using them.

Third Son helped by eating apples.

Second Son helped by cutting apples with a special knife that my sister bought for him. I started out cutting and coring the apples, but after the first batch, I discovered that my strainer would remove all of the skin and seeds for me. Best Craigslist purchase ever!

Third Son took a stab at cutting.

The water bath canner was not the best Craigslist purchase ever. It doesn't seem big enough for quart jars (the jars are only covered by 1/2 inch or so of water instead of the 1 to 2 inches in the instructions), which is really weird since I bought about 50 quart jars from the same lady I bought the canner from. The processing still seemed to work anyway - judging by the ol' pressing on the lid test.

I used the instructions from Pick Your Own, and I do believe that for my first attempt at canning, the applesauce turned out pretty well.

Cost Summary

We used about 35 pounds of the apples for applesauce (the rest were dried) and got 10 quart jars worth. I think I could have gotten a little more than that if I had realized at first that I didn't need to cut and core the apples. I already had the jars and didn't need to buy new lids because the Craigslist lady gave me some for free. This puts my cost per jar at $3.50.

I'm actually not sure how much a jar of organic applesauce costs because I rarely buy it, but $3.50 still seems quite high to me. A little Google searching indicates that a lot of people buy conventional apples for $20 a bushel, or less than $0.50 a pound. Wowza!

Anyone know where I can find organic apples for cheaper than $1 per pound for next year's canning?

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Biking...with Kids

2010-05-19T13:32:00.002-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today dreaming about family bikes:

As Envirambo wrote about yesterday, it's Bike to Work Week. I haven't been on a bike in years, but still I dream about being able to bike around town instead of driving, hauling my three kids and our groceries in our bicycle "minivan." Does such a thing really exist? As a matter of fact, yes. Bike designers around the world have taken away that age old excuse "but I've got kids!"

With three kids under six, I've had my eye on the ingenius Madsen - the only bike I've seen that can fit more than two kids. In fact, the Madsen can carry four kids, or two adults, or two kids and lots of groceries.

Read more...

Worm Bin versus Compost Tumbler

2010-05-18T09:46:00.006-04:00

When we did the Start Composting challenge a few months ago, I decided to put my worm bin out of service for awhile and try a different composting method. I'd been eying a compost tumbler at Home Depot (Lowes?) for $100, but then decided to try Craigslist, where I found this bad boy:

It's twice as big as the one from Home Depot (Lowes?) and cost half as much, though perhaps it's not quite as quality. I'm pretty sure the people I bought it from made it themselves, and after we got it home, we had to do some minor repair work to the frame. All in all though, I've been satisfied with the purchase.

So now that I've tried both methods, which do I like better? To be honest, both have their downsides:

The compost tumbler takes up a huge amount of space. It's as big as our trash can, but with the frame, sits much farther out from the wall.
The compost tumbler stinks. I don't remember ever noticing a stench coming from the worm bin, but if I did, it definitely wasn't as strong as the tumbler. Luckily, the smell is mostly contained inside the tumbler and is only really strong when I open it up to add food scraps.
Because it's so large and stinky, the tumbler sits way over on the side of the house by the trash cans - not nearly as convenient as the porch where the worm bin was.
Food takes much longer to decompose in the tumbler.
The worm bin leaked! And attracted fruit flies!

The Verdict: I hate composting!

I've heard so many people wax poetic about the joy of watching their waste turn into useful compost that I really expected to like it. But the truth is that I really really wish my city would start collecting food scraps, turn it into compost for me, and sell it back for a cheap amount. They already compost yard waste - why not food scraps?

In the meantime, our plan is to continue using the tumbler until it's full, and then go back to using the worm bin while the compost in the tumbler finishes. According to Pragmatic Environmentalism, we could solve our fruit fly problem with the worm bin by freezing the food scraps before putting them in the bin. And I've also read that we could solve our leaking problem by putting the bin up on bricks with an extra lid underneath to catch the dripping worm tea.

The compost in our worm bin is coming along nicely:

And here's a bonus picture of our garden:

How is your composting going?

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Challengicious Monday: Support Renewable Energy

2010-05-17T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your final energy-related challenge:

Support Renewable Energy

This is the final challenge in the Energize challenges, and like the last one, it's Marathon Runner only. In most of the energy-related challenges, you invest money to save money. This challenge also pays you back...but not with money. By supporting renewables, you help create a sustainable future with less damage to the environment and a secure source of energy.

Renewable energy sources include:

solar
wind
tidal
geothermal
biofuels
hydroelectric

Each of these sources has its downsides, but the overall net benefit of using renewables far outweighs the negatives when compared to using fossil fuels.

Three Ways to Support Renewable Energy

The easiest way to support renewable energy is through your power company. Typically, you'll pay a premium on your regular energy bill supporting renewable energy and the development of renewable technology. To find out if your power company has a green power program, search this chart from the Department of Energy.
If you're lucky to live in a few select states (Connecticut, Maine, Maryland, Massachusetts, New Jersey, New York, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Texas, Virginia, and the District of Columbia), you may be able to switch to a green electricity provider. Check out this chart from the Department of Energy for more information.
If neither of these options work for you, you can buy a Renewable Energy Certificate to support the production and development of renewable energy.

This is a Marathon Runner only challenge because I personally think that improving the energy efficiency of your home is a much better first step than turning straight to renewables. If you can reduce your energy needs by 30%, that's 30% less renewable energy that we need to produce. Plus, the technology for energy efficiency already exists while we're still working on improving the technology of renewables.

When you've gone as far as you can on the other challenges, that's when it's time to turn to renewable energy. I pay an extra $4 to NC Green Power every month - a small amount, yes, but I think every little bit counts. If you can afford more, please do!

Will you take the challenge?

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Image by Gabby Canonizado

Overshare

2010-05-14T00:15:00.003-04:00

Hope you all enjoyed the interview with Eco Yogini yesterday. I especially love her answer about why she "overshares" about her experience with the DivaCup, among other subjects.

So in the spirit of Eco Yogini, I thought we'd have ourselves a little overshare session today. First, I'll share a few things, and then it will be your turn to share in the comments - something you've learned on your green journey that you think would help others to know or something you've been embarrassed to ask, now's your chance. If you're not keen on the idea of an overshare, feel free to comment anonymously.

Okay, deep breaths, I think I'm going to die here...

Menstrual Cups

It took me forever to figure out how to use my Keeper properly. Several months, honestly, before I realized that my cervix sits low so where the diagram says my Keeper should be is not where it is on my body. If you're new to menstrual cups, figure out where your cervix is and realize that every body is different!

Crystal Deodorant

Some days the rock deodorant works better than others, and it doesn't seem to have anything to do with physical activity. Thankfully, even on those rare days where my pits fail the discreet sniff test, I don't think it's strong enough that anyone else would notice. At least my husband hasn't said anything.

Birth Control

We're still using condoms. I hate the pill and have contemplated the IUD but I'm just not sold on it. I'm intrigued by the idea of the Fertility Awareness Method (I even have the book on request at the library), but my husband says no way based on the fact that we got pregnant with each of our three boys without even trying.

Dandruff

A certain special someone in my life says he won't try the no poo method because of dandruff. Anyone have tips for natural remedies for dandruff?

Okay, your turn! Don't be shy! Don't let me be alone in this overshare!

An Interview with Eco Yogini

2010-05-13T00:15:00.001-04:00

Today I want to introduce you to one of my favorite bloggers, Lisa at Eco Yogini.

Unless you know me well, you may not know that in one of my spells of career ADD, I considered becoming a yoga instructor. In college, I was a yoga fanatic, practicing every day. Sadly nowadays I only get around to it once every couple weeks (and that's only thanks to the kindness of a friend who provides a free yoga class at my church). But I still love the yoga lifestyle and philosophy and think it ties in so well to living green.

Eco Yogini is a fantastic mix of information about practicing yoga and living an eco-friendly life. Since I started following her blog, I've learned both how to solve my slipping problem in downward dog and how to not be afraid of a menstrual cup! She's so honest and open, I'm sure you'll enjoy learning more about her:

Q: Can you give me a little background info about yourself, how long you've been practicing yoga, and why you decided to go green?

A: As a rural Canadian gal, I grew up in a pretty traditional (and loving!) lobster fishing family and I'm currently a Paediatric Speech-Language Pathologist. I've been practicing Yoga for about 5 years now and began my practice while completing my Masters at McGill in Montréal.

I think the eco-kicker was Al Gore's an Inconvenient Truth, as cliché'd as that sounds. Although I now realize he was a bit off in his claims, I do give him props for effectively mobilizing a new generation and causing a stir.

Q: I love how your blog blends yoga, feminism, and living an eco-friendly lifestyle. How do you think those topics are related?

A: Thank you :) Yoga essentially means 'to unite' and my yoga practice inherently strives to increase my connection with what I see as the Divine, myself and the world around me. There are many aspects of yoga, asana (or postures) being only one small part. Ahimsa, meaning 'non-violence' is one of the 8 limbs of Yoga. I just couldn't justify practicing Yoga, moving through that spiritual Journey on a mat made from PVC, surrounded by chemicals and contributing to what our scientific climatologist community is stating as the irreparable damage to our Planet's fragile Eco-System. Our Yoga practice should continue off our mat and I truly cannot separate the practice of connection from being 'green'. I am not yet at a place where I can accept that a person could truly call themselves a 'Yogi-ni' and not be a firm environmentalist. In Yoga everything is connected and we are all part of the Divine. As for feminism, I guess that's just a part of who I am and my spirituality (The Divine Goddess)...

Q: I have to admit that the first time I found your blog, I was doing a search about menstrual cups, trying to figure out how to use the darn things. (You were very helpful!) Why do you choose to "overshare" that type of information on your blog?

That first 'Overshare' almost made me pee my pants, I was so nervous. I guess the real reason why I wrote that post was because I wished someone had told me those things were normal with the DivaCup. I didn't have a lot of friends who were using it, and the instructions weren't very encouraging (call their 1800 line?? lol).

I am a firm believer that women in my generation (20 somethings- which is all I can speak to) retain this antiquated culture of 'menstruation=dirty'. We don't talk about it, we don't share or connect with each other. It's one of the tenants of Feminism- take away a sense of community and connection, isolate women from each other, and you take away their sense of worth, of power.

If 50% of the entire planet's population between the ages of 11 and 55 are menstruating... then I see no reason why we should be shocked to read about it.

Q: At the Conscious Shopper, I divide a lot of my going green tips into Baby Steps (easy), Jogging Stride steps (medium), and Marathon Runner steps (hardest). What are your favorite easy, medium, and hard tips for practicing yoga, and easy, medium, and hard tips for going green?

A: Yoga:

Baby Steps- Borrow a DVD for beginners. I like Seane Corn's vinyasa flow DVD. She's practical, gives fantastic instructions and you can try it at home without anyone watching!
Jogging Strides: Yoga with friends while following along a DVD. This way you're practicing around other people, but they're your friends... so they *shouldn't* judge.
Marathon Runner: Once you're ready, a real class with an instructor is best. When it comes to type of Yoga, each person will prefer a style that is best for them at that time in their lives (it can change!). No one type of Yoga is better, they are just different. Except Hot Yoga, I would strongly caution new yogis to perhaps try other styles first. ALWAYS listen to what your body tells you. Pain does not equal progress in Yoga. Also, you are never 'more advanced' at yoga if you can achieve ridiculous gumby postures. Yoga isn't about 'advancing' but connecting with yourself. Finally, you do not have to be flexible or strong to practice yoga. It took me two whole years to touch my toes :)

Going Green:

Baby Steps- I started with switching over all my household cleaning products. Eco-alternatives are so easy to find now, and are affordable! (The switch to vinegar and water took much longer!)
Jogging Strides: Try walking to more places, take steps to reduce your water usage, compost and recycle.
Marathon Runner: Cut out plastic from your life (storage, bags, new products), try shopping local and organic for food, search for ways to get your electricity as renewable as possible (solar panels etc), and speak out! I think activism really plays an important part in being a part of Change.

Q: What blogs and resources do you think would be helpful for all the eco-yoginis out there?

A: I read a lot of eco-blogs; like your lovely blog, Fake Plastic Fish, No Impact Man... inspiring people that make a difference. I also really love A Green Spell, Elephant Journal. My favourite resources include: Ecoholic by Adria Vasil, A Sacred Balance by David Suzuki (anything David Suzuki is awesome), The World Without Us by Alan Weisman and The Earth Path by Starhawk.

My fav products:

Eco-Yoga mat- Jade rubber mats... for durability and eco-ness
Recycleyourmat.com: send in your old yoga mat and they'll recycle or donate them!
Clothing: Roots, Tonic Wear, Karma and Skyler (Canadian)
Mat bag: Yogoco, DIY :)

I hope you all enjoyed getting to know Eco Yogini. She is currently challenging herself to practice yoga every day in May to raise funds for the Canadian National Institute for the Blind. You can support her by visiting her sponsor page.

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Packaging Versus Price: How Do You Decide?

2010-05-12T13:06:00.002-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today debating about packaging versus price:

Admittedly, there are times when avoiding plastic costs more. For example, I could run down to my local Walmart and pick up an insulated PVC lunchbag for my kindergartner for about $10. Or I could buy a stainless steel PlanetBox for $60. That's a big price difference, but when I feel like I'm investing in something that's going to last a long time, I'm generally willing to pay more.

But what about when the plastic-free item costs more but isn't necessarily better?

Read more...

Wrapping Up My DIY Audit

2010-05-11T00:15:00.000-04:00

The house we owned in Maryland was built in the early eighties, so by the time we moved in, it was more than twenty years old. Houses last much longer than twenty years, but oh man, that house felt so old. The baseboards were all pulling away from the wall, there were cracks in the walls and ceiling, and every month it seemed like something else broke. When we moved, my husband and I swore that we would never own an old house ever again.

It's probably not the most eco-friendly thing to say, but after doing my DIY audit the past few months, I stand by that statement. The house we're living in now is approximately five years old and well-constructed, and that has made my job so simple.

Locating Air Leaks

Last month, I sealed the air leaks on all of my electrical outlets - so simple but makes a big impact. A couple people told me I should also put childproof plugs in all of the outlets, and that's on my list of things to do...if I can figure out where I stored them.

To finish up the "locating air leaks" step of the U.S. Department of Energy's DIY audit, I crawled around my house examining the baseboards, windows and doors for any cracks or possible air leaks. In the whole house, I only found one spot where there was a space between the baseboard and the wall (is it worth buying caulk for that one little spot?), and the weather stripping on the back door might need replacing. I also know because I recently cleaned behind the stove that there's a very large gap between the flooring and the drywall with no baseboard. As renters, I'm not sure how we'd fix that.

The biggest air leak in our house is the attic hatch/pull-down stairs. Eventually, I'd really love to add an insulated cover there, but we're not quite ready to make that investment yet.

Insulation

As renters, there's little we can do in this category, but I can say that the house does seem to be well-insulated with thick blankets of insulation in both the attic and crawlspace with no obvious gaps.

Heating/Cooling Equipment

Again as renters, we're kind of stuck with what we've got, but we can make sure we change our filter regularly. I also plan to go out later this week and trim the bush that hides the air conditioning unit.

Lighting

We've already switched our bulbs to CFLs where possible, so not much left to do in this category.

So this is it for us:

Add childproof plugs to the outlets.
Caulk the small gap between the baseboard and the wall.
Insulate the attic hatch.
Change the air filter.
Trim the bush by the air conditioning unit.

Pretty simple and straightforward.

How'd your audit go?

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Challengicious Monday: Upgrade to Energy Star

2010-05-10T00:15:00.000-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Upgrade to Energy Star

We're at the winding down phase of the Energize challenges, and these last two are Marathon Runner only. If you're in the market for a new appliance, HVAC system, or household electronic, consider looking for the Energy Star rating, "a joint program of the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency and the U.S. Department of Energy helping us all save money and protect the environment through energy efficient products and practices." Although Energy Star products tend to be a little more expensive than their conventional counterparts, they should earn their keep through savings on your energy bill. And you can get federal tax credits for many Energy Star products!

If you're not planning on upgrading already, I personally think it's better to hold on to your appliances and repair them until they bite the dust, but I've seen other sources that disagree. Either way, you should definitely not go into debt just to complete a Conscious Shopper Challenge. So when you're ready...

Will you take the challenge?

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Vegetarian Recipe: Baked Pasta Casserole

2010-05-08T12:09:00.007-04:00

I've always been the type of cook that says, "I'm making what I want. If you don't like it, you can have a peanut butter sandwich." But recently, I decided that although this philosophy has led to kids who will eat kale and collard greens, it has also led to a lot of food waste. And while I don't want to stop offering them kale and collard greens, perhaps I could offer them foods I know they don't like a little less often.

So recently, I went through my recipes and cut out the ones that only my husband and I will eat. Out with the spicy, out with the "weird," in with a lot more pancakes for dinner.

Strangely, none of my boys like pasta. Hoping that it was just the recipes I was using, I decided to cut out most of my pasta recipes and try out some new ones. My first attempt was this Baked Pasta Casserole from 101 Cookbooks with only slight modifications (I used kale instead of spinach and rotini instead of shells because that's what I had on hand, and I didn't bake it because I was in a rush...Next time, I'll definitely bake it.)

Baked Pasta Casserole

Serves 8
Cost: $1.70 per serving

extra-virgin olive oil
3/4 pound whole wheat pasta shells
sea salt
1 large yellow onion, chopped
2 cloves garlic, chopped
4 cups well-chopped fresh spinach
1 1/2 cups sliced almonds, lightly toasted
zest of 2 lemons
8 ounces shredded mozzarella

Preheat the oven to 375 degrees. Butter a large casserole dish.
Cook pasta according to package directions.
Saute the onion in olive oil. Stir in garlic and spinach. Cook just until wilted.
Remove from heat and stir in 1 cup of almonds and half of the zest. Add to pasta and mix extremely well.
Sprinkle the bottom of a casserole dish with the rest of the zest. Add a layer of pasta, a layer of cheese, and so on, finishing with a layer of cheese.
Cover with foil and bake for 30 minutes, until cheese is melted.
Top with remaining almonds before serving.

I thought this had a very surprising mix of flavors - in a good way - but my boys still wouldn't eat it. It was one of those strange meals where they pick out all of the pasta and only eat the cheese and kale. Weirdos.

Do you have a favorite pasta recipe? Include it in our Meatless Monday link-up at the Green Phone Booth every Monday!

This post was shared at Beauty and Bedlam.

Goodbyn Review

2010-05-06T14:22:00.006-04:00

Reuseit.com was having a huge sale last month in honor of Earthy Day, so I finally broke down and bought some lunchboxes. We've been using some plastic containers with lids along with some reusable bags Subway was kind enough to provide for us (see side story at the bottom of this post), but with another son starting kindergarten next fall, my husband packing lunches also, and me using those same containers for leftovers, we realized that we didn't have enough lunch containers to go around. So I bought these:

Goodbyn Lunchbox

When my oldest started kindergarten last fall, I shopped around for a lunchbox for him, and eventually narrowed it down to the PlanetBox and the Goodbyn. Because it's made out of stainless steel, the PlanetBox edged out ahead. But the PlanetBox is also very pricey, so when I saw these Goodbyns on sale at Reuseit, I decided to go ahead and buy a couple.

What I like about them:

Packaging: A simple, recyclable cardboard sleeve.
Materials: The lunchboxes are made of #5 polypropylene plastic and the bottles are made of #2 high-density polyethylene. All are lead, BPA and phthalate-free.
Manufacturing: Goodbyns are manufactured in the U.S.A.!
Affordability: Although they regularly cost around $30, I was able to get mine for much less because of the sale and an extra discount I had.
Extras:

Except for the bottle, it's all one piece - no lids and containers to keep track of.
The food compartments are designed cafeteria-tray style so the food doesn't touch or leak onto each other. I filled one up with water, shook it around awhile, and it held up fine, but Goodbyn recommends not putting really runny things in them.
It's recyclable at the end of it's life.
It's dishwasher safe.
The kids can use stickers to individualize them.

A few complaints:

Getting the lids on tightly takes some technique. Goodbyn says the lunchboxes are designed for K-4, but I'm not sure my kindergartner could handle it without help. I'm holding on to these until he starts first grade next year.
These lunchboxes are huge. They're like half the size of my little guy, and though not heavy, they are bulky.
Plastic is not the same quality as stainless steel. I'm hoping these lunchboxes will get my two oldest through fourth grade, when they'll be passed down to my youngest. But I don't see them lasting longer than that, if they even last that long.
They are very cutesy. Will a fourth grader find them too uncool?

Unfortunately, I don't have a Goodbyn to giveaway today, but in a couple weeks, I will be running a giveaway from Reuseit.com so you may be able to buy your own then!

You may have noticed the new Reuseit.com Ambassadors logo over in my sidebar. I recently joined their ambassador program because I think they're a great company with some great values and I'm happy to help them spread the word about the reusables movement (and hopefully you all will get to reap some great rewards as well). If you're new to this blog and are interested in trimming your waste line, you might want to spend some time reviewing the posts tagged "waste" for ideas on storing produce without packaging, packing waste free lunches, switching to cloth bags, and more.

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Disclosure: I got a discount on this product for being a Reuseit.com ambassador, but I still bought them myself. Most of the information in this review comes from Goodbyn's website, but the opinions are my own.
Side story: While vacationing, I stopped at Subway for lunch because it's a pretty good place to get a low-waste, healthy meal. Unfortunately, my kids were being completely insane, and the cashier was old, incredibly slow, and totally clueless. I wanted to shout at her, "If you would just hurry up, my kids could start eating and then they'll be good!!!" But instead she kept pausing in ringing us up to bribe my kids with straws and soda...and finally the reusable bags the kids meals come in (even though we hadn't ordered kids meals). Bless her heart, she was just trying to help. But so much for my attempt at a low-waste meal!

Dear Mother, All Flowers Remind Me of You

2010-05-05T20:07:00.002-04:00

I'm over at The Green Phone Booth today with a post for Mother's Day:

Thanks, Mom, for teaching me to know and love green. Thank you for taking us camping. Thank you for letting us run wild. Thank you even for the blueberries. Because if I love blossoms and meadows and walking enough to spend countless hours every day trying to get others to love them too, I owe it all to you.

Read more...

New Winners of the Magic School Bus

2010-05-05T00:15:00.000-04:00

I waited a week and haven't heard from two of the winners of the Magic School Bus, so I've picked new winners. The new winners are:

The grand prize winner of the Magic School Bus giveaway is Mia J, who already contacted me. Thanks!

The next winner is Colleen, who wrote:

Spencer right now loves the Winnie the Pooh books (not cartoon but the books by AA Milne). Also we re enjoying Tales of Beatrix Potter.

And the final winner is Miss Anita, who wrote:

My favorite children's book series is The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis.

I'll be in touch with both of you. Congratulations!

May Extreme Challenge

2010-05-04T00:15:00.002-04:00

It was 88 degrees in my house on Sunday. We had all windows and doors open, shades closed on the sunny side, fans whirling. It didn't help. Our house is not well designed for no air-conditioning. The windows aren't well positioned, and there's no way to get a good breeze going. The one thing I can say for it is that it has porches on both the east and west sides, and the east porch has a fan, making it a good spot to sit and read on warm afternoons.

An 88 degree house in humid North Carolina is not fun. An 88 degree house with three whiny boys is miserable. Trying to sleep in an 88 degree house in a bed with a very sweaty husband is torture.

And 88 degrees isn't even close to how hot it can get around here in the peak of summer.

I had originally planned for May's extreme challenge to be the "no car" month, but after Sunday I decided to be realistic. I might be able to make it through May without turning on the A/C, but I'd suffer through June, and I'm not going to make it through the whole summer. I'm sorry, people, but I live in the freakin' South.

So your extreme challenge for May is...

Go Without Air Conditioning

As usual, you can modify the challenge to fit your family's needs, but try to push yourself. See how long you can go without turning on your A/C this year. For many of you up north, the month of May should be no problem, and you might even be able to go longer. You might be able to go the whole summer. I remember one summer I spent with my grandparents in Utah where it would get so cool in the evenings, I would have to wear a jacket.

For those of us in the humid parts of the country, one month might be enough. My family is committing to May, and we'll see how it goes from there.

Will you accept the May Extreme Challenge to go without A/C for a month?

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image by cat's_101

Challengicious Monday: Slay Your Vampires

2010-05-03T00:15:00.003-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Slay Your Vampires

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Unplug, unplug, unplug.

Unplug the adapters when your cell phones, laptops, and iPods are finished charging.
Unplug your microwaves, coffee makers, and toaster ovens when you're done with them.
Unplug your TVs, DVD players, and stereos when you're not using them, or at least at the end of the day.

JOGGING STRIDE

Use a power strip. Since power strips don't draw energy when they're switched off, you can cluster like-groups of appliances and electronics around power strips so you only have to flip one switch to turn them all off. If that's still too hard, you can get power strips with timers or even special sensors that detect when your electronics are not in use.

MARATHON RUNNER

Buy fewer products that require electricity. Keep it simple by avoiding products with bells and whistles. For example, do you really need a toaster or coffee maker with a digital display? Could you get buy with a traditional phone that plugs into the wall rather than a cordless phone?

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, the extra energy use from vampires "represents a relatively small but growing percentage of an individual home’s electricity use (about five percent), but taken across all U.S. households, adds up to an estimated 65 billion kilowatt-hours of electricity each year. This extra electricity costs consumers more than $5.8 billion annually and sends more than 87 billion pounds of heat-trapping carbon dioxide into the atmosphere each year."

Just to clarify: you only need to unplug products that use electricity even when they're off. One easy way to tell is if it has a digital screen, if it uses a remote, or if it charges. VCR? Yes. Hair dryer? Probably not. TV? Yes. Toaster? Probably not. Cell phone? Yes. Lamp? Probably not.

Have you ever wondered how much electricity your appliances and electronics actually use? Have some fun with a Kill-a-Watt at Pragmatic Environmentalism.

Will you take the challenge?

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More Tips for Saving Time in the Kitchen

2010-04-29T12:15:00.002-04:00

Recently, a friend was asking me about eating a vegetarian diet. She explained that she'd like to eat less meat and more fresh produce, but she felt like vegetables take more time to prepare with all of the cutting and chopping and cooking. Meat and boxed dinners just seemed easier.

As I've said before, cooking from scratch is an important part of being a Conscious Shopper:

When you buy basic ingredients like oats, beans, and rice from the bulk bins, you cut back on your trash production.
When you use fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients, you cast a vote for a reformed food system and keep your family healthier.
And perhaps most importantly, you save money, making it possible for you to afford those fresh, local, and seasonal ingredients.

But the flip side of all these benefits is TIME. Cooking from scratch takes more time. Time that, like my friend, you may not feel you have.

I've already told you my two biggest tips for saving time in the kitchen: Keep It Simple, Stupid and Have a Meal Plan. Here are a few other ideas:

Double and Freeze. It takes about the same amount of time to make four servings as it does to make eight, so next time you're making a soup or casserole, double the recipe and freeze half. Then you'll have a frozen meal waiting for you the next time you feel too tired to cook.
Freeze Ahead. Similar to the previous tip, I will often make a huge batch of beans and freeze them in two cup portions (about the same amount that's in a can). Or I'll make a ginormous pot of rice, use some for dinner and freeze the rest for future fried rice meals. Individual ingredients freeze just as well as a whole casserole and can be a lifesaver when you're short on time.
Plan Ahead. If you know a specific day is going to be too busy to make dinner, plan for it. When you prepare your menu, choose a meal that's quick to prepare, like burritos or grilled cheese sandwiches.
Prep Ahead. I just popped my casserole in the oven, now I get to go take a nap, right? I wish...Instead I use that time to prep veggies for the next day's lunch or dinner. (Or I empty my dishwasher.)
Learn to Love Your Crockpot. Here are a few recipes (a year's worth) to get you started.
Start a Dinner Co-Op. This is an intriguing concept that I've never tried. The idea is that you find a friend to swap dinners with (preferably one who lives close to you because of that whole carbon footprint thing). You make dinner, doubling the recipe and delivering half to your friend. Then on a different night, she makes dinner, doubling the recipe, and bringing half to you.
Go frozen. Now I personally don't buy frozen fruits or vegetables anymore simply because I don't want the extra packaging waste and I can get great local produce year round here in NC. But let's face it - we're not all Marathon Runners in every category. If you need to cut a few corners to keep your family eating a healthy diet, frozen is a better choice than canned because the produce is frozen right after it's picked, preserving it at the peak of freshness. In fact, some could argue that it's healthier to eat frozen vegetables than fresh vegetables shipped halfway across the world.

I have to admit that I'm better at dishing out these tips than I am at following them. In general, I have plenty of time to cook, and it helps that I really enjoy cooking. But a few weekends ago when I was helping out with the community gardens summit and manned a booth the same day for Earth Day, I got home after ten hours of running around, plopped onto the couch, and announced, "I don't know how people who work ever make dinner from scratch. After a whole day of work, the last thing you want to do is come home and work some more!"

I had leftover soup in my freezer that I completely forgot about and a husband who wasn't volunteering to fill in for me, so we ordered a pizza. I'm not proud, but sometimes it happens.

So working readers, what tips do you have for saving time in the kitchen?

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image by laffy4k
This post was shared at Works for Me Wednesday

Announcing the Winner of the Magic School Bus Giveaway

2010-04-28T21:58:00.003-04:00

Sorry this is late. I have been struck down by killer allergies and have been a grump all day. Time for bed, but before I go...

The grand prize winner of the Magic School Bus giveaway is Susan, who wrote:

the Magic school bus series is great, and my daughter loves it. This would be great to have!

The next winner is Mia J., who wrote:

My daughter enjoys Junie B. Jones and also the A to Z Mysteries.

And the final winner is Julie, who wrote:

When my son (now 8) was between 2 - 5, he LOVED the Little Critter series by Mercer Mayer. My favorite is the one entitled "Just Go To Bed" because getting him to simmer down at night is something we've always had difficulty with, and that book addresses it in a humorous and sweet way. "Pajama Time" by Sandra Boynton is also good for that!!

Susan, Mia, and Julie, please contact me with your mailing addresses at consciousshopperblog at gmail dot com.

I enjoyed looking up all of your book recommendations. If you didn't win, you can still find all of the Magic School Bus books at your local library or bookstore.

UPDATE: Because Susan and Julie did not contact me, I chose two new winners.

How I Line Dry My Clothes

2010-04-27T00:15:00.002-04:00

Now that I'm sitting down to write this, this tip seems so ridiculously simple that it feels silly to share it. Except that I used the "I don't have a backyard" excuse for years before it finally dawned on me to do this, so in case others are in my position, this is how I line dry my clothes:

I line dry all of our shirts and pants indoors on hangers, either hanging on the shower curtain rod in the bathroom or in one of our three bedroom closets. I only line dry pants and shirts; I haven't advanced to underwear or towels yet, but if I do someday, I'll get one of these babies.

I started line drying my clothes this way when we first moved to Raleigh and lived in an apartment. Now that we're in a house, we do have a backyard where we could put a clothesline, but the yard is so small and I don't want to sacrifice space. Plus, my current method has the advantage that the clothes are already on hangers, so I don't have an extra step before putting them away.

Occasionally, I'm feeling pressed for time and end up tossing my clothes into the dryer. And every time, I wish I hadn't because after the clothes dry in the dryer, they still have to be hung up and put away. If I'm going to hang them up anyway, I might as well hang them wet!

Abbie commented yesterday, "We used to line-dry indoors, actually on a rack, near the air vent, but our humid summers here in NoVa, prevented our clothing from drying, and it started to smell bad. So we put them back in the dryer."

North Carolina is also hot and humid, but I haven't had that problem yet. Maybe because we use our air conditioning in the summer?

According to the Saving Electricity site, an average load of laundry costs $0.36 to dry in the dryer. If I'm line drying two loads a week, that comes out to a savings of $37.44 a year. If I advanced to line drying all nine of the loads I wash in a week (two of clothes, two of underwear, three of towels/sheets, and two of diapers), I would save $168.48 a year. If I could just get my toddler to start using the potty, that would save both time and money right there...

How do you line dry?

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Challengicious Monday: Save Energy When Washing Dishes and Laundry

2010-04-26T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Save Energy When Washing Dishes and Laundry

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Only wash full loads. Unless your dishwasher is full or you've got a full load of laundry, save it for the next load.

JOGGING STRIDE

Air dry your dishes. Instead of using the "heated dry" setting on your dishwasher, open the door and let them air dry.

Wash your clothes on cold. According to Progress Energy, each load that I wash in cold can saves me about $0.50.

MARATHON RUNNER

Wash your clothes and dishes off-peak. Some newer models of dishwashers have a timer so you can run a load in the middle of the night when people generally use less energy. If possible, nighttime is also the best time to use your dryer - especially during the summer when your air-conditioner has to compete with the heat from your dryer.

Line dry your clothes. Hang your clothes on a line and let the sun dry them. Along with your refrigerator, the dryer is your biggest energy hogging appliance.

If you've been holding back from line drying your clothes because of limited space or HOA rules, stay tuned. Later this week, I'll show you how I line dry some of my clothes.

Will you take the challenge?

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image by simplyla

I Got Bored...

2010-04-24T12:29:00.003-04:00

As you can tell, I've been messing around with my template today. I decided the old template was getting too messy. This one is more streamlined and gives me more flexibility, and I like the tabs. Still need to add an image to the header...What do you think so far?

It will probably take me a week to get all my links and images back up in the sidebar, looking the way I want, so in the meantime if you can't find something, shoot me an email.

Let Them Eat Cake...From Scratch

2010-04-23T10:33:00.009-04:00

Second Son had a birthday recently, and this is the cake I made for him:

Frugal bloggers often repeat the message that you can save money on groceries by cooking from scratch. From my own experience, I can tell you that's true...sometimes. But sometimes, from-scratch food is more expensive. For example, I can get a box of macaroni and cheese for something like $0.35 at Aldi, and recently I even bought Annie's organic mac and cheese for $0.50 a box at Kroger. There's no way I could come close to making organic mac and cheese from scratch for $0.50. Does boxed mac and cheese taste as good as homemade? Absolutely not...but it works in a pinch.

I think that's the big take-home message: If you're short on time or don't need gourmet flavor every night, stick with a box or jar or can. If you want to make really good tasting food for less than it costs to buy already prepared really good tasting food, cook from scratch.

That's totally the lesson I've learned about birthday cakes. A boxed cake mix and a tub of frosting costs about $3.50, or less if you buy them on sale. But I really don't like cake mix. I mean really, really don't. For most of my life, I skipped the cake on my birthday and went with pie. And then we lived in the DC suburbs and discovered this amazing bakery called Cake Love. Holy schmoly! That's some good (expensive) cake!

So when comparing the cost of making a cake from scratch, I'm less concerned with the cost of a box mix that I don't enjoy and more concerned with the cost of a really good cake from a bakery.

The first step is finding a good basic recipe. Here's the one I use:

Basic Yellow Cake
from McCall's Cooking School

2 1/2 c. sifted all-purpose flour
2 1/2 tsp. baking powder
1/2 tsp. salt
1 c. butter
2 c. sugar
4 eggs
1 c. milk
1 tsp. vanilla

Preheat oven to 350. Grease and flour two round 9 inch cake pans or one 9X13 rectangular pan.
Sift flour with baking powder and salt.
In a large bowl, beat butter and sugar. Add eggs one at a time, beating after each addition. Continue beating 2 minutes.
At low speed, beat in flour mixture alternately with milk, beginning and ending with flour.
Add vanilla. Beat just until smooth.
Pour the batter into prepared pans. Bake 25 to 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently pressed with finger.
Cook in pans on wire racks 10 minutes.
Remove from pans. Cook completely before frosting.

With a basic frosting recipe, this cake costs about $8 when made with all organic ingredients. With conventional ingredients, it would only cost a little more than making a cake with a boxed mix and a tub of frosting but would taste much better.

To make my son's cake, I followed these steps:

Orange-Pineapple Praline Cake

1 c. orange juice
grated orange peel
1 20 oz. can crushed pineapple
1 c. coconut
1/2 c. brown sugar
1/2 c. coarsely chopped pecans
1/4 c. melted butter
2 c. heavy cream
maraschino cherries

Using basic yellow cake recipe, replace milk with 1 c. orange juice. Stir grated orange peel into the batter.
Turn 1/4 of the cake batter into each pan. Using a spoon, spread each with 1/2 c. crushed pineapple.
Spoon remaining batter evenly over the pineapple.
Place cake pans on center rack in oven and back for about 30 minutes or until surface springs back when gently touched with fingertip.
Mix coconut, brown sugar, pecans, and melted butter.
At the end of the baking time, remove layers from the oven. Spoon praline mixture onto the surface of one layer; return it to the oven and bake for 10 more minutes.
Let second layer cool slightly in pan and then transfer it to a wire rack to cool completely.
Remove praline layer from the oven; cool slightly. Move to wire rack to cool completely.
Beat cream at high speed until stiff peaks hold when beaters are lifted. Place plain cake layer on a platter; spread with half the cream and remaining pineapple.
Add the praline-topped layer; frost sides with remaining cream, piping rosettes on top. Garnish with maraschino cherries.

The total cost of the cake I made for my son was around $14, about the same as a cake from my local grocery store bakery, but mine is made from organic ingredients. A Cake Love cake of the same size costs about $50. How does it compare in taste? I'd give Cake Love a 10, mine an 8...and a cake mix a 2. That's worth it to me.

What do you prefer? Cake mix or cake from scratch?

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area and that I use organic ingredients whenever possible. Your costs may vary.

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Dandelions Are Welcome

2010-04-22T13:30:00.013-04:00

My bloggy friend Jenn from It's Not Easy Being Green and the Green Phone Booth often writes posts linking to a recent article she's read and then adding her own thoughts on the subject. She has a knack for finding really interesting posts and articles from all over the web and must read every newspaper published. I, on the other hand, can't motivate myself to read any news sites beyond the New York Times and Grist, so it's a good thing she keeps me informed (and it doesn't hurt that she's hilarious).

In the spirit of Jenn's blog...I read The Dandelion King yesterday on, of course, the New York Times, and I couldn't resist sharing it with you. The gist of the article is that the author's yard is overrun with that suburban nemesis, dandelions. And he doesn't care. In fact, he's let it get that way on purpose by choosing not to apply chemicals to his lawn and then being too lazy to dig out the dandelions and weeds by hand.

Isn't it ugly? Doesn't it reduce property values? The author says that we might think that now, but maybe in the future we will "engineer a new ethos that allows us to fight chemical negative externalities without creating aesthetic and hence financial ones. Maybe someday suburban neighborhoods will consist of lawns that look like mine, and everyone will admire them."

The first step is for you to look at your neighborhood anew. Next time you see an unblemished expanse of grass, think about the chemicals that probably got dumped in your vicinity to create it. Are you grateful for that?

And next time you see a yardful of sprouting dandelions, note that they look remarkably like things we call “flowers.” And later, when the flowers turn into fluff balls, look closely at one of those fluff balls and ask yourself whether it’s really so unattractive. Meanwhile, absorb the fact that the lawn you’re looking at is doing nothing to harm pets, toddlers or people in general.
Wouldn’t you like to live next to a yard like that? How much would that be worth to you?

As I read this article, I couldn't help but nod along. Yes, yes, yes! You see, this is my backyard:

Because it was so wet and muddy all winter here in North Carolina, and we kept walking through the wet and the mud, all of the grass in my backyard died over the winter and was replaced with clover and wild strawberries. At the beginning of spring when the clover and strawberry flowers were in bloom, it was gorgeous. A field of purple and blue in my own backyard. And the wildlife! Bees and butterflies and birds galore!

Don't kids need a velvet carpet of grass to play on? I say no! Last summer when we had grass, I had to force my kids to play in the backyard. There wasn't anything to do back there. But now there are flowers to pick and bugs to find and holes to dig. Plus, we're lucky to have a fabulous park just around the corner with a playground, basketball courts, and grassy lawn for playing soccer, so we can use our backyard for other things.

I have to admit that we've let it get a little out of control. It could use a good mowing. And some grass seed. But someday I'd love to have a certified wildlife garden in my backyard using the National Wildlife Federation's guide and lots of native plants.

Green grass that no one can walk on? Not for me! Dandelions are welcome here.

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Which Is More Important: Personal or Political Action?

2010-04-21T20:34:00.006-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today with this month's APLS Carnival:

Recently, I was reading an interview on Grist with Annie Leonard of Story of Stuff fame, and there were two things she said that I found very interesting:

Q. What would you encourage people to do on an individual level

A. People ask me that a lot, and I like to see where they are so I ask them, "What can you think of to do?" They say, "I can recycle. I can ride my bike more. I can buy organic. I can buy this instead of this." Really individual actions as opposed to, "I can work with my neighbors to shut down this toxic factory." We have a consumer part of ourselves and a citizen part of ourselves. And throughout this country's history, the citizen parts of ourselves have accomplished enormously wonderful things to make this country a better place. But in recent decades, I feel like the consumer part of ourselves is spoken to and validated and nurtured so much that we've over-identified with it and the citizen part of ourself has atrophied. We just need to start reinvigorating that citizen muscle. So the number one thing to do is to hook up with others who share your values and start making some real change.

Read more...

Spring Recycling

2010-04-20T13:15:00.013-04:00

The other day, a friend was telling me how she'd joined a group online called Messies Anonymous to help her get better organized and become, well, less messy. As she was describing the qualities of a Messy Person, I realized, "Oh, my gosh! That's me!"

Case in point:

This is my bedroom closet. It's supposed to be a walk-in closet, but we can't walk into it because because of all the crap on the floor. We haven't been able to walk into it for, oh, four or five months now. Maybe longer. I forget.

You see, I have this little problem where I know something can be recycled, so I don't throw it away. But then I never recycle it. It just sits around our house for months and months, causing clutter and getting in the way. I swear I didn't have this problem before I went green. Going green has turned me into a packrat!

Spring is often thought of as the season where you throw open the shutters, dig out the cleaning supplies, and deep clean. Well I've decided that this year's spring cleaning for me needs to be all about the recycling.

In that closet pictured above, I have a phone, two laptops, two cameras, a lamp, a wheat grinder, some metal containers, a printer, and a scanner. I need to sell the laptops, put the printer on Freecycle, and see if my husband can fix the scanner. The phone, lamp, wheat grinder, and metal containers can all be recycled at my local recycling drop-off location. I'm pretty sure I can recycle cameras...must research.

In another corner of my bedroom, I have this pile of boxes that's headed for the recycling bin.

I scrounged up all this from under our sinks. The caps are headed for Aveda and the toothbrushes for Whole Food's Gimme 5 bin. To recycle the toothpaste tubes, I need to remove the top plastic part, and then it can go in my regular recycling bin. One of the reasons we use Tom's of Maine toothpaste is because it comes in an aluminum tube rather than plastic.

Last but not least, I've got this monstrous pile of clothing that must be sorted. It's all stuff we've outgrown, stained, or ripped beyond repair. Clothing with fabric I like will be cut up and saved for future sewing projects. (I have high hopes that I'll get to that some day.) The rest will be taken to Goodwill.

All right, I'm off to do some recycling.

How's your spring cleaning going?

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This post was shared at Works for Me Wednesday

Challengicious Monday: Save Energy When Cooking

2010-04-19T00:15:00.007-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Save Energy When Cooking

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Keep a lid on your pots. Not only does the lid keep in heat, but it also helps the water boil faster. Win, win.

Match pans to the appropriate burner size. There's a reason your oven comes with different size burners. For the most efficient cooking, make sure the pan you're cooking with is about the same size as the burner you're cooking on.

Don't peek in the oven. It may be tempting to peek, but every time you open the oven door, heat escapes and your oven has to work extra hard. Instead, keep the window on your oven door clean and turn on the light.

JOGGING STRIDE

Use your microwave. Especially for reheating foods. Microwaves use a lot less energy than ovens and save time.

Use your slow cooker. Like microwaves, slow cookers use a lot less energy than ovens. Here's a table demonstrating how much less energy.

Cook less - enjoy foods raw. Of course, the best way to save energy when cooking is not to cook at all - especially during the summer when your air conditioner has to fight with your oven. Learn to enjoy foods fresh, and you'll save energy...and time!

MARATHON RUNNER

Use man-power. We're so quick these days to buy the latest new appliance to do all the work for us in the kitchen. Instead of dragging out your big mixer, try a spoon or whisk. Instead of a bread machine, knead by hand. You can even find hand-powered blenders.

Bake efficiently. If you're good at organizing your time, this is my best tip for saving energy in the kitchen. Instead of turning on the oven every night, try doing all of your baking on one or two days. Bake your bread, casseroles, baked potatoes, and cookies all at once.

The truth is that you don't save much energy by cooking more efficiently, so if you have limited time, focus your efforts on heating and cooling. But every little bit counts, every little bit saves some money, and most of these tips are so easy, why not do them?

I'm happy to say that I'm a Marathon Runner in this category. And since what you eat matters more than how you cook it, I get bonus points for being an almost vegetarian. If you're taking the Meatless Monday challenge over at the Green Phone Booth, you can give yourself bonus points too.

Will you take the challenge?

____________________

Step One of My DIY Energy Audit

2010-04-16T15:16:00.007-04:00

Step one of the U.S. Department of Energy's DIY audit is "locating air leaks:"

First, make a list of obvious air leaks (drafts). The potential energy savings from reducing drafts in a home may range from 5% to 30% per year, and the home is generally much more comfortable afterward. Check for indoor air leaks, such as gaps along the baseboard or edge of the flooring and at junctures of the walls and ceiling. Check to see if air can flow through these places:

Electrical outlets
Switch plates
Window frames
Baseboards
Weather stripping around doors
Fireplace dampers
Attic hatches
Wall- or window-mounted air conditioners

I'm starting today with my electrical outlets and switch plates, specifically the ones on exterior walls of my house. Sealing the air leaks on these is so simple. You start with a pack of electric outlet and switch sealers from your local hardware store. (Or if you're truly DIY, you can make your own outlet sealers with styrofoam meat trays.)

To install, simply screw off the outlet cover.

Press the pre-cut sealer in position around the outlets or light switch, and screw the cover back on.

Repeat with all of the outlets and light switches on your exterior walls, and voila! With just a few minutes of your time, you've reduced drafts in your home and knocked a little bit off of your electricity bill.

When we bought our house in Maryland, the home inspector told us that people lose more energy through their outlets than through their windows. I don't know if that's really true or not, but it's worth the couple bucks investment if it is!

One final reminder to my Triangle readers!

Dig In is tomorrow, and I will be there helping out with the booth for the Raleigh Community Gardeners. I'll also be at the Planet Earth Celebration in Raleigh from 3 to 5 manning a booth for the Advocates for Health in Action. If you're going to be at either of those events, let's connect!

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Post-Easter Eggs Dyed Naturally

2010-04-15T14:08:00.010-04:00

Every year after Easter, I promise myself that next year I'll try the natural method for dying eggs, and every Easter without fail, I break that promise to myself. For one thing, the natural method (using plants to make a dye instead of food coloring or a store bought kit) is more time-consuming, and Easter is already a busy time of year. But for another thing, being the conscious shopper that I am, I couldn't bring myself to waste perfectly good beets and spinach and blueberries on egg dye.

So this year like usual, we went with our old standby...a Paas egg-dying kit, which hasn't changed in 25 years. Seriously. It's exactly the same every year that I've bought one, and exactly the same as I remember from when I was little. Ah, nostalgia...If only it didn't contain those pesky artificial colors.

Then yesterday, I was making veggie broth out of my vegetable scraps - carrot and potato peels, celery leaves, onion pieces - and at the same time, I was preparing some beets to cook for dinner, and it occurred to me...Instead of wasting perfectly good beets on egg dye, maybe I could use the beet peels and stems. Instead of the food part, I could use the waste part.

Here's what we did:

Step 1: Fill a pot with a quart of water, 2 Tbsp. of vinegar, and beet scraps. Bring to a boil and simmer for 20 or 30 minutes. Then remove and compost beet scraps.

Step 2: Prepare eggs. We were having scrambled eggs for dinner, so I used the method where you poke a small hole in each end of the eggshell and blow out the eggs into a separate bowl. Then clean the shells well. The advantage of this method is that you don't have to keep the dyed eggs refrigerated, and you can keep them as long as you want. The disadvantage is that they float in the water, unlike hardboiled eggs. This turned out to be a bigger problem than expected...On the other hand, the disadvantage of hardboiling the eggs is that your eggs take on a strange taste, depending on what you used to dye it (or so I've read).

Step 3: Submerge the eggs into the dye and let sit until desired color is achieved. At first, we tried 5 minutes, but the eggs turned such a light pink, you could barely tell they were dyed at all. I decided to let them sit in the dye overnight, but like I said, our eggs weren't sinking. We couldn't sit around all night holding the eggs in the dye, so I put a small plate on top of all the eggs to hold them down.

Step 4: Remove eggs and enjoy. When we woke up in the morning, our white eggs had turned into brown eggs. Not red like beets. A slightly pink, dirty looking brown!

Will we ever dye eggs naturally again?

It was kind of a failed project, in the sense that we ended up with ugly eggs instead of beautiful Easter eggs. On the other hand, it was a fun failed project - one that both kids and grown-ups enjoyed - and I got a little extra use out of my beet scraps and eggshells that were headed for the trash. So yes, I'd do it again, but next time..

I would use hardboiled eggs.
I would let the eggs sit in the water for less time.

Hmmm...I wonder what other food scraps I could use to entertain my children...

Have you ever tried the natural egg-dying method? How'd it go for you?

____________________

Dirt

2010-04-14T21:04:00.004-04:00

My post at the Green Phone Booth this week is actually from Sunday, but in case you missed it:

Have you ever thought about the importance of dirt? The makers of the new film Dirt! The Movie have given it plenty of thought: What is dirt? Why is it important? Who cares about it? And what can you do about it? Check out their trailer for a little preview.

If you live in the Triangle area and would like to see this movie, I'm hosting a movie night at my house with the Raleigh Community Gardens meetup. Join the group if you're interested, and please RSVP. I have a small house.

Book Review and Giveaway: The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge

2010-04-13T00:15:00.002-04:00

Have you ever tried to teach your kids about climate change? What a big topic! Luckily, the folks behind The Magic School Bus series are here to help us out.

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge Review

Ms. Fizzle and her magic school bus are at it again. The students in Ms. Fizzle's class are preparing a play about global warming, and what better way to learn about the whats, hows, and whys of global warming than to visit the arctic, slide on a sunbeam, fly over a city, and search out renewable energy. Ms. Frizzle's unusual field trip inspires her students to go green and show others how they can help.

This past Sunday, we sat down as a family to read The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge. Scholastic recommends this book for ages 7 to 12, and I completely agree. My two-year-old lasted the first few pages. My almost-five-year-old lost interest halfway through ("This is a loooong book, Momma").

My very-above-average-intelligence six-year-old read the whole book with me and definitely understood all of the concepts. But he's also a very sensitive child (he gets scared watching Charlie and Lola), so I try to steer him away from doom-and-gloom topics. I appreciated that this book falls more into the "what can you do?" camp than the "we're all going to die" camp of environmentalism, but I'll probably still hold on to this book for another couple of years before reading it to them again.

Nevertheless, I think this book would make a great introduction to climate change for a slightly older child. Like all of the books in the Magic School Bus series, it explains a difficult scientific concept in a manner that's easy to understand, logical, and fun, and my kids are big fans of the pseudo-comicbook style illustrations. And in case you were wondering, it is printed on "100% recycled fiber of which 50% is post-consumer waste."

For more information, visit the official book page. You can also participate in a webcast with author Joanna Cole and illustrator Bruce Degen on April 20th at 1 PM ET.

The Magic School Bus and the Climate Challenge Giveaway

Scholastic is generously offering three prizes to readers of The Conscious Shopper. One grand prize winner will receive a kids organic "Go Green" t-shirt and a copy of the book. Two additional winners will each receive a copy of the book. Please note that this giveaway is only open to U.S. residents. Also, although this is a children's book, you don't have to have kids to enter. This book would make a great gift for a grandchild, niece, nephew, kid-next-door, etc.

To enter:
Leave a comment on this post stating your favorite children's book or series (besides this one).
You can earn up to two extra entries by sharing this post on Facebook or tweeting it on Twitter and then leaving a comment for each thing that you do. This is completely based on the honor system, and remember that each comment is a separate entry.
You have until Tuesday, April 27 to enter. I'll select a winner using a random number generator and announce the results on the 28th. Make sure you either plan on coming back to see the results or you leave a way for me to contact you if you've won. Good luck!

This contest has ended. The winners are Susan, Mia J, and Julie. Please contact me with your address at consciousshopperblog at gmail dot com.

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Disclaimer: Scholastic sent me a copy of this book to be able to write this review but did not compensate me in any other way. I was not under any obligations to write a positive review, and all of the opinions contained in this post are my own.

Challengicious Monday: Save Energy Through Heating and Cooling

2010-04-12T00:15:00.005-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Save Energy Through Heating and Cooling

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Change your air filter regularly. Most of the time, that means monthly, but you can get filters that last longer. Just remember to change them when they are supposed to be changed. You can even get reusable furnace filters.

Don't make your A/C or furnace work too hard.

Keep doors and windows closed tightly.

Run exhaust fans in the bathroom and kitchen only when you need them.

Close the flue in your fireplace when you're not using it.

Uncover all your vents.

Keep your air conditioning unit properly maintained. Think of it like a car - sometimes it's going to need a tune-up.

Cover bare floors in the winter and uncover them in the summer. Adding rugs can improve your comfort level when you're cold, while a bare floor can be cool and soothing on those hot summer days.

Avoid using your oven on hot days.

Block the sun.

In the summer, keep the curtains drawn when the sun is on that side of your house, or install outside awnings over your windows.
In the winter, use heavy drapes as extra insulation over leaky windows, but keep south facing windows uncovered to allow the sun to warm your home naturally.

JOGGING STRIDE

Raise your thermostat a few degrees in the summer and lower it a few degrees in the winter.

Shoot for a daytime temperature of 78 degrees in the summer and 68 degrees in the winter. For each degree that you raise or lower your thermostat, you will save 3-5% off your heating/cooling costs.
Use a programmable thermostat to automatically raise or lower the temperature settings when you leave home or at night. (If you have a heat pump, it's probably best to ignore this advice unless you have a special programmable thermostat that can raise and lower the temperature gradually.)

Install and use ceiling fans. But remember that fans cool people, not rooms, so they will only save energy (and money) if you use them correctly. That means:

Turn the fan off when you leave a room. Think of a fan like a light - it does no good when no one is in the room to use it.

In the spring and fall, use ceiling fans instead of turning on the A/C.

In the summer, keep your thermostat set a few degrees higher than your comfort level, and turn your ceiling fans on high. Ceiling fans work along the same lines as a breeze on a hot day.

In the winter, reverse the direction the fan turns (usually just by flipping a switch), turn the fan on low, and keep your thermostat set lower. The fans will push air toward the ceiling, forcing the warm air down into the room.

Make sure you get the appropriate size fan for your room. A small fan in a large room is not going to do a good job.

Landscape smart.

Plant medium-height trees on the east and west sides of your home to block the sun when it's low in the sky.
Plant tall deciduous trees on the south side of your home. They'll block out the sun when it's high in the sky in the summer but allow the sun through when it's at a lower angle in the winter .
Plant dense evergreens on the north side of your home where they'll block cold winter winds.

MARATHON RUNNER

Seal leaks and add insulation. Use this DIY Guide to Sealing and Insulating from Energy Star.

Seal and repair leaky air ducts to cut your heating/cooling costs by up to 30 percent.

Add insulation, and make sure it's installed properly. The best place to add insulation? The attic.

Check for air leaks around windows, doors, outlets, entrances to attics and crawlspaces, and in attics and basements. Conscious Shopper reader Frank directed me to this smoke test that you can use to find leaks around your windows and doors (although he says you could easily do it with a cigarette or smokey incense).

Install energy efficient windows and doors.

Upgrade to a more efficient A/C unit. If you live in a moderate climate, consider getting a heat pump - they are 30% more efficient than a typical air conditioner. Or take a look at geothermal heat pumps, which cost more but are even more efficient and last much longer.

Most of these steps are completely free, and those that do cost money should save you money over the long run. As we go through these Saving Energy challenges, keep reminding yourself that saving energy = saving money.

I'm planning on switching to a reusable filter this month. We do the rest of the Baby Steps and Jogging Stride steps except for the landscaping tips because we're renting. I need to check for and seal air leaks, but I can't do the other Marathon Runner tips because of the renting thing.

Sealing leaks and adding insulation is actually a huge thing and may take you more than a week to complete. Don't worry - most of the steps in the next few weeks are super easy, so you should have plenty of time to focus on caulking and insulating.

Will You Take the Challenge?

____________________

image by FxyLxy

A Bunch of Miscellany

2010-04-10T11:37:00.004-04:00

I spent the past week in Ocean City, MD with my husband and ZERO kids. It was strange and wonderful at the same time. But I'm glad to have my little rugrats back.

I've been hopping around the blogosphere this week, so in case you missed these posts:

Tips for Meatless Eating from an Almost Vegetarian...We've started a Meatless Mondays challenge at the Green Phone Booth, so I provided a few tips to help people get started. If you want to participate, you can link up a recipe every Monday over at the Booth. And thanks to Kellie for spear-heading this!

The Community of Change Welcomes Erin of The Green Phone Booth...I'm swapping guest posts with Suzy and Andy, the couple behind the One Small Change challenge. Look for their post next week at the Green Phone Booth.

Buying Less Plastic = Spending Less Money...My guest post over at Fake Plastic Fish describes how much money I save by avoiding plastic when shopping. I even surprised myself with how much I save!

Which Is More Important...Personal or Political Action?...I'm hosting the APLS Carnival this month over at the Green Phone Booth. If you want to participate, check out this month's topic, write a post on your own blog, and then email the link to consciousshopperblog [at] gmail [dot] com by April 15.

Have a good weekend!

An Interview with Condo Blues

2010-04-08T00:15:00.000-04:00

We're talking energy efficiency for the next couple months here at The Conscious Shopper. This is one of my favorite topics because it can save so much money without requiring huge investments or new technology. If you check the archives, you'll find lots of articles on energy efficiency - I got addicted last year.

Unfortunately, though, I'm still renting so I haven't been able to improve my own home's energy efficiency as much as I'd like. Luckily, there are other bloggers out there that have made more strides in this category than I have, and today I want to introduce you to the one I think is a DIY maven and energy queen: Lisa from Condo Blues.

I think I do all right keeping my energy use low, but holy cow, Lisa blew me away with her numbers! Keep reading below to find out how Lisa reduced here energy use by 32%.

Q: Can you give me some background info about why you decided to improve your home's energy efficiency?

A: It all started with the February natural gas bill. I felt that it was extremely high. My husband said that the winter bill is always high. I thought it should be lower since one of the reasons we chose to by our home is that had a new furnace and should be more energy efficient and compared to our old rental with the ancient furnace.

I started researching how to make our new home more energy efficient. A slew of Greenzillas insisted that the only way I could lower my home's energy bills was to toss all of my new but one notch under Energy Star rated appliances and HVAC system and install expensive alternative energy systems. I'm not against those items but I couldn't afford to just chuck them all - I just bought a house! I also thought that getting rid of new and working items was wasteful. For example, if I replaced my then new and current refrigerator with an Energy Star rated equivalent I would only reduce my electricity use by $1.00 for the year. I could easily save a dollar's worth of energy with that refrigerator if I keep it full, made sure the seals where tight, lower the temperature a degree, and vacuumed the coils on the back.

I was determined to prove the zealots wrong and learn how to use what I had wisely and efficiently. I did it as a year long project and tried to reduce my use as inexpensively as I could. I did it with inexpensive home improvements, new habits, and a whole lotta CLF light bulbs.

Q: You say in your bio that you reduced your "home's electricity use by 32% in 2007 by changing habits, using my current appliances wisely, and with less than $200 worth of home improvements." If you're willing, I'd love to see some exact numbers. (For example, our average daily electricity use is 27 kWh for our 1200 square foot home.)

A: I have a 1500 square foot free standing condominium. Basically it looks like a regular free standing house but acts like a condo - the Home Owners Association mows my lawn and takes care of street and green space maintenance in our neighborhood. My daily average electricity use is 15 KWh. I have an all electric kitchen. The only Energy Star rated appliances I have are my HE washing machine, which I bought half way into the 20% Energy Reduction Project because my old one died beyond repair and the dishwasher that came with the condo. My daily average natural gas use is 1.5 CCF. I use natural gas for the hot water heater, furnace, and fire place. I don't use the natural gas fireplace often. The last time we used it was during a power outage for heat and light.

Q: You seem big into DIY projects. What tools would you recommend every gal have in her toolbelt?

A: I'm picky. I love custom items but I want to pay for them on my terms. More often than not, that means making or revamping something old into something new. My husband and I love the retro mixed with modern look. We hate sending things to the landfill.

I'm very lucky that my father never chased me away when he was working on a project. He always answered my little kid questions and let me "help" by handing him things or carry a broken whatis to the store so we could match it to the replacement part. My first DIY project was helping my Dad make a step stool out of scrap wood so I could reach the bathroom sink in order to brush my teeth as a toddler. My mom still has that step stool it's come in handy over the years!

I'd recommend a basic toolkit that has a Phillips screw driver (it's the one with the head that looks like a cross), a flat head screw driver, a hammer, a pair of needle nose pliers, an adjustable wrench, a tape measure, level (great for hanging shelves, curtain rods, pictures, etc.), and an electric drill if you want to get fancy.

Q: I'm completely terrified of power tools. Any tips for a girl who generally lets her husband do the sawing and drilling?

A: Put on your safety glasses, tie any long hair back and dive in! Your first project may not be 100%, but just like anything, your skills will improve the more you use them. If you have a husband or person in your life who's skillful but tries to micromanage your project without your consent, try to do it when they aren't around or are busy with something else. If you're worried about cutting yourself with a table or circular saw, you can pay to have the home improvement store make those cuts in the wood you buy from them for you. Having a good home improvement book or Web site with lots of step by step instructions and photos helps too.

Fortunately very few of my energy saving home improvements involved power tools and heavy duty DIYs. Most of them involved spray foam or caulk. I did use a rotary tool to cut a metal door sweep to fit my door which you could do with a small hand saw. I used that project to try out the new toy my in laws gave me for Christmas. :)

Q: At the Conscious Shopper, I divide a lot of my going green tips into Baby Steps (easy), Jogging Stride steps (medium), and Marathon Runner steps (hardest). Can you give us your favorite Baby Step, Jogging Stride, and Marathon Runner tips for improving a home's energy efficiency?

A: I'd pay someone or do my own DIY home energy audit as a energy saving Baby Step. You need to know how much energy you are using and where your home's and weaknesses are before you can reduce your use.

As a Jogging Stride step I would seal air leaks in your home with caulk (there are removable caulk options for renters), weather stripping, spray foam, or door sweeps. Even newly built homes like mine have little gaps around doors and windows that draw heated or cooled interior air out of your home.

For a Marathon Runner I would either replace an energy inefficient appliance with a more energy efficient model or add more insulation to your home.

Q: What resources have you found that might be helpful to someone interested in improving their home's energy efficiency?

A: The Energy Star website has an online home energy audit tool that lets you do a free home energy audit. I used it to do the home energy audit that gave me the idea to do the 20% Energy Reduction Challenge. It has a lot of great information about how to make your home more energy efficient. DIY Network has a slew of shows and advice when you're trying to decide if a project is a DIY job or if it's better to call in a pro. Of course I think Condo Blues has some great real world examples on how to go green and save money doing it too.

I hope you all enjoyed learning more about Condo Blues. Her blog is really a wealth of information. Check it out!

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Two Events Triangle Residents Won't Want to Miss

2010-04-06T00:15:00.005-04:00

This post is for my Triangle readers.

Many of you know that I'm involved with several groups that are working to build up and establish community gardens in the area: the Raleigh Community Gardeners, Triangle Area Homesteaders, and the Advocates for Health in Action.

I'm pleased to tell you that there's a lot going on with community gardens in Raleigh, and specifically, there are two big events coming up that you need to know about.

EVENT #1: Kick-off Event for Alliance Medical Community Garden Featuring Will Allen

When: April 6 from 6-8pm
Where: Alliance Medical Ministry
What: Kick-off the planned community garden at Alliance Medical Ministries and meet Will Allen. Inter-Faith Food Shuttle’s Catering With A Cause will provide food for the reception.
Contact: RSVP to cece@foodshuttle.org or call 919-250-0043

I'm going to be out of town for this event and am so completely bummed. Will Allen is the founder of Growing Power, Inc., and one of my food heroes. We're very lucky to have him come back to Raleigh.

EVENT #2: Dig In!

When: April 17 from 9 am -12:30 pm
Where: Marbles Children's Museum
What: Learn about the benefits of starting a community garden, attend presentations describing how how to start, maintain, and manage a garden, browse booths with info about gardening, and meet fellow Wake County residents interested in gardening.
Contact: Register to attend DIG IN here!

I've been involved with planning this event and am super excited about it. It's on the morning of Raleigh's Planet Earth Celebration, so you'll be downtown that day anyway, right? Might as well come learn how to start a garden in your neighborhood.

Challengicious Monday: Get a Home Energy Audit

2010-04-05T00:15:00.004-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next energy-related challenge:

Get a Home Energy Audit

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Do an online energy audit. Free online energy audits are offered by many power companies. They ask for information about your home and combine it with your energy usage history to create an energy profile with suggestions for improvements. The downside is that without a home visit and walk-through, an online audit can only provide limited information and generic suggestions.

JOGGING STRIDE

Conduct a DIY audit. Walk-through your home looking for air leaks and places that are improperly sealed or insulated. Add caulking, weather-stripping, and insulation. Replace high-watt bulbs with lower watt bulbs or compact fluorescent lightbulbs, a poorly performing heating and cooling system with a more efficient one, and old appliances with Energy Star rated appliances. Find a detailed list of suggestions at the U.S. Department of Energy site.

MARATHON RUNNER

Get a professional home energy audit. Having someone else perform your audit for you may be the easiest route, but because it's the most expensive (and we're conscious shoppers), it's also the most difficult. But if you can afford a professional audit, the savings you'll get from improving your home should offset the cost of the audit.

Last year when we were living in our apartment, I tried the online audit from my power company. It was pretty generic so I'll probably just skip it this time and try the DIY route. Because we're still renters, there are limited improvements we can make, and I don't want to invest the money in a professional audit. If you're a homeowner and not too DIY inclined, I definitely recommend that route.

For more information, check out Energy Efficiency: Renewable Energy's Less Cool Cousin.

Will you take the challenge?

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image by kivanc nis

April Extreme Challenge

2010-04-03T15:58:00.007-04:00

Here's your extreme challenge for April:

Go No 'Poo

"No 'poo" is slang in the green world for "no shampoo." What it really means is that you wash your hair with baking soda and rinse with apple cider vinegar, and you wash your hair less often.

Why go no poo?

To save money. Compare a $5 bottle of shampoo to a $1 box of baking soda.
To save packaging. Shampoo and conditioner usually come in plastic bottles, and even if you recycle those, their next life is probably a park bench. Baking soda comes in a cardboard box and vinegar in a glass jar, and because you only use a small amount each time you wash your hair, you end up using a lot less packaging.
To avoid potentially harmful chemicals. Although there are plenty of eco-friendly, less toxic shampoos and conditioners on the market, what could be less harmful than baking soda and vinegar?
To live naturally. Hey parents, have you ever noticed how long you can go without washing your kids hair? Supposedly, that's how hair is supposed to be, and if you wash it less and put fewer chemicals on it, your hair can look that natural, luscious, and shiny too.

Those are the main reasons I've thought of. If you've gone no poo, why did you do it?

There are several methods for going no poo. Here's one:

Obtain a couple old squirt bottles such as old shampoo bottles, salad dressing bottles, or sports bottles.
Fill one bottle with a ratio of 1 Tbsp. baking soda to 1 c. water. Fill the other bottle with a ratio of 1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar to 1 c. water. If desired, you can add a few drops of essential oil to the apple cider vinegar solution to cover the smell.
Squeeze some of the baking soda solution on to your scalp and massage for a few seconds. You're aiming to clean your scalp, not your hair. Leave on while you wash your body and then rinse out.
Squeeze some of the vinegar solution on to your hair. Leave on for a few seconds and then rinse.

I've read that there's an "adjustment period" while your hair returns to it's natural state and starts producing less grease. Then you'll be able to wash your hair less and less - some people go as long as a week!

Want to see no poo in action? Here are a few bloggy friends that have gone no poo:

Here's what my family will be doing:

Last month's challenge was easy peasy. This one, I'm not excited about. At all.

I'm starting this challenge late this month because of spring break, but I'm committing to try no poo for at least a month. I'm really nervous about it because of the supposed adjustment period. I'm also skeptical.

My sister the cosmetologist only washes her hair every other day, or even every third day, and she has gorgeous hair. She told me that if you stop washing your hair so often, your body will adjust and produce less grease, and that hair is healthier when it's not washed so much. So I gave it a go...For a whole year, I gave it a go! I kept thinking, "Soon my head will catch on that it doesn't need to make so much grease." But it never did! Finally after a year, I was tired of looking awful every other day, and I went back to daily washings. And that is why I don't believe no poo will work for me. But we'll see!

Will you accept the April Extreme Challenge to go no poo for a month? Let me know in the comments what your family will be doing.

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image by hansvandenberg30

Announcing the Winner of the Glass Dharma Straws Giveaway

2010-04-01T20:18:00.001-04:00

The winner of the $25 gift certificate to Glass Dharma is Kim and Ken Carlile, who wrote:

I've made my husband start bringing his sandwich baggie from lunch home with him to reuse.

Congratulations, and I'll be in touch with you soon about how to redeem your gift certificate!

And remember for those of you who didn't win, you can purchase your own Glass Dharma straws by visiting their website.

March Monthly Budget Round-Up

2010-03-30T00:15:00.001-04:00

Last month I asked if these monthly budget round-ups have become redundant. Well, I decided to keep posting them simply because, as Downdoggin in MN pointed out in the comments of the last round-up, they do make me accountable.

So far this year, we've been high on groceries every month. I've been stocking up on a few things, so I'm hoping it will average out over the year. For example, I bought a 5-gallon bucket of Charlie's Soap, which will takes us three years to get through.

We were also high this month on transportation miles; my youngest had surgery two weeks ago, so we had to make several trips to the doctor and hospital. Unfortunately, I haven't switched to a closer pediatrician since we moved into our house last summer.

Here are the numbers:

Monthly Spending (budgeted amount) [year average]

Groceries: $711 ($650) [713.51]

Transportation: $149 ($150) [148.92]

Energy: $162 ($150) [155.31]

Utilities: $46 ($50) [44.9]

Entertainment/Miscellaneous: $383 ($400) [362.59]

Clothes: $0 (no set budget) [24.21]

TOTAL: $1,451 ($1,400) [$1425.46]

The Numbers:

Trash: 4 bags of trash (13 gallon bags); 1 recycling bin with plastic, metal, and glass; 2 paper grocery sacks of paper
Miles Driven: 951
Average daily electricity use: 34 kWh
Average daily water use: 122 gallons

Best of...

Most Popular Posts: Make Your Own: Homemade Febreeze (486 pageviews) and How to Recycle Everything (149 pageviews)
Most Commented Post (excluding giveaways): Challengicious Monday: Start Composting (11 comments)

Next Month I'll Be...

reading The Green Hour
watching Dirt! The Movie (didn't get to this last month)
working on lightbulbs, energy audits, heating and cooling, and cooking for The Conscious Shopper Challenge
going no 'poo for a month for the April Extreme Challenge

Challengicious Monday: Change Your Bulbs

2010-03-29T00:15:00.001-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your first energy-related challenge:

Change Your Bulbs

To complete this challenge, you can

BABY STEPS

Switch to CFLs. This is the baby step of all going green baby steps. Have you changed your lightbulbs yet? (You know they save you money, right?)

JOGGING STRIDE

Use motion-sensor lights. Rather than leaving a light on all night outside or in the bathroom, try switching to a light that only turns on when it detects motion.

MARATHON RUNNER

Use LEDs. This is the most energy-efficient long-lasting type of lighting; install an LED once and you won't have to replace it for decades. Unfortunately, affordability hasn't caught up with LED technology, and good affordable LEDs will not screw into a standard lightbulb fixture. But while you wait for LED technology to improve, try using LEDs in your recessed lighting and switch to LED Christmas lights.

We have all of our lightbulbs except for the recessed lighting in the kitchen switched over to CFLs. If we owned this house, I'd consider installing LEDs into the recessed lighting, but sadly, we're still renters.

For more information on lighting, check out I Need...Lighting (Beyond CFLs)

Will You Take the Challenge?

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Energize

2010-03-28T20:40:00.010-04:00

We've wrapped up the Trim Your Waste Line series of challenges here at The Conscious Shopper, and hopefully you have to take out the trash a little less often. For the next eight weeks, I'll focus on ways to help you:

Energize

We'll be cutting back on our energy use with the following weekly challenges:

According to the Union of Concerned Scientists, improving the energy use of our houses is one of the top three things we can do for planetary health. Although switching to renewable energy is important, I prefer to focus on energy efficiency for so many reasons:

1. Energy efficiency saves money.

I've said it before, and I'll say it again. A home energy retrofit can shave as much as 30% off of your energy bill. What could be more appealing than that!

2. Energy efficiency is affordable.

So you can't afford solar panels...So what! You can afford to add caulking around your windows. You can afford to slay your vampires. You can afford to switch to CFLs. And now with all of those tax credits from the government, you may even be able to afford to upgrade your windows, add insulation, and get a more efficient HVAC system.

3. Energy efficiency increases the value of your home.

Eco-friendly homes are the hot new thing in the real estate market, and they are only going to get hotter.

4. Energy efficiency does not require new technology.

Holding off on solar panels until they get the technology just right? In the meantime, weatherize your home. These are things we've known how to do for a long time, and we just need to do them.

5. Energy efficiency provides jobs.

Any sustainable energy solution is going to provide new jobs, but think about all the existing buildings and homes in the U.S. that need to be upgraded. Think about all those opportunities for work for home builders who are really in need of jobs right now. And as I mentioned above, this type of work does not require new technology.

6. Energy efficiency equates to less overall energy use.

Apply that statement to whatever energy-related issue hits your hot button: dependence on foreign oil, clean coal, nuclear power, offshore drilling, solar power, wind power, whatever. Using less energy does not make those issues go away, but it reduces the need for some of the less-than-ideal options that are being tossed around and makes the smarter solutions seem more feasible.

7. Energy efficiency fits any circumstance.

It doesn't matter if your lot is shady, windless, or tiny, and it doesn't matter if you own a house or rent an apartment. You may not be able to do everything, but everyone can do something toward making their home more energy efficient.

So let's get to it and see if we can energize in 2010. Come back tomorrow for the first energy challenge.

**ENERGIZE CHECKLIST** Keep track of your eco-changes by printing this checklist on recycled paper OR be extra green by saving your own editable digital copy.

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image by Beverly & Pack

Glass Dharma Straws Review and Giveaway

2010-03-25T14:24:00.009-04:00

Are you working on reducing your plastic waste? Here's one easy solution.

Glass Dharma Review

Glass Dharma sent me three straws to review: a Beautiful Bend 9" straw, a fatter Simple Elegance straw, and a Decorative Dots sipper. I like the Beautiful Bend straw best for it's versatility, but the fatter Simple Elegance straw is perfect for drinking shakes, and the Decorative Dots straw is just plain beautiful. This is such a cheesy, girly thing to say, but my favorite thing about these straws is how they make even a simple daily act like drinking a glass of ice water seem elegant.

I also like that having a reusable straw means I don't have to use disposable plastic straws when I'm out and about. Plus, a glass straw is certainly an attention-getter, making it a very simple way to spread the green message without being pushy. As I recounted on my post at the Green Phone Booth the other day, I used my Glass Dharma straw at a restaurant this weekend and the servers were abuzz about it. It's a very small act, but it's just one more way for me to show that I'm committed to avoiding a disposable lifestyle.

Glass Dharma carries numerous sizes and styles of straws plus carrying cases and cleaning brushes.

Packaging

My straws arrived in a small box with three cardboard boxes inside. Inside each box was a straw (and I think the shorter one contained a piece of cotton.) To all of those companies that insist on overpackaging their products to protect it during shipping, I say - Look at Glass Dharma! The straws were shipped via USPS, which is my preferred mail carrier because it comes to my house everyday anyway.

Materials

Glass Dharma straws are made of borosilicate glass "because it is the strongest commercially available glass on the market." Unlike plastic, these straws will not leach harmful materials into your food, and they save thousands of disposable straws from the landfill. Plus, they are dishwasher and microwave safe.

Manufacturing

All Glass Dharma products are made in the United States.

Quality

One of my fears with these straws was that they would easily break - I'm a clumsy person...But one day after I'd run the straw through the dishwasher (proof alone of its durability), I left the straw on the counter where my two-year-old discovered it and dropped it on the hardwood floor. No breakage, chips, or scratches! I wouldn't recommend dropping your straw often or on purpose, but if you do happen to break your straw, Glass Dharma provides a "Lifetime Guarantee Against Breakage" - they'll repair or replace any broken straw.

Affordability

Glass Dharma straws range in price from $6 to $8. For a better value, order one of their packages containing several straws and a cleaning brush.

Availability

Glass Dharma straws are available at several online retailers, or you can buy them on Glass Dharma's website.

Need

When I decided to start reviewing products at The Conscious Shopper, I promised that one of the criteria I would consider is "need." Unlike the other products I've reviewed so far, I don't consider having your own straw a need, but it's definitely a nice to have. This is an item that you should add to your "things I wouldn't mind having list" and splurge on when you need a gift for someone special or just want to add a little touch of beauty to your life.

For more information and to purchase your own Glass Dharma straws, visit their website.

Glass Dharma Giveaway

~~Glass Dharma is generously offering a $25 gift certificate to their shop to one lucky reader of The Conscious Shopper. To enter:~~

~~Leave a comment on this post stating one step you've taken to reduce your plastic waste (or one step you plan on taking.)~~

You can earn up to two extra entries by sharing this post on Facebook or tweeting it on Twitter and then leaving a comment for each thing that you do. This is completely based on the honor system, and remember that each comment is a separate entry.

~~You have until next Thursday, April 1st, to enter. I'll randomly select a winner and announce the results next Friday.~~

The winner of the $25 gift certificate to Glass Dharma is Kim and Ken Carlile, who wrote:

I've made my husband start bringing his sandwich baggie from lunch home with him to reuse.

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Disclosure: Glass Dharma sent me three straws to be able to write this review but did not compensate me in any other way. Most of the information in this review comes from their website, but the opinions are entirely my own

Short Note

2010-03-24T20:21:00.003-04:00

I'm kind of swamped right now in the middle of a very busy week, but I just wanted to point out the new icon for Diane MacEachern's website Big Green Purse over on the far right of this page. Diane featured me in her "One in a Million" Campaign a few weeks ago, and since I know that several of you newer readers found me through her blog, I wanted to return the love. Diane is the author of the bestselling book Big Green Purse, which encourages women to use their spending power to effect change in the marketplace. Check her out!

Okay, now I have to go finish reading Margaret Atwood's new book, Year of the Flood, for my book club. I always seem to procrastinate on book club books until the last minute and then have to pull a late nighter to get them finished. Am I the only one who does that?

I'll be back in a couple days with a Glass Dharma straws review and giveaway!

Take Out With Out Forgetfulness and Shyness

2010-03-24T13:02:00.005-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth again today with some ideas for making to-go kits:

Inspired by the TakeOutWithOut campaign, I've been working on eating out without producing waste. Thus far, there have been two factors holding me back from being a waste-free eating Marathon Runner:

Factor #1: My post-kids memory.

Isn't it a scientifically proven fact that once a woman has kids, she loses half of her brain cells? I can remember to take my grocery bags to the store because I go every week, and it has become a habit. I can't remember to take my own napkin and utensils to a restaurant because I go so infrequently and most of the time spontaneously.

Read more...

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Waste Free Lunch Ideas

2010-03-23T10:37:00.002-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today with some ideas for packing lunches:

A couple months ago, I asked all of you for help in a few categories that I wanted my family to work on this year, and one of those categories was packing waste-free lunches. We had the "waste free" part down, repurposing various food containers we already had around the house; our problem was the lunch part...What to pack?

I'm happy to say that thanks to all of your suggestions, we've been branching away from our usual (cheese sandwiches with a carrot or celery and a piece of fruit). And both for my sanity and in case anyone else is looking for lunch ideas, I thought I'd gather everyone's suggestions into a nice organized list.

Read more...

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Challengicious Monday: Pack a Waste-Free Lunch

2010-03-22T00:15:00.005-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your final trash-related challenge:

Pack a Waste-Free Lunch

In probably the most unappetizing picture I've ever taken, I present to you: My Son's Lunch. The cheetah bag came from Subway. The plastic containers hold a quesadilla, carrot sticks with ranch dip (in a repurposed tiny jelly jar from a holiday gift basket), and applesauce. The green container once held playdough but now has goldfish crackers.

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Pack waste-free snacks. Gradually inch your way toward waste free meals by starting with your snacks. Forget individually packaged snacks and disposable baggies; gather all of your reusable food containers and pack them yourself. My favorite method involves some old playdough containers: I'll buy a big box of goldfish crackers, pour the crackers into the containers at the beginning of the week, and put them in a basket for easy access for my kids.

JOGGING STRIDE

Pack a waste-free lunch. Once you've got your snacks down, you're ready to move on to a bigger meal. Any collection of mismatched food containers will work (from your cupboards, restaurant take-out, or thrift stores), or you can commit to a nice reusable lunchbox like the PlanetBox I reviewed two weeks ago. For more options, check out ReusableBags.com and Life Without Plastic.

MARATHON RUNNER

Eat out without waste. Are you already a pro at packing waste-free meals? Graduate to the next level by eating out without producing waste. Bring your own straws, utensils, cloth napkins, water bottles, and even to-go containers. Check out the TakeOutWithOut campaign for more ideas, and stay-tuned later this week for the chance to win a gift certificate to Glass Dharma reusable glass straws.

I'm at Jogging Stride right now and working up the courage to be a Marathon Runner. The problem is that we don't eat out very often, so I have to remember to bring my take out containers.

Over at The Green Phone Booth this week, I'll be posting some ideas for waste-free lunches and to-go kits, so stay tuned!

This is also the last of our trash challenges, so I'll be keeping track of my trash again and posting more pictures on the "Go Green without Going Broke" group on Facebook. Who wants to dig in their trash with me?

Will you take the challenge?

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Great Snack Experiment: Kale Chips

2010-03-18T13:29:00.005-04:00

I serendipitously stumbled on several recipes for kale chips recently in a way that made me feel like the universe was trying to nudge me into making them. Now I feel like I owe the universe an apology for waiting so long. As strange as they sound, these are surprisingly good and so easy.

Kale is one of the greens my kids eat without complaint (along with spinach), but even if you usually have to force feed greens to your kids, you should still give these a try. They're kind of in the same vein as popcorn - vegetable-based so relatively healthy, but also covered in fat and salt so not really healthy, making them a good snack.

Kale Chips

MAKES: about 4 servings (though you could easily eat them all by yourself in one sitting)
COST: $.81 per serving*

1 bunch of kale
1 Tbsp. oil
1 Tbsp. apple cider vinegar
sea salt to taste

Preheat your oven. Every recipe I've seen for kale chips lists a different oven temperature - somewhere between 350 and 450. I baked mine at 375 (not so coincidentally, the same temp I bake bread at).

Cut curly kale leaves off of the tough stems. Discard the stems.

Wash kale and dry thoroughly - either by patting with a towel or spinning in a salad spinner. It's very important to get the kale dry, or you'll end up with steamed kale instead of baked kale chips.

Toss kale with oil and vinegar. Sprinkle with sea salt.

Spread the kale evenly onto a baking sheet. Bake for 5 minutes, stir, bake 5 minutes more, etc. until kale is crispy but not burnt. I baked mine for 20 minutes, and I think they're just slightly overdone.

*Note that all costs are estimates based on prices in my area and that I use organic ingredients whenever possible. Your costs may vary.

This post stems from my experiment in February to stop buying store-bought crackers and make my own snacks from scratch. For other snack ideas, check out the following:

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This recipe was shared at Tasty Tuesdays and DIY Day

Announcing the Winner of the PlanetBox Giveaway

2010-03-18T13:02:00.003-04:00

The winner of the PlanetBox giveaway is ME!, who wrote:

I am an elementary teacher and just today I have been creating ways for each grade level at our school to work on saving Earth! I want my class work on school lunches...how to bring reuseable containers and to work on not wasting food. Wouldn't it be great to have one of these lunch boxes as a giveaway!!!!! And I too came here from Big Green Purse!

I think it's pretty cool that the prize for this giveaway will be used in another giveaway. Hopefully it will help spread the word even more about this great lunchbox.

ME! - Please email your address to consciousshopperblog [at] gmail [dot] com and I'll get that shipped right out to you.

Thanks to everyone who entered. If you didn't win, you can purchase your own stainless steel lunchbox by visiting PlanetBox.

There's More Than One Path to Green

2010-03-17T13:17:00.003-04:00

I'm over at the Green Phone Booth today talking about "femivores"...

I hate the label femivore, but overall I found the article very interesting. It definitely describes me.

My first job after college was with a private investigation firm. On paper, it sounds like a cool job, but in reality, it was long commutes, long workdays stuck in an uncomfortable office chair staring at a computer, lots of overtime without overtime pay. Two and a half years later, we moved to Maryland, and my very generous employer offered to let me keep my job working part time from home. Two years after that, they changed their minds, and I found myself in my new (and current) career as a full time stay at home mom.

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How to Recycle Everything

2010-03-16T12:15:00.005-04:00

I say "recycle everything" a little bit tongue in cheek because obviously, it's not possible to recycle everything. The goal is simply to switch your mindset from "throw away" to "reduce, repair, and reuse" and when all else fails...recycle.

Step One: Check with your local waste collection to find out how to participate in your local recycling program.

Step Two: Start a composting bin if your city doesn't have compost collection. Composting is short term for recycling food waste.

Step Three: Find out what other waste collection services your area has. For example, my city has a yard waste drop-off site (and yard waste collection at certain times of the year) and multi-material drop-off sites that take scrap metal, e-waste, tires, and appliances.

Step Four: Look for ways to recycle everything else. Here are some that I've learned about:

#5 plastics

With their Gimme 5 program, Preserve has partnered with Organic Valley and Stoneyfield Farms to collect #5 plastics, which are not collected by most city recycling programs. Gimme 5 bins are set up at select Whole Foods stores, or you can mail your #5 plastics to Preserve. Also collected through this program: Preserve toothbrushes, other Preserve products, and Brita pitcher filters.

Air bag shipping material

If made by Ameri-pak, you can mail the air bags back to them to be recycled. They also accept bubble wrap and polyethylene foam.

Athletic shoes

Nike has a Reuse-A-Shoe program where they collect old athletic shoes and turn the soles into surface material for playgrounds and basketball courts. You can find a drop off location by visiting their site, or mail your shoes directly to a Nike Recycling Center. They can be any athletic shoes, not just Nikes.

Baby products

If your old baby products are unusable or have expired (yes, car seats have expiration dates!), ship them to Baby Gear, which will disassemble them and make sure all parts are recycled properly.

Bottle caps

Most recycling centers do not accept the caps, and if a cap is left on the bottle, they throw the whole bottle out. But now Aveda has started collecting bottle caps! They accept any rigid cap made from polypropylene plastic (if you can bend it with your bare hands, it's not the right kind), and they recycle the caps into Aveda packaging. Just take the caps into an Aveda store.

Brita pitcher filters

These are accepted in Preserve's Gimme 5 program. See #5 plastics above.

CDs, DVDs, diskettes, video tapes, cords, cables, hard drives, etc.

For a small fee, Greendisk will send you a box to collect your computer related waste.

Cell phones, PDAs, and pagers

CollectiveGood collects cell phones, PDAs, and pagers. Devices that are still in working condition are put back into reuse; devices that are broken are taken apart, the usable parts are collected, and everything else is recycled in an environmentally responsible manner. They also recently launched a program to collect used electronics. You can trade in your old computers, printers, and gaming consoles for money, or donate the value to the charity of your choice.

Clothing

Even threadbare clothing can be donated to Goodwill, which turns them into rags or recycles the fibers into other materials.

Computers and small electronics

You can find a list of computer and small electronics recyclers at e-Stewards.org.

Drink pouches

TerraCycle collects drink pouches, cookie wrappers, energy bar wrappers, and yogurt cups and turns them into bags, backpacks, and planters. The catch is that you have to find someone or someplace that is collecting them.

Eyeglasses

The Lions Club and the Give the Gift of Sight Foundation have partnered to collect used eyeglasses, which they clean, repair, and distribute to needy people. You can find a Lions recycling center here.

Glue bottles and sticks

Set up an Elmer's Glue Crew Recycling Program at your local school.

Hangers

Donate them to a dry cleaner or thrift store.

Home improvement goods

Donate your old furniture, home accessories, building materials, and appliances to a Habitat for Humanity ReStore.

Ink cartridges

Most office supply stores will recycle your old ink cartridges, and many give you a discount on your next purchase if you bring back the old one.

Jeans

Watch out for universities and retailers collecting used jeans for the Cotton, from Blue to Green campaign, which turns jeans into insulation.

Packing peanuts

Shipping stores such as The UPS Store will usually take back packing peanuts and reuse them.

Plastic bags

Return them to the grocery store - preferably the grocery store where you got them because different stores use different types of plastic to make their bags.

Polystyrene packaging materials

The Alliance of Foam Packaging Recyclers has established several recycling drop-off locations, or you can mail them the packaging.

School supplies

ILoveSchools.com matches teachers with donors of equipment, supplies, and materials. Examples include computer equipment/software, TVs, VCRs, musical instruments, school supplies, sports equipment, and toys.

Wine and champagne corks (not plastic stoppers)

Mail them to Yemm & Hart, which will turn them into tiles.

Anything else I should add to the list?

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This post was shared at All Things Eco.

Challengicious Monday: Recycle Everything

2010-03-15T12:15:00.003-04:00

Mondays are challengicious at The Conscious Shopper. Here's your next trash-related challenge:

Recycle Everything

To complete this challenge, you can...

BABY STEPS

Participate in your local recycling program. Check with your local waste collection to find out how to participate, and remember to find out what can and cannot be recycled in your area.

JOGGING STRIDE

Buy recycled products. Complete the loop by looking for products with recycled content whenever possible.

MARATHON RUNNER

Recycle everything. Before you throw anything in the trash, ask yourself, "Could this be recycled? How?" Besides your city's recycling collection, many cities have additional recycling stations that collect yard waste, scrap metal, electronics, and appliances. Plus, numerous companies and organizations throughout the country have set up additional recycling programs. Tomorrow, I'll provide you a list of some of the programs I know about.

As is the case with many of these challenges, I'm somewhere between Jogging Stride and Marathon Runner. I have good intentions to recycle beyond my city's collection, but too often, those good intentions end up being a pile of clutter that never goes away. (The floor of my closet is currently covered in electronics that I need to recycle. It's a walk in closet, but you can't actually walk into it right now. Luckily, I married the right man, who puts up with my crap with very little complaint.)

For more information on recycling, check out:

Will you take the challenge?

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Photo by cogdogblog