Watch your bills flatline and help the environment!
We use an extraordinary amount of additional electricity during the holidays. A 2003 study conducted by the U.S. Department of Energy determined that Americans consume about 2220 GWh of electricity each holiday season by using standard incandescent holiday lights -which is equivalent to all the energy used by Angola in one year. The study concluded that a mere 20% switch by American households to LED Christmas lights would save 440 GWh (or 1/5th of electricity) during the holiday season.
You can purchase LED lights and recycle your old incandescents here:
www.holidayleds.com
http://www.holidayleds.com/holidayledscom_christmas_light_recycling_program
To help organize your lights and/or extension cords re-use plastic curtain containers. You can loosely wrap and store them. Most are see through and easy to label with a sharpie!
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With holidays right around the corner, I wanted to continue tips to remove stains.
For NON washable fabrics:
Chocolate: Start with oil solvent for grease & rinse gently. Dab remaining with vinegar until gone. Dab with cool water.
Coffee: Dab with White vinegar till gone. Has sugar: follow up flush with water; milk follow up with oil solvent. Dab with water to rinse thoroughly.
Berry sauces: Dab with denatured alcohol. Flush with white vinegar for remaining color then dab with dish detergent for remaining residue. Use water sparingly. Even if stain can’t be seen mark with tape for dry cleaner as sugars can caramelize when dry cleaned.
Gravy: Oil solvent for grease then dab with white vinegar until gone. Dab with cool water.
Grease: Dab with oil solvent then flush thoroughly with water. Follow with a flush of mineral spirits or denatured alcohol if necessary.
Sap: Dab with mineral spirits or oil solvent & let air dry. Rub gently with detergent then flush gently with water to rinse.
Tea: Dab with lemon juice; Contains sugar follow up flushing with water; milk follow up with an oil solvent.
Wax: Freeze by running an ice cube over. Scrape as much off as possible. Iron on low setting with a towel placed over & beneath stain. Use mineral spirits to remove residue.
Red Wine: Dab with denatured alcohol. Dab with white vinegar for remaining color and then dab with cool water to rinse.
White wine: Dab with cool water. ven if stain can’t be seen mark with tape for dry cleaner as sugars can caramelize when dry cleaned.
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One of the things I am most passionate about is coming up with creative ways to repurpose every day items to help people get organized! With the holidays coming up now is a great time to go through all of your ornaments and get organized. Instead of buying a specialty made plastic container for ornaments you can use an empty case of wine box. After you have enjoyed the wine, you have a perfect carton to organize your ornaments. If the box kept glass bottles of wine undamaged your ornaments will be safe. If you have multiple boxes, the uniform boxes will be easy to store. You can also color coordinate boxes. Don’t drink wine? You can go to your local Wine Store where they have an area with empty boxes. What is your favorite item to repurpose? 
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I am pretty well known among my friends that if I eat mustard (the old school plain yellow kind) it will end up on me! With Halloween around the corner, chocolate stains might be an issue! Have some of these items together to tackle some common stains:
For washable fabrics:
Chocolate: Combination solvent for grease & rinse. If needed, a digestant for protein.
Coffee: White vinegar till gone. Has sugar: follow up flush with water; milk follow up with combination solvent.
Berry sauces: Dab with denatured alcohol. Flush with white vinegar for remaining color then dab with dish detergent for remaining residue.
Gravy: Combination solvent for grease then flush with white vinegar.
Grease: Cover with absorbent to draw out stain. Dab with combination solvent & flush with water. If necessary, flush with mineral spirits.
Sap: Dab with mineral spirits & let air dry. Rub with detergent before washing.
Tea: Flush with lemon juice to remove color then diluted bleach if necessary; Contains sugar follow up with water; milk follow up with combination solvent.
Wax: Freeze by running an ice cube over. Scrape as much off as possible. Iron on low setting with a towel placed over & beneath stain. Use mineral spirits to remove residue.
Red wine: On delicate cloth soak spot with denatured alcohol. Flush with white vinegar to remove residual stain. On sturdy fabrics, coat with salt and leave for 5 minutes. Stretch stain over heat proof bowl; secure with rubber band. Place in sink & carefully pour boiling water over stain from a height of at least a foot.
White wine: Flush with cool water.
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First, some statistics:
•An average household of four throws away $590/year in food
•Wasted food may also have wasted packaging, transportation costs, agricultural costs and other secondary environmental impacts.
•Americans throw away 25% of the food we prepare
•We produce twice as much food as needed per person
Cooked leftovers stay fresh for up to seven days and some can taste better the second time around. Declare at least one night use it up meal! Plan ahead to save time & resources. According to a 2009 study from the Bulk is Green Council you can save an average of 35% by buying just what you need!
Create tacos from leftover chicken, greens & roasted veggies; omelet with leftover greens & herbs; pesto leftover cheese, herbs & nuts; warm beet salad with leftover beet greens.
Extras: If you won’t get to leftovers soon, freeze them in individual sizes; broth & tomato paste can be frozen into ice cubes; nuts store well in the freezer.
Reorganize your fridge & put leftovers in one area. Put the oldest first, newest in back. Label & date so you know what the item is!
What are you going to recreate this week??
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Halloween is my favorite holiday! I love to dress up and see all the trick or treaters. When I was little my dad made an Indian princess costume for me out of a burlap sack. Many times I have been “static cling” where I take a blanket and pin socks, t-shirts, underwear, or whatever else is in my drawer.
Here are some suggestions on ways to bring some green along with the orange and black this Halloween!
Costumes
Check out Consignment and Thrift shops and garage sales.
Raid your own closets: what can you make with what you have?
Old costumes are often donated to Goodwill, Salvation Army. Also look on E bay and Craigs List.
Remember, it is doubtful that that plastic costume can be recycled. What can you make out of cardboard which can be recycled?
Candy
Buy organic apples
Check out your local health food store for organic chocolates; on line: http://www.worldwidechocolate.com/organic_chocolate.html
Roast pumpkin seeds
Decorations
What in nature can you find to inspire you? Leaves, pumpkins, pine cones…
Eco Friendly Trick or Treat Bags
Reuse a paper sack
Use a reusable cloth sack
Have your child decorate a reusable tote bag
Here’s a great site to check out for even more ideas: http://www.greenhalloween.org/
What creative things are you doing to make your Halloween more green this year?
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Some suggestions to get your food organized for optimum health!
Put fresh food snacks (washed, cut & dried veggies & fruit; hard boiled eggs) at eye level so that is the first thing you see! Eat stuff here within a few days.
Second shelf: Yogurt, cheese, hummus, nuts for grab & go fuel.
Middle drawer: Meats & cheeses for snacks & add on to salads.
Left Bottom Shelf: Hydration: Water, all natural juices, skim milk, seltzer water.
Right Bottom 2 Shelves: Herbs, cooked rice & quinoa for quick fiber rich meals.
Bottom Drawers: Veggies, veggies, veggies. Fruits separately as they can increase decaying process.
The Door: Condiments like salsa & miso to add flavor to meal instead of fat!
Freezer: Store veggie & fruit at top for smoothies; meal size containers of soups, etc.; lean cuts of beef, chicken, fish.
Here’s to organizing for good health!
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1 in 10 U.S. workers report increased snaking during the day because of concerns over the current economic situation. 43% say they have gained weight during their current job.
Clutter also influences weight and cardiovascular health. People don’t eat well because their kitchen isn’t functional. It is also a contributing factor in noncompliance with taking meds and exercising.
If your kitchen is cluttered then you are most likely eating frozen or fast food.
What one step could you take today to make a difference?
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If you have not heard of or been to The Scrap Exchange in Durham I wholeheartedly recommend a trip! This place takes stuff that people would normally toss and use it to create art or for other projects.
If you are a teacher, home school your kids or need back to school supplies, this is an affordable gold mine! Some of the “new” items they recently received this month include: 1940-70s Vintage Magazines, Mini Glass Beakers and VXI Tuffset Headsets.
It is a great place for an alternative birthday party for kids, too or to get your creative juices flowing. For instance, they have wallpaper samples. I am in the process of repairing my old dollhouse for my nieces and those samples are going to be perfect!
Check out their groovy site:
http://www.scrapexchange.org/
For those outside of the Triangle area, here are some similar stores:
http://www.scrapbox.org/ in Ann Arbor
http://www.artsandscraps.org/ in Detriot
http://urbanore.ypguides.net/ in Berkeley
http://www.mfta.org/ New York
If you have not heard of or been to The Scrap Exchange in Durham I wholeheartedly recommend a trip! This place takes stuff that people would normally toss and use it to create art or for other projects.
If you are a teacher, home school your kids or need back to school supplies, this is an affordable gold mine! Some of the “new” items they recently received this month include: 1940-70s Vintage Magazines, Mini Glass Beakers and VXI Tuffset Headsets.
It is a great place for an alternative birthday party for kids, too or to get your creative juices flowing. For instance, they have wallpaper samples. I am in the process of repairing my old dollhouse for my nieces and those samples are going to be perfect!
Check out their groovy site:
http://www.scrapexchange.org/
For those outside of the Triangle area, here are some similar stores:
http://www.scrapbox.org/ in Ann Arbor
http://www.artsandscraps.org/ in Detriot
http://urbanore.ypguides.net/ in Berkeley
http://www.mfta.org/ New York
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The family that calendars together, stays together! A fan on my Facebook like page told me about this site:
http://wiggio.com/
She writes, “It lets you set up a web based family calendar that you and your kids can access from anywhere. They post their own sleepovers, babysitting gigs, school performances, and we adults post our own obligations. They can look and… see if we already have plans for the weekend before they make plans. While at work, I can see in one spot what everyone else is doing after work and who needs a ride to where. It’s not perfect but if they don’t post their own stuff and then suddenly say, “but, I NEED a ride to the movie” we ask, was it on the Wiggio?” The site also allows you to host conferences, web meetings & chat rooms as well as a bunch of other really cool stuff. Check it out!
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