Green Wednesday #2

Today's tips are things that you can do around the house. Not only will you be helping the economy, but you will be helping your wallet.

• Sign up for greendimes. It's an organization that seeks to cut down on junk mail. Not only does junk mail clog up your mailbox, it also requires an estimated 100 million trees and 20 billion gallons of water every year. For about a dime a day, Greendimes will stop 70 to 90 percent of the junk mail you're now getting. They also plant a tree a month for every member. Go to http://www.greendimes.com/. (It also makes a great gift.)
• Cut back on the use of your napkins. The average person uses 6 napkins a day. If we all gave up one napkin a day, we could save a billion pounds of paper waste.
• Use eco-friendly cleaners inside your house. "Clean, real clean, doesn't have a smell" Some eco-friendly cleaners are Shaklee, Method, Meyers and 7th Generation. (As my mother's day gift, my friend, Lindsay, bought me some 7th generation and Meyers cleaning products. Thanks Lindsay!)
• Use the same cup all day long to cut down on dishwasher cycles.
• Appliances that are plugged in still use energy even though they are off. Plug your electronics into the Smart Power Strip, which retails for $32.95. Then, when you turn off the power strip, all the items plugged into it will also power down.
• Use Compact Fluorescent Light bulbs (CFL). They are 70 to 75 percent more efficient than other bulbs and last 8 to 10 years. If we all change one light bulb, it would be like reducing carbon emissions from 800,000 cars.
• Recylce anything and everything. Why? Because one four-foot high stack of newspapers is the equivalent of one 40-foot fir tree, and glass takes 100 years to breakdown in the landfills. Each city has their own guidelines when it comes to recycling so go to http://www.earth911.org/ and type in your zip code to get specifics.
• Wash your clothes in cold water.
• Crank your thermostat to 78 degrees in the summer months.
• Turn your thermostat a degree lower in the winter. If every home in America did it, we'd save enough energy to power all the homes in Iowa for one whole year!
• Take a shorter shower. If America subtracted just one minute from their daily showers, we'd save twice the amount of freshwater withdrawn from the Great Lakes every day!
• Reuse ribbon and wrapping paper. If two-thirds of Americans each saved an arm's length of ribbon this year, we could tie a bow around the earth