This one is a no brainer, but when you leave a room, turn off the lights.
Posted in fast facts, house stuff
Sending kids off to college can be difficult in more ways than one. It’s very emotional but it’s also super expensive.
The Green Queen has had three kids in college so she knows a thing or three about watching her budget because tuition at the University of Oregon (a state sponsored, public school) is currently estimated at $20,789.00 per year for a resident undergraduate student taking 15 credit hours (which is the average).
So for a four-year college education, at an in-state university, (for one kid) you can expect to spend over $80,000, and this does not include any “Other Costs”, like if your kid gets sick or hurt and has to go to the student health center.
Plus there are additional administrative fees together with mandatory fees which aren’t included in this matrix. The Green Queen remembers having to pay “additional” fees for any physical education class and lab fees for any science courses (and even some math courses), additional instruction fees for music and art classes. Plus there is even a mandatory matriculation fee of $300.00 for all kids enrolling.
So, as you can see, college can be super expensive.
But the Green Queen has found a few ways to help fight these sky-high costs that seem to keep inflating faster than any balloon she has ever seen. Let her share her sustainable secrets which will also help Protect the Planet at the same time.
Your first-time college kid is going to need all sorts of house-hold items. She sent her sons and daughters off to school with hot-pots (which sell new for $15 to $20 — you can buy more expensive ones but that defeats the money-saving inspiration) for heating up soups, teas and cocoa -– to help avoid some of those “other costs,” like mid-day and late-night snacks.
Hotpot about $20.00
; 
A small dorm refrigerator to keep some personal food products on-hand, so they could bring food from home whenever they came for a visit or buy less expensive food at stores away from campus. Brand-new you can find these for about $125.00 and used is even better.
Dorm Fridge at $126.99 new
The Green Queen found one for $30.00 on Craig’s List.
On Craig's List for $30.00
Plus, they’ll need an iron
(No, they never used it at home, but just in case)
a compact ironing board;
a laundry hamper;
soap dish;
shower caddy;
and . . . on-and-on the list outgrew the Green Queen’s budget faster than Lance Armstrong whizzing by on a new bike.
But everyone can try some earth-friendly shopping ideas to help cut the cost of college and survive the high-cost of a college education in the United States. Here are some of the Green Queen’s (well-used) tips:
1) Try shopping at local thrift shops, second-hand shops and especially GoodWill because they not only help you find reusable, inexpensive, household items and clothing, they also have a mission to help others find work and better their lives. So, besides helping the planet you will be directly impacting people’s lives to make them better able to support themselves and their families.
2) Coordinate with other parents of college-aged kids to carpool rides. Kids all want to come home at the holidays and breaks so why not help each other with the physical and mental move from school-kid to college-kid and maybe just to commiserate about the high-cost of an education in the United States?
3) Check on-line, Craig’s List, eBay, and maybe just do a Google search for some of those more expensive items you can buy on-line, you just might find some great deals.
4) Post fliers for electronics, calculators, books, right as classes end (like outside the door where they take their finals) so that you can buy used before the students who had “your” class the first term sells their goods. You’ll get first dibs on barely used items and they’ll get a better deal than the college will pay them for their used books, etc.
You have to remember pre-owned items are always going to be less expensive than store-bought brand-new items. And while the Green Queen can’t help at all with that emotional part of dealing with the empty nest, she can sure come up with a couple ideas on how to help stretch the budget because she has been doing it for a looooong time now.
Posted in 3 Rs, eco kids, house stuff, living green on a budget, school, transportation
Have some old sheets that are too ratty for your bed but too nice to throw out? Take a look at this list of ways to reuse them:
Drop cloth for painting or other messy projectsWhat other things can you think of?
Posted in 3 Rs, house stuff
One complaint Recycla hears regularly is that it is expensive to go green. Au contraire! Going green can actually save you money while also saving Earth. Check out this list:
Posted in 3 Rs, house stuff, living green on a budget
Want to make a huge leap in keeping your home cleaner? It’s easy, just take your shoes off when you walk get home.
Leaving your Nikes by the door will track less dirt onto your floors and rugs, so you’ll spend less time cleaning and have more time for more important things.
(Like shoe shopping. Recycla has red ballet flats on her mind.)
Furthermore, taking off your shoes cuts down on the germs you bring into your home, which is especially important if you have a baby crawling around and communing with your Marmoleum.
In Recycla’s house, she has successfully trained Mr. Recycla to put his shoes in the hall closet when he comes home and has about a 60% success rate with her daughters. She hopes to eventually never find sneakers under the kitchen table and sandals scattered in the hallway, but she’s afraid to set her hopes so high.
(And if only she could get the whole family to put their shoes in the closet neatly…)
Recycla’s children’s friends know to take their shoes off when they come over and even have a place of their own to leave their Chuck Taylors and Sketchers near the front door.
(Plus it makes end-of-playdate shoe retrieval a snap.)
Doing all this means that Recycla usually only has to sweep and mop her floors and vacuum her rugs once or twice a week.
Tell the Eco Women: Do you take your shoes off when you walk in the door? If you don’t, why not?
All images of cute red shoes courtesy of Zappos.com.
Posted in house stuff
The Eco Women often give advice on changes that people can make at home, although those changes are not always possible for folks who rent instead of own. Therefore, Recycla was pleased to learn that the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has put together a list for renters to have more control over their energy and water use, as well as other suggestions for living more green.
The EPA Renter’s Checklist includes ideas to consider when selecting your rental and once you’ve moved in. For example, when you’re looking for a place to live, you might consider living within walking distance of work or near public transportation. As you are looking at apartments and houses, pay attention to the appliances to see if they are Energy Star rated. Also note if the water fixtures are low-flow. Ask if you will have easy access to recycling facilities. (Recycla, her husband, and their baby daughter once lived for four months in an apartment complex that did not offer recycling and she still shudders to think about how many recyclable items ended up in the landfill.)
Once you move in, the EPA’s list includes a variety of ideas, such as replacing light bulbs with more energy efficient ones, setting your thermostat appropriately, water use, and more.
Not everyone can implement all the items on the list, but it’s a useful resource that might get you thinking about additional ways to go green. If you have some time today, take a look and see what you’re already doing that’s green and what else you can be doing.
Posted in 3 Rs, house stuff
This first week of summer has roared in with a vengeance in Recycla’s home state of Virginia. The thermometer is supposed to hit 98 today, with a heat index of 104+. Yikes!
Even though Recycla’s home is air conditioned, she doesn’t particularly feel like spending a lot of time in a hot kitchen when making dinner, so she has been thinking of ways to keep cool while cooking. She grew up in a house without AC, so she remembers that summer meals were light and often included a lot of raw veggies. Here’s what else she’s been doing:
Like Recycla said earlier, her house is air conditioned, so she doesn’t have to be careful with heat in the kitchen; however, she chooses to do so in order to keep her AC from having to work harder and therefore use more energy. And with the long-term weather forecast showing many days with highs in the 90s, she could probably even fry an egg on the sidewalk.
Tell the Eco Women: What’s your favorite meal on a hot summer day?
Posted in food, house stuff
We all know the easy ways to conserve water–turn off the faucet while brushing our teeth, wash dishes in the dishwasher instead of by hand, run only full loads of laundry and dishes, use rain barrels to capture water for gardening. Enviro Girl assumes no readers have leaky faucets because that would be a silly way to waste water. But if your house is more than 10 years old, you might not have the most water-efficient faucet. Fortunately, it’s cheap and easy to make your faucets greener!
You can attach a faucet aerator to any standard faucet for $3.00 or less. If you can twist a lid off a jar, you can screw on a faucet attachment that pumps air into the water, reducing the amount of water used. Using the same technology as a pressure washer, an aerator adds air, eliminating the need to run the tap at full blast to get a heavy stream of water to create suds or rinse the bottom of a crusty pan. Check out energyfederation.org to find great deals on faucet aerators.
Similarly, aerating showerheads can save about 2,500 gallons of water per person per year. The pressure stays the same when using an aerating showerhead, but you’ll use less water. You’ll also use less energy to heat less water–adding up to even more savings! You can also look for showerheads using fewer gallons per minute (gpm) and significantly decrease your water consumption. Enviro Girl has water-efficient showerheads in both bathrooms and she’s a huge fan of lots of water pressure in her shower. She assures you that a new showerhead makes a world of difference. Energyfederation.org offers a range of styles from $30 and under. Like the faucet attachments, attaching a new showerhead is so easy even Enviro Girl or a monkey can do it!
Reader, have you attached faucet aerators or new showerheads to your plumbing fixtures? If you haven’t, what’s holding you back?
Make this summer the most environmentally responsible yet–and save money in the bargain!
1. Buy a water bottle and fill it from your tap. A stainless steel Kleen Kanteen water bottle starts at $15.00–the same price as 15 units of bottled water you might buy at the ball diamond or gas station, golf course or county fair. We have the right and the obligation to drink tap water because it’s healthier and less expensive than water for sale in petroleum-based packaging. Bring Your Own Bottle of water and do right by the planet!
2. Install a clothesline. For less than $10 you can buy a clothesline and pins and hang your laundry for free every load. Clothes dryers are among the least energy-efficient appliances and line drying is a great way to go green. Learn more here. Bonus: you’ll save on your electric bill and on fabric softeners and dryer sheets!
3. Invest in a solar battery charger. In the summer whether you’re camping or listening to your radio, you can power up your flashlights or ballgame without feeling guilty about using batteries. Solar powered electronics have really come down in price and a 4-battery charger for D/C/AA/AAA batteries costs as little as $30.
4. Skip the lawn chemicals. Use full-strength white vinegar to kill weeds (.70 a liter vs. $10.00 a liter of Round-Up) and let your lawn grow a little higher to keep the weeds at bay. Enrich your soil with worm castings or compost instead of poisonous blue granules. Your pets, soil’s helpful microorganisms, water quality and wallet will all thank you.
5. Leave your car parked and walk or bike your way around. Enviro Girl lives in the country, but even she can adhere to this rule. When she drives to town, she parks in a central location and walks from place to place instead of driving between errands. It’s good exercise and better on the environment.
Recycla has found herself to be in a sticky situation lately. Specifically, she knows she shouldn’t cook with Teflon-coated pans, but how can she scramble eggs and not have them stick?
Why is Teflon bad? The chemicals used in its creation are now considered to be likely carcinogens. The high temperatures used in cooking can cause Teflon to come off and it’s made worse if you’re using a sharp utensil to stir your stir fry. You definitely don’t want toxins in your hash browns!
So what’s an eco cook to do? Luckily, there are options:
cast iron — Yes it’s heavy and yes it can be difficult to clean, but if it worked for your grandma, it will work for you. And, yes, some cast iron, such as Le Creuset is expensive, but it will last you for a lifetime and you’ll more than recoup your investment. (There is also a less expensive version of Le Creuset called Chasseur.)
All-Clad — Recycla is a big fan of All-Clad pans, as they aren’t coated with Teflon, but food doesn’t stick. These are heavy-duty cooking vessels and will last a lifetime.Most of these options are more expensive than the basic cookware you’d find at a big box store, but they’re also well made and will last a very long time. In fact, Recycla has been using some of her pots and pans for almost 20 years and they still work (and look) great. To find better prices, check discount stores like TJ Maxx or Marshalls and also look in consignment shops. Try online at eBay. If you can score some hand-me-downs from a relative, even better!
Posted in food, house stuff
