Green Tips
Trashy Gift Wrap
September 20, 2010 by Mecca · Leave a Comment
It takes 2 minutes to turn trash into one of a kind gift wrap.
I’m conflicted – I love beautifully wrapped presents but the whole notion of one-use, throw-away paper and trimmings chafes my green side. The solution? Trash of course.
I’m only kidding a little bit. These days I use waste to wrap presents. I have a cabinet full of shopping bags too nice to throw away. I also have various cardboard packaging destined for the recycle bin that happen to feature every toddlers favorite – Elmo! I just cut out Elmo or Elmo’s head and stick him onto a shopping bag, making sure to conveniently cover the logo. (My husband also likes to use these Elmo scraps to decorate race cars, pictures, and occasionally my son.)
Another favorite way to reuse a shopping bag is to tape (double-side) one of my son’s masterpieces onto the bag. Besides being grandparent-adored, they look über cool. If you’re not wrapping for a little one or a grandparent, you can just use some scrap paper to cover the logo. As an added bonus you can write a message on the paper before gluing it on.
Click here to see a gift bag made from left over curtain material.
Plastic? Make Sure It’s a 1, 2, 4, or 5
September 15, 2010 by Mecca · Leave a Comment
Check out this quick read on the safest plastics from Woman’s Day
We all know there are potential dangers in household plastics – the chemical components can break down leaching things like bisphenol A (BPA) and phthalates into the food we eat. Microwaves, dishwashers, and freezers can speed up the deterioration process. I never microwave food in plastic anymore, a quick dump onto a glass or ceramic dish takes just a second. And plastic wrap in the microwave? A big no-no.
Meanwhile some plastics are better than others. Look for the codes imprinted on the bottom of plastic containers, you’ll see a single number inside a triangle. The numbers 1, 2, 4, or 5 are deemed safe while 3, 6, and 7’s should be avoided. We have been working to keep plastics to a minimum for my 2-year-old but of course still have plenty of plastic sippy cups, tiny bowls and the like. A quick check of the plastics in my house turns up all 5’s (yes, I too have a few of those inexpensive Take-and-Toss cups). Then I remembered to check my freebie sport bottle that I actually love using – it’s a 7. The number 7 means the bottle is made from BPA-containing polycarbonates. Time to retire it to the back of cabinet to be used only in H2O transportation emergencies. (Click here to read LGB’s recommendation for the best reusable water bottles.)
For more information and more easy tips see “Is That Plastic Container Safe?”
Natural Microwave Cleaner
September 3, 2010 by Tonya · 2 Comments
Tonya tries out a homemade cleaner for the microwave
While I know some greenies are against the microwave, I haven’t been able to kick my habit. It’s a quick and easy way to reheat foods. Anyway, I digress. In reading through my copy of Healthy Child, Healthy World I came across a tip to “E-lemon-ate Your Dirty Nuker”. This caught my attention since I always forget to clean the microwave. As a busy Mom, I’m doing good to get the floors cleaned and dust. According to the book, just microwave a bowl with 8oz water and lemon slices for 3 minutes. Let sit for three more minutes and then wipe down the inside.
This must be a joke! All those pieces of dried-up, stuck-on food are just going to easily wipe clean? I put it to the test to see for myself. I followed the directions exactly and when I opened the door to the microwave after the 3 minute wait period, it looked exactly the same. I was disappointed thinking it would automatically look different just from microwaving the lemons. But, I hadn’t gotten to the last part of the instructions: wipe down the inside of the microwave. I quickly grabbed a cleaning rag and literally three quick wipes and all the weeks (ok, let’s say months) of crusted food came off in a jiffy!
The verdict:
So quick and easy! I would definitely recommend this method. And I didn’t have to break a sweat scrubbing and cursing the crusted-on food. Lastly, I couldn’t just throw the lemons away, so I used the juice to clean and deodorize my kitchen sinks. My kitchen had that lemony clean smell; and no artificial fragrances involved.
Do you have any green cleaning tips? We’ve loved to hear from you. 
I’ve Got Peva in My Bathroom
August 18, 2010 by Mecca · 2 Comments
Peva: A safer, affordable alternative to vinyl PVC shower curtains
Still not ready to shell out close to a $100 for a hemp shower curtain I make the next best choice: Peva. But let me back up. The reason I need a new shower curtain (and probably you as well) is because that old vinyl number hanging in the bathroom is toxic. Really toxic. The problem is PVC. Click here to read about a study linking chemicals from vinyl to serious health problems.
The incredibly-abbreviated (but easy to remember) version: PVC is bad news. A PVC product like a shower curtain contains 108 volatile organic compounds and poisonous chemicals including phthalates, mercury and dioxins. These toxins leach out with age, heat, and wear. Next stop, the human body where these chemicals have been linked to damage to the liver and the central nervous, respiratory and reproductive systems.
Hemp and linen have been the go-to choice for ‘green’ shower curtains because they are environmentally friendly and uber-safe, but as you can see they are also uber-pricey. Lucky for us as PVC is on the way out, new affordable products are showing up on store shelves. Which brings us back to PEVA.
PEVA stands for polyethylene vinyl acetate. Even though the V stands for vinyl, PEVA is a non-chlorine, PVC-free, biodegradable material. Since the word vinyl can apply to many products, some of which aren’t toting dangerous PVC, the easiest way to be sure is to only buy products labeled PVC-FREE. Check out some other new shower curtain products (like recyclable plastic) here.
Meanwhile PEVA is super affordable: A plain white one at Ikea costs a measly $1.99, while my fancy map version from Target cost around $15 bucks. And as an added bonus my 2-year-old can now point out the location of Chile, Agentina, Brazil, Africa, Australia, and New Zealand. Once he grows a little taller we’ll start on the Northern Hemipshere.
Keep Fire Ants Out
July 28, 2010 by Mecca · Leave a Comment
Head ‘em off at the pass with children’s sidewalk chalk!
We came home one day to find thousands of fire ants running the entire length of our house. It was a near-solid line running up from the driveway, past the dryer vent, and across our back door threshold. Luckily they hadn’t yet veered North and discovered the feast of my crumb-covered kitchen floor (not to mention the breakfast leftovers still sitting out from that morning).
There are few things in this world I wish death upon. Fire ants being such a thing. However with our backporch being prime bubble-blowing and sitting and hanging out territory, a chemical death is out of the question. (Hubby also nixed death by flame thrower.)
About the time I start stomping my feet, “Well what are we going to do?”, my husband grabs a piece of our son’s sidewalk chalk and starts drawing on the house. He tells me chalk messes up the chemical trail ants follow. Uh huh. Mister Amusing then asks how a green person like myself never heard of this.
Despite my secretly wishing his (smug) chalk method would fail, it worked – big time. The ants broke into absolute chaos when they encountered the pink chalk smears. They broke off, going in all directions before reassembling into another line about an hour later. I repeated chalk lines and hoped none of the discombobulated ants would venture into the house. They never did and eventually the line petered out. It’s been a couple of weeks and still no ants!
While the chalk doesn’t quite satisfy my lust for fire ant death, it does keep them out of the house.
Zap Weeds Naturally
June 18, 2010 by Tonya · 2 Comments
Now that Alabama’s summer sun is scorching, weeds are growing! At my house we have a huge flower bed, better known as the weed bed these days. A few months ago I was reading through my copy of Healthy Child, Healthy World and learned that boiling water kills weeds. No way?! So, I had to try this oh-so-easy method of weed zapping.
It worked! I boiled water in my teapot and simply doused the weeds. The next day said weeds were limp and lifeless. Now, I just need to invest in a 5 gallon tea pot since I’ve got so many weeds. Actually, this method would work great for those pesky weeds that grow up in between the sidewalk, however I am going to keep looking for another way to cover larger areas.
Next up: the vinegar test! Check out this link for more natural ways to kill weeds.
If you’ve got any weeding tips, we’d love to hear from you.
