Waste Not, Want Not!

Green Living: Making it Last by Carla Hill

We live in a disposable society. The products that fill our daily lives are used and discarded. This habitual "use and lose" puts a dent in not only our pocketbooks, but also in the environment.

According to Cleanair.org, every year Americans throw away enough paper and plastic cups, forks, and spoons to circle the equator 300 times. Yes, 300 times.

This is just the tip of the trash iceberg. Parents all across the nation gird the loins of their joyful little cherubs with disposable diapers.

Cleanair notes, "Disposable diapers are the third largest single consumer item in landfills, and represent about 4% of solid waste. In a house with a child in diapers, disposables make up 50% of household waste." In addition, these diapers take hundreds of years to decompose and cost thousands of dollars to use.

Plus, the oil used to produce those dandy disposables is more oil than used during the lifetime use of your car!

The EPA reports that in 2010, American generated about 250 million tons of trash, with just a 34.1 percent recycling rate. What is being tossed that could be repurposed, reused, or revisioned?

Learning to reduce, reuse, and recycle is a great way to cut down on household expenses, something that many homeowners are searching out.

There's a honorable movement spreading across the nation bent on saving money and preserving the environment.

The new book Make it Last: Prolonging and Preserving What We Love bridges the gap between life in a disposable culture and the basic skills needed to save money and live more sustainably. This book teaches the reader how to extend the lives of the things they love by repairing clothing, preserving home-grown food, and even repairing your kitchen sink.

Raleigh Briggs takes her longtime commitment to community building through the DIY movement and shares her valuable experience with the reader through a conversational tone in her hand drawn and illustrated guide.

"People are starting to realize not only that they can do this stuff, but that it's fun and fulfilling to boot." says Briggs. "Whenever you think about the choices you're making, you're doing a good thing."

Verbicide Magazine described it as "a Gideon Bible-like manual that should be heavily circulated to people who are just scraping by in life. Her pragmatic approach to taking back your home is what makes this book so appealing."

Save money while saving the planet. That's some noble work!

Published: November 29, 2012 realtytimes.com

Cool Christmas Tree Decorating Tips

          Have you already set your Christmas tree in place and are ready to go? Or are you one of the many who has been procrastinating and has yet to get you tree out of the box (or lot)?? Well, whether you are an early riser or a late bloomer fear not, these tips may be able to help "spice up" your current decorations or give you ideas for when you finally decide to dust off your Christmas storage and have a go at your tree this year!  :)

Ribbon

Having kids and a tree are not a good match all the time, tinsel gets strewed everywhere, in hair, on clothes, and even on the pets! Ribbon is an alternative to the mess, it allows you to give your tree a smooth and elegant look and yet still keep the youthfulness of it!  Think about getting ribbon that matches the room that it will be in, and decorate accordingly.




Stand Out
Do you have white walls?  Have you ever thought about using a colored tree? Red trees, blue trees, etc. will be a great way to bring color into the room and make your tree stand out against the sea of white walls surrounding it.

Vintage
Gold trees are a great way to get that vintage look and feel. Since the metallic trees are such a wow factor themselves, there is no need to over decorate this one. Instead, choose one or two colors and have at it. (I would suggest some green to offset the gold) And be sure to get a tree skirt that adds a cohesive flow to your color scheme.

Golden Rule
Here is a great spin off a traditional tree. Instead of keeping the tree completely green, try spray painting (just to tint it) gold. not all over, but just accenting a few places and then go back and lightly cover the branches in spray snow. Add some gold accents and ornaments to the tree and you have a classic spin off of the classic tradition!


Black Out
A black Christmas tree is fairly new to me, however it gives way to many great decorating ideas. Because the color of the tree can be kind of daunting alone, you will want to grab ornaments that pop out. A nice bright blue with some white lights and a tree skirt (or rug) to match the ornaments would make your tree the center of attention this year!


White Out
Here we are, total opposite of the black tree is the infamous white tree. I have seen so many variations of the white tree, but my all time favorite would have to be a classic black and white. Although it is not your "traditional" Christmas colors, in a contemporary home this would be a perfect fit. Add a touch of black pine cones to your tree as well as white icicles and think about wrapping your presents in black and silver wrapping this year to add to the effect.

Color Coded

Some of the newest color trends this season is teal and copper. If you are adventurous and want to step out of the box, i would suggest adding copper colored leaves, glittered sprigs, and possibly some bay leaves. What this does is accentuate the tree and creates a lovely contrast that will have everyone in holiday spirits.