GardeningNude

Harry the Pug Says “Save Money!” Here Are Five Tips for Reducing Indoor Water Usage

Did you know the average American uses almost 100 gallons of water per day? This includes drinking, washing clothes, washing dishes, flushing toilets, food preparation, bathing, as well as watering lawns and gardens.

Surprisingly, the United States is one of the highest ranking water users in the world. Other countries such as France and Germany use roughly 55 to 60 gallons daily. Below are five tips for super-easy but significant ways to reduce your water usage:

1. Retrofit water fixtures with water saving fixtures such as a water saving showerheads, toilets, and aerators.
2. Audit water leaks by turning off all the taps in the house. Take a meter reading off the water meter. Wait at least 30 minutes, then read the meter again. If the far right hand dial on the water meter is moving or if your meter readings are different, then you have a leak somewhere in your home and need to address it.
3. Take a bath instead of a shower – on average, you can save 45 gallons of water if you only put a couple of inches of water in the bottom of your tub. However, this number is reversed if you utilize a water saving showerhead (see Harry the Pug taking a shower above). A ten minute shower utilizing a water saving showerhead uses only about 20 gallons of water. Test which works best for your household by plugging the bathtub up while you take a shower and measure the difference.
4. Wash only full loads of clothes in the clothes washer or dishes in the dishwasher, or lower water settings for smaller loads.
5. Do not let the water run while you brush your teeth, shave, or wash your hands.

The Water Conservation School in Florida has an interesting way of helping Florida residents learn about water conservation. Try the cool Water Calculator Survey on their website to see how much water on average you use daily in your household.

Make a difference – save water and save money – today!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Save Money – My Top Ten Tips for Reducing Energy Usage In Your Home!

According to a 2009 report from McKinsey & Company, Americans are wasting $130 billion annually on energy. This means we are spending way too much money due to inefficiency in our homes. During a difficult economic time, watching our utility usage is so critical, it can sometimes mean the difference between losing a home and saving a home.

Below are the Top 10 Tips For Reducing Energy Usage – my personal recommendations for running a household that saves money and energy:

1. Audit your household to understand how much energy you are using and where you might best save energy. Utility companies provide free audits if you request them.
2. Heating and Air-Conditioning is the number one consumer of energy in a home. Turn the thermostat down four degrees and utilize an automated energy-star thermostat if you are able.
3. Replace all traditional light bulbs with LEDs or CFL’s which utilize far less energy. Remember to dispose of CFL’s properly – they contain mercury.
4. Turn off lights, air conditioner, and furnace when not in use.
5. Beware of “vampire power” and unplug wall warts, standby electronics and anything else which might be plugged in but not turned on.
6. Water heating is the third largest consumption of energy in your home. Insulate the water heater and water pipes to maintain their efficiency.
7. Seal air leaks with storm window covers. Insulate windows with closed curtains.
8. Avoid using your fireplace – especially when the temperature outside ducks below 30 degrees Fahrenheit - it sucks a tremendous amount of heated air from your home.
9. Close doors, especially at night, to contain heat in bedrooms.
10. Weatherize home by insulating the attic and sealing leaks.

To reduce electrical usage in my home, I use automated light timers and motion sensitive lighting. Recently the Datexx Company* provided me with two of their products to test – The UTimer (see above) and the Smart Rechargeable LED Light. Guess what? I really like both of them and found they did help me reduce electricity usage.

Here is how they work – the UTimer gets plugged into an outlet and also into a lamp. It turns the lights on automatically in the evenings when the light changes to dusk; no complicated timers to program. If you like, it provides an led night light for you which uses only a tiny bit of electricity. Every day I used to turn the lights on way sooner than dusk; this timer has encouraged me to be a little bit greener by utilizing day-light for a longer period.

The Smart Rechargeable LED Light is a power failure light, motion detector light, photo-electric night light, and 8-hour emergency flashlight all built into one. I love this as it is a great night light in the hallway and allows us to go up and down the hallway without turning on more powerful energy-sucking overhead lights because of its awesome motion sensor.

Both of these products help you with the #4 item above – turn the electricity off when not in use. To purchase these products, simply go online to the Datexx Company.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

*These products were sent to me at no cost - I tested them for several months in my own home. My review is wholly honest, my own opinion, and not based on additional payment from the Datexx company in any form. In fact, my agreement with them is that I would review their product in a totally honest fashion, keeping my readers and viewers needs at the top of the priority list when considering this product’s recommendation and use.

Green and Simple Tip – Reuse or Recycle Your Paper Napkins From the Car

In a perfect world we would be utilizing paper napkins that are made from 100% post consumer waste (PCW) and are processed chlorine-free (PCF) (which means no bleach will get into our water systems after the product is thrown out or recycled again). We do not live in a perfect world and the pile of napkins below is proof of that.

Above you see my husband (a.k.a. Mr. Serious in this photo), getting ready to back out of the driveway – his car is usually full of napkins. He runs his business out of his vehicle and spends a lot of time on the road working long hours. This means LOTS of fast food stops. Most of the time he has an extra napkin or two left after he eats. Instead of putting it back in the bag and throwing it out or recycling it, he saves the napkins for reuse to prevent waste. Once he gets a large pile, he brings it in for the family to use and helps keep our landfills just a little bit cleaner.

Seems like a small thing to do for our planet, doesn’t it? It is not when you imagine that Americans use an average of 2,200 paper napkins per person per year – here is the U.S. population count as of this blog post – 307,340,699 – you do the math! Thousands of trees could be used for other purposes if we were more careful about which napkins we choose to use and how we choose to use them. For instance, how are we going to use the napkins which are automatically handed to us through the fast food window?

Follow my husbands great tip and prevent waste – save and reuse the extra napkins you pick up along in your journey through life. Also, when buying new napkins focus on purchasing PCW and PCF products. This goes a long way towards protecting the environment.

You can make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Green and Simple Tip – With 26 Billion Toilet Paper Rolls Produced Yearly – Harry the Pug Says Let’s Recycle

Harry the Pug is bringing you a green and simple tip today – from the toilet. See the toilet roll by his paw? That little cardboard is the bi-product of a toilet paper roll – and usually the average American simply throws it in the trash thinking it a tiny and insignificant bit of cardboard.

Let’s reconsider our thinking. In the United States alone, 26 billion rolls of toilet paper are created annually. With most Americans using an annual average of 23.6 rolls per capita. My home uses lots more than 23.6 rolls per person per year – it’s true – I’m just sayin’!

With these statistics in mind the question needs to be asked: what are you doing with your toilet paper cardboard? Are you throwing it out? Don’t do that! I recycle the cardboard directly in my recycle bin, use the cardboard to hold electrical cords together, and sometimes tear it up to put in my compost bin.

Help make a difference and be sure to reuse or recycle your toilet paper cardboard. What ideas do you have for reusing this cardboard? Leave a comment and let me know.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Car Trash – What Do You Do With It? Here’s a Green Recycle Tip!

 

See the photo above – that would be me at least 50% of my life – in the car. Just call me “The Taxi” It’s true; Americans spend a lot of time in their cars due to our hectic modern life. According to the U.S. Census Bureau's American Community Survey, over 100 hours per year commuting to work alone. There are days when various members of my family eats, naps, and does homework in the car – modern American life is hectic.

While living a greener lifestyle in our family does include bicycling and walking, we are still trying to find ways to reduce our automobile usage. In the end, with urban sprawl and larger wide-ranging communities, the car has become a necessary evil to help our family to survive in a modern age. With all the travel and activities we have, there is a bi-product created which lives in our car; garbage from our adventures.

Before recycling existed, we would dump the garbage out at the nearest trash receptacle and leave it at that. However, what I have learned is a lot of what we collect as trash during our car travels can be recycled. Our family has begun to save everything we gather and bring it home so we can place it in the recycling bin instead of throwing useful things out in the landfill.

Next time you’re out and about in your car, remember to save all your recyclables and bring them home. Think before you throw them out in a trash bin and make a conscious decision to make a difference for our environment. Recycle!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

BE AWARE - - Wash Produce With Soap and Water - - How Many Pesticides Do YOU Consume Every Day?

At a recent green conference I was handed a little magnetic guide for my refrigerator. It listed which fruits and veggies have tested the highest in pesticides straight off the shelf and which ones are the lowest. Awesome!

This guide is created and distributed through the Environmental Working Group (EWG) which is a truly amazing not-for-profit organization that is educating and protecting public health. Most specifically, the EWG wants to eliminate toxic foods and toxic living.

According to EWG’s website, “EWG research has found that people who eat the 12 most contaminated fruits and vegetables consume an average of 10 pesticides a day. Those who eat the 15 least contaminated conventionally-grown fruits and vegetables ingest fewer than 2 pesticides daily.”

Discovering the “Shopper’s Guide To Pesticides” is an enormous assist for those of us who want to keep toxic products away from our families. EWG analysts utilized data from almost 87,000 residual pesticide tests in produce. This data was collected by the United States Department of Agriculture and the United States Food and Drug Administration between 2000 and 2007.

The Guide helps consumers make informed choices to lower their dietary pesticide load. Remember that simply rinsing your produce does NOT eliminate pesticides completely. Washing with soap AND water helps the most. Some pesticides also remain inside the produce as it is taken in during growth.

Contact the Environmental Working Group (EWG) for further information and education on how pesticide’s touch your family directly.

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com, The Green Blog - www.gardeningnude.com, or The Garden Blog - http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

GREEN AND SIMPLE TIP: Harry the Pug says, “Wash Your Laundry In Cold Water!”

Harry the Pug says, “Wash your laundry in cold water!” What a great tip to conserve energy.

That’s just the beginning of how you can save energy AND MONEY when doing laundry.

Front-loading washing machines use 40% less water than top loading machines. Quite often they have a superior spin cycle as well which helps pull more water out of the clothing. This ensures a quicker dry time in a dryer machine.

If you do not have a front loader, use the suds-saver cycle. Suds-savers reuse most of the soapy laundry water for a second use. Some suds-savers can cut water use by 30-50%.

My family has severe dust-mite – and yes – dog allergies. Therefore, we have to wash our bedding on the “extra-hot” setting to kill any dust mites trapped in the blankets. All clothing gets washed in cold. If the proper detergent is used, hot water is not needed to get your clothing clean.

This summer I want to take the Coronado family laundry to an all-time “green-diddy-green-green” height and start hanging my laundry on a clothes line to dry just like my Grandma used to do. That will eliminate even more energy waste. The goal is to save energy, but also to SAVE MONEY. Why are we spending all this money on energy in a difficult economic time when we do not need to?

Harry the Pug is all about conserving energy – so remember his advice (and mine) – wash in cold and try to hang the laundry once in a while to help make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

GREEN AND SIMPLE TIP: Guest Puggy Sully says, "Get Outside and Enjoy Nature For Better Health!"

Louise O'Callaghan, quite an incredible photographer from England, recently introduced me to her all-to-adorable pug, Sully. You can see him below romping in England's recent heavy snow. And YES - I am madly in love with Sully - look at how awesome he is!

  

Sully's green and simple puggy tip for the day is to get outside and enjoy nature.  Recent scientific evidence from Dr. Simon N. Young, the Editor in Chief from the Journal of Psychiatry and Neuroscience shows that getting outside in nature is a significant way to reduce depression and uplift mood by increasing serotonin levels in the brain. Feel good brain chemicals are stimulated by numerous ways, however, exposure to direct sunlight and nature is one of the best and quickest ways to attain a higher serotonin level and get an instant mood boost.

 

Being green means more than recycling; it also means enjoying nature and taking care of it - to live life experiencing your community and world in a positive way. Take great advice from guest puggy Sully: get outside today to live green and feel wonderful!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

GREEN AND SIMPLE TIP - Guest Puggy Winston says "Be Green on Super Bowl Sunday!"

Our favorite guest puggy, Winston, once again graces our Green and Simple Tip page in celebration of this annual football event. His tip this week is all about Super Bowl recycling -

"Football season is almost over and the Super Bowl is just around the corner! My team choked and didn't make it to the big game so I'm watching all of the great new commercials in between plays at the Super Bowl party while playing with my football. Remember to drink responsibly at the football parties and recycle all of those bottles and cans!"

Winston the Pug is a great recycling dog making a difference for the world - you can make a difference too! 

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

GREEN AND SIMPLE TIP - Stop Living a Lie: Global Warming Exists, Recycling Can Help, and Obama Speaks the Truth

I am the first to admit that while watching President Obama's Inauguration I cried like a baby. Change is exciting and frightening, but change can also be good. President Obama seems confident in his expression of certain truths; publicly revealing lies without fear and standing strong in his faith that DOING THE RIGHT THING is more important than the fear of change.

In his Inauguration speech, President Obama mentioned global warming and his passionate concern for our planet's health. Recently, I overheard this quote at a conference, "global warming is a lie, oh yeah, and it is a waste of time to recycle." There are many out there that continue to believe this false and uneducated myth without doing further research themselves to understand the truth. Having done the research on my own, I am infuriated at the ignorance behind the statement.

Might I remind you of Sir Winston Churchill's famous quote, "There are a terrible lot of lies going around the world, and the worst of it is half of them are true." Negative media lies cannot overcome the truth - proven by scientific experts - that global warming exists. In other words, do not believe everything you hear; instead, do the research yourself and discover the reality that our landfills are overfilled, our planet is warming, and our water is rapidly being depleted: our planet needs your help.

   

When the community uses excuses to avoid recycling and caring for the planet, guest puggy Sir Winston Fernatt gets so angry his eyes glow. In an amazing coincidence, Sir Winston Fernatt the pug resembles Sir Winston Churchill the man, who was famous for his skill of getting to the truth. One of his most famous quotes really hits the nail on the head: "Men occasionally stumble over the truth, but most of them pick themselves up and hurry off as if nothing happened."

Avoiding the truth by living life with blinders on shouting about how recycling is not "worth the time" or that global warming does not exist does not equate to living life; it equates to being selfish. Even my little friend, Sir Winston Fernatt understands that the truth is simple: if you hide the bone of truth behind your back, he can still smell it.

Instead of wasting time arguing, do the research for yourself and discover that our landfills are overfilled, our environment is warming and changing, and we Americans are the most wasteful consumers of our earth's precious resources. Sir Winston Fernatt and I challenge you to DO THE RIGHT THING today; make a difference!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Green and Simple Tip - Guest Puggy says, "Reduce, Reuse, and Recycle"

Little Pugsley Ratter Salwitz is our guest green puggy today. Pugsley Ratter's owner, Christina Salwitz is very green conscious. Recently her family lost all recycling and garbage pick up due to the snow storm deemed "Snowmageddon 2008” in Washington state. Not to be deterred; Pugsley Ratter encouraged the family to keep recycling during the three week garbage pick up hiatus by stockpiling recycling in the family's dining room until the crisis was over. This lasted the entire holiday season. Recycling was stacked to the rafters by the time the crisis was over.

Remember that recycling reduces the demand on our natural resources. Pugsley knows that recycling also conserves energy and water and helps to reduce air and water pollution.

Production of recycled paper alone uses 80% less water, 65% less energy, and produces 95% less air pollution than virgin paper production. 36 million trees a year could be saved if every American recycled one newspaper a week. The exciting news? Every four-foot stack of paper you recycle saves a tree.

Saving energy is an important result of recycling as well. It uses 96% less energy to make cans compared to manufacturing new aluminum from virgin material [bauxite]. Many commonly recycled items have a high energy reduction rate when compared with the energy used to extract their virgin materials from the earth. Recycling plastic bottles uses 76% less energy, paper uses 45% less, and glass uses 21% less.

Little Pugsley Ratter, fondly nicknamed "Pig", says everyone should reduce, reuse and recycle for a healthier planet!! If you would like to Twitter to Pugsley, do so through his owner, Christina Salwitz (http://twitter.com/Arcadia1).

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Green and Simple Tip - Guest Puggy Says "Recycle Your Christmas Trees"

Today I am kicking the New Year in with a Green and Simple Tip. Guest puggy, Winston, Green Super Dog and rescuer of fair maidens says, "Check with your local waste authority about proper disposal or recycling of your live Christmas trees. Many states will set up locations for the public for proper disposal."

Following Winston's advice is the way to go! According to the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA), millions of trees end up in landfills or illegally dumped on public property every single year. MILLIONS!! That is a lot of space taken up in our landfills! If the average tree is eight feet tall, that means that two million trees placed in our landfills would be approximately sixteen million feet long. WOW!

There are several ways communities can source-reduce Christmas trees. The easiest method would be to grind the trees into mulch which can be reused to mulch city property or to give to residents. Mulching puts nutrients back into the soil, helps protect plants against winter freeze and also helps conserve water by keeping the ground cooler. You can find more ideas for holiday tree source reduction at the EPA’s website - www.epa.gov. Another GREAT website for this information is The National Christmas Tree Association at www.christmastree.org.

If you would like to see your city help with the Christmas Tree landfill issue, why not contact the city administration and ask if the city would consider a “brush pick up” mid-winter? They can pick up all those discarded pine trees and turn them into mulch for the city’s residents. Christmas trees can be the gift that keeps on giving if they are turned into mulch. Call your neighbors and get as many people as you can requesting a better way to dispose of this major landfill problem.

Winston the Pug says, "Recycle Your Christmas Tree" today!!

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com

Green and Simple Tip - Turn Water Off When Brushing Your Teeth!

The simplest and easiest green thing that everyone in the world can do with no trouble at all?

CONSERVE WATER AND TURN THE FAUCET OFF WHEN YOU BRUSH YOUR TEETH!

It is so easy a child can learn to do it as demonstrated by my eight year old this morning:

  

Shawna Coronado says Get Healthy! Get Green! Get Community! www.thecasualgardener.com or The Blogs - www.gardeningnude.com or http://thecasualgardener.blogspot.com