It’s a proven fact that tweaking your lifestyle even just a little bit can keep money in your pocket and keep our planet safe. With that fact in mind, we hope you’ll use the PG&E/Google gadget below to help you discover easy ways to consume less energy.
Good Green Habits to Save Energy & Money in Winter
- Click on Winter Gas Saving Tips―to find simple habits that can save money on your energy bill.
- Click on Winter Gas Saving Calculator―to find out how much energy you can save by adjusting the settings on your thermostat, water heater and clothes washer.
Gas Saving Tips & Calculator
Source: PG&E/Google
We’re excited to announce that you can now download Green Wisdom for FREE at goodgreenhabits.com. This colorful little gem is filled with solid green tips to help individuals, families and businesses go green. We think you’ll find this booklet fun to read, cute as heck, easy to download and did we mention you’ll love the price? It’s free! Here’s how:
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Click on the GREEN WISDOM link at right.
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Read the booklet.
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Then, let us know what you think!
Note: Janice Wells is the author of Green Wisdom and founder of goodgreenhabits.com.
If you’re like many of us, you probably end up with a pile of unwanted but usable items after you clean your closets or garage: a collection of golf balls, stuffed animals, wicker baskets and a broken but fixable lamp. Should you place these unwanted treasures in your recycling cart at home? The answer to this very good question is oftentimes NO.
You can only place items in your recycling cart if they have a market value at recycling facilities that do business with your garbage company. Although many garbage companies accept a variety of items in recycling carts―paper, glass, leaves, yard clippings, certain types of plastics and sometimes food waste―markets are still somewhat limited.
However, there’s a good chance your collection of unwanted items still might be recyclable! An item is recyclable if an individual or organization wants it for any reason. Not only does this mean that one person’s trash is another person’s treasure, it also means that commercial markets for recyclables are continually changing.
Good Green Habits to Find Out If Items Are Recyclable
Here are steps to take when you want to know if an item is currently recyclable:
- Call your garbage company to ask if they accept your specific item in their recycling program―and request a service brochure with your next bill.
- Donate gently used and clean/washed items to schools or organizations such as Salvation Army.
- Place your unwanted items in a box marked FREE outside your home.
- Use your zip code at Earth911 to discover nearby markets for unwanted items.
- Post your item at Freecycle to give it away (or get an item you need) for free.
- Offer your items on Ebay or Craigslist to make some money.
Eco Bottomline: When you find a taker for your unwanted stuff, you’ve recycled it―and kept it out of the landfill.
Copyright © 2009 Good Green Habits – All Rights Reserved
Many eco words can seem similar at first glance. To help you understand their meanings, we’ve defined a few of the most commonly used green words in this green glossary. We’ve also added eco-friendly actions you can take to help you transform these eco words into good green habits.
Good Green Habits for Common Eco Words
Recyclable means the material in a product can be reused or remanufactured into other products because it may still have useful physical or chemical properties after serving its original purpose.
- Place recyclable items in your recycling cart, including cans, plastic bottles, and other items accepted by your garbage company.
- Visit earth911 to find nearby recycling center locations.
Recycled means the material in a product has already been separated from the waste stream, remanufactured into a new product, and is available for consumer purchase.
- Read labels to find out if a product is made from recycled materials.
- Then, purchase items made from recycled materials whenever possible, especially items such as toilet paper (which can only be used once) and office paper (which can be recycled many times).
Reduce means steps are taken to use fewer natural resources, materials and products to produce less waste.
- Buy products without extra packaging.
- Purchase only what you need in the near future.
- Use less than the directed amount of products, such as powder and liquid detergents.
Reuse means that you use items more than once or find new ways to use old items. Here are many easy ways to reuse:
- Choose reusable bags instead of plastic bags or reuse plastic bags.
- Compost unwanted food at home or use your garbage company’s compost program.
- Donate unwanted items to people you know or to charity.
- Purchase refillable pens and pencils.
- Repair and/or clean items instead of buying new.
- Reuse or share cardboard boxes and packing materials.
- Save empty food containers for storing for craft supplies and leftover food.
- Set your table with cloth napkins.
- Take your own coffee mug to Starbucks.
- Use dryer sheets more than once.
