Green laundry detergent?

I was looking around the internet today, making sure I'd finally read everything available when I came across a site discussing homemade laundry detergent. Good thing too, because it looks like not only is it better for the environment, it is great for the pocket book too.

You know how I feel about benefits to the pocket book and how it relates to going green.

Anyway, Felicia over at Blulow has spent the last year using a homemade detergent and taken the time to write about her experience. Instead of recapping it all here, I wanted to give you a heads up and send you her way so she can explain it.

Suffice it to say, I will be giving this a try when we run out of our current supply of detergent.

So check out her results and if you give it a try, let me know what you think. I'll post my thoughts when I have had a chance to give it a try too.

Cooking With The Sun

Well if you can't tell, a couple of days has passed since my last post soo... Here is an update on my quest to go a little greener.

I recently began cooking with the sun using a solar funnel I made out of cardboard and foil. Last month we were visited by my father in law and his wife and they brought their solar cooker for me to try. We had talked about it during his visit the previous year and since then (well a bit before) I had been thinking of trying it out myself.

So since I am the King of Getting Things Done, I got right on it. A year and a half or so later.

Anyway, I have also decided to start blogging about it as well. Yeah I know, I have done so well with these others....

My goal is to put together my experiences, notes and recipes as well as pictures as I go along. It is so easy, I want to show people that even little things like this can help. I mean, how cool is it to cook without fire or electricity? I am a month behind already, but just for an idea of what I have tried so far, here is a small list.

Chili, bread, stew, soup, cake and chicken.

To see more, check out my new Cooking With The Sun blog.

Healthier walking

I ran across another interesting article today. Now this may not interest plenty of you, but since I believe part of going green involves becoming healthier, I thought this was relevant to the theme. The article discusses walking healthier. Not walking for health reasons, but actually walking healthier.

Generally speaking, the idea is that when we walk around day in and day out, we are actually hurting our feet. Our feet were designed through evolution to carry us around efficiently, and over the last few thousand years we began mucking around by wrapping our feet in shoes.

The problem isn't so much the shoes as it is the design of the shoes. In other words, we are wearing shoes that are not particularly designed around physically sound walking principles and over our lifetimes we are causing damage to our feet as well as our joints.

Check out this article and see the alternative shoe idea they are promoting. It looks pretty cool to me, and if I can find a suitable affordable alternative I will give it a try.

I like to walk bare footed indoors, but my sissy feet don't do well outdoors so a basic covering will help tremendously. I'll keep you updated if I find a good alternative. Hmm... maybe I can find moccasins I wouldn't mind wearing...

Photography by James Eberlein

Another pair of broken glasses

It seems like glasses always get broken at the wrong time. Not that there is ever a good time to break them of course, but it seems to happen at a time when you can least afford to replace them.

As you may have read, we had to replace our computer last week which was an expense we could have done without. However, since I work from home and we use Skype as our phone, replacing it was something of a priority.

Now after the money was spent, it was time for my daughter to break her glasses, which unless we want her crashing into things all day, we need to replace. Not a big deal generally, but after buying a new computer last week, the funds were just not available. Thankfully we still have an old pair laying around with a similar prescription to get us by.

Well today I ran across a site that seemed too good to be true. They are offering prescription glasses starting at $8 a pair. Really. Now typically I would have just passed this site by as being some sort of rip off, but circumstances being what they are I decided to look into it a bit more. Boy am I glad I did.

They have a huge selection of glasses available and by the large amount of positive reviews available on the web, I feel pretty comfortable giving them a chance. We will order a pair next week and if all goes well I will have a review available shortly after we return from our trip.

Until then, check them out at Zenni Optical and see what you think.

Hopefully this will be yet another option available for those of us going green.

Photography by kat callard

Phone bill getting you down? Cut the cord once and for all.

As I mentioned before, part of going green to me is cutting back on expenses and consumption. This means we can spend less time working just to afford living.

One of the largest expenses we have cut out is our phone bill. We got rid of our cell phones and our land line about two years ago and replaced them with Skype. Now we have our basic cable bill which includes high speed Internet and pay about $3.00 a month for Skype. This has saved us roughly $100 a month.

So for just over the cost of basic cable we have TV, Internet and telephone. Not a bad deal.

A couple of things to consider though. First Skype does not support 911 calls. If this bothers you you may want to consider other options. Or you can get a $10.00 prepaid cell phone for emergency use and call it good. Second, Skype needs Internet access and electricity to work. If you lose either you are out of luck.

For most people it also requires a computer, however you can get around this by using a Skype enabled WiFi phone if you are set up for wireless access at home.

Last week when our computer crashed we saw just how important getting the WiFi phone is. At any rate, the financial savings and overall quality of service have far outweighed the inconvenience of the last week.

This is yet another way to cut back without adversely affecting your quality of life. In fact once you are no longer working to pay that phone bill month after month you may say your quality of life has improved.

Photograpy by Fillipas T

Drive for Free?

We recently paid our car off and right after I ran across this 6 minute presentation that could have saved us a TON of cash had we seen it and taken heed.

Since I believe going green is more about lifestyle changes that can affect your families overall well being in addition to our environment I thought I would post this here for you to take advantage of as well.

No, I am not recommending you sell your car and buy a bike or walk everywhere (unless you're really in to that). Instead, this video is for anyone who is about to commit to those monthly car payments that will trap you for many years to come.

You will learn how to get a car that you own in full by paying yourself instead of the bank in a very short time. If you are really serious, it will show you how to own a newer car every 5 years or so without ever paying another dime after the initial investment. I know this is how we will buy any future cars as any other way is a silly waste of money and time away from my family.

Now that you know how to save a couple of buckets of money on your next car purchase, make sure not to blow it all on gas and get something as fuel efficient as your needs and pocket book will allow.

Photography by Thiago Felipe Festa

Piano sized dreams on a keyboard sized budget?

How about no budget?

Do you need something but just can't seem to scrape together enough money to buy it at the local outlet? Well why don't you just ask for it? Millions of people around the world are doing just that, and people in their communities are more then happy to give it to them. No strings attached.

I mentioned earlier that part of going green is reducing waste as well as limiting the buying of stuff. One of the best ways to do that is to join the local Freecycle group and become one of over 4 million people around the world who are giving items they no longer need to those who do.

On a typical day you can find local people asking for or giving almost anything you can imagine. Do you need a working power cord for that lamp in the corner? Maybe your kids have outgrown some of their clothes and you are tired of them taking up space in the closet. Perhaps you bought a couple boxes of the new frozen pizza rolls only to find you'd rather eat treats out of the litter box like fido does.

Whether you need something or need to get rid of something, chances are you can find a match on Freecycle.

To give it a try, simply sign up for a free Yahoo! account and look for a group near you. Once you have found and joined a group you will need to decide if you want to read posts at the website or if you prefer to read them via email. If you choose email, just be aware a busy group will keep your in box full. In that case, simply select to receive email from the group in digest form and you will typically get them in batches of 25.

Now simply sit back and wait. If you see something you like, act fast because things go quick. As you can imagine free is a pretty popular price with most people. Just remember to give as well as take and be honest about the condition of the items you give. Most anything goes and finding a taker is generally pretty easy.

No group near you? Start your own and help reduce waste in your community.

Have fun, good luck and be proud you are helping to reduce the strain on our planets resources.

Things you can find on Freecycle include:

• Food
• Clothes
• Electronics
• Kitchenware
• Garden tools
• Craft supplies
• Cars (seriously)
• Boats (again, seriously)
• Pretty much anything else too (hey if people will give cars and boats, why doubt me?)

Photography by Julia Freeman-Woolpert

Water. The miracle cure?

I mentioned in my post on "going green" that we have replaced most beverages in our diet with water and have made an impact by reducing waste and saving a lot of cash. But are we actually saving our lives or at least dramatically improving our health (yet more savings financially) in the process?

This interview with the late Dr. Batmanghelidj may just change your perception of the value of water. In it he discusses how many of our "illnesses" are actually just results of varying levels of dehydration and why some groups would rather encourage us to overlook the health benefits of simply drinking more water.

If you like the article and are the kind of person who wants to hear it from the horses mouth so to speak, visit WaterCure.com and read more about the late doctors research.

I can tell you first hand the difference drinking more water has had on me. Growing up, from the age of about 13 or 14 I was getting headaches pretty much every day. After several visits to the doctors and a couple prescriptions of "reading glasses" I pretty much resigned myself to living with headaches as a way of life. This meant years of a variety of over the counter pain medications to help limit but not eliminate the pain.

It wasn't until I was 26 and in Culinary School that I read about the effects of caffeine and dehydration that I finally found true relief. At that point I cut out probably 50% of my soda and coffee intake and replaced it with plain old water. After a few days of caffeine withdrawals, my almost daily headaches became a thing of the past.

What I find interesting all these years later is the doctors approach to resolving the problem. There was no focus on finding dietary causes of my headaches and instead attempts to treat the symptoms via medications and prescription glasses. Had we focussed on finding the cause, rather then treating the symptoms, I could have saved myself years of headaches and a whole lot of money.

Please, by all means seek the advice of a medical professional if you need to. Just make sure you are doing what you can to eliminate any causes to your health issues rather then simply treating the symptoms.

Photography by Mike Munchel

The Global Warming Fad

The consensus is in... Global Warming is a fad.

After tabulating the results of a rather exhaustive *poll, it is clear this whole global warming thing is just a cash cow for those who stand to make a buck. The whole "is it really happening?" or "is it caused by man?" crap is a bunch of pointless propaganda coming from both sides of the argument ( not debate because neither side really hears or cares what the other has to say).

Don't get me wrong, I am sure there are a great number of good honest people on both sides that truly believe their side is right and the other side for whatever reason has just not seen the light. But they mostly seem to be missing the point. As a result we have millions of people on both sides of the issue throwing a great deal of time and effort, not to mention money trying to prove they are right and the rest are just misinformed.

Behind these well meaning people we also have a large number of groups on both sides funneling in money and support doing their best to ensure their financial interests are protected. Many of these groups are not convinced either way, but instead see a real risk to future profits if the general population swings to the side of the opposition.

The crazy thing is, all this endless back and forth harms every one of us by sidetracking us from what really matters.

Wouldn't it make more sense to move past the endless arguing about the reality of something we probably won't prove satisfactorily for either side in our lifetimes and focus on things that we can control here and now?

How many of us would agree we need to stop raping the planet of it's resources before we either run out or poison ourselves with indiscriminate dumping or pointless waste? How many of us would agree we need to move towards renewable sources of energy so we can once and for all end our dependence on other nations and their whims to keep the backbone of our economy intact and strong? And how many of us would like to see the money spent on all the above kept in our country, providing jobs and opportunity to our people first, and helping others only after we have strengthened and secured our own future?

Imagine what could happen if average people everywhere said enough is enough and just started with themselves at home. If we all stopped worrying about who is right or wrong and began working on going green ourselves. Sooner, rather then later those in charge of supplying us with our goods and services will have to take notice or risk losing business to those who will.

Stop worrying about this global warming fad and enriching those who would profit off of the fear mongering and misinformation coming from both sides. It won't be too long before this fad, like all others is just a bad memory. Instead, focus on making personal choices at home that are more responsible both to your family and our planet. After all, we are each responsible for the impact our personal decisions have on the world around us and everything we do will affect the condition of the world we leave our children.

*Poll was conducted from a random sampling of me, and holds just as much value as any other poll using leading questions and selective interpretation of resulting data.

Photography by sanja gjenero

So what exactly is "Going Green"?

It seems to me there is no clear definition as to what constitutes going green so I think it's time to define what it means to me. I should also point out that as with many things, my personal definition will probably change over time as I learn more and as my families circumstances change. For now however, I think the following about covers it.

For me, going green is more of a lifestyle or life habit change. It covers pretty much anything that improves our quality of life. This covers everything from using or doing things that result in less waste to send to the landfill to deciding not to buy things or paying for services that will result in needing to spend more time working to pay for those things.

It isn't a decision to strictly follow any particular path or guidance but instead to simply try and make better choices that will have less of a negative impact on us and the world around us.

One example is drinking water instead of soda and getting our water from the tap instead of buying it in bottles from the store. This has had a pretty positive impact on our health because we no longer drink acids, sugars, artificial sweeteners/flavors/colors and chemicals as our main source of hydration. We save on our health, money and an endless amount of cans/bottles that would need recycled by giving up something that was really nothing more then a 2 day craving and withdrawal process once given up. We lost nothing but gained a lot.

Another basic example is giving up handys, or cell phones. In my opinion, most people really don't need them. I'm sure many may disagree, but in our personal lives, we see no reason for anyone with our number to be able to reach us 24/7. Heck, these phones haven't even been around all that long and we act as if we can't live life without them. Besides I bet if you think about it, you typically screen/ignore a large portion of the calls that come in on them to begin with so why pay some company month in and month out for that privilege?

How many hours do you have to work each month for that privilege? 1-2-5- more? It may not seem like much, but if you sit down and think about all the little things that don't seem like much, you may find a significant portion of your time is spent working to pay for all the little things. Would you rather be home with friends and family, or at work so you can afford to ignore their call?

For me, going green is as simple as that. Just working towards a lifestyle that allows us to be together instead of at work so we can pay for the things that keep us apart. The funny thing is, contrary to popular opinion and all 800 million commercials on t.v., living a bit simpler is healthier, easier, more enjoyable and much less stressful since we do not have to worry as much about how we will pay for all the extras.

It has taken a long time to realize this and like many I missed my children's younger years working to pay for the extras. But slowly and as time goes by we are learning to make choices that really do improve our lives, instead of ones that distract us and lead to an endless spiral of living to work so we can pay yet more bills.

Believe me, we have the debt to prove we are learning the hard way, but in the end it is a lesson well worth learning.

Photography by Dora Pete