Avoid Bagging Leaves - Create Mulch Instead

No one likes bagging leaves. It is a lot of work to collect the leaves and then put them into bags. The bags are expensive and the increase in garbage is huge.

Instead of bagging leaves, buy a leaf mulcher - they are the best! It is like a vacuum cleaner that mulches up the trash. A leaf mulcher sucks up the leaves, mulches them, and dumps them into a reusble bag. After you have mulched them, you can take the bag and empty it directly into your garden. Leaf mulchers are so great that I can run mine over my existing bark mulch at top speed and it only picks up the leaves. Love it!

You save the environment by not buying more plastic bags (plastic is evil) and not creating garbage. You also don't need to go buy bagged mulch at the garden store.

You save money on plastic bags and mulch.

Also, it is much less time consuming that trying to manouever leaves into bags.

For leaves that fall on the grass, just take your lawn mower over them, mulch them up as you go, and leave them on the grass just as you would do with your grass clippings.

Plus, I have to confess it's fun to do my leaves. I love my power tools and this qualifies!

Things to Do Without: Plastic Bags

Lose the habit of buying plastic bags to store food in. Try using reusable containers or reusing and washing plastic already in your house instead. We already have so much plastic coming into our homes, simply resuse those bags. Rinse them out quick, dry them, then store them. Some sources of plastic bags at home include: bread bags, tortilla bags, and cereal box inserts. Plastic is such a large part of our garbage - think of how you can avoid it before buying it and consider how you can resuse it before throwing it out!

Did you know: Factories around the world made 4-5 trillion plastic bags 2002. Even weighing a few ounces each, that is a lot of trash.

Fun thing to do: about a million plastic bags are consumed /minute. Check out this counter to see where we are so far this year.

Did you know: Prior to 1957 we had no plastic bags in our homes for sandwiches, fruit, etc. If we could do it then, we can eliminate it now!

And always remember to compost!

Things to Do Without: Magazines

Instead of picking up magazines at the grocery store or having them mailed to you every week, go to the library and get as many as you want at no cost. Save money and the environment. If you absolutely can not break your magazine habit, make sure you share your magazines with a friend or leave them at the hospital, hair salon, or doctor's office next time you are there.


Fun thing to do: Check how much trash magazines create.


Also, always remember to compost! It is easy and makes a big difference.

Things to do Without: Paper Towels

Make a committment to quit using paper towels - they don't do anything that a normal dish towel can't do. They only thing extra they do is create more garbage and cost more money. Buy some nice cloth napkins for your family to use with meals/snacks and you are set!

Fun thing to do: Use the paper towel waste calculator to find out how much garbage paper towels create.

Also, always remember to compost!

Walk or Bike or Take a Bus Once a Week

Just once this week, walk or bike somewhere that you would normally drive. Maybe to the local library or to the grocery store to pick up something. Walk your kids to school instead of driving them. You might even like it!



Destress your daily commute - take the bus. You can read a book, check email or pay bills on your laptop, nap, or knit a sweater! Low stress, low cost, and low exhaust!



Imagine if everyone drove just 10 minutes less a week, and then 10 minutes less a day!

Five EZ Changes You Can Make This Week

The changes we make need to be a group effort. If everyone makes small changes over time, change will happen. Here are some quick easy changes you can make starting this week:

1. Take one grocery bag with you to the grocery store. If you don't have reusable bags, take a bag from last week's groceries. Next week, take two (and always keep one in your purse/car for easy use). Most of all, remember to use it!


2. Take one captain's shower - turn the water off when you are sudsing up and turn it back on to rinse off.


3. Change one lightbulb to a power friendly bulb.


4. Compost, just for one day and see how easy it is. Collect your compostables in a container, then take them to your garden and dig them straight into the earth.


5. Change one bill to online only - avoid all paper.

It's easy being green!

Now, ask one friend to make these five easy changes this week!

Less Green in the Trash!

One way to reduce trash is to throw away less produce. How often do you toss away fruits and vegetables because they have spoiled? Try to reduce that by using up what you have before buying more. Not only does wasted produce cost you money and increase the landfill, but that produce used a lot of energy to get to your table! By buying only what we use, we save our pocketbooks, the landfill, and energy costs to bring us the food.

Some simple ideas to use up produce that is going bad:

• fruits - flash freeze them then use them in smoothies - this is especially great for things such as berries, grapes, or stone fruits (peaches, nectarines, etc.)


• pears and oranges: if they aren't nice enough to eat, use them right away in a smoothie


• Smoothies: If you don't want a smoothie right now, and can't pawn it off on family members, make it into popsicles for a perfect afternoon treat!


• bananas - freeze them and use them later in banana bread


• apples: make apple brown betty or apple crisp. Make apple muffins.


• vegetables - freeze and use them later to make homemade broth (when you have enough frozen vegies, dump them all into your crockpot, cover with water, simmer for several hours, then strain. Use right away or freeze in single server portions to use later). I use almost all vegetables, but things like onions, carrots, and parsely (stalks) are ideal. (I wouldn't put leaf vegetables in here.)

If all else fails, compost!