greenliving

We’ve just returned from a vacation to California and while it’s great to be back home, there’s tons of work to catch up on. One of my primary goals this summer is to improve the ‘greenness’ in my office. As I work out of my home, it should not be a difficult challenge. However, as a writer and when I’m printing out reams of papers to edit, I begin to see when I need to start.

My paperwork : I belong to that genre of people who believe that everything needs to be printed in order for it to be real. It’s not an age issue, but a mindset. And overcoming this has been tough, but I’m getting there. I now save online- just about anything and everything, because you never know when you  might need it. But over the last 5 years, I’ve reduced my paperwork considerably. What I do need to print out however is work that I must edit. And so I now print double-sided and on recycled paper.

Commuting: Since commuting involves getting up and waddling bleary eyed to my office desk at 5:15 each morning, I save considerably on carbon emissions (no jokes please). But to make up for it, I take the kids cycling or on their scooter at least thrice a week. Results? My 3.5 year old is off training wheels and my 5 year old is already asking for a BMX bike! And we all feel super healthy.

Lighting: My desk is placed near a window and so I get in ample amounts of fresh light and air; which for me, eliminates the need for daytime lighting and fans. I do have a desk light with three levels of luminosity available and this allows me to vary the amount of lighting I need at any given time.

Energy: I do have a desktop as opposed to a laptop (laptops can conserve up to 70% energy). However, I also have  a netbook and if I’m using it, then I am sure to hibernate or even shut down my desktop. And I definitely remember to shut everything off before I go to bed. Doing a simple small act like this can have a great impact on the environment as well as your wallet.

If you’ve ever found the odd sock or have an old pair of gloves that you can’t give away, but don’t want to stick in your recycle box, then do visit this site: http://www.freekidscrafts.com . It’s got incredible ideas about recycling stuff into crafts, and there’s lot to keep the kids busy (we have one whole week of spring break with no school or activities lined up, so I know I’ll be visiting this site pretty often!).

We copied finger puppets from their site and as soon as I figure out how to download my camera pics, I’ll upload them onto the site. The instructions are as follows and you can visit their site to get a whole lot more ideas:

 Supplies

Rubber glove
Scissors
White glue
Small white dot stickers
Marker pens
Yarn scraps

InstructionsCut the fingers from a rubber glove.
Draw faces on the small white stickers.
Use the yarn scraps to prepare some fancy hair-do’s for your finger puppets.
Stick them on using white glue. This is quite easy if you peg some clothespegs along the side of a box, then place your puppets on the pegs to keep them steady and upright.

Give it a go!

I can’t believe it’s over a month since I last blogged on this site. However, green living is never far from my mind- indeed, it has become an integral part of my daily existence. And while I am not as ‘good’ as I should or want to be, I do believe that in doing simply what you can each day- recycling your discarded items, investing in energy saving devices etc, it can help to an enormous extent. Having said that, this blog is all about the simple and easy ways you can make your life greener and more enriched. It’s not about investing in a hybrid car or replacing your roofs with solar panels (though of course if you can do that, you should!). It’s about how the average joe (or jane) can make a difference in his or her life.

So these are some of the things I’ve learnt this last month:

Newspapers can be used of course to polish glass and window panes and also mirrors and stainless steel objects, such as your bathroom fittings. They can also be used to soak up the moisture in damp shoes (such as those that have been out walking in the rain or that belong to sweaty feet owners).

Erasers (a lot of them live in our home simply because they make great goody bag stuffers!) can be used to remove scruff marks on the floor as well as apparantly clean piano keys! ( I don’t have a piano, but I read that it works wonders).And finally, my favourite, eggs! We consume a lot of organic eggs at home and I hate to throw out the shells. They’ve been painted and used as plant holders by my preschool kids, have been crushed and thrown into the soil as fertilizers and will be decorated for easter.

Any other ideas for using everyday objects in a multiple number of ways? Write me!