environment

It seems like you can do just about anything with a smartphone these days. You can call, text, listen to music, purchase music, use it as an address book, Internet provider, game console, e-reader, and GPS, just to name a few. And thanks to the development of some really great apps, you can also use it to "go green."

I think it goes without saying that we all deserve a vacation every now and then.  I don't get to travel as much as I'd like, but when I do, I try to make it count.  And so it is that I'll be going on "blog hiatus" for a few weeks while I make my very first trip to Africa to climb Mt. Kilimanjaro.

The other day I ran out of moisturizer. I was expecting it, so when I couldn't coax the last dollop of cream out of the bottle, I grabbed another one and went to toss the empty bottle in the recycling bin. That's when I saw the dreaded number "5" on the back, indicating that it couldn't be recycled in our curbside recycling bin, and had to be tossed in the trash instead. I don't know about you, but I hate creating garbage.

I was talking to a friend recently about my frugal angle with these blog posts and she posed an interesting question:  “I've wondered about how to feed the family in a sustainable way on a budget.  I know people say buy local and organic, but I haven't always found that to be the most inexpensive way to eat. Are there other tips on where or when to shop that I'm missing?”

I’m moving soon, and I’m one of those people who leaves the place cleaner than when they moved in, so I’ve been pretty busy on that end lately.  Store bought eco-friendly products can be expensive and I also sometimes question how eco-friendly they really are, so I’ve decided to experiment with natural cleaning solutions instead. 

I don’t know about you, but every year I make a New Year’s resolution only to break it a few months later. I have a feeling the reason is because I always set the bar too high. You know ─ work out every day, avoid eating sugar, or go to bed by 10 pm every night.

This year I made a resolution that I hope is more, well, sustainable; get rid of plastic bags.