Last week, I was getting ready for a party and opened my makeup drawer. I think I let out an audible sigh when I looked down at it all – drug store makeup, department store makeup, organic makeup, makeup that I know better than to wear, and some makeup that I think dates back to the Bush administration (and maybe even the first one).
It was a mess of products that I don’t even know what to do with. I needed help.
I’ve always had a love/hate relationship with makeup. On the one hand, I like the way it makes me feel when I have it done well. On the other, I lack the time and expertise to get it right most of the time. Toss in all the articles and research I run across regarding the toxins and heavy metals in makeup, and it’s enough to make me go au naturale most of the time.
But, I’m in my 40′s now and the au naturale look is not working for me. Really, I wear make up as much for you as for me (yes, you’re welcome). Seeing me without it can be a little scary these days (see “Exhibit A” below if you have any doubt).
However, looking down at that mess in my drawer, I felt a little overwhelmed and really didn’t know where to start. Luckily, the name “Christy Funk” popped into my mind and I made a phone call.
Christy, owner of Belly Sprout and professional makeup artist, was the person to set me straight.
Soon enough, I had myself plopped down in her chair at the eco-beauty bar at Belly Sprout’s new location in Santa Ana – a location shared with another fabulous Orange County eco-store, The Road Less Traveled.
I was ready for some help. Here’s my before picture – yikes! (I am thinking my self-portrait camera angle was not doing me any favors – that’s what I tell myself anyway.)
After just a little time in Christy’s chair, she transformed me into an “after”:
Ah, so much better.
Christy not only shared some great organic makeup lines, more importantly, she showed me how to apply each product. She also outlined a simple four-product routine for an every-day look. Four products! Even I can do that.
I had an event with my daughter that night (oh to look so adorable without makeup, sigh…), so I spent a few minutes on touch up for an evening look. Hours later, the makeup application still looked great.
Not only did the makeup I purchased from Christy do the job and hold up all day, it is also non-toxic and organic – so I feel good about putting it on my skin.
Armed with a small bag of products I purchased at Belly Sprout, I went home and took on the drawer – tossing out all the old, expired, or potentially toxic makeup. I now have a small, organized collection of safe, organic products. And the expertise to know how to apply them.
It was like an early Mother’s Day gift to myself.
As moms, it’s easy to overlook our own needs and not take time to work on our makeup routine. But I think a mom who feels good about herself is a better mom. An eco-beauty makeover helps you feel your best while using natural products – for beauty on the inside and out.
As Christy says, she can “make the gorgeous part of you come out”. And she does it in a friendly, informative, non-judgmental way.
For great information on greening your makeup routine, check out this video from Christy, “How to green your makeup bag with these five products”:
For your own eco-beauty makeover, contact Christy for an appointment. You can reach her at (714) 836-8727. The Belly Sprout store is located at 125-C North Broadway, Santa Ana 92701.
Christy still has a few openings this week – get eco-beautified in time for Mother’s Day. Even if you can’t do it this week, contact her soon – before summer hits – so you can relax in her chair without kids in tow.
Invest in yourself and make the gorgeous part of you come out and shine…naturally.
There are few things my family and I love to do more in Southern California than going to the Angels game. We go fairly regularly, but until this year, we never tried taking the Metrolink Angels Express to the game. Our recent trip was so quick, convenient, and best of all, green. I can’t believe we never tried it before.
The Angels Express Train is available for all Angels weekday home games (Monday through Friday) that begin at 7:05 p.m. Fans can take the train starting at the Mission Viejo/Laguna Niguel station to Anaheim or from Los Angeles to Anaheim to catch the game. And this season, Metrolink introduced a new service from Riverside to Anaheim for all Friday-night home games.
You can purchase tickets in advance online, by phone, at the OCTA Store in Orange, or at your local Ralphs. You can also purchase tickets same day, right at the vending machine at each train station, and then just board the train.
We are not really the prepare-in-advance type, so we just headed down to the Irvine station and purchased our tickets right before boarding. Either way you go, tickets are just $7 per person for the round-trip ticket for adults ($6 for seniors/disabled, $4 for youth and age five and under is FREE).
We hopped on the train at 5:59 and were in the parking lot of Angels Stadium by 6:20 – which is for sure our fastest Friday night trip to the game ever! There was no traffic, no worries about parking and no parking fee.
We walked into the game and were sitting in our seats with snacks and drinks in hand before the first note of the National Anthem was sung. It was so much better and less stressful than driving to the game on a Friday night.
And after the game was over, we stayed to enjoy the Big-Bang Friday firework show. On Fridays, the Metrolink Angels Express Trains depart 45 minutes after the game ends so fans can stay to watch the fireworks.
On other weeknights, the train leaves 30 minutes after the last out of the game, which is plenty of time to exit the stadium and walk across the parking lot to catch the train.
Not only is riding the Metrolink to the game easy, convenient and inexpensive, it’s also GREEN! Riding Metrolink saves gas, reduces traffic congestion and improves the air quality of Southern California. Metrolink passengers save about 22 million gallons of oil every year, reduce carbon emission by 178 metric tons per year, and remove about 25,600 cars a day from Southern California highways and freeways.
And for a limited time, you can get a complimentary Angels game ticket voucher when you buy a round-trip ticket for the Metrolink Angels Express Train through OCTA. To receive a voucher, you must purchase your ticket online, at the OCTA store or via phone. (Not available for tickets purchased at the Metrolink ticket vending machines and Ralphs supermarkets.) Check out all the details of this offer and get more information on the Angels Express, on this page of Metrolink’s site.
I’m looking forward to a great rest of the season. Go green to the Angels game with Metrolink and go Halos!
Years ago, I cancelled virtually every catalog arriving at my house. All the paper and cost of shipping them is a gigantic waste. With the age of the internet, who needs them anyway?
It was pretty easy really. Each time I received one in the mail, I placed it next to the computer. The next time I got online, I just went to the website to their “unsubscribe” or “cancel catalog” link. Eventually, the catalog waste stopped arriving in my mailbox.
But, I have found that after a few years, they start trickling back in again. If I order something online and forget to notify them not to send me a catalog, sure enough, a few months later they start arriving. No big deal. I just try to remember to contact them online and cancel after the first mailing.
But, the other day, this arrived in my mailbox.
All 4.4 pounds of it. Yes, I did weigh it. I had to know. 4.4 pounds of colorless (seriously, how many shades of grey and brown are there?), over-priced items for the home.
And really, I have no idea why I am even on the mailing list. Aside from coveting this chandelier, which I can not and would not buy at that price, I haven’t ordered anything from them in years.
I was pretty shocked, at just the sheer waste and cost of mailing these. And now I know why that lamp is so expensive – they have to pay for printing and mailing all these catalogs.
I thought maybe it was because I recently moved, or I got on the wrong list of their “premier customers” or something. But no, I think just about everyone received these. I have had a number of friends on Facebook comment about it too so I know this was a mass mailing.
Then, I just started getting mad. The first thing I did is went to the Restoration Hardware website to their “Cancel Catalog Delivery” page. It was really easy and took about ten seconds. Done – atleast I will never receive this monstrosity again.
The next thing I did was send a message to customer service, which may have included something about their total disregard for resources or cost and how things like this make me never want to purchase anything from their company.
To their credit, I received a response within 24 hours.
Dear Ms. Huke,
Thank you for contacting Restoration Hardware. We appreciate your feedback regarding our Spring 2012 catalog. We value our customers’ feedback and we thank you for taking the time to share your concerns about the size of the catalog and it’s impact on the environment. We have documented your comments and will share them with the appropriate area of the business.
If you would like to be removed from our list, I have provided a link for you to unsubscribe. Our catalogs are printed in advance so you may receive 3-4 catalogs before the cancellation takes full effect.
If we can be of any further assistance, please contact our Customer Care Center by emailing webcs@restorationhardware.com or by calling 877-777-7059.
So, I’m hoping they will actually pass my comments along and will reconsider before sending out something like this again.
If you received this mailing and were also annoyed by the size and waste of it, I hope you will take the time to unsubscribe from future catalogs. Also, if you take a minute to let them know what you think of this waste by contacting them here, hopefully, they will reconsider before sending something like this in the mail again.
And I’m sure that Restoration Hardware is not alone. Please let all companies who either send too large or too many catalogs to your home how you feel. And take the time to unsubscribe to those who do.
And at the very least, please recycle these phone book-sized catalogs so they don’t end up in the landfill.
Facts about Catalog waste: According to the Environmental Paper Network, more than 20 billion catalogs are sent out yearly, with most of the paper made from virgin fiber, so mail order companies alone are responsible for consigning more than 8 million trees to the bin every year.
Yesterday, I had the opportunity to take a ranger-guided tour at Caspers Wilderness Park.
Caspers is right off Ortega Highway in San Juan Capistrano. It’s an 8000-acre gem, right here in the middle of southern Orange County.
Spring is a great time to visit the park. Wildflowers are in bloom and the swallows are singing.
The swallows just returned last week and will stay at the park for a couple of months to mate and raise their babies. Watching them in flight up close is not something you get to see every day, and worth the trip to Caspers alone.
And then there are the wildflowers, which are just gorgeous right now. The fire from a couple years ago helped to produce an extra good crop of wildflowers this year. And makes for some unique and beautiful sights:
I love the contrast with the burned tree and the new growth – beauty rising from the ashes of destruction.
There are many species of wildflowers blooming right now. The rangers taught me about them – their names, origins, varieties. It’s fascinating. I’m excited now that I actually know the names of some of these beauties and can go out and spot them on my own. Here are just a few of the wildflowers that I photographed yesterday:
You can learn all about these native beauties next week when OC Parks presents the annual Adventure Day and Socal Wildflower Fest on Saturday, April 14 from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. All ages are welcome to come out to Caspers Wilderness Park to enjoy a day of natural history tours, guided hikes, wildlife exhibits, live music, crafts, games and refreshments.
Caspers Wilderness Park will host a full schedule of activities that day including wildlife-inspired games, educational interactive programs, and expert speaker presentations exploring wildflowers and herpetology. Guided hiking and camping clinics will be available. Musical guests the Live Oak Revue will perform live. The winners of the OC Register wildflower photo contest and Adventure Day raffles will be announced on-site.
Organizations exhibiting and participating in Adventure Day and Socal Wildflower Fest activities include the OC Zoo, OC Public Libraries, Wagon Wheel Natural History Association, Caspers Park Foundation, OC Hiking Club, Inside the Outdoors, Sea & Sage Audubon Society, Donna O’Neil Land Conservancy, Girl Scouts and Boy Scouts of America. It’s going to be a full day of events for the whole family.
This event is free, open to all ages and will reschedule in the case of rain. It would be a great way to spend the day with the family, enjoying some of the local beauty that we are fortunate to have here in Orange County.
Even if you can’t make it to Adventure Day and SoCal Wildflower Fest, schedule a trip to Caspers Wilderness Park with the kids soon to see the swallows and wildflowers. Spring has certainly sprung at Caspers Wilderness Park. Take a hike and enjoy it while it’s here.
And with views like this, it’s hard to not feel grateful for all the beauty that surrounds us. Get out and enjoy a day at Caspers – hiking up to enjoy a vista like this will put a smile on your face. It is good for the body and the soul.
I’m in the Spring cleaning mood, with the sudden urge to clean every surface of my house.
I can pretty much do the whole house, top to bottom, with this arsenal:
Here is what each of these all-natural powerhouses can do:
White vinegar – a great all-purpose cleaner. Just mix it in a spray bottle – a 50/50 mix of water and vinegar. It can clean more than just mirrors. Use it on all kinds of surfaces for cleaning and disinfecting. It even whitens grout. You can also ditch the chemical rinse aid in your dishwasher and add 100% white vinegar to the reservoir – get dishes sparkling clean with no chemicals and for pennies on the dollar compared to traditional rinse aids. You can use white vinegar as a fabric softener in the washing machine. And it’s even an effective weed killer.
Mule Team Borax – A versatile product that’s been around for over 100 years, Borax is a powerhouse cleaning agent. Use it in the washing machine and the dishwasher to boost your detergent’s power and remove stains and grease. Also use it to clean and disinfect the toilet bowl non-toxically. Cleans carpets and rugs too.
Baking soda – use it as a scrubbing agent for counter tops, sinks and pots and pans. It’s also a great odor remover for stinky shoes and practice gear. It’s super effective at absorbing spills (or, like in our house – dog messes) on carpets and upholstery. Just sprinkle on the spot, leave for a few hours and vacuum up. You can also add to the washing machine for extra stain removal power. And that’s only the beginning. See “75 Extraordinary Uses for Baking Soda” for even more ideas. Literally, there’s almost nothing this stuff can’t do. That’s why I always buy the extra big Costco-sized package.
Vodka – You may be assuming from the photo above, I’m mixing myself a drink while I’m cleaning – though, come to think of it, it would make the cleaning process far more enjoyable. In addition to making a great martini, vodka can be used to freshen laundry, shine fixtures, and even preserve fresh flowers. For more ideas on what to do with vodka see “Top 10 Weird Uses for Vodka“. But leave the Grey Goose alone – for cleaning, stick to the cheap stuff.
Lemon – Hmmm, come to think of it, this would go well with the vodka. But really, I use lemon for cleaning & disinfecting cutting boards and taking care of odors in the garbage disposal. There is even more this little fruit will do – check out “24 things you can clean with lemon” for more ideas.
Micofiber Cloth – for dusting all the surfaces of your home, forget the harsh chemical sprays. All you need is a good micro-fiber cloth – just brush it over your furniture and it sucks up the dust. Wash and reuse over and over.
By using these natural products to clean your house, not only do you free your home of hazardous chemicals and get a sparkling clean house, you also save money…lots of money. These supplies cost pennies on the dollar compared to traditional mass-marketed cleaning products. No coupons required!
If you are interested in more money-saving, DIY, all-natural cleaning solutions, follow my Pinterest board “Go Green, Save Green“.
For a safe, chemical-free home this Spring, check your pantry before you run to the store. There’s a surprising number of ways to get your home clean just waiting to be discovered.
During a discussion with someone I recently met, somehow, the conversation turned to light bulbs. “Oh those awful light bulbs that OBAMA wants us to use”, she said. I was confused thinking there was some new technology that I hadn’t heard of, but finally I asked “Do you mean CFL bulbs?”
“Yes, those awful curly ones”, she continued. “I can’t stand them. I refuse to use them.”
I tried to delicately add to the conversation, pointing out that incandescent bulbs are being phased out and we are all moving to CFL bulbs, that they use 10% of the energy of regular bulbs, and that all these things were in place long before Obama even took office. But, at some point (which was about ten seconds in), I think she stopped listening.
Then, just a few days later on Facebook, a high school acquaintance posted a whole long status update with a bunch of arguments against electric cars. He offered up a lot of math that didn’t really add up, then added “And OBAMA thinks this is the answer.”
I attempted to reply intelligently, using math and reasoning. My comment, as you can imagine, was not well received. It was met with conservative replies, including how my truck-driving high school buddies (hmmm, last time I saw them twenty years ago, they were driving gas-guzzling raised trucks so it seems like not much has changed) could fit my Prius in the back of their truck and tow me to the next charging station – not that I have the electric Prius, it’s a hybrid. But anyway, none of this mattered (the whole factual, math type of stuff). Obama was for it, and I was a liberal-socialist (by the way, I’m not) and they wouldn’t consider any of it.
What struck me about both of these interactions is that it really had nothing to do with the fact that these people had tried and had bad experiences with CFL bulbs or had done a lot of homework and calculations analyzing the value of electric cars. It was just that they associated these items with the democratic administration, and therefore, they were having none of it.
And then suddenly, overwhelmingly, it hit me like a ton of bricks – conserving energy has become political. If you are on one side of the fence, energy conservation is an important goal. If you are on the other, it is the liberal, democratic agenda that must be stopped.
After that realization, I think I went into a mini-depression. I put myself on self-imposed, social media timeout. I couldn’t take it anymore. I felt hopeless.
But then, I had a realization. I can make a change. I can speak up. And maybe, just maybe it will make a difference. And even if it doesn’t, it’s better than doing nothing. I can’t just sit by and do nothing.
Because conserving our finite resources and protecting our environment is not a political agenda. It’s a human agenda.
As we head into this political season, it’s going to get ugly I am sure. But in all of the rhetoric, please, please – do not throw out ideas like energy conservation, “green” technology, and renewable energy because you think they are associated with a certain political party.
It has nothing to do with the candidate you punch on your ballot. We all live on this planet. We all have a vested interest in keeping our air clean, our oceans clear of trash, and our environment healthy for generations to come. And now is the time we must act.
So please try to ignore the political rhetoric and focus of the facts. All the math and science point to the fact that, well, it’s a fact. Our environment is in trouble and we need to start cleaning it up.
And the small changes you make do make a difference, they do add up to much greater change.
And the politicians on both side of the aisle need to hear that we care about our planet and will vote accordingly.
Whether you are blue or red, please make going green a universal goal that we can all agree on.
A few weekends ago, I had pretty much had it with my kids. It was a long weekend, everyone was sick, tired and cranky. But it was their total lack of appreciation for all the things I do for them that sent me over the edge.
“I’m out” I think is what I said. And I actually said it rather than yelling it. I was super calm – almost in a zen-like state. “I am taking a mom time-out.” I continued. “You two are on your own this week.”
I then laid down the rules for the next week (as I thought of them right there on the spot). My kids would pretty much do everything for themselves that week, including setting their alarms to wake up on their own, making their own breakfasts, packing their own lunches, doing their homework completely on their own with no reminders or help from me, and even doing their own laundry.
Yes, they learned to do laundry for the first time. When my daughter looked at the washer and dryer and said, “now which one is the washing machine?” I laughed, but I also wanted to cry, embarrassed that I had never thought to show her this before.
The only thing I did do was continue to drive them to and from school and practices. I considered having them take the bus, but coordinating the public transit schedule with their school and practices was further than I wanted to take this thing.
The week was a learning experience for us all. It was actually much harder for me than I thought – letting go and knowing that your kids may possibly fail is not that easy.
The kids learned a lot too, about how much I actually do for them on a daily basis. After a couple days of packing his lunch in the morning, unpacking it in the afternoon, and washing out the lunchbox and containers my son asked , “Mom, you do this everyday?” “Yes, I sure do buddy.” I answered. He thought about it for a second and said “Wow, that’s a lot of work.” That’s when I knew that he was starting to get it.
We are getting back to normal now but with some new changes in our routine – things we are carrying over from our “week-without-a-mom”. The main one is packing their own lunch in the morning. I love this change and can’t believe I never thought of it before.
I think I was afraid that they would make poor choices, fill up with snacks and skimp on the fruit and veggies. Again, I think it was a control thing.
But, the thing is, they don’t. They have learned good habits and actually crave healthy food.
I gave them no rules for packing their lunch. If it was in the house and they wanted to pack it, they could. Yes, they found cookies and packed them. And, yes my son cuts the crust off his sandwich. Okay.
Are they still eating primarily healthy foods? Yes.
Are they learning independence and self reliance? Yes.
Is cutting the crust off your sandwich a battle I want to fight at 7:00am? Not a chance.
Here they are, making lunch this morning before the sun even came up.
The other big bonus of this is that my picky-eater son is eating his entire lunch. I think because he chose it, he packed it. Not only did he pack what he was in the mood for that day, but he feels a sense of hard work in making his lunch and he doesn’t want it to go to waste.
Here is what he packed this morning, crusts cut off and all:
So I have permanently promoted myself to lunch supervisor. I help locate things they can’t find and help with difficult cutting – I did cut the apple for my son’s lunch today. And the lunch supervisor gig is pretty good. The pay is still lousy but the hours are much better. I highly recommend it and can’t believe I didn’t try it years ago.
Even if you have really young kids, get them involved now. Don’t make the mistake I did and do it for them for years and then one day, boom, they are on their own. Yes, with younger kids you will be more of a hands-on supervisor, but they will still be learning. And maybe by the time they are my kids ages, you won’t even have to supervise at all.
As soon as we moved to our house last year, I became obsessed with my new laundry room.
I think it’s because I’ve never actually had a laundry room before. I went from the coin-op laundry, to a washer and dryer in the garage, to a hallway laundry area, and now a real laundry room – with a door that shuts and an actual sink IN THE LAUNDRY ROOM. It’s not very big but I don’t care, it’s all mine.
Here is a before look at the laundry room.
(Note: this before picture is before we actually moved in to the house. That is not my washer and dryer and those are for sure, not my cleaning products.)
I started plotting the big makeover as soon as we moved in. I scoured Pinterest for inspiration – here’s the “Laundry Room” board that I put together.
The first step of the remodel was paint. As you can see in on my Pinterest board, I was gravitating toward turquoise. But you have to be careful with that color, it can be too bright. I ended up choosing Restoration Hardware’s more subtle “Light Silver Sage“, which I had Dunn Edwards match using their Enso line, a low-odor, zero VOC paint.
After painting, we tried to repair the cabinets. You can see in the before picture, the doors of the cabinets above the sink no longer stayed shut. We found that the particle-board cabinets were too damaged and the door couldn’t be repaired. Because I wanted to add an additional cabinet/folding table, we looked into replacing all the cabinets with new real wood ones, and let’s just say this option was not in the budget. So, we decided to remove the doors and add some baskets for organization. I think I actually like it better this way than cabinets with doors. And, we salvaged the old by reusing rather than replacing with new.
My new cabinet/folding table (taken directly from this pin I found on Pinterest) was my one splurge, and my one not-so-green item in the remodel. My husband and I are not very handy in the wood working department, so we ordered it through Closet Factory. We found that the particleboard option was much more budget-friendly than real wood, so we compromised knowing that Closet Factory uses particleboard and MDF substrates that are low- or no-VOC and made with 100% recycled wood.
The thing with going green is you do what you can – and sometimes that’s not 100%. There are times when it’s 80%, or even 50% and that’s okay. It’s not an all or nothing game. So don’t get frustrated if you don’t have the resources and budget to do it all. Don’t let that stop you from doing what you can.
And I have to say, particle board and all, I love how it turned out.
I finished off the room with some eco-friendly accessories: baskets made from sustainable materials, a cotton rug, and accessories purchased second-hand or re-purposed from other areas of the house.
Except for a new ironing board cover, brand new from Target, but it’s so cute and matches perfectly. I had to get it.
Add in my high-efficiency front-loading washer and dryer (not new – actually ten years old and still going strong) and a wall sticker from Etsy, and the room is complete. Well, almost complete. Though my family thinks I’m crazy, I’m still determined to add a chandelier like the one I pinned here. Some day, I will stumble across the perfect one at a thrift store and make it happen.
I’m pretty happy with how it all turned out – and I did it all within budget. In total, I spent about $450 on the remodel ($250 on the table, $65 on paint, $75 on baskets and $65 on accessories).
Without a remodel or spending any additional money, here are some ways to make your laundry room (or closet or garage or even coin-operated machine) greener and more eco-friendly:
Use eco-friendly laundry soap. I’m not particular to any certain brand, it depends on where I’m shopping and what’s on sale. Just look for something made with biodegradable, non-petroleum based ingredients. Steer clear of phosphates, alkylphenol exthoxylates (APE’s), linear alkylate sulforate (LAS). Look for products that list all their ingredients. Although manufacturers are not required to, the good ones do. Or, if you are feeling up for it, you can even make your own laundry soap for half the cost of store-bought.
Ditch the dryer sheets & fabric softeners – those cute, cuddly, fabric softeners and dryer sheets you use to make your family’s clothes smell nice and feel soft are full of chemicals – the list of chemicals is too long to post, but here is an interesting article by the Environmental Health Association of Ontario (EHA of Ontario) discussing the health risk of fabric softeners. Dryer sheets and fabric softeners are a skin irritant, allergy trigger, and build up on clothing, making it look dull. They also lower the absorption of your towels and can leave a residue on your skin when you dry off.
Most clothes don’t even need fabric softeners and dryer sheets. My trick is not over-drying my clothes so the static doesn’t build up in the first place. You can use 1/4 to 1 cup of white vinegar to soften your clothes instead of commercial fabric softener. I also like the Static Eliminator reusable dryer sheets.
Don’t use bleach. Chlorine gets into the waste stream and contaminates ground water. Use non-chlorine alternatives made from hydrogen peroxide or oxygen. You can make your own and save money by mixing hydrogen peroxide, a couple drops of laundry detergent and a a few teaspoons of baking soda. Soak stained clothes and give stains a scrub before washing and you will have stain-free clothes without chemicals.
If you are in the market for a new washing machine, consider a high-efficiency front-loading machine, which uses 40-50% less water and 50-60% less energy than traditional top loading machines. And bonus: the reduced agitation of the machine helps clothes last much longer.
Only wash full loads of laundry and wear clothes more than once before washing. Of course, if your kids are like mine, they wear something for five minutes, change their mind, and take it off and put in directly in the hamper. I don’t have a solution, but I recently started having my kids do their own laundry so I’m guessing this problem may work itself out.
However and whenever you do laundry, I do think that making a pleasant environment to do it in makes the chore that much less painful. And any little bit you do to make it more enjoyable helps with the endless cycle of wash, dry, fold, put away, repeat.
I recently traveled to San Francisco. It’s a short flight, but I had a hard time finding water for my Klean Kanteen before I boarded. (You can travel with your reusable water bottle, just make sure it’s empty before you go through security.) So as I exited the plane, one of the first things on my mind was “where can I get a refill?”, and I’m talking about water of course. I mean, I had to hydrate before all the weekend’s wine tastings.
Usually I hit up the nearest soda machine and find the complimentary water tap. But sometimes I feel a little guilty, like maybe I should buy something in exchange for the free refill. And trying to refill from a drinking fountain can be challenging (reminds me of Jerry Seinfeld’s airport stand up sketch “hey, I got a little water there“).
But then, I walked around the corner and saw a beautiful sight. Like a beacon shining in the distance, there it was…
An easy, clean, free refill for my Klean Kanteen! I was seriously excited about this find. I could not stop smiling.
My free, cold, splash-free refill was courtesy of a partnership of the City of San Francisco and a company called GlobalTap. GlobalTap’s goal is to provide clean, free, accessible water, to everyone, everywhere, around the world.
According to GlobalTap, “Water is a human right. All humans should have access to clean, fresh water. If water is free and accessible in one part of the world it should be free in other parts. Water is a human right allotment that must not be charged for. Scarcity of water in one location versus another should not affect peoples right to water.” I could not agree more.
I am hopeful that soon GlobalTap stations will pop up in other airports, train stations, parks, schools, malls, stadiums, and many other public places. The cities of San Francisco and New York are early adopters of the GlobalTap system, but GlobalTap’s goal is to implement tap systems like this from cities in the U.S. and Europe to villages of Africa, South America and Asia – to truly make a world-wide tap of safe drinking water available to all.
You can join the movement and get updates on progress by signing up for email updates on GlobalTap’s homepage. You can also like them on Facebook for more about their progress.
Single cup coffee makers are everywhere right now. They are easy and convenient, perfect for single people or solo coffee drinkers in a home. But, their popularity is causing some big problems – namely lots of landfill waste.
As the video demonstrates, the problem with single use coffee pods is that they are filling up the landfills fast – and they are not recyclable. Sure, the individuals components of the pod are recyclable (plastic, paper and aluminum), but as soon as those components are combined into one unit, it’s a recycling nightmare. Coffee pod landfill waste is become such a big issue, that manufacturers of these single-use systems are looking for solutions.
Luckily, there is an simple solution to this problem that exists right now – the reusable coffee pod filter.
I do own a Keurig machine. Most mornings, I am the only coffee drinker in the house. Making a pot of coffee so I can have one cup just didn’t make sense. I found myself dumping out many half-full pots of coffee at the end of the day. So for Christmas a couple years ago, my husband bought me the Keurig.
But (and this is a big but), I do not use the disposable K-cups. Instead, I use the reusable container and filter that came with my unit. Many coffee pod systems come with both the holder for the disposable pods and a reusable cartridge and coffee filters to use with your own grounds. If your maker did not come with the reusable cartridge and filter, they are inexpensive and available to purchase separately online, or at lots of retail locations.
My Keurig came with the grey reusable container in the picture and one reusable filter. I bought a couple more of the reusable filters (they come in a two-pack) at Bed, Bath and Beyond. That way, if we want to brew a few cups in the morning, we aren’t washing out filters in between each cup. And by brewing my own grounds, I can create my own custom blends – half decaf and half regular, or half french roast and half morning blend (a little bolder but not quite so dark). All at a fraction of the cost of disposable K-cups.
The reusable filters combine the convenience of the K-cups, at a fraction of the price with none of the waste.
We don’t have to wait for manufacturers to find a better solution. It may be years if at all. Your single-cup coffee maker can be convenient, cost-effective and green right now. What are you waiting for?
