Ten Easy Green New Year's Resolutions

So New Year's has come and gone and its time to start thinking about the resolutions that we made for the year. An easy way to select a resolution that you can stick to is to select something to implement in your everyday life. They say it takes 21 days to start a habit or break a habit so in 3 weeks your resolution should be firmly in place! Below are a list of Ten Easy Green Resolutions to help you in your green journey and in keeping your resolutions. I promise, they are easy!



1. Shut off the lights when you leave a room This is a very easy to implement green New Year's resolution. How many times have you walked out of a room and left the lights on and the TV going, not to return for an hour or more? Whether you are on the phone or making dinner, if you keep the lights on only in the rooms that you are in, you will become a more energy conscious household. You will also see a reduction in your electricty bill in the months to follow your efforts.

2. Use electricity during non-peak hours When possible, use electricty during non-peak hours. You can check in with yor service provider to get the definition as all companies set their own off-peak hours. If you can reduce your energy use during the peak hours (typically during the day), and run your larger appliances such as the dishwasher, washing machine, etc. during off peak hours (typically at night) you will see a large reduction in your energy bill. You will also be putting less pressure on the energy system as not as many people consciously use electricty during non-peak hours.

3. Shut off the water when brushing your teeth This again is a very simple and easy step. There is no need to leave the water running while you are brushing your teeth. Rinse your brush at the beginning, then turn off the water until you have finished brushing your teeth and turn the water on again to rinse off your brush. The amount of water will add up to gallons and gallons saved by the end of the month!

4. Reduce your shower time by 3 minutes-you will be surprised at the amount of water you will save! Now 3 minutes may not seem like a lot, but it all adds up. Think about the gallons of water coming out of the shower head and going right down the drain. 3 minutes less of running water saves gallons of water! This is something that is easily accomplished by using a wind up timer which you leave in the bathroom and start when you step into the shower.

5. Eliminate the use of paper towels in your house Paper towels are a big source of paper waste in many households. Instead of using paper towels consider some alternatives, such as paperless towels, old clothes or rags you have around the house, or even towels which you can wash and reuse time and time again. Not only will this cut down on your paper use it will also save money!

6. Reusable bags! Use them every time you go shopping Reusable bags have to be one of the easiest way to cut down on your waste. The average family goes grocery shopping at least once a week. Think about all of the plastic and paper you would eliminate by taking your own bags to the store instead of using the paper and plastic bags which will only be thrown away when you get home. Always leave the bags in your car so that you won't forget to bring them in with you. They also have reusable produce bags now! Why use a product created by petroleum, when you can reuse a fabric bag over and over-cleaning in by a simple run through the washing machine.

7. Turn down the heat by 3 degrees in the winter and the air conditioner up 3 degrees in the summer This is one similiar to the shower, and you may think how much of a difference will 3 degrees make-again you will be surprised! Try it out for a few months and then compare your utility bills to last year during the same months and you should see the savings. For the 3 degrees it is easy to dress a bit warmer (or cooler in the summer). In the winter this may mean having a sweatshirt on in the house instead of just a long sleeve shirt. An easy sacrfice to cut down on your energy use and save money!

8. Buy local-road side stands, farmers markets, farms etc during the months that they are open Now this part of your resolution may have to wait for warmer weather, but it is something to consider now. Maybe you want to think about joining a CSA (Community Supported Agriculture) where for a set price you can receive fresh fruits and vegetables (some even offer meats, flowers, eggs, etc) that you would pick up once a week. Or maybe a better approach for you in to find out when your local farm stands will be running and make it a point to go once a week to pick up everything you will need. Not only will you sometimes find better prices, but the food is fresher and grown locally. You will be supporting some of the local farmers instead of a farmer 1/2 way across the country, where the fruit and vegetables have been covered with pollution and dirt from their travels in the back of a truck to you.

9. Check your house for drafts especially around doors and windows Not only can you get tax credits for some of these improvements, you will see a decrease in your heating bill/cooling bill every month. Every place there is a draft in your house, whether it be from a door or window, there is cold or hot air coming into you house depending on the season. Not to mention the spiders and other small insects which may squeeze themselves through these gaps. The best way to check this is to feel around the doors and windows, especially on a windy day and see if you can feel air coming through. If so, you may want to consider chaulking the windows and replacing the weatherstripping around your doors.

10. Grow your own spices in the warmer months In the spring and summer months we get spoiled by using fresh spices. Whether you buy them at the farmer's market or you grow them at home. Carry this through the winter by growing your own spices indoors. This may seem like a challenge to some but how much space do a few pots need? And it is definitely worth it to have fresh spices!

Green Tip of the Day 1 Year Anniversary on Twitter!

It's hard to believe it's been a year, but 365 green tips have been tweeted in the past 365 days! I started tweeting the green tip of the day on December 30, 2008, with the simple goal in mind to make sure I provided just one tip every day. It's been a huge success, and I have over 600 followers to date. In honor of 1 year of green tips, I've decided to make a special retweet of my initial tweet, which was simply this:

"Green Tip of the Day: Invest in a reusable bamboo utensil travel set & eliminate the use of plasticware when at work, on the road or traveling."

What I was referring to was the bamboo utensil set, a reusable set of wooden utensils contained in a locally sewn cloth wrap. As the year has gone on, I've continued to not only tweet the green tip of the day, but retweet other resourceful green Twitter users interesting comments and tips.

In the upcoming year, my goal for green tip of the day is to reach out to as many people as possible and spread the word about going green. With just 140 characters per tip, I think it will be doable for most people.

May everyone have a great New Year, we'll see you in 2010 for the first new green tip of the day and post here on the green living tips blog!

Green Living Tips Blog Retrospective - Part 4

We've come to the final installment of our retrospective of our past posts here on the green living tips blog. On this post, we'll be reviewing posts 76-100 with a brief sentence or two description along with a link to that previous post. In this post, you'll read about the new product, I Am Not a Paper Cup, find some of our latest reusable bags, SIGG bottles, and more eco friendly products, as well as other green tips from the past few months. Here's a countdown:

76. If you haven't tried out the I Am Not a Paper Cup product yet, it's a great replacement for your disposable coffee cup that really keeps it piping hot. And, it's reusable!

77. In the summer, there are so many options on where to get your produce. I think we can all agree that local is better tasting and better for the environment, but if it came down to it, would you choose the farmer's market or farm stand?

78. In September, we rolled out 4 brand new reusable shopping tote bags, like our save the turtles bag. Have a look!

79. We welcomed autumn in with these 10 eco friendly tips for the fall season, from back to school tips to energy saving maintenance.

80. Our reusable bag contest for September was announced on September 28th, and it was a big hit with our readers. When will the next contest be announced? You'll just have to keep reading this blog to find out!

81. Adding to our lineup of green products, we've added our reusable SIGG bottles, which you can find here. Custom images with green recycling themes and environmental themes are what you'll see!


82. Boosting your veggie intake isn't just good for you, it's good for the environment. That's why many environmentalists are vegan. Even if you eat meat, reducing meat consumption and increasing vegetable consumption will make you healthier, and reduce the toll on our environment.

83. The winter is upon us, did you winterize your home before the cold weather hit? It saves money, and prevents valuable energy from escaping from your home.

84. Next Halloween, take the environment into consideration with these green tips for Halloween.

85. We announced the winner of the September reusable bag contest on this post! Congratulations!

86. The November reusable bag contest featured our reusable gift bags. These were a big hit this holiday season, and prevented plenty of wrapping paper from being thrown in the landfill!

87. We came up with twelve ways to go green for Thanksgiving, from the food to the shopping and leftovers on this Turkey Day post. Gobble!

88. Avoid mercury in fish by reading which fish are on the safe list, and which ones you should avoid on this post. We can still eat fish, but you should be aware of which fish!

89. There's snow on the ground, it's freezing cold, and we're moving around less. It's winter! We check our cars, our houses... but did you prepare your body for winter this season?

90. Want a quick fix to reduce your energy bill? This one easy step will do just that!

91. Who wants an extra serving of BPA? Not me! Exclude it from your lunch by making the switch to eco friendly BPA free sandwich bags. They aren't disposal either, so you'll be doing the environment a favor!

92. For the holidays, we introduced our polar bear, penguin, Frosty and holiday reusable gift bags! These also make great gifts, or if you'd like to have your own special holiday bag to carry around with you, for groceries, the office, shopping and more.

93. Every contest has a winner, and this one received not one bags, but two bags for the holidays! Stop by and wish your congratulations to the winner.

94. The holiday season is a great time to go green, and Chartreuse has a number of ways that can help you do just that! These affordable green gifts will make great stocking stuffers, housewarming gifts, gifts for a Yankee swap, Secret Santa, or for your anyone that appreciates the environment!

95. It's harder to stay healthy during the cold winter months, when produce prices rise, and fresh vegetables get harder and harder to come by. Luckily, there are a few ways that you can still introduce vegetables into your winter diet this year.

96. We celebrated our 101st post by starting this retrospective on this post.

97. In the next 25 posts, we aggregated them into 25 easy green tips.

98. And finally, we offered 25 ways to be more eco friendly on our last post through offering more information from past blogs.

99. Today, we created this post, our final retrospective, part 4. Yes, the next post will be a regular post, we promise!

100. And as our final link that we might suggest to you, why not become a follower of our blog? You can find the follow button on the right hand sidebar. You can also follow me on Twitter for the green tip of the day, posted daily!

Thank you to all of our readers for the past 100+ posts, it's been wonderful, and we look forward to our next 100 posts where we can offer more green living tips, information, contests, and other eco friendly fun ideas!

25 Easy Green Tips

On our last post, we briefly reviewed our first 25 green living posts, which were on topics ranging from paint disposal to balloons. Today, we're continuing on with 25 more easy green tips from our own blog, done Twitter style in an easy-to-read 140 characters or so (or as short as possible!). Let's dive right in and review some of our past green blog posts! We'll start at #26, since this is part 2 of 4.

25 Easy Green Tips (part 2 - posts 26-50)

26. Sarah Palin was new on the political scene in September of 2008 - brand new. No one was sure of her viewpoint on green issues, but this post helps set the record straight on Palin's stance on climate change, among other issues.

27. Concerned voters weren't getting the facts they need before the 2008 election, so this easy comparison laid out everything on the table for Obama and McCain.

28. September 2008 was the month we chose the fall foliage tote as our bag of the month. A beautiful fall foliage themed bag!

29. Have extra pens, pencils, and art supplies? Schools could use them! See how you can donate your old school supplies on this post.

30. Read how garbage disposals are wasting water, energy and resources on this post.

31. Curious about those plastic bottle numbers, and what they mean? Decode and demystify!

32. Some fruits and veggies are more important to buy organic than others, for how they're farmed, how penetrable the skin is to pesticide, and and what pesticides are used on them. Read up on what fruits to buy organic here on post #32.

33. We get free mousepads from time to time from computers, and sometimes they just plain old fall apart. Reuse your old mousepads with these quick tips!

34. Put those old Duracells aside and find out how to recycle old batteries on this post.

35. Yes, you can recycle your old pizza boxes! It's possible, yes (most of the time).

36. Composting with coffee grinds keeps your soil rich, and really helps in new plant growth. Give it a try!

37. In October '08, we rolled out our popular reusable trick or treat bags just in time for Halloween. Washable, durable, and they store away nicely.

38. 2009 had some great green tax breaks. What will 2010 hold for green tax advantages?

39. The Amazon Kindle was not only an innovation in publishing, but also a milestone in green living. Someday, we might all be reading these on Sunday morning instead of our throw-away newspapers!

40. Cellphones have many toxic parts to them, so you should consider recycling your old cellphones.

41. Looking for a unique, all-in-one green shopping experience? Find great green gift ideas and eco friendly products on this post.

42. This unique company has found ways to recycle flip flops into creative pieces of artwork that will really impress you, like their colorful animal sculptures.

43. Think you're a recycling pro? Well, you might not have thought of these ten ideas on recycling here.

44. Feel that cold blast coming in through the front door? You might need to install weatherstripping in your home. It's fast, easy, cheap, and will save you money, while keeping your house warmer.

45. Real trees, fake trees? How about potted Christmas trees instead?

46. The debate between real vs. fake Christmas trees really heated up on this debate page. Swing in and state your side!

47. Can vegetables make your life greener? Yes! Even if you introduce more veggies into your diet (not all people can go vegan!).

48. Haven't made the switch to tap water? This debate might make you rethink your drinking habits, based on the effects of bottled water on the environment. Another interactive debate!

49. Travelling is one of the most resource-consuming activities we all take part in. To lighten your carbon footprint, these green travel tips will help!

50. It's the perfect time of year to make your own bird feeder ornament! This is fun for kids especially, and the birds will love it in these cold months.

On our next post, we'll be reviewing posts 51-75. Continue on to the eco friendly tips post here! Until then, follow me on Twitter for the green tip of the day, posted daily!

30 Easy Green Tips

Usually, you'll see just one green tip daily on our Twitter profile, but thirty? Yup, thirty awesome tips on going green, from water conservation to how you can cut back on your junk mail, found right here.