Upcoming USDA Certified Lip Balm!

I have it under very good authority that the largest (I can't give out the name yet) lip balm manufacturer will soon be distributing the first, and only, USDA certified 100% natural and organic lip treatment. I have a connection there and was given one from the pilot batch. My lips are very smooth, smell like citrus, and I know that there are not any nasty chemicals on them. Awesome.

Earth Hour

Don't forget to turn off the lights at 8:30 p.m. on Saturday March 28th for an hour(longer if you'd like). According to Ideal Bite, if 10,000 households turn off the lights for an hour, we'll save enough electricity to run 89 refrigerators nonstop for a year.

For more information about Earth Hour, go to earthhour.org.

No-waste Lunches

We all have to eat.
True

Sometimes we have to eat out.
True.

Sometimes we have to bring a lunch with us.
True.

Some of us have kids who bring their lunch to school.
True.

The average American school-age child throws away about 67 pounds of packaging every year, including plastic sandwich bags, plastic water bottles, juice boxes, and molded food containers.

While plastic can be reused, try using reusable lunch containers and utensils, and pack them into a reusable bag for your child and for yourself.

Sometimes we have to eat at places that don't recycle. The amount of packaging used is just staggering. Order your food to go so they will put it in a paper bag, put the recycable stuff in the bag, bring it with you, and put it into your recycling bin at home.:)

Always look for ways to keep your carbon footprints small - no matter how small each footprint might be.

Washing Produce

Sometimes organic fruits and veggies are not available - at least not the kind you are looking for - and you are forced to buy the kind that has been sprayed with pesticides. Nasty.

What can you do?

Wash them well before you eat them. They have cleaners at the store for around $4, but I have a much better solution - literally.

Again, break out the white vinegar. It will kill 98% of the bacteria on the produce.

Mix a water and white vinegar solution 3:1 into a spray bottle and spray the produce. Rinse the produce with clean water before you eat it.

The same solution can be used on your counters and windows, too. Fabulous!

Indoor Air Pollution

We've all used the expression, " I need some fresh air ". Even though we know about all the environmental hazzards, where do we go for this fresh air?

Outside.

What's wrong with the inside air? According to the Environmental Protection Agency, indoor air can be two to five times more polluted then outdoor air. Since most of us spend 90% of our time indoors, here are a few things you can do to improve the inside air.

* Keep things out of your home that cause air pollution, such as chemicals, cigarette smoke, and excess moisture.

* Ventilate your home. Run the exhaust fans in the kitchen and bathrooms.

* Fresh Air! Open the windows whenever possible.

These small things can help keep you and your family healthy and happy.

Happy breathing!

Utility Bills

Utility bills will always be a part of your life, but there are things that you can do to make them a smaller part of it.

If you can, get a programmable thermostat for your home. Set it to keep the temperature cooler at night and when you are not at home in the winter, and warmer at night and when you are not at home in the summer.

For every degree higher for air-conditioning and lower for heating, you could save $100 per year on your utility bill. This simple act also cuts down on carbon emissions 1% for each degree.

If you are too cold, put on a sweatshirt or snuggle up with a blanket. I use a space heater to warm the romm I'm in for a while. If you are too hot, close the blinds and turn on a fan. Ceiling fans circulate the air and drop the temperature of the house.

Small changes add up to big savings!

Donations

I recently did a Product Review and received a very positive response to it. Many of you have asked for more. I have decided to do them on a regular basis. Unfortunately, these products cost money.

If you are able to make a small (or large, if you would like) donation to the research and the purchases I make in order to do this site, please send your contribution to:

Kim Cecchi
P.O. Box 197
Oswego, IL 60543

Thank you!

Shower Curtains and Liners

Do you ever wonder what that strong odor is when you open your brand new shower curtain liner? It's the off-gassing of chemicals from polyvinyl chloride plastic (PVC).

A phthalate, DEHP, a suspected carcinogen and link to hormonal disruption, is one of the chemical additives in them.

Ditch the plastics. Keep them out of our landfills and water.

For your next shower curtain and liner, look for those made of cotton(organic is best) or bamboo.

Natural is the way to go!

Let's Talk Trash!

It's hard to believe that the average American creates about 4.5 pounds of trash every day. That comes to over 1,600 pounds of garbage every year! Where does all this garbage go? To our landfills! What can we do about this?

Always recycle everything you can. If you are unsure if a certain item can be recycled, call your local waste management company. (I sometimes throw it in anyway. Shhh...)

Some examples of everyday items that need to be recycled are: newspapers, paper, envelopes(think junk mail), cardboard(food boxes), bottles, and cans. Put them in the recycling bin instead of the garbage.

For every ten aluminum or steel cans recycled, you save four pounds of carbon, and for every ten glass bottles recycled you save three pounds of carbon. Recycling newspapers can save 50 pounds of carbon per year.

If all Americans recycled, 75% of waste would not be sent to landfills.

Our future generations will thank you!

Unwanted Catalogs

If your mailbox is like mine, you find catalogs in it all the time from places you have never even heard of. Maybe you still get them from places you had ordered from years ago.

Either way, they don't need to send them to you anymore. Most of them have telephone numbers on them - call them and ask to have your address removed from their mailing list. You can also go online to catalogchoice.org to put a stop to them.

Not convinced you should do it yet? How about this...every year about 19 billion catalogs are mailed to American consumers, according to the Daily Green. These catalogs require more than 53 million trees and 56 million gallons of wastewater to produce. Not only do they waste our precious resources, but they also cause pollution being produced and distributed.

Most companies have their products on their websites, making all those catalogs unnecessary.

Do something about it today!