Crazy Green Contest Results

My contest is over. I was going to post the top five and let you vote but I only had one entry. Thank you Zoya for participating. I will post her prize when she lets me know which she wants. Here is her entry:

Zoya said...
Hey, i like this idea.my story is: I'm using the last rinsing water (clothes) to mop the floor. the water price is very expensive here.

Wonderful reuse of water. If you have a good laundry soap you can also use the wash water. It won't hurt your plants. Make sure it doesn't have bleach or other chemicals that would hurt your plants. One of the "Free" varieties will work just fine.

Garden Containers

I've been searching around for garden containers to put my garden in. I was hoping to get some on clearance but haven't had much luck.The garden containers I want have to be big enough that the plants can grow in them but small enough not to take up too much room. I have found a couple in boxes here at home that will work for some of it. I have a couple of hanging baskets that will work for cherry tomatoes or there plants that are small or will hang and a medium size pot that will work for some peppers or other compact plant. I'll make my final selection when I finish gathering all the garden containers that I want to use. If I find one or two large enough I might try planting several groups of different vegetables together that go in the same recipe (like salsa or a salad). I might even try my hand at making a youtube video. Wouldn't that be fun?

Tomorrows The Day

No I'm not talking about the end of my contest (but it's that too so hurry up and enter) It's the most terrible offal horrible day of the year for the environment.

That's Right BLACK FRIDAY!

The day when consummers lose their minds go out at the most obsene times (one store is opening at 4 A.M. how nuts is that) to buy crappy merchandise that they don't need becasue it's ON SALE!

Yes I've done it to but not anymore. I have started participating in the International

BUY NOTHING DAY.

What is Buy Nothing Day? If you visit their website You will find this answer

What is Buy Nothing Day all about?Buy Nothing Day (November 29th 2008 UK), is a simple idea, which challenges consumer culture by asking us to switch off from shopping for a day. Its a global stand off from consumerism - celebrated as a holiday by some and street party for others! Anyone can take part provided they spend a day without spending!

In the UK it is on the 29th but here in the USA it it NOVEMBER 28TH 2008! If you want some ideas on how to celebrate Buy Nothing Day check out the ADBUSTERS website. My favorite suggestion is the Zombie Walk.

Zombie Walk
The cheerful dead wander around malls, marveling at the blank, comatose expressions on the faces of shoppers. The zombies are happy to be among their own kind, but slightly contemptuous of those who have not yet begun to rot.

Hummm I think I saw that one in a movie once LOL.

Something else you can do is plan out some homemade gifts for your family and friends to enjoy. Presents always mean more when they come from the heart.

The US and UK are not the only places that celebrate Buy Nothing Day

Buy Nothing Day around the world

Denmark France Germany Italy Israel Japan
Netherlands Sweden United Kingdom

HAVE A HAPPY AND SAFE THANKSGIVING AND A PEACEFUL BUY NOTHING DAY!

Getting Started

I moved to New York in July. My new home has a very small backyard barely enough room for the kids and Cricket the dog to run around. Once my hubby puts the playground together there will be even less room. Since we are renting there is only so much I can do to the backyard and I want to have fresh veggies for my family. Since I have no room I'm going to give a vegetable container garden a try.

Why am I starting now when winter is just around the corner?

Well now is probable the best time to get outdoor containers cheap. At least I hope! Tomorrow when I'm out shopping I will take a look around to see what is available. I'm also going to hit the library to do some research on vegetable container garden s. I love the library!

THE CRAZY GREEN CONTEST

Welcome to my very first CRAZY GREEN CONTEST. (yeah I will probably have others LOL)

How to Enter the crazy green contest: Go to comment and post your CRAZY story. Either about the craziest thing you have ever done to save money or the environment or both. The Day after Thanksgiving I will pick the 5 storys that I think are the CRAZIEST! Then let you vote on the top three! First prize winner of the crazy green contest will get first choice, second gets second choice and third gets the prize that is left.

NOW about the prizes.
Because I think we have made Christmas way to commercial I always make my presents. Cookies and crafts from the heart make better presents then some gift card or expensive knick knack that will probable go into storage. This prize should help spread Christmas cheer without breaking the bank

Ok, this next prize I think is the funniest book I've seen in a while. Hate JUNK mail this prize will have you looking forward to it. NOT only is it a fun new way to recycle Junk mail but it can keep the kids busy while you get those Christmas Cookies made.

The last prize may have you scratching your head on how they fit into a blog on saving money and the environment but I got them on clearance (saving money) and no I won't tell you how much. They are a very nice set of heart shaped hanging votive candle holder. I know these pictures aren't the best but I had to use my phone camera because in the move we seem to have lost the cord to connect our camera to the computer.

Have fun telling your story and don't forget to check back to see the other fun stories have been entered in the crazy green contest. Then come back after Thanksgiving to vote for the winners.

Free Coloing Pages...Everyone like FREE

Got kids who like to color? Looking for free printable coloring pages?www.FreeColoringPageFun.com has more than 2500 FREE Coloring Pagesto give you with hours upon hours of free coloring page fun! This great resource is brought to you by the great people at TheMomBlogs.

Burning Candles

I love burning candles, they are a wonderful way to make your house feel warm and snuggly and since I keep my theromstat at 66 degrees, they make the house feel a little warmer. Yes I know there isn't enough heat coming off them to actually warm up the house but just seeing them burning there makes me feel warmer.
I always try to get my candles when they're on sale usually right after Christmas. I want these candles to last as long as possible and still be able to burn them whenever I want. Here are some wonderful tips on how to make candles burn longer so you can enjoy them year-round.

One of the most often used tricks is to keep your candles in the refrigerator or freezer. Keeping them cold helps the wax burn slow and even. You will get many debates on which works better just chilling in the fridge or putting it in the freezer. I suggest trying it both ways and pick the one that works for you. (I use the freezer because I have more room in there and keeping your freezer full helps save money too)

Another tip is to trim your wick to about a quarter of an inch. The shorter wick will help the candle burn evenly and keep it from smoking and leaving a black film on your candleholder or ceiling and wall. You'll want to do this every time you burn the candle.

A friend has some very fancy pillar candles there are pictures on the outside that shine when you light the candle. She has extended the life of these candles by burning them down and then placing votive candles inside after she is one of candles of course. This allows her to enjoy her candles longer.

You also want to make sure that when you're lighting your candles you can burn them for at least four hours at a time the longer burning time allows the candle to burn evenly this is of course with your piller candles and not taper candles which the wax just drips down the side when you burn them.

Another tip I have heard is to light the candle and then when you get a pool of wax blowout the candle and mix table salt into the wax around the wicks. This is supposed to reduce the rate at which the candle burns I've not tried this trick myself if you have please let me know how works for you.

Now if you're like me and like having lots of candles burning at the same time this tip will help your matches last longer. I suppose you've heard the superstition that if you lite three cigarettes from the same match it's bad luck. One of the theories behind the superstition is that during World War I if three soldiers with their threats from the same match the third one would be killed. The belief is that the first person lits his cigarette and the enemy sees it. When you light the second cigarette with the same match the enemy takes aim and when the third soldier lits his cigarette with the same match the enemy would fire.

I don't know about the superstition but I can lite up to 10 candles on the same match and I'm going share my trick with you. Gather your candles around so that you have them close together. Like the first two or three candles and then blow out the match. When the first candle gets a small pool of wax around the base dip the burnt match into the wax, then relight it from the candle. Light a couple more candles than blowout the match. Then once again dip it in the liquid wax and then relight it. Continue this until you can no longer reuse the match or until all your candles are lit. This will allow you to use fewer matches which will save you a little money and ever little bit helps.

Recycle Gift Cards

I was reading the newpaper a couple days ago about Earth Works Systems they recycle gift cards.

I had never though about those pvc cards that get thrown away after they've been used. According to their website:

"When these cards are replaced or reach their expiration dates, most of them are thrown in the trash, contributing more than 75 million pounds of PVC material to the waste stream every year."

WOW 75 million pounds! That is definately something to think about.

Well I didn't just think about it I tried to do something. I went shoping yesterday at Toys R Us for my kids Christmas gifts. I had about $50 in gift cards and as the check out gal was running them through she chucked them in the garbage. Having read this article I mentioned to her that they could be recycling those cards instead of throwing them away. At first she looked at me like I had three heads and said "Really?" Then I proceed to tell her about Earth works Systems. Well a couple of other workers there were listening in and one of the walked over to a manager and said "Hey did you know we could recycle gift cards?"

Well that's where I left them discussing recycling gift cards. I don't know if they will actually do anything but I put the idea out there and I'm going to keep doing that everytime I see someone use a gift card.

How about you? Want to help spread the word?