Got kids?  Got any white clothes?  Didn’t think so.  Some things used to be white, but now they just look nasty.  Love that my seven year old has two white hoodies he loves to wear – they just need to be washes within a few minutes of him having them on.  And, then there’s the end of the sleeves – no chance of ever becoming white.

So we took one of them up to Camp Augusta – no worry about things staying clean up there.  But while there, found a solution – a solution that will help you keep those favorite sweatshirts, the favorite tees, even keep some of those tighty whities that still have some tighty in them, but lost all the whities parts months ago:

Tie-dye – Kids seem to love it more now than ever.  And, it’s less associated with Dead shows, though the last time we did this, my backyard drying line looked like we were tailgating with Jerry.

Option one – buy a tie-dye kit – the dyes are not the best for the environment, and the kits have a lot of packaging.  Already have a kit?  You can get replacement dye from Blick Art supply.  Or, here’s the greenest approach to tie-dye: make your own natural dyes.  You just use the stuff your kids already stain their clothes with – you just have them do it on purpose.

Chop up any of these ingredients, put them in a pot of water to boil, lower the heat and let simmer for about an hour.  Pour the dye into a spray bottle and you’re off.

Beets – red
Strawberries – pink
Tumeric – yellow
Red Cabbage – purple
Spinach – green

Here’s a tip – put your darkest colors at the end of the sleeves or wherever the clothes were messiest.

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No, not cars, a program that’s been around a lot longer than that, and won’t be running out of money anytime soon. It’s for your refrigerator and your washing machine. Your refrigerator is probably the most energy consuming appliance you own. If you’ve had yours for a decade or more, it may be consuming three times the power of a new replacement. [That's a lot of coal burning to keep your egg salad cold.] And here’s the cash part – PGE will give you $35 for it. They’ll even pick it up and recycle the parts!
As for your washing machine – even better news. Got an old top loader? If you replace it with a front loading energy efficient model, you’ll can get rebates from EBMUD and PGE totaling up to $200. A new front loading washing machine might come close to saving you as much money as a car with better gas mileage. These new washers:

• use 40-60% less water
• use 30-80% less electricity
• shortens drying time due to faster spin cycles, so you’ll save power on your dryer too
• use less soap
• wash clothes better

So how much will I really save? I’ve noticed a savings of about $300/year on water, electricity and gas from a new front loading washing machine. The washers run about $1000 (minus $200 in rebates). That’s less than a three year payback. Add the energy savings from your new fridge and you’ve got your own cash for clunkers program. And, there’s no question on the environmental benefits.

* EBMUD rebate information: http://www.ebmud.com/drought/rebates.html

* PGE refrigerator rebate information: http://www.pge.com/myhome/saveenergymoney/rebates/recycling/

More information on washing machine rebates: click here

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A cool French lemonade bottle: I saw it in our recycling bin and thought it was a much more interesting bud vase than anything we had in the house – with the benefit of being able to hold a long single rose.

Too many things get one use in our world, before being tossed into the landfill. Many things get recycled, but it doesn’t take much imagination to think of a slew of other uses for products we might toss. However, before I go down the road to crafts made from shoe boxes, think instead to the things we buy for a singular purpose, for which a reuse might be a better fit.

Dog waste bags – is anyone really in that short supply of plastic bags that they need to go out and buy plastic bags for poop? If you’re picking up more excrement than your grocery store vegetable bags can accommodate, then you should think about stool hardeners for your pooch.

Kitchen garbage bags – it’s going to stink long before you can fill up a 20 gallon plastic bag, so why not just use the grocery store-convenience store-Gap-and-everything-else store, shopping bags you get when you forget your canvas totes. Do you really need to buy plastic bags? I love when you buy a backpack or a small tote, and the clerk asks if you want a bag – it is a bag!

Sandwich bags – again, use the produce bags, or buy some tupperware. Kids are learning that almost everything is meant to be thrown away – no need to repeat this learning every time they have a snack.

Scratch pads – because we don’t waste enough single sided paper. Keep the full sheets from your office, your kids’ play table, your fax machine – once the stack gets high enough, cut them in half, staple and you have scratch pads. Or, take a huge stack annually to a copy place and have them glue them into pads of different sizes, even with cardboard on the back – it will cost pennies – often they’ll throw in more sheets that they’ve saved.

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