The Native American Ten Commandments

How To Make Deoderant

Ultimate Money Blog- Save Green and Live Green!

Store bought deodorant contains many ingredients and fragrances. Also, there’s a lot of controversy about aluminum in deodorant being linked to breast cancer. I like to err on the side of caution. I figure it can’t hurt to use homemade deodorant.
Also, your body is meant to sweat to release toxins, so antiperspirants really aren’t that great.  Just use a little deodorant and you’ll be smelling like roses all day!

Ingredients

-6 Tablespoons of Coconut Oil
-1/4 cup Baking Soda
-1/3 cup Cornstarch
-1/4 teaspoon shea butter or cocoa butter
-10 drops of your favorite essential oil

Directions

Heat the coconut oil until you can stir in the shea butter or cocoa butter. Once these are incorporated, add in the dry ingredients and the essential oils. I like to use lavender essential oil because it smells so good! You could also use lemon, sweet orange, or patchouli. Use whatever you like! That’s the fun of making your own deodorant.
When the mixture cools, you can put your homemade deodorant in an old deodorant container or in a tub and just scoop some out with your fingertips.

You may have to store the deodorant in the fridge in the summer, because the coconut oil may liquefy.

Easy Sew Fabric Produce Bags

Wisdom of the Moon: Cheap & Easy Fabric Produce Bags

Cheap & Easy Fabric Produce Bags

I've been using my set of fabric grocery bags since I made them this summer, but I still kept using the plastic bags from the store for fruits and vegetables. Every time I pulled one off the roll, I thought, "I have got to make some of these." And then by the time I get home, I'd forget.

I finally made 9 of them this weekend. And they cost me exactly nothing because I reused a sheer curtain that we'd replaced.



You can either use tulle or sheer fabric, but really I think the sheer is much easier to work with. The only requirement is that they be see through and lightweight. Sometimes they have sheer curtains at the thrift store, just take em home and wash well in hot water. If you can't find those, tulle is probably going to be cheaper. You can get 4 bags out of one yard, which costs 2 bucks.

Also, if you want them to be painfully cute, you can decorate them with some handmade stamps. I carved up some broccoli and onions special for this project.


So, on to the directions.

-First, cut the fabric into rectangles that are 17" by 27", which makes a finished bag 15" tall by 13" wide (with double hemming). You can easily make them bigger or smaller, though. (If any of the edges are excessively frayed, cut that off first before cutting to size.)

-Then you need to hem any sides that are not on the selvedge (finished edge) to keep the whole thing from unraveling over time. You can do it one of two ways, both shown in the picture below. If you need a better explanation of the double hem, check here. If you use the tulle, don't bother with the hemming, just sew the whole thing with a fairly tight, straight stitch. (Note- I've changed this from the original recommendation of a zigzag because straight stitches work much better on tulle. Sorry, August!)


-Next fold in half hamburger-wise (as opposed to hotdog-wise... does anyone else remember this brilliant instruction from elementary school?) and pin. In the picture below, the right side is the bottom of the bag and the left is the top.


-When you sew the side and bottom, start sewing about an inch down from the corner. Also, it's best to sew where the fabric is doubled up on itself, basically somewhere along the hem.


-Once you've sewn the bag, make the channel for the twine by folding down and pinning the top edge like shown.


-Start sewing where shown in the picture, folding the fabric evenly down as you go.


-By the time you've gone all around the top and returned to where you started, you'll have created a channel like this. The openings to the channel are underneath my right finger and thumb (please excuse the paint on my hands, we've been painting Randa's room this week.)


-All you need to do to finish the bag is to tie a knot in some twine, push a safety pin through it and feed it through the channel. Leave about 2 or 3 inches hanging out on each side and tie it in a knot. When you want to close up the bag, just do a slip knot.

Oh, and one more thing. I weighed one bag on the kitchen scale and it's total weight was 0.4 ounces (as compared to the plastic bag which was 0.1 ounces).

That's it.

How To Recycle Everything

How to Recycle...Everything | Care2 Healthy & Green Living

By Darragh Worland, Tonic

Have you ever found yourself about to chuck a bunch of packing material after a big move or bringing home that new flat screen TV only to wonder if maybe you could recycle all those peanuts instead? If only you knew where to take them!Well, now you can find out in a hot minute. Earth911 has a toll-free hotline and website with an exhaustive directory of recycling and disposal centers near you. Now, while many municipalities have curbside recycling programs, we all know there are plenty of products that you can’t just pack up in a clear plastic bag and leave at the curb.

Recycling things like batteries, cell phones, gift cards, computers, game consoles, plastic bags, plastic bottle caps and those packing peanuts takes a little more forethought, but it can and should be done, whenever possible.

Earth911 started as a toll-free hotline and directory of recycling listings in 1991, but has since evolved into a website with all kinds of information on recycling, including daily news, feature stories and more.

But rather than ditch the phone system in favor of the website, Earth911 has recently upgraded its hotline to speed and simplify the process of accessing information. Now users can get location-specific information in a jiffy, without being tethered to the Internet. Earth911 also says the phone system is easier to navigate and even bilingual, so now Spanish-speaking Americans can use it, too.

You may recognize the hotline number: 1-800 CLEANUP is featured on hundreds of millions of products nationwide. Companies use it to direct their consumers to recycling and disposal options for hundreds of different items, including potentially toxic substances like paint and motor oil.

With spring cleaning on your to-do list there’s no time like the present to sort through that box of “to-be-recycled-some-day” items.

Tonic is a digital media company dedicated to promoting the good that happens around the world each day. We share the stories of people and organizations that are making a difference by inspiring good in themselves and others.

At Tonic, we also see ourselves as a service company — one that strives not only to inspire our readers, but to equip them with the resources to make a difference.

More on Green 101 (113 articles available)

Usuing Things To Death

Using things to death | Frugal Village

We live in a throwaway society. We’re so wasteful that people known as freegans (www.freegan.info), an anti-consumer environmentalist group, can salvage and survive, by choice, on what mainstream consumers discard. While they’re often criticized as being extreme or downright nasty, I couldn’t disagree more. I think it certainly reflects the amount of waste generated, and I’m pleased these items aren’t simply tossed and going into landfills. Maybe to you it’s garbage they’re sifting through, but there’s more to it. They’re making a statement that goes against materialism and over-consumption. In a way, freegans are like soul cousins to tightwads. We both simply prefer to take advantage of the full usable life of goods.

Many frugal discussions on my forums (www.frugalvillage.com/forums) include topics such as using items to death. It’s interesting to note the camaraderie among like-minded members. It gives me hope that we can make a difference. In order not to appear fanatical by carrying on about global warming, waste and poverty, I’ll share a bit about wearing out common goods. I’m doing so to show you that if there’s not a little frugality in you already, there easily could be. Why? Because it’s simply the right thing to do.
LINENS: From comforters to towels, frugal-minded folks are holding onto these items until they’re threadbare. It does my heart good to hear from one reader who has a 31-year-old comforter and another who has 27-year-old towels. It’s not uncommon for these items to be used as rags for many years after their original purpose. While there isn’t anything wrong with buying new, if an item has plenty of life in it or needs only a simple repair, there’s no true need to toss it. What happened to this type of thinking?
CLOTHING: Remember when cutting jeans into shorts, patching them and then making them into quilts once they were unwearable was common sense? Winter coats weren’t bought every year. Shoes that were worn out were used for outdoor work until they literally fell apart, and who had more than a dozen pairs? Clothing was bought as needed.
KITCHENWARE: Dishes and flatware were once passed down to children when they moved out. Now it seems everyone wants brand-new and everything immediately. They’ll buy plastic this and that and toss and buy new on a fashion whim. While some appliances are wonderful for convenience, I can’t stop shaking my head at the gadgets that are available. However did we get by without hot-dog and hot-cocoa makers?
I don’t want my children to think I had to walk uphill 10 miles to school in a snowstorm, but I do want them to understand what is good enough. We have better use for our money such as saving or sharing it, and because I want my children to care about their impact on the environment, the economic state of our country and our humanity. What a concept!

Smart savings strategies

By Marie Oser

Posted Wed Aug 26, 2009 10:18am PDT

One dollar of every $10 purchase goes to the cost of packaging, and package waste accounts for more than half the trash in the U.S. These days, clever packaging can influence a purchasing decision and can be an important component in building brand recognition.
The purpose of packaging is to prevent damage and provide important information to the consumer about ingredients, usage, manufacturer, and country of origin.
Unfortunately, the ongoing quest to find new ways to safeguard food and transport products has become a slippery slope on the road to overload.
Smart shoppers know that packaging can add as much as 45 percent to the cost of a product. Shrink-wrapped, pre-cut produce on a plastic tray is twice as costly as whole foods. Choosing popular prepackaged salad mixes can take a bite out of your food budget while adding to the avalanche of unnecessary package waste clogging our landfills.
Savvy shoppers choose the least packaged products available; a strategy that is both cost effective and practical.

1. Avoid trendy little water bottles. Those ubiquitous water bottles contribute heavily to the glut of practically indestructible plastic polluting the planet. Invest in a water filtration system and durable metal sports bottles instead.


2. Buy food staples in bulk. Natural food stores and co-ops stock bulk bins with varieties of rice, lentils, dried beans, fruit, nuts, seeds, and cereals. Buying in bulk is economical and convenient, allowing you to buy in exactly the amount you prefer.


3. Buy fabric softener and detergent and in “ultra” or concentrated strengths. Smaller containers mean fewer for the product itself and in shipping. Toothpaste packaged in conventional tubes produces 70 percent less waste than the pump-type toothpaste container. And you get almost two ounces more toothpaste in the tube then the pump.

4. Choose reusable totes to carry groceries instead of paper or plastic to reduce waste and the toxic pollutants emitted in the manufacture of plastic bags, avoid dependence on foreign suppliers of petroleum for the plastic, and save trees from being turned into paper bags. Try reusable, compact Chico Bags


5. Breastfeed your babies! Mother’s milk comes in the best packaging of all, and human milk straight from the breast is always sterile.
Breast-fed babies are less prone to childhood ailments, and don’t require all the unnecessary packaging and accessories associated with bottle-fed babies. Commercial baby formula costs over $1,000 in the first year.
Nurse your baby and you will be giving away at least 1,100 calories a day, and that means you will get back in shape a lot sooner … and it’s free! Get tips on effective breastfeeding.


More from ecomii:

• Donate or recycle old electronics
• Reduce, reuse, and recycle to lower carbon emissions
• Catch energy vampires
• Breaking down the five big energy hogs in your home
• Save money by going solar

Frugality and the Environment

 Reposted With Thanks To: www.myspace.com/208282786

Frugality and the Environment
 
It’s no coincidence that most frugal people are environmentally​ conscious, and vice versa. Frugal lifestyle choices tend to be environmentally​ friendly choices. It’s almost impossible to be concerned about the environment without taking actions that lessen your own environmental impact. Similarly, it’s difficult to be frugal and still have a large negative effect on the environment. The two lifestyles are connected in such a way that dedicating yourself to one or the other almost guarantees commitment to the other, whether you fully realize it or not.
True frugality is not just about saving money, although that’s often the most noticeable benefit and the reason people initially “turn frugal.” True frugality is about using fewer resources, getting more use out of existing goods, and throwing away less over a lifetime.
Sound familiar? Those ideas are also at the heart of environmental consciousness. Understanding the connection between the two movements and making some lifestyle changes that reflect that understanding will result in a healthier financial picture for you and a healthier future for the earth.
So how easy is it to improve the environment and your bottom line simultaneously?​
Here are ten frugal changes you can make that also benefit the environment.

1. Use homemade cleansers rather than commercial preparations
 
Commercial cleansers are overpriced, over packaged, and full of harsh chemicals. There are very few cleaning projects that baking soda, vinegar, and water cannot handle. These ingredients are inexpensive and easy on the environment. Recipes are widely available online and in books about frugality.

2. Switch to cloth whenever possible
 
Reusable cloth napkins, diapers, and cleaning rags are all kinder to the environment than disposable. Cloth creates less waste and requires fewer resources to manufacture than disposable or paper products. Cloth items are also less expensive over the life of the item than their disposable counterparts. Take reusable cloth bags to the store. You’ll prevent plastic bags from entering the landfills and, if your store offers rebates for using cloth and/or charges for plastic as many are beginning to do, you’ll save money.

3. Buy used whenever possible
 
Buying used from yard sales, thrift shops, and consignment stores means that no additional resources went into making your item, and you’ve prevented the used item from ending up in a landfill prematurely. Used items are generally much less expensive than new, saving you money. Want to take this one step further? Borrow or rent items rather than buying when possible. Organize a neighborhood tool or craft supply swap, visit your local library and borrow books, or rent movies and games rather than buying. You’re helping the environment by using existing items, and you’re saving yourself even more money by not buying.

4. Use Mother Nature’s free utilities
 
If you’re allowed to have a clothesline, get one and use it. Let the sun dry your clothes for free. Even if you can’t have a clothesline, indoor drying racks work just as well. Use nature to your advantage in other ways. Open your windows for air rather than cranking up the AC. In the winter, open your blinds to get some free heat. Collect rainwater and use it for watering your garden and flowers. You’ll be using fewer resources and lowering your utility bills in the process.


5. Take up gardening, but don’t use commercial pesticides
 
Growing some of your own food will save you money and result in healthier, less processed food. You’ll save even more money by composting for fertilizer and using natural pest control techniques, such as introducing repelling insects and plants into your garden. These methods are both frugal (almost free, even) and environmentally​ friendly.

6. Consume fewer resources
 
There are many ways to conserve electricity, water, natural gas, and gasoline. Simply turning off unused lights and checking for leaky faucets are good places to start with electricity and water. Driving the speed limit and maintaining your car are simple ways to save fuel. Check online, in books about frugality, and with your utility for more conservation ideas. Each idea you implement not only conserves more resources, but saves you more money as well.

7. Learn to cook from scratch
 
You’ll eat healthier without all the preservatives, and homemade foods are much less expensive than processed foods. And think of all the packaging you’ll keep out of the landfills if you cut down your use of over packaged, individually wrapped foods.
These last three ideas derive from a slogan used to motivate the home front during World War II: “Use it up, Wear it Out, Make it do.” It was sound advice then and remains so today.

8. “Use it up”
 
Use everything you buy and waste nothing. Don’t buy more food than you can eat before it goes bad and don’t throw away leftovers. Get every bit you can out of bottles and tubes of shampoo, moisturizer, etc. Find second lives for products and packaging such as using jars or cans for storage, using magazines for craft projects, reusing boxes for gift wrapping or storage, using bread bags for carrying lunches to work, or using old clothes for rags or craft material. Get creative and come up with your own ideas. Using things up not only ensures that you get every penny from your purchases, it also limits the amount of waste entering the trash stream.

9. “Wear it out”
 
Drive your car until it dies. Wear your clothes and shoes until they wear out. Use your lawnmower until it begs to be taken to the landfill. Avoid upgrading your electronics and computers until they either break or become so obsolete that they no longer perform the functions you need (need, not want). Wearing it out means that you don’t throw things away just for the sake of wanting something newer, flashier, or “cooler.” You only replace when an item is truly worn out beyond repair, becomes unsafe, or prevents you from getting the job done.

10. “Make it do”
 
Tons of stuff ends up in landfills that only needs minor repair work to be serviceable again. Take the time to mend your clothes, refinish your furniture, or repair your lawnmower. Learning basic home, car, and appliance maintenance/​repair techniques will keep you from having to shell out big bucks every time something breaks, and your knowledge will keep salvageable items out of landfills.



You don’t have to give up all your conveniences and go back to frontier-style living to make a big difference to both your wallet and the environment. The more willing you are to learn and experiment, the greater your potential savings and environmental conservation.
There are plenty of places to find ideas, but one of my favorites for those new to frugality is The Tightwad Gazette by Amy Dacyczyn. Just remember that even small changes will make a difference. After a while, you just might find yourself eager to do more as you acquire more skills (and start seeing those savings accumulate in your account).
~ By Jennifer Derrick, originally entitled
"10 Frugal Moves That Improve the Environment"

Posted by Lexi with Love