A Planting We Will Go

One of the things Dylan got for Christmas was an Indoor Gardening kit from Green Toys. There were 3 reasons that I was super excited about this toy; 1) it's a gardening kit which Dylan is really into right now because he has a garden at school 2) it's made from recycled milk jugs and 3) it's made right here in California.

Seeing as Dylan is only 5 he wasn't to worried about the how or where it was made, just that he got to garden since he's been asking if we could start a garden for months now.

So we got right to work on getting the plants planted. The kit came with 3 plants; teddy bear sunflowers, zinnia and basil.

First we put a soil pod in each planter.

Then we added 1 cup warm water.



After 20 minutes we broke up the soil to get it ready to plant.



Then we added the seeds.



And pushed them down.



And luckily I remembered to label them.



Now I didn't know ahead of time that the first 2 would have to be replanted outside. I thought that they where all going to be indoor plants. I'm hoping that they can stay as indoor plants because I have a slightly better track record of keeping indoor plants alive then I do with outdoor plants.

No matter where the plants end up, Dylan had a great time doing it and by having these I'm hoping it will help teach him a little extra responsibility since he's in charge of checking on them.

I'm totally digging (ha) this kit because it's a “toy” that he will definitely continue to play with, teaches him something along the way and we got to do together (by far the best part).

Look What's Growing! - Wordless Wednesday

What were we planting? Come back and find out!

Wordless Wednesday

Gotta Love A Helpful Brother

My brother and his fiancé got here last Sunday, you may remember, and my brother being the sweet person he is decided he wanted to help out. Well, you may also remember that the trash was pretty darn close to full but I was going to try to make it last a whole other week just because I really wanted to say that bag lasted at least 2 weeks and not just one. You may be able to guess where this is going.

That night Tyler (my brother) decided that since the trash was nearly full it should really be taken out. I noticed this as he was pulling the bag out and it seemed weird, and slightly ungrateful, to say “Please put that back. It's not all the way full and I don't take it out until I absolutely have to.” I mean, he was trying to help.

However as you can see it's about half full and would probably not have made it through the whole week anyways. Maybe.

But considering we had 2-4 extra people here all week and had Christmas Eve dinner for 15 people, we didn't do too bad.

Oh, and Happy Birthday Holly!

I Heart Jeans, Especially When They're Green

I got some cash for Christmas from my Gramma and Todd's Grandpa and I knew just what I was going to buy with the money, jeans. I need jeans so bad it's not even funny. As in I have 1 pair that fit well, that's just not right.

So I figured that on the way home from the inlaws we could just stop at the outlet mall in Folsom (I chose not to mention this to the boys seeing as they wouldn't be nearly as excited about clothes shopping as I was). I figured being that it's the day after Christmas and that it's outlet stores I could get some seriously good deals.

And then I thought, wasn't I trying to avoid buying new not so eco friendly stuff? While that's not always possible to do, this seemed like one of the times it would be.

So instead of stopping on the way home I waited until we got home, got online and headed over to ebay.

So not only can I get my reuse on, I can also get more pairs of jeans than I would have been able to even with the sales going on. Sweet!

I Got It All Wrapped Up

I just had the best idea! Even though I can recycle wrapping paper through my garbage company and I have tons left over from years before, I've really been agonizing over actually having to wrap all those little gifts I made.

I mean, I know anything opened here will get recycled but I can't same the same for things opened elsewhere.

I was reading through this post called 25 Things That Can be Recycled into Gift Wrapping and #13 was handkerchiefs or bandannas. I bet you can guess it, I could use the hankies I made to wrap the magnets and ornaments!

I was so excited I could barely contain myself: handmade gifts + wrapped in another gift = no waste! Awesome!

The hankies I made were actually cut up sheets instead on tees like I originally planned. The bottom sheet of my Gramma's flannel sheet set had a hole in it so she asked if I wanted it, which of course I did. My mom and I cut squares out with pinking shears so we wouldn't have to sew the edges (I don't know why cutting with those scissors means you don't have to sew, it just does) and then I just ironed the logo on.

For “wrapping” I just placed the magnets in the middle...

tied the opposite ends...



then tied the other opposite ends and voila, gift wrap!



So like I said, I'm ridiculously excited about these and am just feeling entirely too clever. Hopefully everyone else likes them too.

Here's a site with Furoshiki wrapping techniques if you want to get really fancy with your fabric wrapping.

Whatever you're giving and wrapping it in, I hope your day is great and filled with crazy fun family moments that are so much better then what's under the tree! Merry Christmas!

I've Always Loved Christmas - Wordless Wednesday

My brother on the other hand needed a little encouragement.



Christmas 1981


Wordless Wednesday

Gifts That Do Good

Are you still searching for gifts or do you need a stocking stuffer or two?

Would you like to give a gift that means a little more then the average store bought item?

Well then I have a great idea for you; the Rainforest Action Network.

You can help any of 5 different groups (2 different rainforests, Appalachia mountains, Orangutans, or the great northern forest) by giving any dollar amount you choose. After you make your donation you can either print out a certificate to give or you can have RAN email it for you. The certificate has both your name and the recipients name and if quite nice looking I think.

Since you can choose the amount that works best for you, even if it's only $1, you can easily give it to everyone on your list.

It can be the main gift for your green friend (hi) or a nice little add on for someone because you want to share something that's important to you.

And in case your wondering, I would like to help the Orangutans. I mean, how could you not want to help that face?

Some other great sites to donate to for your friends and family are Green America, Surfrider Foundation, and Water Keeper Alliance. They don't do certificates that you can print out, but you can state that the donation is a gift and they're great causes as well, in my opinion.

The TerraCycle Winner is....

First I'd like to say a big thank you to everyone who entered, this was my most entered contest so far!

Like I said, my brother and his fiance are here and they're sleeping in the living room so I didn't think it would be a good idea to use that room like we have before. Of course they may not have even noticed the boys considering the living room is where the dogs sleep at night and I know they're not always quiet.

Anyways, the boys and I went into their room and used the top bunk as the launching platform for the entries.

Dylan dropped...

Tyler chose...



and the winner is......Amanda!

More Steaz Teaz Pleaze

I heard about Steaz Teaz from a chat that was happening on Twitter and it was mentioned that they're organic and Fair Trade which definitely caught my attention.

During the chat a link was given for a buy-1-get-1-free offer, when I went there there was also an offer for free teas to anyone with a blog. Free tea, sign me up!

I love tea. I don't make the time to have it nearly enough. It takes time to brew and then you have to wait for it to cool so you can actually drink and by then I've forgotten about it and it's just cold. I love iced tea but having your hot tea go cold is not the same thing. And making iced tea is even more labor intensive because you have to do all that and have ice on hand to make it iced. I'm getting tired just thinking about it.

So I thought organic, Fair Trade iced tea in a can perfect and emailed Steaz saying I have a blog and would love to try their tea.

However, there's one little, tiny thing I forgot in all the excitement of free tea; I don't like canned or bottled tea. They never taste right, they're always too sweet or too thick, which is just wrong.

So now I've got teas coming and I'm going to feel really guilty not writing about them because I don't want to say anything bad when it's really just me and not the tea that has the problem.

When they got here I felt even worse, they sent 6 cans! There were 2 each of the teas; Green Tea with Peach, Green Tea with Blueberry Pomegranate Acai and White Tea with Lime and Pomegranate from the flavored teas line. I consider just having my mom try them so they don't go to waste.

I decided that wouldn't be right so I just needed to suck it up and try the tea, hope for the best and try to be as fair as possible since I don't really liked can tea.

Plus I really liked what Steaz is doing, from reducing their impact by partnering with NativeEnergy, donating to causes like Grind for Life that help cancer patients and survivors through skateboarding and by implementing sustainable business practices. To me it seems like Steaz is company worth talking about.

The first one I tried was Green Tea with Blueberry Pomegranate Acai, I took a tiny sip and....it was actually really good! I was shocked, it wasn't overly sweet, it wasn't thick at all and you could really taste the different flavors. It was so good I drank the whole 16 oz can in one sitting! It was the same thing with the other 2 flavors, they're just good and taste the way I think they should, like tea not sugar or uncarbonated soda.

I had already told my mom that she could have 1 of each flavor, because at the time I didn't want to drink anymore then I had too. I was kind of regretting that afterward actually trying them.

So in the end it's just like I'm always telling my boys “Just try it, you may like it”. I know I'm glad I took that little piece of advice.

And don't forget to get your buy-1-get-1-free coupon.

This Is Why I Hate Cleaning

Here we are at the end of another week and our trash is just about full. My excuse reason for that this week is that we just did a big ol' cleaning job because staring today we will have family staying here for 16 of the next 18 days (26th-27th we'll be gone). So we had a lot of cleaning to do.

Wait, didn't we just do a big clean last weekend? Well I guess that's what happens when 5 people and 2 dogs live together, especially when 3 of the 5 people are guys. (Love you honey!) And actually, it was still better than last week.

Even though tons of family is coming, I'm going to leave the trash the way it is and hope for the best. I mean it's only about 3/4 full, no big deal right? I have a feeling it may get pushed down and practically compacted by the end of the week, but it'll make it.

Here's the family breakdown; my brother & his fiancé 20th-25th, sis & her boyfriend 22nd-25th, we leave 25th-27th, my dad 28th-6th plus my sister will again visit during part of the time our dad is here. Say a little prayer.

That brings me to my next point and partly why I'm doing this post so early in the day. Seeing as there's going to be a lot of people I'm not sure how much writing I'll be able to do. We all know I'm a total procrastinator so I didn't get anything written and ready to go ahead of time. However, “I really need to write” may be a great excuse to get away for an hour. ;)

Anyways, I do have a couple things planned for this week, like announcing the TerraCycle winner and Wordless Wednesday, but just in case I don't see you again for awhile, Merry Christmas and Happy New Year!

Hopefully I'll be able to sneak a few posts in so please stop by, but for now, off to get the fam!

Batteries Not Required This Christmas

Ok, so I'm not making all of the Christmas gifts that I'm giving this year. I have 2 boys (10 & 5), 2 nieces (6 & 2) and 2 nephews (5 & 5 months) non of which want on ornament, photo magnet or hankies as their one and only gift so I did buy them gifts.

But like I said before I want to make these gifts a bit more green. I found some really great sites that had some really great toys.

The first is one I've mentioned before, greenfeet. They have some great science experiment gadgets (perfect for Tyler) and this really great indoor gardening kit (perfect for Dylan). The garden kit is made from recycled milk jugs without BPA's or phalates, love! The boys' school has a garden and Dylan is just in love with it and Tyler's favorite subject now is science so I'm pretty excited about those gifts.

The other site is natural pod and it's one that I just recently discovered and am so glad I did. The site is really just for kids up to 5, maybe 6, so I didn't find anything that would work for Tyler on there. However, I found some great stuff for the nieces, nephews and Dylan.

What's great about the toys you'll find on natural pod is that they all encourage imaginative thinking. And even better, they're all high quality toys that you don't have to wonder if they'll make it to next Christmas. And they don't just carry toys, there' also clothing, jewelery and my favorite water bottle, the Klean Kanteen.

My favorite toy that I bought isn't really a toy at all, it's an explorer kit called the Nature Bag and it's perfect for Dylan and his cousin Evan who's the same age. It comes with an activity booklet, magnifying glass, pencil, crayons and notebook to name a few. But what I really love about the bag is that it's made from organic cotton and most of what comes in it is made from recycles materials.



Both sites have great choices for toys a little more on the green side, so if you still need a couple of thing I highly sugest both greenfeet and natural pod

Photo Magnet Magic For Christmas

I finally got my last Christmas presents made and just in time since my brother and his fiancé will be here on Sunday!

For the last gift I made photo magnets. They're pretty easy to make. You just need pictures, a hot glue gun, flat see through stones and magnets.

I sized the photos on the computer, fit as many as I could on a sheet of paper and printed them out.

I have a small glue gun so I put a squeeze and a half of glue in the middle of the stone then put the photo on, flipped it over and slowly pressed down.



After it cools (that glue is seriously hot!) I put a little drop of glue on the back of the photo and added the magnet. Done and done.



This one I didn't have the boys help with other then picking out the photos to use. Like I said, that glue is HOT and you have to work fast to get the picture on before the glue cools too much and sets. Tyler might have been able to help, but there would have been no way of letting him and not Dylan, so it seemed best (to me) to do this one on my own.

I actually made these a few years ago with a picture of the boys together on one magnet. It was Dylan's 1st Christmas so Tyler would have been 5 and Dylan was 5 months. This time I made one magnet for each of us, so each recipient gets a set of 4 magnets. I'm not sure why I thought my face on a magnet would be a good idea, but I did. Todd wondered the same thing about him.

So I've got my gifts made and some toys bought for the kids (more on those tomorrow), now all I need to do is wrap everything. Does anyone else think it would be funny to wrap each magnet separately?

I really hope that everyone likes the gifts I made. I know I loved making them and I really loved buying (almost) nothing.

Here's to a Merry Green Christmas.

Stop by and check out the other 2; logo hankies & bead ornaments.

Did you make anything for Christmas?

Handmade For The Holidays - Wordless Wednesday

Hankies, ornaments and photo magnets.


Wordless Wednesday

Rebagz, Ridiculously Awesome!

Recently a friend told me about a women she had recently met, Marty, who owns the handbag company Rebagz.

Being a big fan of purses (they are my weakness) I happily popped on over to the site to check them out. The first thing I saw was their slogan “Change the World with Style”. Love!

The next was a 3 minute video by Marty talking about why she started this company and how it works.

She first talks about how the bags are eco friendly as well as human friendly. Human friendly means that while they are made in the Philippines (that's where the materials for the bags come from) the people who work in the factories are paid a living wage and work in a clean, safe environment.

Because of this they carry the Green America seal of approval, which is a great approval to have. Her goal is to "make eco- and human-friendly businesses the norm instead of a niche". How can you not love that?

Rebagz has 3 different bags lines:

Statement Maker bags all benefit a different organization and have 5%-10% of the sales donated to the organization. Also they're made using coated recycled paper and recycled PET plastic for the straps. Plus $1 per order goes to Global Exchange.

Rice Sack Graphic bags are made from, well, rice sacks. It's amazing how beautiful these sacks are, the bags that are made from the sacks are just incredible looking.

Juicy Hand Woven bags are made from handwoven juice pouches. The Large Tie Tote has even been featured on “Ugly Betty”.

Having fallen in love already with Rebagz recycled bags, I contacted Marty about her amazing bags and doing a review/write up on them. Lucky for me she was just as excited so she popped a (free) bag in the mail and said she'd give Easy Eco To Go readers a discount as well!

The bag that she sent me was the Statement Maker Spin Dr. bag in Polar Bear Love, 10% of the sales from Polar Bear Love go to Greenpeace. Hi, even more in love!

How cute is that bag!

And let me tell you, even though it's made from coated recycled paper, it is one sturdy bag! It definitely doesn't seem like it will tear or fall apart easily.

I also love the size; roomy without being too big. I can easily fit all my stuff plus the boys' DS' and random toys, oh and of course snacks.

What I love about Rebagz is that no matter what kind of bag or price you're looking for, they have it. You can get a cell phone holder for $20 all the way up to a Peace Out Loud messenger for $140.

Need a stocking stuffer, try a Rice Sack Cozy Coin Purse or Juicy Wrap Key Chain. There's even 3 Holiday Collections that come with 3 bags!

So why not head over to Rebagz with your discount code, easyeco20, and get 20% off some great holiday gifts! However the code is only good until Dec. 31st, so get going!

Needless to say I am a total convert and when my handbag weakness gets the best of me, I'll be going to Rebagz to get my fix.

"At Rebagz, we don’t think you need to shout and scream to change the world. Rock it with style instead."

Pump Up The Volume With TerraCycle - Giveaway

I recently got an email from TerraCycle about a new brigade they have going for diaper packaging. The packaging will then be turned into diaper bags, which is just kind of cool if you ask me. But more about those another day.

Now you already know how much I love TerraCycle because I've written not 1 but 2 posts about their ultra cool products.

So while talking about their upcycled diaper bags I also found out that they also have a really cool new product that I think would make a great holiday gift and they think would make for a great giveaway. Ah, there's nothing better then free gifts.

So what's this great giveaway you ask? It's for a set of speakers made from chips bags that have a universal 3.5mm plug (will work on iPod, MP3 player or your laptop to name a few) and don't require any batteries to work!

I absolutely couldn't wait until my (free) speakers got here and when they did I was entirely too excited. I was also a little confused because they showed up in a flat shipping envelope. The last time I checked speakers weren't flat.

So I open the package up to find out that you have to put them together and by put them together I mean fold the sides up. So they're not only upcycled they're also totally portable, cool!



I know what you're thinking, speakers made from chips bags, and those work how? At least that's what I was thinking. Well, I can't explain it but they just do.

I was actually quite giddy when I plugged in these little cardboard/chip bag speakers and they actually worked and, even better, sounded pretty darn good!

Todd started to try and explain how they work but I wouldn't let him, I didn't want him to spoil the magic for me. If you want to know I'll let him explain it while I cover my ears and hum.

You can pick up a pair of speakers, or any number of entirely too cool products, on their web site TerraCycle.net or try stores like Radio Shack and Office Depot. Or better yet, enter for a chance to win a pair!

One lucky winner will receive their very own set of upcycled speakers. The contest will run from Monday the 14th thru Monday the 21st at 11:59 pm. The contest is open to US residents only. So here's what you need to do:

For the main entry (must be done first) go to TerraCycle and then come back and leave a comment about your favorite item.

For additional entries:

• Follow @easyecotogo on Twitter and then leave a comment here with your @name = 1 entry
• Follow @TerraCycle on Twitter = 1 entry
• Blog about the contest. Don't have a blog, email 3 friends & cc me easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com = 3 entries (leave 3 comments)
• Tweet about the contest (i.e. RT @easyecotogo Win a pair of upcycled speakers from @TerraCycle!http://bit.ly/8M7Z8N #giveaway) = 1 entry
• Follow my blog = 1 entry
• Subscribe to emails = 1 entry
• Add my button to your blog (leave your site with your comment so I can stop by) = 1 entry

Be sure to leave separate comments on the blog for each additional entry!!

Also, please include your email with comments or if you’d rather, after you leave your main entry comment, email me at easyecotogo(at)gmail(dot)com so I will have a way of contacting you if you win.

Good Luck!

Snowed In And Trashed

It's been a little crazy around here what with possibly the worst snow storm they've ever had in this area and all.

The storm dumped 15 inches of snow which snapped many a tree and caused us to loose power for 2 days (some lost it for even longer).

So with not being able to open the fridge for 2 days we went through the packaged food that we have a bit faster then normal which didn't help our trash. We also did a big clean this weekend and whenever that happens the trash suffers. I can't imagine where it all comes from since I swear I'm not buying all this disposable stuff. Todd!! (hehe)

Anyways, even with all that our 13 gallon can is still only about half full, which is better then the last two times that we started fresh.

Stay Vocal This Christmas

Ok, so remember in the holiday hankies post how I said those ones were being made for a top secret project? Well, I can finally tell you what it is.

Alex from Stay Vocal contacted me about this big project he had going where he was going to print special cereal inspired t-shirts, ship them in cereal boxes and, just like when we were kids, have a “prize” inside the box! That's right, my hankies are a cereal box prize! Awesome!

Now, for those of you that don't know I discovered Stay Vocal last summer at the Thursday night market in Chico and have been a fan ever since. Alex and I totally bonded over being Massachusetts transplants as well, but that's another story.

What Stay Vocal does is take shirts that companies would have destroyed for not being “perfect” or that are donated and reuse them by either putting a patch over the old design or turning them inside out and printing a new design on them.

I absolutely love their “What do you do” shirts and bought them for me and the guys.



Their motto is “Reuse! Because you can't recycle the planet.” Love!

Ok, back to the super cool cereal shirts. They come in both mens and womens sizes and there are lots of different prizes being included with the shirts. There will even be a grand prize for one lucky shopper!

I just love Stay Vocals products and I think the cereal shirt would make such a cool gift. Not only would the person get a limited edition tee (only 311 will be printed) but they also get the prize inside!

And wouldn't it be especially awesome if you got one of my one of a kind hankies?

They also make some of the best reusable bags ever (grown, sewn & printed in the USA), by the way.

Personally I think they're a great place to get some serious green shopping done.

Crafty Christmas Ornaments

Last week I told you about 1 of the 3 gifts I'm making this Christmas, hankies with my Easy Eco To Go logo on them. Well this weekend I made the second of the 3, beaded ornaments.

My mom is a big crafter. Her newest craft love is beaded prisms. She loves making them and is always on the look out for beads. If you know someone who has a love of crafts then you'll know that they can never have too many of said craft item. Which means my mom has more beads then she could ever possibly use.

While being something that I used to tease her about has now worked out to my advantage. I needed to make 13 ornaments and didn't need to buy a single thing. I have the feeling she'll remind me of that the next time she just has to buy “this really great bead”.

I thought these ornaments would make great gifts for the boys' teachers as well as our family so I had them help me make those ones. Gramma also helped out because as I've said before I do not have the crafty gene that my mom seems to have in abundance.



Now having the boys help was a nice idea but a little hectic. As in “I like this and this one this and....”. Yeah, they may only be the boys' teachers but I didn't want the ornaments to look completely crazy.

So with a little direction from me we found beads that they liked and looked good together.



Once the teachers were done the boys were too. As much as I liked them helping, I can't say I was too sad that they didn't want to do anymore. We'll try again on gift number 3. That one involves a glue gun and anything with any kind of a gun is automatically more interesting.

Anyways, I thought I'd only be able to get a few done last night but once I got going I totally got into it. I am super happy with how they came out and I can't wait to give the to everyone on Christmas. Maybe the crafty gene didn't totally skip me after all.

Let It Snow! - Wordless Wednesday

I promised the boys that we would get to see snow when we moved here. I think I definitely delivered, maybe too well. Oh, and we finally got our power back!

Dylan sledding down the hill in front of our house.



Todd's arm, Tyler's head.


Wordless Wednesday

And The New Wave Enviro Winner Is...

So here we are in day 2 of our power outage and PG&E doesn't even have an estimated time for when the power will come back on, definitely not a good sign. And on top of that I need to announce the winner of the New Wave Enviro 3 piece lunch kit, kind of hard to do since we don't have any power.

So how am I writing this? Well, we all (no school for the boys and no work for Todd) piled in the Highlander (thank goodness for all wheel drive!) and headed to downtown where they have free Wi-Fi.

Once again the boys helped pick the winner. It was even funnier this time since I had to wait until we got there to to write down the names of everyone who entered. Picking a winner in a car is just an experience unto itself.

So without any further adieu the winner is...... Brooke!

Thanks to everyone for entering, there will be more giveaways and hopefully they will happen before Christmas!

Snowed In

You may have noticed (I hope) the lack of post yesterday, well besides the weekly trash update. As surprising as this may be it was not do to my famous procrastination. No, it was because Placerville had the most snow it's probably ever had.

The paper had been talking about a big storm coming this way and that there would be snow down to 2500 feet in the Sierras, Placerville is at about 2200 feet.

No big deal was what most of us thought. It snows here once or twice a season so we'd probably get 3-5 inches which would be a lot for this area. Yeah, we got about 1 ½. Todd talked to one of his coworkers who has lived here all his life and he said he has never seen this much snow. The whole town pretty much closed down. And needless to say, we had no power.

Luckily for us our house has a gas fireplace and stove, so we had heat in the living room (heaven help you if you had to use the bathroom!) and we could heat water for coffee and make spaghetti on the stove.

Snow days are very different for grown ups then they are for kids. Grown ups worry about how long the food will last in the fridge, what we'll do at night if we still don't have central heat and how the heck we'll make it down that steep a$$ hill.

Kids on the other hand only worry about one thing, how long can I stay outside before I loose all feeling in my hands and feet.

Yesterday we chose to be kids and I got to see my husband make his very first snowman. It was a good day.

Oh, and I also learned that our dogs love snow. Talk about hilarious.

Taking It One Green Day At A Time

Ok, so the trash is totally full after only 2 weeks.

However, considering how very full the trash was last week we didn't really do to bad this week. Fine, we did bad, it's a good thing that there's always another week to start over.

I think that's the lesson here with trying to live a little greener; even if you have a bad week, or two, there's always another chance to do better.

I'm certainly not perfect and I don't expect to ever be. I do my best to have my family live a little lighter and when we don't, I don't beat myself up about, I just try harder next time.

So here's to doing better tomorrow.

Start The Weekend With An Eco-Jam

I actually found this on EcoStilleto and thought it was hilarious, so I had to share. I think my fave is the Green Day eco song.

Bathing Beauty

The other (free) product that I got from New Wave Enviro was a shower head filter.

I was super excited to get this one because the city we live in now chlorinates their water. And that's not something I know because someone told me, I know they do because I can smell it every time I turn the water on.

I have a faucet filter to filter that out so we don't have to drink it, why in the world would I want to shower in it?

Before it came I was worried it would be a whole separate contraption that I would have to install. As in, a new shower head that would be a pain to put in. But no, it's just the filter cartridge and can be easily installed to any shower head! Ok, easily by Todd, but it did look easy!

But what was most exciting was that the box says that the filter will last for a whole year! It sells for around $45, that's a crazy good deal if you ask me!

When you need to replace it you don't have to buy the whole system again, just the filter, which is great.

The other great thing is that you can call the number on the box to set up a reminder for when you'll need to replace it so you don't forget.

So now when I take my shower there's no chlorine smell and I swear my skin is less dry because I'm not bathing in chlorine anymore. Now all I have to do is get one for the kids bathroom and I'm set!

If you're looking for a a great green, inexpensive gift I would highly recommend this! And make sure to pick one up for yourself while you're at it!

Find a store near you or buy them online.


And since your here, why not enter to win a reusable lunch kit from New Wave Enviro!

That's One Big Bird - Wordless Wednesday

Even after 15 people had seconds and we sent some home with my grandparents, we still had leftovers through Sunday.


Wordless Wednesday

Holiday Hankies

As I mentioned I'm making most of my Christmas gifts this and one of the things I'm making are hankies with my Easy Eco To Go logo on them.

I'm actually not making these for everyone because to be quite honest I think most people in my family still feel the way I used to about hankies. As in, ew gorss. And I don't want to give gifts that people won't like even if I think they're darn cool.

So anyways, for these hankies I'm trying to take it one green step further and make them out of old tees that have stains, holes or anything else that makes them unwearable.

I'm actually really digging this idea and trying to force myself not to just go through Todd's shirts and find things that mostly fit the criteria just so I can cut them up.

This first set I made are actually for a top secret project that I can't tell you about right now, but is very cool and I can't wait 'til I can tell you about it!

Anyways, these ones were made out of a shirt that Tyler got ice cream on and I somehow missed when washing it, so it ended up in the dryer setting the stain forever.

For the logo I used some iron-on transfer paper that my mom had. Next time I'm going to trim more of the excess blank parts off, but other then that I think they came out pretty well.

Now the thing about using t-shirts is that they are not a perfect square shape. That means I'm definitely going to have scrap pieces left over, so what I think I'm going to do is make some patchwork hankies out of the scraps.



And yes, this time when I say “me” I really mean ”me” and not my mom. She's got lots to do with her own Christmas gifts.

Either that or the scraps will become very tiny hankies. Which is probably more likely knowing me.

These hankies are really easy to make and you could put any design on them you like; favorite animals or the persons initials for example. Or you could take this same idea and make reusable napkins instead.

So that's one of the three presents I'm making this year, stop by to find out how the other 2 go and for some of my fave green shopping sites.



So I don't get lonely.


And since your here, why not enter to win a reusable lunch kit from New Wave Enviro!