I thought I had a pretty thorough knowledge of how to recycle all things plastic. Then I found this article in The Boston Globe. My big aha moment? That Dupont, maker of Tyvek envelopes (think FedEx packages), has a send-back, recycling program. Best of all–it’s free, well sort of. All you need to do is mail back the used Tyvek envelopes to the company, in a used Tyvek envelope. This means that you’re only paying the cost of first-class postage. And since Tyvek envelopes are pretty light, I imagine this would cost less than a dollar.

Yeah, now I know what to do with these impossible-to-open and wasn’t-sure-how-I-could-recycle-them envelopes.

Click below to read more in the article.

A User’s Guide to Plastic – The Boston Globe

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It’s honey crisp apple time here in Pennsylvania. Last week was the first time I’d seen the apples at the grocery store, but I prefer to buy them from a local orchard. However, that orchard only has weekend-like hours so if you want honey crisps on Tuesday, you’ve either got to wait or you’ve got to buy them at the store that may have shipped them in for who knows where.

Luckily, today was one of the days when the orchard is open. I just got home with two pecks (that’s 20-plus pounds) of apples that were picked this morning. I paid $24 for all them apples. That may seem like a lot but last week, I paid double that at the grocery store–because my kids couldn’t wait to have honey crisps again.

I know it’s the right thing to do, shopping locally whenever possible, and having an orchard nearby makes that easy during fruit-growing season. Belonging to a CSA, where I get to go to the farm once a week to get my fresh produce, helps, too.

But as that old cliché says, all good things must come to an end, and by Thanksgiving, I’m going to be plum-out-of-luck since the CSA season will be over officially. However, that doesn’t mean that I have to abandon my locally grown ways, and neither do you.

Here are some tips for how to continue to eat locally, even when it’s cold outside:

* Stock up on long-lasting vegetables now.

Plan now to store as much of your bounty as you can so that you won’t need to supplement from the supermarket later. Any chance your local community college or even a nearby CSA (if not your own) is offering a class on canning vegetables? If so, sign up so you can enjoy your now-freshly picked vegetables throughout the winter. Not interested in canning? Then create your own “root cellar” in your basement or garage for storing things like winter squash, root vegetables, carrots and onions.

* Store your vegetables properly.

With vegetable storage air circulation is critical to keeping them fresh. Instead of a regular old box (which might not be so great for air circulation), maybe it’s time to break out those old milk crates that doubled as bookcases in college, and use them to store your winter stash of vegetables. If you decide to keep them in the garage–and your garage is unheated (who has a heated garage anyway)–keep an old blanket handy. You’ll need it to cover the vegetables on days and nights when it gets below freezing.

*Research ways you can eat in-season, even during the winter.

A great way to get familiar with what’s in season where you live–and therefore what you can buy locally–is by going online. The Natural Resources Defense Council lets you search by state and by season to help you find out what’s fresh and available where you live. It even lists what’s just been picked in states near you–helpful if you live on the border of another state, like I do to New Jersey. Search results on this website also provide other links for you to check out, including farmer’s markets where you can shop locally.

Co-op extension programs at “land grant” universities (they’re usually the ones with an agricultural school in them) usually have easy-to-access resources for residents interested in greening their lives, from planting native gardens to finding locally grown food. For example, here’s the Bucks County version of Penn State’s Coop Extension program and what it has to offer residents.

Another website worth checking out is Local Harvest. Not only does Local Harvest have easy-to-navigate tabs for farms and CSAs, but also if you’re interested, you can find events nearby where you can participate in singular opportunities to buy local produce, such as festivals. Local Harvest also provides suggestions for other locally grown, organic items, such as chocolate or beauty products. Only problem? These are available by mail order only, which kind of negates the avoiding-the-food-miles approach. Want more than just locally produced produce? Well, you can search Local Harvest for things like eggs, chicken and other meat, too.

And don’t forget to sign up for your CSA again for 2009. Most memberships sell out before winter even begins, so make the effort now to find the CSA you want to join now before it’s too late.

How do you manage to continue eating locally, even when it’s cold outside?

**UPDATE**

Based on the comment below, here is a link to the Barbara Kingsolver book mentioned.

In our old house, we had a lovely high-end, energy- and water-efficient Bosch dishwasher (which we had to leave behind–sniff, sniff), and it didn’t matter what I used as a dishwashing detergent–everything came out clean.

Then we moved to this new house, and I got stuck with an older Whirlpool dishwasher, a house with low water pressure and a public water system that served up hard water to boot. Suddenly, the dishwashing detergents that I’d relied on for so many years wasn’t working very well.

Oftentimes I would open up the dishwasher, thinking the that cycle had ended (all the lights were off on the machine), and, yes, the cycle had finished but a glob of dishwasher detergent remained in the dispenser. Usually by this time the detergent had hardened to a rock, and my dishes were wet and warm but they were hardly clean. Or they were mostly clean but had this filmy gray cast on them. Or there was a lingering odor of anything spicy that might have been on the dishes I was washing.

I tried the powdered brands, liquid versions, tabs–nothing worked. So I had to rewash my dishes, either by doing it by hand or running another load–with another serving of dishwasher detergent. No wonder I was going through detergent so quickly.

Then a few weeks ago, when I needed to stock up on dishwasher detergent, I was in the cleaning aisle of my local supermarket and noticed something I hadn’t noticed before–Seventh Generation-brand dishwasher detergent.

Now I was already familiar with Seventh Generation’s line of household cleaners, but I had no idea that they’d expanded into dishwashing detergents as well. At first I hesitated about spending about $1 more on a smaller box of dishwasher detergent, but I was so fed up with the regular detergents that I figured, what have I got to lose.

Well, what I had to lose was the frustration of opening up my dishwasher and finding the detergent still in there and the dishes nowhere near to clean. Nope, in just the first load with the Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwashing Detergent in my dishwasher’s dispenser, I noticed a huge difference.

There was no leftover detergent.

All the dishes were squeaky clean.

None of my glasses had a film on them.

The inside of my dishwasher smelled great, in that it smelled like nothing at all.

In looking at the ingredients, I think I know why this product works so well in my hard-water house: the first ingredient is a water softener. This means that, right off the bat, this product is going to give me better results because it is taking the hard right out of my hard water. And if you’ve ever lived in a hard-water house, you know that it leaves behind a cloudy film, whether it be on your drinking glasses or the sides of your shower.

Here are some other reasons why I’ve become a big fan of this product–and why I’m giving Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Detergent a Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval:

* It is free of harmful chemicals.

* It isn’t tested on animals.

* It is packaged in a box made from 100 percent recycled paper.

Congratulations, Seventh Generation.

And readers? If you log onto the Seventh Generation website, and create a free account, you can download coupons for Seventh Generation products.

For the longest time I thought I was pretty clever in that I recycled clothing that was beyond repair–and beyond being suitable for donation–into cleaning rags. Then I found out from my mother, who also recycles clothing into rags, that she knew of a local group of knitters who recycled sweaters into yarn for them to use. That is, they take 100 percent wool sweaters and unravel them, thread by thread, and then reuse those threads to knit and crochet new items. (Her local knitting group is called the Happy Hookers, which if you Google the term, along with the word “knit,” you actually find other knitting groups around the country–and not websites that are inappropriate for children.)

I got to thinking about these clever ladies who get new yarn out of old sweaters when the following reader posted this question:

Q: We’ve recycled down to the point of having clothes that are beyond being clothes. We have more rags than we can handle. Is there a place to recycle the fabric? Aren’t they using fibers for different products? I did some research but I don’t have the correct words to find anything.

A: In doing some research to answer your question, I’ve found lots of people who might be able to take those old clothes off your hands and reuse or recycle them.

For example, did you realize that cotton rag rugs that you can find in craft stores are often made from rags–thus the name? These literally are other people’s clothing or rags that have become useless, so craftspeople weave them into rag rugs. (Check out this homemade loom for making rag rugs on Crafty Daisies, which I found when searching Technorati for blogs on knitting, crocheting and reusing clothing.) Maybe you want to do a Technorati search as well to see if there are other resources for giving away your rags instead of throwing them away?

Another thing you might want to try is putting out a Freecycle “offer” message. There could be someone on your Freecycle list who makes rag rugs, turns t-shirts into stationery or needs these rags for some other reason.

Have you checked in with your local animal shelter or SPCA? I know that many animal rescue organizations take donations of used sheets and towels. Chances are they’ll take used rags (clean ones, of course) as well, as this California message board seems to suggest. The Animal Protection Association in Indiana lists rags as one of its always-in-need donations as does the Page County Animal Shelter in Virginia (via its webpage on Petfinder).

The Sample Waste Initiative for Furniture and Textiles (SWIFT) Project, along with Quilts for Kids, has started a fabric recycling program so that discarded fabric from manufacturers can be reused to make quilts, wheelchair bags and other items for kids in need (so says a Furniture Today article). Some stores in Texas are participating, including Ashley stores and Rooms to Go. Do you have any of these stores near you? If so, why not call to find out if they would accept your rags as part of their fabric recycling.

I’m sure you’ve seen those clothing collection dumpsters in store parking lots and probably didn’t want to put anything beyond wear in one of them. That’s probably a good idea unless you happen to find a dumpster for the Multiple Sclerosis Association of America. This organization takes clothing of any condition–even the threadbare, can’t-be-worn-again kind–and participates in what’s called “textile recycling.” In essence it will turn your worn-out clothing into rags, then sell it for a profit to exporters that send it overseas for reuse there.

Finally, your state’s Department of Environmental Protection or Environmental Quality may have on its website a list of local recyclers, including those that take “textiles” (as used fabric is called). For example, here is a resource list from the Maryland Department of Environmental Protection on how residents can recycle textiles.

Hope that helps. Readers, if you have other suggestions for recycling clothing beyond cleaning rags, please post a comment to share your ideas.

There are lots of reasons to go green when sprucing up your home. For starters if you reuse items within your own home–as opposed to throwing out old stuff and buying new–you minimize what ends up in the waste stream It’s also good for the environmental to choose things like Forest Stewardship Council-certified wood, meaning that you aren’t contributing to the decline of forests. And it can be good for your health to choose things like low-VOC paints.

But sprucing up a home doesn’t just have to be about aesthetics. You can make changes that can lower your energy usage (and bills) and therefore cut your carbon footprint. One such change? Caulking leaky windows so heat stays in during the winter and cold air stays out. (You want the opposite in summer.)

If you’re thinking about fixing up your fixer-upper in the near future and would like someone else to foot the bill, I thought you might be interested in hearing about this new “$pruce Up Your Home Contest.”

Until February 1, 2009, consumers can visit The Paint Quality Institute website to enter for a chance to win one of eight home exterior paint jobs or the Grand Prize home improvement package. (Special-materials industry giant Rohm and Haas created The Paint Quality Institute and is sponsoring the contest.)

Here’s more from the contest’s press release:

“It’s a great time to fix up a home with a little paint and simple improvements,” says said Doug Wilson, author/designer and host of TLC’s Moving Up and Trading Spaces. “We are all looking to get a unique look for less, so paint treatments, and easy fix ups in décor can really turn a house into a home, while improving energy efficiency that can ease up utility bills. Many consumers are catching on that it’s never been easier to do-it-yourself,” continues Wilson. “Even better, by choosing to make small improvements now, homeowners can immediately boost curb appeal and increase the value of their home with a relatively low up-front cost.”

A new acrylic-based paint job can add a sense of personal style with color and texture, without breaking the budget. Rohm and Haas’s water-based acrylic technology is also environmentally advanced. The technology has taken 20 million tons of VOCs out of the air since 1953 — the equivalent of six pounds of fewer pollutants in the air for every man, woman and child alive in the world as of August 1, 2008.

Debbie Zimmer of the Rohm and Haas Paint Quality Institute points out that it’s easy to buy good quality paints at big box retailers, hardware centers and retail paint and home improvement stores. She also offers these fresh tips for home improvement:

A new coat of paint on a home’s exterior is functional – it protects the home from rain, snow, wind, and sun damage. But beyond improving the life of its ‘skin,’ paint revives curb appeal and pumps up the value of a home.

Securely weatherizing your home – sealing windows, doors and other gaps with acrylic caulk and weather stripping, like those that use Rohm and Haas acrylic technology, save energy and decrease utility bills – by as much as $275 to $300 a year by some estimates.

Properly insulated walls and ceilings saves 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, and can generate about $250 in annual energy savings, according to www.stopglobalwarming.org. Rohm and Haas’s acrylic emulsion technology is an integral component in making insulation without formaldehyde.

To enter the $pruce Up Your Home contest, consumers upload a photo of their home and explain in 200 words or less why it needs a spruce up.

Winner will be announced on National Arbor Day, which is April 24, 2009. Some of the prizes include a package valued at more than $20,000, including an exterior home paint job and $8,000 home improvement gift card. Eight first place winners will receive a new paint exterior for their home.

Good luck to all of those who enter. Hmm, maybe I should, too, since we’re getting ready to do a green renovation next year…

For nine years I lived in a subdivision where the community association handled the hiring of the trash hauler, and I never had a problem with garbage pickup or recycling collection. Then we moved into our new house in 2007, and I’ve had nothing but grief with the trash. I’m starting to feel like Oscar the Grouch.

You’ll recall how earlier this year I was counting down the days until I could get out of my contract with my trash hauler, Allied Waste, which didn’t always pick up trash when promised and sometimes got lazy and dumped my recyclables into the trash with the rest of the garbage. When I could I sent Allied Waste a certified letter letting them know why I wasn’t renewing my contract, and I went on my merry way looking for a replacement trash company. To Allied Waste’s credit, about a month after my contract with them expired, they refunded my fee for the previous quarter (more than $100). That was unexpected but greatly appreciated.

I soon learned that because I live on a narrow street that looks rural, despite it being in the middle of town, trash company after trash company would not take my business. I begged Waste Management and others to please let me pay them to take my trash and recyclables away, but they told me that they couldn’t. Since the street is narrow and a dead end, the trucks have to back down to reach the houses, and the companies each felt that was too dangerous for their workers.

Eventually, I had one last trash company on my list to call–Raritan Valley Disposal, which, ironically, is the trash company that now provides service to the subdivision where I used to live. (Previously, the subdivision had used Waste Management.) They were more than willing to take my business because, they told me, they were looking for ways to encroach on Allied Waste’s stronghold on my town. So if they could chip away at their business, one household at a time, it didn’t matter that I lived down a narrow street on which their trucks had to back down.

I started service with this new company, and everything seemed fine. Only one time did I have to call because my recycling wasn’t picked up, and they sent the truck out the next day to get my recyclables. But on more than once occasion, I realized that I’d heard that telltale beep-beep-beep of the trash truck backing down my street, heard the sounds of glass going into the truck, and then the truck pulling away. Then, when I looked out the window, I’d noticed that both the trash and the recyclables were gone. I thought maybe Raritan Valley had a new kind of truck that could take recyclables on one side and trash on the other, but deep down I had a sinking feeling that I was right back where I started from–lazy, eco-unconsious trash haulers that were dumping recyclables and non-recyclables into the trash truck together.

Today, when I heard the beeping coming down the street, I figured it was high time to take the time to watch what happened when the truck got here. And sure enough I watched as two guys first took the trash and put it in the truck, and then the driver said to his coworker, “Go ahead and take that stuff, too”–meaning the recycling. I couldn’t get downstairs fast enough to yell at them to stop, and once the crashing of my glass bottles stopped, the guys heard me yelling at them. I asked what they were doing, and they told me something like the recycling truck is too full to make it down your street–EVER–and so we just take your recyclables away with the trash.

If heads could explode, mine would have. When I got back inside I called Raritan Valley’s customer service line. The person I spoke with had this to say: “I’ve never heard of such a thing happening. Besides, we could get fined if we do what they did.” If only.

Eventually, I was transferred to a supervisor, who explained to me that the recycling truck has only one driver who can’t maneuver down my street backwards, so he just doesn’t come. Which means that for the past four months, this company has been knowingly dumping trash and recyclables together. (I wonder if that one day when my recyclables were left out there was a different driver who actually has an eco-conscience.)

I ended the conversation with the offer to haul my recyclables the 2/10 of a mile to the mouth of my street, and the supervisor agreed that this was the best compromise we could make. But after I hung up, had some time to think about this, and then discuss it with my husband, I realized that I should not have to pay someone when I have to haul my own recyclables 2/10 of a mile up the street, just because this company’s driver can’t figure out how to back up a truck. In fact, a company that knowingly dumps recyclables with trash and then expects its customers to make the effort to get the recyclables recycled doesn’t deserve my business.

It also dawned on me that perhaps this company should refund a portion of my trash fee, considering they haven’t been providing the recycling service they promised. And maybe it’s time to find another garbage company–even if it means going back to Allied Waste, since they’re the only company that will willingly come down my street, though I would probably have the account go under my husband’s name to save face.

Through Earth911 I discovered that I could take my glass, aluminum and paper recycling to a township building that’s right near my CSA. And I know that the towns in my state get grant money based on the tonnage of recycling they process. So even though I can’t help my own town in this respect, I could help out another town. However, that still leaves me with no place to recycle my plastic bottles. Try as I may to buy glass only, even ketchup comes in plastic bottles these days. (Anyone know where you can drop off plastic bottles for recycling?)

I am just besides myself, frustrated and can’t believe I’m in this situation again. What do you think I should do?

One of the first changes our family made on the road to green and frugal living was giving up bottled water. Not that buying a case of water at a place like BJ’s put a huge dent in our budget–I could get three dozen or so bottles of water for about $5.

But then there was this notion of paying for something that I could get for free. Even at $5 a case, our family would go through a case of water in two weeks, meaning we were spending about $10 a month or $120 a year on water that was already coming through our tap. Only problem? Our tap water didn’t taste so great, which is why we didn’t want to drink it and why we’d relied on bottled water for so long.

Then there was the issue of landfills. I mean, despite most trash haulers taking plastic bottles with recycling, only 20 percent of plastic bottles end up getting recycled. The other 80 percent? Yeah, they end up in landfills, adding up to about 38 million water bottles that get added to trash heaps every year according to Earth911. I mean, even the folks at NBC’s The Biggest Loser have decided not to contribute to landfill waste by supplying their contestants with refillable bottles. Bravo!

Then I heard about the Brita faucet-mount filter, which is part of the Brita Filter for Good campaign. It costs about $30 at Home Depot or Lowe’s, which is where we buy our replacement filters, and it’s easy to put on our kitchen sink.

This sink-mounted filter allows us two settings of regular (read: unfiltered) water, and a third for filtered water. I like this option because the only time we switch to the filtered-water setting is when we’re filling our reusable water bottles. Brita says that one filter replaces the equivalent of about 300 standard 16.9 ounce water bottles. I find that each filter lasts about six months, meaning that we spend only $60 a year for great tasting water.

Because we like our water to be ice cold, we fill a regular pitcher with filtered water about once a day, and then keep it in the refrigerator. This saves us from running the water for extra long, waiting for the right “cold” temperature, which saves money on the water bill and resources from the earth.

We used to own a Brita pitcher, the kind with a built-in, replaceable filter. I prefer the faucet-mount filter for its versatility. Plus, when you need to replace the filter, the faucet-mounted filter is way smaller than the kind of filter that fits in the pitcher–meaning that it will take up less space in a landfill. Now, I know some people have problems with Brita filters, because they are not recyclable here in the United States. In a perfect world, they would be. And maybe one day they will.

But for now Brita’s Filter for Good movement has my vote for the very first Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval. Congratulations, Brita.

This request comes from my friend Jen Miller, founder of the blog Down the Shore with Jen:

I’m writing an article for Edible Jersey about ways readers are being frugal and eco friendly at the same time. I’m looking for people in NJ who are doing cool things to save money and the earth at the same time.

If you or someone you know fits the bill, please email Jen at jenmiller27 at gmail dot com. And if you could get in a plug about all of the green and frugal tips you’ve learned because of The Lean Green Family, that would be cool, too. Thanks.

I’ve come to enjoy providing the readers here with regular features, such as “Random Reusables” and the “Reader Q&A” and it seems you guys have liked them as well. But I’m thinking it’s time to add yet another regular feature to The Lean Green Family (formerly Suddenly Frugal).

Since many people have written to me offline to ask my advice on products they can buy or services they could use to stay green and save money, too, I’m announcing a brand-new feature on this blog that can help everyone stay lean and green.

Called the “Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval,” it will be my way of highlighting a product or service that can help you, the reader, save money in your everyday life. (If it helps you to stay green, too, all the better.)

Remember, this blog started as Suddenly Frugal. And while I’m still committed to helping people live a lean, green life, the truth is with the financial news of late–from investment banks failing to loan companies getting taken over to the stock market plummeting–I’m guess that the pendulum is going to start to swing more towards frugal in the coming months.

So look for more advice about helping you to save money and, from time to time, recommendations for products and services that deserve the Suddenly Frugal Seal of Approval.

According to composting experts, there are three things you’re not supposed to put in a compost pile–dairy, meat and bones. I was always told that you kept these three items out of the compost so that your bin didn’t attract animals. Well, try telling that to the deer on my street, who have taken to gathering around the compost bin in a futile attempt to get to the fruits and vegetables inside.

But as far as dairy, meat and bones go, I believe that the real reason you don’t put them in the compost is because they can S-M-E-L-L–smell! I mean, have you ever made chicken for dinner and put the package in the trash can and then forget to take out the trash for a few days and then you’re like, whoa, what is that smell? Yeah, that’s what I’m talking about.

Even without dairy, meat and bones in your compost, things can get a little stinky–especially with the bin you keep in the house to collect food scraps. That’s the issue that one reader has and she wrote to me for advice:

Q: We love our new compost pile (in a bin we got for $5 on Craigslist, I have to add), but we don’t like the open containers we use in the kitchen for collecting the scraps for a day or two before we take them to the pile. Any suggestions for what to use inside, that’s not smelly or ugly or expensive?

A: When I first started composting, I kept that open bin on the counter next to the sink–hey, my mom always kept hers in the sink so I figured I was close enough. But like you I soon realized that having a used, plastic sherbet container filled with cucumber peels, coffee grounds and cantaloupe rinds wasn’t very pretty, and the smell sometimes wasn’t very inviting. So I moved the bin to under the sink, where at least I didn’t have to look at the container and I didn’t have to deal with the smell. Well, that is, until I went under the sink to get dishwasher detergent or a new sponge or to add more peels to the pile. Phew, it really could be stinky under there.

Like you I was kind of stumped as to what I could possibly do to minimize the smell. For starters, every time I went outside to empty the small bin into the large composting bin, I made sure that I washed out the bin before I put it back under the sink. Next, I started putting a paper towel (made of recycled paper, natch) or an empty coffee filter in the bottom of the plastic container so it could absorb some of the “ooze” that often occurred as the organic matter began to break down–before I could dump it all outside. Finally, I realized that what I needed was a kind of odor neutralizer–sort of like Febreze for the compost.

One day I was rooting around in the breakfront in the dining room, which is where I store serving platters, our good china and, lo and behold, candles that we’ve received as gifts over the years. My mother in law tends to give us over-the-top perfumed candles every year at Christmas–she probably doesn’t even realize how potent these candles are, because she smoked for many years, and it likely dulled her sense of smell. Anyway, I grabbed a strongly scented cinnamon candle and figured I could put it under the sink as my odor neutralizer–you know, the cinnamon smell might cancel out the compost smell, leaving me with no smell at all.

So I did that. And you know what? It worked. Now when I open the under-the-sink cabinet, I smell nothing. It’s kind of hard to believe that my smell solution was that easy, but maybe it can work for you, too. Give it a try and let me know how it goes.

Now I’m wondering if another strongly scented candle in my daughter’s dresser could negate the ever-present smell of her soccer socks…

Because of my husband’s job, he’s often bringing home reams of paper to read at night–most of it held together with binder clips. (Those are those blank, triangular-like clips with two silver “handles” that allow you to squeeze them open and then close to hold a bunch of paper together without using a stapler.) What this means is that we have a ton of binder clips–both big and small–scattered throughout the house. And like with most things that I have an abundance of but which I do not want to throw out, I’ve figured out ways to reuse binder clips, including:

* To close snack bags
I’d written last month about how we use extra rubber bands to keep snack bags closed. Well, we do the same with binder clips. We fold down the bag–be it chocolate chips or cereal–and use the clips to keep the top closed so that the contents stay fresh.

* To keep a page in a cookbook open
I don’t quite get it why most cookbook publishers make their books perfect bound (that’s a solid spine) instead of spiral bound. As a book author I realize that spiral-bound books are more expensive to produce, but as a cook, you want to be able to have your cookbook lie flat–especially when you have to keep referring to it as you’re cooking. So these days I’ll use two binder clips to hold back the pages of the cookbook so it doesn’t close on me. Sometimes I’ll also have to put a cookie jar or something heavy on the pages, especially if the cookbook is new and I haven’t broken in the binding yet. But at least the binder clips mark my spot should the book suddenly close on me.

* To mark a spot in a book or my calendar
Binder clips make for excellent bookmarks, because if you drop the book, the bookmark won’t fall out. The only caveat is that if you’re reading a 700-page tome, you’re not going to find a binder clip big enough to mark your spot. And if you’ve borrowed a book from the library, you probably shouldn’t use the binder clip at all or you risk leaving an indent on the pages of a book that isn’t yours to maim.

* To replace a key chain fob
In a pinch (no pun intended) you can put your keys on the metal “handle” part of a binder clip (flip them over so that the clip is “closed), assuming you’ve got a key ring that you can attach to the clip itself. What’s great about using a binder clip as a fob is that it will be easy to find in your purse–I would say that a binder clip has a unique “feel” to it, even at the bottom of your bag. Then, when you get home, you can clip your keys in a visible spot so you don’t lose them.

Have you guys figure out creative ways to reuse binder clips as well? If so, post a comment. I’d love to hear your ideas.

A few days ago I helped you figure out how to recycle electronics and other gadgets for extra dough. Today I’m bringing you some tips on how to take care of the gadgets you’ve already got so they last as long as possible, thus saving you money and keeping the items out the waste stream. These tips come courtesy of the Consumer Electronics Association’s My Green Electronics website:

• Review you owner’s manuals for cleaning and maintenance of all products.
• Take care of your products’ insides. Never block or cover the ventilation areas of your electronics—these holes keep the product from overheating, which could shorten its life. Also, never stack components atop one another.
• Keep electronics out of direct sunlight and away from heaters and radiators. Likewise, keep out of areas with high humidity or dust.
• Never use a vacuum to clean dust from electronics. This can create static and harm your components.
• Dust your components with a damp, lint-free cloth and a mild, heavily-diluted cleaning agent or specialty anti-static wipes. Be careful with solvents as they can damage television and PDA screens.
• Never spray water or cleaners directly onto electronics.
• If you spill liquid on your electronics, stop using it immediately, unplug it and seek customer service.
• LCD (liquid crystal displays) and plasma screens are extremely delicate. Never use glass cleaner or detergents. Electronics retailers sell special cleaners for these screens. Also, do not apply pressure when cleaning wiping and be sure the television or monitor has cooled.
• LCD and plasma screens should never be stored in enclosed cases, as they are prone to overheating

One last tip: try not to keep a drink near your laptop or eat anything that makes crumbs while sitting at it. When I brought my old iBook to the Apple store earlier this week, I was embarrassed to discover how many crumbs were underneath the keyboard. (The tech “genius” had removed the keyboard to check my RAM, which is how we discovered this.) I know plenty of other people who’ve accidentally knocked a cup of coffee over onto their laptop, then knocked the life right out of the item. With this new computer, I’m trying to make a pact that I won’t eat while checking email, and if I do have a cup of coffee with me, I’ll keep it at least 12 or so inches away.

Do you have additional ideas for prolonging the life of your gadgets? I’d love to hear them.

It’s hard to believe that it’s been seven years since that impossibly blue Tuesday morning turned into a day of national tragedy. I can still remember where I was and what I was doing when the first plane hit the World Trade Center.

It was a little after 9:00, and I had just returned from putting my kids on the bus. I’d hopped on my treadmill and turned on the Today Show, and the first thing I saw was Katie Couric with a burning Twin Tower in the background. My first thought? “Oh, they must be filming a disaster movie at the World Trade Center.” Of course, they weren’t.

I don’t need to go into details about what happened next or what I did next, but I’ve come to believe that the question “Where were you on September 11th?” has become this generation’s “Where were you when JFK was assassinated?” (I wasn’t born yet but my mother clearly remembers where she was and what she was doing on that day in 1963.)

My husband and I did two things that evening of 9/11/01. We donated money to the Salvation Army, and we put out our American flag. It seems a lot of other Americans had the same idea as flag sales soared in the months after 9/11.

At first we were going to just fly our flag for a full year to show our patriotism. But we got to liking seeing Old Glory flapping in the wind every time we pulled into our driveway. So we kept her out there through 2002, 2003, 2004, 2005, 2006 and the first half of 2007. We moved to our new home in May 2007, and that was the first time we took her down.

Technically, we weren’t supposed to fly her, 24/7, unless she was fully illuminated throughout. Well, she was next to our outdoor light, which we did keep on most nights, but I’m guessing that, according to the flag code, our flag flying just didn’t cut it. Bottom line: by the time we moved, our Stars and Stripes were sad and faded (also against flag code), and we needed a new flag. I purchased an all-weather version for the new house, but never got around to putting it outside. Today, though, is the perfect day to change all that.

In the meantime, I’ve got a folded and faded flag sitting in my shed. Proper flag etiquette and the U.S. Flag Code (section 8k) says that when “[t]he flag, when it is in such condition that it is no longer a fitting emblem for display, should be destroyed in a dignified way, preferably by burning.” The code also talks about how a flag should never be worn as clothing or a costume, so reusing or recycling an American flag is out the question.

Since I’m not interested in getting a burn permit, I don’t think I’ll be having a flag-burning ceremony like the one the Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) suggests having to properly retire a flag. However, I did find out that Boy Scouts of America will help to properly dispose of American flags. The VFW will do so as well. In fact, some have set up flag drop boxes in towns so citizens have an easy way to retire Old Glory with respect. A town near me has one of these drop boxes, a retired mail box that’s been painted red, white and blue.

“We have approximately 8,500 Posts around the world and many do flag disposals but they do them on their own for the local community,” says Stephen Van Buskirk, VFW’s director of programs. He suggests calling your local VFW or American Legion Post to find out when, if and how they handle flag disposals.

Here’s another option: The Five Stars Flags website includes local links for flag retirement. This link will take you to the Five Star Flags state flags page (starts with Alabama). The states are listed on the left; additional information on the right. That is, if you scroll down, you’ll see on the bottom of the right-hand column a link for more information on how to retire an American flag in your state. When you click through, you’ll have to scroll down again, and then you’ll find links to local organizations that have flag retirement ceremonies.

I hope you find peace in whatever way you decide today to commemorate September 11th. And if you have a worn-out flag, I hope you’ll give it a proper farewell by contacting one of the civic organizations I’ve mentioned here.

Well, I guess we’re four for four around these parts as far as electronics go. On Tuesday my beloved iBook G4 had a catastrophic failure (boo hoo)–it’s been on a death watch for the past 10 months–which meant that on Tuesday night, we went out to the local Apple store and got me a new Mac Book (yeah, big smile).

Our plan is to have the Apple folks see if there is any way they can resuscitate the iBook (it’s at the Mac doctor now) so that my kids can reuse it for their school work. If not, then I’ll let Apple take care of recycling it. Luckily, I’d invested in two 4GB flash drives earlier this week so I could back everything up before the final crash occurred.

Bottom line: I’ve got to spend today getting to know my new computer, which includes a video camera. That means that I’ll finally be able to bring video blogs to the blog. Stay tuned. (I’ve also got three magazine deadlines but a new computer? Pretty tempting.)

I’ll bring you a fresh new posting on Thursday–maybe even a video one, though don’t hold your breath.

In the past two months, my family and I have managed to kill three cell phones. Two were Motorola Razr phones–one broke in half. It literally did. The screen broke off from the keyboard when I dropped it–and the other broke apart in many pieces, also when dropped. The third, well, it was subject to the rain of last weekend’s Tropical Storm Hanna, by accident, and it was gone, baby, gone. Oh and we didn’t have insurance on any of the phones. (Lesson learned there.)

Now that these phones are useless, my plan is to bring them to a place that takes cell phones for recycling (I’ll use Earth 911 to find the nearest place), but wouldn’t it be awesome if I could get cash for my useless phones? Well, you might think that I was dreaming, but guess what? There are places you can go to these days that will give you money for items they’ll recycle, reuse, repurpose or resell.

Once such company is called FlipSwap, and from what I can tell, it doesn’t get any better than this. First, like I said, FlipSwap will give you a store credit towards a new phone when you trade one in. (Of course, not every retailer accepts FlipSwap credits so you are limited to where you can buy your new phone.) Second, if you don’t need cash towards a new phone, FlipSwap will donate it to a charity for you. Third, FlipSwap makes sure that your phone is recycled in an eco-friendly and safe way. And then finally, FlipSwap will plant a tree for every phone it recycles.

The only thing I find a bit suspect is the fact that FlipSwap showcases recent trade ins to show you how much your phone is worth. I just saw a Motorola Razr that someone supposedly got $53 for. Given the Razr’s “fragile” nature, I couldn’t imagine that it’s a phone in demand.

There are other electronics and gadgets that you can recycle for dollars–and other companies that will give you cash or store credit for them. Check out this website called My Green Electronics from the Consumer Electronics Association. It provides information on and links to more than a dozen companies, manufacturers and websites you might want to check out if you’ve got something electronic to recycle.

Another company offering cash for electronics is called BuyMyTronics.com. When you visit the website, you can plug in the gadget you’re looking to get off your hands, and you can find out nearly instantaneously how much the company will give you for it. Then it’s up to you to ship the item to the company (based in Colorado). You’ll receive a PayPal payment within 48 hours. I tested out the service by plugging in the specs of my Razr phone. The results? They’d give me a whopping $3.10 for my Razr but, then again, what should I expect with a cell phone that’s in two pieces!

The Wall Street Journal did an article on this topic over the summer; you can read a version of it here, via a TV station’s website.

Gadgets and electronics aren’t the only things that you can recycle for dollars. I’m sure you’ve seen all of these advertisements promoting the price of gold and encouraging folks to bring in old jewelry for cash. Well, that really is happening. For example, Cashville Gold & Silver Buyers in Nashville, Tennessee is constantly taking broken, old, twisted and useless gold, silver and jewelry off peoples’ hands and giving them money for it. (The store then resells it to a smelter.) A rep for the store told me that it’s not unheard of for people to walk out with checks for $800 or more. Maybe it’s time to go digging in your jewelry box and make good use (and money) from the baubles you no longer wear or want.

While you’re in the bedroom checking out your jewelry box, why not head into your closet and see if you (or your kids) have clothes you can get rid of? You don’t have to spend time selling stuff on eBay to get money for your used clothing. Instead, clean everything up and bring it to either The Children’s Orchard and Once Upon a Child, both of which specializes in clothes for babies through preteens, or Plato’s Closet, which focuses on tween and teen clothing (think Abercrombie, Aeropostale and American Eagle, et al). Both will give you cold, hard cash for clothing they think they can sell for a profit to their customers. Fair warning: I haven’t had much luck selling to Plato’s Closet because, I’ve been told, the rise on our pants is too high. Gee, I guess that’s what I get for not letting my daughters wear super low-rise pants.

And what about all of that used sporting equipment you’ve got piling up in the garage, shed or the basement? Have you considered selling it? You can try Craigslist, or if you’ve got a Play It Again Sports near you, you can take the equipment in and see what you can get for it. (FYI, when my kids were little and trying out new and different sports, we would always buy them used sporting equipment from this store. That way if it turned out they didn’t really like whatever sport they were playing at the time, we hadn’t made a huge financial commitment in the equipment we’d purchased.)

Maybe some of these ideas can help you bring in extra money in time for the holidays. Have other ideas on recycling for dollars? Post a comment to share with the class.

I’m writing a new magazine article, and I thought the readers of The Lean Green Family might be able to help.

I need to track down everyday-people who recognized an environmental problem and were inspired to create an organization, group, product, blog, etc., to get more people involved to make a change that benefits Mother Earth. One example we’re already using is a mom in Illinois who organized a “no idling” zone at her children’s school. Not only did she go car to car with her idea in the pick up line, but also she posted signage around her neighborhood and soon others joined in–to the tune of 100 nearby schools.

This is the kind of example I’m looking for, and would appreciate hearing about similar folks who were inspired to start a green movement that really moved folks to get involved and make a difference. (These folks do not need to be moms.) Because the person above has already been approved, I cannot consider anyone else that is closely related to a school-centered movement.

If you know someone who fits the bill, please email me at leah dot ingram at comcast dot net, or click on the “email me” link at right. Or post a comment here. Thanks!

*****UPDATE*****

The CNBC producer just called to let me know that they need to postpone my appearance. Because of the Freddie Mac/Fannie Mae news, they’re focusing tonight’s show on mortgages and therefore I’ve been bumped. Oh, well. I’m tentatively rescheduled for 9/29. I’ll keep you all posted.

*****END UPDATE*****

I just wanted to give folks a heads up that I’ll be a guest on CNBC’s new show “On the Money” (sort of a Gen Y version of Suze Orman) at 8:00 p.m. Eastern, today, Monday September 8.

I’ll be talking about a topic I wrote about here last month, on how to get something for (almost) nothing via the web. I hope I’ll be able to share some of my Freecycle etiquette tips, too, during that segment.

I hope you’ll watch live or set your Tivo to see it. And if CNBC posts the video to the website, I’ll be sure to provide a link. Thanks.

My favorite car expert Lauren Fix did a segment last month on The Early Show on ways to save at the pump. Some of this stuff you’ve heard about before here on this blog; others, like the tip about your gas cap, was an eye opener. Enjoy.

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