Top 10 Ways to Loose Weight in 2010

Hooray!  It’s a New Year!

So, it’s 2010! Amazing! Weren’t we just worried about our computers going into the year 2000? To start the New Year, I’m going to show you how to lose weight!  As in tons. As in trash. Here’s the Top 10:

1. Do you want to lose 50% of the waste you generate?  Set up your computer to default to double-sided copying.  It’s easy and if you can’t figure it out, our fine friends in the Information Services Division would be happy to help you. You can always change a particular document to copy on one side but make your default copying on both sides.
    

2. Photocopying emails and website pages are probably the highest in waste potential.  Copy the information from the email or website and paste it to a Word document.  Websites always have dangling extra sheets with little or no usable data on it.  Emails have the same issue. 
    

3. Bring your own bag when you go shopping. Did you know that 400 plastic bags per second are given away in just the State of California?  That’s 14 billion bags per year. Bring your own bag wherever you go.  It’s simple! Get in the habit by storing bags in your vehicle or place them at the doorknob where you exit your home each day. Or better yet, put them with your bicycle to use when you go shopping! When you check to make sure you have your purse or wallet to go into the store, that’s your cue to get your bags. Remember to use them in markets, pharmacies, department stores or wherever you are buying things. Reusable bags are made from sturdy materials and you are able to carry products without fear of bags breaking and spilling materials from your container.
    

4. Bring your own coffee cup.  I know it’s quite popular to buy coffee from your favorite coffee shop but this latest craze generates enormous amounts of trash and litter. Some businesses give you a discount for using your own cup. If they don’t, suggest that they begin this practice.  Use reusable cups, plates and cutlery especially at work. The provided cups provided at the water stations are a nice gesture for visitors use but choose to use your own cup instead.
    

5. Stop using Antibacterial Soap.  If you didn’t read the article, visit it again.
    

6. Turn off your computer when you leave.  Electronics are getting slightly better in terms of saving energy, but OFF is better than semi-off.  Turning off the monitor and not turning off the computer is not a good alternative.
    

7. Turn off the lights in your office.  If you have incandescent bulbs, switch them out to the curly fluorescents (CFL’s).  If your bulb gets hot (no, don’t touch it) then it is burning lots of energy to light your area.
    

8. Keep your vehicles tuned up.  That means air in the tires as well as a tune up to help it run more efficiently.
    

9. Use the “Less than a Mile” challenge.  If it is less than a mile, walk or ride your bike to wherever you’re going.  You’ll be surprised how a mile turns into “Less than Two Miles” and on and on.  Use public transportation and find more time to read.  You’ll feel better and you will create less pollution.
    

10. Produce less waste.  Take a look at your trash can whether at home at work or at play.  Reusable is always the best choice.  Recycling is great but producing less is always the better choice.  Give your stuff away at www.freecycle.org or sell it.  Buy products that last and purchase less stuff.  Use the Library instead of buying books.  Libraries are the best in terms of waste reduction activities.  Plus we have the best staff!

2010 is going to be a great year for all of you.  Have fun everyday! 

Clean And Green

Many cleaning tasks that we take for granted, such as washing the dishes, doing the laundry, cleaning the windows or polishing the furniture often involve harsh chemicals. These are bad for both the environment as a whole and for your personal environment - your home. Toxic chemicals can cause health problems for humans and pets. When you wash them down the drain or throw them outside, they become part of our land and water. Here are some green cleaning tips to help make your cleaning jobs more eco-friendly.

** Baking soda makes a great natural and inexpensive cleaning product. You can clean floors, walls, refrigerators and counter tops with a warm, damp rag and some baking soda.

** Want to make your house smell nicer without harsh air fresheners? Try
aromatherapy. Essential oils can be diffused into a room. The great thing about this is that you have a vast selection of scents to choose from. Each has its own particular effects on mood. Of course, you don't have to follow an aromatherapy guide, you can simply follow your nose and use what pleases you. You can try rose, various citrus blends, peppermint, lavender, and eucalyptus for starters.

** Another good household cleaning product is borax. This is very effective for cleaning carpets. You can mix it with essential oils to create a nicely scented, natural carpet cleaner that you can apply to the rug before vacuuming.

** For a natural window cleaner, mix two tablespoons of white vinegar with a gallon of water and clean your windows using newspapers. This simple and cheap solution works at least as well as your typical commercial mix that has strong chemicals in it.

** To clean wood floors, you can use another common household item --tea! Just boil up two teabags in hot water and mop up the floor.

Some other household cleaners you can use for many cleaning tasks are lemon juice and club soda. Both of these remove stains from most surfaces.

Of course, in addition to these suggestions you can go to your health food store and find a wide variety of organic and natural cleaning product for every purpose. These tend to be more expensive than commercial brands, but many are also highly concentrated.

You can do just as well with the DIY (do it yourself) type green cleaning tips included above. Either way, remember that you can always make a greener choice when you have something that needs cleaning!

If you didn’t get a chance to read about the dangers of using antibacterial soap, click here

Summertime....and the Giving is Easy!

Are you cleaning closets, sheds or garages and would like to find ways to get rid of the stuff? There is NO other option but to give it away for reuse!!!  At least from my perspective, throwing away good stuff is BAD unless it’s really broken to pieces and can’t be salvaged. 

Otherwise, here are several options for you to consider:

1. Do you want to make money? Have a garage sale. It’s a great way to meet neighbors and make money at the same time. Visit these Websites for helpful hints for a successful sale:
   www.moneyinstructor.com/art/garagesale.asp
   http://collectibles.about.com/od/auctionsandshopping1/a/garagesaletips.htm
   www.mommysavers.com/Articles/having_a_garage_sale.htm 
   www.frugalmom.net/yard_sales.htm

2. Sell it on eBay or Craig’s List.  eBay is an auction-type setting and Craig’s List is more of a forum for you to place a dollar figure on an item and someone contacts you (or not) to purchase it.

3. Give it away. Go to www.freecycle.org join up and post the items you want to give away and someone will take them to a needy home. They have certain parameters for you to follow, such as no selling of anything or posting of garage sales, for instance.

4. Take it to thrift stores. Here are a few to consider but there are many around: Goodwill, Salvation Army, St. Vincent de Paul, Last Chance Mercantile (at the Marina landfill), cancer centers, church sales

Whatever you choose to do, make it fun and involve the whole family. If you don’t need the money, give it to the Library or other organizations to help support their programs.

Are you trying to get rid of electronic waste or mattresses? We try to post E-waste events when they happen but you can take your material for free to the Monterey Regional Waste Management District (MRWMD), Mon. - Sat. MRWMD programs are for residents and businesses from Monterey, Pacific Grove, City of Sand, Carmel-by-the-Sea, Seaside, Pebble Beach, Big Sur, Del Rey Oaks, or Marina. 

If you live on the Salinas side, you can contact Salinas Valley Solid Waste Authority at 831.775.3000.  Hope Services, located at 1098 Del Monte Avenue Suite D, Monterey, CA 93940, phone 831.372.7341 will recycle E-waste and mattresses. Their hours are usually Mon. through Fri. 8:00 a.m. to 5:00 p.m.  MRWMD will take mattresses and refrigerators for a nominal charge.

1. Is it time to shed some pounds from your waste? Pick a time period – A week is a good place to start.
2. Get everyone on board - If they live in your house and they make trash, they are involved, so catch ‘em up to speed.
3. Throw stuff away - Go about your normal routine, and throw away what you usually do. It is important that you be honest with yourself and not try to be on your "best behavior." Remember, you are trying to get an accurate measurement of your waste output.
4. Weigh in - If you can, weigh your trash. Each time you take a trash bag out of the house, plop it on the scale. This way you can have a baseline for comparison (sort of like "before" and "after" photos when you’re starting a new workout program). Though you will visually be able to see your trash dwindle, the satisfaction of cold, hard facts is the icing on the cake.
5. Put on some gloves - Check daily to see what you threw away that could have been recycled, composted, reused or avoided. This part is the "eeewwww" moment - we are talking about trash here. But, by doing it daily, it wont be as bad. Don’t be deterred by what you find. Remember your mission; you can do it!
6. Get graphical - Make a list, chart, pie graph, power point…whatever you want. Just write down your findings, and use those findings to make a plan. What can you recycle that you are currently tossing in the trash? What can be composted? What can be reused and, in turn, what didn’t need to be there in the first place?

Starting a compost pile can happen anywhere at any time. From your kitchen, to your backyard, to a worm bin, composting can make a huge dent in your waste and produce a rich product you can use to help maintain your yard, give to friends or even sell at the local farmer’s market or garden center.

• Think outside the can - With some of the new designs available, you gain flexibility in reusing plastic bags from your shopping trips. This design, from DCI, reuses wood and clothes pins for your trashy needs. Use this concept for inspiration and make your own collection unit.
• Keep your trash in…trash - Buying recycled trash bags is a simple switch to make and helps close the loop in the recycling process.
• Clean it up – According to eHow.com, "undiluted distilled white vinegar (5 percent solution) - the kind you can buy in the supermarket - kills 99 percent of bacteria, 82 percent of mold, and 80 percent of germs (viruses)." Who knew? Why purchase harsh chemicals to clean those cans, when some simple salad dressing can do the trick? If the smell bothers you, add some essential oils or keep the area well ventilated until it dries. Another natural option is tea tree oil. This leaf, from an Australian plant, contains terpenoids, which have antiseptic and antifungal properties.