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10 Easy Earth Day Ideas

Savvy — Thu, 19 Apr 2012 20:54:14 +0000

Recycle – Yep. You know how to do it, but do you actually do it? The easiest way to recycle is to make sure you have a designated area to do so. Need ideas? Check out these nifty ideas:

How to Set Up a Home Recycling Station that Works

Martha Stewart Recycling Center

Hidden Kitchen Recycling area
Upcycle – I love doing this. Seriously. And I don’t mean doing the crazy stuff, like turning a car into a refrigerator or something. I mean simple things, like reusing binder clips, or embroidery hoops, or even litter boxes. For more Upcycle ideas check out my Upcycle Pinterest page.
Lose/Recycle the plastic Bags – Ok, I will admit, that I have some fabulous reusable grocery bags, that often stay inside of my house, or in the glove compartment of my car. But what’s great is that many local stores like Target are now accepting plastic grocery bags and recycling them.
Ban Junk Mail – In the US we receive approximately 100,000,000,000 pieces of junk mail every year. Tired of getting all those random catalogs? Don’t have time to sit down and call all those companies yourself? Use a service to do it for you! Try out Catalog Choice also check out the National Do Not Mail List. Make sure that when you get your credit report, you opt out of receiving mailers or becoming part of any surveys.
Reduce Your Use of Plastic Bottles – A simple solution is to buy your water in a glass bottle, like Voss because glass is recylable. (I use these bottles as vases too!) If you need to carry water with you then try the Bobble Plastic Water Bottle. It’s BPA-free, and has it’s own filter! Which is perfect for when you’re parched and can’t identify how pure your water source is. (Like at the park.)
Stop Using Regular Laundry Detergent – Not only are the surfactants in most detergents unsafe for the environment, they’re harmful to humans as well. If you suffer from asthma or eczema, you may be able to reduce or even eliminate most if not all of your symptoms by using a more natural detergent. You can make your own detergent like I do, or you can use things like soap nuts, or castille soap (although if you have excema you may need something a bit milder). Don’t want to DIY? Then check out the following natural detergents. Need fabric softener? Try this instead.

Ecos Liquid Laundry Detergent – $6.80

Dropps Laundry Detergent Tabs – $7.00

BabyGanics 3X Concentrated Laundry Detergent – $12.99
Save Water In Your Bathroom- Check for leaks under your sink and toilet every season. Convert your toilet to a Dual-flush. Basically, it uses a little water when you “do a#1” and more water when you “do a #2”. There’s a switch or button to differentiate between the two. You can buy simple DIY Dual flush Kits here. In an apartment? Keep a bucket in the bathroom and fill it when your letting the water run to get warm. Then save it to feed your pets, water your plants, or even clean with it!
Give Up Paper Napkins and Paper Towels – It’s really not as hard as you’d think. And yes, it still can me sanitary. I use a mixture of cloth napkins, microfiber towels, cotton rags and Skoy Cloths around my house. I have a little bucket I keep on the counter in the kitchen and in some of the other rooms where the dirty ones go. Then I just toss them in the laundry and repeat the next week. To learn how I did it, check out this post.
Switch to Recycled Toilet Paper - Nope, I’m not ready to give up toilet paper either, BUT there are new brands out made from recycled paper that don’t feel like your wiping your bum with tree bark. Seriously. Also check out “camping toilet tissue”. That stuff was created for portable toilets and is easier on septic systems too. Check out some of these brands:

Small Steps

Seventh Generation

Coleman
Use a Rain Barrel In Your Garden – Buy a Rain Barrel for your home so that you can catch water naturally and use it to water you plants without touching the tap from your house. Almost all of them have a spigot on the front so that you can attach a standard hose.

What are some your green tricks and tips?

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Cheap Dresser Drawer Organization

Savvy — Fri, 06 Apr 2012 14:01:12 +0000

So the next stop on my Spring Cleaning journey is my bedroom dresser drawers. They were a mess. And it always takes me forever to find stuff anyway, so I hunted around for things to use as drawer dividers or some type of separation tools.
As I’ve mentioned before, the best thing to do is to start by shopping your home first. So I poked around my basement and the back of one of my closets, (I’ve got to put that one on the list!) until I found these spring loaded drawer divider things that I forgot that I had!

Then, my husband had some of these IKEA SKUBB fabric storage boxes left over and I snagged some of those too!

So here’s what the lingerie drawers looked like before:

And here’s what they look like now:

Like you stepped into Victoria’s Secret right?

Yeah. Ok but you know what I’m going for.

Cost? $0

Being able to find a matching set of underwear in less than 15 minutes? priceless.

I love that.

Here’s where you can find the same/similar items:

Whitmor Drawer Organizers

Progressive Drawer Dividers

IKEA Skubb Fabric Box Set

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Upcycled Linen Closet Redo

Savvy — Mon, 19 Mar 2012 15:46:36 +0000

I hate parting with well-made pieces of furniture that I’ve had for years. So it should be no surprise that years ago, I decided to take the old armoire from my first apartment that held my TV and repurpose it as my “linen closet” in my larger bathroom. I removed the gliders and shelf for the TV and kept everything else. It fit perfectly, but the lack of shelves meant that towels and sheets got stacked precariously high.

I have often opened the doors to be hit in the face with stacks of falling washcloths…

So I decided to take action. My goal was to reorganize the armoire so that I could find everything easily, without having to go out and get custom shelving or pay a crazy amount of money. Well, surfing the web, and Pinterest, I got an idea.

I purchased a stand-alone shoe-organizer to hold the sheets and towels.Then, for the smaller items, I purchased this set of shelf-dividers for the shelf that was already there.

Before:

After:

Pretty cool huh?

I used to work in a linen shop so I’m kinda weird about how I fold my towels. But the sheet sets I folded and then slid all of their components into one of the pillowcases.

I got that idea from Martha Stewart Living.

I put all of the smaller items, like washcloths, hand towels and solo pillowcases on the top shelf between the dividers.

It’s like bathroom nirvana. *sigh* when I get more time, I’m going to repaint the whole armoire. Just haven’t decided on a color yet…. Stay tuned!

You can find the same items I used right here at the Savvy Shop.

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Cheap Green Way to Clean Up Pet Hair

Savvy — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 15:56:18 +0000

I have a love/hate relationship with my two cats. They are fun and affectionate and really don’t care what I look like, or how off-key I sing or if my socks match, as long as I feed them. (I have a couple of friends like that too). But their hair gets everywhere, and although I have hardwood floors, it can be a real pain to keep the furniture clean.

My pet spongeworks pretty well, but has seen better days and I was at a loss when a friend asked if she could stay at my place for a couple of days while she was traveling.

Of course, she’s allergicto cats.

Sigh.

Manny

So I trolled the web for all kinds of do-dads and devices that I could run out and buy real quick to give the sofabed (that she would subsequently be sleeping on) a thorough cleaning. One of the things I found was a $30 rolling device that claimed to pick up pet hair at an amazingly efficient rate, plus it could be rinsed off as opposed to those glorified-masking-tape-sticky-roller-thingys that you have to keep peeling off and throwing away. With a little research, I found out that the reusable roller was made from silicone, latex and rubber.

The same material that my yellow kitchen rubber gloves are made out of.

Houdini

Huh.

So I ran to the kitchen, opened the cabinet under the sink, grabbed the bucket, dug out the gloves, ran back to the living room and proceeded to rub my gloved hands

vigorously and toroughly all over the microfiber couch like a cheap date. (Needless to say, my cats were alarmed). This is what happened:

Are you SEEING this?

I used a hand vac to suck up the hair as I gathered it up. The great thing about the gloves is that I could get in all the little crevices and places that the [pet sponge] normally couldn’t reach. (Coincidentally, the pet sponge is made out of the same material).

I hopped back on the web and found out that tons of people clean their furniture with rubber gloves like this, even wetting them a bit makes the hair come off even faster.

WHY WAS I NOT INFORMED?

Anyway, I tried this on microfiber, denim, and cotton and it work well. The microfiber worked the best though.

So for a really cheap easy way to clean up pet hair off of fabric surfaces, pick up a pair of good old fashioned rubber dishwashing gloves like these and clean away.

How do you clean up pet hair?

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Big Chunky Knitted Cowl Pattern

Savvy — Tue, 13 Dec 2011 16:11:58 +0000

I’ve had several people ask me where I get some of the knitwear that I’ve posed in on the site, and to be honest, I can’t usually find exactly what I want, so I end up making it a lot of the time. I knit and crochet and I find them both to be extremely therapeutic and calming. I learned to knit from my grandmother and to (properly) crochet from my aunt. I mostly make accessories, because I don’t really have the attention span for a sweater, (sorry Nana). So here’s the first in a series of patterns I’ll be posting this season. Enjoy!

Big Chunky Knitted Cowl Pattern by Savvy Brown

Skill Level: Easy

Wool: Brown Sheep Lamb’s Pride Bulky
(or any super chunky wool you want to try)

Colors: – 2 skein Chianti, 2 skeins Brown Heather

Gauge: – 3 sts = 1” on US 10.5 circular needle
(told ya it was bulky)

Pattern:
Starting with the Chianti yarn:

Cast on 70 sts. Carefully join the row without twisting the stitches K1,p1 for 3 rows. Then Stockinette stitch for 28 rows.

On row 29, start knitting with the Brown yarn, leaving a bit of a tail that you can weave in later. P across the full length of row. Then Reverse Stockinette Stitch for 18 rows.

Stockinette Stitch for 3 rows. Reverse Stockinette 2 rows. Stockinette Stitch for 3 rows. Cast off. Weave in ends.

The finished product looks like this!

When you wear it, you fold one side down, so all the stitches match! It’s also big enough to wear as a hood if you want, and it’s nice an wide so it won’t mess up your ‘do! Tada!

Notes: I’m a “loose” knitter, so I tend to use needles one size smaller than what is suggested on the yarn package for the proper gauge. Also, if you’re not comforatble using a circular needle, then use straight ones, and work the pattern back and forth. You’ll just need to whipstitch the end together when you’re finished.

Hope this all makes sense! (It’s the first time I’ve actually written out a pattern). Please let me know if I missed something!

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Savvy DIY Cable Organization

Savvy — Fri, 04 Nov 2011 19:47:47 +0000

In my continuing quest to organize stuff in our home, I had pushed cable organization to the top of the list. Both my husband and I have a couple of laptops, not mention various video game systems each with its own set of cables. I was tired of not being able to find the correct cable when I needed it, or resorting to a dusty game of twister when something blew behind the TV and spending an hour trying to find the right cord, before I could troubleshoot the problem. These ideas helped us, and maybe they’ll help you too!

image from unpluggd

Cables Under the Desk – You know those little plastic thingys that keep the bread bag closed? Well they make EXCELLENT cable holders/labelers! Put one near the outlet and another up near the top of the cord at the back of your monitor, computer, drive, cable box, video game…whatever. This negates the need to play cable roulette whenever you have to move a drive or find out why the XBox isn’t working.

image from diyphotography.com

Cables On the desk – I use binder clips for everything as you can see from [this post]. But they’re really come in handy when I’m trying to organize the cables up on my desk. Just clip one to the back or side of your desk and snake your USB, fire-wire or even your phone charger cable right through it. That way it’s always within reach, and you can avoid c”able yoga”" trying to reach around and under the desk plugging things in.

image from lifehacker aus.

Cable Storage – I’ve been using empty single toilet paper rolls for awhile now to hold the cable for the iron, the hairdryer and the toaster. But I never thought of collecting a few for multiple cord management! Take multiple empty toilet paper rolls, (or cut a few paper towel rolls into thirds), and fit into a shallow box. Like a shoebox. Fold up each cable and push through the rolls, label each roll accordingly and place in the box. We currently have an ugly wall hanger full of a spaghetti full of cables for all kinds of things. I might get another box just to hold all the game controllers. I can’t wait to try this!

What are some your cheap/handy cable storage ideas?

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Review: Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner and Mop

Savvy — Tue, 18 Oct 2011 17:34:37 +0000

Our house is over 100 years old, and the oak hardwood floors have a clear poly finish on them. For those of you who don’t know, real wood, should never be cleaned with tons of wet soapy water, you’ll only warp the wood and ruin the grain. The best thing to use is a floor cleaner that can be poured sparingly or sprayed on then damp mopped up. My father-in-law introduced me to this stuff and I liked the ingredients so I thought I’d give it a try.

Bona Hardwood Floor Cleaner Spray (32 ounce) $8.35

Ingredients not available.

Bona 8X15 Shine Floor Mop with 2 Microfiber Covers $18.99

Now normally, I would list a product’s ingredients in a review, but, like many cleaners Bona doesn’t provide them. So I decided to research their claim of being “environmentally friendly” and found out that they are Greenguard certified. GREENGUARD Environmental Institute is an industry-independent, non-profit organization that establishes standards and testing for indoor products. They have deemed Bona products safe for use around children and pets, and that the product causes little to no indoor air polution. The product as also first made and sold in Sweden, which has much stricter “green” guidelines than the US.

Here is Greenguard’s description of the product:

A waterborne, environmentally responsible cleaner specifically formulated for cleaning all types of wood floors coated with a clear, unwaxed finish, including all polyurethane finished floors. Non-toxic cleaner, will not dull the finish or leave any residue.

That being said…I LOVE this stuff!

It gets my floors clean quick and easy, and makes them shine. I also love the mop! Unlike other quick mops, this one has a wide surface area, and cleans more of the floor more quickly. It also has an elastic edging that fits the thick microfiber pad around the head of the mop securely so it doesn’t pull off as I’m using it. I also love that I’m not filling up a landfill somewhere with those disposable stick-on wipes. I just throw the pad in the wash when I’m done, and wash it with my Homemade Laundry Powder and a little peroxide and it cleans up well every time. I think the price of the mop is worth it, especially since the pads are reusable. I also like the fact that refills of the cleaner are available, as opposed to buying mulitple smaller spray bottles and throwing them out.

RATING*: 4 Smart - Great product, great price, multiple uses, can’t give it a “5” because it doesn’t list the ingredients.

Bona Spray Floor Cleaner , Bona Floor Cleaner Refills as well as the Bona 8×15 Shine Floor Mop are both available in the Savvy Shop.

*Savvy Ratings: 5=Savvy 4=Smart 3=Suitable 2=Satisfactory 1=Stupid

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Green Clutter Busting

Savvy — Mon, 10 Oct 2011 14:27:16 +0000

Every year I try to downsize and re-organize a bit so that we have less clutter to deal with. I have dreams of coming home to a perfectly calm, serene space where not only is everything neat and clean…but I actually remember where I put everything.

I’m still working on it.

The following is a list of a few things that have really helped make the task easier, that also happen to be earth-friendly and pretty cheap!

Receipts

Wrangle Receipts and Business Cards – I have only one solution to this problem. Shoeboxed.com They send you a few large envelopes in the mail, you stuff the envelopes with all of your receipts and then drop them back in the mail (postage is free). They scan, organize and post the receipts online for you in a password protected account, then destroy/recycle the originals. I can easily see what receipts I can use for deductions as well as what we’re actually spending our money on. They also have a nifty and free iPhone app that lets you take pictures of business cards and automatically imports them into your address book! The service we use is $9.95 a month, and since we’re independent contractors is a tax write off. (Money well spent, trust me).

Recycle

Kitchen Recycling – We made recycling simple in our house and now I keep two wastepaper baskets, one blue and one grey under my kitchen sink. I got them both from an office supply store for less than $10. Paper and plastic packaging goes in one, and bottles/aluminum goes in the other. Another cheap idea is to use reusable shopping bags or even plastic storage crates under your sink to collect items. IF you’re really handy you cna DIY your own bins like this guy did here

Junk Mail

Less Junk Mail – The best way I’ve found to get our names off of those annoying junk mail lists is to do a few things.

Credit Offers – Contact the major credit reporting agencies at 1-888-5 OPT OUT (or 1-888-567-8688) 24 hours a day. Give them your address, former address within two years, and social security number. One call does it all for agencies Equifax, Trans Union, Experian and Innovis. Online visit optoutprescreen.com.
Catalogs – Call the company’s customer service # 1-800 number and have the address label handy from the front of the catalog. Give them the code on the label and tell them you no loner want their catalogs. Sign up at Catalaog Choice to get your name off of most catalog lists.
Local business and Flyers – To get rid of those ValPak coupons click this link and fill out from to get off their list. You can also sign up with 41 Pounds to get your name off of any remaining lists you may have missed.

Mail Center

DIY Mail Holders – I grabbed two cardboard magazine holders from my office and I printed up pretty labels for them and placed them right by the backdoor (where the mail comes in). They’re big enough to hold magazines and oversized envelopes, and at the end of the week, I just pick the whole thing up and go through the bills and recycle the junk mail! Here’s a link to the monogram border I used.

Home Staging Area

Staging Area – This is so important I can’t even tell you. We have baskets where stuff gets tossed when we walk in, a place to hang the keys, hang bags, put chargers and of course shoes. (I’ll post how we did it for cheap in an upcoming post!) Folks, you need a staging area if you’re going to get in and out of your house everyday on-time, organized and without killing each other, or any small pets. Need some inspiration? Check out these neat entryway ideas.

How do you keep the clutter down in your home?

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Composting for Dummies Pt. 4: DIY Countertop Compost Caddy

Savvy — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 21:16:49 +0000

There are a few ways in which you can collect your food scraps in your kitchen so that you won’t be constantly running outside to dump them in your compost bin. There are a bunch of countertop containers on the market and I even have some available for you along with compost liners in the Savvy Shop.

But here, I’m gonna show you how to make your own! (It’s really easy).

DIY Countertop Compost Caddy

What you’ll need:

An empty container that’s at least a 3lb capacity (I recycled an old oxygen cleaner container for this, because it has a nifty handle.)
Power drill with small drill bit to make hole in top (No drill? You can use a hammer and drywall nail instead)
Charcoal filter (You can find these here and at pet stores )
Hot glue gun or Crazy Glue
Velcro (you’re only going to use the side with the “teeth”)

Directions:

1. Rinse and thoroughly dry container.

2. Drill 10-15 holes into the top of the lid wider than the width of your velcro

3. If you bought a filter that is larger than your lid, cut it to fit on the underside of lid

4. Cut strips of Velcro

5. Spread hot glue (or crazy glue) all over the underside of velcro strips and glue in between the holes (hold firmly for a few seconds while the glue does its thing).

6. Press filter onto Velcro

7. Place food scraps in container as needed.

Done!

I was really excited to find all of the elements to make this around the house, so it cost me nothing to make! We are BIG fans of free here at the House of Brown.

For a list of what foods can and cannot be composted please refer to Composting for Dummies Pt 1 the start of this series. You can also use extra large compost liners if you wish inside of this container. (I don’t shrugs) I kept mine under the sink for awhile until it became insanely hot this summer, and then I began keeping it in the fridge. No matter what compost collector you use, you should empty the little guy about every two or three days. I would replace the filter every six months or so.

For a full list of composting supplies, check out the Composting Section of the Savvy Shop!

What do you use to collect food scraps in your kitchen for composting?

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DIY Hanging Hoop Laundry Bag

Savvy — Thu, 04 Aug 2011 16:45:09 +0000

I saw this over on Pinterest, (my new favorite hangout), and I couldn’t resist!

It’s originally from Martha Stewart

This laundry bag has 3 components:

12” embroidery hoop (she used a 14” one, but I felt it was too big.)
Standard pillow case (you can use larger if you wish)
OR regular sized laundry bag with drawstring
Twine, string or ribbon to hang the whole thing up with

I made the pillowcase version, cuz, well, we’ve got a bunch of orphaned pillowcases laying around…

For those of you not familiar with embroidery hoops, they consist of two interlocking rings that are held together by tension from the outer ring in the form of a thumb screw.

Directions:

DIY Hanging Hoop Pillowcase Laundry Bag

Slip pillow case around the inner ring
Secure with outer ring, and tighten thumbscrew
Slip ribbon, string or rope around or through the thumbscrew
Hang it up!

DIY Hanging Hanging Drawstring Laundry Bag (Martha’s version)

Slip a drawstring laundry bag around the inner ring, letting the drawstring hang to the outside
Secure with outer ring, and tighten thumbscrew
Shorten drawstring if necessary by cutting it and retying it.
Hang it up!

12" embroidery hoop

thumbscrew

pull 1/4"-1/2" edge of the fabric through hoop

tighten thumbscrew

attach cord, tie or ribbon

Finished Product:

DONE!

Neat huh? It stays open without holding it, so you can easily toss things into it with one hand. (I keep my mine on the inside of the closet door myself.You could get fancy with this and paint the embroidery hoop, or use pretty pink ribbon for a girl’s room. Blue rope for a boy maybe? When I made one of these for Sexy, he hung it withan errant shoelace that had been driving crazy. Every couple of weeks, I pull off the pillowcase and wash it. This has helped us stay organized in our small bedroom. No more mounds of clothes spilling out of that stupid little rattan hamper that never went with the furniture anyway.

What are your DIY laundry wrangling ideas?

You can find the items needed for this project in the Savvy Shop

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