ReStore accepts appliances, bath fixtures, cabinets, doors, electrical supplies, flooring (new only), furniture, hardware, light fixtures, new paint, plumbing supplies, sinks, tools, trim and windows.  It is located at 210 11th St. N. Moorhead and the store hours are Monday through Friday, 10a-6p and Saturday, from 10a-2p.

With “clean up week” coming soon, please keep this in mind.  Instead of tossing your “junk” out to the curb, decide if there’s something in there that could instead be dropped off at the ReStore.  This is a great way to “pay it forward” because your donation will help the store keep a good variety of items, save the buyer money, help to build homes, and you may be able to use it as a tax deduction.

For more information, call 218-284-5253 extension 1 OR email them at restore@lakeagassizhabitat.org

1  First and foremost, recycle.  If everyone in America simply separated the paper, plastic, glass and aluminum products from the trash, and tossed them in to a recylcing bin, we could decrease the amount of waste sent to landfills by 75%.  You can make money on aluminum cans if you want to bring them to the recycling center!

2  Run full loads in your dishwasher and allow them to air dry.

3  Clean air filters regularly.  Air conditioners have to work harder to circulate air through dirty filters, which is a big electricity drain.

4  Turn your computer on sleep mode so it’s not using as much power when you’re not using it, or better yet, turn it off when not in use.  For Windows users, this can be done via the control panel and Mac users can find the setting under System Preferences. 

5  Lower the temperature of your water heater to 120 degrees.   This will save energy and is a much safer temperature if there are children in the house. 

6  Shut the water off, when you’re brushing your teeth.  And in the same breath, shut the water off when you’re scrubbing dishes.  This is something that I’ve just become aware of myself.  I’ll have the water running as I’m scrubbing a pan and even though I have enough water in the pan, to effectively scrub the pan, the water continues to run.  This is an easy habit to break once you become aware of it!

7  Turn off the lights when you leave a room.  Don’t be one of those houses that has every light on in the house, while everyone is sitting around the television. 

Many of these are changes that can be made so easily that once you’ve started following them, you’ll wonder why you weren’t doing them all along!  Go ahead, give them a try!

Until next time, live GREEN!

Have you ever wondered where you can recycle old magazines or phone book?  One thing I love about writing this blog, is that as much as I think I know about recycling, reusing, etc., I realize there is still so much that I have yet to learn!  Writing this blog, and trying to get new information out to everyone, pushes me to read more, research more, and do what I can to get some good information out to you, that you may not be aware of.

This week, I was excited to learn that I can continue to recycle magazines that I have been storing since the recycling bins disappeared from the Hornbacher’s parking lot, months back.  The curbside recycling program in Moorhead does not accept magazines OR phone books, so when I finally got sick of looking at the bags of magazines I had sitting around the house, I knew I had to find out if anyone was collecting them for recycling.   Thankfully, I found that there are a couple of drop-off sites in Moorhead that I could use.

The first place is located at 1900 Main Ave.  While I drive by this corner, quite a few times a week, I have never noticed the recycling bins.   There are huge bins for magazines, newspapers and telephone books.  Next, there are bins located in the parking lots of  Kmart and CVS Pharmacy, located on 8th St. and 30th Ave. S. Moorhead.

So, if you’re like me and have been hanging on to old magazines, you now have a place to drop them off at.  And if you haven’t recycled magazines in the past, I challenge you to do so now!  This is one of the many ways that we can help the environment out and keep all of these out of the landfills!

Until next week……LIVE GREEN!

I’m moving in to the laundry room for some green tips this week. 

I was talking with my niece this weekend, about drying clothes, and she told me that she doesn’t always clean out her dryer vent.  While I knew this was something that should be done, I wasn’t quite sure what affect it would have, until I got home and did a little research in my “green book”.  Turns out that keeping your dryer lint screen clean can save you up to 5% on your electricity bill.  And, if everyone did it, we’d save the energy equivalent of 250 million gallons of gasoline per year.   Let’s not forget that a dirty dryer lint screen is a fire hazard, as well, so keep them clean!

When washing clothes, many of the newer front load washing machines will  start the cycle off using warm water.  While this is better than “hot”, it’s not as good as “cold”.  I wish that the engineers behind these machines would have made the “default” cycle using cold water instead!  The majority of clothes that you wash today, will do just fine in a cold water wash/rinse…trust me!  I wash everything in cold except my son’s bedding, which I wash in HOT because of his allergies.  Washing in a warm wash and cold rinse cycle, will save 90% over the energy used when machine washing in  hot water only so imagine what a cold water wash/rinse could save you.  Together all US households could save the energy equivalent to one hundred thousand barrels of oil a day by switching from hot-hot to warm-cold cycles.  I challenge you to take that one step further to cold-cold cycles.

Lastly, did you know that wrapping your water heater in an insulating blanket will help it store heat?  I bought one of these blankets at Ace Hardware this weekend, and am hopeful that the savings that I’m anticipating, will pay for this inexpensive item before the year is out.  If that happens, it will be one of the easiest investments I’ve made in a long time.   The important thing is to find one that is going to fit the size of your water heater and then they are very easy to install.  Remember that the thermostat on your water heater should be no higher than 120 degrees; this conserves energy and anything higher than that, is going to be dangerous to any children in the home.  

 So, which one of these challenges do you want to try this week?  Being consistent with cleaning out your dryer lint screen?  Washing more of your clothes in cold water, instead of hot or warm?  Purchasing a water heater blanket?  I hope you’ll give one of them, or all of them, a try and start to see that there really are so many shades of green and your shade is hopefully evolving each week! 

Until next week, think GREEN!

What I’m trying to point out is that to recycle, is not just the act of placing something in a bag and hauling it out to the curb to be sent to the recycling center.  It can mean something else too.  There are so many things that are recycled before their time has come.  So many items that could be reused and put to use for something else.

Do you know how many shoeboxes I threw away before I realized the many uses they could be put to?  Of course I was recycling the majority of them with the corrugated cardboard, but even better than that, is to actually use the item in place of purchasing something that will do the same trick.  Shoeboxes are one of the easiest things to reuse because they are the perfect shape for so many things.  I have several shoe boxes full of pictures that I have taken over the years.  The nice thing is that they stack so easily and I’m able to write on the outside, what the box contains.  I also have some shoeboxes that I store decks of cards in, and the many card games that my boys have compiled over the years.  They’re sturdy and they’re the perfect size for items like that.

While recycling is the key to decreasing the amount of waste sent to landfills, reusing those items is another good option too. 

I challenge you this week to find a couple of items that you would usually place in your recycling bin and see what other uses you can put them to.  Be sure to fill me on the details so I can give them a try too!

Until then, think GREEN!

Check out this calendar for many local events!

For the next couple of weeks, I’m going to present some simple steps that we can each look at trying, to help make a positive impact on the environment.  The good news is that these won’t take a lot of effort.  I’m more interested in presenting you with options.  Options that you’ll look at and say “Hey, thats something that I’m willing to try and incorporate in to my life.”  

Being green, or trying to become an  environmentally concious, friendly person, shouldn’t feel like “work”.    All you need to do is take a look at these options and decide which you’re interested in giving a try.  You may be surprised as to how many you are able to do.  Maybe not all of the time at first, but like everything else, the more we do something, the easier it becomes and pretty soon we’re doing it all of the time. 

I challenge you to read these articles and to find something that you’re willing to try.  My hope is that you will become aware of the little changes that you can do that will make a big impact, and you’ll start to share those ideas with others!

I’ll start off with one idea that I’ve already incorporated in my life.  Taking a shorter shower.  Every two minutes that you save on your shower, can conserve more than ten gallons of water.  If everyone in the country saved just one gallon from their daily shower, over the course of a year it would equal twice the amount of freshwater withdrawy from the Great Lakes every day.  I’ll admit that I used to take a shower and after lathering up and washing the soap off, I would just sit under the faucet for 5 minutes, just letting the hot water wash over my head and body.  It just felt so good….but…..after becoming aware of how much water I’m wasting, it’s now a race against the clock to get out within 5 minutes.  Sometimes I challenge myself to a 4 minute shower!  If you make a game of it, a challenge of sorts, it isn’t that hard to do.  Granted, I still have a longer shower on the days that I need to shave, but the majority of days that’s not the case and I already feel like I’m really making a difference!

The next tip I have is to set your thermostat a degree higher for air conditioning and a degree lower for heating.  This one simple step could save you $100 per year on your utility bill.  The more you adjust, the more you’ll save.  If every home in America turned the dial, we could save more than $10 billion per year on energy costs.  That’s enough to provide a year’s worth of gas, electricity and natural gas to every person in Iowa.

Take the challenge this week and see how you do on these two steps.  I really believe that you’ll surprise yourself on how easy this can be.  You’ll be helping your water and electricity bills and helping the environment too!  Let me know how it goes!

Did you know that getting rid of junk mail, would have the same effect as taking millions of cars off the roads?  And that junk mail makes up more of the waste stream than disposable diapers.  Surprising, isn’t it?!  Keep reading and find some links that you can follow, to start decreasing the amount of junk mail you receive!

www.dmachoice.org Consumers can remove their names from mailing lists for unwanted advertising, donation requests, catalogs and other offers.

www.catalogchoice.org Customers can unsubscribe from specific catalogs.

www.optoutprescreen.com or 888-567-8688  Consumers can opt out of credit card solicitations for either five years or permanently.  Experts say this not only is a smart green move, but also might help prevent identity theft.

Some groups, including ForestEthics  http://www.donotmail.org/ are working to make junk mail illegal.  They’ve gathered more than a million signatures on a petition, but so far haven’t made progress in Congress.  They’re opposed by the direct mail and catalog companies that say they need mail marketing and sales to keep the economy humming.  Opponents to direct mail restrictions say the industry creates 3.5 million US jobs.  I say, too bad.    What do you say?

As this new year begins, I’m looking forward to sharing ideas with you, on how we can truly make a difference in our environment.  When you think about the fact that what we do today, will affect people who will be around 100 years from now, and those very people will include our own children’s children, it puts a whole new perspective on why what we do today, really does affect us and those we love! 

So many people just don’t get it……so I threw my pop bottle (or the 5th one this week) in a garbage can instead of recycling it; what difference does one bottle make?  So I took a shower until the hot water ran out….my back was aching…..and still is, come to think of it.  We live in a world today where we do what we do because we’ve always done it.  My hope is that I can help you look at the term “green” in a whole new shade.   My hope is that instead of ignoring all of the “earth friendly” advice that is available to each of us, often in the newspaper, on our computers and televisions, you will instead take a minute to think about it and let it sink in. My hope is that you will take the initiative to try just one idea, that you’ve read in this ongoing blog, and when you realize how simple it was, and the positive affect that you have made on this earth, you will share it with someone else.  

Each of us has the potential to make such a difference today and every day, and my hope is that you’ll join me in doing just that.  Being “green” really is contagious!  The more baby steps you take, the bigger the impact you will have on helping preserve this beautiful planet we call Earth, and ensuring that others are given the same opportunity that we were given, to live on it in the centuries to come.

So, be sure to check back often to learn with me, about the steps we can all take in this new year, 2010.  My sources will be plenty and I’m hopeful that I’ll learn just as much as you, as we turn over our new green leaf!

How many times have you been to a grocery store in the Fargo-Moorhead area and been asked this question? Would you like paper or plastic? You quickly try and figure out what the “correct” answer is so you can do your part to help the environment.

Plastic, you have heard, can take 500-1000 years to break down in a landfill. While sitting in the landfill, if it’s not caught in the wind first, animals may ingest it or get caught up in it and that leads to more problems. IF recycled, bags can be melted and reformed in to products such as plastic lumber used on decks, fence material, park benches and other industrial and residential goods.

Paper, on the other hand, costs more to produce than plastic. Aside from the resources (chemicals, electricity, fossil fuels) it takes to make and ship paper bags, the production of one paper bag consumes one gallon of water, equating to 50 times that of plastic bags. You can recycle paper bags in your back yard as an effective weed barrier under top soil, and it will break down much faster than it would in a landfill. Or if it’s recycled, it goes through a similar process that it was created from initially.

Both paper and plastic bags consume large amounts of natural resources and the majority will eventually end up in the landfill. Paper may consume more resources to produce, however, it is also more recyclable than plastic, if you consider the fact that paper can be composted and plastic bags cannot. Either way, there are so many uses for each type of bag that you should try and get as much use out of each of them, before you toss them in the trash.

The best option is not to have to be asked the question at all. If you really want to do what’s best for the environment, purchase your own re-usable bags. Place them on the front seat of your car so that you remember to grab them before heading in to the store. You’ll be amazed at how much they can fit in one of those bags and you’ll have less trips back and forth to the car once you get home. As an added bonus, I know that Hornbacher’s, in the Fargo-Moorhead area, will pay you 5cents for each reusable bag that you bring in to pack your groceries in so they really do pay for themselves in no time!

So, which will it be? Paper, plastic or neither? The choice is up to you!

The Three R’s…...

No, I don’t mean reading, ‘riting, and ‘rythmatic.  I’m talking about reducing, reusing, and recycling! The time has come for each and every one of us to step up to the plate and help preserve this home we call Mother Earth!  There are several things you can do, that won’t cost you anything, and may even save you money.  As an added incentive, they will benefit the earth in ways you never imagined.

First off, you can reduce waste by using a computer!  Many newspapers and magazines are online now. As you can see the Star Tribune is in the left column of this blog and In Forum is in the right hand column of this blog. Instead of buying the paper version, you can read them online and oftentimes at no cost to you.  Remember that you should only print out what you need and when you’re done with that sheet of paper, flip it over and throw it back in the paper tray to reuse again!  The savings will add up because you’ll be able to use 2 sheets of paper for the price of one!

Next, you need to be aware of the numerous items that can be recycled right in your very own city.   Paper bags, soda cans, milk cartons, corrugated cardboard and glass are several of the items that can be recycled.  Recycled items are put through a process that makes it possible to create new products out of the materials from the old ones.  So not only are you helping the environment by not sending this “garbage” to the landfill, you are assisting with the creation of new items at an energy cost substantially lower than if it were made from non-recycled materials.

Remember, reducing the amount of waste you produce is the best way to help the environment.  Reusing and recycling of items is beneficial as well and each of us has an important role in doing just that!