Tree Hugging Family » Recycle

How to choose green cleaners – store bought green cleaners

Jennifer — Tue, 10 Feb 2009 09:05:01 +0000

Here at Tree Hugging Family, I mainly advocate making your own homemade green cleaners. Not only is it easy to make simple green cleaners, but very cost effective. That said, there will always be folks who want to buy, not make cleaners, so I figured we should take a look at which store bought cleaners are actually green.

The number one rule for choosing a green store bought cleaner is – read your labels. A pretty waterfall or little green leaf means nothing. Ignore fancy ‘green’ packaging and read your labels.

Terms you want to see on a cleaning bottle include:

Ammonia free
Chlorine free
Plant based
Biodegradable
Certified organic
Solvent free
Phosphate free
Chemical free
Fragrance free
Dye and artificial color free

Of course, one cleaner may note that it’s got certified organic ingredients or that it’s fragrance free, but that doesn’t mean it’s perfect. You need to read the whole label, not simply go by the first thing you see.

Terms you DO NOT want to see on a cleaning bottle include:

“Poison” or “Danger.” Federal law mandates that these terms indicate the highest possible level of hazard.
“Caution” or “Warning,” both mean a product carries a moderate hazard.
“Wear gloves” – “Only use in a well ventilated area” and other likewise terms are big baddies. I’m sorry, but if you need to wear gloves or a face mask in order to handle a product, right there it’s a bad idea.

Next check for full ingredient disclosure: If a product says something like, “Natural ingredients” or has a super scanty ingredient list, I’d be leery. They could do better. Some products may be just fine, and list their healthy ingredients at their website, but they should include them on the package.

Lastly check the packaging:

Is it excessive?
Is it recyclable?
Is it refillable? Some co-ops do offer refillable cleaning products.

Is it worth it?

All in all, this is a lot of work just to find a green cleaner. You could just make most of your own. If you need help making homemade green cleaners (or help choosing a green conventional cleaner) read the following:

Basic green cleaning

Nice scents

Laundry

Dishes

Which cleaners do you buy vs. make?

[image via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

What answers the question – how do bored people and or soccer players recycle?

Jennifer — Fri, 16 Jan 2009 00:50:43 +0000

This product seems to:

The SamePaperPlayAgain recycling bin from the folks at FeelAddicted adds some kick to the recycling experience. Literally.

Use it at home or the office to spice things up. I suggest a contest, maybe with office supply prizes. At home I bet the kids would love this too.

Visit FeelAddicted to learn more.

[images via FeelAddicted]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Green Product Review: Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder

Jennifer — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 18:00:50 +0000

Product tried: Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder

Test washes completed: At least eight or ten; we’ve been using it a few weeks.

Cost: About $9-10.00 at my local grocery store, for 32 oz., which is 64 loads, but I’m betting it comes out to more loads then that. Also, I found it at Drugstore.com for a great deal, just $6.59. That’s an outstanding price considering the amount you get.

Website: Again, remember that before I mentioned how Biokleen has a lame website. I still dislike their website. Here’s what I said before (and it still stands).

I’m very disappointed in the Biokleen website.

First off, their site map page is busted. Click on “Company Overview” or “Our Promise” and nothing? Also, it’s hard to find their ingredient info, in fact, I never found it, I had to pull ingredients from the actual bottle of detergent, which did not thrill me. I shouldn’t have to work so hard to look up ingredients – they should tell me about them at the site.

They also have zero pages dedicated to recycling or packaging; which in my opinion is shoddy for an eco-friendly company.

Stats:

3x More Concentrated
Phosphate & Chlorine Free
Vegan.
No artificial fragrance, colors, or preservatives.
No negative effects on rivers, streams, plants, or wildlife.
Kind to those with chemical sensitivities and allergies
biodegrades and Ozone safe.
Not tested on animals
New & Improved Formula home
Removes tough stains, including coffee and tea
Safe for high-efficiency dishwashers

Ingredients: Oxygen Bleach (Natural Sodium Percarbonate), Vegetable Fiber, Anti-Corrosive Agents (Natural), Grapefruit Seed, Pulp Extract, Soda Ash, Sodium Citrate, Readily Biodegradable Nonionic Surfactants. Contains no phosphate, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum, solvents, alcohol, butyl, ether, SLS or SLES, EDTA, DEA. No SARA title III, CA 65, or EPA priority pollutants. No materials listed by the ACGIH as hazardous.

Packaging: The container is plastic and recyclable but I don’t think the lid is. I can’t tell. After searching their site forever, (which frankly started to make me mad – I’ve had a bad day) I decided to call them. Turns out they’re closed. The good news; Bi-O-Kleen Industries, Inc. is actually right near where I live, so I’ll call them again to find out about the lids, and also maybe stop by to chat with them about their website. Hopefully more to come. There is no boxed powder available.
Review – i.e. what I think:

I followed the directions; which you can read here, and the first wash left a little white residue. The next time I washed I used a little less than 1/2 Tbs per soap cup (I have two). If I use under 1 Tbs per load, I don’t get any white residue. I ran two incredibly dirty loads of dishes and those loads came out clean looking, but a little sticky. The other loads I rinsed the dishes before hand quickly, like I normally do after we eat, before washing them. All of those came out clean and not sticky.

In my dishwasher, on my dishes, I felt like this powder worked much better than the Seventh Generation Automatic Dishwasher Gel and also better than the Seventh Generation Dishwasher Powder. The Biokleen powder seems less iffy. The Seventh Generation products work, but I didn’t love them because once in a while something came out sketchy. Also, while I’m not the type to check for spots, I haven’t noticed any with the Biokleen powder, and I did notice some with the Seventh Gen powder.

Bottom line: If you use the Biokleen Automatic Dish Powder you need to be willing to rinse your dishes before hand. I do this anyhow, dishwashers always note that they’re aren’t meant to clean totally gross dishes, so it’s no big deal to me. I think my dishes are perfectly clean using this powder. It’s got a nice light scent, like all their products. A huge perk is that one container will last forever. You get a ton of earth-friendly loads for a great price. I’ll buy this product again.

Total score:

Three out of five happy trees because it works well. They lose two for their lame ongoing website issues, and because they don’t offer a boxed powder; a cardboard box would be easy to recycle.

Other reviews of this product:

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in June 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Around the Web with Peggy & Jennifer

Jennifer — Thu, 22 May 2008 20:15:05 +0000

So, it’s been awhile since we did one of these round-ups. We’re due. Here’s the green we’ve been writing elsewhere that may interest Tree Hugging Family Readers.

Building, buying, or remodeling your own green home:

Home & Living:

Architecture:

Baby:

Eco friendly baby shirts
Easy ways to go green with your baby
Organic baby clothing
Sweet organic baby tees
Happy summer organic baby finds
Cutest baby babble story ever – note that this is not so green, or even really useful for human parents, but it’s so darn cute I keep spreading it around. Sorry.

Work related:

Miscellaneous stuff:

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Mummy Style Trash

Jennifer — Sat, 03 May 2008 17:00:53 +0000

Mummies and our current trash situation are a lot alike. If you’re working on teaching your younger kids about biodegradability, then the mummy slant works nicely.

Biodegrade: at the most basic means to rot (decompose), and vanish, leaving no trace. Trash, like mummies is tough stuff, hard to rot, hard to make vanish completely.

We know that Egyptians buried their leaders and in some cases family members in mummy fashion. We also know that we bury our trash in landfills.

The mummies were buried in places devoid of air, sunlight, and water. So is our trash. Not the trash on top of the pile, but trash on the top of the pile, becomes trash on the bottom of the pile quickly.

When it comes to mummies, we’ve found some in perfectly good shape (for a dead fellow) that are thousands of years old. In thousands of years, how nice of shape will our trash be in? If you’re talking bottom of the barrel, odd are, some will be in pretty good shape.

What to do instead of tossing trash in a landfill:

Don’t buy an item in the first place, unless it’s recyclable.
Recycle everything you can.
Reuse items or buy used or recycled when possible.

Mummies are fun to find, cool to see, and can teach us great facts about history. I doubt we’ll be saying the same about the cool-whip container our great, great, great grandkids find.

To explore recycling read:

To explore mummies visit the following resources:

Click here to learn about all the current contests, themes, and green challenges going on at Tree Hugging Family in May 2008

[photos via stock.xchng]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Green Product Review: Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid

Jennifer — Mon, 28 Apr 2008 22:00:04 +0000

Product: Biokleen All Temperature Laundry Liquid from Biokleen

Cost: Around $9 for 64 oz which equals 64 plus regular loads or 128 HE (high efficiency) loads.

Basics according to the Biokleen:

“Our Laundry liquid removes the toughest dirt, grease, stains and odors, yet is gentle enough for cloth diapers, delicate fabrics and hand washables. Rinses clean without leaving residue on clothes that can irritate skin or ruin fabrics.
Naturally controls stains and odors.
Makes a great pre-treat for stains.
All of the Biokleen liquid and powder laundry products perform well in many different water conditions, including hard water.”

Website:

I’m very disappointed in the Biokleen website.

First off, their site map page is busted. Click on “Company Overview” or “Our Promise” and nothing? Also, it’s hard to find their ingredient info, in fact, I never found it, I had to pull ingredients from the actual bottle of detergent, which did not thrill me. I shouldn’t have to work so hard to look up ingredients – they should tell me about them at the site.

They also have zero pages dedicated to recycling or packaging; which in my opinion is shoddy for an eco-friendly company.

Earth-friendly qualities:

Phosphate & Chlorine Free
Contains only surfactants and conditioners made from coconut and or corn, orange peel, grapefruit seed and pulp, linear sulfonate, filtered water.
Vegan.
No artificial fragrance, colors, or preservatives.
No negative effects on rivers, streams, plants, or wildlife.
Kind to those with chemical sensitivities and allergies
Rapidly biodegrades and Ozone safe.
Not tested on animals
Awarded top environmental honor
Bottle is recyclable although lid is not – this might be one good reason to buy dry detergent (no lid). Bottle does remind you to recycle.

Does not contain: Phosphate, chlorine, ammonia, petroleum solvents, alcohol, butyl, glycol ether, SLS, or SLES, EDTA, DEA, no SARA Title III, CA 65, or EPA priority pollutants, no material listed by the ACGIH (American Conference of Governmental Industrial Hygienists) as hazardous.

Whew, that’s a lot NOT in there. Now, if Biokleen got their act together and created a user friendly website, one that actually explained what all this bad stuff is, the common consumer might learn something. Still, it is a very eco-friendly detergent, one of the best on the market, I’d say.

Scent: Grapefruit Seed & Orange Peel Extract. Not strong enough for scent loving me. I would have liked a stronger grapefruit scent. However, perfect for those of you not into strong scents. The smell was light and not sticky sweet at all. The smell did not fill up my laundry room. Plus once you wash, the smell is pretty much gone. All you smell is soapy clean laundry. They also offer a clear and clean unscented version.

Test run: I washed about six loads on cold. It comes with a little measure scoop. I used the recommended amount of detergent. The detergent is pretty thick and creates a lot of bubbles right away – so thinking it was pretty thick, I ran one load on half the recommended amount and the load still came out clean. Each load came out perfectly clean and smelling nice.

However, none of our clothes were that dirty. We ran around at the park and our jeans got muddy, but mud, in my experience comes out even if you just water wash, so… How will this detergent clean up a bad clothing mess? I had no clue. Then I struck test wash gold.

BLOOD: Yup blood, no, not Cedar’s, mine. I was all, “Oh, I can cut apples and celery super quick” um no. Sliced my finger right open. I washed my finger, thought it had stopped bleeding, and Cedar called me to look at a picture. I went to see Cedar and five minutes later, looked down, and guess what? I should have put a bandage on. Lots o’ bright red blood on my very light green colored thrift store skirt. Sure I only paid $5 but I like this skirt. Was it ruined?

Steps I took: Because I’m not a laundry genius, I didn’t pre-soak, because I wasn’t sure if I should. I didn’t bother looking it up because frankly, I’m busy. I don’t own any sort of stain remover, so I threw my skirt in the clothing pile and figured I’d deal with it later. Five hours later, I start thinking, maybe I should have washed it right away. Doh! I tried to remember if you’re supposed to wash blood out in cold or warm? I had no idea, so I toss it into a cold wash with a bunch of other stuff. I used the recommended amount of detergent.

The results:

No blood! None. Yeah, I’m not the best photographer, but obviously, there’s no blood on this skirt. It all came out. As you can see this is a very light colored skirt. I was very happy. BTW later I read the instructions on the package and it says to pre-treat tough stains.
Total happy tree points:

Four out of five! I’d buy Biokleen detergent again, even though it could smell stronger. I would likely buy powder to eliminate the non-recyclable lid issue. They lose an entire point for having a hard to manage website that does not discuss ingredients, and for not discussing recycling on the site.

Don’t take my word for it:

Grist did a review on Biokleen Free & Clear Laundry Liquid and they seemed to like it, although, it didn’t work as well for them (it didn’t get out blueberries and red wine – but neither did the other detergents they reviewed). I’m surprised since it got out blood. Read the Grist review along with five others.

[all photos via Jennifer Chait's laundry adventure series]

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

60 Eco-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Spring

Jennifer — Thu, 20 Mar 2008 13:00:29 +0000

Many of us are welcoming spring today, so I thought it would be nice to go over some nature loving, tree hugging, eco-friendly ideas that will carry the entire family through the better part of spring and into summer.

1. Quit looking at nature through your frosty windows. It’s warming up, so get out there and enjoy nature in real time, in real life, in full blown color.

2. Throw open your windows wide and let in the fresh air. Natural ventilation is actually a really effective green home goal to aim for. Proper cross ventilation naturally helps to remove any indoor pollution caused by molds, mites, varnishes, paints, cleaners, and more.

3. Have a spring reusable bag sewing party.

4. Use the spring lilacs to create something sweet.

5. Celebrate spring like other cultures do:

In Egypt, you throw open your windows and breathe deep on the first day of spring. Later have a picnic.
In Poland a large straw doll is dressed up in old clothes, and then thrown in the river – ok, maybe don’t do that one (not great for fish).
The festival of colors, or Holi, is a Hindu spring festival, observed in North India and Nepal where children squirt colored water on each other to celebrate.
What other spring traditions do cultures celebrate? Tell me what you know.

6. See the zoo babies.

7. Try left-over heat cooking for your spring recipes. This means turn the stove top or oven off when food is almost done. Pasta, veggies, rolls, and even meats in the oven will be ok (and fully cooked) if you turn off the heat a few minutes early. Just leave the oven door shut, the pot top on, etc. Imagine how many minutes of energy you will have saved by next spring.

8. Enjoy new blossoms and leaves sprouting to life on the trees.

9. Build a rain barrel to collect spring showers.

10. Rent lawn equipment that you know you will only use occasionally.

11. Alternatively, start a neighborhood co-op of lawn equipment. Purchase together and share major item.

12. Visit a waterfall – this is the best time of year for waterfalls, snow is melting, and the water comes crashing down.

13. Spring clean – just don’t spring clean with chemicals and other icky stuff. Make this year’s spring cleaning actually clean and healthy.

14. Learn which fruits and veggies are in season and eat bunches of them. Buying in season and locally grown is better for the earth, your wallet, and your health.

15. Choose a recycled plastic picnic table.

16. Fold a “springing” froggy out of recycled paper.

17. If your coffee shop of choice serves single serve sugars and creamers, choose a new favorite coffee shop or ask them to get large, bulk containers of cream and sugar.

18. Visit a wetland area – there are still enough wetland areas so that it’s safe to assume that there’s one near you, but there may not be for long. Without conservation we could lose some major wetland areas. I’d visit soon because it’s not clear yet that enough people care to save them. Ask your local visitors center where you can find a wetland area near you.

19. Get some cool spring worthy eco-toys. These new toys from Green Toys are created from curbside recycled milk containers. The actual shop should be open in the spring sometime, but until then you can contact the company directly with purchase inquiries. They have a great Sand Play Set or Organic Gardening Set.

20. Is it still too cold for flowers where you live? Make some colorful recycled tissue paper garlands to add spring to your house. (Use that used holiday tissue that I know you saved). Better yet, make a garland and give it to a neighbor, friend, elderly home, or children’s ward at a hospital.

21. Rejoice in spring flowers.

22. Help your kids to join Journey North.

23. Buy a reclaimed wood garden bench so you can sit outside and read.

24. This season, and each season have your car engine tuned up and serviced. Following a decent tune up schedule will reduce the amount of pollution your car emits by 20%. Better yet you’ll save on fuel – good for the earth and wallet.

25. Hunt for birds nests – don’t touch though, just look.

26. Build your own compost bin for recycling spring garden and kitchen scraps.

27. Visit a rural farm. Notice how a farm in spring differs from where you live. Unless of course you do live on a farm – then visit a city park and observe the same differences.

28. Go ahead, green your entire Easter celebration.

29. Or at least make your own recycled magazine Easter baskets.

30. If you go on a green picnic this spring make sure six packs with plastic rings aren’t on the menu. One, the plastic rings when not cut can kill birds, fish, and other wildlife. Two, plastic won’t degrade until well after your great grandchildren are celebrating their springs. And three, there’s no need to have them. Many canned drink products now come in boxes instead of with rings. If you’re buying canned drinks, get those instead.

31. Get some eco-friendly rain gear for the whole family so you can go splash in spring puddles.

32. Get your spring garden seeds organized using recycled milk cartons.

33. Rent a greener car on your spring break vacation.

34. Don’t defrost the Easter Ham in the microwave. Microwave defrosting wastes more energy than planning ahead and defrosting in the fridge.

35. Go searching for the end of a rainbow.

36. You still have time for a spring garden clean up.

37. This year combine your spring cleaning with some green audits: Try green auditing your trash, bathroom, or your pantry.

38. Get in the habit of nighttime watering now. Watering your lawn and garden is much more efficient at night than in the daytime. In the cool of evening plants lose almost 50% less water than in the heat. That adds up to a ton of water saved each year. Of course you can double your water saving efforts by using your saved rainwater.

39. On each of your spring outings pick up one piece of trash. If everyone did this that would be over 300 million fewer pieces of litter on our streets, in our parks, and so on, daily.

40. Relax… think about simplifying your life and time.

41. As summer gets closer consider organizing a summer toy lending program with other families – this cuts down on consumption, teaches kids about sharing, and uses fewer resources and energy. Get ideas for your lending program here.

42. Now that it’s warming up, turn your heating down by 5 more degrees. Each 5 degree decrease saves up to 11% energy consumption a year.

43. If you go camping, leave nothing behind in nature. Pack up all your belongings and carry them out of the forest with you.

44. Get up close and personal with some fresh grass – ponder a single blade. Think about all the good reasons why you shouldn’t add chemical poisonous fertilizer to your grass this year

45. Get that recycling under control.

46. Learn to love slow mail – the quicker you send your mail or ask for packages to be delivered to you, the worse it is for the planet. Transportation is hugely connected to pollution and global warming. The more transport we require the worse it is. Quit with the two day mail services. You don’t need stuff right away, and if you know you will, plan accordingly.

47. Try out one of 10 great organic gardening projects for kids this spring.

48. See how many toads you can count at the local river or lake. Can you find tadpoles too?

49. If you take out an off-road vehicle this spring, stick to where you should be. Running over habitats is not cool – you could destroy an animal’s home, kill rare plants, and harm tree roots. Stick to wide trails that are deemed ok for off-road travel.

50. Get away from it all. Imagine what life would be like away from all the hustle and bustle most of the time.

51. Blow bubbles! Make some homemade bubble mix out of a tablespoon of glycerin, a cup of natural liquid soap, and a gallon of water (give or take). Make your own bubble wands out of recycled items like…

Butter or yogurt tub tops with holes punched in them.
Green plastic strawberry containers.
Bent wire hangers.
That fly swatter you never use.
Pipe cleaners bent into fun shapes.

52. Hang out with a family of ducks.

53. Dare your family to take at least 5 small steps for the environment by summer.

54. Go on a wildflower hike.

55. Clean out your closets – give good clothing away to the thrift store, make cleaning rags out of the worst, and save the cherished pieces for a memory quilt.

56. Make sure your family participates in eco-friendly boating (if you boat).

57. Slap a fresh coat of paint on the house – non-toxic, VOC-free paint of course.

58. When spring cleaning, don’t forget the car. However, use a bucket of water and an old rag to scrub away dirt, not the power spray on the hose. Every minute you run the hose you’re wasting 10 (or more) gallons of water. There are people in other countries who can’t even find one decent glass of water to drink, and animals and fish who have lost whole water habitats due to water waste. There’s no excuse for excessive water waste.

59. Go bicycling as a family – double your efforts by actually having an errand destination; the grocery store, library, the park for lunch. Every time you don’t take your car, you’re doing the earth some good.

60. Plant a tree – it’s almost always a good time to plant a tree, but spring is really nice because a new tree’s roots won’t be shocked by the cold anytime soon.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

One Small Step: Cut Out Five Poorly Conceived Ideas

Jennifer — Sun, 16 Mar 2008 20:09:31 +0000

Starting today, choose five small products that make no sense from the earth’s perspective, and boycott. Forget they ever happened. Choose any five you like, but I’ll give you some ideas to start with.

Single serving cereal boxes – you know those ones your kids want. Just say no, but of course explain why.
Small hotel shampoo and conditioner. Can we say extreme plastic overuse. I can, “Extreme plastic overuse.”
Traditional cleaning wipes. Most are full of gross toxic stuff, plus, they add up. That’s a ton of garbage if even 50% of this country alone uses them on a daily basis. I said traditional because there are a few green brands, but really, is it so hard to use a cloth?
Children’s Benadryl Allergy Perfect Measure – what a huge waste. You’re not a bad parent if you simply carry around a bottle of medicine and a reusable measuring cup.
Sticky notes: I know you have scrap paper laying around. Don’t buy scrap paper, that’s just silly.

Now, which products are you going to give up?

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Green Etsy Finds

Jennifer — Thu, 21 Feb 2008 12:22:18 +0000

Etsy is cool. It’s easy to get addicted to their handmade goods. Some of their green goods are questionable; such as recycled sweater coffee cup sleeves (um, why use paper cups anyway), but many of the items you’ll find are very cool. Like…

Green Handkerchief: Nice for a reusable handkerchief. 100% cotton and vintage to boot. Adorable design and so much less waste than using paper based tissues.

This is one reusable item I’m a little concerned with, mainly because I always wonder about the overall germ issues – and believe me, I’m not germ-a-phobic or anything. But when you’re sick you don’t feel like washing a million cloth handkerchiefs. Cedar’s dad is a big user of cloth handkerchiefs and they work well for him but I’m not sure they work well for Cedar when he’s sick. He tosses them everywhere (ick). That said, it’s a ridiculous use of paper to use traditional tissue. I suppose this is something I should look at. When I was a kid, my mom made everyone use old cloth diapers as tissue – which yes, is pretty green, what with re-use and all, but I didn’t like the germ issues then either.

I love this fresh reusable grocery / anything bag. I’d use it for lots of stuff. It’s way cute and of course cuts down on your paper and plastic bag use. This one is burlap, zig zag stitched (no fraying), and does have handles – you just can’t see them in the photo.

According to the seller, these Seedeaters Gift Cards are, “Hand made using collected and rescued fabric with hand drawn details. The card used is between 75 and 100 percent recycled, the majority of which is post consumer waste paper. The envelopes, are 100% recycled.”

I’m not the biggest fan of cards in almost any form – just because it’s got to be one of the least earth friendly ways to send love and caring. However, once in a while I will send a card with a letter inside (to make use of the space) and Cedar and I will make them out of recycled goods. But, I just couldn’t resist this adorable bird design. If you send a recycled card try to write more than just your name. Make the card something full of happy thoughts – in my mind that can help to offset the energy it takes to send a card and the paper use.

Post from: Tree Hugging Family

Five Terribly Prejudiced Green Links

Jennifer — Mon, 18 Feb 2008 14:00:54 +0000

Why terribly prejudiced? Well, I was looking around for some nice links to share and noticed that all the ones I like come from place that do make it appear that I’m prejudiced. Seriously, I’m not, I just happened to like these links this week.

On with it…

Burt’s Bees and Clorox from co-blogger Peggy’s other green blog. I know; it looks suspicious. But really this was a cool post and something I hadn’t heard of yet.

18 Uses for Old Towels from Deb at Simply Thrifty: Most people who know me, (the online me) know I’m friends with Deb. Still, how could I not link this useful of a post?

A stellar post about how individuals with diabetes can go more green from Julie. Now, Julie is a frequent Tree Hugging Family visitor and a friend. Yup, it looks prejudiced. However, I would have linked this if we were mortal enemies. It’s a great post. Good even if you don’t have diabetes – in fact if you take any sort of medication ever, I suggest reading it.

1st birthday wrapping paper – eco wrapping paper – ok, I wrote this for another blog of mine. Linking me is just the absolute worst. It’s good though.

Lucky Origami Stars from Joshua at Junk Creations. The least biased post link here. I like Junk Creations and Joshua works for b5media too, so it could be construed as prejudiced – but the stars are adorable and Joshua suggests them as a good use for junk mail (which of course we all need a use for).

Ok, this ends my terribly prejudiced links for now. Later I’ll try to hunt down some people I don’t like and link them

Post from: Tree Hugging Family