A 'Living Green' Tip

Cleaning with Lemons

It seems every cleaner manufacturer is rushing to get on the green bandwagon these days. Clorox just released its new line, Green Works (TM), and you can be sure others will follow. But here's a secret: green cleaners existed long before these products came about. Sorry Clorox!

If you're serious about going green, give lemons a try. They disinfect. They polish. They bleach. And they don't come encased in a plastic bottle with a big price tag attached.

Cut the junk by cutting your disposable drinking cup habit. Instead of a foam or paper cup, sip your daily dose out of your own travel mug if you're on the go, or ask the cafe for a mug if you have a few minutes to hang.

* Cutting waste. If you purchase one cup of coffee every day in a disposable container, you create about 23 lbs. of waste each year.

* Fewer noxious chemicals. Polystyrene (styrofoam) can potentially disrupt your hormones, and the chlorine used to bleach paper cups creates carcinogenic dioxins during production.

* Saving cash. Many coffee houses offer a small discount to customers who bring their own reusable containers.




Thrifty Tip:

I hate to waste Scotch tape by turning the end over to keep it from getting "lost" in those cheap dispensers. Finally I discovered that if I place a bit of plastic cut from a coffee can lid under the end instead, that bit of tape will still be usable (and "findable")!