Getting Back to the Way Basics

Say goodbye to that annoying allen wrench. Not too long ago I ordered some shelves from the company Way Basics. As their name states, they make basic shelves, the kind that are good for books, toys, any kind of stuff, really. You can get shelves in a variety of fun colors, or, as i did, opt for their natural corrugated cardboard look. I like that they look like cardboard without looking like you just set a box on your floor. It’s like a fancy cardboard. Now, usually I dread putting things together. Even the easiest things usually turn out to be more of a pain than you anticipated. But Way Basics? You put it together with double sided tape. Not kidding. The tape is applied to one side of the boards already and you simply remove the tape backing and stick the next board to it. And they seem to be really sturdy; more so than you would think. All told, it probably took me 10 minutes to put two small shelves together. Oh, and did I mention that the boards are made from 99% recycled materials and are completely recyclable when you’re done? Yep. Still not sure how they do it, but it works and is pretty darn cool. See for yourself…

Fly Carbon Free with TerraPass

We booked travel to a wedding last night on Expedia and were offered a chance to offset our carbon emissions using TerraPass. I know it seems like simply buying your way out of a bad thing, but it’s a start and we were pretty impressed to see it offered through such a large ticketing service as expedia. In addition to offsetting your flying, TerraPass offers packages to offset your car emission as well as “whole family” packages. There’s a calculator to help you estimate how many pounds of carbon you will emit during your travel. Flying across the U.S. and back will push about 2,000 pounds of carbon into the atmosphere. You can offset that at TerraPass for $11.90. That’s not bad at all.

Learn more at TerraPass.com

- WG

Seeing is Saving with Google PowerMeter

Google is unveiling a new software program that allows you to view your home’s power usage online in near real time. Wondering how much juice that 20 year old freezer in the basement uses while your at work? Soon you’ll be able to log into your iGoogle home page on your lunch break see for yourself.

Google PowerMeter

Google’s (and Lord Kelvin’s) theory is that you can’t change it if you can’t measure it. And seeing just how much energy your home uses at any moment will help everyone identify opportunities to conserve energy and save money.

The service promises to be the perfect compliment to the Obama administration’s new and renewing energy conservation incentives which seek to help American’s replace older, energy-inefficient appliances with newer, more efficient models.

It’s designed to work with the new “Smart Meters” — 40 million of which are scheduled to be installed over the next three years.

Get the skinny at Google:
http://www.google.org/powermeter/

- WG

Never Let a Good Card Go – Recycling Greeting Cards

I love wrapping gifts! My mom used to save all of her gifts for me to wrap when i would come home for the holidays. I love trying to make each present look unique and thoughtful. I also love saving cards that people send to me. So i decided to turn old holiday cards into gift tags; it works really well with the fancy glittery cards that people send. i think the result is cute and crafty and doesn’t look too much like something my grandma would do.

I also used old cards to create a holiday banner. (using cut out letters for people’s names also makes super fun gift tags!)

What are your ideas on how to reuse holiday cards?