Looking for a gift for your favorite DIY-er? Here are 7 eco-friendly stocking stuffers that any handy person will appreciate.

Glide Lubricant & Protectant – Throw out the WD-40! Glide Lubricant is the green alternative for oiling a squeaky door, bicycle chain, or sticky zipper. In fact, take a look here at all its potential household uses.  Manufacturers claim it can remove lipstick stains and erase crayon marks from toys, flooring, furniture, walls and television screens – plus unstick Legos!! Glibe Lube is non-VOC, has never been tested on animals, and is even NSF/H1 safe for incidental contact with food (in case you need to tune up a food processor, blender, toaster, juicer…you get the idea). Order it from the Glide store here.

EO Hand Sanitizing Gel – DIY-ers may like to make a mess, but they also like to keep it clean. This gel hand sanitizer both sanitizes and moisturizes, thanks to its jojoba oil and vegetable glycerin. But it’s unscented, so is perfect for the guy or gal who doesn’t want to smell like perfume.  It contains no antibacterials (like triclosan), so won’t add to the antibiotic resistance problem the way other hand sanitizers do.

LED Headlamp – If your DIY-er finds his or her head under a car, buried in a cupboard, or otherwise peering into a dark or hard-to-see space, this Streamlight Septor LED Headlamp could be the perfect gift. The 7 ultra bright white LEDs pack a lot of power; the settings offer three levels of lighting and up to 120 hours of continuous run time. The lamp does require 3 AAA batteries, so make sure they’re rechargeable.

Snacks – Don’t let your DIY-er run out of energy. Look for snacks with a minimum amount of sugar, no transfats, no hydrogenated oils, and non-GMO. My faves are Kind bars, and they come in a variety of combos, including nuts & spices, and dark chocolate with cherries and cashews. Yum!

Water Bottle With Filter – A DIY-er never knows where he/she might end up. Having a water bottle with its own filter is a good idea. I like the Ecoflo Stainless Steel Water Filter Bottle. It’s BPA free, has no phthalates, and the filter removes up to 99.99% of pollutants.

Hemp T-Shirt – Hemp is one of the most eco-friendly fabrics out there. It requires little in the way of water and pesticides to grow, and once it’s turned into fabric it is extremely durable and long-lasting. Guys can try this t-shirt that is 55% hemp, 45% organic cotton, and available in short or long sleeves. Here’s one for women.

Non-Toxic Hand Soap – Most DIY-ers spend a LOT of time washing their hands. Using a non-toxic, moisturizing soap is the key to avoiding dried out and chapped skin. This handmade all natural Castile Olive soap from Natural Handcrafted Soap, LLC contains cocoa butter as well as organic coconut. It’s actually mild enough to use on your face, too.

Do you have any favorite eco-friendly stocking stuffers? Please share!

The post Eco-Friendly Stocking Stuffers for Your Favorite DIY-er appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Next to your mortgage (if you have one), you probably spend more money on food and groceries than any other item in your budget. You can cut expenses way down by following some of these ingenious and eco-friendly ways to save money on groceries:

1) Eat the food you buy. I’m not being facetious. The U.S. Department of Agriculture estimates that people throw away 30 percent of the groceries they buy because the food spoils before it is eaten or people lose track of leftovers in their fridge or freezer. Keep a list of what you have in the fridge on the front door so you remember what you have to cook.

See also: The Three Best Ways to Reduce Food Waste

2) Love your leftovers. Many meals actually taste better reheated, especially those in sauces, like spaghetti, soups and stews. Want to get more creative? Use cooked vegetables, like green beans and potatoes, in a salad with carrots, tomatoes, and crisp greens.  Just add a little vinaigrette and eat up! Or, puree them and add them to soup.

3) Store food in air-tight containers. It’s worth investing in some good glass containers with tight-fitting lids so that when you put leftovers away, they’ll last a few days in the fridge. Use a piece of masking tape to date and label what’s inside.

4) Give up bottled water. In most parts of the United States, local tap water is just as good as, if not better than, bottled water, and it’s many times cheaper. Buy a water filter and keep a pitcher of filtered tap water in the fridge. Or, fill up some reusable water bottles with filtered tap water. You can save $10-$15 a week, depending on how much bottled water you buy currently.

See also: 5 Best Reusable Water Bottles

5) Eat less meat. I’m primarily a vegetarian, but my kids eat meat once or twice a week. That probably adds $20 – $30 a week to my grocery bill. Cut back on serving meat as a main course, at the very least. A chicken-stir fry will use a lot less meat than serving a whole chicken breast.

6) Eat more vegetables and grains. For grains, try brown rice, quinoa, amaranth, wild rice and polenta. With veggies, whatever is in season and looks good works. If you’re not sure what to cook, check out our Meatless Monday recipes.

7) Cook your own beans, peas and lentils. You can buy a whole bag of dried beans, peas, and lentils, and cook up what you need. Or, you can spend twice the money to get them canned. Cooking them yourself just requires a little advance planning, since you need to soak them overnight or put them in a slow cooker. It’s worth the effort, not just because you’ll save money, but because they’ll be tastier and healthier, too. Canned food usually has way more salt in it than we want or need, and many food cans are lined with BPA, a nasty chemical linked to reproductive problems.

8) Replace meat with eggs for protein. I like protein as much as the next person, but I usually get mine from eggs. Twelve organic eggs costs around $4 a dozen where I live – but compare that to steak, which might be $8 or $9 a pound. Plus, a dozen eggs can feed five or six people; one measly steak is good for only one. There’s really no comparison where your budget is concerned.

1 Dozen Eggs – $4; Feeds 5 people

1 Steak – $8/$9; Feeds 1 person

9) Buy in bulk. If your store offers bulk bins, start shopping there. The price per pound will be significantly cheaper. Otherwise, you can buy bulk online or at big box stores. It makes sense to buy rice, popcorn, cereal, and many grains in bulk. You can buy meat in bulk, as well.

See also: The 10 Best Foods to Buy in Bulk

10) Identify the most and least expensive meals you regularly cook. Cook more of the meals that cost you less, and save the expensive foods for special occasions. For example, a vegetable-rich lasagna  with a salad might cost around $3.50 – $5.00 serving. Steak and potatoes would cost twice that.

11) Join a CSA. Community Supported Agriculture works by letting you buy a full or half share in the produce a farm generates in a season. It generally turns out to be a very generous delivery of greens and vegetables.

Want to find a CSA near you? Here’s where to look. 

12) Grow your own. At least in the summer, can you grow and harvest lettuces and tomatoes for salads, bush beans or pole beans, snap peas, squash, cucumbers, peppers, and more. Even if you buy the most expensive seeds (which you don’t need to do), you’ll save hundreds of dollars when your crops come in.

Get our Top 10 Tips for Organic Gardening right here.

13) Raise your own chickens. One of the fastest growing trends in the food world is that people in cities and suburbs are raising their own chickens, especially for the eggs. Check your municipal zoning regulations before getting started.

14) Shop with a list you make from recipes you plan to cook. You’ll avoid impulse buying by shopping for the ingredients you actually plan to use.

15) Skip single-serving pre-packaged food. It’s estimated that shoppers spend $1 out of every $11 on packaging we just throw away. Single servings are the worst offenders. Invest in reusable containers or bags, then dole out chips, cookies, nuts and other snacks or lunch items yourself. If you have kids, have them do that at night, after supper, so they learn early how to save money when they shop.

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The post 15 Eco-Friendly Ways to Save Money on Groceries appeared first on Big Green Purse.

This year is going to be different. I’m not making resolutions, I’m setting goals – specific goals that will have real environmental benefits and that I can measure with real “before” and “after” statistics.

Though I hope I’ll reduce my environmental footprint in all sorts of ways this year, I’m only setting three specific goals in the hopes that a narrower focus will lead to broader achievements.

GOAL #1 – MAKE MY OWN YOGURT

I eat two cups of yogurt every single day – plain, non-fat, usually Greek-style yogurt that serves as the delicious base for whatever fresh fruit happens to be in season. It’s a healthy and mostly eco-friendly breakfast – marred only by the fact that I buy the yogurt in big plastic throwaway tubs. When I was in college, I had an electric yogurt maker and made my own yogurt every week. I also made yogurt by mixing milk and yogurt starter in a bowl, then keeping it in a warm oven for several hours until the whole mixture became yogurt-like. Over the years as I was busy raising kids, running a business and writing books, I’ve gotten away from making my own yogurt. But I’m appalled at how many plastic yogurt tubs I throw away every week. If I made my own yogurt using milk I can buy in glass bottles from my local food coop, I would go from three or four plastic tubs a week to zero. So one goal for 2013 is to start making my own yogurt.

Do you make your own yogurt? If you have a recipe you love, please share it!

GOAL #2 – USE NO MORE THAN THREE PRODUCTS BOTTLED IN PLASTIC IN MY BATHROOM

In my bathroom right now, I have various cosmetics, body lotion, hand cream, face cream, make-up remover, shampoo, conditioner, body soap, shaving gel, toothpaste, curl definer, hair straightener, nail polish remover, and hair color – and they’re all in plastic bottles or jars. My kids use different products, so they have almost the same number of products that I have in their own bottles! Beth Terry at My Plastic Free Life has written a great book about ways to reduce the amount of plastic we use in our day-to-day lives. Her personal example has inspired me to figure out how to cut down the number of plastic bottles I use in my bathroom to no more than three. Right away, I can replace the shaving gel and body soap with bar soaps that come wrapped in paper or with no wrapping paper at all. I can buy much larger sizes of products so that I’m using fewer bottles overall. But I’d like to set an even more ambitious goal and figure out how to make my own body lotion, shampoo, hair conditioner, and face cream, for starters. Do you make your own? What do you make, and how do you make it? I can really use your advice!

GOAL #3 – IMPROVE MY COMPOST

My compost is not the best. I use a composting barrel, and ten  months out of the year (March – December), I just collect my kitchen scraps and throw them in the barrel. Then I flip the barrel around a few times and hope the stuff decomposes. Sometimes it does, and sometimes it doesn’t. I’ve never been very scientific about adding the right proportions of dry and wet material to it so that the compost heats up the way it is supposed to and turns all that food waste into the black organic gold that would make my garden thrive. Right now, the kitchen scraps from the last several months are all lying frozen in the bottom of my barrel. But as soon as the spring thaw hits, I’m going to empty out that barrel and start from scratch. Do you compost? Do you use a barrel? Please let me know what works best for you. I can easily compost 100% of my kitchen scraps, apart from the occasional fish or chicken remains I have. But what I’d really like to aim for is somewhere between two and three big barrels full of rich organic compost to add to my garden by the end of 2013.

So there you have it: use less plastic by making my own yogurt and personal care products, and enrich my garden by creating better compost. Please share your own goals and resolutions for 2013, and come back often to help me overcome the obstacles I find as I pursue my own.

RELATED POSTS

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The post My Green Goals for 2013: Less Bathroom Plastic, More Home-Made Yogurt, Better Compost appeared first on Big Green Purse.

First, “Jane’s” shoes are fashionable and fun. They’ve been designed by hipsters who took a couple of years to create a collection that’s both practical and trend-setting. Janes come in neutral shades for maximum wardrobe appeal – but the bright, bold insoles (with arch support) will make their own snazzy statement when you slip them off the next time you go through airport security.

They can fold up flat into a sleek carrying case if you travel a lot, or want
to keep a spare set in your purse so you have something stylish to slide into
when you can’t stand to wear your heels another second. They’ll work as well with leggings or jeans as with skirts or capris. I can imagine wearing them shopping, to work, to the movies, or out to dinner with family and friends.

But you know me. Style without substance just ain’t enough for those of us who care about people and the planet as well as products. What sets I Know Jane apart from other shoes is that they are both eco-friendly and empower the women who make them. How? They’re animal-free: no leather or wool here. The upper is made from 70% recycled cotton and 30% PET that comes from recycled plastic bottles.

The outsoles are biodegradable. Water-based glues are used in assembly to
reduce use of conventional adhesives that contain more toxic chemicals.

But there’s more. Most shoes are made in sweatshops by women who could be as young
as 15 years old. These women often lack a voice to stop abuse from shop owners,
abuse that may even include torture and death.
Through its socially responsible business model, I Know
Jane seeks to raise awareness about these women and does not use exploitive labor to assemble their shoes. In fact, I Know Jane’s shoes are made in a small, woman-owned, unionized factory in Brazil.

 I Know Jane is taking pre-orders on their new flats for spring 2013 delivery. You can place your order over at Kickstarter, where I Know Jane’sfounders, Jared (pictured right) and Simon, are selling their shoes and raising $35,000 in investment capital to ramp up production. (In case you don’t know about it,
Kickstarter is a grassroots online tool that lets people like you and me
pre-buy products like Jane’s shoes as a way of investing in companies we believe
in and products we want to support.) You can get a gift certificate if you want
to order a pair of Janes as a holiday gift.

Even if you don’t want to order shoes today, I hope you’ll consider giving I Know Jane a
start with a small contribution. Say Jared and Simon “…whether it’s $10 or $90, any bit
helps!”

One last point: Big Green Purse advocates shifting spending to greener products and
services as a way to protect our health and the health of our world. Investing
in new products like I Know Jane shoes is a perfect example of how we can make
our money matter.

The post These “Green” Shoes Will Fight Sweat Shops with Fashion – If You Give Them a Kick Start appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Other lunch boxes may be made from PVC plastic. Says the National Institutes of Health, “Because of PVC’s heavy chlorine content, dioxins are released during the manufacturing, burning, or landfilling of PVC. Exposure to dioxins can cause reproductive, developmental, and other health problems, and at least one dioxin is classified as a carcinogen. Dioxins, phthalates, and BPA are suspected to be endocrine disruptors, which are chemicals that may interfere with the production or activity of hormones in the human endocrine system. Exposure to PVC dust may cause asthma and affect the lungs.” In other words, avoid PVC!

Because you can’t tell by appearance whether a vinyl lunch box may contain lead, CEH advises parents to avoid buying vinyl lunch boxes altogether. You can test any vinyl lunch boxes you already own using a hand-held lead testing kit. If your hardware store doesn’t carry one, you can find one from LeadCheck. There is no independent way you can determine whether the plastic lunch box you buy also contains PVC. My recommendation is that if you have a vinyl lunch box – one that seems to be made from soft, flexible plastic – you should probably throw it away.

SAFER LUNCH BOX OPTIONS

Pack your kids’ lunch in a stainless steel box, cloth bag, or bag that has been independently tested to prove that it is lead- and PVC-free.  Many hardware stores now carry cloth and stainless steel options. Here’s what we’ve found (and that we sell for your convenience in our Amazon store):

Kids Konserve Insulated Lunch Sack – Good reuseable lunch sacks are made with no BPA, lead-free insulation. An inside pocket holds an ice pack. In some, when kids are finished with it, they can roll it down and tuck it away in their backpack.

Blue Avocado Insulated Lunch Tote – This tote features a PVC insulated liner, an exterior holster for housing a water bottle, and an over-the-shoulder messenger style adjustable strap. The bag can be folded into an attached pouch when kids are done with it. The exterior fabric is constructed from 50% recycled polyester made from plastic bottles and recycled yarn.

Mimi the Sardine Organic Cotton Lunch Bag -This organic cotton bag is coated on both sides with a PVC-free, water-based acrylic that is water- and stain-resistant. It can be wiped clean, or throw it in the machine (wash in cool or warm water, not hot), and tumble dry on low or air dry.

To-Go Ware Stainless Steel Food Kit – In addition to 3 food containers, this set also comes with bamboo utensils and a cotton carry bag made from recycled cotton.

What more lunch options? Pack sandwiches and snacks in stainless steel containers like these or these.

Having a hard time getting your kids to remember to bring their lunch box home? Put a deposit on it! Every time the kids bring their box home, give them a dime or a quarter to put in their bank. At the end of the week, let them redeem the money for a special treat or to make a donation to a cause they care about.

FIND MORE ECO-FRIENDLY BACK-TO-SCHOOL SHOPPING SUGGESTIONS HERE.

The post Safe, Eco-Friendly Lunch Boxes Save Money and Reduce Waste, Too appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Learn how to drive as efficiently as possible.  Take note of these gas-saving tips and driving techniques and you’ll visit the pump less often. Plus, you’ll save $20-$50 a month on gasoline (photo credit).

• Recycle your car once it has reached the end of its life. Don’t send your vehicle to the junkyard before you’ve looked at this list.

• Carpool and use mass transit as much as possible. When you share the ride, you reduce your costs – and your impact on the air your breathe and the water you drink.

• Use a car-sharing service such as Zipcar, which may eliminate the need to own a vehicle altogether. It has certainly helped me!

• Walk, bicycle. Well, these are more “non” driving tips, aren’t they? But they do help you guzzle less gas; and manufacturing a bike or a pair of walking shoes uses far less resources than producing a car!

• And remember: if you are in the market for a new car, choose the most fuel-efficient vehicle in the size that will meet your needs. Visit FuelEconomy.gov to find the best available option for you.

The post Eco-Friendly Tips Will Reduce Your Car’s Environmental Impact appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Here’s the inspiring story of Cassandra, one of our most recent shifters. Thanks for becoming One in a Million!

Hi Diane!

I signed up for your “One in a Million” challenge last year at the beginning of May after I purchased your book. I am delighted to report I have achieved the goal of shifting $1000 towards organic products in one year. My total was $1153.06.

Just after I signed up for your challenge I moved from Syracuse, New York to Salt Lake City, Utah. This made my challenge both easier and harder. I didn’t know where to shop for organic foods and I had to start from scratch with appliances and furniture.

I learned quickly and began shopping at Whole Foods as well as thrift stores for furniture for my new apartment, kitchen supplies, and clothes. I tried to share my excitement with my family and friends by buying them “green presents” – organic soaps, used books, organic chocolate, bamboo shirts, and organic cotton socks for their birthdays and Christmas. As a result my mother has begun to use her reusable grocery bags and buys organic fruits and vegetables. I’m working on convincing her to switch to organic laundry detergents.

I work as a project manager for a small firm based out of Arizona. Currently, I am helping my company manage the construction of a large wind farm in southern Utah called the Milford Wind Corridor. My company acts as the third party compliance monitor ensuring the biological and cultural resources are protected during construction. It has given me a new perspective on the process of shifting to alternative energy.

I enjoy being “green” at work and at home! Your book and blog has prompted me to be a better, more informed consumer.

Thanks so much for your inspiration!

Cassandra

How did Cassandra do it?

She shifted more than $1,000 of the money she spends anyway to:

* organic fruits, vegetables, snacks and milks

* non-toxic cleansers

* gently used, rather than new, clothing, home appliances, furniture and kitchen utensils

* recycled toilet paper, bulk soap, reusable shopping bags, and concentrated, fragrance-free laundry detergent

How are you shifting? Let us know, and become One in a Million!

For more ways to shift and save, see the Green Moms Carnival posts listed at CondoBlues.

The post Shift Your Spending to Protect the Environment appeared first on Big Green Purse.

Speaking to representatives of more than 500 national and international companies, MacEachern said it was critical that producers and retailers acknowledge the connection between consumption and such serious environmental problems as global climate change, air and water pollution, exposure to toxic chemicals and rainforest destruction.

“Any company that wants to honestly wear a green mantle must tell shoppers to buy less first,” noted MacEachern, publisher of www.biggreenpurse.com and author of Big Green Purse: Use Your Spending Power to Create a Cleaner, Greener World.”

MacEachern laid down her 20% less challenge during a plenary speech to the 2008 Sustainable Brands conference in Monterey, CA. The 20% less recommendation is the cornerstone of a five-step approach that also urges companies to submit their products and services to lifecycle analysis (like the SMaRT standard being spearheaded by the Institute for Market Transformation to Sustainability) in order to reduce environmental impact from the beginning of the production process to the end.

“Consumers need a way to distinguish a green brand from one that merely “greenwashes” in order to make a buck,” MacEachern noted. “Companies that undergo lifecycle analysis by an independent party and ultimately get their products certified sustainable will not only become more environmentally responsible. They’ll also enjoy substantial marketplace advantage, as certification will make it easier for consumers to choose them over their competitors.”

MacEachern said this will be especially true among women, who make 85% of all retail purchases and who are essentially the CEO’s – the chief environmental officers – of their households and the CPO’s – chief purchasing officers – of a growing number of companies. Though a recent survey indicated that at least 50% of consumers want more green choices, additional studies show that many shoppers question whether green purchasing will really help protect the planet, given eco-benefits that manufacturers claim but don’t prove.

MacEachern’s Green Purse Platform includes:

• 20% Less: Urge customers to consume 20% less
• Lifecycle Analysis: Submit products and services to life cycle analysis to verify product eco claims
• Walk the Walk: In addition to marketing green products to consumers, companies must reduce the size of their operational footprint in meaningful and measurable ways, such as using wind power, eliminating use of dangerous chemicals, and maximizing use of recycled materials
• Tell It Like It Is: Companies need to be more honest with consumers about the environmental benefits their products offer. Companies will never be perfect, and they mislead consumers when they imply that they are.
• 2% for the Future: MacEachern proposes setting up a transition fund capitalized by contributions of 2% of a company’s profits. The fund will provide much needed capital to businesses that are eager to transition to more sustainable products and services but receive no government support to do so. For example, MacEachern noted that the recent farm bill includes no money to help pesticide-dependent farmers transition to organic agriculture. An independent fund could help underwrite such activity.

MacEachern says that consumers love the idea of a 20% less campaign. “It reminds women of the movie, “Miracle on 34th Street,” she says.

The post Manufacturers Must Tell Consumers to Buy 20% Less; Sustainable Certification Key appeared first on Big Green Purse.