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Save $ - Green Tip of the Day

Jaime Eagles
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#1. Top up your car tire pressure

Get Better Mileage with Properly Inflated Tires
An informal study by students at Carnegie Mellon University found that the majority of cars on U.S. roads are operating on tires inflated to only 80 percent of capacity. According to the website, fueleconomy.gov, inflating tires to their proper pressure can improve mileage by about 3.3 percent, whereas leaving them under-inflated can lower mileage by 0.4 percent for every one PSI drop in pressure of all four tires.

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Fuel Saving Plan

Jaime Eagles
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I am going to describe a business concept that applies to a specific location. But I think you might be able to apply the same concept to a geographic location near you.
Current Situation
4 million people travel by ferry from Vancouver to Nanaimo on Vancouver Island every year. 70% travel by car at an average cost of $50 (for the car alone). But the biggest cost of travelling by car is the amount of incremental time required to reach the ferry, line up, and load. At peak times this can reach 2-3 hours of quite unpleasant heavy traffic and waiting in line.
Proposed Solution
Travelling as a "foot" passenger has many advantages
  • Busses go to the ferry from several parts of the city. They are comfortable and circumvent most of the traffic line-ups to the ferry
  • There is at most a 5 minute line-up for foot passengers so you can arrive 15 minutes before the boat leaves worry free.
  • There is a major environmental saving to switch to foot from car. Cars on the ferry are the limiting factor. To increase capacity of the system you need more ferries, bigger ferries, more docking capacity. Also of course, there is a major cost and impact of the fuel used to move all those cars.
What I propose is to create a service where travellers could park their car well outside the high traffic area, board a bus to the ferry, ride as a foot passenger on the ferry, be picked up by a bus at the destination, and be delivered to a car rental agency at their destination.

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You want what?.....a urinal?

Jaime Eagles
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You want what?.....a urinal?

It’s hardly a trend, more like a trickle …or a dribble; but increasingly North American men are installing urinals in their homes. Now, they are not gracing the main bathroom or the ensuite where (god forbid) women might be exposed to that most male of fixtures. But they are appearing in workshops, games rooms, man-caves and home offices.  How does this affect the environment-my area of interest? Well, a urinal flush can be set at 2 liters vs. 6 liters (.8 gallons) for a low flush toilette and 18 liters (3.5 gallons) for a regular toilette. But I suspect that the motivation to install a urinal has little to do with the environment and more to do with the . PS Since I now am responsible for toilete cleaning in our home I "get it" about putting the seat down.
                                             Clark Sorensen's Red Hibiscus - Part of the "Nature's Call" Collection

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No-Cost Environmental Strategies

Jaime Eagles
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3 No-Cost Steps To Reduce Your Environmental Impact
There are many ways of reducing your environmental impact; unfortunately, many are costly. You may want to consider the following but this article focuses on strategies that actually save you money while reducing environmental impact.
·         Hybrid cars are 20% more expensive than the equivalent gas-powered cars. At current gas prices, analysis suggest that lifetime (of the car) savings do not offset the initial cost premium.
·         Organic vegetables are anywhere from 15% to 30% more expensive than regular and my experience has been that they are often not as fresh
·         Recycled paper  is often 20% more expensive than regular paper
 All require paying a premium

But what if there were ways to contribute to the environment and save money? Here are some practical suggestions:

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Carpet Clean & Deodorize

Jaime Eagles
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By Jennifer Patterson, eHow Contributor

updated: January 17, 2011



Remove Carpet Odors & Stains

Carpets add a nice look to the home, but can become dirty, stained and carry odor. Pets can sometimes have accidents on the carpet or things can get spilled, leaving hard-to-remove stains and odor. Hiring a professional cleaner to remove carpet stains and odors can be expensive. You do not need to spend a lot of money to remove carpet stains and odors.

Difficulty: Easy

Instructions
Things You'll Need:
Baking soda
1/4 cup hydrogen peroxide
Microfiber cloth
Spray bottle
How to Remove Carpet Odors & Stains
1. 1

Clean stains from the carpet as soon as they happen, especially red wine and coffee. The longer they set in, the harder they are to remove. Mix 1/4 cup of peroxide with 2 tbsp. of baking soda in the spray bottle. Leave the remaining baking soda for the last step. Shake the two ingredients together in the bottle until the baking soda dissolves. The hydrogen peroxide will dissolve the stain and the baking soda will eliminate odors instantly.

2. 2

Spray the contents of the spray bottle directly onto the stain. Apply slight pressure to the microfiber cloth and rub away the stain. Rinse the cloth occasionally and repeat spraying and rubbing the stain. Spray some more of the peroxide and baking soda from the bottle onto the stain. Leave it for 15 minutes.

3. 3

Blot the stain and odor area with the microfiber cloth. Rinse and repeat the process until the area is clean. Rub the wet area of the carpet briskly to eliminate most of the wetness. Place a fan in front of the damp area to speed up the drying process. Sprinkle baking soda over the carpet and vacuum it. The baking soda will eliminate any remaining odor. Discard the rest of the peroxide and baking soda from the spray bottle.

Tips & Warnings
Place a slice of raw white potato on stubborn carpet stains to eliminate them.
Keep contents of the spray bottle out of the reach of children. Contents can be toxic if swallowed.

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Jaime Eagles
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I know this is off topic but I want to support Liz
My friend Liz recently went through chemo treatments for cancer. She blogged her experiences and has turned it into a book. She is selling the book to raise $ for cancer research. Please check her website at http://lizastill.webs.com/

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Baking Soda Cleaning

Jaime Eagles
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Probably the best known natural home cleaner is vinegar. Next to that might be baking soda. Baking soda cleaning offers a lot of advantages to cleaning in many different home uses and it is extremely inexpensive, besides being safe for the environment and fume free.

Baking soda can be used in cleaning in a similar way to gentle abrasive cleansers. It can be mixed with either water or vinegar and rubbed into the surface or area to be washed. It can then be rinsed away or you can allow it to dry first for more cleaning power.

Baking soda cleaning is also excellent for shining silver. Simply soak your silver jewelry or other items in a mixture of baking soda and warm water. Allow it so sit for a few hours. Then remove and rub the surface. Rinse and dry and your silver will be bright and shining once again.

There is something else that needs to be cleaned more than once a day that baking soda is good for. Your teeth! Baking soda acts as a perfect toothpaste when combined with hydrogen peroxide to make a paste. This is a mild and effective natural method for getting those pearly whites clean.

Thanks to http://www.mycleaningsite.info for these ideas

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