Earth-Friendly Hotels

Credit to BizTimes

Last winter I went on an impromptu weekend trip to Milwaukee and ended up staying by chance at this great eco-friendly hotel called Hotel Metro.  It is a certified LEED building, offers complimentary bicycles as well as a cab powered by soy certified biodiesel, all paper products are made of 30% post consumer recycled content, excess toiletry items are donated to local charities and shelters, local food is used, etc. (to see the full list go here)

I was pretty impressed with my experience and cost-friendly price-point of Hotel Metro, and have been quite happy to read more news about eco-friendly hotels popping up all over. Dune Hotel is a more recent discovery of mine- it offers movable accommodation, offering quick response for emergencies where medical and relief support are necessary but also for urban travelers, where you may stay on top of buildings or in event lots.

Credit to Behance

This tree-hotel in Sweden retains the essence of its surroundings and is pretty architecturally impressive.

Credit to Inhabitat

In response to a design challenge, “Haptik” came to be, which includes showers that capture solar heat, zero-VOC paints, LED lighting, a gray water irrigation system for outdoor gardens and landscaping, all-room off switches, a smart room key which doubles as a public transit pass, among other things.

Credit to WATG

In Chicago the Sears/“Willis” Tower’s own 5-year plan green renovations have included the prospects of a yet-unnamed green hotel that will be built next door to it- hopefully more information will be exposed soon!

Eco-Conscious Restaurants in Chicago

I was recently dog-sitting for a woman whose refrigerator is perpetually empty.  The woman offered me grocery money while sitting for the weekend because, as she put it, she was “just a take-out kind-of-a-girl.”  Of course the first thing I thought of was how much Styrofoam, plastic bags, paperboard, plastic tableware, gas from delivery boys, etc, this woman was single-handedly pumping out into the environment, while also feeling obliged for the offer of grocery money.  This experience came to mind when I stumbled across the Green Chicago Restaurant Co-op which helps restaurants connect with cost-friendly and local sources of sustainable products and services.  Right now there are 20 certified restaurants in Chicago- certification depends on efforts to reduce waste, energy and water use, improve recycling, and support organic farming. There is a four-star scale, to achieve the highest level 300-points must be earned.  If you are also a “take-out” or generally eat-out kind of person, here is the list with links to websites by neighborhood locations of the 20 certified green restaurants around the city- It should be noted that when searching theses restaurants not one had a lower than 4 star rating on all yelp, yahoo, and other online reviews.

Loop:
Roti Mediterranean Grill
Trattoria No. 10
Poag Mahone’s
Sopraffina Marketcaffee [5 different locations in Loop]

River North:
Frontera Grill
Topolobampo
Keefer’s Restaurant

Wrigleyville and Edgewater:
Uncommon Ground

Andersonville:
Big Jones

Pilsen:
Simone’s Bar

Roscoe Village:
Bleeding Heart

Near West Side:
Avec
Roti Mediterranean Grill

West Town:
Dining Room at Kendall College

Evanston:
Blind Faith Cafe

‘Burbs: Northbrook and Vernon Hills:
Roti Mediterranean Grill

Another organization dedicated to conscious-dining is Slow Food Chicago.  This all-volunteer organization provides insight to local food resources for restaurants, lists of those restaurants by type of food that go above and beyond in their daily regime to help  contribute to a better environment, hosts events to support such efforts, farmers you should know, etc. These are only the few things available on their website, not to mention the many links to like-minded organizations.  Here is their list and links to their descriptions of recommended restaurants:

AMERICAN
North Pond
Blackbird
Lula Cafè
Naha
Vie
Green Zebra
West Town Tavern
Erwin
Hot Doug’s

ITALIAN
A Tavola
Coco Pazzo
Follia
Merlò
Spiaggia
Va Pensiero

FRENCH
Everest
La Petite Folie
Bistro Campagne
Le Bouchon

LATIN AMERICAN
Borinquen
El Rinconcito Cubano

CHINESE
Ed’s Potsticker House
Lao Sze Chuan
“Little” Three Happiness

Easy Recycling Tips for Housewives and the House-Bound

Pretty much everyone is aware of the many green benefits and financial advantages of recycling, and yet not enough are springing to action. Most of us still find it so much easier to throw everything we no longer need into the trash and let landfills carry the environmental burden.

As with all these things, the path to a greener lifestyle starts with small steps. And it starts at home, a place where there can be no shortage of opportunities to reduce, reuse, and recycle.

Here are a few tips to help you get started.

• Reuse those Ziploc bags. That is what they’re made for: to be used over and over until the seal or zipper no longer works. Unlike traditional plastic bags, Ziploc – or similar reusable packaging products, like Glad – is something that you can just wash and keep using, whether for packing lunches and snacks, storing leftovers, covering up hors d’ouvres, storing garden seeds, or even wrapping up the buttons and threads in your sewing kit. Yes, it’s plastic, but it’s designed the way plastic is supposed to be used: to last a lifetime.

• Use cloth instead of paper napkins. Yes, even for everyday meals. You don’t have to have a guest to take these out of the drawer. While cloth napkins are more expensive than their paper counterparts, in the long run they’re still more environment-friendly. And you can wash them for future reuse. Paper napkins, meanwhile, which you have to stock up on, use lots of water in production, plus chlorine for bleaching and virtually unrecyclable plastic for covering.

• Print out coupons on used paper. Do you have stacks of used office paper, flyers, and old printed documents at home? Put them to good use and print the coupons that you have collected on the backside of these sheets of paper. Don’t forget to adjust your printer to eco-friendly settings!

• Use biodegradable “trash” for your garden. Those kitchen scraps, paper products, and leftovers? Make these the cornerstone of your organic gardening efforts. About forty percent of your trash can’s contents can be used to make your own compost. Save those egg cartons, too, so that you can use them for planting seeds and watching your garden grow.

• Refuse to be given plastic or paper bags at the grocery store. Bring your own reusable one instead. Do away with the surplus and help cut down the 100 billion plastic grocery bags that end up in landfills every year. Do you know that the average American walks away with 10-20 plastic bags from the grocery store every week? That’s a total of 600-1200 bags a year, each one of them taking 100 years for its life cycle to end. If you want to feel good and look good at the same time, try out one of these Bazura Bags, which are indestructible and non-biodegradable recycled grocery bags made by a women’s cooperative in the Philippines.

• Donate those old clothes. It’s perfectly all right to want to keep in fashion and ditch last season’s garments. But don’t simply throw those old clothes into the garbage bin. Donate them to the local recycling center or to your favorite charity. Even if it turns out that no one bought or used your second-hand stuff as part of their own wardrobe, manufacturers and textile recyclers may still come to give these used clothes a green reincarnation.

• Switch to powders. Next time you’re doing the household shopping rounds, opt for more environment-friendly alternatives to those liquid detergents. Like powders, which must not have cost half as much water to produce. Even better, make your own homemade laundry soap.

8 Signs of an “Energy Inefficient” Home

Every home will, at one point, need an energy audit, which is basically a survey, inspection, or analysis of energy flows for conservation. Such an audit can help homeowners identify common household problems as well as opportunities for increasing the level of comfort at home, minimizing one’s environmental impact, and saving more energy (and money). While typically, it is best to consult professional green contractors like Greenwerks to facilitate energy audits, you can still determine for yourself the general energy conditions of your house and be on the lookout for signs that make your home systems “energy inefficient”.

What are the symptoms of a home that consumes energy inefficiently?

1. Ice damming: Warm air rises and cool air sinks, right? Well, in winter, when the warm air rises high enough into the attic, it will begin to heat the underside of your roofing. The snow or ice on top of your house then melts and runs off your roof, whereupon it freezes again. Usually caused by leakages and bad insulation, ice damming can potentially cause a great deal of structural damage to a home. It’s also not cool at all to have stalactites decorating the exterior of your home.
2. Drafty rooms or windows: It’s a problem usually related to the one above: warm air leaks out; cool air comes in. Drafts in an enclosed space aren’t only uncomfortable; they’re also pretty annoying, especially considering that they render your home winterizing efforts useless or inefficient. Also be on the lookout for unusually cold walls, basements, crawl spaces, and windows and doors.

3. Ancient home appliances: It’s time to ditch those decades-old energy-guzzlers in your home, like the ancient fridge, the erratic air conditioner, the faulty furnace. That’s because these inefficient appliances aren’t going to help you save up on your utility bills. Chances are, they’re also responsible for most of your carbon dioxide emissions at home.

4. Indoor air pollution: This can manifest in many ways: as specks of dust that seem to multiply despite your efforts; as weird, unpleasant odors that seem to have come from nowhere; as mold growth or dirt that settles on everything in sight; or as allergies that you thought your children got from the playground. Caused by uncontrolled airborne pollutants, toxins, and chemicals in your home, indoor air pollution must be minimized at all costs, as it poses hazards not only to the environment but also to the people who live in your home.

5. Uneven, uncontrolled, or uncomfortable temperatures: Too hot in one room and too cold in another? It may be a sign of a malfunctioning HVAC system. Or it may be due to inadequate insulation, leakages, or inefficient windows. Whatever the cause is, be on the alert. Otherwise you’ll be shocked at the upcoming months’ utility bills.

6. Musty, damp, or moist walls, windows, and crawlspaces: Hidden water leaks usually cause this problem of excessive indoor humidity (which is usually paired with not having proper ventilation), so make sure you have your plumbing systems, ductwork, and foundation checked. Also inspect your windows and see if there’s too much condensation forming there. Otherwise you might be running the risk of mold growth in the house, electrical hazards, prematurely peeling paint, and structural damages to your home.

7. Dryness: Or you may have a problem that’s exactly the opposite of above, which is too much dryness – even in winter. Low humidity levels and poor ventilation can grow into a major concern, especially when these begin to cause allergies, cracked floors, static shocks, dead houseplants, and nosebleeds, which are never pleasant. Putting an energy efficient humidifier in place is one good solution. Or, if you really want to go green, air-dry your laundry inside your home. You’ll be generating savings directly from your laundry expenses, too!

8. Insects and pests: We know how irritating creepy crawler infestation can be. If this is a concern for you, be on the lookout for cobwebs, wall cracks, droppings, chipped furniture, and – most annoying of all – missing chocolate chip cookies! Insects and pests can also do more damage than you think, as they can invade your bed, your foodstuffs, your beloved backyard and garden, and your skin. To get rid of them while keeping green, try out some chemical-free pest control solutions.

Keeping Holiday Waste Low

With the various winter holidays and correlating feasting of families and friends a-coming, there are some actions you can pursue to keep waste from building up.  If you are hosting meals or even housing family and friends, there might be a solid build up of used tableware, glassware, paperware, etc. It might be tempting to purchase extra paper products or plastic cups to avoid hassle but instead of having people drink out of a few or more plastic cups per person a day, why not buy a few extra glasses to store for those extra guests and putting on a name tag (or write names with dry erase marker) so that they may use the same one throughout the day?  At .59 cents a glass, buying ten glasses would cost only $5.90.

Some other cheapie Ikea steals are plates and bowls at only .79 cents a piece, and a 16 piece cutlery set at $3.99- all of which are dishwasher safe, microwave safe, suitable for hot foods, and made of glass, stoneware, and stainless steel.

If you are lucky and don’t need that extra dinnerware, you will still probably need napkins and paper towels.  I was once a house-guest for a month a little old lady’s house who only used cloth napkins which she washed once a week.  Granted, only one per person was necessary as everyone was over the age of 10, but using the same napkin every night was fun when planning seating, as everyone had a different pattern and seat, so mixing it up was quite a playful event.  Using the same napkin will also help keep guests more aware of spilling and wasting food on table cloths or on themselves. You could get creative and just cut squares out of old fabric or clothing no longer in use and simply sew seams, buy a set of plain ones and iron or embroider on festive decals or initials,  or buy them- these are on the more expensive side at $5.00 each ($20.00 for set of four) but are quite lovely if you are willing to spend the money.

Credit to JuliePeach

You can also set up extra recycling bags so that once it builds up no one feels the need to just throw something away.  Try to keep electricity usage in different rooms to a minimum by encouraging family-room activities, which should keep people less occupied by computers, telephones, and television (computers and televisions should also remained unplugged when not in use!).  Ask relatives to bring in any blankets brought for car rides if low on bedding so heat can stay at an appropriate temperature.  If you have any other general thoughts, please comment and make suggestions!

What You Should Know About VOCs

Chances are, as a homeowner, you’ve heard a thing or two about VOCs – or volatile organic compounds: that they’re everywhere in your home, and that they’re harmful to the health, and that you ought to eliminate all these hazardous chemicals before someone gets sick.

But there’s no need to panic and start calling contractors in space suits. Below we’ve outlined frequently asked questions about VOC – as well as a number of useful tips on how to create a sense of health, safety, and comfort in your home.

What are VOCs?

Volatile organic compounds are organic – or carbon-based – chemical compounds containing significant vapor pressures, which can then have an adverse impact on the environment and your health.

What are the kinds of VOCs?

There are many kinds of volatile organic compounds, man-made, anthropogenic, and natural. Among them are: aldehydes, acetone, benzene, ketones, hydrocarbons, styrene, xylene, and limonene. There is, however, no comprehensive list of VOCs, which – along with its low concentrations and slowly developed symptoms – makes it a demanding area of study and research.

Where are VOCs typically found?

According to the EPA, the highest concentrations of volatile organic compounds are usually found indoors – either in offices or homes. These can be 2 to 5 times greater than what is usually found in outdoor air. In homes, VOC results from specific kinds of furniture, wall coverings, paints, lacquers, paint thinners, cleaning supplies and cleaning agents, pesticides, adhesives, markers, and photographic solutions. VOCs can also be emitted by carpets, upholstery fabrics, composite wood products, sealing caulks, cosmetics, aerosols, solvents, vinyl floors, air fresheners, moth balls, and disinfectants.

What are the harmful effects of VOC?

While VOCs are not typically toxic, long-term or chronic exposure to these compounds can contribute to a variety of sensory irritations and respiratory and allergic reactions. Children and infants, in general, suffer from the harmful effects of indoor VOCs. Moreover, studies show that prolonged exposure to high concentrations of these compounds can increase risk of cancer (leukemia and lymphoma), liver damage, kidney damage, and even damage in the nervous system.

What steps can I take to reduce VOC emissions at home?

There are various ways to minimize the health risks associated with volatile organic compounds. These usually entail source control: removing or reducing the number of VOC-containing products found at home, especially those that are leaking and those that are no longer being used. When shopping for household items and products, meanwhile, it’s recommended that you buy only what you need – and that you look out for environment-friendly products that are labeled as having low concentrations of VOCs.

Other great ways of lowering the concentration of VOC at home include:

• Following manufacturer labels and storing VOC-containing household products in airtight sealers
• Opting for floor models, composite wood products, and solid wood items that contain low-VOC finishes and non-toxic sealants. Steer clear of furniture pieces that contain formaldehyde
• Allowing for additional ventilation at home by opening doors and windows, letting in more fresh air, using fans, and keeping the indoor temperature and relative humidity as low as possible

The Best Houseplants for Purifying the Indoor Air at Home

We’ve already talked about what you can do to purify your indoor air. One of the tips we mentioned was to grow your own houseplants – a surefire way not only to cleaner, fresher, and safer air in your home, but also to more ideal indoor humidity levels. Houseplants absorb airborne toxins, you see, and can convert carbon dioxide into oxygen, like lean green machines.

Have you been wondering which indoor plants you can start with to improve air quality indoors and help clean your home environment? Here are a few suggestions that will be truly worth your while.

Chrysanthemum: These attractive-looking flowering houseplants are very effective at helping remove VOCs (volatile organic compounds), particularly benzene. If there’s a smoker in your household, you might want to grow chrysanthemum – since tobacco products contain typically significant amounts of benzene. Just take extra caution if you have children or pets at home, as chrysanthemum is a poisonous plant.

Areca palm: This houseplant is perfect if you live in a polluted city or urban area. Consistently rated as one of the best houseplants for reducing indoor levels of toxins, the areca palm is also a pretty efficient natural humidifier.

Bamboo palm: This houseplant is known for its ability to remove formaldehyde from the air. As an excellent natural indoor air purifier, bamboo palm grows best in moist environments, with indirect sunlight and lots of room. So if your living room is extra spacious, growing this houseplant is a smart choice.

Chinese evergreen: Not only does this houseplant serve as excellent ornaments for homes and offices; it’s also a low-maintenance indoor purifier that’s one of the easiest to grow. Chinese evergreens can tolerate wide ranges of light as well as neglect, and grow best in shadow-less light.

Heartleaf philodendron: As one of the flowering plants in the Araceae family, the heartleaf philodendron has long stems that can be trained up a support structure or trail from a hanging basket. It’s an easy plant to grow, too, and has abilities to eliminate formaldehyde from the surrounding air.

English ivy: Stagnant air flow? Prone to allergic reactions? Maybe it’s time you start growing English ivy in your home. Used commonly in ornamental horticulture, this attractive houseplant is known for its ability to remove air-based mold – within a short span of time, too (something like sixty percent in six hours). It is also a natural air-purifying solution for many kinds of allergic reactions.

Money plant: You can easily tell how this plant looks like by looking at its leaves: they’re all heart-shaped. Also known as golden pothos, Devil’s Ivy, epipremnum, or Solomon Islands’ Ivy, this leafy houseplant eliminates formaldehyde in the air, as well as toxins – like xylene and benzene – usually associated with cigarette smoke and adhesives from wood furnishings.

Janet Craig: Also known as dracaena deremensis, the Janet Craig plant is particularly effective in rooms where the floor is carpeted, or where there are lots of furniture pieces. While this natural formaldehyde remover rarely grows flowers when indoors, it has an ability to grow in low light.

Lady palm: This adaptable houseplant is one of the most effective air purifiers you can grow in your home. Because of its wide leaves, a lady palm can also accumulate dust in the air, although you’d have to wipe its leaves regularly to remove the specks. This plant can grow in low light and tolerate considerable dryness.

Rubber plant: Native to northeast India and southern Indonesia, the rubber plant – or also ficus elastic, rubber fig, or rubber bush – provides moisture, eliminates bio effluents, and removes VOCs instantly, as soon as it is placed in a room. It also helps suppress air-based microorganisms; with minimum attention (perfect for startup indoor houseplant growers) rubber plants can last a lifetime.

Snake plant: This tall unique-looking houseplant, also known as mother-in-law’s tongue, helps improve the indoor air quality of your home by eliminating majority of toxins. They’re pretty tough to kill, too, a great low-maintenance choice for houseplants, but be careful particularly if you have children or pets: the snake plant is toxic when eaten.

Weeping fig: This houseplant is also known as ficus benjamina, Benjamin’s fig, or simply “ficus”. Native to southeast Asia (Bangkok) and Australia, the weeping fig effectively filters indoor air toxins, and grows best in areas with generally bright, sunny conditions.

Spider plant: One of today’s most popular houseplants, the spider plant is relatively easy to grow and take care of. It can filter indoor air toxins from your home, and works best in winter, when you’re likely to spend more time indoors with the windows shut. This plant was also used in a famous 1985 study wherein the amount of carbon monoxide and nitrogen dioxide in a room dropped to zero only 24 hours after spider plants were placed inside.

Green Flooring Materials For Your Home

Do you happen to be contemplating flooring materials for your home? At the same time, are you concerned about the eco-friendliness and sustainability of your remodeling project? Don’t worry. There are plenty of green flooring materials today that you can choose from. Here’s a quick list:

Wood

But it comes from trees, right? How can wood be “green” at all? Well, manufacturers are going green, too, and more and more hardwood flooring options – both local and exotic – are being introduced in the market. Reclaimed hardwood, specifically, is one of the most eco-friendly materials available right now: it is durable and readily reused and recycled. More importantly, reclaimed hardwood floors come from recycled timbers of old structures, like dilapidated houses, barns, etc.; there’s no need to cut down new trees, as planks are created from materials that would otherwise have ended up in junkyards. If you’re unsure about the wood flooring options you’re looking at, check out products that have passed the Forest Stewardship Council (FSC) certification.

Linoleum

Yes, it’s making a comeback, and remodeling homeowners everywhere should be happier for it. Not only is linoleum a great flooring option for your kitchen or bathroom; it’s also pretty green, too, especially if you think of how it’s made from natural linseed oil, cork, tree rosin, limestone, and jute. Linoleum is also biodegradable, non-toxic, and low-maintenance – a cheaper alternative to hardwood flooring that can at last as long as 40 to 50 years.

Bamboo

Bamboo is a plant that grows fast, making it a greener and more renewable flooring option than wood from trees. Apart from its natural self-replenishing qualities, bamboo is also hard and pretty durable, making it an excellent alternative to hardwood floors. Be careful, though; some manufacturers use formaldehyde to put bamboo together, so make sure you choose the ones with low chemical levels.

Cork

Made from the bark of the cork oak tree, cork is usually found in wine caps and thumb-tacked office memos. But as flooring material? Cork is a sound alternative, too. It has excellent insulating properties, a natural woody smell, a comfortable feel and elegant look, and a reliable durability. Cork is also a renewable choice for flooring, because you don’t actually have to harm or cut down the tree in order to collect the cork. As always, go for natural cork flooring that has low or no PVCs.

Tile

Tile isn’t just for kitchen countertops; it makes for excellent green flooring, too. Available in a wide variety of styles and colors, tile floors – made from clay, sand, limestone, etc. – are durable, long-lasting, aesthetically stunning, and maintenance-free. The great thing about tile floors these days is that many manufacturers are beginning to improve their kilning processes, so that production no longer uses as much energy and emits as much carbon and toxins.

Rubber

Don’t worry: rubber flooring isn’t going to make you bounce around at home. It is sound- and shock-absorbent, making it a versatile flooring material for your home – in the kitchen, the playroom, and other parts of the house. Available in tiles or as sheets, rubber becomes eco-friendly when it’s made from recycled materials, which – with proper maintenance and care – can last a lifetime.

Carpets and rugs

Okay, carpets are notorious when it comes to how un-friendly it is to the environment. But these days, a lot of carpets and rugs are being made from recycled or post-consumer plastic, nylon, cotton, and wool, which is naturally sustainable. Some are even made from old secondhand carpets! Moreover, a number of eco-friendly carpets do not require chemicals at all. If you’re looking for alternatives to traditional carpet flooring, try something like abaca, which is made from paper twine, hemp, sea grass, and sisal. Other eco-friendly options include carpets made from jute and coconut husks. As always, remember to opt for carpets that use little or no VOCs, and have been dyed with vegetable dyes.

Stop Using Dangerous Bathroom Products and Make Your Own Instead

There has been lots of hype building up about the toxins in cosmetics we often blindly believe are fine when we make our CVS cheapie purchases.  Annie Leonard wrote a compelling piece in the Huffington Post, The Story of Cosmetics: What’s Really in Your Personal Care Products, in July about the various cancer-causing chemicals listed on the back of typical baby shampoos labeled as “Gentle, Pure, Natural, Dermatologists Approved, No More Tears” etc.  After watching this video I’ve become quite interested, to say the least, in making my own basic home products, something which I used to have less interest in just because the time it would take to make.

Re-Nest.com posted an article, Eight Products You Think You Need-But Don’t as a repost of article found at GOOD.  The listed “unnecessary” products include lip balm, foot cream, toner, body scrub, leave-in conditioner, shaving cream and aftershave, and body wash.  As many comment-ers articulated though, every body is different, especially in different environments, where some of the “unnecessary” products may indeed be quite necessary. What intrigued me were the comments with various suggestions on how to make your own safe as well as green bathroom concoctions and if you aren’t up for making some of them which products are safe and green to buy.  I have compiled some of these ideas to check out below.

For Shampoo:

• Dr. Bronner’s soap
• Baking Soda
• Apple Cider Vinegar

*It should be noted that many people commented that Baking Soda dried out their scalp/hair and wasn’t the best used alone [without a conditioner concoction] for those with curly hair.

For Conditioner:

• Any and all of these oils were listed for conditioner, as well as for ANY dry areas including lips; Sesame, olive, coconut, jojoba, almond, and avocado oil
• This mix is good for leave-in;

3 tablespoons of honey
1/2 avocado
3 table spoons of olive or coconut oil
1/2 a banana (remove the seeds)
puree and leave on hair for 30 minutes
rinse well and do a quick conditioner wash after – I only do this because it does smell a little like salad, but it leaves dry hair feeling amazing!

For Body Cleansing and Scrubbing

• Dr. Bronner’s soap
• Sugar scrub with olive oil (or whatever other carrier oil of your choice: almond, grapeseed…) and berry sugar (finer than regular sugar and not as coarse) plus with a few drops of essential oil if needed. I think it is a 2:1 ratio of oil to sugar – make it pasty and keep it in a jar
• Brown sugar coconut oil

For Shaving:

• Sugaring is similar to waxing
• Dr. Bronners soap and or shaving cream
• Lush shaving cream
• Hair Conditioner

For Face Cleansing:

• Witch Hazel as toner
• Rosewater as toner
• Dr. Bronner’s soap as wash
• The Oil Method: Various combinations of castor oil + a secondary oil for face wash; castor oil + sunflower seed oil or Extra Virgin Olive Oil (for secondary oil)

Oily Skin: Try a blend of 30% Castor Oil to 70% Sunflower Seed Oil.
Balanced Skin: Try a blend of 20% Castor Oil to 80% Sunflower Seed Oil.
Dry Skin: Try a blend of 10% Castor Oil to 90% Sunflower Seed Oil.

For more details try this site http://www.theoilcleansingmethod.com/

For Toothpaste:

• Dr. Bronner’s soap
• Baking Soda
• Baking Soda with salt and seaweed

So, if you’ve read all of these you’ll have noticed that Dr. Bronner’s, surprisingly economically priced, pretty much acts as an acceptable agent for nearly all of these bathroom products (and beyond as you will see below).  It seems uncomfortable at first to brush your teeth with the same stuff you would wash your clothes with (it also can be used as laundry detergent), but people swear by it- not only the infinite comments found online but I know at least 10 people who use it regularly in their bathroom regimens and not one is a patchouli splasher.  The website considers it an 18-1 use product, paraphrased as such:

• For everyday body-washing: Get wet and pour soap full-strength onto hands-washcloth-loofah. Lather up, scrub down, rinse off, and tingle fresh & clean.
• For other uses, dilute from one part soap into 40 parts water for light cleaning, to cutting it in half or using it full strength for heavy-duty grease-cutting jobs.
• 3 dashes in water rinse most Sprays Off fruit & vegetables
• 1/4 oz in qt H2O is Pest Spray! Dash, no rash Diaper-Soap
• Dilute for ideal After Shave, Body Rub, Foot Bath.
• For shampoo, though we now recommend our new Shikakai soaps for this, many people are fond of using it as such. The method of application is to wet hair and scalp very thoroughly, squirt some soap into hands and work into a lather. Wash hair, then rinse well. Afterwards use our new citrus hair rinse and leave-in conditioners as directed.
• For the laundry, use 1/4 cup to 1/3 cup for one regular load; adjust as needed depending on hardness of water. I’ve been told that adding a dash of baking soda makes it even better.
• For toothbrushing, apply a drop or two of Dr. Bronner’s Magic Soap to a wet toothbrush. Brush as you normally would, rinsing accordingly. Be careful about using more than a couple drops of soap, as you might start foaming at the mouth. Many people with sensitive or softer teeth like to use our soap as a toothpaste because it lacks abrasives.

Another less utilitarian more girly-friendly brand is Lush.  Although on the pricier-side it is also earth-friendly and appears to use safe ingredients (I couldn’t find the full ingredient listings for single products online, just a general “book” of the ingredients used).

DIY Solar Power Sun Jars

Credit to Tobias Wong

After the recent post on making your own creative lighting I stumbled upon an Unplggd.com post about making your own sun jar, which is a solar rechargeable light and is normally priced around $45 dollars or possibly $20 from resellers, which if you want multiple for mood lighting can add up.  Unplgged sourced an Instructables.com how-to for making your own for under $10 and it is reposted below.

You’ll need the following to get started:
Components:
1. Ikea Slom glass jar or Mason Jar
2. Solar garden light ($4 each)
3. Rechargeable battery (AA size)
4. Blu-tack
5. Tracing paper or glass frosting spray

You’ll need a screwdriver, a utility knife, and some glass-frosting paper to make your sun jar complete. You’re going to take the solar light apart and put what you find inside the glass jar. You can use some Blu-tack to keep it all together. It’s important to use a glass frosting spray so that the light generated by the lamp is diffuse. As an alternative, you can also use tracing paper. That’s it! We’ve calculated that by recycling some of your Mason Jars and buying the solar lamps in packets of 6, it won’t cost you more than $6 per lamp. That’s a whole lot better than $45. Basically, you’re just repackaging the solar lamps into a more usable and friendly form. You can fiddle around with this idea, but this is quite straightforward and simple. It’s important to use a transparent lid. If you use a metal lid, that usually comes with a Mason Jar, the solar panel won’t be able to recharge the battery.

You must leave the jar for several hours in direct sunlight for it to charge.  Also, because it is water tight, sun jars may be left outside no matter the weather.