10 Resolutions for Going Green with Your Family This Year

1. Non-Toxic Cleaning

One of the very first changes I made on my journey towards more green living was to switch to homemade and non-toxic cleaners for my home, so it's one of the first things I recommend to anyone who is interested in making green changes in their family's life.

2. Green Your Personal Care Products

It's really important to be aware of the products we use on our skin and our children's skin. Unfortunately, there are lot of nasty chemicals in most conventional brands of personal care products, so you'll need to read labels and choose products that are safe and non-toxic.

3. Ditch the Disposables

Reducing the amount of garbage your family creates is a great way to have a big impact on the environment. This could be anything from switching to cloth napkins and rags instead of paper napkins and towels, to using cloth diapers instead of disposables.

4. Buy Used

Making a commitment to buying things used instead of new saves money and saves the environment at the same time. Before you run to store to purchase things this year, try to find what you're looking for used - at garage sales, thrift stores or online from sites like Craigslist or Ebay.

5. Make Recycling Easy

If your family doesn't already recycle regularly, this is an important step to take to reduce the impact of the waste your family creates on the planet. Set up a recycling system that everyone in your family can easily use, and begin to teach your children what is recyclable and what is not — and try to use recyclable things more than disposable ones!

6. Turn Off the Lights

This is a really easy one that you can even get your toddler involved in. Make sure you turn off the lights when you leave a room, and don't leave lights on in areas of the house that you aren't using. Have your kids help you remember to turn of the lights, and if they're anything like my kids, they'll want to go ahead and turn the lights off themselves!

7. Plant a Garden

I think it's really important to teach our kids where food comes from, not just that we buy it at the grocery store. One great way to do this is to plant your own garden and have your kids help you with it. There are lots of ways to grow your own food, even if you have limited space.

8. Simplify Your Stuff

Simplifying your stuff may not really seem like a way to live green, but less stuff means you save money and earthly resources needed to produce and buy that stuff, and gives your family the space and time to enjoy the truly important things in life. Getting away from materialism and back to basics is one easy way to live a little greener.

9. Buy Local and Organic Food

The food we eat has a major impact on our environment, but choosing local and organic food can help to decrease that impact. Resolve to shop your local farmer's market and buy more food directly from the farm this year.

10. Conserve Water

There are lots of little ways you can conserve water and make a dent in your overall water use this year. Start with turning off the faucet while you brush your teeth, taking shorter showers, making sure you don't have any leaky or dripping faucets around your house, installing a low flow shower head, and even following the "If it's yellow, let it mellow" rule in the bathroom.

20 ways to detox your house

There are many things you can do to "detox" your home, some more practical than others. Here are my 20 suggestions:

No shoes in the house.
Most household dirt, pesticides, and lead come in on your shoes. Go barefoot or wear slippers. Place floor mats vertically by your entryways to wipe your shoes. This way more dirt and residue from your shoes stays outside on the mat.

Keep the air clean.
Keep your windows and doors open as much as possible to ventilate. Use green plants as natural air detoxifiers. Remove odors with baking soda. Use fresh flowers or bowls of herbs like rosemary and sage to add a pleasant fragrance to rooms. Have your air ducts and vents cleaned with nontoxic cleaners. Get a portable air cleaner/purifier, especially for the bedrooms.

Switch from the standard household cleaning products to cleaner and greener ones.
These don't damage your health or the environment's as much and work as well as the mass marketed ones. You can also use basic ingredients you have around the house, for instance, vinegar in place of bleach, baking soda to scrub your tiles, and hydrogen peroxide to remove stains. According to Annie Bond, the author of "Better Basics for the Home," she can clean anything with water and these five basic ingredients:Baking soda, washing soda, distilled white vinegar, vegetable-based liquid Soap (e.g., Dr. Bronner's Peppermint Soap), and tea tree oil.

Replace your skin care and personal products with less toxic and chemical-free options.
Deodorant, toothpaste, cosmetics, hair products, nail polish, and perfumes are often loaded with toxins. Learn how to identify them and avoid them.

Use plastics wisely
Some plastics contain Bisphenol A (BPA), which is linked to cancer, and phtalates, which are linked to endocrine and developmental problems. Avoid plastic food packaging (when you can). Don't wrap food in plastic. Don't microwave food in plastic containers. Choose baby bottles made from glass or BPA-free plastic. Avoid vinyl teethers for your baby. Stay away from children's toys marked with a "3" or "PVC." Avoid plastic shower curtains.

Avoid nonstick pans, pots, bakeware and utensils.
Teflon contains perfluorinated chemicals (PFCs) which have been linked to cancer and developmental problems.

Keep house dust to a minimum.
More dust means more toxins. Mop all surfaces at least once a week. Use a vacuum cleaner (with a HEPA filter, preferably) for your carpets. HEPA-filter vacuums capture the widest range of particles and get rid of allergens.

Avoid excess moisture.
It encourages the growth of mold and mildew. Check areas for moisture accumulation or leaks (particularly basements). Regularly clean surfaces where mold usually grows - around showers and tubs and beneath sinks.

Get a shower filter.
Many of the contaminants in tap water become gases at room temperature. A shower filter can help keep these toxins from becoming airborne.

Get a water filter.
More than 700 chemicals have been identified in drinking water. Filtering your tap water is better than drinking bottled water.

Avoid stain-guarded clothing, furniture and carpets.
These may contain PFCs. Wrinkle free and permanent press fabrics used for clothing and bedding commonly contain formaldehyde -- use untreated fabrics where possible.

Be conscious of toxins in carpeting.
Avoid products made from synthetic materials. Use natural fiber wool & cotton rugs. If possible, replace wall-to-wall carpeting with hardwood floors, all natural linoleum or ceramic tiles. Use nontoxic glues, adhesives, stains, or sealers for installation.

Seal (with a nontoxic sealer) or replace particleboard walls, floors or cabinets.
These often contain formaldehyde, which can emit irritating and unhealthy fumes for decades. Avoid plywood, fiberglass, fiberboard and paneling.

Avoid harmful pet-care products.
Avoid toxic pest control (including traditional termite exterminators).

Replace toxic lawn and garden pesticides and herbicides.
Use with less harmful natural ones.

Tell the dry cleaner not to use the plastic wrap.
Or remove it as soon as possible because the plastic traps the dry cleaning chemicals on clothes and in your closet. Let your dry cleaning air out (preferably outside) before storing it. Use "wet cleaning" if you are lucky enough to have it in your area.

Use low VOC, low-odor latex (water-based) paint.
Open all windows to ventilate properly when painting indoors.

Have your house checked for carbon monoxide leaks.
These are most commonly found in leaking gas stoves, gas fireplaces, furnaces and chimneys and gas water heaters).

Check Radon levels.
Inspect poorly ventilated basements that have cracked walls and or floors. Radon is an odorless gas that forms as uranium in rocks and soil breaks down. Radon is linked to lung cancer.

We can reduce our risk of chronic illness.
Limit exposure to these toxins but don't let this become an obsession which can cause so much stress that it creates more of a negative impact on your health than the toxins themselves.

And finally, no amount of environmental toxins are as important as emotional toxicity. You can do all the above, but if your house is full of anger, resentment, jealousy, unhappiness and a lack of love, compassion, and forgiveness, the house will remain toxic.

Six perfect plants for dorm rooms

Check out our list of the best dorm room plants to decide which is right for you!

Dwarf Lemon Tree
It doesn't at first seem logical to put a tree in such a notoriously cramped space, but a dwarf lemon tree can work in many dorm rooms. The trees can grow up to six feet tall in good conditions, so they might require a bit of pruning to keep them to a reasonable size. But it's worth the effort for the gorgeous yellow lemons that come all year and delicious citrus smell.

Water your tree enough to keep the soil moist, and mist the leaves daily so they don't dry out. Keep it by a window for optimal sunlight, and give it fertilizer once a month. Make sure to put it in a pot that allows for drainage and air flow to the roots. You can purchase dwarf lemon trees online or grow them from seedlings, if you don't mind waiting seven or eight years before it bears fruit.

Mint
It's the hour before your chemistry final, and you're nervous to the point of nausea as you pour over your notes one last time. For an easy, natural, and healthy way to relieve the stress, look to mint. Crush or chew on a mint leaf to emit a strong aroma that can calm nerves, ease nausea and sore throats, and freshen breath by killing germs.

Mint comes in a lot of varieties (may we suggest chocolate mint?) and is very easy to grow. Put plants in a moist, well-drained pot and make sure they get plenty of sunlight all year. Mint is widely available and can be purchased in pots or as seeds.

Lavender
Lavender plants are colorful and fragrant and a great way to freshen up a dorm room. To spread the yummy lavender scent around the room, you can dry out flowers to make sachets for drawers and closets.

Lavender plants like sun and air, so try to put them next to an open window or a fan. Keep your plant in sandy soil that drains well -- the roots rot easily in standing water. Buy lavender plants at nurseries or online.

Aloe Vera
Consider your aloe vera plant your own personal pharmacy -- at least for skin irritations like sunburns. Just break open a leaf and squeeze out some liquid for instant relief. Aloe vera plants are perfect for rooms that don't get much sunlight (the leaves start to turn brown if they're in the sun too long), and don't require much watering.

Try to buy mature plants. It's an easy plant to maintain that can help you out in a pinch! You won't have any trouble finding aloe vera where plants are sold.

African Violets
African violets are the perfect dorm room flower. They're small enough to fit on a windowsill, don't require much water and can grow in a variety of temperatures. And the flower isn't just known for its beauty, it's also known to clean the air of pollutants to leave you with a healthier indoor environment. Buy African violet plugs at local nurseries or online.

Cactus
Successfully taking care of a cactus is one of those out-of-the-classroom tests that helps you discover a little more about yourself. In this case, if it dies you'll know you're less nurturing than a desert. The only basic guideline: Don't overwater.

5 Tips for Teaching Kids to Care for the Environment

Positively Green’s Top 5 Kid’s Tips

1. For the very young: Consider subscribing to the National Wildlife Federation’s publication designed for children ages 1-4.

2. Instead of buying store bought wrapping with all of the icky ink dyes, suggest reusing brown paper bags and coloring your own gift paper for the next birthday party; a perfect activity for children 3-7.

3. Plant a tree with your own hands and share the fun with your 6 to 9 year old child by choosing flowers that are easy to plant at the tree’s base. Talk about how trees support clean air and beautify too.

4. Head to your closest organic fruit farm and pick organic raised strawberries, apples, blueberries or any delicious fruit. Discuss why organic is better than what you typically buy in the store. Even teens will appreciate this experience.

5. Not all wood is the same. Encourage your preschool child to choose toys that are made with FSC certified wood. Unpainted wood toys are typically safer than plastic that contains PVC, and treasured from generation to generation. FSC certification ensures that the wood you buy has been forested responsibly to allow for sustainable growth.

5 Reasons Why You Should Respond to Every Comment

1. It Encourages People To Comment

People don’t leave comments just so they can be left unread. By replying, you’re not only letting people know that you’re actively involved in reading the comments, but you’re encouraging them to come back and comment again later.

Furthermore, people who don’t normally comment may be happy to do so knowing that their comment will indeed be read.

2. It Adds to the Quality of Your Posts

A reply can often lead to side conversations within the commenting area that add to the content and overall quality of your post. Your points will be explained further, new points will be brought up, and questions that people may have get answered.

Also, new people will join the side conversations and add their own comments that they wouldn’t have normally made otherwise.

3. It Helps With Search Engine Optimization

Comments on your blog posts do in fact help with search engine optimization, although admittedly in a minimal way.

More comments, including your own, usually mean more instances of the keywords that you used in your blog post, which means you’re more likely to be found in the search engines for those terms.

Additionally, new terms that you did not use in your blog post will be brought up and discussed, which could potentially help you for those terms as well.

4. It Adds More Social Proof

Social proof is a psychological phenomenon that occurs when people’s decisions are influenced by making the assumption that surrounding people know more about certain situations than you do.

For example, if you’re at the mall and you see a huge crowd of people around a particular store, chances are that you’re going to walk over and see what the big deal is. In a similar way, you might be more inclined to follow a certain blogger in a niche just because they have more subscribers and followers than others.

In most cases, your own comments will count towards the overall comment count of your post. Respond to 15 comments, and you’ll have a total comment count of 30, which looks more far more impressive and interesting to your readers and any new visitors to your blog.

5. It Helps You Build Authority and Credibility

Finally, by responding to each comment, you’re establishing yourself as a go-to expert in your niche. You become more “real” and are seen as someone who actually takes time to care for your readers, which adds value to you and your blog.

Because responding to comments is abnormal, you’ll stand out of the crowd like no other. And if you can leave thoughtful, meaningful comments, you’ll make that much more of an impact on your readers.

It doesn’t take very much extra time, and the return on investment can be phenomenal. So why not give it a shot?

Try responding to every comment and see what happens.

Seven myths about veggies

Myth: Fresh vegetables are more nutritious than frozen

Fact: Studies show that sometimes you can get more nutrients from frozen veggies, depending on variety and how old the vegetables at your supermarket are. That's because produce starts losing nutrient quality as soon as it's picked.

Frozen vegetables are flash-frozen right after harvest so they are preserved at their peak of freshness when they are most nutritious. Your best bet in terms of taste, nutrition, and the environment is still local in-season produce. When that's not an option frozen can be a better choice (from a nutrient standpoint) than spinachthat takes two weeks to reach your table.

Myth: Cooked veggies are less nutritious than raw

Fact: It depends on the vegetable. "Cooking destroys some nutrients, but it releases others," says Marion Nestle, author of What to Eat. It destroys vitamin C and folic acid, according to Nestle, which is why it's not a great idea to cook oranges.

On the other hand, she says, cooking releases vitamin A and the nutrients in fiber and makes them easier to digest. It's also easier for your body to absorb more lycopene, a cancer-fighting antioxidant, in cooked tomato sauce than from raw tomatoes.

Steam or roast veggies instead of boiling, which leaches out water-soluble vitamins into the cooking water.

Myth: Iceberg lettuce doesn't have any nutrients

Fact: Iceberg lettuce is mostly water so it's hardly loaded with vitamins, but a large head does contain small amounts of protein, fiber, vitamins, and minerals.

You'll get more nutrients from other greens that have less water such as romaine or butterhead lettuce, but contrary to popular belief, iceberg lettuce does have some nutritional value.

Myth: Local vegetables are always cheaper

Fact: It's certainly true that local produce can be good for your budget. This is especially true during the peak of harvest when farmers need to get rid of an abundant crop and there is a lot of competition.

However, there are no guarantees. Local food "is not in any way subsidized so you are paying the real cost of producing the food, and the economies of scale are not there," says Nestle.

How to find cash hidden in your house

You don’t have to look under the floorboards to find the cash that’s hidden in your home. Many of your ongoing monthly costs come in the form of energy - you know, those bills that keep showing up every month.

We can show you how to take control and reduce your carbon emissions in each room of your home -- and discover that hidden cash.

If you have a few evenings free, become a Weeknight Worker with our simple, easy projects. If you have a little more time to dedicate, become a weekend warrior -- it’s a bit of a bigger time commitment, but you’ll see bigger savings.

Laundry room: Save $60 to $185

Weeknight worker
Did you know that 90% of the energy needed to do a load of laundry goes into heating the water? The easiest way to start saving money in the laundry room is to simply wash your clothes with cold water.

With today’s advanced detergents and soaps, cold water can be just as effective as hot water. Merely pressing the “Cold/Cold” button on your washing machine 80% of the time will save you between $60 and $100 per year.

Weekend warrior
Want to “launder” even more money? Well, add another energy saving twist: Skip the clothes dryer and line-dry your laundry. By avoiding another laundry room appliance you can save up to an additional $85 per year. Adding that savings to the $60 to $100 you saved with the cold-water laundry, you could save anywhere from $145 to $185 every year.

Kitchen: Save $20 to $300

Weeknight worker
Here’s a simple way for you and your family to save money: Use the dishwasher less. Many people do a load every day, but by waiting for the dishwasher to be full before you run it, you could cut your dishwasher use by a third, saving you a total of $21 per year.

Weekend warrior
If you’re ready for extreme kitchen efficiency, it’s time to upgrade those old clunkers. New Energy Star-rated refrigerators and dishwashers use a fraction of the energy that those terribly inefficient older models use.

If you upgrade your older dishwasher and refrigerator to Energy Star models (top freezer for fridges is the best), you could lower your annual energy cost by $85 every year (from $170 down to $85). And if you use the government’s new stimulus money for upgrading appliances, you could receive up to an additional $200 for your new Energy Star-rated refrigerator. That’s a total of $285 saved in the first year alone.

Bedroom: Save $50 to $150

Weeknight worker
Replace just five incandescent light bulbs in your bedroom with CFLsand over their lifetime -- a little over three years if you average five hours of use every day -- you can save $30 per bulb. That works out to about $10 a year per bulb, so by replacing five incandescent light bulbs you can save around $50 every year.

Weekend warrior
If replacing more incandescent light bulbs means saving more money, why stop at just five? You’re a weekend warrior, you’re committed. Why not go for an additional 10 light bulbs: 15 CFLs could save you a total of $150 every year. Heck, replace every light bulb in your home, and cash will pour out of every light socket.

Living room: Save $20 to $225

Weeknight worker
Money is flying out your windows: Leaks can be responsible for 30% of the total heat lost in your home. There’s a simple solution though -- and that’s weather-stripping.

Depending on your window type and air-flow method, you could potentially save $7 to $14 per window, per year in efficiency upgrades. If you weather-strip just three windows in your living room, you can save $21 to $42 every year.

Weekend warrior
Why not weather-strip your entire home? Increasing the efficiency of your windows and blocking the small leaks that allow air to go in and out, you can knock off up to 15% of your annual heating and cooling costs. A typical U.S. family spends about $1,500 on its utility bills every year, so by minimizing air leaks through your windows, you could save around $225 every year.

Adding it all up

So how much cash is hiding in your home? If you follow all of the weeknight worker tips, you can count on saving $152 to $213 every year, and all for a few simple changes and a few hours of dedication. Now, if you put in some serious time as a weekend warrior, you’re looking at annual savings of $805 to $845.

Yes, you’re saving a lot of money. But don’t forget the environmental benefits as well: For example, just one CFL bulb can save over 2,000 times its weight in greenhouse gasses over its lifetime compared to an incandescent. Now that’s big savings.