We have a winner...

To the random contest, at least. The randomly drawn winner of the Burt's Bee's mini set is...
Lala who said "i May be green but i always save."
However, this person did not leave a way for me to contact them! I will give you 48 hours to contact me before I pick another winner.

Thanks for all the great ideas for blog names. I am in the process now of figuring out which one to use-- so be patient with me-- there are so many!

#32 What to do with your "icky" water

The other night my son came down the stairs after having been tucked in bed. He announced to my husband and I that he had drunk the rest of the water in his cup before he was going to refill it, even though it was "icky" because he didn't want to waste it. Well, I can't get the child to turn off the faucet when it's running needlessly, or to not take a forever-long shower, but at least I know he is paying a little attention. Anyway, we explained that it wasn't really necessary for him to drink icky water just for the sake of not wasting it. A much better use for the water would be to put it on one of the houseplants.

Now I admit I do this much more during the summer, but even during the winter, some of that "gray water" can be of use. Water the garden, grass, or houseplants. I also dump mine in the compost bucket if I have nowhere else to use it, because the compost needs moisture, too. You can use your vegetable wash water, water you have cooked pasta or something in, water left in glasses at dinnertime. You can also "catch" water that is running while you wait for the water to get hot or cold. Any time that you would normally dump water down the drain, just stop to consider if there is a use for it. Be sure not to use water that has a lot of soap or any chemicals in it.
**Update: I stumbled across a post today at The Greenest Dollar (a great website, by the way) all about how to recycle gray water. Check it out!

Pros: Use less water, have greener plants

Cons: I sometimes end up with noodles in my houseplants :) It also throws off any watering schedule if you like to keep one. I find my plants do better without one-- they are green and healthy and I water them when they look dry or droopy.

#31 Eat those green tomatoes (or whatever else you have around!)

At the end of October, the community gardens closed. We had to have all our stuff out of there. Well, due to the late Washington season, we had loads of green tomatoes. And we were headed out of town for a week. What to do with all those tomatoes? Well, ours were turned into green ketchup, fried green tomatoes, and a green tomato chocolate cake (plus baggies in the freezer to make more in the future-- it was that good!) and the ones that looked like they would keep were set out to ripen and then sliced and dried. I consider not wasting things to be a very green practice. My husband is particularly good at this-- it was him who came up with doing the chocolate cake, and also made a pumpkin topping for it out of some leftover pumpkin that we needed to use.

Pros: If you use what you have, it won't go to waste, and you save yourself from having to buy new food. Less for the landfill, and easier on your budget.

Cons: It can be a challenge sometimes to come up with ways to use things. Sometimes my kids don't appreciate my cooking when I'm trying to use things up.

Mama needs a new name!

I'm back! And I've decided that before I delve back into some more wonderful ways to save the earth and money, I am going to hold a contest. I've found that there are quite a few blogs out there with the same or similar name. I want something original, but I'm just not coming up with anything.
So here's what you need to do. Leave me a comment with a suggestion for a new blog name. You will either need to leave me your email address so I can contact you, or be willing to come back on the contest closing date to check if you are the winner and then can contact me. There will be 2 winners!
The winner whose new blog name I like and choose will receive a BeautiControl hand softening kit (includes paraffin hand treatment, age spot treatment, overnight hand treatment, cuticle oil pen, and overnight gloves.-- retails at $68.50!)

Another winner will be selected randomly out of all comments and will win a Burt's Bees Baby Bee Getting Started Kit (includes mini apricot baby oil, mini shampoo bar, mini buttermilk bar, mini diaper ointment, mini buttermilk lotion, and a comb.)

The contest will end on November 27th, Thanksgiving Day. I reserve the right to lengthen the contest if I don't get enough response.

Thanks for reading!