Free Four all Friday!!

Happy Friday everyone!! I don't know about you, but I was ready for my weekend to start... oh, I don't know... about two days ago.

I'm hoping to begin a tradition here at Green. Chic. Cheap. of starting out every weekend the eco-friendly way by providing four tips for reducing your environmental impact that will cost you absolutely nothing ((some of them might even save you money)). So, without further ado, here are are your Free Four all Friday tips:

1. Unplug your electronic devices when they aren’t in use. Devices with power adapters or which still feel warm even after they’ve been switched off for awhile are called “energy vampires”. Generally these devices only draw a few watts per day, but that adds up- energy vampires account for nearly 20% of a household’s electric bill. By unplugging these bad boys when they aren’t in use you can save between $50 and $250 a year on your utilities bill and prevent 2000 lbs. of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere yearly. Sounds like a no brainer to me.
2. Reuse your coffee sleeves. Approximately 14 billion coffee sleeves ((the cardboard sheaths that places like Starbucks put on their hot drink cups to keep you from burning yourself)) will end up in landfills this year. How wasteful is that? So the next time you order a hot coffee from your favorite coffee shop, slip the sleeve in your purse ((or back pocket)) when you’re done. The next time you go in simply tell your barista that you don’t need a sleeve and slip your reused one on. They’re pretty durable and should last you for awhile. You might even want to go so far as to ask your local coffee shop if they’ll allow a sleeve recycling box near where beverages are picked up so ecologically minded customers can deposit their sleeves when they’re done and pick up sleeves when they get their drinks if they so choose. The Jazzman’s Cafe at my University does this and it’s been a pretty successful program.
3. Take the stairs instead of the elevator. You’ll gain killer legs and save 350wH of electricity per floor you would have travelled on the elevator.
4. When driving under 45mph, roll down the windows instead of cranking up the AC. Turning on the AC during normal summertime temperatures can decrease fuel efficiency by between 3-10%. During times of excessive heat this can increase to as much as 20%. At higher speeds, however, it’s more efficient to turn on the AC, because the drag produced will decrease efficiency more than switching on the AC would. The threshold at which this happens is different for every vehicle, but 45mph is a good standard.

That’s all for this Friday. Enjoy your weekend and keep your eyes peeled for a green kitchen blog coming in the next few days!!

Welcome to the revolution. Tickets are free.

"Organic food is so expensive."

"Why the heck would I pay for a grocery bag when they'll happily give me as many as I need for free?"

"49 dollars for an eco-friendly, all natural, sustainably produced hemp pilates mat?! You realize I can get one at Wal-Mart for ten bucks, right?"

In regards to going green the general consensus seems to be that while it is a great idea, it costs way too much.

Pardon my bluntness but that's a load of crap.

That said, when you add up the price tags on all of those nice bio-degradable bathroom cleansers, 100% organic cotton yoga pants, free range hormone-free all-natural chicken breasts, and CFL bulbs, well... it's no surprise that so many people in today's economy forgo an environmentally minded lifestyle in favor of having enough money to put food on the table.

Enter: me.

I'm no expert on the environment or economics or much of anything, really. What I am is a college student, and if there is one thing I do know how to do it's how to stretch my dollar as far as is humanly possible. Perhaps even a little farther. So I've decided to apply my skills to the green trend and see what I can come up with. Hopefully the results will prove helpful in convincing the rest of the world that going green is possible on any budget.

Keep your eyes open for the following stories coming soon!

• Fun alternatives to pricey reusable shopping bags.
• Yummy recipes to green up your kitchen!
• Eco-friendly bath and beauty solutions.
• And more!!

Is there something in particular you'd like to see here? A certain product reviewed or solutions for a certain green problem you're having? Shoot me an email at kendralula (at) gmail (dot) com and I'll see what I can do!