GetItNext Blog

10 Simple Ways to Be Greener

Besides reducing our carbon footprint on the earth, going green can save you some green.  Here are a few ideas to get you started:

1. Replace your old incandescent bulbs with compact fluorescent bulbs which use less energy.

2. Use an aluminum sport bottle and forgo the prepackaged bottled water to reduce the amount of landfill waste. Aluminum bottles do not absorb flavors like traditional plastic sport bottles. Lakin offers many styles.

3. Use grocery tote bags for your weekly shopping trip. Plastic and paper both require non-renewable fuel to be delivered to the store leading to harmful emissions being dispersed into the environment.

4. Install low-flow shower heads, and reduce the amount of time you spend in the shower if even by a few minutes each day - 2 minutes equates to 10 gallons of water. Also, turn the temperature setting down a degree or two on your hot water heater to save on gas or electric costs.

5. Bamboo is a good choice for flooring as well as clothing.  It is a renewable and self sustainable source. Diapers, shirts and even sheets are made from bamboo and are as soft as cotton.

6. Use  biodegradable or organic cleaners. Purchase concentrated forms and dilute in a refillable spray bottle. Concentrates are the most economical option in many cases. Seventh Generation has an extensive line of cleaning products.

7. Consider buying a laptop. They use considerably less energy than a desk-top computer.

8. Use a tire guage to keep the tires on your vehicle properly inflated to optimize gas mileage.

9. Eat less red meat. Cows require more water to grow their feed than other animals. Consider eating one vegan meal a week, and when possible, choose organically grown fruits and vegetables.

10.Consider installing motion sensor LED lights if you have a hard time remembering to shut off the lights.

What Do Plasmas, Guns and Heat Have in Common?

Just a follow-up to my blog titled How to Stay Warm and Keep the Heat off, I saw the article below and immediately thought that this is another benefit to having a wood stove.   If these people had a nice toasty wood, pellet or corn stove ALL their problems would have been solved (i'm kidding of course).  I love the part about her being too cheap to turn on the heat so she shot the plasma.  PLASMA tv, what?  They can't afford heat but they have a plasma?  Well maybe it was just an EDTV not an HDTV.  Oh the irony, see below and enjoy.

WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP, Mich. - A woman who was angry because her husband wanted her to turn up the heat pulled out a gun and shot their flat-screen TV while he cowered behind a pillow, Macomb County authorities say.

The 65-year-old man called 911 Sunday night from the basement of their Washington Township home, about 25 miles north of Detroit.

“My wife’s got a gun. She’s shooting at me,” Joseph Grucz said in the recorded call.

He told the operator that Cheryl Grucz, 61, was angry because he wanted the heat turned up. She fired a round while he hid his head in a pillow, striking the plasma TV, then went upstairs, the Detroit Free Press said.

Here is the full article.

How to Keep the Heat Off & Stay Warm This Winter

Are you interested in potentially saving thousands of dollars during the winter and keeping your home more comfortable at the same time?  I was in your shoes in the summer of 2005.  I recently moved into a house in the Northeast and we suffered through our first winter going through 1600 gallons of propane to heat our 2800 sqft house.  That summer Katrina hit and LP prices spiked, which put me over the edge.  In Sept 05' we installed an EPA certified fireplace, a Quadra-fire 7100 and have never been warmer.  Treated to an abundance of firewood in our area, our house temperature is usually in the 70-75 degree range.  My kids are so spoiled that if the temp hits 68 degrees they are whining about it being too cold.  How much have we saved since we decided to supplement our heating?  Here's a quick breakdown:

2004/2005 used 1600 gallons at 1.89 / gallon. $3024.00 for the year (before fireplace)

2005/2006 used 400 gallons at 1.89 / gallon $756 2006 savings: 1200 gallons @ 1.89 = $2268

2006/2007 used 214 gallons at 2.30 / gallon $492. 2007 savings: 1386 gallons @ 2.30 = $3187

So in 2 years of burning we've saved approximately $5455, which basically pays for the Quad and installation.  How many capital improvements have a 2 year ROI?  Not many that I can think of.  Had we gone for a cheaper alternative like installing a wood stove into our existing fireplace it would have been an even shorter payoff.

So is wood heat for everyone?  The short answer is no.  It really depends on the person.  I like to be outdoors, I live in the country and I like saving money and also screwing over the gas company.  Is it a lot of work?  You betcha.  Hauling, splitting, stacking is a 9 mos process and also becomes an obsession.  Do I enjoy it?  Absolutely.  Keeping my nice fancy Trane furnace turned off is one of the great joys in my life, yes I know I have issues.

If you're thinking about researching whether wood burning is for you, here are some links to some great resources and products.  Everything you need to know about wood burning in general, wood stoves, gas stoves, pellet stoves, corn stoves and the entire hearth industry can be answered by visiting this site, Hearth.com.  The Hearth.com Forums consist of the best, most passionate group of people on the internet.  Poke around over there and you will quickly get up to speed on whether heating with wood or is right for you. 

Couple of products that I like:
Quadra-fire fireplaces and wood stoves
WoodStock Stoves - if you want a soapstone stove Woodstock is the best
Jotul Stoves another brand with a great reputation
Stihl Chainsaws only brand I use.

Hurricane closes Marriott Crystal Shores on Florida's Gulf Coast

Is there a hurricane on the way or is this a typo from Marriott or were they hacked?  This is an odd one.  I was on the Marriott Vacation Club website today at 12:05 pm and they have an alert listed:   Important!!!! - Marriott's Crystal Shores will be closed this week due to hurricane Mike Taylor! Read More.  The read more link doesn't work and I also did a search and there are no Hurricane's listed on weather or noaa.  Additionally there are none with that name for this year.  Did their site get hacked or someone goof?  Check out the screen shot:

If you're interested in Marriott timeshares, either rentals or purchases you can save a ton of money via eBay.  Check out these great values on Marriott Timeshares.

Matt
Searching eBay made easier! getitnext.com

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows - Going Green

4 days and counting... You can't get away from the amount of press about the "green" movement these days.  From alternative energy,to ways to better use the resources that we consume,we are unindated with information about how we can help conserve our planet.  Now Harry Potter is in on that act!

I read an interesting article today in the newspaper that pointed out that 65% of the print run for the last Harry Potter books will be the "greenest" book in history.

The reason for the accalades? Harry Potter publishers in 16 countries have printed or are going to print their editions of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows on environmentally friendly paper.  In fact, 65 per cent of Scholastic's 12 million print run or more than nine million kilograms of paper stock for a book that is going to run to more than 750 pages have been printed on ancient-forest-friendly papers.

The result? A saving of almost 130,000 trees, courtesy of the biggest Harry Potter market of them all, with the benefit of improved water conservation and reduced production of landfill waste.

Vancouver-based Raincoast has an even more impressive environmentally friendly record. 

In June, 2003, with the release of Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, Raincoast became the first Harry Potter publisher among the 55 worldwide to issue that title on 100-per-cent post-consumer recycled/ancient-forest-friendly paper. As a result, no new trees had been chopped down in Canada or the U.S. when it came time for Harry Potter printers in Quebec and Manitoba to run Raincoast's order of 935,000 copies through their presses.

And it didn't take any magic.  :-)

In case you missed it check out my Harry Potter blog from yesterday.

Ron
Be one of the first to get it!