Learn to Drive Smarter...Smile all the way to the Bank

Drive smart, save green is more than a great phrase, and if all of us changed the way we drive we could benefit immensely by lowering our dependence on imported oil and fuel. How can you make a difference to the environment with your driving? This article provides you with some great tips that you can put into action right away. You'll save money and help the environment too. OK, time to drive smart and save green.


Of course the very best thing you can do to help the environment with your car is stop driving it! However, not all of us have that option, so drive slower instead. Most cars perform best at speeds of between 50 to 60 mph. Not too slow and not too fast is how to drive smart and save green.

About 20% of our car's fuel consumption is used up just overcoming tire roll resistance from not paying attention to the tire pressure. You can drive smarter and save green buy investing in a tire gauge and checking your tire pressure on a weekly basis. Make it a habit to check the pressure each time you wash your car. Buying quality tires is another money saving way to cut down on fuel consumption. They may cost a little more up front, but they will perform better and save you many dollars each year.

Lighten the load in your car. I'll bet there are things in your car's trunk that don't need to be there. Go through each item you regularly carry. If you don't really need it, dump it. You can drive smart, save green with a lighter load. That will also add to your car being more fuel efficient. Store those golf clubs in your garage not your trunk.

Switch off your engine while you are waiting for someone if you are likely to be waiting more than one minute. Restarting your engine burns roughly about the same amount of fuel as one minute of idle time. This may seem like a small savings but it does add up.

Drive smoothly. Most of us don’t even realize that we drive erratically with sudden accelerating and hard braking. It actually puts extra wear and tear on your car, which means extra costs to you and the environment. You may think that driving slower and more evenly will seem like you are driving like an old lady, but that old lady smiles all the way to the bank!

Newer model cars have gauges that tell you how many miles you are getting in your car and my husband and I are always in competition about whos gauge reads the best at the end of the week. Sometimes I win and sometimes I don't and when I don't I am really concious of my driving habits the next week.

Herb Gardening

Herb gardening is becoming more and more popular, and for a good reason. Herbs have practical value, serve a purpose, and with herb gardening you can actually use your plants. When most people think of herb gardening they automatically think of cooking, but herbs are also grown for their pleasant aroma and their beauty.
One important part of herb gardening is drying the herbs for use during the winter months, especially if you plan on cooking with them. First the tops of leafy herbs have to be cut, washed, and hung up for the water to evaporate. Then, tie stems together and hang up in a paper bag to dry. After two to three weeks they must be removed; crumble the leaves, dry them out in the oven, and store in a glass jar.
One of the most common herbs gown in herb gardening is basil. “Dark Opal” and regular green basil are beautiful additions to any garden and often used as decoration. Dark Opal has light pink flowers and dark red leaves. Basil isn’t just used for its looks; it is used for extra flavor in tomato juices and pastes.
Chives are very petite looking and resemble a blade of grass. They are much stronger than they look, however, and will grow well through a drought. Their toughness and sturdiness makes Chives a perfect plant for herb gardening, especially if the gardener doesn’t want plants that require a lot of hassle. Chives are good used in salads, egg dishes, and many different sauces.
Mint is also very simple to grow and is good to use in mint jelly, mint juleps, lemonade, and any other kind of fruity drink. Mint is also good in herb gardening for its unique minty smell. Two herbs that appear in nearly everyone’s herb garden are thyme and sage. Both of these herb gardening favorites are used for flavoring soups, chicken, turkey, pork, and other sausages. Sage is also grown sometimes for its beautiful blue spiked flowers.
Lavender is probably the best smelling herb in all of herb gardening and is often used in candles, as a perfume scent, and to improve the smell in linen chests. The light purple flowers smell absolutely lovely.
Other types of herbs often grown in herb gardening include borage (used in salads), chervil (used in egg dishes), sweet marjoram (flavors lamb, fish, salad, and soup), sesame (flavors crackers, cookies, and bread), and dill (flavors meats and used in pickles). Herb gardening allows gardeners to use herbs from their own garden for cooking, looks, and smell. Herb gardening will produce much fresher herbs with more flavor than store-bought herbs, and are a lot cheaper.

Going Green for a Healthier You in 2009

Going Green with your health should start with exercise. The type of exercise depends on your likes and dislikes and the level of fitness you want to achieve. An older person will exercise less strenuously than someone in their twenties. Do you want to invest in equipment or where you will work-out, are membership dues to a gym something you want to add to your budget these are all things you need to take into consideration. If you choose something that you don't like to do, you aren't going to keep doing it for a long period of time and once again your goals will be put aside, so give some thought to what type of exercise fits in with your personality and your budget for example if you don't like jogging, you aren't going to get up at 6 AM and go running. If you are having trouble deciding what to do you can start by simply walking. No special equipment is needed and you can start immediately and move on from there.

Walking is great exercise, as it suits all levels of fitness. Anyone can start a walking program at any time; it's normally the intensity and the duration that differs. Walking is also a social exercise and can be done with a partner. A great idea for a couple to spend quality time together walking at night after dinner instead of sitting down in front of the tv. Walking with a partner also makes time go by faster. No matter what exercise you choose, you should start at a low level of intensity and build it up over a period of weeks, which is essential to the longevity of your exercise program. If you start off too hard, you could end up with an injury as well as getting bored if you are not pushing yourself to some higher degree.

Start off by walking for 10 to 15 minutes each day, more depending on how much exercise you are used to, increase your time or distance as you feel comfortable. Is there a family member or neighbor who would be interested in walking with you? Buddy systems keep you twice as motivated. Change the direction you walk for added interest. Walking is the ideal way to exercise if you are one of the millions who are cutting back expenses this year.

Making life Greener for your local wildlife

Living in the desert southwest and experiencing the heat of summer one wonders how the animals like squirrels, chipmunks, birds, rabbits and all the others make it thru without rain for water. The truth is some of them do not make it. You can make thier lives healthier with a small addition of water holes around your yard, and they don't have to be anything more then 1 1/2" deep pans or ceramic dishes. We live close to the Tucson Mountains and wildlife is abundant and they provide hours of peaceful viewing and all because we keep pans and shallow dishes full all the time. How much fun to look out a window and see a cluster of birds taking a bath, or rabbits playing leap frog or a family of quail out for a stroll stopping by for a drink.

Mothers Day 2005, my son-in-law came over with a shovel, two bags of cement and large rocks he had collected from our property. It took he and my daughter two hours and they had made me a shallow watering hole, all I had to do was let it cure for a few days then fill it with water. It is shallow enough that no little critters will drown and a rock was set into the middle for critters to climb up on. Mosquitos are kept away because fresh water is put in daily and every couple days it is swept and hosed out before fresh water is added. So with just a little upkeep you can help the little critters in your area healtier and in fresh drinking water. A win win situation when we sit on our patio and watch all the wildlife that stops by for a cool drink.

In the first picture above there is a chipmunk, cardinal, three doves and a cotton tail rabbit all stopping by at the same time, it doesn't get better then that if you are a nature person like I am.

What does GOING GREEN mean?

In my opinion Going Green means doing things that save money, saves natural resources and helps you to live a healthier and happier life. There are many small changes you can make in your lifestyle that don’t cost anything yet helps the environment such as car pooling, walking to the store once in awhile rather than driving or turning the television off for one night a week and playing board games with the family! You may have so much fun that you will wonder why you haven’t done this before. Living Greener around your home is not difficult or expensive, you can use grey water to water outside landscaping simply by running a garden hose from your washing machine! Take it a step further and you can start a small vegetable garden using grey water and benefit in a few months with fresh veggies that you and your kids grew together. Lighting is another way to GO Green. Placing solar lighting along pathways and garden areas is a great money saver, and not a lot of expense to purchase them.

Going Green at the office is another way to cut expenses by doing the little things that really add up over time, for instance, stop buying the paper or foam coffee cups and have office workers bring a favorite cup from home. You can purchase funny cups for each personality for the same amount a case of foam cups cost and never buy them again. Purchase small kitchen towels and stop buying paper towels, cloth napkins instead of paper. Try these office tips and give your office a more homey atmosphere and up productivity in employees, a win win situation.