Recycle | It's Great To Be Home

Most of you know about Habitat for Humanity, an amazing, nonprofit housing organization that has built more than 300,000 homes around the world. But did you know that Habitat for Humanity also operates retail outlets called “Habitat ReStores” where top-notch used and surplus building materials are sold to the public for a fraction of their actual value?

The proceeds from the ReStores are used to fund the construction of new Habitat for Humanity homes within the community. Habitat estimates that at least 10 or more houses are built each year from the proceeds raised at the ReStores. How great is that??

There are ReStores located all over the US and Canada – just click here to find one near you in the US, and here for ReStores in Canada. Here are examples of just a few of the awesome finds at the Dallas-area ReStore:

These great building supplies are donated to the ReStores by all kinds of building supply stores, contractors, demolition crews and individuals just like you and me – so these ReStores are not just a great opportunity for you to find affordable building materials, but you can also help Habitat’s cause by contacting them to donate your used appliances and other building materials that are still in great shape.

The Dallas-area ReStore accepts “overstocked items, seconds, used, discontinued and salvageable building materials, home improvement items, and major appliances donated by builders, contractors, manufacturers and individuals. Donated materials are used whenever possible in the construction of Dallas Area Habitat homes. The remainder are sold at discounted prices with profits used to fund construction efforts for Dallas Area Habitat for Humanity.” In some cases, Habitat will even pick up your donated items.

So instead of selling that old fridge on Craigslist or putting it out for bulk trash pickup, wouldn’t it feel great to donate it to an awesome organization like Habitat? Click here for more info and guidelines on donating to the Dallas-area ReStore.

What awesome steals have you found at discount outlets like the ReStores? Do you have a favorite charity that you like to donate to? I’d love to hear about it!!

Images courtesy of Habitat for Humanity. And thanks to Jen for bringing the ReStores to my attention!

That little green frog has no reason to complain about being green these days – not only is it easy to be green, but going green can be pretty easy on the wallet as well. Think you’ve got a dainty carbon footprint? Take a sec and check it out here.

While it probably isn’t feasible for most of us to convert our homes into ultra-green abodes, there are a few simple changes that each of us can make in our homes or our daily routine to help out ol’ Mother Earth. You might be surprised that these green tips can actually lead to a little more green in your bank account!

1. Make CFLs your friend. ENERGY STAR says that compact fluorescent lights, or “CFLs,” use only 1/4 of the electricity used by ordinary incandescent bulbs – that means that even if CFLs cost a little more than incandescent bulbs, the amount of money that you’ll save on your electricity bill will totally make up for the higher up-front costs (about $30 over the life of the bulb, according to ENERGY STAR). And you’ll be ecstatic once you realize that your CFLs last 10 times longer than your old incandescent bulbs, saving you trips to the store AND extra cash. The hubby and I switched out all of the regular incandescent light bulbs in our home for CFLs – it’s a simple switch to make, and what a difference!

CFLs have really come a long way in the past few years. Modern CFLs have left the twirly CFLs of yesteryear in the dust! While those spot-em-a-mile-away twirly bulbs are still around, they’ve been joined by a bunch of new and much more attractive friends:

CFLs also give you a choice of the quality of light you want – do you want daylight (like for applying makeup), soft white (for most living areas), or bright white (for areas that you really need lit up)? For a little more info on CFLs, check out the ENERGY STAR website and its neat little interactive tool you can use to figure out what CFLs are best for your home – click here to check it out!! And find out how to safely dispose of CFLs here.

2. Go low with the flow. Every time most of us take a shower or brush our teeth gallons and gallons of unused water goes down the drain. Low Impact Living says that low-flow attachments for your sink and shower can save up to 3,000 gallons of per person each year – that’s a serious amount of water!! These attachments are pretty cheap ($30 and up), and can make a big difference in your water consumption as well as your water bill.

3. Program it, stat! Programmable thermostats are one of the greatest inventions ever – how awesome is it that you can tell your programmable thermostat that you want your house to be 70 degrees at 3 pm on Tuesday, and your programmable thermostat will make it happen!?! You can find low-cost programmable thermostats (I’m talking $40 or less) at any Lowe’s or Home Depot that you can install in a jiff. And once you’ve got that baby in place, use it!! Make sure that you turn the heat or A/C down when you’re at work or out of town – your utility bills will thank you!

4. Put a sweater on it. Ah water heaters, apparently one of my favorite subjects. You already know to turn your water heater down to 120 degrees – that way you can prevent scalding and save the money you would have been spending to heat all that water to a bazillion degrees. But Low Impact Living has a few other nifty (and cheap!) ideas to increase the efficiency of your water heater – put aninsulation sweater on your water heater and insulate the pipes coming out of your water heater. The added insulation will decrease the amount of energy that your water heater has to expend to keep your water hot.

5. Recycle. It can be confusing to figure out what can and can’t be recycled, and how to take advantage of recycling programs in your city. Earth911.com will tell you everything you need to know about recycling and how to recycle in your neck of the woods. Since my husband and I added an extra trash can to our kitchen specifically for recycling, we’ve been amazed at how little actual “trash” we have – almost everything that we used to just throw away is recyclable!

6. Give plastic water bottles the boot. Yes, they’re convenient, but those little “disposable” plastic containers are a big no-no these days. Take a trip to your local grocery store or click here to pick up a few reusable, sturdy plastic bottles that you can use and then pop in the dishwasher to reuse. And with all the water filters available these days, the water in your reusable bottle will taste just as good as store bought (and it will be a lot cheaper).

That doesn’t sound so hard, does it? Visit Low Impact Living for more ideas on how you can save a little green while you’re saving the planet. Got any green ideas of your own? Let us know!!

Images courtesy of ENERGY STAR and Think Outside the Bottle.