Toothpaste Hacks

A large part of living sustainably is living more simply. For example, it is often helpful to try to avoid buy too many products that only have one use.

Toothpaste one versatile product you (hopefully?) already have in your home. TreeHugger gives us a fun list of 10 non-traditional uses for toothpaste in cleaning and hygiene, including as a jewelry cleaner.

Pillows

Are you in the market for a new set of pillows for your bed? Since your face will be touching the pillow for 6-9 hours a night and you'll be breathing in right over it night after night, you may want to consider natural filling options.

GreenIsSexy has a fast run-down of some of the options you'll come across. Good luck!

Refrigerator Efficiency

An important part of living sustainably is simply using the things you already have more efficiently. Check out this LifeHacker article to learn how to help your refrigerator run more efficiently.

If your refrigerator doesn't have to work as hard, it can use less electricity. Over time, small details like this add up!

Happy BBQing!

Because it's BBQ time of year again, I'd like to share this article from TreeHugger. It offers ten easy tips to help you be good to the environment AND healthier when you BBQ.

ALSO: If you're in the market for a grill, you may want to check out what green is sexy has to say about the environmental impacts of the various options.

Garlic as Pest Control

Did you know that garlic can help keep certain pests like aphids, spiders and whiteflies away from your garden? It's true! Try this mixture, from green is sexy:

Garlic Oil Spray

10-15 cloves of minced garlic

2 tsp. mineral oil

600 ml water

1 tsp. liquid dish soap

Soak garlic in mineral oil for 24 hours. Strain garlic out and add 600 ml water and 1 tsp liquid dish soap. Mix thoroughly.

Healthier Sunscreens

Summer's practically here again already, so many of us will be spending more time outdoors. Be safe about it though, and wear sunscreen.

But wear a healthy sunscreen! For help in choosing one, check out the Environmental Working Group's sunscreen database. There you can find a list of the healthiest sunscreens, protective lip balms, and moisturizers with SPF.

You can also search the database for a specific product to see how it's scored. In this database, lower scores (0-2) are the best, while higher scores (7-10) should be avoided. Some things that raises the score of a product are dangerous ingredients (like oxybenzone, which disrupts hormones) and spray form (which makes it easier to inhale dangerous particles).

Unfortunately, one of the products we're using at home this season scored a terrible six. Better luck with your products, and buy healthier next time!

Easy on the AC

One way to keep your home running more efficiently is to avoid going overboard on the A/C when it's warm. But how can you keep your house cool without it? Try some of these tips!

From abc.com's "Save Money On Home Cooling":

• Pull down the shades and draw the curtains to keep out the summer sun.
• When the sun's not hitting your windows, keep them open, and use fans to draw hot air up and out of the house.
• Don't use exhaust fans in your kitchen and bathroom for too long if your house is air-conditioned. 'In one hour, it can empty the whole house of all your conditioned air'...
  
• Make sure your filters are cleaned or replaced once a month and that your vents don't have any obstructions in front of them.

Treehugger's "10 Overlooked Low-Tech Ways of Keeping Your Home Cool" has a host of ideas, including the ever important "use a ceiling fan instead." Most families just use a few rooms each night -- their bedrooms. No need to air condition the rest of the home! Just ensure that all bedrooms have working ceiling fans, then run them all night to keep the cool -- and the energy -- focused on only the rooms in use.

Green is Sexy recommends something a little less conventional for the "darker greens" among us: "Save energy (and money!) by turning off the A/C at night ... and curling up with an ice pack. Yep. An ice pack. If you put an ice pack under your neck or in your hands at lights-out, you’ll cool your body down enough to fall asleep and stay asleep."