iwant2ctw:

1. CHANGE YOUR LIGHT
If every household in the United State replaced one regular lightbulb with one of those new compact fluorescent bulbs, the pollution reduction would be equivalent to removing one million cars from the road.

Don’t like the color of light? Use these bulbs for closets, laundry rooms and other places where it won’t irk you as much.

2. GO VEGETARIAN ONCE A WEEK
One less meat-based meal a week helps the planet and your diet. For example: It requires 2,500 gallons of water to produce one pound of beef. You will also save some trees. For each hamburger that originated from animals raised on rainforest land, approximately 55 square feet of forest have been destroyed.

3. SECOND-HAND DOESN’T MEAN SECOND-BEST
Consider buying items from a second-hand store. Toys, bicycles, roller blades, and other age and size-specific items are quickly outgrown. Second hand stores often sell these items in excellent condition since they are used for such a short period of time, and will generally buy them back when you no longer need them.

4. CHOOSE MATCHES OVER LIGHTERS 
Most lighters are made out of plastic and filled with butane fuel, both petroleum products. Since most lighters are considered “disposable,” over 1.5 billion end up in landfills each year. When choosing matches, pick cardboard over wood. Wood matches come from trees, whereas most cardboard matches are made from recycled paper.

5. CUT DOWN ON JUNK MAIL 
Feel like you need to lose a few pounds? It might be your junk mail that’s weighing you down. The average American receives 40 pounds of junk mail each year, destroying 100 millions trees. There are many services that can help reduce the clutter in your mailbox, saving trees and the precious space on your countertops.

6. GIVE IT AWAY
Before you throw something away, think about if someone else might need it. Either donate to a charitable organization or post it on a web site designed to connect people and things, such as Freecycle.org.

7. PAY BILLS ONLINE
By some estimates, if all households in the U.S. paid their bills online and received electronic statements instead of paper, we’d save 18.5 million trees every year, 2.2 billion tons of carbon dioxide and other greenhouse gases, and 1.7 billion pounds of solid waste.

8. WASH IN COLD OR WARM
If all the households in the U.S. switched from hot-hot cycle to warm-cold, we could save the energy comparable to 100,000 barrels of oil a day.

Only launder when you have a full load.

9.  Unplug unused chargers and appliances

It’s an easy way to cut down on energy and it will also save a few bucks on your electric bill. 40% of all electricity is used to power home appliances while they’re turned off. 

10.  Buy an inexpensive reusable water bottle

 Stop buying plastic disposable bottles. Out of the 50 billion bottles of water being bought each year, 80% end up in a landfill - that’s 40 billion unrecycled water bottles. Also, it’s just a lot more cost and energy effective to use a reusable water bottle.

*Did we miss something? Got any new ideas? Let us know here

Tips and pictures courtesy of : 50 Ways To Help, SimpleMom and Good Life Bottles.

Wild Herb is the shop that I got my bar shampoo/all-in-one soap from! I ordered the wrong scent due to a misunderstanding (that was mostly my fault) but the owner was so kind and understanding and sent me another shampoo/soap bar in the right scent!! (I accidentally purchased spearmint instead of lavender bud, but it still smells great!)

So far I’ve done three shampoos with it and I love the bar (but don’t get it in your eye— same as with anything else you’d wash your hair with) and I rinse with 1/4 lemon juice to 3/4 of water (and make two servings of it for after washing my hair to serve as conditioner, which I also got in my eye because I’m a total dunce….it hurt pretty bad). Once I run my roommate dry of this nifty split-end repairing oil, I will probably be using jojoba oil and/or vitamin E oil to continue treating it. 

Wild Herb has quite a variety of soap :) after scouring Etsy for an all-in-one bar I chose them so I think they’re worth a shot to try if you want to start some natural hair care (I got a half size bar but believe me you will need more if you like it and want to continue use). 

My hair personally took a few shampoos to adjust to this method of bar shampoo, then lemon/water rinse (you can use apple cider vinegar instead of lemon, I just had that laying around) but now that my hair has adjusted there’s no strange residue. It’s really all about taking proper care of your hair! I honestly don’t take care of my hair at all;;;;; shame on me. I hardly brush it which explains my split ends from hell~ so I’m looking for an eco-friendly salon to have my hair cut and maybe some bamboo-made brushing and hair care supplies -sigh- that’s what I get for thinking eco-friendly means “don’t do shit to your hair” because that’s not the answer :(