Earth Friendly

Several years ago, I had difficulty wearing contacts because of my allergies and re-occurring eye infections. The solution was to wear disposable contacts, so every night I was throwing out a pair and every morning I was putting a new pair in. How wasteful was that solution?

Fortunately, my allergies stopped giving me problems and now I can wear 30-day contact lenses with no problem. However, for those of you who still have an issue, why not wear your eyeglasses? This can be an eco-friendly and money saving opportunity for you.

There are so many cool designs too. Check out Eyeglasses.com, because they have a wide variety such as retro, vintage, flexible, rimless, etc. The hardest decision about your switch will probably be choosing which frame to purchase!

This past weekend I went on a shopping spree at IKEA. I figured that it would be okay if I update my office space since I’ve had the same uncomfortable white wicker desk since I was seven. Now I have a spacious desk, and my knees don’t bump the top!

For under $450, I got a glass tabletop desk, office chair, filing cabinet, paper tray, rug and desk pad. To my surprise, everything was fairly simple to put together…I only messed up once and had to redo a step for the filing cabinet (this says a lot coming from me).

Imagine yourself sinking down into warm, soft sand and feeling the ocean breeze brush past your skin all while you admire the blue water and puffy clouds from the island. This might be a fantasy for you right now, but you could win a real 4 night hotel stay in Hawaii as well as a $350 voucher for Hertz as a part of the Dream Green 2009 Promotion from RezHub.

The Pacific Beach Hotel in Honolulu, Hawaii offers an oceanfront view of Waikiki, a family friendly atmosphere, and it received 4 out of 5 Green Branches according to RezHub’s green score rating for green hotels. Some of the eco-friendly amenities include organic food options, water conservation, recycling, Energy Star appliances, earth friendly housekeeping and native plant gardens. Booking a few nights in this luxurious hotel might have you living a greener lifestyle than you do at home.

Other than being a beach bum, there are more adventurous activities you can participate in. If you’re thinking about renewing your vows, Hawaii is a beautiful place to do this. Or you can create an exciting itinerary for yourself and visit the Honolulu Zoo, hike Diamond Head, shop at the Ala Moana Shopping Center, play golf at the Ala Wai Golf Course, visit the Waikiki Aquarium and make it back to the Pacific Beach Hotel in time to receive a healing spa therapy from the Hawaiian Rainforest Salon & Spa. With so many attractions nearby, you will find plenty of things to do whether you’re single, dating or married.

Opening your windows and letting the breeze filter through your home is refreshing, but it can also give ants, flies and other bugs an easy entry. Anymore it’s scary when you get bit by bugs, because you never know how concerned to be about a bump on your skin. You could get viruses and diseases but more than likely you survive and the itchy, red bump on your skin goes away.

To combat these pesky insects, handle them in a more natural way without using chemicals: grow a water garden full of carnivorous plants! Learn how by reading Ways to Control Pests Without the Chemicals.

So you have your suitcase ready to go as well as a wad of spending cash, but what about your hotel, flight or car? When planning a vacation, it’s easy to let your common sense float away into the clouds, but with these easy green travel booking tips, the rest of your body will have a chance to float away with your mind this summer.

Did you know that there is an eco-friendly way to pack your lunch? If you use traditional aluminum foil and plastic sandwich bags every day for work or school, it’s time you became enlightened.

There are a variety of Earth friendly that can keep your food fresh, cold or warm and sealed away. You might think that these products are inconvenient or time consuming. Instead of assuming, check out the products for yourself: Eco-friendly Ways to Pack Your Lunch.

What is your idea of a green hotel? Maybe it’s a hotel that uses eco-friendly cleaning supplies or Energy Star appliances. Depending on how high you set your standards, you might have a long list of preferred earth friendly amenities. If you do set the bar high when it comes to choosing a green hotel, wouldn’t it be convenient if the hotel had a green score for you to refer to?

Even if you choose not to sort by green hotels, the hotels with green amenities will still come up in the same search results as a normal hotel search. When you click on a hotel’s Green Branches, RezHub provides a list of green amenities showing why the hotel deserves its Green Score. If you prefer hotels that offer organic food and use compact fluorescent lighting and a fresh-air exchange system, this is an easy way to locate a hotel with all of your green needs. Watch the feature tour to learn more.

Are you a regular at the craft store? If you said yes, I bet you have a secret stash of silk flowers that keeps building up. Although silk flowers are versatile, the problem is that they have a long lifespan. Eventually all of those fake flower arrangements will end up in a landfill, but you can reuse the flowers you have instead of buying new. Read Can Silk Flowers be Reused? for creative ideas on how to incorporate silk flowers into your home and office.

Scheduling your next vacation so that it reflects your eco-friendly values can be overwhelming. First, you have to call various hotels and search their sites to see how green they really are. Oh, and don’t forget about renting an efficient vehicle to get you around town. By the time you’re done researching, you might end up looking at more of a travel expense than you initially intended.

Using RezHub.com can ensure your vacation is sustainable and more affordable without the hassle of researching for hours. Their Green Travel Hub has provided all of the information you need about hotels, because they have actually visited the hotels and made the phone calls. If you already know a thing or two about traveling in green style, post useful information for other travelers on the Green Travel Forum.

Finally there is a user-friendly directory of green hotels to narrow your searches and help you book the perfectly sustainable vacation. Currently, RezHub has ranked 1,600 hotels in over 40 countries. The scoring system ranks each hotel’s Green Amenities, and as a result, the hotel receives a designated amount of Green Branches to show their level of eco-friendly services.

If you’re unable to afford or fit one of these eco-friendly hotels into your itinerary, don’t worry because RezHub donates 20% of its profits from any trip booked on its site to environmentally friendly organizations. So even if you don’t choose a green hotel, you support the planet just by booking your vacation on the site. Traveling more eco-consciously couldn’t be any simpler.

Your pets can get fleas at any time throughout the year, especially when we have those warming periods in winter. However, with summer weather now moving in, you have to be even more careful that fleas don’t attack your pets. Not only can your pet get diseases from flea bites, the fleas can also bite you and infest your home. Instead of reaching for harmful pesticides to repel and treat flea infestations, read Eco-friendly Pet Care: Natural Flea Solutions.