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Entry bubble Opt Out of Catalog Mailing Lists

By: Joanne | May 06, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

big stack of catalogsDo you get too many catalogs in the mail? There was a time, back in the dark ages before the internet, that I was a committed catalog shopper. But those days are over, baby—I’m an online shopper now, and the catalogs are nothing but kindling to get the fire started. If I’m not ordering from the catalogs, why do they continue to arrive every day!?! It’s like they’re hunting you down! Recently I ordered some shoes from an online retailer and a few weeks later a catalog filled with ugly, horrible shoes arrived in the mail. Look out, someone’s gotten wise to the fact that my family wears shoes!

When you think about it, unwanted catalogs are a terrible waste of resources. There’s the paper and the ink and distribution and the processing all for something that I’m going to throw directly into the recycle bin. I’ve finally decided to do something about this shameful waste in my life.

If you think you have no control over these mailings, you’re wrong. You can register your mail preferences with the Direct Marketing Association to be removed from (or added to) the mailing lists of your choice. Or call the number printed on the catalog and ask them to remove you from their list. I’ve been doing this a lot lately. As soon as the catalog comes in the mail, I just pick up the phone—it doesn’t take long, and I’ve never had one hassle me about it. They tell me that it takes a number of weeks until you’re really out of the catalog mailing cycle, but that’s ok—by summer I’ll be catalog free!

If you’re interested, there are ways to opt out of unwanted credit card offers, unsolicited email, and cell phone spam, too.

| Comments [2] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: catalog  joanne  junk  mail  marketing  opt  out 

 

Entry bubble Earth Day…Is Every Day

By: Joanne | April 29, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

clouds, sky and horses

Earth Day was last week—remember? You know Earth Day is more than just a day to feel guilty and obligated to plant a tree, don’t you? The first Earth Day was organized to make people think about ecology, encourage respect for life on earth, and to heighten awareness of soil, air and water pollution.

Earth Day is a reminder that environmental responsibility is every one's responsibility, and the choices you make every day can protect or pollute the environment. Start at home by making sure that your home is as energy-efficient as it can be. Not only will it save energy, but it’s going to save you money, and I think we can all agree that we’d like to pay less to heat and cool our homes.

The Environmental Protection Agency has lots of ideas for reducing air pollution and conserving energy, using water wisely, and making environmentally friendly choices.

| Comments [2] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: day  earth  environment  joanne 

 

Entry bubble Landscaping with Native Species

By: Joanne | April 08, 2008 | Category: Fun

The weather is finally starting to warm up and I was so happy to spend most of my weekend outside digging in the yard and garden. I’m preparing to plant, buying seeds and considering landscape improvements I can make to our property.

When I walk into the garden center I’m always thrilled by so many beautiful plants and I want them all! Experience is teaching me though, that this isn’t always the best strategy. These days I’m trying to put more thought into what to plant and my focus now is on native species. By taking care of the lawn and garden properly, I can save money, time, and help the environment. I don’t know about you, but those are all things I’d like to do.

Native plants are the plants that occur naturally in your region. Since native species are already well suited to live in your region, you’ve already won the first battle – it wants to live in your yard and shouldn’t require a lot of attention to keep alive. Also, native species, especially those with berries, fruits and flowers will encourage the butterflies and birds to visit. butterfly on a coneflower

It takes a little research to find the plants and wildflowers suited to your area, and your state Natural Resources Department can help you identify plants native to your region.

Whatever you do, be careful not to buy an invasive species for your yard. We’ve got a lot of multiflora rose growing on our property. We didn’t put it there, but I don’t know how we’re going to get rid of it all. …maybe I need one of those landscaping flamethrowers?

| Comments [3] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: bush  flower  greenscape  invasive  joanne  native  noxious  plant  shrub  tree 

 

Entry bubble Government Grants

By: Joanne | April 01, 2008 | Category: Money

Hey! Did you hear that the government gives away billions of dollars so people can pay off their credit card bills, quit their jobs and go on vacation?  April fool!

woman standing in a shower of money

Are we really that gullible? Sure we’d all like it to be true—who doesn’t want some easy money? But before you shell out some of your hard earned money to learn how to get a government grant, or even worse, get caught up in a scam, I want you to know that the government does give lots of money away, but most government grants go to state and local governments or nonprofit organizations that in turn use the money to administer community programs.

If you or someone you know is in need, the government has loads of assistance programs that might help - they’re just not often referred to as “grants.” There are programs to help with heating bills or starting a business or health insurance for children and much more. If you’re an organization seeking a grant you should check out grants.gov, your official source where you can find and apply for a grant from the federal government.

| Comments [5] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: assistance  benefits  financial  grant  joanne  money 

 

Entry bubble Paper or Plastic? Cloth or Cardboard?

By: Joanne | March 25, 2008 | Category: Home and Family

paper grocery bags

The next time you’re at the grocery store stocking up on fruits and veggies, consider the question, paper or plastic? Shopping bags, especially the plastic ones are handed to us almost every time we buy something. We’re so used to it that we don’t even think about it any more, but we should.

A friend recently sent me a link to an eye-opening multimedia presentation on the topic of grocery bags. I’m not going to throw a mountain of data at you because when you take a moment to think about it, you already know that it takes a tremendous amount of resources to even produce that bag you take for granted at the store. We’re either cutting down trees or importing fossil fuels to make these things and that’s just the beginning. There’s a costly manufacturing and shipping process and the truth is, that most of them go from our hands directly into the landfill.

I’ve been making a gradual transition to using cloth bags. Every now and again I spend a couple of bucks on a reusable cotton bag. They’re easy to find – your grocery store probably sells them. If I’m not buying much, I ask for no bag at all (a request that has earned me many strange looks from cashiers!) or I keep my handy cotton bags in the car and bring them into the store. You also might want to use a cardboard box – they’re reusable, recyclable, and if your store doesn’t already offer the option, you probably only have to ask because they’ve got lots of them in the back of the store destined for the dumpster. So remember it’s really only a small change of habit to reduce, reuse or recycle that paper or plastic bag!

| Comments [11] | envelope Email This Entry | Tags: bag  box  cardboard  cloth  cotton  food  grocery  joanne  paper  plastic 

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