Computer & Electronics Recycling

My county had a Computer & Electronics Recycling Day on Saturday. I knew I had a 36" TV to get rid of. I'm sure there were other things that could be recycled. A hunting I went around the house.

The HP Laserjet III that just takes up room as it's never been hooked up since I moved in had to go. I'm spending more time in my office and need that space for something else.

There was the VHS machine which had a tape stuck in it. I tried getting it out and gave up. Pointy's BF got it out, but it was still broken. Recyle!

I found my very first cell phone. Here are all the cell phones I've own.


The far left one will go to recycle center. The next three plus Pointy's cell phones will get mailed to a facility that will re-purpose the phones for military use. The last one is my new phone, Droid Incredible, to replace my Palm, next one over. I've not decided what I will do with my Palm yet.

Pointy's BF helped me moved the TV into the car. For the life of me, I can't remember how I got that heavy sucker into the Ikea entertainment cabinet. The rest of the equipment got loaded and away we went.

The County had a great set up. Lots of guys there that unloaded all the items out of the car for you. We did not have to step out and help at all. I guess it only made sense so we don't sue them for hurting ourselves there. The unload team took the items to the appropriate area where another team organized, packed and loaded them into the trucks. The town police were out to direct traffic. The flashing lights were a good idea. It told me I went to the right place.

We even got a reuseable shopping bag for participating in this event. That's a nickel for each bag we use for our groceries.

Join Kermit, Be Green

HGTV (U.S. Home & Garden TV) had 10 easy things to do to be green.

1. Have a barbecue - Outdoor grills take less energy than electric kitchen stoves. They also keep heat out of the house, lowering air conditioning costs. Stick with grills that use propane or natural gas; they emit 5.6 pounds of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per hour while a charcoal grill belches 11 pounds of the air-polluting compound for the same. One more thing: dine on reusable plates made from bamboo, not disposable paper ones. The trees will thank you.

2. Upgrade your toilet - Low-flow toilets have gone high-tech. Manufacturers of new designer loos use advanced computer modeling to deliver more flush power with less water, trimming around $90 from your annual water costs. Several new models feature dual-flush buttons that let you opt for a mighty 1.6-gallon whoosh or a gentle .8-gallon splash.

3. Lose the lawnmower - Everyone wants a putting-green perfect lawn. But constant mowing, watering and fertilizing is a bore, as well as a burden on the environment. A two-stroke, gasoline-powered lawnmower releases as many hydrocarbons into the atmosphere in 30 minutes as a car does in 90 minutes. Switch to an electric mower, which costs $8 to $10 a year to operate, and replace some of your sod with attractive, more environmentally friendly alternatives like clover, strawberries, and ornamental grasses.

4. Get a flat screen monitor for your computer - uses 1/3 less electricity than bulky old monitors

5. Buy organic, locally produced food - Organic food tastes better and it's kinder to the earth. Thirty percent of the fossil fuel used on farms goes into the making of fertilizers. Get greener by buying items grown or produced within 100 miles and you'll reduce the amount of diesel fuel needed to ship food. You can get fresher food and help small-scale agriculture by shopping at neighborhood farmers' markets.

6. Use safer paint - If you feel a little woozy after painting the bedroom with latex-based enamel, choose a product low in volatile organic compounds (VOCs) instead. New designer colors and improved quality make these safer paints equivalent to standard ones and they benefit your health as well as the planet's. If you don't mind a paint fume buzz, try recycled paints. Filtered, reprocessed latex keeps harmful chemicals out of the landfill and at $5 to $7.50 a gallon, they're a bargain. Colors and finishes are sometimes limited, though..

7. Get a solar-powered water heater - Stand under the pulse-jet guilt free with a solar hot water system. You can install solar panels on your roof that will work with your conventional water heater. The panels cost between $2,000 and $4,500, and they can reduce the need for conventional water heating by around two-thirds. A solar water heater cuts around 12 percent off the average household's monthly electric bill. Most solar systems use a conventional backup heater, so you're never left with a cold shower.

8. Buy new light bulbs - You've heard that replacing old light bulbs with compact fluorescent ones can trim 5 percent from your monthly electricity bill. But this doesn't mean you have to live beneath the ugly glow of low-end fluorescent bulbs. Go for the premium fluorescents that cast a pure white or buttery golden light across your interior. The cost difference? Bargain basement fluorescent bulbs cost between $3 and $5; the higher grade ones cost $9 to $12.

9. Become an expert in recycling - Shopping bags never go in your bins, even if they do organize the empty vino bottles nicely. Look on the bottom of your plastic items for a number and only put the articles with a 1 or 2 in your bin; most areas don't take the ones with higher numbers. Don't put light bulbs, broken glass, or bits of food in your bin, either. They gum up the process and make your waste professionals feel a little, well, tossed aside.

10. Invite birds, bugs and bats into your yard - Skip the pesticides and use nature's method of bug-eradication: other animals. Install birdhouses to shelter feathered friends who dine on pesky beetles and grubs. Put out egg cases of Green Lacewings or Praying Mantises (less than $15, www.mastergardening.com) and they'll gobble up aphids. Bats, and toads will dine on mosquitoes; attract them with bat houses ($25) and toad houses you can make yourself by overturning flower pots.

I would love to do 1, but town ordinance does not permit propane tanks and I would have to run a line for natural gas (one of these days). So I had an electric grill that I've retired three years ago. Waiting for my bro to start doing the BBQ. The BIL does nothing with the housewarming gift I gave them.

House has 2. No need for 3 or 4 or 6 or 7 (no sun). Haven't done the organic thing yet. I've done 8 and okay with 9. Don't know about 10.

How are you in becoming green?

Paper, Peanuts, Bubbles or Air Sacks

Did you figure out what paper, peanuts, bubbles and air sacks have in common?

The Fedex Man dropped off a box full of TimTams (yum yum yum) today. It also came with peanuts as extraneous packing material. This was the second box I got in the past week with peanuts. I also got a box last week that I finally opened and knew it will have paper as the packing material. It just got me thinking about the packing materials that are used.

Some companies, like Disney, has started to use paper, the stuff that comes on rolls, as packing material. Bubbles are either mini or large, the bubble wrap. Companies use it to protect delicate stuff (yeah, Disney uses this, too). Peanuts, of course, are those styroform stuff in many shapes like pasta that goes all over the place if you don't open the box properly. They are also very clingy items. Air sacks are humongous plaqstic sacks that contain air, like bubbles :D

I don't know which I like. They all create a lot of extra trash. Though I don't throw majority of it out. I recycle what I can.

I use to have bags and bags and bags of peanuts. It's funny because I open a closet that I don't use often in the basement. It seems my mom on one of her visits decided to organize my basement. She threw all the bags into the closet. I went in there looking for something. Darn, there were lots of bags to take out. I finally got rid of them by dropping them off at my local packaging/shipping/mailbox store. They were more than happy to take them. This is a great way for you to recycle those darn peanuts if you're not saving them for yourself. Just find a local packing store.

The paper is also recycled, but what a pain to do as I have to straighten out long long long sheets of paper and fold them neatly so it can go with my paper recycle pile. Oh, many many moons ago I use to save the paper cause they came in pretty colors. Still have rolls. It will make pretty wrapping paper. And I did use it once. With a rubber stamp and ink, you can make your own wrapping paper.

The bubbles :) I pop some for stress relief -- these wind up in the trash bag. The unpopped ones get saved for when I need to mail stuff out -- I do the occasional sell on ebay. Boy do I have a lot saved. There are some bags of those in the closet, too.

I guess the air sacks are the least friendly as I pop them and then stuff them into the garbage. What else are you suppose to do with the air sacks. I'm not saving them.

What do you do with the packing material?

Guinea Pig Thinks Green

The why for this blog was me going to my checkbook and finding out I have no more checks. Now, I have to remember where I keep the refills. Found it!!! Left it right where it was suppose to be -- only to discover it's time to order more checks. *Grrrrrr* if only my management company accepted credit card payment without an additional fee or accepted me sending them online banking check instead of them taking money from my account, I would not have to bother with ordering more checks. *Grrrrr* if only the county did not keep raising the taxes so I don't get a notice from my mortgager that there's shortage in escrow for taxes. I'm down to writing one check a month with an odd one thrown in here and there. If I can go by the form dates on the reorder check forms, the last check order was placed in 1996.

No, I'm like lots of you out there that are being choked by vendors who want money for their services. But, I'm a trailblazer, risk taker or guinea pig. I'm an on-line internet banking person. I signed up immediately when my bank first introduced it -- mid 1990s. I think my bank was the first to offer online and phone bill payments. You give them the information and they print and mail checks out or transfer money electronically if the vendor accepts that, too. Once I figure out how my sister can electronically send me money once a month (her rent), I would not have to step foot in a bank cause that's the only reason I have to go. Oh, okay. I also go to the ATM to get spending cash for those establishments who insist on cash transactions.

I've been an ebayer since 1998. When PayPal started its business, I was not too far behind to sign up for their services especially since I like paying with my credit card and it was the only way ebay sellers could accept this type of payment. That was 2000.

Vendors are starting to permit payment via credit card. I signed up for that, too. The vendors that send me a monthly bill or annual renewal. Gotta take advantage of the benefits you get from your credit card company. You get "free" money. I got "free" money to buy books and even "play" money for my trips to Disneyland. No worries on the credit card front -- I don't carry a balance. They get paid off each month. Only one debt to my name -- my mortgage.

By using the computer for many paper cumbersome transactions, *bright light bulb* I've been thinking green . Using the computer definitely has cut down on the paper that I've needed to send out or file and then need to shred before disposing of it. When any of my vendors offer electronic statements, guess who signed up pronto. MEEEEE!!!! Let me tell you. I love it. I download and periodically save onto CD. I think the shredder is feeling lonely as I don't spend much time with it anymore.

Oh one more thing... my sister gave me a check and I just noticed that it's not the frou frou checks. You know the ones that have a character or emblem or favorite hobby on it. She's using blue lined checks now. I asked her why. She said it was time she grew up. Well, I grew up on checks, too, back in the mid 1990's. Just for the checks. The inner child is still strong in both of us.