Recycle For Easy Money: No Matter Where You Live

Everyone should recycle to the extent that is possible in your area....

or else the earth will become deluged with landfill waste (like the picture here (yuck!)).

It is easy to get started. What I did was purchase seperate garbage cans to hold paper/cardboard, glass, aluminum, plastic and non-recyclable trash. Then, when they were full I put them in the outside bin designated for recycling. You can even go a step further and recycle food scraps with the help of a composter.

You may not receive money for your efforts, but you will receive those intangible rewards of knowing you did the right thing....

Now we will skip ahead to those who came here because they wanted to learn about THE EASY MONEY....

1. Consign or sell your gently used items. Buying used and donating/selling used items is recycling. You may not have thought about it this way before, but it is. Whenever you sell something that is used at a garage sale, on E-bay or Amazon or your local paper or craigslist or to a pawn shop you are saving the planet.

2. Refurbish old furniture, repair clothes, fix up old cars or other items rather than throwing them out. This doesn't make money, but it will save you money which is almost as good. You can also turn around and sell the item you saved from the landfill. It is also fun to find ways to reuse your trash for something else, such as a large, old box for a playhouse (rather than buying a new one).

3. You can sell used parts, glass, paper, scraps, rubber etc. at recycleinme.com.

4. This website and also this website explains about some companies that pay you for your used ipod, laptop, ink jet cartridges, boxes, golf balls, gaming console, etc. Check them out!

5. And finally I am going to put in a plug for John at Cell Phone Recycling because he left a comment on my blog and so check out his site HERE and recycle your old phones for money!

Water Conservation: I Never Let The Water Run… Except, of course, when the bathtub overflows

Funny how I am trying to conserve water at the same time I am trying to drink more of it!

It is better to use water for something useful (drinking) then to just let it pour down the drain unused.

I always turn off the water when I brush my teeth, but I recently decided to look hard at how most of our water was being wasted.

The culprits: baths, showers and toilet

I used to give my four year old a bath every day. This was largely to shampoo and condition her long, unruly hair. If I skipped a day it would look ratty and she would scream and cry when I tried to comb it out. This was a huge, unnecessary waste of water.

So my solution? I cut her hair to look like Rihanna's. She loves it. She thinks she's a rock star.

Now she needs fewer baths and never cries when I brush her hair.

I was also spending a long time shaving in the shower.

My solution? Laser hair removal. I never have to shave again. It's expensive, but think of the time it saves in just one year of not shaving (not to mention the water it saves)!

Also, one thing I am thinking of getting is a shower timer. It can be a game to see if my kids can get done before the timer goes off.

The next issue is the toilet. It helps to put a small plastic jug filled with water to displace water in your tank, but there is something else you can do...

I really don't want to discuss this on my blog, but here it goes. You don't HAVE TO flush every time you pee. OK I said it...That is up to you and your tolerance level...

On to other, more pleasant subjects.

Other ways we can help:

-use rain barrels at the end of downspouts to water gardens or other needs (i.e. washing car)
-turn off the water when brushing teeth
-don't rinse dishes before the dishwasher and never wash dishes by hand
-use water conserving appliances
-use environmentally friendly cleaning solutions (such as vinegar and lemon juice)
-don't use chemicals

Drinking water.... Oh yes. Isn't it nice to have clean water to drink, wash, etc. ?

Let's keep it that way by using less of it!

Why We Could Run Out Of Fresh Water

We often don't see water as the precious resource it is....

but this miracle may not last forever if we are not careful.

A lot of people are confused as to why we should conserve water. I mean - the oceans are huge! How could we be running out of water?

The problem is that less than 0.3% of the water on earth is available for human consumption and most of this is ground water.

This water supply is decreasing fast and most people in the U.S., or anywhere else in the industrialized world are not taking the crisis as seriously as they should nor do they realize how it directly threatens them.

Water tables are falling, lakes are shrinking and demand is increasing. In fact, demand has tripled over the last half-century. Cities (including U.S. cities) are starting to take irrigation water from farmers to meet their needs. As water becomes scarcer it will become more expensive. The price of water will (and has in some places) far exceed the value of the food that can be produced with it. This will produce a food shortage.

Water scarcity is due to overpumping of fresh water. Water supplies are decreasing or have been exhausted with no hope of replenishment. Water is sustainable only as long as we use as much as is available (conserve) respecting the hydrosphere cycle process.

Another reason water is declining is the widespread use of fresh water for various human uses (water mixing with pesticides, herbicides, fertilizers, chemicals, cleaning agents, etc.). This has led to polluted groundwater systems which ultimately leads to a decreased water supply.

Governments need to limit aquifer pumping to sustainable levels, but they have failed to do so. There has been a huge mismanagement of this resource... a "free ride" attitude that will have extreme consequences. Future international conflict over water is a real danger.

So, until governments intervene- it is up to us to conserve.

Steps we can take include: turn off the water, take shorter showers, eat less meat (it takes more water to produce meat than a vegetarian diet) and promote the education of girls (birth control) in developing countries, use greywater in your home, support water-efficient irrigation, etc. Click here for more tips.

Don't believe there is a global water crisis? Check out these articles:

Africa's great shrinking Lake Chad

China’s water table levels are dropping fast

The Ogallala Aquifer Depletion (Texas, New Mexico, Oklahoma, Kansas, Colorado, and Nebraska)

Peak water in Saudi Arabia

Beijing’s Water Crisis

IMMINENT WATER CRISIS IN INDIA

Israel Facing Worst Water Crisis in 80 Years

Dry Taps in Mexico City: A Water Crisis Gets Worse

Behold the incredible shrinking Colorado River

The Shrinking Euphrates ( Iraq Suffers )

The Shrinking of the Aral Sea (near Kazakhstan)

Water crisis hits Egypt "Country of Nile River"

Sea of Galilee is Shrinking

Dead Sea shrinking by 1 meter every year