9/4/13

Back to school season means new lunch boxes for the kids. When looking for a new lunch box, think fabric bag. A fabric lunch sack replaces throwaway brown paper bags, is more durable and can insulate food to keep it fresher longer. Plus, it's machine washable. Since mold, mildew and other germs can grow in a reusable lunch bag, be sure to wash it at least once a week to keep those germs away and keep the bag fresh. If you insist on using a hard plastic lunch box, use a chemical-free sanitizer like CleanWell, which will kill 99.9 percent of germs but is free of harmful triclosan found in most sanitizers today.

9/3/13

Do your dish towels and hand towels smell a little musky? Instead of reaching for chlorine bleach to clean them, use your microwave. After wiping off pots and pans with a dish towel, place it in the microwave and "cook" it on high for about one minute; this should neutralize the bacteria that cause the mildew smell. And your toothbrush -- which should be replaced every three months -- can be disinfected in the microwave right after use. Just microwave it on high for 10 seconds to kill any germs or bacteria that may be living on it. Be sure there are no metal parts on the brush before disinfecting.

9/2/13

While many of us are replacing burned-out light bulbs with more energy efficient compact fluorescents or LED bulbs, the question still remains: What do you do with old incandescent light bulbs? When an incandescent bulb burns out, the greenest thing is to throw it in the trash. While it may seem that the majority of the bulb is glass and could be recycled in the curbside bin, the reality is that the glass used to make light bulbs melts at a much different temperature than the glass used to make jars and bottles. By mixing light bulbs with recyclable glass containers, you risk contaminating the recycling load.