3/2/14

With spring around the corner, it's a good time to start collecting eggshells for your flowering bushes and gardens. After you've cracked eggs to make frittatas or scrambled eggs, rinse the shells out and place them on a microwave-safe plate. Zap them on high for about three minutes to sterilize and dry them out. The shells will become very dry and will be safe to store. In the spring, crush the shells into a powder and mix them into the soil near flowering bushes like rhododendrons and hydrangea. These plants thrive from the calcium boost from eggshells and will give you stronger and more vibrant blooms all spring and summer long.

3/1/14

If you have a collection of used postage stamps, new ones or even stamps from foreign countries and you are unsure what to do with them, you can donate them to the American Philatelic Society. The group will take any types of stamps, covers and stamp albums to use for its youth and educational program. A variety of programs like the Young Stamp Collectors of America and All-Star Stamp Clubs benefit from the donations, and it need hundreds of pounds of donated materials annually for its programs. To learn more, visit stamps.org.

2/28/14

Even though most shampoo, conditioner and body wash bottles are made with easily recyclable high-density polyethylene (HDPE) or polyethylene terephthalate (PET) plastics, only about 20 to 25 percent of the bottles are actually recycled. The likely reason? The transition to carry the empty shampoo bottle from the bathroom to the kitchen recycling bin gets lost on many unsuspecting people. To help your family recycle, consider placing a small recycling bin in the bathroom to not only collect recyclable plastics, but also glass and cardboard boxes.