Eco Friendly Ant Removal

Ants seem to be a pest I cannot get rid of. We have battled with them for years. Really. I kid you not. Since my quest to be greener began, however, I have really struggled with how to rid our home of these pests in a way that is safe for my family and more eco-friendly as well. Below are some steps I have made to help me…and now hopefully you!

Eco-Friendly Ant Removal Tips

Removing Ants the Green Way.

• Be clean. Keep food sealed well and avoid having crumbs on the counters and floors. Sweep often and do not let the kids eat on the couches. Under the cushions and in the crevices of plush chairs are breeding grounds for crumb central which in turn will be an ant heaven.
• Check for leaks. Many times you can have the cleanest home and no food source available. However, if you have standing water or leaks, the ants will come for a more vital resource…water.
• Seal openings. Check windows, doors and any places where crevices exist. Seal them up with a non toxic sealer/caulk. This is a great way to keep many unwanted house guests out!
• Cut off their communication. Ants leave an invisible chemical trail to let their buddies know where to go. You can help stop this in a simple and natural way. Mix liquid soap and water together. Put in spray bottle. Spray areas where you have seen ant trails in your home.
• Green thumb. Trim trees and bushes so that they are not touching your house. Especially near windows. This will prevent easy access to your home.
• Find the nest. You can bait them with honey or sugar water and try to find out where the buggers are coming from. If you are fortunate enough to find the colony try one of these steps. Outdoor nests: pour a LOT of hot boiling water over it several times. Indoor nests: put corn starch into a bag-less or with bag vacuum cleaner. Vacuum them up and immediately remove bag and throw away. Or, if you use a bag-less vacuum, clean it out and make sure the filter is changed.
  
• Use bait. I do not recommend this unless all else fails. And, IF you MUST use a bait, use a closed bait instead of a chemical or toxic spray.

As I have mentioned many times in the past, we can be greener if we take the time to research and be creative. Being green is a lot simpler than many people may think. I hope these ant removal tips have helped you. If you have any of your own, please feel free to share below!

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Green Tip – (10/19/09) – Rodent Elimination

Eliminating rodents can seem like a daunting task for greenies. I mean you want to be humane and green at the same time. I thought of a few ideas that will help remove rodents in an eco friendly way that is fairly humane as well.

Removing Rodents the Green Way

• Get a Cat. LOL. Sounds funny? Well, if you live on a farm or in a rural area, this can be a GREAT tip. Not only are you making the cat or cats happy, you are also going with a natural form of removing unwanted rodents from your land. If you have a large area, get a few cats. However, I DO recommend that you still get them spayed or neutered. You do not want to wind up with an over abundance…then you may need dogs. ROFL!
• Get Rid of the rat friendliness. Remove berry bushes, ivy, fruit and nut trees, wood piles, and holes in concrete that are close to home. Also, make sure your bird feeders are clean. Dirty anything attracts unwanted pests.
• Be Aware of Compost. You do not want a good thing to attract a bad thing! Keep pile in closed container. Plastic is best for compost. Avoid adding cooked food, meat and fish, dairy and bread to compost bin. They all attract rodents. Add water to deter them from nesting in compost.
• Use Traps. Instead of toxic poison that could wind up harming pets, children and WANTED creatures, go for the rat trap option. Place them where the rodents seem most active. Peanut butter, bacon, cheese or any food with strong odor are great lures and always make sure that the triggers to the trap are facing the wall. If you notice no vermin after a week, try a different location for the trap.
• Seal all Openings. Keep in mind that a mouse can fit into a hole the size of a pencil eraser. Go through your house and search for potential entry ways. Seal them up. Repair broken screens and other areas of the home that could become entrances for vermin.

As you can see, harmful toxic poisons are not the only way to eliminate rodents from your surroundings. Do you have any other green tips to remove vermin? Please share below!

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Steam Mops – Economically and Environmentally Sound

I’m not big on having chemicals in my house and when I think of my kids playing around areas that have had chemicals poured on them I just don’t like the idea. Where I used to live there was a ton of carpet throughout the house so cleaning floors never brought this issue up for me, but when I moved it was into a house that has nearly as much tile flooring as carpeted. I immediately began searching for a solution to cleaning the tile flooring without having to use tons of chemical agents with my mop and that is when I discovered the wonderful world of steam mops.

Steam mops provide a way to clean that is not only good on the environment but also easy on your pocket book. You can buy a steam mop for anywhere from $60 all the way up to $300. The one I bought is the Shark Steam Mop and it cost just about $70 – not too shabby for something that you will use for years to come. I bought it through a warehouse store so it came at a great price with extra mop pads to boot.

There are two major features with the Shark steam mop that get my attention – the first is that it functions with nothing but water. You pour the water in the spout, close it up, pug it in, and presto – in 30 seconds it is steamed up and ready to go. No harsh chemicals on the floor to worry about with young children. The steam is very hot – in fact it is so hot that you can get burned if you were to spray yourself with it (so don’t do that). Being as it is so hot it gives piece of mind knowing that the floor is getting completely sanitized in the mopping process – and with such heat it actually dries almost instantly!

The second feature that I love is the mop pads – they are reusable. After mopping you just take it off and pop it in the laundry. It is so simple! There are no pesky pads to wad up and throw away and there are no dirty sponges to deal with – every time you use the Shark mop you get to use a clean pad because you have washed it since the time before. This means you don’t have to keep buying fresh pads – your wallet will thank you!

I’ve looked at many other steam mops and most also have the same features that I love about the Shark. I think when looking to make your household more green you just can’t go wrong with a mop that will keep your family safe from chemicals and save you money in the long run. It’s a win win situation no matter what brand of steam mop you choose!

Copyright ©  2009, Becki, Green Christian Network, All Rights Reserved

               

Green Tip – (08/31/09) – Try Cork Flooring

When choosing the right floor for your home there are many considerations.  You want it to be durable, attractive, green friendly and affordable!  Cork flooring has the ability to be customized to fit every lifestyle and décor choice.  It can be stained, and be installed as tiles or planks, which creates a variety of pattern options.  It’s durable, mold and mildew resistant, renewable, sustainable and environmentally friendly product.

Cork flooring is a renewable resource.  Instead of having to cut down a tree, cork is harvested from a tree without causing it any harm.  The harvesting process is actually pretty interesting; cork, made from the bark of oak trees, is only harvested from a tree once every ten years.  And it’s biodegradable, which means you don’t have to feel guilty when your flooring has reached the end of its life and needs to be replaced.

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Energy Saving Kitchen Tips

1. Use the right size pan for the job, and the right sized burner. It may sound silly but you can waste a lot of time and energy trying to boil a giant-size pot of potatoes on a tiny burner.  And you can waste a tremendous amount of energy warming up a small pan of sauce on a giant burner.  If you can see more than a half inch of overlap, either the pan overlapping the burner or the burner overlapping the pan, see if there’s a better fit.
2. Don’t preheat oven. Have you ever been pressed for time and just shoved that tray of chocolate chip cookies in an oven that hasn’t been preheated?  What happened?  Presumably you may have had to add one or two minutes to the cook time but it certainly didn’t add ten minutes or more to the cook time.  With many ovens it takes 10-15 minutes to warm up to 350 degrees, and that’s wasted energy.
3. Use smaller appliances for smaller jobs. If you’re making an open-faced sandwich, warming up leftovers or eating those frozen and ready-to-cook cookies, then skip the oven and use your toaster oven instead.  It uses less energy to heat up.  Additionally, your microwave can be used to steam, reheat and even to make eggs, melt chocolate and warm up canned foods in much less time and with much less energy.
4. Use a Slow Cooker. When you are making soups, stews and even roasts, consider using a slow cooker instead of cooking them for hours on top of the stove.  Slow cookers use less energy and you can cook your meals during low energy times in your home.

You can save TONS of energy focusing your attentions and habits on JUST your kitchen habits!

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Green Tip – (08/25/09) – More Tips for those Paper Tube Rolls

We did a great article awhile back with tips to reuse cardboard tubes from toilet paper and paper towels. You can read it here. Well, good news…we have a few MORE ideas!!!

More Tips to Green those Tubes

Seedling pots – Cut a few of the cardboard paper towel rolls into four pieces OR toilet ones into two, then fold the bottom part to hold the soil. Add the soil and plant your seeds. Once your seedlings are ready to go into the ground simply plant the whole paper roll and it will biodegrade right into the ground where it is planted. This is also a GREAT way to have a mini herb garden for your daily kitchen use that is not only eco friendly, but made from recycled materials!

Maracas: Fold the bottom of a cardboard paper roll over and staple it closed. Fill with dry beans or rice. Fold top of roll and staple closed. Decorate. Enjoy.

Puppets: Glue a Popsicle sickle stick (two recycling items in one fun craft! LOL!) to the bottom of the toilet paper or paper towel roll to make a handle. Now, decorate the roll with funny faces. Use yarn or colored feathers to make hair. Those little fun eyes and whatever else you have in your art box can add to your funny faced puppet people. Let the kids put on a recycling puppet show for you when they are done! Making it fun will help your kids WANT to recycle and be better stewards ofg God’s planet!

Wildlife Yard pots – If you’d like to attract wildlife into your garden paper rolls are a great biodegradable option. Fill with nuts and seeds and place amongst a pile of leaves to bring hedgehogs and lots of bugs and insects into the garden. You can also insert a string from the top of it and hang it hidden in a tree. Fill it with bird seeds to attract the birds.

Get creative with your old cardboard paper rolls. You will be surprised at the many things you and your kids can use them for!!!

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Compost Anyone?

We just moved into a new house and with that comes a whole new yard. I told my Husband that I would really like to plant a garden, but he informed me that the soil quality where we live is very poor and that I would have to buy topsoil and other nutrient-rich additives if I was to have the hopes of anything actually growing. At first I was a little bummed out, but then I thought this was the perfect time to start that compost bin I have always wanted to start. If I start now, by the next planting season I should definitely have something substantial to add to the poor soil that is already here. My Husband likes this idea so a compost bin is in the works and will be placed out back soon.

I know you can add things like rotten fruits and veggies to a compost bin, but there is so much more!

Below is a lit of stuff that you can add to a compost bin…

…things I never knew before!

• Pet hair
• Lint
• Old herbs and spices
• Coffee grounds with the filter
• Tea bags and leaves
• Egg shells
• Kleenex tissues
• Old potato chips (stale)
• Moldy cheese
• Shredded cardboard cereal boxes
• Hair trimmings including those your Hubby shaves off his face
• Toenail and fingernail clippings
• Cooked rice
• Old plain pasta
• The liquids from canned veggies and fruits
• Pencil shavings
• Cotton swabs with the cardboard sticks (not plastic)

And those are just a few of the weird and unusual things I found that can be composted!  In addition to that of course you can all old kitchen scraps (as long as they don’t have meat products), grass clippings, pine needles, leaves, etc…

I can wait to get my compost bin started and along with creating some nutrient rich material for my garden I am also helping keep necessary waste out of the landfills – it is win win for everyone!

Copyright ©  2009, Becki, Green Christian Network, All Rights Reserved

               

Green those Tubes!

I am happy to announce that I use only recyclable toilet paper and paper towels. However, I was having a hard time figuring out what to do with the cardboard tubes they are wrapped around…even the foil and wax paper. The cardboard tubes befuddled me.

Not anymore!

Tips to Green those Tubes

Straighten up! You can use the toilet paper tubes to straighten flower stems and plants when they are droopy.

Kid Crafts. The sky is the limit with this one. You can make all sorts of crafts with your kids. Use your imagination.

Paper Towel Holder. One of my kids made me a paper towel holder with the left over tube from wax paper. She glued it to a circle she cut out of cardboard and stuck it to my counter. It has been working for over a year now. How creative and recycle guru is she??

Easter Egg Holder. You can cut rings from tubes and sit the Easter eggs in them. It is a great and reusable way to hold them for drying. Decorate them and you may even be able to use them for displaying them.

Packing Material. The cardboard tubes are also a great packing material to keep your breakables safe. Love this idea. Thank you to my sweet child for this one.

Napkin Rings. Cut rings from the tubes and decorate them. You can use contact paper, beads, jewels whatever tickles your fancy. This is a great way to reuse these tubes over and over.

As you can see, there are many ways to reuse things and make the most of what we have. Being green is being a good steward of God’s planet and the money He gives us.

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Green Water Heater

Making our home green one step at a time will help our environment for years to come. Let’s take today to look at a very important home appliance, the water heater.

Tips for a Green Water Heater

Check the Temperature. You do not want your water heater to over do it’s job. Make sure you keep it at an average setting of 120 degrees. This will save a ton of energy and it will save you money as well. IMPORTANT: Never set it below 115 degrees though. You will be dealing with some nasty mold growth if you do.

Use Insulating Foam. Wrap the first six feet of pipe with insulating foam.

Wrap the water heater in a foil blanket. Be careful when doing this. You do not want to block important vents or controls. You will want to follow the instructions very carefully. Your water heater may not allow for this idea.

Invest in a Tankless system. These water heaters are designed to be “on demand.” They will save a lot of water and energy.

Keep up with it. Check it regularly. Make sure that it is working properly and repair it when needed.

Go Solar. Another option is to buy a solar water heater. This will save you money on your electric bill, save energy and be a better choice for the environment.

Implementing these tips will help you contribute to the environment in a positive way. It only takes one good choice at a time to begin the trek of becoming a better steward of God’s planet.

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Green Tip – 04/08/09 – Frozen Juice Cans

You never need to toss these. There are several things that can be done to reuse those plastic cans that frozen juice come in. Let me share a few…

Reusing Frozen Juice Cans

Pen & Pencil Holder - This is a craft that I have done with my kids. You leave the bottom plastic piece in place. Clean it well. Dry. Cut a piece of construction paper (let your kids decorate it) or use old scrap paper into a size that will evenly wrap around the can. Tape or Glue. Place on desk. Add pens and pencils.

Biscuit or Cookie Cutter - Leave the bottom plastic piece in place. Cut the can to about a third of it’s original height. Just high enough to make good biscuits! Reuse over and over to make cookies and yummy biscuits perfectly shaped every time! (you can also use this idea for a play dough cutter)

Bath Toy - Kids will play with just about anything in the tub and mine love cups. Again, leave bottom in tact. Clean well. Toss in with bath toys.

Beach Toy – See above. Same concept. Great for making sand castles. (you can also use this idea for a sandbox toy)

There are countless things you can do to reuse these plastic cans. Just use your imagination and soon you will be saving money, having fun with your kids, becoming a green mean recycling machine and a great steward of God’s planet!

Do you have additional ideas? Post them below!

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