What a bright idea, Home Depot!

With the state of the economy these days, we're all looking for ways to cut the cost of our energy bills (not to mention our Visa bill...) so we might be switching to CFL bulbs. These bulbs cost slightly more than the normal bulbs BUT in the lifetime of the bulb, they can save anywhere from $30-$50 on your electric bill. CFL bulbs' lifespan is 6,000-15,000 hours as compared to the lifespan of the incandescent bulb at 750-1,000 hours.

Now, before you run out to Home Depot to replace all your bulbs, there is one dim side to the CFL's. They contain small amounts of mercury. Four to five mg per bulb, to be more exact. If mercury at this level is inhaled chronically, it can be toxic to the brain, kidney, spinal cord and liver. So you can imagine what happens when these CFLs go to the landfills and are broken. Mercury is released into the surrounding land/water at dangerous levels.

This is where Home Depot comes in! All Home Depot stores now have a CFL recycling program! You can take your burnt out bulbs to the service desk where they are safely collected and picked up by a HAZMAT service, who de-mercury the bulbs and recycle the glass to be used in new bulbs. What a great service to the community! So: make the switch, save some dollars, then recycle!

All this talk of mercury in our lightbulbs may have you worried about a broken bulb in your home, and rightfully so. Here is a link to the EPA's webpage that advises what to do in the case of a breakage.

A Helpful Tip from a Customer's Home...Shower Doors

Shower doors...UGH! Can't live with 'em, can't live without 'em. Well, I suppose you'd live but it might make showering awkward and sloppy:) It seems that even in the newest of new homes that we clean, shower doors all have soap scum, hard water spots, rusty/moldy caulking, etc. We admit, they are difficult to get clean!

So, we have a suggestion for those of you with showers that have doors as opposed to curtains. In one of the beautiful homes that we clean, the owner of the home hung a shower rod and curtain on the INSIDE of the shower door. That prevents the water from coming in contact with the door and it also looks really nice. The customer chose a pretty gold-colored curtain, so it gives a nice golden glow to the shower! Hey, it's worth the try, right? Another very helpful hint for showers is a daily shower spray. The only non-toxic type that comes to mind immediatly is Method's Daily shower spray in the scent of ylang ylang. Yum. Or you could be crafty and mix up your own with some H2O, white vinegar, a little lemon juice and maybe a few drops of tea tree oil.

And, just a side note on major shower cleaning issues: cut a lemon in half and rub it on hard water stains. Let it sit and then scrub like crazy! Lemon works wonders on hard water stains.

If anyone else has any tips (such as the shower-curtain-on-the-inside thing) you can leave them in the comments or email them to us at purelymaid@yahoo.com! You may get to see your tip in print!

Lincoln Grocery Stores

I'm sure you've all seen them in stores...they are THE REUSABLE SHOPPING BAG and they are (hopefully) taking over the world.

I just googled "plastic bags in the U.S." and was bombarded with information, slightly scary information about these little white grocery store ghosts.

Did you know

-approximately 380 billion plastic shopping bags are used in the U.S. annually

-between 1 and 4 percent of these bags are recycled

-plastic bags are a hazard to aquatic life, they cause suffocation and are easily ingested and cannot pass through the animals system, causing the animal to starve

-the type of plastic used in the bags is not readily biodegradable

-it takes 430,000 gallons of oil to produce 100 million plastic bags

On the positive side, I also learned

-San Francisco, CA has banned plastic shopping bags in grocery stores and large pharmacies

-Los Angeles will follow suit in the year 2010

-Starting in 2009, Seattle WA will charge a 20 cent "green fee" to plastic bag users

-Home furnishing store IKEA already charges a nickel for each plastic bag customers use

Since we Lincoln-ites aren't lucky enough to live on the coast (or have an IKEA for that matter), maybe we can reduce the number of plastic bags we are using by purchasing REUSABLE shopping bags and throw them in our backseats for our trips to the grocery stores. These bags can be purchased literally everywhere and sometimes for less than a dollar a piece!

The following grocery stores in Lincoln are giving a $0.05 discount per reusable bag you bring:

Russ's

HyVee

Leon's

Open Harvest has a punch card for reusable bag fans. Fill your punch card and you get $5 off your next visit!

SunMart, SuperSaver, WalMart and Target all said, "Not yet, but that's something we are looking into"

So stock up on a few reusable bags, save some change, and use your old plastic bags as liners for all your little trash cans!

Give me an "H" Give me an "E" Give me a "P" Give me an "A"

What's that spell? HEPA!

You've probably heard by now that a HEPA filter is a good thing to have in your vacuum cleaner. We at Purely Maid decided it was a great thing for all of our important customers with pets, with kids, with allergies, pretty much everyone! SO, we went out and bought the prettiest HEPA equipped vacuum we could find...The Dyson Animal DC 14 With Telescope Reach. We think its pretty special and we take it with us everywhere we go! Dyson's HEPA filters are guaranteed for the life of the vacuum with no need to do any maintenance to it.

If you're thinking of purchasing your own HEPA vacuum, here are a few tips. HEPA stands for High Efficiency Particulate Air. HEPA filters have a standard for the size of the particles they trap. If you are in the market for the best of the HEPAs, you'll want to look for the words sealed HEPA, or true HEPA and avoid things that say HEPA-like. You can also look for the labels to say something like, "an efficiency of 99.7% for microns .3 in size." This means that your HEPA is going to filter out the allergens like pollen and dust mite feces. The less feces you have in your home, the better!

Now, if you'd like the teeny feces out of your life, but you'd rather not buy a new vacuum, send us an email @ purelymaid@yahoo.com and we'll be right over with our pretty Dyson (and all our other great supplies) and we'll do much more than just vacuum!

Soy Candle Update, Etc.

Went to Target tonight (for a lightbulb they don't carry) but came away with two nuggets of information for ya. Method has redesigned their deliciously aromatic soy candles with all the old scents and two new-ish ones: citrus cilantro and pomegranite tea. Mmmmmm. And speaking of scents...Clorox GreenWorks has a new one! The all-purpose cleaner now comes in a fruity tangerine!

Good People

I firmly believe you can judge the integrity and quality of a business by the types of cups they provide a drink in. That said, hats off to bread & cup and Yoga, Body, and Balance of Lincoln, Ne. I have personally sipped water from 100% compostable cups at both establishments. Great, green job, guys! Oh, and if you haven't been to bread & cup yet, its delicious. I'd like to give advice on what to order, but I'd pretty much have to copy and paste the menu.

Soy or Paraffin? The age old question.

It's the weekend, and you're planning a romantic dinner for your sweetie. There is wine, fancy cheese, roses, music...What more do you need to "set the mood"?

Or, more realistically, its Saturday and you finally cleaned out the fridge and threw away those questionable leftovers from last week. There seems to be a funky odor coming from the trash can area. What could you use to mask the scent?

The answer? CANDLES! Now, you're probably thinking, "Allison, how on earth can you tell me that I can get any more ecologically friendly than burning candles? I'm not using electricity, burning coal, using gasoline....Wait a minute..."

That's right. Paraffin wax is yet ANOTHER derivative of petroleum. Is there anything that we can't make out of petroleum??? While paraffin wax candles are burning, petro-chemicals are floating through your air. But not to worry, there is an alternative. Soy candles! Soy wax is made from soy beans and veggies. There are numerous benefits to burning soy candles:

-soybeans and veggies are SO renewable

-soy is non-toxic while it burns

-its residue can be washed away with soap and water

-soy wax is BIODEGRADABLE

-and my personal favorite...purchasing soy supports farmers! (not Big Oil) Raise your hand if you live in the Midwest and know a farmer who grows soybeans. See?

So, snuff out those Yankee's and keep your peepers open for a soy alternative! Actually, just trade the Yankee in for their new model, Beanswax.