Dispose those bill statements the proper way (Home Improvement Tip)

Lately I have been sorting through papers that I accumulated for years.  Those mostly were bill statement from credit cards, utilities, receipts and the like which I intentionally set aside for safekeeping and reference.  Also, since I sometimes have this guilt feeling if I throw paper incessantly, I just tossed most of my papers inside boxes until I find a good way of how to reduce, reuse and recycle them.  That became some sort of a habit but it seems like my plan of recycling had also been tossed inside those boxes for many years. 

Now what do I do with those loads of paper?  Even if I have a sagacious intention to hoard all of what I accumulated that could have otherwise been thrown away, I cannot anymore stand the clutter.  What a relief if I could construct a sturdy beautiful house out of those papers and make them as a living space.

The goal is to find a way on how I could get rid of those papers without self-reproach.  Burning the papers or using them for charcoal is an unwise option of course, lest I produce additional carbon emission.  I can’t re-use them either since there were print on both sides already and I also cannot sell them because there were personal information in it.  I have learned to be cautious nowadays when it comes to private document due to the growing incidence of identity theft and information stealing.

Now I got an additional goal of getting rid of those papers while protecting my confidential information from getting into the hands of people with wicked intention.  The only alternative I could think of was to tear them to pieces. Using scissors to do the job would be fine but that would take me a lot of time to finish so I was down to the option of shredding them.

After picking the better option on how I could reduce my paper garbage, I need to scout for a reliable paper shredder so I head out to the mall eager to find that one helpful gadget.  Paper shredder varies in sizes and purpose but since I only have kilos of paper and not tons of them I only need something small for personal use.  Electronic types would be very convenient to have but they are more costly ranging in price from P800 (about $16)  to P3,500 ($70) and since I am into serious business of reducing not just my expenses but also my carbon footprint, I prefer the manual type shredder that only costs less than five hundred pesos ($5) and doesn’t need electricity to be utilized.   So here is what I got …..

When my kids saw the paper shredder, they thought it was something they can play with but when I explained what it does and what was the goal behind the purchase they immediately look for their paper trash inside their school bags and volunteered to do the shredding themselves.  The paper shredder is fine to be used by small kids because it doesn’t have sharp metal blades in it.  My five-year old daughter really had a lot of fun doing it herself.  Isn’t it nice that I also found an effective way to teach my kids on how to be responsible for their paper trash?

As I never get to use my manual shredder as it was borrowed by friends and never found its way back to me, 😁 later on I also bought this electric-powered paper shredder from the same retailer that was a little pricey than the previous one....

...but I guess it was not worth the purchase as this easily broke down. 😞 So I would rather use my reliable manual shredder than this one. Once we are through shredding all those paper, what should we do next to reuse and recycle them?

The story doesn’t end here

reposted from 11.11.10

Book Review: Tropical Gardens of the Philippines

Just got an email from McDonalds thru Nuffnang and part of it says..."A blank page…or for your case, a blank post is probably one of the most daunting things to face." Ha Ha, right....

More than a month without any post in this blog… it’s funny that it took me an hour before I could even think of my starting words. Skills have waned without practice, I guess. Anyway, I really missed blogging so I am back!

My writing habit seems to be in remission the past months. It wasn’t because I have nothing to share or I totally lost interest in writing. There were just other important matters that I needed to focus on. Actually, it was not just blogging that I missed, I also couldn’t find enough time for my emerald beauties in my small garden. Before, I used to spend my weekends trimming and pruning my plants, inspecting every pot with so much TLC. You could be wondering…where have all my time gone? Actually I was not happily singing to the tune of Bruno Mars’ “Lazy Song”. Even if I sometimes don’t feel like doing anything and I want to lounge in my bed all day long, mommies need to be up and going. Also, we have been visiting our family doctor more frequently these past months that she became more of a family member and the hospital more of a home. We have been rough sailing through June and July but we are thankful we overcame that part and our boat was kept afloat.

Last week, my interest in gardening was once again awakened by one of my great mentors. Ms. Tita excitedly showed me a book she found on sale at National Bookstore (NBS) as she knows that we share the same passion for gardening. 

It is titled Tropical Gardens of the Philippines by Lily Gamboa O’Boyle and Elizabeth V. Reyes. Actually, merely looking at the photographs by Luca Invernizzi Tettoni in every pages of the book instantly convinced me that I also wanted one. And it was not just gardening that I became reacquainted but also my love for photography. But too bad that my cam was damaged and looks like it is asking for replacement. So photography is set aside for now until the time I save enough money to buy a new one. So going back to the book, Ms. Tita gladly lent the book for me to show it to my mom. My mom liked it also that we found ourselves buying our own copy.  It was a reasonable price for all the great gardening ideas and inspiring photographs that we could get from it.  

The book features different kinds of gardens in privately-owned homes in the Philippines. I especially loved Flor’s Healing Garden on page 205 and the Adam’s Herb Garden on page 211 where it shows, what else, but a garden of medicinal plants and edible herbs. There are 40 other types of gardens that had me dreaming, or if ever luck allows me, of owning one like it. You can see there a koi pond garden, or one that is of earth and stone or a pine forest garden.  It will also show you a rooftop garden, one with waterfall, a mountain garden, a palm lovers' garden, a bamboo farm and even a bonsai garden. So while my spectacular garden is still far away from conception and I am still thinking on the kind of garden i want for myself, maybe I could just lend a helping hand to my dad in landscaping his yard borrowing ideas from this book.

The 224 pages book left me admiring those people who have that amazing fondness for gardening with the likes of Patis Tesoro, Tessa Prieto Valdes, the Lhuillier, Aboitiz and Cojuangco who have made this earth looks more like a very happy place.  You can check out the same copy of the book from

                           

Search for the beauty within you

Since I have said in my previous post that I am starting this year on a new note (see related post: Earth Hour 2010) I really need to keep my promise to myself that I intend to go green this year. Now I am also getting to be conscious of the products I use at home.

Aside from replacing energy-intensive appliances and limiting the use of electricity inside the house, I also get to monitor the waste that is going out of our home. I started to make an inventory of all products I use from cooking essentials to bathroom necessities and I opted to make a major change in my shopping habit, I need to exert an extra effort to only use and patronize products that share the same principle as I have.

Even if I still have some stocks left at home, I already started searching for the things I intend to buy. I went to the supermarkets trying to find that environment-friendly local products to bring home but to my disappointment, I seem to be looking for a single coin under the vast sea.  What I did find out was only few companies really make an effort to encourage their consumers to be environment-conscious. It’s a good thing that I came across a product line that is not only into the business of making their consumers beautiful but also encourages earth-friendly disposition.  I was really glad to find a product with such initiative,  it says a lot in their packaging "not tested on animals", "does not contain animal ingredients", "formulated without parabens and phthalates" and there is a statement that encourages consumer to recycle the packaging.

What a nice way to be beautiful and be earth-friendly at the same time.  Still need to search some other nature-friendly products for the home though.  It's a strange but exciting feeling as if I am into treasure-hunting ;-)

Be Earth-Friendly and Save More

Although I am still too far from being a true-blue environmentalist, certain circumstances somewhat drive me closer and closer to that vocation. While my parents had instilled in me the importance of nature, WWF has effectively influenced me to become more environment-conscious. The reaction is somewhat contagious as I see in my kids the enthusiasm of being responsible earthlings, too.


Aside from that, I was able to save considerable amount of money by being earth-friendly. With that I have proven that I have nothing to lose but a lot more to gain when I put into practice even a little thing I do for nature.

I reduce, reuse and recycle almost anything that gets inside my home but when I need to throw away something, I make sure to segregate them accordingly. I can see in the face of our garbage collector that he was happy getting all the trash coming from our home despite the fact that he needs to get upstairs to the 4th floor every single day. There are days when I have nothing to throw away but still he would ask to be sure. I think that is something to thank for.

It has become my habit of switching off lights and unplugging appliances when they are not in use as it has been said that appliances on standby mode still use much power and add up to electric consumption. I also use compact fluorescent light (CFL) in the house which is said to be more energy efficient. I may not have solar panels or windmills to generate electricity by natural means but I was able to take advantage of the sun and wind in our everyday living. When my husband and I first searched for an apartment, we made sure that we will get an energy-efficient place to live in. Large window is one of the requirements we considered so we may be able to enjoy as much sun light and air.

We were lucky enough to find one and as a result we were able to limit the use of artificial light inside our house during the day, we replaced our automatic washing machine to a single tub as we were able to dry our clothes outside in the fresh air and sunlight. We have given up the use of air conditioning unit since natural air freely gets into the house and when there are times that it really gets too hot, our tolerance was powered up by our desire to reduce our impact to our purses and of course to the environment. Now I am reaping the benefit of my being earth-friendly after saving much in my electric bill. Need I compute the benefits? :-)

For more earth-friendly tips just visit www.panda.org