Don’t add invasive f lowering plants to your landscaping
If you’re choosing plants for your landscaping or garden, there are two purple flowering ones you should avoid. One is called wisteria. It’s a beautiful vine with gorgeous flowers, but it’s invasive and can kill native plants and trees by choking them to death. Plus, wisteria can live for up to 100 years and is very hard to kill. The second is a surprising one: the butterfly bush. Often sold at landscaping centers for its ability to attract butterflies to its coneshaped flowers, it can also choke out native plants and spread quickly. It’s been designated as invasive in many states, too.
BAR SOAP HOLDER
A lot of us are giving up shampoo, soap and conditioner packaged in plastic bottles for solid bar soaps that do the same thing. But often these bars can end up sitting in pools of water in the shower, degrading and getting mushy. The solution? Look for a magnetic bar soap holder that keeps the bars out of sitting water, offers ample ventilation to keep them dry when not in use, and stores them with easy access. This kind of soap holder comes with a magnetic disc you embed in the soap bar that enables it to be held upside down or vertically.
HAIRCUT TRIMMINGS
The next time you get a haircut, take the trimmings off the floor and bring them home. Hair is rich in substances plants love, like nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium. It also retains water, which is especially helpful to your soil during droughts or in more arid climates. All you have to do is sprinkle the hair into the soil and rake it in. Your plants will love the nutrients as it biodegrades, and the aeration it provides helps build stronger roots. One word of caution: If the hair is colortreated or has chemicals on it, it’s best to avoid using it in your garden.
MOSQUITOES VS. MOUTHWASH
Hot summer weather also means mosquitoes. Rather than using chemical sprays to keep pesky bugs away, reach for something in your medicine cabinet instead: mouthwash. Natural mouthwashes are usually made with food-grade alcohol and eucalyptus oil to freshen breath. By transferring this same mixture into a spray bottle, you can keep mosquitoes at bay. Spray your skin, the table and anything else around with natural mouthwash. The alcohol will dry out mosquitoes, and the eucalyptus oil is powerful enough to act as a deterrent.
MICROCHIP PETS
The Humane Society of the United States says prevention is the best way to make sure you don’t lose a family pet like a cat or a dog. Start with an inexpensive microchip (your veterinarian or animal shelter can insert it) and register it for free on sites like FindPet.com or FreePetChipRegistry.com. Be sure the tag says “call my owner” with your name, address and phone number. And if you have an animal that is allowed outdoors, add a note like “OK to be outside” on the tag, too; sometimes good intentions can accidentally force an animal far away from home.
REUSABLE IS BETTER
Just how bad can single-use paper coffee cups be for the environment? Turns out, they can be pretty bad. These aren’t just paper cups, they’re paper cups lined with plastic. When the cups degrade, the plastic lining becomes microplastics that are released into our waterways. Not to mention nearly 6.5 million trees are cut down every year to make the pulp for the cups. Often the cups are incinerated, which releases toxins and chemicals into the air. Even more reasons to make your own coffee at home or to travel with a reusable cup.
CAMERA OFF
Do you use teleconferencing software like Zoom for meetings? They are far more environmentally friendly than flying and traveling for in-person meetings, but you can also do one more thing to make them more sustainable: Turn off the camera. If you can do a teleconference without your camera on, it reduces your carbon footprint by a whopping 96%, according to a 2021 report from Purdue University, Yale and MIT. With nearly 3.3 trillion minutes of meeting time spent every year on Zoom alone, going audio-only can have a huge effect.