Hauling in the recycling for a bonus payday

Hubby and I took in our crushed aluminum cans the recycling center this last weekend. We live about 20 minutes away from a place called West Virginia Cashin Recyclables in Nitro West Virginia that will buy any kind of recyclable metal materials you have. The rate at the time we took ours in was 69 cents per pound for pop cans. We ended up having 140 pounds of cans to turn in so our take was $96.60!! Not bad for something that we would have recycled anyways for free! Now I know that recycling laws and what facilities are available vary from state to state, but it is worth checking into to see if these facilities exist in your area. If this idea will make one non-recycling family decide to start recycling then it is worth every little bit of time it would take you to do it. We have a separate garbage can inside for our cans then transfer them outside when the bag is full. We then crush the cans in our can crusher ( $10 at home depot) that drops them into a big garbage bag to store them in till we have enough to fill the back of our S-10 Blazer with bags of cans to take to the recycling center.

The other types of items they take are anywhere from small appliances, deep freezers, sheet metal, engines, even old aluminum rims off of cars! The small appliances are normally purchased for a small flat fee due to them having to be taken apart for recycled pieces. Plus you need to find the current prices for your recycling center, the prices they quote can vary almost daily as its tied to how much those materials are worth on the market that day.

A final note to leave you with about the benefits of recycling- For each can recycled, you save enough energy to run a big screen TV for 4 hours, run a 100 watt bulb for twenty hours, or enough energy to equal a half a gallon of gas! And that is just for one can! Thats enough of a reason in my book any day, but the value of them adds another fact to it;

1. Between 1990 and 2000, Americans wasted a total of 7.1 million tons of cans: enough to manufacture 316,000 Boeing 737 airplanes—or enough to reproduce the world’s entire commercial air fleet 25 times.

2. Had the 50.7 billion cans wasted in 2001 been recycled, they would have saved the energy equivalent of 16 million barrels of crude oil: enough energy to generate electricity for 2.7 million U.S. homes for a year, or enough to supply over a million cars with gasoline for a year.

3. From 1986 to 2000, about 9.6 million tons of cans with a market value of over $10 billion were wasted

Source- http://www.container-recycling.org/publications/trashedcans/sample.htm

Have a great week everybody! And happy recycling!!!

Multitaskers Part 4- Baking Soda

The next multi-talented star of the pantry is an unsung hero. Here is a roundup of some its very handy, economical, and environmentally friendly uses;

1. Yucky thermos – Remove residue from a thermos by adding 1/4 cup of baking soda to 1 quart of water in the thermos and let it soak overnight.
2. Cast-iron burns – To loosen up burnt on food from cast iron skillet just add 2 tablespoons of baking soda to 1 quart of water and pour into skillet. Boil the solution in the skillet for about 5 minutes then rinse!
3. Coffee pot cleaner -Brew 1 quart of warm water mixed with 1/4 cup baking soda in your coffee maker to clean any residue out of the lines. This is especially good to do when you notice a bitter taste start occurring in your morning cup of Joe.
4. Clean stovetop – To remove grease stains on your stove top first just moisten the grease with water. Then cover the spot with baking soda , wait a couple of seconds, then wipe clean with a damp cloth!
5. Shine stainless steel -Bring back the luster of dulled stainless steel by sprinkling it with baking soda then rubbing it with a damp cloth.
6. Coffee stains -If your good set of china ends up with some unsightly coffee stains on it try this trick; Dip an already damp cloth in baking soda and rub it on the china. The mild abrasive action of the baking soda is the trick to this one. Note; always test on small spot on delicate or antique china.
7. Smelly dishwasher -If you notice the smell of last weeks garlic sauce still in your dishwasher here is an easy way to deodorize it. Pour about 1 cup of baking soda in the empty dishwasher and run it thru a rinse cycle.
8. Greasy pans -If your dishwashing liquid doesn’t seem to be cutting the grease on dishes add about 2 tablespoons of baking soda to it to help boost its grease cleaning.
9. Enamel cookware -Enamel cookware can be easily scratched by abrasive cleaners so you need an alternative that will still get it clean but leave the surface intact. Coat the stubborn stain with an equal parts paste of baking soda and water then let sit for 1 hour. The spot should easily wipe off then. You can also make this paste with baking soda and some dishwashing liquid.
10. Stained utensils -To remove stains from plastic utensils or rubber spatulas make the same baking soda paste as above and rub on with a sponge or scouring pad.
11. Odor away -Baking soda can remove odors from refrigerators, freezers, plastic food containers, garbage cans, diaper pails, work boots, carpets, and litter boxes!
12. Garbage disposal -To get rid of grease down in your garbage drain just remember to occasionally grind a couple of ice cubes along with 1/2 cup of baking soda. To flush it out fill the stopper sink with 2 or 3 inches of hot water and run the water thru the disposal.
13. My favorite multitasker duo use -To keep your sink from ever clogging up in the first place use this preventative maintenance on them once a month or whenever you think the drain is sluggish and maybe on the verge of clogging. Pour 1/2 cup of baking soda down the drain and follow it with 1/2 cup of white vinegar. Cover the sink for a couple of minutes while the 2 are reacting chemically ( kind of reminds you of that first volcano you built as a kid doesn’t it?) then flush the drain with warm water. Note: Do not do this after you have poured a commercial drain cleaner down the sink and it did not work. The cleaners chemicals could possibly react with the vinegar and create fumes that are dangerous to inhale!

I hope you find these ideas as helpful as I have over the years now. Part of the reason for doing these posts was how frustrated I used to get looking for cheaper and safer cleaning alternatives online and having to go to a dozen different sites to find them. And with the way the economy has been lately I think that we all could use some tips on doing things a little cheaper and easier. If you have anymore uses for these products please feel free to leave them in a comment or email them to me at jessislate@yahoo.com. If you have a site that’s about money or time-saving ideas, or about coupons or freebies leave your site address as well so I can link to you!

Thanks for reading!

Jessi

Multitaskers Part 3- The incredible, edible lemon!

Sure, they are awesome to feed to a little kid to watch them make that cute pucker face or to garnish a fresh glass of iced tea, but did you know how many ways you can clean with a lemon? Here is some of the ways you can get more bang for your buck out of a couple of lemons!

1. Delicate fabrics? Soak delicate fabrics in lemon juice for a mild bleaching effect that wont damage fabrics.
2. Dingy white socks? Take 2 lemon halves and put them in a pot of boiling water with the socks to get them super white again!
3. Mildew on clothes? Make an equal parts paste with lemon juice and salt and rub on mildew stains on clothes, let sit, rinse, then launder as usual.
4. Ants in the kitchen? Add the juice of 1 lemon to a gallon bucket of mop water to keep them away. This mixture will also keep cockroaches and fleas at bay also!
5. Got a fireplace? To make your fire smell as good as it sounds throw some lemon peels onto the burning logs.
6. Smelly humidifier? If your humidifier has taken on a funky smell lately you can deodorize it by pouring 3 to 4 teaspoonfuls of lemon juice into the water.
7. Yucky toilet stains? Mix equal parts lemon juice to borax to clean and shine up your toilet. Just swish with a toilet brush then flush, it will also leave a clean citrus smell behind!
8. Water spots on doors? You can easily remove water spots on the metal parts of a shower door with lemon juice! I tried this all over the door but did not like the effects on the glass part so I left it to the metal parts only.
9. Marble stains? If you have beverage stains on marble they can normally be easily removed by rubbing the spots with lemon juice.
10. Chrome looking dull? If your chrome needs shined back to its original sparkle then simply rub it with the inside of a lemon rind.

Bounus Health and Beauty uses To make the luxurious exfoliating scrubs that you find in stores try this the next time you’re in the shower; take the cut half of a lemon and dip in a small container of sugar. Rub on places like your elbows and knees, or anywhere that you develop a dry skin to sloth off dead skin. You could even add baby oil to this concoction to keep skin moisturized and baby smooth! Note; when using lemon on the skin be aware of any small cuts or scrapes you may have since the lemon juice will burn these areas, as well as using baby oil in a shower can cause the shower floor to get slippery quick!

You will notice on these multitasker cleaners that the most they ever need combined with for cleaning is another multitasker or maybe water. This makes them  ideal because 1)you have everything you need on hand to clean a tricky stain without getting an expensive cleaner 2) You are saving a considerable amount of money using items you already have on hand 3) You are helping the environment cause you are not introducing more chemicals into the earth and these items are biodegradable, as well as reducing your carbon footprint because you’re not running out to the store for more cleaners, which in turn reduces your gas consumption. It may just be a little bit in savings at first but the more you make your own cleaners and solutions from these the more it will definitely add up!

Have a great week everyone!

Jessi