All those packing peanuts when you order online

More and more of us are avoiding the crowds during the holiday shopping madness and opting to visit online retailers instead.  When you are looking for that hard to find item, and especially with the free shipping deals, that it the ticket!!  Unfortunately, for many, there is a little problem that results....

Your order arrives safe and sound, but now you have oodles and oodles of packing peanuts to deal with.  They make a mess and seem to float little pieces everywhere.  Many municipal recycling programs don't accept them or other forms of Styrofoam.   You hate to just put them in the trash to fill up the landfill.   Here are some options that you may or may not have thought of:

1. The most obvious - reuse them yourself if you need to ship anything.  That's a no-brainer.
2. There is actually a network of companies called The Plastic Loose Fill Council (PLFC), many members are pack-and-ship type stores, that will accept your clean Styrofoam packing peanuts at their "Recycling Centers."  By accepting your donations of packing peanuts, these companies can lower their overhead costs by not having to purchase as many new packing peanuts to ship their orders or mail customer packages for them.  It helps these companies out, you have a place to bring your peanuts, and it helps save the planet a little at a time by keeping those peanuts out of the landfills.  A win-win!! There is more information on this network and their members at www.loosefillpackaging.com.  You can find a local member participating in this program by calling toll-free 1-800-828-2214 or going to their website.  Simply enter your zip code and you will be provided with a list of local Recycling Centers.  The annual membership fee for businesses to become members is currently only $30 per year.  This is literally peanuts, pun intended, considering the cost of packing peanuts and the fact that as part of their membership fee, PLFC provides its members with literature, signage, and media information to help them spread the word about providing this service to their area.  This good press in the media for their business will also likely increase traffic to their business, likely increasing their sales.  Another win-win!!
3. If there are no members of PLFC in your local area, try seeking out a local business you think might benefit from your packing peanuts donation.  Maybe tell them about PLFC, if they hadn't heard about it already?  If they are big enough to use a large quantity of packing peanuts in their daily operations, they might just join.  You can help your local area by adding another resource for your friends and neighbors to drop off their packing peanuts, the business can save money, plus you can feel good about making a big step to help reduce the packing peanut impact on your local environment.
4. There are also many free online resources to offer your packing peanuts to others, so someone else who might need them can link up with someone who has them, but doesn't want them.  Checkout websites like www.freecycle.org or even www.craigslist.org   You can simply leave them outside for the individual to pick up.  Safety first!
5. There are more and more people selling stuff online out of their homes, on sites such as www.Ebay.com and www.Etsy.com, to help make ends meet in this tough economy. They would LOVE your packing peanuts.  Maybe someone you know or a neighbor already does this.  Ask around.  You will likely be surprised at how many places would gladly accept your packing peanuts.

Next time you have packing peanuts you don't need or want, don't trash them.  Be proactive and find a way to reuse them or find someone else who can.

Great ebook download deal

If you own a Kindle or even just a PC, here's a great deal I found on one of my favorite coupon deal sites, www.SouthernSavers.com. 

http://www.southernsavers.com/2011/12/kindle-free-10-etexbook-credit/

With an Amazon.com account, you enter a code and get a $10 credit towards the purchase of etextbooks.  This deal will not just work on any kind of book, only the etextbooks.  The book description has a little note to let you know if the promotional code applies to that selection or not.  Even though I am not currently taking any courses anywhere, I took a peek to see what kind of stuff was out there.  There are still some interesting books, many priced $10 or less, that qualify for this deal.  Even if you don't have a kindle, you can download a free kindle for PC app for your laptop.  See the above link for details, code, and links.  Hurry, this deal is only good till 1/9/12!  Enjoy! :o)

Save Your Clothes and $ on Your Electric Bill

Do you find your clothes wear out too quickly or the colors fade or change from what they were originally when you bought them?  It could be how you are caring for your clothing.

I am rather tall, 5'11', so it can be tricky to find clothes to fit to begin with.  For as long as I can remember doing my own laundry, there were certain items, I never put in the dryer or else they wouldn't fit when they came out.  For instance, 100% cotton pants and 100% cotton shirts.  If one accidentally snuck in with the others on the way to the dryer, the length of my tops would shrink up sometimes 3-4 inches in length and the arms would shorten 2-3 inches.  Pants would be instant high-waters!  Awful!  It was a blessing when capri's came in style.  At least I could shorten them a bit more and still salvage them.  Anyway, the point of this ramble is that I noticed the items I would hang dry lasted much longer than the items going through the dryer.

Don't get me wrong, I am not advocating that you put out your underwear on the clothesline strung across the backyard for the neighbors to see.  Although, sun dried bed sheets to have a certain appeal, here in Florida, the sneaky rain shower is too much to have to worry about.  I just use the sturdy plastic hangers with metal hooks that many of the department stores offer to send home home with you with your purchases.  (Make sure you don't use the cheapy metal ones from the dry cleaners or they will, over time, leave rust marks on your clothes.  Not good!)  I hang them on the shower rod, a towel bar I mounted under a cabinet next to my washer, and even the guardrail for the stairs if I need extra room.  If you don't have a strong shower bar, there are clotheslines you can install, like you might see in hotel rooms, that you can stretch across your tub/shower opening or any other small area you want to put it.  Even inside the house, the clothes dry fairly quickly.  I have gotten to the point where with the exception of towels, socks, most undies, and a few items that have seen the wash so many times I could care less if they died, everything else gets hung to dry.  A quick shake, slip or clip it on the hanger, hook it on a clothes hook I installed on the wall next to the dryer, a quick smooth down with my hands to minimize wrinkles, and off to be hung to dry.  As little as an inch or two between each item is enough to get proper circulation and they are dry in a few hours.  Saves my clothes and my dryer runs significantly less.  If you get some items that have too much of a wrinkle that you can't smooth out, (P.S. I really don't like to iron) after drying, I just toss them in the dryer for a quick spin in the touch up cycle for about 20 minutes on medium heat and fold right away.  Looks like I spent time ironing.  Not!

Another thing I don't use is fabric softener.  Dryer sheets are awful for your clothes!  The most noticeable example I remember is an exact same pair of olive colored shorts that both Mom & I bought at the same time.  She had been using liquid fabric softener, and I was using the sheets.  After a few months, my shorts had morphed to puke brown!  Now, I don't use any fabric softener except regular good old white vinegar, if I need it at all.  It's cheap and works great.  Tip: A good use for the fabric sheets, if you want to use them up, is to use them to clean the bugs off the front of your car.  Just wet and rub and the stuff somehow makes them come off easier.  Then rinse.  Voila!

I also make my own laundry soap, but I'll save that info for another post.  I've rambled on long enough already.  Have a great day!

What to do with those too soft bananas?

I don't know about you, but when my family goes to the grocery store or veggie stand, those beautiful yellow bananas call out to them.  You buy a small to medium sized bunch with the best of intentions to eat them all up before they get too soft.  After they are around for a few days, the small brown spots turn to medium brown spots. Maybe some even large brown spots show up.  At this point, most of the time, everyone will pass over them when looking for a snack.  What to do?

My personal favorite is throw it in the freezer instead of the trash.  Peel and all, it takes only a second to get it off the counter and on to bigger and better things later.....

If you have an extra minute, before you freeze them, peel them, cut them in half, stick a popsicle stick (available at most dollar type stores in the craft dept) in the wide end, stack the on top of one another in a gallon sized baggie and throw the whole bag in the freezer. In a few hours you will have your own version of banana babies, a frozen healthy treat on a stick.  Out of the freezer, a little magic shell syrup and back in the freezer for a few more minutes, maybe even roll it in some chopped nuts, gives a little more variety to these yummy treats. Tip: If you do coat with the magic shell make sure to re-freeze them without touching or they will stick together and the coating will fall of when you separate them.

Do you get those evening cravings for something cold and sweet?  Most grab a bowl of ice cream.  A healthier solution is to grab one of those not so pretty bananas out of the freezer, easily slice the peel off with a paring knife, chunk into bite-size pieces, and maybe even drizzle a little Hershey's syrup on top.  This makes a yummy naturally creamy frozen treat. 

These frozen bananas are also a perfect addition to a breakfast smoothy in your blender.  It adds great flavor, lots of healthy vitamins and minerals, and a creamy consistency.  Vary amounts to your taste.  Way cheaper than the frozen fruit when you consider you would have likely tossed it in the trash anyway, so it's really kinda free.

Instead of freezing, they will also make a great banana bread, banana muffins, or the like.  Even frozen, if you let them defrost a bit, they are ready for these type of recipes in no time.  These quick breads and muffins also typically freeze really well.  This way you will always have a quick travel friendly breakfast or snack handy right out of the freezer, if they last long enough to even make it to the freezer.

When you come across a great sale or marked down bananas because they are looking a little brown in your local veggie stand or grocery store, keep these ideas in mind.  Maybe even buy some extra.

Hope the next time to encounter some bananas a little past their prime, you remember some of these great tips.  Do you have any additional ideas or great recipes you would like to share?  I'd love to hear them!