Feeling a bit Green, in more than one way

Today I am feeling a bit icky. Nothing that's contagious (unless you're a girl ;-) ) but am looking to seek some relief from the heat and my upset tummy. Sparkling water is on tap and I will put in my air conditioning unit in my bedroom window after work.

One thing I am looking forward to is the psychological lift that George W. wants to give me by rescinding the Executive Order that outlaws off-shore oil drilling. You know those wacky liberals want to keep that oil out of our nation's supply. Hmm- who put it the ban into place, you ask? Ah yes, that bastion of liberalness, the first President Bush.

Yeah, that psychological lift is helping- I didn't feel nearly as pissed off as I could of been yesterday when I put $10 in my tank to get a measly 2.5 gallons of gas to tide me over till Thursday. Thanks GWB!!

Now everyone is feeling pissed off about gas and pinched everywhere else. Let's share some tips on how to save some money. And since Green is the new Black- (nice for y'all to come on board), some Green tips too:

• Go paperless on your bills. I just switched my cell account to paperless today. I'm tired of throwing those away and I never need them for anything.
• Reusable bags. Lug those sexy canvas bags to the store and you can save 5-10 cents per bag every time you use them.
• Pay bills online or auto-withdrawal. I figure I save about $50 a year on postage just doing this. Crazy not to!
• Change your cleaning products. Look to use those natural, plant based products like Mrs. Meyers, who I just love. Just about everything else comes in some way or another from petroleum. Plus Mrs. Meyers smells better, is not tested on animals and non-toxic. Every way to break the cycle of oil dependency should smell this good.
• Switch to generic drugs. Could I afford to buy Claritin for my allergies? Mmm, nope- but the generic- oh yeah. Same active ingredients- less hype. No commercials with fields of daisies and frolicking puppies.
• Use those coupons and store specials. With a little work, you can save a lot of money. I try to plan our weekly menu stuff around what's on sale at the store. The internet is a great resource for coupons too. I print off ones from the manufacturer's websites for products I like and use regularly, & SuperTarget always has great coupons.
• Gas specials. HyVee gas usually has specials every day- check them out if there's one near you. On Thursday, if I spend a certain amount, $30- my wine and weekly stock up- and pay in cash, I can save 14 cents a gallon.
• Skip the coffee shop. I said goodbye to the coffee stop before work when I realized how much it adds up. If you spend $3 every day for coffee, that adds up to over $1000 a year and 365 to-go containers in the trash. Yikes! That's a lot of beans!

Little changes make a huge difference put together. The key is to aim to live in balance in all areas of your life. If you enjoy something, keep doing it but look for a more sustainable way to do it. I love coffee- can't start my day without it. However, now I buy strictly organic or fair trade coffee. It's better for my health, better for the environment and much better for the farmers who grow and harvest my beloved beans.

Well take care. I was planning to do a huge glowing review of 1984 but am not feeling up to it today. I really enjoyed it so much- and to me it resonated a lot more now than it did the first time I read it back in the 80's. Right now, I'm reading The Lost Constitution by William Martin, which has got me hooked. The search is on for the original draft of the Constitution which , if found, would bring huge clarifications on what the original intent was and have an explosive impact on the hot political debate in question. The style of the novel has me intrigued- it's two parallel stories, one back in 1787 and the other in present day. I haven't read anything else by him, but am inclined to check them out now.