It's World Water Day

Anytime I hear a statistic like, ".08% of all the water in the world is usable for humans" my jaw drops. I mean, isn't most of the globe made up of water? Well, yes, but it's not anything we could drink and survive. That means that on top of greenhouse gases, we need to worry about having water to drink in the future. And water is becoming more and more scarce as time passes. What can you do at home to save water?

• Install new super-efficient shower heads that still provide a great shower, but they can save almost a gallon of water per minute over the government standard of 2.5 gpm. And, they're not the low-flow showerheads of yore. You'll still get a great-feeling shower!

• Add a toilet tank conservation bag. It's as easy as filling this handy dandy plastic bag and hanging it inside your toilet to displace water. It can save anywhere from 80-160 ounces of water with each flush. It's a low-tech, inexpensive way to save water.

• Install new faucet aerators that restrict water flow in your bathrooms from .5 to 1 gallon per minute.

Then there are some simple things you can do without any hardware at all. You can limit the length of your showers, make sure you turn off the water while brushing your teeth, and only run the dishwasher and clothes washer when full to maximize water usage.

Looking outside your home, why not put your sprinkler on a timer? Or collect rain water in barrels for watering your garden?

As you can see, water conservation is simple and inexpensive. Not only will you be saving the water supply, but you'll also be saving some money, too.

Get Green for Your Used Electronics

Don't know what to do with your old electronics? Perhaps you live in an area that doesn't provide recycling for computer equipment, cell phones, etc.? Try Gazelle.com. It's a site that will buy your used electronics if they're still worth something. If not, they'll still take it off of your hands. You provide the packing, they'll pay for the shipping. What's to lose but that drawer full of old cell phones, PDAs, and MP3 players?

Stop the Junk Mail

Go to Catalog Choice, where you can find all of the catalogs you get and stop them from showing up in your mailbox (unless you want them there). I did it, and it worked!

Green Is Good

Like how I ripped off the famous line "greed is good" from the movie Wall Street? Okay, so it's not the most original phrase in the world, but it's true. The latest craze (or at least us eco-conscious folks like to think is the latest craze) is "going green" or being "ecologically aware". There are many terms for it, and I'm sure the media industry is working on generating new catchphrases when the current ones aren't so catchy anymore.

And, in my quest to become more green, I've become a Green Irene. I mean, why not cash in on a movement that's sole purpose is to improve our environment? It's finally a service I can offer that gives something back to the world. By performing a Green Home Makeover for $99, I can show you different techniques and tools for saving hundreds, possibly thousands, of dollars over the life of your home, and in some cases, maybe even a year.

As such, I'm using this blog to give tips and tricks I've learned while training. Some of these are no-brainers, but others are some that have made me go, "yeah, why didn't I think of that?" Of course, I'm also going to promote the Green Irene products, which have been tested thoroughly by the Green Irene corporate staff and have been deemed durable, cost-effective, and in most cases, budget-friendly. I'm so excited about this, I can hardly stand it. I hope you will be as excited as I am when you see how good going green can be.