Green Crafts: Recycling Candles
Posted on August 26, 2007 - Filed Under House & Home, Waste & Recycling, Jenn's Going Green
I’m a candle junkie. I could be perfectly content working in a candlelit room every night (maybe something I’ll do more of in the Winter when it cools down to save on electricity as well). My favorite scents are pumpkin and pine… pine for working and pumpkin for relaxing.
I had a lot of candle remnants sitting around my apartment… mostly from identically-scented pumpkin candles. My boyfriend asked for them a while ago, so he could save the glass jars to make new candles with me (he likes them for the light value so he can relax and keep his lights off as well).
Last night we finally melted them down, cleaned out the jars, and decided that rather than tossing the old wax and using the fresh wax he had around, we would recycle the old wax and make a few smaller pumpkin candles out of them.
They didn’t come out perfectly, but they came out nicely enough for us (besides… we’ll just burn them anyway, so “perfection” isn’t necessary). I got to avoid tossing away the glass and remnant wax, and got some new pumpkin candles out of it… plus it was a lot of fun to do that together.
Gotta love that kind of recycling. 
It was really easy too. He melted the old candles in the oven (putting them in a glass tray to catch any wax dripping on the outside), and then poured or chipped any extra wax into a little double boiler thing. We cleaned out the old jars, inserted new wicks, and poured the melted wax… easy as that.
Environmentally Friendly Cat Litter
Posted on July 31, 2007 - Filed Under House & Home, Green Products, Jenn's Going Green
Apparently my cat’s not interested in “going green” with me. I tried switching her from a clay cat litter to Feline Pine, a more environmentally friendly cat litter. I used to like using it with former cats, so I wasn’t expecting a problem, but my cat (Baby) instead decided to boycott the litter box until I switched back.
So that’s one little baby step at living a greener life foiled. But here’s some more info on the litter for anyone else with cats who wants to give it a try:
Feline pine is made of little pellets (they at one point had one more like dust, but you see that one, I’d avoid it… it makes a huge mess when they kick it up… it may be the scoopable variety). The litter is chemical-free, and made of pine (as the name suggests).
Because the litter is biodegradable, the company encourages you to add it directly to your compost pile.
The company’s site even offers a tip for cats that won’t use Feline Pine, so perhaps I’ll give it another try.
Starting to Recycle: Soda Cans
Posted on July 30, 2007 - Filed Under Waste & Recycling, Jenn's Going Green, Green Living Tips
I go through soda cans like nobody’s business. I drink at least 6 diet sodas a day most days I’d estimate. We don’t have mandatory recycling where I live, and they actually make it quite the pain to recycle even if you do want to make the effort. And since I’m doing the car-less thing for a little while, it’s even tougher to get things hauled to the recycling center.
And since this blog is all about how you can be greener without having to drastically alter your lifestyle, to show that anyone can do at least something, that just wouldn’t do anyway.
Luckily, my boyfriend is my little green conscience. There’s a guy near him that buys up scrap metal, such as the aluminum in the cans, to reuse. So as of this weekend, I’ve started packing up my obscene number of soda cans to give to him each time I see him. He’ll make a few bucks out of it, and I’ll have a clearer conscience and be taking just one more baby step towards living a greener lifestyle.
The moral of the story? If you don’t have easy access to a recycling center or program, see if a friend or family member does. They may be willing to take some of your recyclables off your hands when you see them.
As always, every little bit helps….
Fluorescent Light Bulbs Don’t Work in All Lamps
Posted on July 27, 2007 - Filed Under Energy, House & Home, Jenn's Going Green
I had mentioned in a previous post that I bought my first fluorescent light bulb to start changing out my incandescent bulbs to save energy. I bought four more the other day.
The plan was to change the light bulb in my dining room and a 3-bulb floor lamp in my living room (I can’t change the ones in my kitchen ceiling light or hall ceiling light, because those are completely enclosed).
I tried to swap the bulbs in my floor lamp yesterday, and was disappointed to discover that the bulbs don’t work in the lamp. 
I have no idea why that is, and didn’t even know that they didn’t work with certain lamps. I thought they were simply interchangeable with the incandescents.
Oh well. Live and learn. I tried.
Green Web Hosting: Netfirms
Posted on July 23, 2007 - Filed Under Energy, Green Business, Jenn's Going Green
No sooner did I post about my disappointment in green Web hosting companies, than I received an email from Netfirms (because I’m a customer) saying they’ve gone green. While I have a Web hosting account with them, I don’t use it. I only signed up for it, because it came with two domain names. I used the domains, but haven’t used the hosting for anything yet. Now that I know they’re offering green hosting packages though, I’m considering moving a site or two there just to see how the service is.
While the package doesn’t offer everything I need, I figure that it won’t hurt to have one or two sites there for now. I just have to keep my larger sites where they are. My biggest issue with them is that they don’t offer cpanel, but the mysql database limit is also a problem. Even though it’s not as good as my current package business-wise, for someone running fewer sites, this may at least be a good option for you.
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