Green tip(s) of the Day

I really should call these "green tip of the week" or something.

1. If you sew or work with fabric, you might appreciate this one. You know those weird shaped scraps of fabric you end up with? They're like 1in. wide and 4in. long? Don't throw them away! If they are big enough, I get pinbacks made from them. If they are solid colors or too skinny to make pins, I use them to clean my sewing machine. After I oil my machine, I use those scraps to get the excess oil out of the bobbin area (I have no idea what it is called) and then I runt he fabric around the needle to get the excess oil off of it. Sometimes I run the fabric through the machine without any thread in it. This makes sure that there is no smelly oil on the needle. By using those scraps, I don't use tissues, paper towels, or QTips.
2. Give someone a lightbulb for Christmas. Ok, no. Not actually a lightbulb, a donation of $5 that buys a lightbulb for houses being rebuilt in New Orleans. Brad Pitt has been promoting Make it Right like crazy lately so I had to check it out. No, I am not a Brad Pitt fan, I've never even seen one of his movies. I thought it was so cool. You can "donate" anything from a $5 lightbulb to several thousand dollars worth of landscaping for houses in New Orleans. The best part? Everything is eco-friendly. You can donate solar panels for the roof, a water saving shower head, or a thermostat that adjusts to its occupants needs. I think I am going to donate a lightbulb for each of the people that I'm buying gifts for, in their name of course.