Four Easy Ways to Conserve Water

Water is a precious resource, and a great way to live a "green" life is to learn simple ways to reduce water use in your home!  Four easy ways to conserve water are:

1. If you have a toilet that runs or a faucet that drips, contact your property manager as soon as possible. It’s probably an easy fix, and it will save you money on your water bill, too. If the city has to go into stage three water restrictions, it’s likely that utility customers will also see a rate hike. Taking care of small leaks now will definitely pay off in the long run.

Your New and Improved Green Life

So, you want to live a green lifestyle?  You've come to the right blog!  This week, we are discussing several personal practices to live green. You might even be on your way to living green already and not even know it!

Some simple ideas are:

1. Buy locally produced items, including produce and other goods. It reduces the amount of fossil fuels required to transport the things you buy from other parts of the country or the world. It also reduces the amount of plastic and paper products consumed in the packaging of such far-traveling products.
2. Instead of using grocery stores' disposable plastic or paper bags, bring your own reusable tote bags, which are available for sale at many grocers and other retailers. The bags are sturdier than disposable bags, making the trip home easier, and they don't waste resources or end up in landfills. You alone could keep up to 1,500 bags per year out of landfills! If you must use disposable bags, ask your bagger to avoid double-bagging whenever possible.

It's More Than Recycling!

Last week, our blog post was about the importance of recycling!  While it is important to recycle, living a green life isn't just about recycling and sorting out re-usable supplies; there are a lot of other ways to live green!

From cleaning your home to getting to work, read these tips for simple ideas to go green!

Cleaning

1. Use non-toxic, environmentally safe, biodegradable cleaning products, including laundry products, which you can find at any natural grocery and even many mainstream stores. Just read the labels carefully. 
2. Don't pollute your indoor air or mask odors that could alert you to a problem. Choose fragrance-free products.

Reducing, Reusing and Recycling

Recycling is important, and the ultimate lesson is: use less whenever possible. Don't think you can't make a difference by recycling- recycling just one aluminum can saves the amount of energy required to run a TV for three hours!

Here are a few suggestions that will help reduce our use of precious natural resources:

1. Many computers, monitors, cell phones and other electronics include toxic materials that should not sit in landfills. You'd be surprised how many retailers and other companies will take your old gadgets for recycling. The Environmental Protection Agency can help you find local electronics recyclers here.
2. Say no to junk mail - 100 million trees' worth are sent out each year. Visit the DMAChoice website to opt out of the Direct Marketing Association's member mailings.
3. Packing peanuts and other loose fill will sit in a landfill for centuries, but there are many places you can bring them for recycling. Call the Peanut Hotline at 1-800-828-2214 to find out where these products can be recycled.

Simple Energy-Saving Tips!

Read some simple, energy saving tips below!  Anyone can do these in their own home to reduce energy used!

1.   Unplug the "secret energy addicts" in your home: TVs, VCRs, DVD players, cable TV boxes, computers and printers, video game consoles, microwave ovens and AC adapters for cell phones, digital cameras and other electronics. Most electronic equipment, including anything that uses a remote control, is designed to consume energy when it is turned off. That "off" setting is actually a "standby" or "idling" mode. Standby power in the average household consumes 1,000 kilowatt hours of electricity annually. That's enough energy to power an entire home for two months, or more. The solution? Unplug anything that isn't being used.
2.   Swap out incandescent bulbs for compact fluorescent bulbs. CFs use about 66% less energy and last up to 10 times longer.
3.   Turn down your thermostat by two degrees in the winter (and up two degrees in the summer). You'll save 2,000 pounds of carbon dioxide this year!
4.   Switch to cold-water washing and save 80% on laundry energy.

Welcome to Our Green Tips!

Hello everyone!

Thank you for reading Grady Management Inc.'s first blog post on our brand new Green Tips blog.  This blog is a step in our process to inform more people about Grady Management news and initiatives through social media and a brand-new website (debuting later this month!).

Here at Grady Management, we know that you would always "do the right thing" for yourself and the planet if it were convenient, fun, inexpensive, and made you feel good. Being green doesn't have to be complicated or difficult! Let’s go beyond recycling and replacing light bulbs and take a look at a few ways to truly make an impact on the environment with green apartment living.