Three, Online, GreenLiving Resources for Apartment Residents

Expert GreenLiving Advice for our Valued Residents

Trying to find greenliving advice?  Knowing where to find factual and accurate greenliving and eco-friendly information is often at the cornerstone of a green lifestyle.

Grady's GreenLiving Tips compiled several pertinent links to guides and online articles that highlight some practical and helpful green advice for apartment renters:

1) "Top 10 Tips for Renters" by Energy Star: this comprehensive guide covers ways to save energy, and money, during all seasons.  Read the online article here.

2) "5 Ways to Reduce Your Electric Bill" by ApartmentGuide Blog: this post details methods and examples of how an apartment renter can decrease the monthly electric bill.  Read the original blog post here.

Five Green Resources for Apartment Renters

Expert GreenLiving Advice

Knowing where to find greenliving and eco-friendly advice and information is often at the cornerstone of a green lifestyle.

Grady Management compiled several pertinent links to guides and online articles that highlight some practical and helpful green advice for apartment renters:

1) "Top 10 Tips for Renters" by Energy Star: this comprehensive guide covers ways to save energy, and money, during all seasons.

2) "5 Ways to Reduce Your Electric Bill" by ApartmentGuide Blog: this post specifically details methods and examples of how an apartment renter can decrease the monthly electric bill.

Love Indoor Plants? Want to Conserve Water? It Can Be Done!

One question we often encounter is how it is possible to properly maintain and care for plants while also trying to conserve as much water as possible.  It definitely can be done, and here are some tricks to caring for indoor plants:
Many homeowners love taking care of potted, indoor plants.

Be sure to care for low-maintenance indoor plants!  Some examples include:

1. Succulents- the easiest houseplants to keep alive. They like dry soil, so they almost beg to be ignored. Generally, they need to be watered every three to four days, but it depends on the humidity in your home. Aloe Vera is a particularly good choice in succulent, because the gel from the leaves can be used in a variety of ways (most notably soothing sunburn). Succulents like sunny spots, and a row of them looks charming in a windowsill.

2. Spider plants are also very easy to care for and notoriously hard to kill. These also do great as hanging plants, which is a bonus if you have pets or small children that can’t resist digging around in soil (or eating leaves). Spider plants can even survive without natural light, so it’s a good choice if you don’t have a particularly sunny home.

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.