Easy Green Living Tips

Commercial bath salts may smell and look appealing, but if you read the ingredient lists and consider all of that unnecessary packaging, they begin to lose their appeal. I love a relaxing, soothing soak and I really love making my own DIY bath salts starting from a very simple bath salt recipe.

What you need:

1 cup Epsom salts

1 cup sea salt

½ cup baking soda

A few drops of the essential oil of your choice

What you do:

Simply mix the Epsom salt, sea salt and baking soda and add a few (I use about five) drops of your favorite essential oil. I generally use lavender for its calming, relaxing properties, but peppermint essential oil works nicely for invigorating soak or you could try rose for a lovely scented bath.

Store in a canning jar or other container with a lid and enjoy!

I use a bamboo whisk to mix my all natural bath salts and store them in canning jars. You can always buy jars, but the eco-friendly way to store them is to reuse a canning jar, jelly jar or other food jar after is has been thoroughly cleaned and dried. 

All natural, eco-friendly bath salts also make a great gift! 

Now that you know what to get for the cats and cat lovers in your life, we don’t want to forget about the dogs! It’s easy to find eco-friendly, green Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers for dogs and dog lovers - both online and in local stores. With the green revolution well under way, there is no reason to leave out our beloved dogs and dog lovers when there are so many great, inexpensive eco-friendly dog gifts available.

Here are some examples:

Hemp Dog Bone by Harry Barker - Harry Barker (harrybarker.com) makes all natural hemp dog bones filled with 100% recycled post-consumer plastics eco-friendly fiber. These machine washable squeaking hemp dog bones come in two sizes, 7″ for $5.00 and 11″ for $9.00.

Biodegradable Business Bags by Spike - Picking up your dog’s business just got eco-friendlier! These corn-based bags are completely compostable and biodegrade in 45 days. A 40-count box is $5.99 from muttropolis.com.

For a full list (and the full article)click here.

Christmas is just around the corner and if you have a cat or a cat lover in your life, eco-friendly, green Christmas gifts and stocking stuffers are the way to go. With the green revolution well under way, there is no reason to leave out our beloved cats and cat lovers when there are so many great, inexpensive eco-friendly cat gifts and Christmas stocking stuffers available.

From toys made from recycled soda bottles to DIY all natural cat care kits, make this Christmas green with eco-friendly gifts and stocking stuffers for the cats or cat lovers in your life.

For example:

Eco-Me Cat Kit - Chimp Feet (chimpfeet.com) offers these handy Eco-Me Cat Kits for $28.00. Each kit contains reusable containers, essential oils, a cookie cutter and simple instructions for making eco-friendly, chemical-free cat products right at home. With the addition of some simple ingredients that are probably already in your pantry, you or the cat lover in your life will be whipping up all natural, eco-friendly litter freshener, cat treats, flea and bug spray and organic catnip pillows in no time.

Click here for more eco-friendly gift ideas for cats and cat lovers.

Exchanging gifts during the holiday season is a long-held tradition. Giving Christmas, Hanukkah, Kwanzaa and Winter Solstice gifts is a way to show the people in our lives that we care and think about them. Now you can make your gifts even more thoughtful and meaningful by using vegan, eco-friendly gift wrap options that the recipient can reuse.

Get creative with your holiday gift wrapping and give gifts that keep on giving (to the planet and to the recipient!) with reusable shopping bags, kitchen towels and more!

Click here for tips and suggestions for vegan, eco-friendly holiday gift wrap ideas.