No matter how large or small your home is, the cost of furnishing it is always going to be high, that is unless you make a conscious decision that you will only buy from certain places and definitely at certain prices which would normally be limited to well below the retail price tag.

Of course we all know that when it come to bargains the one place to look is eBay, some people do not like it, but others swear by it, like the guys over at Apartment Therapy. They know how to search around for some great bargains, which in a sense is recycling isn’t it?

Source [Apartment Therapy]

It not very nice seeing fruit covered with flies, but at the same time in order to get them off of the fruit that we like to eat, there is a need to kill the flies. As bad as that may be, it is the chemicals and other products which are not very nice either.

So the alternative is to find a way of killing the flies and not the planet, this where a green fly killer on treehugger comes in very handy.

How to make eco friendly fly killer:

1. Combine the following in a small cup or dish.

1 part water

1 part Apple Cider Vinegar

2 or 3 drops of dish soap

2. Place cup and mixture near your fruit.

3. Head outside for a nice bike ride or walk

4. Return later to find your flies resting peacefully dead at the bottom of the cup.

5. Show the cup to the younger fruit flies as a lesson to think twice before messing with you.

So now you know.

It is said that a car that uses hydrogen is a very green machine indeed; after all, the only emissions are water in the form of steam. But while buying a hydrogen powered car is relatively easy, being able to refuel it is fairly hard considering that not many filling stations provide hydrogen.

However, this is about to become a lot easier with a UK companies home filling station. ITM Power have developed a home hydrogen making machine priced at around $4,000, that produces enough hydrogen overnight to power a car for up to twenty five miles.

They do say that best ideas are the simplest ones, but although this design may not be that simple, the idea of making a portable brolly which uses materials such as newspapers and plastic bags is. The whole thing has been designed by Shiu Yuk Yuen and when in the compact mode will fit in the palm of your hand.

However as some of you may have already figured out, the use of newspapers as a protector from rain may not be the best idea, although as a temporary measure it could work fine if only you had a newspaper on you at the time.

Hemp has so many uses, most of which can replace something or other that we use in our daily lives, whether these products are a direct replacement is down to individual tastes. There are some food alternatives that leave a lot to be de desired.

However there are also those products which need no explanation and have no problem replacing its non eco friendly counter part. Twine made from 100% Hemp is just one of these products; it is totally natural and costs around $7.5 per ball of around 325 feet in length.

Here’s a great way to make use of your outdated gadgets by turning cassette tapes into functional household lamp enclosures.

The designers make each lamp from dozens of individual cassette tapes, arranged into visually appealing patterns. Not only do they look cool as a sculptural piece, they cast dramatic shadows onto surrounding surfaces.

via zedomax

Virtually every home must a one or two odd spoons lying around the cutlery drawer somewhere, but is it really necessary? After all what on earth could be done with an old spoon? The answer is below:

It is great when somebody can have the foresight of creating something from literally nothing, a virtually worthless object turned into what could only be described as art. These recycled spoon magnets are from a company called Radiant Ideas and the details are as follows:

Climbing Cat Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE: $5.99

Crabby Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE $5.99

Frisbee Dog Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE: $5.99

Ladybug Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE: $5.99

Scaredy Cat Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE: $5.99

Sleepy Dog Magnet - Recycled Spoons PRICE: $5.99

Consumerism, DIY, Drinks, Earth, Eco Friendly, Food, Home and Garden, Kitchen and Bathroom, magnet, Nature, Recycle, recycled, spoons Consumerism, DIY, Drinks, Earth, Eco Friendly, Food, Home and Garden, Kitchen and Bathroom, magnet, Nature, Recycle, recycled, spoons

You know when you look at the back of the kitchen cupboards and the odd cup or mug which seems to have been forgotten. If you do that enough times you tend to end up with quite a few different cups or mugs and with no place for them.

That was until now; hear is a really cool idea which very conveniently uses up all of those odd cups and mugs. Here they have been drilled at the base and a lighting cable threaded through, great! The only real problem is that the heat may get too much a crack the cups and mugs.

These mirrors have been made by the designer Kathy Taylor Gray taking a mirror that she had made earlier and buy carefully cutting up soda cans into small but regular shapes and sizes has created a sort of mosaic from the cans, of course you can make out what the tiles were before, but that is the point isn’t it?

For around $40 one of these fantastic mirrors could be yours, which if you consider the design, planning and work that have gone into this piece it has to be worth it.

It was originally designed to be a bike to prevent people from stealing it, after all who on earth is going to want to steal a bike made out of cardboard? Clearly the designer,  who is studying Product Design at Sheffield Hallam University, in the UK had not checked out the desires of green minded people.

A bike is stolen every seventy one seconds in the UK, but if they were all made from this design then it would easier to replace and less likely to be stolen, but with so many items with a sporting connection being made from cardboard, maybe it is about time that the cardboard Olympics were started!

If you are the type of person to make your own lunch, you may feel tempted to wrap it up in cling film or even a plastic bag; this is not very eco friendly as you will inevitably end up throwing this away in the bin. But what if there was something that worked as good cling film, but was re-usable, wouldn’t that be good?

Well this is the Wrap n Mat, which is a sustainable snack covering but can be cleaned and reused time after time.

Features:

Replaces wasteful plastic sandwich and snack bags

Pays for itself over time

Only reusable sandwich wrap and place mat in one

Lightweight

Made with Fair Labour/Fair Wages

Machine washable, air dry

Food safe, PEVA liner that wipes clean

Eco-Print design printed with vegetable based dyes

Approximately 13 x 13 when open.

Responsibly made in China

Hand wash in warm water and air dry

They can be machine washed and dried on low heat (connecting the closure prevents it from catching other fabrics)

Priced at $10

Here’s a great way to re-use water from your rain gutter to feed your plants.

Rain tanks collect and store rain water, and they’re a viable green alternative for lawn maintenance since landscaping represents a huge drain on water resources. Erin’s tank directs water from her gutters into a storage system that will support her lawn and garden.

via zedomax

Okay, tired of spending another $20 on a whole Brita filter?  Here’s some instructions on how to refill the Brita cartridge itself instead of throwing it away.

Why buy a replacement filter for $6 to $10 (or more) when you can refill your old filter cartridge housing for about 50 cents?!

Refilling is quick, easy and economical. If you can refill a salt shaker, then you should be able to refill a Brita, PuR, or other brand water pitcher cartridges. All that you will need is an old cartridge, some activated carbon, a polyethylene plug, a sharp utility knife or Xacto knife. A 1/2″ drill motor and 1/2″ drill bit are optional, but can aid in rounding out the hole.

via zedomax

Now, here’s a great instructable on how to re-use your good ol’ floppy disks as earrings.

Will anyone notice?

via zedomax