To My Readers

I have received a few comments in recent days saying that they didn't appreciate my requesting money for my parents, and they are wondering if I'm running a scam. First of all, I'm sorry that you feel that way. I have been running this blog for almost 2 years now, and everything I have ever posted has been the absolute truth. If you go back through my posts for just over a year, you can read about my dad getting sick and us thinking he had cancer. I'm sure there are people out there who would make things like this up in order to get money, but I'm definitely not one of them.

As for the Revolution Money Exchange referral requests, the people who signed up got a free $25. I think most people would've signed up for that reason alone without my talking about my parent's financial issues. As for asking for donations, the only reason I did that was because someone had previously asked me how to go about doing that (as shown here near the bottom). I wouldn't have even thought to have asked for donations before.

Every dollar that I got through both of those went straight to my parents to help them out. If I lose your readership because of this, then so be it. I hate to have you go, but I'd rather not have people reading my blog who think I'm a fraud. And as a side note, I had planned to not ask for more money now that the Revolution Money Exchange referral offer is over, even before receiving these comments. I will continue to allow people to request referrals for both this and ING, but I will not solicit donations or such.

Every time I told my mom about the wonderful people out there who were helping them out, she was so thankful.

Wa$ted - 5/8/08

Here is a recap of the most recent episode of Wa$ted, which aired on May 8th.

The Waste

This episode focused Brooklyn roommates, Kisha, Donna, and Cindy. They have 1500 lbs of garbage a year, of which 750 lbs is recyclable. Their building offers recycling, but they are too lazy to take the time to do it. They always leave the heat on with the windows open to bring in fresh air. Cindy is a clean-freak, but uses household cleaners that are toxic to the environment. (Never pour corrosive, toxic, flammable, or reactive household products down sink, toilet, or bathtub drain.) Kisha uses cabs to get to work, costing her $750 a month.

The girl's ecological foot print is 70.8 acres, which is 1242 times the size of their property (about 5/100 an acre).

The Help

They are given:

• a divided trash can to use for recycling so that they can pre-sort.
• green cleaners so they stop putting toxic chemicals into water.
• organic makeup that is recyclable. Regular makeup often contains toxic chemicals and need to be disposed of in hazardous waste. (When buying organic cosmetics, look for USDA organic seal.)
• energy efficient ceiling fan.

Interesting Facts

*Household cleaners thrown into landfills pollute water through the soil.

*If every house gave up 1 bottle petroleum based dish soap, it would save 86,000 barrels of oil...enough to heat 4900 homes for year.

*Plain vinegar or baking soda mixed with warm water makes a great all-purpose cleaner.


*It takes just a penny an hour to run ceiling fan.


*By 2012, all cabs in NYC will be hybrids, which will be equal to taking 32,000 vehicles off the road.

The Results

The hosts returned after a few weeks. So, how did the girls do?

• They reduced their waste by 69%.
• Cindy loved the green cleaning products for the kitchen but not in the bathroom...she felt they didn't get it clean enough.
• They used some of the makeup, but will continue to use their regular makeup some of the time.
• Kisha found a route to work using a bus and train.

Their new Ecological Footprint is 49.5 acres (a 30% reduction), and they saved $1,982 projected over the course of the year. The savings breakdown was $173 Energy, $134 Consumption, and $1675 Public Transportation.

Update on My Family

As I mentioned in an earlier post, my Mom ended up having an allergic reaction to something in the Omega3 capsules. She's never been allergic to anything before, so she's not sure what it was that she ended up being allergic to. She ended up having to miss work Monday and Tuesday because she hasn't been able to eat anything, and she's been nauseous. She was finally able to eat some toast yesterday morning, and a popsicle and chicken noodle soup last night. She was feeling a lot better last night and hopefully will feel even better today. She's getting a little stir crazy from being home so much. She ended up going to see the doctor again on Monday because of the nausea. That cost her another $80 but it helped her out so it was worth it.

My Dad is still doing ok. He has his good days and his bad days, and then days where it changes throughout. They're still waiting to hear about disability, but we know it can take a while for them to make a decision. And we know the chances are high that he'll be denied initially and will have to appeal.

My Grandpa drove down from NY with my Dad a couple weeks ago to spend some time with my parents in NC. He brought my Grandma's ashes and scattered them out on the beach where they used to walk together all the time. I'm glad he got to spend some time down there and that my Dad was able to help him out. In some ways, my Dad being out of work ended up working out in this situation...if he'd had a job, he wouldn't have been able to stay up in NY as long as he did.

As for me, things are pretty much the same. I'm trying to enjoy the nice weather. And I'm trying to become more eco-friendly. Since I moved back up here, I've been really trying to be good about recycling. It's a pain because my apartment building doesn't have a program, but there is a recycling place a few miles from my apartment and it isn't too out of the way when I drive home from work. I'm trying to find more things that I can recycle. I also bought three water bottles from Target over the weekend so that I can use them to drink water. Previously, I was reusing water bottles that you buy (like Aquafina). But I know they say it's not good to reuse them over and over. And I mentioned previously that I bought two reusable grocery bags so that I get less plastic bags from the grocery store.

And while I was at Target, I checked out some of there green cleaning products. Most of them were not much more expensive than the regular cleaners. The highest priced item I saw was their laundry detergent...it was like $7.99 for a pretty small bottle. I don't mind spending a little more to help the environment, but that seems expensive. Maybe they'll eventually bring the price down.

For more ideas on going green, check out my posts on the new show called "Wa$ted". Right now it's on TLC, but it's supposed to be on the new "Green Network" which starts broadcasting in June or July. I'm not sure how fast cable providers will start broadcasting it, but I'd be interested in checking out what other shows it will offer.

Wa$ted - 5/4/08

Here is a recap of the most recent episode of Wa$ted, which aired on May 4th.

The Waste

This episode focused on a NYC couple, James & Dean, and their dog Teddy, who live in a 1300 sq. ft. apartment. They never use public transportation, instead relying heavily on cabs. It costs them $20 each way for a cab ride...over the course of the year they spend $1500 on cabs. They have 1800 lbs of garbage a year, of which 800 lbs is recyclable and 553 lbs is organic waste. Organic waste produces methan gas, which is 23 times worse for the environment in terms of climate change than carbon dioxide. They use over 200 wire hangers a year.

New Yorkers:

• have over 22 million lbs of garbage a year.
• use over 65 million wire hangers a year, and only 10% are returned to dry cleaners.

They leave their tv and lights on when their not home for their dog Teddy, because he gets lonely, which wasts $500 per year. There are no recycle bins in their building so they don't recycle.

James and Dean's ecological foot print is 48.8 acres, which is 1600 times the size of their property (about 3/100 an acre).


The Help

To help them out, the hosts give them different solutions to turn things around. They are told to:

• turn off the lights and tv when not home...the dog basically sleeps anyway.
• return wire hangers to the dry cleaner and to use CO2 friendly dry cleaner (natural chemicals).

They are given:

• a worm condo to compose their organic waste to turn into fertilizer for their plants. (For best results, don't feed your worms meat, dairy products, oily foods, or grains.)
• new energy efficient AC unit, which will cut their energy usage by half.
• foldable bikes to ride to work.

Interesting Facts

*Glass sits in landfills for 1 million years.

*1 year of coal produces 4 million tons of carbon dioxide...check with your local power utility companies about wind and solar power providers.

*The US uses 3.5 billion wire hangers a year, which is the equivalent of the amount of steal needed to build 60,000 cars.

*Public transportation saves 45 million barrels of oil, enough to power 1/4 of the homes in the US.

The Results

The hosts returned after a few weeks. So, how did James & Dean do?

• They got a new dog, Elmo, to keep Teddy company...and they were able to turn off the lights and tv when they left. This will save them about $500 a year.
• They decreased their garbage from 34 lbs a week to 12 oz...a reduction of 98%.
• They started a recycle program on their floor.
• They've been returning their wire hangers to the dry cleaner, but they are staying with their current dry cleaner out of loyalty (even though it's not eco-friendly).
• But they did cut down on the amount of dry cleaning though and are trying to wash more at home.
• They are still using cabs.
• They are using the worm condo.

Their new Ecological Footprint is 32.6 acres (a 35% reduction), and they saved $3,053 projected over the course of the year.

My poor Mom & How to make $25 (by May 15th)

My mom's Mother's Day weekend didn't end up so great. She had started taking Omega3 capsules since she had heard of all the benefits of taking them. She started taking one a day on Weds and had taken her third on Friday. Well, Friday night she ended up finding out she is allergic to something in the capsule. She was itchy all over. On Saturday evening, she ended up going to a health clinic nearby because her throat was swelling up and she was scared so might have trouble breathing if it got worse. The doctor was able to really help her out, but it ended up costing $363 for the trip (although I'm sure an ER visit would've been a lot more expensive). She was still not 100% on Sunday but feeling a lot better.

Well, thanks to those of you who have opened Revolution Money Exchange accounts and donated money, she is only shy of being able to pay that doctor bill by $88. So, thanks again. Every time I tell my mom she has gotten more money from you all, she is so excited and thankful. At a time when bad things keep piling up, it makes her feel better to know people care and a willing to help her and my Dad.

Only 3 days left to earn a free $25 - If you are interested in opening a Revolution Money Exchange account (similar to PayPal), click on the green button below. You will get $25 just for signing up, and my parents will get $10. The deadline is May 15th.



If you are interested in donating money, here is the information you'll need...If you want to donate money via Revolution, the e-mail is ntbeachnc at yahoo.com. Via PayPal, the e-mail is jwrlmr1985 at yahoo.com. Thanks in advance to anyone who opens an account or donates money.

And if you're one of the few who still hasn't opened an ING account (savings or checking), please shoot me an e-mail at beachgirlsblog at yahoo.com. If you open an account with at least $250, you'll get $25 and I'll get $10.

May Grocery Challenge - Week 2

I went to the grocery store on Friday. I usually go on Monday's but I needed a few things for the weekend, so I decided to do my shopping for this week so I didn't have to make a second trip. This is for the second week of Krystal's May Grocery Challenge. Here's how I did this week:

$5.00 Cheese blocks (2)
$3.59 Milk
$.99 Frosting (was $1.99, but I had a $.50 coupon that they doubled)
$1.20 Diced tomatoes
$2.99 Cookies
$1.79 Sweet & Sour sauce
$1.99 Tortilla chips
$2.00 Animal Crackers
$4.99 Chicken nuggets
$5.49 Ground turkey (3 lbs)
$.75 Cucumber
$3.99 Fresh Salsa
$2.99 Romaine lettuce

Total: $38.72 (with tax)

My total for the month is $69.43. That gives me $80.57 for the rest of the month.

I also bought 2 reusable grocery bags (not counting as part of my grocery budget). They were $.99 cents each ($2.08 after tax). It's nice because not only will it help to save the environment (and give me a lot less plastic bags), but they credit you $.05 for every bag you bring in each time you shop at Giant. So, basically, after 21 visits, I'll have paid for the two bags with their $.05 credits.

I'll still get a few bags occasionally because I use them for my cat litter. But I'm always glad to reduce the amount I get and throw away.

I got it!

My checking account received the rebate deposit this morning. So far it is available but hasn't posted yet. But at least it's there. Yeah!

Updated 5/10: I have set my Emigrant account to move my stimulus check into my savings account on Monday.

Wa$ted - 4/26/08

Here is a recap of the most recent episode of Wa$ted, which aired on April 26th.

The Waste

This episode focused on the Colaianni family...Todd (a police officer), his wife Rita, and their 2-year-old son Travis. Over the course of a month, they had 400 lbs of garbage (3 times the amount of the average family). America as a whole throws away 49 million diapers every day, which take 500 years to decompose. Many of these diapers have toxic chemicals that are released into the ground as they decompose. The average kid uses 12,000 diapers every year. 55% of their garbage was recyclable. Rita says it's hard to recycle because she has to set up the baby gate everytime she needs to take stuff out to the bins so that Travis doesn't follow her and fall down stairs...she says it's a hassle.

Their heating bill is about $2,000 a year, especially due to the large number of drafts in their house. If you added up all the cracks in their house, it would be the equivalent of a 3 foot hole. These holes waste 20-25% of their energy.

Todd drives a huge pick-up truck and Rita drives a SUV. They spend about $50 a week on gas. Todd's truck only gets 10 mpg.

The Colaianni's ecological foot print is 80 acres, which is 530 times the size of their property (just over 1/10 an acre). If everyone lived like them, we'd need 6 more planets to sustain us.

The Help
To help them out, the hosts give them different solutions to turn things around. They are told to:

• not to drive the truck...the hosts even put police tape around it.
• set up a recycle system inside the house to temporarily house stuff before taking it outside later...this way Rita doesn't have to set up the baby gate every time.

They are given:

• insulation made of old blue jeans to replace older insulation (that often contain toxic chemicals such as formaldehyde).
• help sealing and caulking the gaps around the doors and windows.
• cloth diapers to replace the disposable diapers.
• new energy efficient washer and dryer.

Interesting Facts

*Manufacturing bottled water requires over 1.5 million barrels of oil per year.

*Switching to cloth diapers will reduce waste by over 1/2 ton per baby each year.

The Results

The hosts returned after a few weeks. So, how did the Colaianni do?

• Travis liked using the cloth diapers...he said they were his "big boy" underwear. They used only 3 cloth diapers during the 3 weeks in comparison to the 250 regular diapers they would've used. They cut their garbage from 100 to 30 lbs a week by doing this.
• Todd did drive his truck, saying it was due to unexpected shifts when Rita wasn't home.
• They set up their recycle system and it works much better for them.
• Their house felt so much warmer due to sealing the house up and replacing the insulation.

Their new foot print is 57.5 acres, a reduction of 28%. In total, they saved $2,580 projected over the year. The savings breakdown was $450 fuel, $440 energy, and $1,690 diapers.

THANKS!!!

I wanted to take a minute to say Thanks to all of you who have donated money or used referrals to open accounts to help out my parents. It is really going to help them out. They're hoping to try to stick it into savings so that they don't have to borrow as much money from me in the future. They also received word that someone who had looked at their condo had gone back to look at it again. That's always a good sign. But it's hard to know whether they'll make an offer...so keep your fingers crossed that they do. My Mom called the disability office the other day to check on the status...they're still reviewing everything. Waiting is the worst, especially knowing he'll probably get rejected the first time and have to appeal (which can take multiple appeals and a long time).

If you are interested in opening a Revolution Money Exchange account (similar to PayPal), click on the green button below. You will get $25 just for signing up, and my parents will get $10. Make sure you sign up by May 15th.

If you are interested in donating money, here is the information you'll need...If you want to donate money via Revolution, the e-mail is ntbeachnc at yahoo.com. Via PayPal, the e-mail is jwrlmr1985 at yahoo.com. Thanks in advance to anyone who opens an account or donates money.



And if you're one of the few who still hasn't opened an ING account (savings or checking), please shoot me an e-mail at beachgirlsblog at yahoo.com. If you open an account with at least $250, you'll get $25 and I'll get $10.

Friday is the big day!

I just checked the IRS's Where My Stimulus Payment page and found out that I should receive my $600 on Friday 5/9. That's going right into my savings account.

May Grocery Challenge - Week 1

The first week of Krystal's May Grocery Challenge is over. My goal is to try to spend no more than $150 in May on groceries. I was able to do it last month, but I also went away for a week. This month, I'll be home the whole time.

Walmart

$5.00 Chicken broth (10 cans)

Giant

$2.29 Bread
$3.99 American cheese slices
$9.00 SmartOnes frozen dinners (5 at $2 each, $1 off coupon)
$2.00 Jif Peanut Butter
$.88 Elbow pasta
$3.00 Pepperoni slices
$3.90 Grapes

My total for both places was $30.71. That gives me $119.29 for the rest of the month.

2008 Goals - Update

I can't believe it's already May. This year seems to be flying by. So, here's a look at my progress regarding my goals for 2008.

Work

• Build back up vacation days. I consider it done, but it's a work in progress.


• Increase 401(k) contributions with pay increase this summer. My contributions are 12% regular and 2% Roth. I might do another increase once I find out about my raise in July.

Home

• Organize 2007 files for taxes. I completed this in late January/early February.


• Shred unneeded paperwork. I saved anything I could to my hard drive and shredded the paper copy. I kept a hard copy of anything that I needed to.


• Backup 2007 & earlier files. I bought an external hard drive and saved a copy of everything to their.


• Contact Comcast about phone, cable, internet bundle. Done.


• Organize apartment, especially closet. I went through and found a bunch of stuff to donate, which I took down to my Mom. She's friends with someone who does donation stuff, so I wanted to help her out. I think I'm pretty much done with that.

Money

• Help parents out. As I mentioned in a previous post, I had to lend my Mom money to get some dental work done.


• Increase Net Worth to $65,000. I am already at $64,752.94, so I should reach my goal in May. I'll update my goal then to a larger number.


• Increase Savings to $30,000. This is slow going. I keep adding over $1,000 each month, but I've had to take out quite a bit to help out my parents...so it's dropped a lot in the last few months.


• Pay off a total of 15% on Student Loans. I reached 11% in February. However, I have since decided to not pay them down right now. Originally, I wanted to be completely out of debt. But I've since decided to focus my energy on savings. I'll probably be about $500 short of reaching this goal by the end of the year, but I'm alright with that.

Snowflaking in April

(Edited on May 5th to add Discover Cashback...somehow I missed that)

Now that it's officially May, I wanted to post how much I was able to Snowflake during the month of April. So here's how I did...

• $27.00 Survey
• $20.53 from Electric
• $5.00 Pinecone Research survey
• $60.00 Revolution Money Exchange referrals
• $16.24 from Fuel
• $3.24 from Half.com sales
• $11.69 from Eating Out
• $108.43 from Groceries
• $20.00 from Discover Cashback
• $55.60 from Interest

For a grand total of $327.73.

April Net Worth

Well, I almost made it to my goal of $65,000...but I ended up at $64,752.94. So close! I would've been a little closer had the market not gone down on Weds, but oh well. I should definitely make it by the end of May. At that time, I'll change my goal to something larger. So, my net worth increased by $1,667.06 from March.

My goal of hitting a savings of $30,000 is not doing great, but that's mostly because of the amount of money I've had to loan to my parents. I don't mind since I'm helping them out. Hopefully I'll still make it though.

I am really happy at how my retirement accounts did. Considering they've been in the negative every other month, they did really well this month. My 401(k) earned $1,244.37 (4.69%) and my government TSP earned $335.55 (4.71%). They're still both negative for the year so far, but this at least helped.

Earn $25 - Offer ends May 15th

Another thanks to those who have opened accounts with Revolution Money Exchange, especially because it is helping out my parents. They found out at the beginning of this week that the heat pump compressor for their air conditioning unit at their condo needs to be replaced. Because their condo is under a warranty, they only have to pay $55 to get it replaced (versus the $2,650 it would cost without the warranty). They have the money to pay that without worrying about borrowing money from me because of your opening these accounts and for donating money. I know me and my parents greatly appreciate it.

If you are interested in opening a Revolution Money Exchange account (similar to PayPal), click on the green button below. You will get $25 just for signing up, and my parents will get $10. Make sure you sign up by May 15th.

If you are interested in donating money, here is the information you'll need...If you want to donate money via Revolution, the e-mail is ntbeachnc at yahoo.com. Via PayPal, the e-mail is jwrlmr1985 at yahoo.com. Thanks in advance to anyone who opens an account or donates money.

Top 10 Referrers for April

My top 10 referrers for the month of April were:

1. Blogging Away Debt
2. Boston Gal's Open Wallet
3. The Budgeting Babe
4. Single Guy Money
5. Frugal Babe
6. One Frugal Girl
7. Saving For a Home of My Own
8. Stacking Pennies
9. Escape Brooklyn
10. Butterfly Collector

A great big Thank You to you and to all the others who link to me and read my blog.

Fed cuts interest rates to 2%

For the 7th time, the Fed cut short term interest rates to 2%.  Now let's see how that effects our online savings accounts.

April Challenge - Week 4 Update

Here's my last update for Krystal's April challenge...

I went to the grocery store yesterday. I managed to only spend $18.50. It helped that I mostly needed to buy filler foods...foods that go with things I already have. I usually only make 2 big meals a week. I then eat that throughout the week, relying on other one-time meals to fill in on other days. On Monday when I got back from NC, I made goulash. That will last me for 4 more meals. Later this week, I'll make a chicken-broth and lentil based veggie soup.

$1.50 Sandwich rolls

$3.59 Milk

$1.50 French cut green beans

$1.99 Salami

$1.50 Carrots

$1.99 Onions (3 lbs)

$2.99 Oranges (4 lbs)

$2.99 Romaine lettuce

So, I am at $91.57 for the month, which gives me $58.43 left over for the month. It helped that I went away for a week, so I didn't have to buy food, but I doubt I would've spent too much for the week.

Thanks guys!

I just wanted to take a quick moment to say a huge THANK YOU to everyone who has opened a Revolution Money Exchange account and helped out my parents.  Also, THANK YOU to the two people who donated money directly to my parents.  I've told my Mom about it and she is so touched.  She also sends her Thanks!!!!

Wa$ted - 4/20/08

Here is a recap of the most recent episode of Wa$ted, which aired on April 20th.

The Waste

This episode focused on Sigma Pi, a fraternity house (I think in NYC). As a house, they had 96 bags of garbage over the course of 4 weeks, which would equate to 8,840 lbs of garbage a year. The worst part is that 60% of their garbage is recyclable. Their garbage contains 18,000 cans a year. Their average electric bill is $2,000 a month, due in part to the boys leaving their lights and electronics on 24 hours a day.

They have a water leak in one of their bathrooms. They go through 200,000 gallons of water during the school year.

The fraternity's ecological foot print is 104 acres, which is 896 times the size of their property (only 1/10 an acre).

The Help

To help them out, the hosts give them different solutions to turn things around. They are given:

• recyclable plastic cups to replace their non-recyclable cups.
• a schedule of when the local recycle program picked up in their neighborhood, as well as bins to collect the recyclable materials.
• help cleaning and maintaining their boiler (which hadn't worked properly in a while), which could increase efficiency by 25%.
• advice to take Navy showers, where they turned the water on only to get wet and to rinse off...they turned it off while they lathered up. This could save 15,000 gallons of water a year for each brother that did it.
• their cook back. He cooks their meals every day. This will save them money as well as reduce the amount of trash they have from all the take-out.

Interesting Facts

*A water leak of 1 drop per second can waste 2,700 gallons a year.

*Phantom appliances use 1 megawatt hour per year, which could power the Sigma Pi house for 2 months.

The Results

The hosts returned after a few weeks. So, how did the boys of Sigma Pi do?

• They reduced the amount of trash from 96 bags to 56 bags a month. However, they still found recyclable material (about 1/4) in the trash.
• They installed a new boiler (old one had rusted out), for a savings of $200/year.
• They put up signs reminding everyone to turn off lights and appliances when they leave a room, for a savings of $120/year.
• They were able to drop their water usage by more than half (from 200,000 gallons to 81,000 gallons), for a savings of $808.

Sigma Pi's new foot print is 88.5 acres, a reduction of 15%. In total, they saved $2,719 projected over the year. The savings breakdown was $1200 heating, $808 water, and $711 electricity.

Wa$ted - 4/15/08

Last week, I told you about the new show that TLC has, called Wa$ted. It will later be broadcast on the new green network that will begin airing in June...but for now they are showing it on TLC. Here is a recap of the first episode, which aired on April 15th.

The Waste

This episode focused on the Zeller family...Marylu, her husband Denny, and their sons Chris and Nick. Together they have 8 vehicles, which include a motorcycle and an ATV. They go through the equivalent of 56 trees a year with all the paper products they use, especially paper towels...they use 40 rolls of paper towels a month. Their trash is about 2,000 lbs a year. They buy in bulk to save money, but end up throwing a lot of it away because it goes bad before they can use it.

The use 218 gallons of crude oil a week (2.5 times what a normal person uses), and spend about $15,000 for gas a year. They have a 9,000 sq ft house, and their electric bill runs as high as $500. Each family member contributes to their waste, including the sons who always leave lights and electronics on when they leave the room. The youngest son Nick often leaves the refrigerator open for minutes at a time, which wastes about $375 a year.

The Zeller family's ecological foot print is 132.4 acres, which is 120 times the size of their property. If everyone lived like them, we would need 7.4 more planets to sustain us.

The Help

To help them out, the hosts give them different solutions to turn things around. They are given:

• a hybrid car to drive for 3 weeks.
• an alarm that goes off if the refrigerator door is left open too long (it goes off if the temperature increases).
• 164 free CFL's to replace their old bulbs.
• dish towels to replace the paper towels. (Goal: go from 1 roll per day to 1 roll per week)
• a riding jacket that plugs into the motorcycle to keep Denny warm, so that he'll ride the motorcycle (more fuel efficient) more often, even when it's cold.

Interesting Facts

*If every house replaced 1 regular bulb with 1 CFL, all the homes in the LA area could be lit for 1 year.

*Every year, 4 billion trees are cut down to make paper goods.

The Results

The hosts returned after three weeks. So, how did the Zeller's do?

• They installed approximately 100 CFLs, for a savings of about $700/year.
• They used only 1/4 of a roll of paper towels, for a savings of $500/year.
• They drove the hybrid 243 miles, but Nick continued to drive the SUV.
• Denny didn't use the motorcycle or the heated jacket at all.

The Zeller's new foot print is 87.6 acres, a reduction of 34%. In total, they saved $2,258 projected over the year.

They still have a ways to go, but they're on the right track.

A Great Big Thanks

I just wanted to say THANKS to Tom who donated the money he made this past week (via surveys and such) to my Mom. I told her on Sunday that people were helping out by opening a Revolution Money Exchange account, and that someone had asked about donating money. She was so touched by this. She wanted me to say a big Thank You to all of you who have offered their support, whether monetarily or not. It's been a hard year or so on her and my family, but you have really helped.

If you are interested in donating money, here is the information you'll need...If you want to donate money via Revolution, the e-mail is ntbeachnc at yahoo.com. Via PayPal, the e-mail is jwrlmr1985 at yahoo.com. Thanks in advance to anyone who opens an account or donates money.

To open a Revolution Money Exchange Account, click the button below. Not only will you be helping my parents out (they'll receive $10), but if you sign up by May 15th, you'll get $25.