Here at Smart Green Tips, the focus is on saving the planet and saving money. Most importantly, when we do those things, we also save ourselves. Generally, what’s good for the planet is also good for us. But that philosophy uses a wide brush. I’d like to help you narrow it down, help you figure out which changes will have the most impact and which will be easiest to implement.

I’d love to hear from you in the comments, or by email, if you’d prefer. Where are you feeling overwhelmed? What questions do you have? What would make it easier for you?

Photo Credit: cmcgough

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme

1. Email Subscriptions: If you currently subscribe by email and want to continue to receive updates, please click here to submit your name and email address into the new form. Alternately, you can click over to the site and fill in the form at the top of the page. I mentioned in the last post that I’m moving email subscriptions from Feedburner to MailChimp. You’ll still receive new posts as they appear on the blog. There will also be special announcements and goodies from time to time available only to subscribers.

2. Reader Stories: Smart Green Tips will begin highlighting reader stories. If you have a story to tell about your how or why you’ve become a little greener, send them in. I plan to highlight one reader story per week. Just email your story to beth [at] smartgreentips [dot] com and put “Reader Story” in the subject line.

Stay tuned for projects, reviews, more tips, and of couse, reader stories. Thanks for reading!

Photo Credit: BFS Man

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme

Over the last two years, this blog has come to focus more on green issues than anything else. As I’ve learned more and connected with more people in the blogosphere, I’ve found myself more and more interested in how the environment (and our treatment of it) impacts our health and our future. In a survey I ran some time ago, I asked readers what they wanted to know more about. Overwhelmingly, people were interested in learning how to live better – in a way that is better for us and better for the planet. Many people commented that they do not have children, but they are just as interested in knowing more about food and product safety for themselves and their loved ones.

So here’s what’s coming:

Smart Green Tips: Smart Family Tips will now become Smart Green Tips. Everything will still be here and will look pretty much the same, but the new name will better reflect what this blog has become. I’m also hoping it will be a little more inclusive. I’ll still be writing about kids’ products & keeping our kids (and ourselves) safe in a country overrun with chemicals, but the focus won’t entirely center on “families.” Instead, the scope will be a bit broader to include all people, with kids or without.

Newsletter: I’m moving email subscriptions from Feedburner to Mail Chimp. You’ll still be able to subscribe by RSS, but if you want to receive updates by email, you can simply enter your address into the new form once everything switches over. The newsletter will be completely free. I’m making the change because it will allow me to more easily customize the information & updates you receive.

Everything should be migrated to the new domain, www.smartgreentips.com, within the next few weeks. If you forget and type in www.smartfamilytips.com, you’ll still end up in the right place.

In the meantime, I’d love to hear from you. Contact me anytime with comments or suggestions. Thanks for being a part of the blog for the last two years. I hope you’ll hang around as things continue to grow.

Photo Credit: Tie Guy II

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme

I’ve been reorganizing the site a bit lately with more streamlining to come. I’ve cleaned up the categories and reduced them to mere fraction of what they once were. I’m hoping this will make navigating the site a simpler task. I’ve listed the main categories in the navigation bar, so that by clicking each topic link, you’ll go to a page that lists all of the posts within that topic.

The new categories are

• Chemicals: Anything related to toxic chemicals in food and products.
• Do Good: This category covers posts featuring do-gooders or ways that we can all do more good in our daily lives.
• Environment: Recycling, Reusing, Simplifying, Saving Electricity, Reducing Consumption — if it’s green, it’s here.
• Food: Sustainable food. Eating organic, growing your own, farmer’s markets, avoiding pesticides, GMOs and more.
• Reviews: A wide range of reviews from green products to money saving products to parenting products. And of course, books. I do love books.
• Roundup: Often I find posts and articles from around the web that I’d like to share with you. I collect these in a “roundup.”

If you’re reading this by email or RSS, please click over to the site and let me know what you think.

Upcoming Review Series

For those of us who have children AND care about the environment, I think there’s nothing more important we can do than to raise our kids to be decent and kind human beings who are responsible and compassionate. As such, good parenting is important to me. I’m going to begin a series in which I review the Positive Parenting Solutions Online program. I plan to review it as I live it in hopes of providing all of you with a truthful and helpful assessment of the quality of the program. Stay tuned for tomorrow’s post for more information on this.

I realize that many of you are not parents and that for you, this series may not be of much interest. Because of this, I’m limiting the review posts to once a week, so there will still be content posted that’s relevant to everyone.

Now the links. . .

Cheat Sheet for Growing Organic Food Without a Garden from Healthy Child, Healthy World

Weekly Challenge: Shop Healthy from True Food Movement

How to Stock a Natural First Aid Kit from Simple Organic

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme

I have no idea why Feedburner seemed to randomly send out a post from May about National Biking Month. I’m not sure what went wrong. Hopefully the next post you receive in your inbox or in your feed reader will be more time-appropriate.

Stay tuned and thanks for your patience.

Beth

Sponsors: Studio Press: Genesis & Prose Child Theme