Staying in a hotel always makes you feel a bit spoiled. You can leave your room with an unmade bed, dishes on random surfaces and toiletries haphazardly scattered on the bathroom counter and come back later to find your bed with perfect hospital corners and everything tidied perfectly. No, it's not an excuse to be a total slob, but the little luxuries are to be enjoyed.

However, for the environment's sake, scrap one of those little luxuries: the option of clean towels every day. There's a good chance you don't use a fresh towel every time you shower at home, so there's probably no good reason to do so in a hotel, other than that you can (P.S. That's not a good reason).

Hotels leave guests those handy little cards advising that by simply hanging your towel on the rack, it indicates you will use it again. So rather than balling up your towel and tossing it on the floor, neatly hang it (so it dries properly) and do your part to help save water and detergent!

» EnvironmentallyFriendlyHotels.com

Made in China.  Oh, how those three words break my heart sometimes.  If you're a tool lover they might put a little dent in yours too.  Cheap knockoff tools having been slowly taking over the displays of (manly) toy stores from coast to coast.  Chinese knockoff tools might be easy on your pocketbook, but they're not so great for the planet.  They're shipped from halfway around the world, they're often made of second-rate materials, and in many cases they simply don't last very long.

So if you're planning a home improvement or renovation project, don't fill your tool box with shoddy no-name tools.  Here are a few alternatives:

1. Borrow tools from a handy friend!  I've done this before and a one-time payment of beer and pizza seems to be a standard fee.

2. Rent!  You can search for "tool rental" in your local yellow pages or just go to Home Depot!  They rent all sorts of excellent quality tools suitable for fancy home improvement jobs.

3. Look for estate sales.  There are a lot of old dudes out there with great tool collections and they croak every day!  (Too morbid?  Sorry, sorry...)  Seriously though, estate sales are a great way to kit yourself out with a full set of tools for a fraction of their retail cost.

4. Buy used online.  Good ol' eBay is a great place to hunt for previously loved tools but beware: tools are heavy and the shipping can be a nightmare.

5. Buy used from friends.  If you have any friends involved with trades or who just have a jam-packed garage, put the word out that you're looking to buy some used tools.  It's a win-win situation: you'll likely get a good deal from your friend and your friend has an excuse to buy new tools without his wife getting angry and taking his credit card away! (hehe)  Another bonus is that if your pal does construction work or is really into carpentry then chances are that his castoffs are of a much better quality than you would've bought yourself.

6. Be a tool MacGuyver and improvise!  Not having ther perfect tool on hand shouldn't prevent you from getting the job done.  With a little ingenuity you might be surprised at how few tools you need. 

7. Make your own equipment.  Do you really need four shiny plastic and aluminum folding sawhorses to complete your project?  A few two-by-fours and a handful of nails are all you need to throw together a simple workbench.

8. Remember that elbow grease is a renewable resource.  Hand tools are reliable.  They last.  They require skills.  It might be more fun (and dangerous!) to cut wood on a table saw, but for small home improvement jobs you really only need a hand saw in most cases.  Besides, if you can't swing a hammer you might as well get out of the toolshed.

9. Read the ingredients and test it out before buying.  Is it made of steel or titanium?  Does the plastic and rubber handle feel cheap?  Are the mechanisms solid or delicate?  Where were they made?  Don't let fancy metal finishes and gimmicky features distract you.  Read the fine print and see what you're really buying.  That way you'll know if it was build to last.

10. Wearing gloves does not make you a sissy.  If your handyman (or handygirl) duties consiste largely of unclogging toilets and changin lightbulbs then chances are the palms of your hands are like delicate rose petals and you'll be tempted to buy hand tools is big, chunky, soft rubbery grips to protect your delicate palms.  Don't!  All of the extra plastic junk on your tools will be the first thing to wear out.  Just buy regular tools with solid handles and pick up a good dpair of workgloves to protect your hands.  Replacing one pair of gloves is better than replacing a whole set of hand tools with ridiculous grips!

I know "ten" is the golden number when it comes to giving tips, but I have one more:

11. The common screwdriver is the best friend in your toolbox... and the most abused.  The common or "flat head" screwdriver can do so much more than turn screws.  They can serve as chisels, pry-bars, scrapers, knives... you name it.  They can be used for so many things that they tend to get damaged, beaten-up and lost more than any other tool you'll ever own.  So if you have a screwdriver set, put aside you best common screwdrivers on reserve for, you know, when you actually need them to turn a screw.  Keep a collection of old, rusty, battered, twisted common screwdrivers aside for your miscellaneous uses.  You'll get use out of otherwise useless tools, plus you'll be extending the life of your good tools.

Alright!  All this talk about tools makes me want to finish that project I started last week.  Now where is my screwdriver?

» Search for Craftsman on eBay

New furniture may be low on the list of priorities in a household that is on a tight budget, especially since it tends to be expensive. However if you have an old suitcase lying around, locate one in a secondhand shop or find an abandoned one in an alley like the creator of this project did, you can create a new piece like an ottoman. It not only allows you to re-purpose something old, but is also completely unique.

Just a word of warning: the ottoman has a pretty funky vibe to it and probably won't work well in a home that is all about modern minimalism (or whatever catchphrase interior designers use that nobody really understands). This is probably the perfect piece of furniture for college students or that bachelor/bachelorette pad that just begs for unusual furniture.

For this all you need is an old suitcase (the crucial piece), a staple gun, jigsaw (and preferrably someone who knows how to use it), upholstery fabric, foam, plumbing fittings and nipple of the legs, and a few other random tools most people have in their basement or garage.

Learn how to create the actual ottoman after the jump!

» Instructables

Wheatware is an environmentally conscious American company that develops biodegradable products from renewable resources. All of their products are crop derived from corn or wheat and will compost within 90 days. The goal is to avoid deforestation by providing products made from sustainable and renewable resources.

Their main product line includes disposable cutlery such as forks, knives and chopsticks but that’s not all. They also produce golf tees, combs, coasters, clothes hangers and yo yo’s. Pretty cool stuff, go check it out.

» Wheatware

Paint, it’s everywhere, it’s on the walls around us, the floor beneath our feet sometimes and we’ve all used it at some point to paint the inside or outside of our homes to fingerpainting as kids. I’ve outlined below a few details about what it’s made of, how to use it efficiently and how to dispose of it.

What’s in it?
The four cornerstones of paint are resins, solvents, pigments and additives.

Resins make the paint stick and coat the surface being painted. It is the main ingredient and also the non-toxic protion. Most paints use linseed or acrylic resins.

Solvents keep the paint in a liquid state until applied to a surface. After application the solvent evaporates leaving a solid coating. Oil based paints contain hazordous solvents such as mineral spirits and xylene where as latex paints use water as a solvent.

Pigments provide the colors in our paints. Most pigments are non-toxic but some can contain heavy metals such as arsenic, chromium and cadmium. Some paints produced before 1977 contained lead pigment, make sure you dispose any paints older than this.

Additives can do many things from preventing mold to thickening the paint. The additives in paint can contain hazardous ingredients.

Different Paints
1. Latex paints: water based and least harmful
2. Oil-based: includes varnish, enamel and lacquer – contain solvents
3. Hobby paints: Can contain solvents and heavy metals
4. Spray paints: Can contain solvents and propellants

Painting Efficiently
When you go to purchase your paints make sure you have a plan in mind besides the color. You should know how big your painting area is going to be, that includes hieght and width. The person that helps you will know how many coats you need and will be able to calculate very accurately how much paint you need.

Try and use up your paint if there is a little left and if there is too much see if you can find someone else who can use it.

If you’re really adventurous most paint distributers will have leftover paints that turned out the wrong color for someone else. You’ll get these ones for very cheap or maybe free if you’re lucky.

Paint Disposal
Empty Cans
Just because the paints all gone and there isn’t any harmful chemicals left doesn’t mean you should throw away the can. Hunt around and you should be able to find a recycler that will take your empty cans.

Leftover Paint
Most communities have disposal centres or yearly events so save up your leftovers and take them all at once. Make sure you store them in a safe place, ideally away from heat and the house.

» Department of Environmental Conservation

Whether your driving around in an old gas guzzler or you’ve spent some extra cash and gone hybrid you probably have some odds an ends lying around related to your vehicle. Most people take their vehicles to the mechanic for servicing but up to 20% of owners will do their own servicing on easy items such as oil changes and battery replacements.

So if your part of the 20% or not, how are you going to keep your car space clean and free of junk and leftovers?

Old Car Batteries
Here’s the scenario, you left your headlights on over night a month ago and drained your battery, since then it won’t hold it’s charge and has died on several other occasions for no good reason. Time to replace it which is easy enough but don’t forget to recycle the old one. Most community dumps will have an area set aside for old batteries and if your lucky you can sometimes leave the old one where you buy the new one.

Motor Oil
If you don’t mind laying on the street and getting your hands dirty you might find yourself changing your car’s oil. Just remember to dispose of the oil properly, this isn’t the 50’s and you’re not on the back 40 of your grandpa’s farm. The oil from one oil change can contaminate 1 million gallons of fresh water.^[1] Try taking your used oil to a local service station because they will have an proper ongoing disposal process.

Tires
If you’ve replaced the tires on your vehicle by yourself nice work, you obviously have a few more tools and time than I do. Old tires can be reused through retreading programs, to build sports safety surfaces, go-kart tracks, road surfaces, thermal recovery and fuel. If you call your mechanic he’ll probably either take them himself or point you in the right direction.

Old Car
What if your first car was just a gem and you’ve been repairing it for the last 15 years because you couldn’t let go and now it’s beyond repair? No one will buy it off you because it won’t run and they don’t want to fix it. Well, it doesn’t have to sit on your driveway or worse yet on your front lawn. There are a few options, scrap dealers and car recyclers (yard full or old cars that people come and pillage for parts). If your lucky they might even give you some money for your vehicle based on weight and whether they need to tow it.

» Surrey CC