environmental Archives

Recyclebank’s Green Your School Year Challenge: Step One Back-to-school Shopping

August 17, 2011 by Momstart 11 Comments

Have you done your back to school shopping yet, are your kids back in school yet? Mine won’t be going back until after Labor Day. That’s just how we swing on the West Coast, or at least in the Pacific Northwest. So we haven’t even thought about getting back to school supplies, but I do suppose that it is time to get into that frame of mind. Both of my children will be in preschool next year, so I’m going to need to be ready for lunches and afternoon snacks. If you know me, I work really hard to feed my children healthy and what better way than to use organic food.

I’ve been asked to participate in Recyclebank’s Green Your School Year Challenge and it starts today. Recyclebank, the company that rewards consumers for every day green actions. Green Your School Year was designed to educate and motivate families like us to make more eco-friendly school year decisions. You’re invited to join me and participate too. There are prizes for everyone to win like a $2500 Macy’s Gift Card for a Back-to-School shopping spree, a NOOK Color eReader and much more.

The first part of the competition is about Back To School Shopping.

First you have to take the pledge. Pledge to buy organic recycled or recyclable products and tweet #greenschools http://ow.ly/61D3z via @recyclebank or share on Facebook. You can do both directly from Recyclebank.’s Green Your School Year site. Then collect your points. You can decide what to pledge, you could even pledge to carpool. Pledge anything that will benefit the environment.

Then from there you can also download some valuable tips on how to find out if products you are buying are environmentally sustainable. Check company websites to read their environmental sustainability policies prior to shopping, and make sure that the places you shop support the same environmental initiatives that you do. Get the checklist in order to learn what to look for. Then continue on throughout the day and keep earning points. take a few quizzes. Consider your electronics, do you recycle them? Dispose of Batteries Properly, Sell Used Electronics and Find ways to properly dispose of electronics. These are just a few ideas we’ve written about before. Then you can take more polls and quizzes, while learning all about everything you need for back to school.

Recyclebank is full of great information and tips on becoming more green. Share your tips with me, how would you become more green this school year.

This post is part of a sponsored campaign with Recyclebank.

Roundabouts: The Fun Way to Have a Cupcake! Giveaway

January 20, 2011 by Momstart 115 Comments

By Summer:

I love to bake. Love, Love, Love! I’ve been baking since I was in 8^th grade or so; I still remember the rainy day that I found one of my mom’s church cookbooks. I flipped it open to the dessert section and baked the day away … then my mom made me walk some goodies to all the neighbors because I had made 6 different types of dessert that our family of four would never eat before they went bad. Baking has always just been fun for me.

Now I bake every Monday night for my husband’s team meetings at work on Tuesdays. I have a fun time finding new recipes and making cool things. But don’t let my love of baking convince you that I’m an expert; I’m always needing help and find most of it through my mom friends who seem to have a plethora of baking knowledge. My last experiment was “Margarita Cupcakes” inspired by Roundabouts® and created with the help of AllRecipes.com and my Facebook mommy baker friends.

If you find baking just as fun as I do you should investigate Roundabouts’ themed cupcake sleeves which will add fun to an occasion and prevent you from showing up with just plain, naked cupcakes. Choose from many assorted cupcake sleeve themes and sleeve decorations with over 70 designs to choose from you’re sure to find something for your next event. You’ll also never forget to dress your cupcakes as these sleeves – at 8¹/₂” wide x 1³/₈” – will fit right inside your drawer next to all your other baking accessories such as candles, liners, and sprinkles.

For my cupcake sleeves I chose their “Sweet Margarita” sleeve. I stayed with the theme so people knew what type of cupcake they were getting before their first bite. I made a batch of Lemon-Lime Cupcakes* (which made more than the promised 24 cupcakes – all over flowing). My frosting was 6 cups powdered sugar, 1 8oz package Neufchatel cheese, ½ cup heavy whipping cream, ½ teaspoon sea salt and 1 teaspoon of vanilla. For the “salt” of the margarita glass I used Bob’s Red Mill unsweetened coconut flakes. The straws are just decoration, but the lime is a gummy from the bulk candy section.

* Personal changes: I usually try not to change recipes until I’ve made them as written at least once, however for my preference I made curtain changes. In the cupcakes we don’t keep soda in the house and I didn’t want to purchase any, but we do have Mike’s Hard Lemonade varieties on hand, so I use Mike’s Hard Limeade as a soda substitute.

How Roundabouts are Green:

Roundabout® Sleeves are also doing their part to be environmental, not just cute. There packaging is recyclable and their sleeves are free of solvents, toxic agents, and bleaching chemicals. To learn more about Roundabouts® check their website or the Roundabouts Facebook page or follow them on Twitter @RoundaboutWraps.

Which party or occasion would you use Roundabout® Sleeves for — the Oscars, a birthday, treat day at school or work, the Super Bowl, book club?

Enter to Win:

Roundabouts® would like you to give you a chance to dress up 12 of your own cupcakes for FREE in a set of sleeves of your choice.

To Enter:

Give us the skinny; tell us your theme — what kind of cake you’d make, topping you’d use including decorations, and tell us which Roundabouts® you’d wrap around your cakes.

Extra Entries:

Tweet or RT this post and include the link to the post

Roundabouts: The Fun Way to Have a Cupcake! #Giveaway http://bit.ly/hSN3hF @Momstart

Like Roundabouts on Facebook page
Follow them on Twitter @RoundaboutWraps
Vote for the Apple Champ in Hillshire Farms Most Wanted Sandwich http://gomeat.com (2 points per daily vote)
Subscribe to my blog
Comment on any other non-giveaway post
List this giveaway on any giveaway site, dig or stumble
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This giveaway ends February 7th. I received the above to review for this post. All rules can be found under giveaway rules.

About Summer:

Summer is the President of our Local MOMS Club chapter, she is the mother of two adorable active boys, and is always thinking of ways to help others. She is a friend, a wife, and always busy as all mommies are. She is very active on Facebook, addicted to Geocaching and very interested in organic and green living.