Wednesday, September 28, 2011

Go green on the cheap: Ingrid Callot shares three inexpensive ways to save the Earth

Many people think that in order to be eco-friendly, spending large amounts of money for things that are green is a necessity. I, Ingrid Callot, am eco-bestfriendly and let me tell you that the majority of things you can do to save the environment don’t have to cost a fortune. Below are three cheap and easy things you can do to go green:

From Ingrid Callot


Be the farmer’s best friend.
And I don’t mean live on the farm and milk cows. Buy organic food! The best prices on organic produce are close to home at your local farmers’ market. You are not only saving money and getting healthy, but you are also putting more cash into the farmers’ pockets and supporting local food production.

From Ingrid Callot

Ditch the bubble wrap. Ingrid Callot here loves popping bubble wraps. But once I started following in the footsteps of eco-friendly Oprah, I ditched almost everything made of plastic inside my house, and that includes bubble wraps. Whenever I have a package to send, I use yesterday’s newspapers as packing material instead of buying bubble wrap. It seems old-fashioned but for me, what’s old news can be good news.

From Ingrid Callot

Let the sunshine in. Turn off the lights, and open the blinds and curtains. Aside from being completely renewable, sunlight is free, letting you save on electricity. The sun’s rays offer just the right brightness, and even help regulate your sleep patterns and improve your mood.

From Ingrid Callot

With these simple and inexpensive green tips, you’ll be making your wallet fatter. Just look at me, I’m on my way to buying that figure-flattering Stella McCartney dress that my faboosh friend Edgardo Versoza and I are dying to have!

From Ingrid Callot

More tips on green living from Ingrid Callot is available on Twitter.

Thursday, September 1, 2011

Garden volcano: Ingrid Callot and son do a science experiment

With husband Roger away on a business trip, I, Ingrid Callot was left with a weekend of mother-son-time with dinosaur enthusiast Jacob. He has been obsessing about dinosaurs, especially on the volcanic eruption that caused their extinction. My cute eight-year-old is quite convinced that witnessing a volcano erupt would be the “coolest thing on earth!”

From Ingrid Callot

Now, it’s up to dear old momma to show Jacob that volcanic eruptions aren’t exactly cool. We had a tour around the museum that was definitely educational; even I learned a thing or two about our gigantic friends. I definitely didn’t know that most dinosaurs were vegetarians!

From Ingrid Callot

But the tour wasn’t enough to sway my son’s conviction on volcanic eruptions. So I thought a great movie should do the trick. Thanks to my newly organized Ingrid Callot-style closet, I was able to find the VCD of the movie: The Land Before Time, which I bought years ago.

From Ingrid Callot

Jacob definitely no longer desires to witness a volcanic eruption after watching this very sad but very beautiful movie. I, on the other hand, had to find a way to cheer up his dampened spirit. To do this, Jacob and I did a science experiment in our own backyard. We simply dug up some dirt from the garden and piled it up around a tin can (a used one from the kitchen was perfect) to create a small hill.

From Ingrid Callot

And to make our little volcano erupt, Jacob dissolved a tablespoon of baking soda in two tablespoons of water in the tin can, while I poured in a drop of red food coloring and a cup of vinegar. Now, witnessing this kind of volcanic eruption was earth-friendly and cool indeed!

From Ingrid Callot

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