Two Tips from the Bride

I discovered one of the best things ever last weekend, when I found that most packaging stores (such as UPS, or "the brown store" as the quasi-helpful woman in Crossroads told me) reuse packing peanuts. This is a major, major bonus, and frees me from a substantial amount of environmental guilt.

I love our registry, and I love the gifts, but so far we've managed to accumulate eight garbage bags worth of packing peanuts. Crate and Barrell uses thin sheets of foam and honeycombed paper to wrap things (I'm a fan), and those puffed up plastic pouches (which can be recycled at the grocery store), but our other registry places are major fans of styrofoam. Being able to regather and recycle it makes me exceptionally happy.

Here are two bags, ready to hand off, in my car:




So, number one tip from the bride: recycle packing peanuts at shipping stores. :-)

A bonus tip, in case your car is as dirty as mine, and you live in a place like Kirkland where you shouldn't use soap to wash cars because it drains to a water source: Our city's water guy, via email, confirmed that I could use vinegar to wash my car, instead of soap, without detrimental effects to the lake. I've done it twice now, to great effect (I diluted about 2/3 with water). It works better when you dry as you clean, instead of air drying, but the results are impressive regardless. Clearly after all of the June pollen, I need another round, but it's nice to have an option other than one of the random carwashes, which I just don't trust.