This guest-post is brought to you by Yvy.

I can honestly say that I never knew how important water was when I was living in Malaysia. Truth be known, it didn’t feel as if there was a dire need to save water because we had plenty. More than enough that we could sell it, so on the surface, I didn’t really bother but that said, it doesn’t mean that I wasted water while back home. So please don’t get me wrong.

Water is seen as liquid gold in Australia. It’s so precious because despite being such a large continent, a huge part of Australia is just plain desert and not suitable for anyone to set up home in. It’s such a pity really because if all that land was green, WOW… It would certainly be amazing and we wouldn’t be losing farmers to suicide and bankruptcy on an almost daily basis during the drought. The coastlines are about the only possible living locations that most people flock to and I am not surprised. I may be only one person but I reckon that even one person may be able to make a difference if the world is spread.

Image credit: Water tap by TheGiantVermin.

At home, we try our best to use water sparingly simply because it would certainly help with the lack of water due to bad weather and the drought. Here are a couple of simple things that we do around the house which I think almost anyone can do too:

1. Buy a machine which uses the least amount of water hence, it’s water conserving. Then make sure that the washing machine has a full load before carrying out a wash. And when washing, run the ‘economy’ option that uses less water but enough to ensure a clean wash.
2. If there are leaky taps, repair them immediately and while waiting for the plumber to come, collect the water that drips and use the collected water to water your plants, wash the bathroom/toilet and fill the bird bath.
3. Washing your car with the least amount of water or better yet, wash your car when it rains heavily! :) It may look silly but it’s doable, no?
4. Collect rain water and use it to water your plants, wash your car, fill the bird bath and if you’re up to it, carry in the buckets and wash your toilets/bathroom.
5. Limit the use of water when washing up the dishes by not letting the water run as you rinse off the soap. I know that back home, I used to soap the dishes then run the water to rinse it. Now, I soap the dishes and use only half a basin of water to wash my dishes.
6. Cutting out long showers and try not to have baths in the bathtub - that’s a LOT of water being wasted there!

Image credit: Buckets geared up to collect rainwater by luciabee.

These are merely a few things that we actually do at home at the moment. In fact, we purposely bought an energy and water saving washing machine as encouraged by the Australian government. And for that, we got a rebate of AUD150. If the government is making an effort to save water, I don’t see why we can’t do our part as well.

Another thing which Australia is looking at is recycled water just as what Singapore is doing and water desalination which I totally agree with because it is a resource which is surrounding the whole of Australia so why not make full use of it? As a matter of fact, I’d rather drink desalinated water than recycled water although many have confirmed that recycled water tastes the same as normal water ;) I’m a little skeptical though so I rather not know if I’m getting recycled water or not because rumour has it that many suburbs are already getting this recycled water without being informed.

In this case, ignorance is bliss!

Yvy @ mistyeiz is a Malaysian who blogs at Little Cozy Corner. She is mum to baby Ella and wife to Ted. She has been residing in Sydney, Australia since Sept 2006 and is still learning the ropes of living in the land down under.

Image credit: Esther Perez

How do you remove chewing gums from your clothes? How do you remove ball point ink stains? How do you get rid of stains from fruits (especially from mangosteens), including wine and tomato sauce?

Linda Sones, a grandmother and former nurse shares her experience in stain removal using some of the eco-friendly non-toxic methods. However, one important tip that she can’t stress enough is if you have treated a stain and put it through the wash, check if it’s working before you dry it. Once it has been dried it, will be almost impossible to remove.

For the removal of oil or fat stains, even tomato sauce if it is dry, try cornflour rubbed into the stain and left for about 20 minutes then brushed off with a soft cloth or brush. This may need several applications for a good result. Speed up the process if you wish by placing a paper towel above and below the treated stain and running a hot steam iron over it.

To remove chewing gum pour straight vinegar over it to saturate. This works even better if you heat the vinegar first. Another suggestion is to use basic hair shampoo (without inbuilt conditioner) on stains on washable materials, work it well into the fibres, but carefully if it’s delicate. Follow up with your usual wash.

What are your grandmother’s secrets?

Are your colleagues using wayyy to many papers? Are they printing memos unnecessarily? Is everybody is the office wasting too much water or electricity? The question is, how do you help green your office?

Image credit: Don and Cheryl

• Try not to print. Try to minimize the number of documents that you print on paper.
• If you HAD to print, recycle papers by preparing a repository (a box would do) for papers with one side printed on and encourage your colleagues to use the other side for non essential printing.
• Switch computers and electronic devices off when you leave the office and whenever they are not in use.
• Install auto-shut-off taps in the rest rooms.
• Install air driers in the rest rooms instead of providing paper towels that are trashed after use.
• Buy and use an energy-saving microwave.
• Efficient lighting. Minimize the use of electric lighting by utilizing natural light where possible. Replace all of your incandescent lights with energy-efficient LED or fluorescent lighting.
• Bike to work. Or develop a system that promotes biking to work.
• Use refurbished office equipment.

Use natural cleaning products in the office. Regular household products have too much negative consequences. For example, when your mouse gets dirty and picks up dust, how do you clean it? With vinegar, I read!

• Simply mix half vinegar and half water and use that.
• Remove the ball and wipe clean with the solution.
• Dry thoroughly with a soft, lint-free towel.
• Dip a cotton swab into the solution, squeeze until nearly dry and wipe the inside the mouse, removing dust or dirt particles.
• Use a wrung out cloth to wash the outside of the mouse.

To clean your keyboard:

• Dip a cloth into a mixture of ½ vinegar and ½ water and wring out.
• Wash down the outside of your computer, printer and other pieces of equipment.
• Never use a spray bottle for this job. Use a nearly dry cotton swab dipped in the mixture to clean the keyboard.

In fact, vinegar performs so much magic that it can be used to clean stationery as well!

• Clean scissors
  Wipe the blades of your scissors down frequently with a cloth dipped in full strength vinegar to keep them clean and glue free.
• Thin glue
  Add a drop or two of vinegar to the old bottle of glue and shake. Keeping adding vinegar drop by drop until the glue returns to the proper consistency.

How do you green your office?