Biodegradable Cell Phones and iPods

Imagine a cell Phone that you can smash up and throw on your compost pile or in recycling container when you get bored of it.

The person who posted this suggests corn-starch plastics, but as a mom I'd like to see them made out of recycled disposable diapers. That way babies today can supply the basic ingredients for their electronic fashion accessories tomorrow.

Here's the full post: http://www.moobag.com/ideas/environment/Make+cell+phones+and+ipods+biodegradable/587.

Spend-free Weekends

As soon as I saw this idea I thought, "Duh!" but does anyone do this regularly. My family spends way too much on the weekends especially now with the economy all messed up thanks to our last president. When we go to Target or Fatmart we tell ourselves that we are only going to get what's on the list but there's always more in the trunk going home than we intended. This idea seemed like a cool way to try to reduce that.

This past weekend we had a "no spend weekend" we still went places, we just didn't go to the store. It was fun. Not only did we not buy anything, we spent more time outside than we normally do. The kids loved it. Of course on Monday I had to run into Target to get something that I absolutely needed, but I was in such a hurry that it was the only thing I left with. Try this. It works.

Original idea at Moobag.com: http://www.moobag.com/ideas/living/The+No-spend+Weekend/520

Using Rain Gutters for Book Shelves

This idea was my first introduction to Moobag.com. A friend sent it to me when I was trying to figure out what to do with my kids' books in the playroom. I've now done this idea and it came out pretty well. I can now put a lot of my kids' books face out but here are some additional tips when doing it.

• use rain gutter supports to hold up the gutters. They'll hold up heavier books and you'll avoid the next problem.
• if you need to put a screw through a gutter, drill a hole through the rain gutter first before trying to screw it into the wall. I had to throw out an 8 foot section of rain gutter because it cracked.
• if you want to paint them, paint them before installing and use a primer. I didn't paint mine but this is good advice
• make sure kids don't pull on them. They are pretty flexible but they won't support a 4 year old.

Here's the original idea on Moobag.com: http://www.moobag.com/ideas/living/Rain+gutters+as+shelves/585