I’m a true California girl.  And with all this sunshine and summertime, Californians are expected to reach above and beyond when it comes to saving our planet.  We put a heavy emphasis on recycling, water conservation and energy saving initiatives.  And, while my heart wants to reduce my footprint for the sake of my kids, my head is often spinning from all the rules and options available.  Here are a few super easy ways to help save the world and make it a better place for the future generations.

ThredUp:

If you’re anything like me, you have about 10x more clothes than you actually wear or need.  And your kids’ closets are probably even worse (mine are, anyway!).  Research shows we’re not alone – only 20% of clothes in most closets are worn regularly.  Enter ThredUp.  You order a kit, send them all of the gently used clothes that you aren’t actually wearing, and they pay you upfront for them.  Cash out on PayPal or use the credit to buy yourself something you’ll actually love.  You can get high end items (think LOFT, J. Crew, Hudson, Zara, Mini Boden, Baby Gap, etc.) for up to 90% off, and the clothes you send are going somewhere other than the landfill.  ThredUp up-cycled 14 million items in 2016 alone!

Get started HERE and you’ll get $10 toward your first purchase.

Imperfect Produce:

Research has shown that up to 60 MILLION TONS of food is grown and wasted in the U.S. each year.  That’s enough to feed the 800 million hungry people in the world twice over! Much of this produce isn’t accepted by grocery stores because of the way it looks – too small, too big, not the predictable shape or color Americans know and love.  So Imperfect Produce is out to change that.  To date, they’ve saved over 3.2 million pounds of produce that would’ve been trashed otherwise.  They buy the “rejects” from local farms and sell them to consumers at a fraction of the cost you’d pay at the grocery store.  The produce is fresh, delicious, and often organic; it just doesn’t fit the standards that stores require.  It’s a small way that you can boost your produce intake (always a good thing!) AND help reduce waste.  Win win!

Sign up for your Imperfect Produce box HERE.  Use my name (Jennifer Hooper) when you sign up and you’ll get $10 off your first box!  They currently only deliver to the Bay Area, LA and Orange Counties, but they’re rapidly expanding!

OhmConnect:

We’re all supposed to conserve energy, especially at peak times, but it’s often confusing and frustrating trying to figure out how and where those energy cuts can be made.  On top of that, you usually don’t even know how much energy you used (or didn’t) until you get your bill at the end of each month.

I recently found out about OhmConnect, a company that syncs with your energy provider to help you conserve electricity, and therefore, save money.  It’s completely free, and you can earn both product and monetary incentives based on your performance.  OhmConnect sends you a text or email alert when there’s going to be an OhmHour, and you can make the necessary choices to cut back on your usage.  Take a walk, read a book, go outside, turn off lights, wait to run the dishwasher – it’s completely up to you!  Additionally, they sent me a FREE smart thermostat so that my old house doesn’t have to work so hard to keep the temperature comfortable for me and my family.

Get started with OhmConnect HERE and start seeing the savings roll in.  With Summer coming, there’s never been a better time to reduce your electricity bill!

What other ways are you working to reduce your carbon footprint?  I’m always looking for easy ways to do more good and be rewarded for it!

Jen.