As I posted recently, I have been checking out The Green Book by Elizabeth Rogers and Thomas Kostigen. It’s a very handy paperback book filled with helpful and (most importantly) EASY tips to save energy, reduce waste, and generally act more responsibly.

This week I thought I’d share some of my favorites from their Travel chapter. They have all kinds of suggestions for planning your trip, getting there, staying at a hotel, sightseeing and eating out. There are a bunch of things in there that I hadn’t really thought much about, and some which are just worth repeating. Here are my top 5 from this chapter:

1. Linens. Use the same linens and towels in your hotel room throughout your stay.  The average hotel room consumers more than 200 gallons of water per DAY, or as much as your entire household typically uses in a day. Trimming the amount of water used by washing sheets and towels can save up to 40 percent of a hotel’s water use.
2. Suitcases. Pack lightly – every additional ten pounds per traveler requires and additional 350 million (!!) gallons of jet fuel per year, which is enough to keep a 747 flying continuously for ten years. As a serial over-packer – that one hit home for me!
3. Guidebooks. Research your travel online and print out only the pages you’ll need to reference. You’ll save time, money and paper waste. More than 800,000 travel books go to waste every year!
4. Toiletries. Pack your own shampoo, soap and toothpaste instead of relying on the ones provided by most hotels (and of course then you can pack your favorite Garden Girl products!). You’ll get the product you want and you’ll creaste less plastic waste. A single 300 room hotel in Las Vegas uses more than 150,000 plastic bottles of shampoo per year.
5. Water bottles. Use and refill as single (preferable stainless steel or BPA-free plastic) water bottle when you travel. The average person in the United States drinks 8 oz. of bottled water per day (how did that ever happen??). It takes 1.5 million barrels of oil to annually satisfy America’s demand for bottled water (the bottles for which are derived from petroleum). If that oil were converted to gasoline, the total could fuel 500,000 station wagons to take their families on coast-to-coast road trips. Considering the ongoing and unspeakable tragedy in the Gulf, we need to do whatever we can to reduce this country’s insatiable appetite for petroleum. And drinking from a reusable bottle is an easy way to start.

Let me know if you have any favorite eco-friendly travel tips – I’d love to hear them! Happy trails!

As many of you know already, with most Garden Girl purchases, you are treated to a sample size (actually “sample” is really an understatement) of a product. We choose a product to give you – either something we think you might want to try based on your order history, or something that we think you’d enjoy having in a travel-sized container. It’s our way of giving you an extra special treat to thank you for choosing Garden Girl.

Well this week – we thought it might be fun to let YOU choose the sample. That means no matter what size order you have – you will receive a travel-sized bottle or jar of the product that YOU choose. Sounds fun, right?

But we’re going to make it even better (ok this sounds like an infomercial – “order now and you’ll get…”) – if you place an order over $75 you can choose any TWO samples. Even better? If you order more than $125 worth of products, then you can choose THREE!! Not bad, eh? Each of these samples is big enough to last up to a month! (that’s what I mean when I say sample is an understatement)

We don’t offer all of our products in these sample/travel sized but you can choose from:

0.5 oz Jars:

• No Worries face cream for dry/sensitive skin
• Nature Nurture face cream for normal/oily skin
• Starting Over microderm scrub
• Cookies + Cream purifying masque
• Hugs vanilla body butter
• Smooches chocolate mandarin body butter
• Pucker Up Coconut sugar scrub
• Zippity Do Dah peppermint foot cream

1.0 oz Bottles:

• You’re Fresh face wash for normal/oily skin
• Oasis for Faces face wash for dry/sensitive or mature skin
• Even Ste(pH)en toner
• Hand it to You hand cream
• Chill Out body lotion
• Jump Start body lotion
• Mellow body lotion
• Alive body lotion

Taking advantage of this very unique offer is easy. Simply go to:

www.gardengirlskincare.com

Then, when you are checking out there will be a comments section (not the coupons section). In that comments section, simply write which sample you would like. If your order is above $75, you will write the two you’d like. And if you order over $125 you can select THREE!

As always, our products are all free of parabens, sulfates, petroleum products and phthalates. Enjoy – and have fun choosing your samples!

Weeeee. Since last week’s offer was a success, I am going to continue with my “one day sale” thing. This week’s offer is a FREE travel sized You’re Fresh face was AND Even Ste(pH)en toner. Each is a 1 oz. bottle perfect for traveling.

To get your very own set – just put the words “DEC 17″ in the comments section when you order (you don’t need to use a coupon code since these are freebies).

To get to the website, just click here: www.gardengirlskincare.com

Have fun and may your face be happy and fresh