#7 - Thrifty & Good for the Soul

Time to talk about My Favorite Thrift Store. When I first came to town I landed on East Nellis a couple blocks from a cute little thrift store that has grown to be a serious force of community assistance in Southern Nevada. A Lift Up is a non-profit organization devoted to helping people in need in our community.

A Lift Up Mission Statement:

A Lift Up was founded in 2002 as a 501(c)(3) social service charity led by Christian values. Our goal is Christian stewardship, serving God, and assisting people, giving relief to the underprivileged. Focusing on families with children and youths whose physical or moral welfare are at risk, the elderly, and the homeless.

A Lift Up Org strives to promote family value and independence, maintain self-esteem and enable meaningful lifestyle by providing basic needs through operation Furniture Bank.

The thrift store is located on the Southeast corner of Desert Inn and Nellis, at
3310 S Nellis Blvd # 28 Las Vegas, NV 89121.

They have a great selection of furniture, housewares, clothing and everything else under the blazing sun you might ever need. I'm exaggerating a little bit, but the place is great, they have new things coming in all the time, the staff is fabulous - highly recommended!

I take all of my donations to A Lift Up - why throw things away or donate them to profit organizations when your used items can make a difference for someone else in your community? They are always in need of volunteers as well.

If you are struggling and in need of furniture, household items, or other forms of assistance, visit http://www.aliftup.org/ for assistance applications, or call (702) 457-0700.

#6 - Rebuild With ReStore

Quite by accident while reading the paper, Andrew spotted an ad for ReStore, a non-profit warehouse of recycled (rescued, discontinued, overstock?) home building and decor items, benefitting Habitat for Humanity. So we stopped by today, always on the lookout for deals and knowing we'll have a new house soon that we'll inevitably want to dress up - and the place is great! They've got everything - plumbing, lighting, garden gadgets, appliances, windows, doors, large discarded pieces of granite and stone, tiles, toilets, paint, cabinets... It's not as big as a Home Depot, but lots of treasures to be found, for sure!

Habitat For Humanity Las Vegas ReStore
702-638-6477
1401 N. Decatur Blvd, LV 89108
Open Tuesday - Saturday, 9AM - 3PM

#5 - Save A Life

Adopt a companion!

Lied Animal Shelter/The Animal Foundation
Nevada SPCA - No Kill Animal Sanctuary
Las Vegas Valley Humane Society
Heaven Can Wait Sanctuary
Betty Honn's Animal Adoptions, LTD.
Henderson Animal Control & Shelter
Boulder City Animal Shelter
Homeward Bound Cat Adoptions
Save a Pet Cannis Wolfdog Recovery
Humane Society of the U.S.

#4 - Sun Bread? You bet!

How does this sound? It's hella hot out, you want to make that delectable eggplant parmesan or bake a loaf of whole wheat bread but the last thing you want to do is turn the stove on in the house. What to do? Whip out your solar oven and cook outside to your heart's content, without spending a nickel on electricity, and without making your sanctuary a sweltering sweathouse. It even works when it's overcast or raining, but we don't have to worry about that, do we? (There are certain things I do love about living in Las Vegas!)

The Tulsi-Hybrid Solar Oven heats up to 500 degrees, has back up electrical power for crappy weather, and even then uses significantly less power than your conventional oven (presumably because you are heating a smaller space).

And how is this better than grilling? Well, I'm not going to pit them against each other, I love our little Weber, and nothing beats grilled salmon. But - you can cook anything in one of these little guys that you would cook in an conventional oven using NO FUEL. Is it affordable? Grills cost more, and imagine the savings in your a/c and gas bills in the summer. $245.

#3 - The Basics: Power

Our only choice here in Las Vegas for electricity is Nevada Power. I hate monopolies, but unless you live in Boulder City, which has incredible power/garbage/water kickbacks for being the "city that built the Hoover Dam" - you're stuck with it.

Nevada Power does provide some incentives for reducing your power usage, and there are many ways in which you can reduce your energy use on your own. Their current incentive is the Cool Share Program. The jist is that they install a web-programmable thermostat in your home which they can adjust during the hottest days of the year (104+ degrees), by "cycling" your a/c. You get paid (credited) up to a dollar for each adjustment, which can add up over the hot summer. They say it's not terribly noticeable (up to 4 degrees), and they only do it on weekdays (when many of us are not home anyway). I cannot personally attest to how this works yet as we are waiting until we buy a home, hopefully within the next month.

There are many other ways to save on your power bill though, the most obvious - converting from your highly wasteful incandescent light bulbs to compact flourescents (CFLs). CFLs are so darn cheap now there's no excuse. My main complaint has been that they are so much harsher than regular bulbs, but there are some new ones now that house the regular CFL in a frosted casing, effectively giving us that "soft white light" that we're used to. There are many styles of CFLs available at Home Depot or Lowes now, even flood lights. They are cagegorized as equivalents to the wattage used by incandescent bulbs, I think since we all know how bright 25W or 60W bulbs are, even though the CFLs might only use 7 or 9 watts. Though slightly more expensive, CFLs last a lot longer than standard bulbs. The main drawback to CFLs is that it takes up to three minutes for them to fully warm up. You may not notice it now since the technology of CFLs has improved a lot over the last few years and now most bulbs on the market are "instant on". But if you turn a CFL on and off regularly without allowing it to warm up, it reduces the life of the bulb, and thus your energy savings. CFLs also contain mercury and should be disposed of properly - something I will research and post in the future.

There's actually some pretty exciting technology out there using LEDs (Light Emitting Diodes). They are somewhat expensive now (getting better all the time though), but they are even more energy efficient than CFLs (ranging from 2 - 10 W), they last a hella long time, and you can turn them on and off as much as you want and it won't wear them out. They come in a variety of colors, including "warm white" and in just about every shape you can imagine. There are a variety of bases to fit into many different fixtures. LEDs can be recycled with your electronics and other "e-waste".

Drawbacks? Right now, cost. The one pictured here costs between $10 to $17, depending on what color you order. Many are in the $25 - $40 range. C. Crane says that if every household in the U.S. switched just one incandecent out for an LED bulb, we could eliminate one major nuclear power plant. Wow! Isn't that just begging for someone to start a campaign?

C. Crane - "Getting Started with LED Lighting" - great FAQ page!

Superbright LEDs

LED Museum

Eartheasy - info on CFLs and LEDs

#2 - The Basics: Recycling

A while back I heard a statistic that only 2% of Las Vegas recycles. So, 2% of 591,000 in Las Vegas (as of 2000 census, more now for sure) would equal almost 12,000 people. Now is that Las Vegas proper, or Clark County? Clark County boasts almost 2 million folks, which would work out to 40k recyclers... Sounds like a lot, but compared to the rest of the nation - it stinks.

How do we improve our horrendous record? Well, the government of Our Fair City is working on this. The Southern Nevada Recycling Advisory Committee has been charged with the task of increasing recycling from our pathetic "less than 5%" to the EPA's recommended 35% (by when?) . So far they have developed a pilot program that is anticipated to take effect in late 2008, and will start by reducing trash pickup from two days a week to just one. They have other plans as well but this is at the top of the list. Now I don't have a problem with this because we barely have enough trash to put out the can once a week, but apparently some folks are up in arms about it. Judging from the amount of trash created by our neighbors, I guess I get it. The reduction in trash pickup is supposed to encourage recycling, without increasing our costs. The photo is of a new brand of recycling bin, possibly something we will see in Las Vegas in the future.

For the time being, if you want to recycle in Las Vegas, call Repubic Services and ask them to drop off a set of the standard red, white, and blue recycling bins. There is no charge for the bins or for the service, and you should get a letter that outlines what you can recycle and your day of pick-up, which will be every two weeks. Call Republic Services at 702-735-5151.

Currently Republic Services accepts the following recyclables:

• aluminum & tin
• #1 & #2 plastics
• paper
• glass
• corrugated cardboard
• motor oil

Unfortunately #1 & #2 plastics don't account for much of the plastic out there, so I've been trying to favor glass or paper over plastic.

A Few Other Local Resources - there are a lot of recycling centers in Las Vegas, do a search for "recycling centers" or "recycling services" in the Yellow Pages. Here are a few -

Abbies Recycling Center - all kinds of metals: copper, tin, aluminum, iron, etc. And they pay you for it. My friend got $8 for a broken rim from his truck. 6351 Vegas Valley. 702-457-8077

Nevada Recycling - paper, metals, plastics, e-waste, and again, they pay you for it. How cool is that? They also provide commercial/business waste solutions. 4420 Mitchell St. NLV 702-643-2218

Roadrunner Anti-Freeze Recycling 702-293-5360