Stephanie Kinnear

Name: Michelle Kaufmann Location: Novato, CaSize: 1560 sq/ftYears lived in: 4Average gas/electric bill: $0 >> We remember where we were when it happened: It was a windy fall day in San Francisco — we got off BART and took the escalator up to the Civic Center. We walked across the lawn towards City Hall and there was the mkLotus. That was the moment we fell in love with Michelle Kaufmann’s green prefab homes.We’d never been inside of one before; we’d only seen pictures.

We love white distilled vinegar. We don’t love the way it smells. But we love it. It’s pretty cheap, it’s non-toxic, environmentally-friendly, and you can use it to do (literally) like a thousand things in your home.We just stumbled on this ridiculous website VinegarTips.com—a website where you can find 1,001 things to do in your home with vinegar.They’ve got cleaning tips (vinegar makes a cheap tile and grout cleaner) and laundry tips (use it as a stain remover).

Ever since we posted about those Twist Euro Cloths, we’ve been meaning to get our hands on them. Since ridding ourselves of our paper towel habit, we knew we needed a replacement, and fast. So, this weekend, as we cruised the aisles at Trader Joe’s during our weekly visit, we spied the Super Amazing Kitchen Cloth…They looked promising. The packaging promised a fast dry, durability, super absorbency, and years of use. We even liked the colors: aqua green and bright red.

Q: I always try to fix things before replacing them with something new. I’ve been trying to find out how I can repair my rubber gloves for a day or so now, and I haven’t come up with any ideas. One of the gloves I wear when washing dishes has two tiny pin holes that let water in……I’d just wash dishes with bare hands, but then my skin gets so dry that it bleeds, so that is not a solution. Any ideas for mending rubber gloves?

This is something we really need help with. Well, actually, we’ve gotten pretty good about the weekday morning shower — it’s the Saturday one that really kills us. So, we’ll start the list of tips with a few we’ve employed or have heard suggested. Please add your own. We can use all the help we can get!

I have a random questions and I’m hoping you can save the day. The kitchen floor of my rental apt is tile with very wide rough grout. Because the grout is somewhat porous, it seems, spills seem to soak in fast and leave stubborn stains. After trying a few home-made recipes for floor cleaner (and none with great success) I caved in and bought a green household cleaner to try.While the cleaner, Green Works Natural Dilutable Cleaner (the only one available in my local store!

(Note: Include a pic of your problem and your question gets posted first. Email questions and pics with QUESTIONS in subject line to: green(at)apartmenttherapy(dot)com) This question comes from Emily:So I’ve got the really cute counter-top composter from greenfeet and because we don’t have so much as a balcony, we take it to my mom’s backyard compost bin roughly once a week.

Alice from West Orange, NJ recently sent us this great idea: She uses two empty milk jugs to craft compost pails for her kitchen (remember … some fancy compost pails can set you back more than $40).Get her instructions after the jump.Object(s): 2 plastic gallon milk jugsProject: Kitchen compost containerInstructions: To make one of these, use two rinsed-out gallon milk jugs.

You’ve probably heard this already, but that antibacterial hand soap in your bathroom (not to mention the hand sanitizer you carry around in your purse) might not be that good for you after all.As it turns out, it might be better for us to just live with a few germs than douse our hands in triclosan, the chemical that kills all that bacteria.We just got a little reminder from Plenty magazine: As for triclosan, The American Medical Association, U.S.

This is going to sound a little odd, but hopefully some readers can relate: Our cat loves. craves. needs. must have… salad.Some cats flip for tuna fish or chicken — ours might just rip your fingers off in excitement if you so much as bring a piece of romaine into our apartment.When we first noticed his odd obsession with leafy greens, we did a little research.

The words “retro” and “green” don’t usually belong in the same sentence, especially if you’re talking about refrigerators. Generally, the older a fridge looks, the more energy it’s sucking. But, we love to be proven wrong.These retro, energy-efficient refrigerators from SMEG are slick and green. They wouldn’t exactly work in our current kitchen, but we’re daydreaming about a 1930s bungalow complete with the red version!