The latest edition of the This Old House Newsletter has a series of articles on green, environmentally friendly products for home improvement. We’ve provided some of the links below:

Photo Gallery: Green Product Showcase
From toxin-free wallpaper to knobs made of recycled coke bottles, here
are 24 stylish and eco-friendly products.

Natural Selections
Find it hard to separate truly green products from those that aren’t?
Here are some surfacing materials that deliver lots of style with little
demand on the earth’s resources.

Eliminating Indoor Air Pollution
Learn how to rid your house of the dust mites, mold spores, and VOCs
that could be making you sick.

I subscribe to the This Old House Pro Tips Newsletter.  I have a professional interest in any home tips of course, but I also find the newsletter valuable as a homeowner as well.

One of the latest tips was:

52 Skills You Need to Survive Homeownership

The article covers everything from fixing a leaky faucet to getting free advice from the guy at your local hardware store.  Check it out.
The tips may not always directly increase the value of your house — but the tips will definitely make your house more of a home.

SmartMoney.com has an interesting article about the best time of year to buy certain items.

• According to the article, it’s best to buy household appliances during a holiday weekend, even the smaller holidays like Columbus Day.

• The best time to buy inflatable pool loungers and patio furniture is after Labor Day.

Lifehacker, one of the most popular blogs, had an interesting post last month on how to collect rain water to flush your toilet. Though this improvement may not increase the re-sale value of your home, it is an extremely practical idea.

Why flush drinking water down the toilet? Enery and money are used to purify water. But the water used to flush a toilet doesn’t need to be potable (it just needs to be potty-able). Rain water works fine for this purpose.

Born Again Web Site, Day 1 By: Living In Carver County

We were lucky enough to get to announce it on a live radio interview on KTLK’s “CTX Home & Wealth Show”.(100.3 FM) Hopefully it was informative & somewhat entertaining.

The crew there does a great job & the Clear Channel studio was amazingly nice.

Thanks for the opportunity.

Greg Anderson
P.S. Also, today is official kick off of the “LivingInCarverCounty.com” new & improved community web site.