Do you still subscribe to your local newspaper? If you do, you likely have a stack of papers somewhere in the house or garage waiting to be recycled. Apartment Therapy has come up with 20 ways to recycle or reuse newspaper around your house. It turns out leftover newsprint is suited for a myriad of uses but it is especially useful for soaking up odors in many places.

If you have a smelly container, fridge or shoe stuffing some newspaper in it is likely to pull the odor and moisture out. This method of odor fighting is no doubt much cheaper than air sprays and baking soda. Other uses include keeping weeds out of your garden and as an additive to your compost pile. The uses for newspaper around your house or community abound. You can even use the newspaper to prevent icing on your car windows during the winter.

We don't get the paper at home anymore, since the idea of on time delivery eluded the local delivery boy. At work we get 3-4 papers daily which get recycled by an employee but I don't think any of the papers enjoy any of the varied recycling activities mentioned by Apartment Therapy. I enjoy using newspaper and Windex to clean my car windows as it does a great job of preventing streaking, but that is my extent of paper reuse.

Do you still get a hard copy paper? If so, what do you re-use your newspaper for?

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

Here's one that will make the green-lovers feel all warm and fuzzy: Planting America will mail you the seeds to plant your very own tree. They currently have Colorado Blue Spruce, Englemann Spruce, River Birch, Paper Birch, and Red Spruce. They have all the information you need to figure out which tree will work in your climate. From the site:

Why do we give away free seeds? In an effort to plant as many trees in as many places around the country as possible, we are offering a variety of free tree seeds. Look at the list below and find a tree that suits your area and your needs. Please refer to the sowing instructions we have supplied for the best chances of success. Fill out our order form and you will receive a minimum of 250 seeds in a few days for free!* If you do not plan to plant your seeds immediately upon arrival, please refrigerate them, but they do not have an immense shelf-life and would most likely survive if planted in the spring. Thanks for helping out the Planting America cause and making your community a bit greener. We ship our seeds on Fridays.

Here we go again. Congress is investigating the possibility of returning to the steel pennies last seen during WWII as a way of ending the most foolish of circumstances, i.e.; it costs more than a penny to make a penny. 1.26 cents, to be exact.

That's not the end of the idiocy; a nickel costs 7.7 cents to make, according to an AP report. Dimes can be made for 4 cents, a quarter for 10 cents. The millions of oh-so-useful dollar coins (useful as ballast, that is,) cost us 16 cents.

Here's a very cheap solution, Congress; ditch the penny. It's just an annoyance. The reason we need to stamp out so many? People don't want to carry them, since they are so useless. Ditching them would open up a slot in the cash drawer for the $1 coin.

And If you want $1 coins to gain acceptance, quit printing paper ones, and make them easily distinguishable. Some countries have coins with holes in them, others have two-part coins (the English pound, for example), of two different metals. Give that consideration.

If you don't like those ideas, how about this- one day a year, offer to buy back pennies for 1.2 cents apiece. I guarantee you'll be flooded with enough pennies that you can shut down production, and save money.

High gas prices don't only affect your vehicle; for many homeowners mowing your lawn is getting more costly each week. Fortunately for the frugal and eco-conscience home owner, there is a battery- powered lawn mower which claims to provide a cheaper and quieter home landscaping solution.

The Neuton company sells two different models of its battery powered mowers, both with an optional trimmer, starting at just under $400. The Neuton company estimates close to $250 in savings over a three-year period when switching from a gas-powered mower due to fuel and tune up costs. Additionally if you live in any of five counties in Southwest Ohio, you can currently get the mower for $289 through a special program at the local waste department.

The Neuton mowers are much quieter and lighter than conventional gas powered mowers, which for many users will be a huge positive, but these benefits do not come without a few trade offs. The Neuton 5.2 mower, which is the lightest it offers, does have a smaller mowing area than most gas mowers and some users have complained of poor power. The newer Neuton 6.2 mower provides a wider mowing base and more power for a better mowing experience, but gains back some weight for these strengths. It would be well worth noting that I haven't had a chance to use either of these mowers, so you might be wise to seek out someone with experience before forming any final judgments.

As consumers search attics for fast cash, resale shops are seeing a glut of merchandise. For-sale listings on Craigslist are also way up. We can be sure that there will be more sellers and less buyer money around as the yard sale season begins.

I've been a yard sale addict for more than 25 years. My buying habits won't change very much - except for the fact that I'm also part of the wave of downsizing/decluttering baby boomers and like everyone else, I'm watching what there is of my money. Since I'm also a social worker, I don't want to profit from anyone else's misfortune, which makes me a little uneasy about what it's going to be like once I start my Saturday routes. I expect that I'll make the same kind of offers - looking for the same kind of percentages off - that I always have, looking for a fair price. As a real estate agent recently explained, "A fair deal is when both the buyer and the seller are both just a little dissatisfied." No one gets the best of anyone.

Last weekend, my wife and I went to the Green Living Expo on Long Island. A two-day event, it was designed as a way for homeowners to learn about all the emerging green technologies that could help them develop a more environmentally-conscious, energy-conserving lifestyle. We got free tickets from my wife's boss, who runs a green engineering firm, wrangled a weekend invitation from my aunt and uncle, and got ready to experience the cutting edge of the green world.

Maybe we built it up too much.

Admittedly, there were some impressively green items on display. We learned about bamboo clothing (only $35 for a t-shirt!), solar-powered attic fans, bio-composters, and other cool technologies. We also got to see a nice variety of hippies, new-agers, and other assorted lunatics. As expected, there was a weedy-looking guy with a beard who was trying to sell his book about hiking the Appalachian trail, various people hawking crystals, and more than a few natural-remedy folks. While I'll acknowledge that natural remedies are less polluting and invasive than traditional medicine, I have yet to figure out how aligning my chakrahs will help me use less energy and reduce my carbon footprint. To put it mildly, the snake-oil quotient was pretty high.

Every day, WalletPop will be bringing you information about a fantastic freebie. Like what you see? Check back tomorrow for more!

In case you aren't aware, going green is very popular right now. One of our sister sites -- GreenDaily -- is devoted exclusively to helping you find ways to make your life more eco-friendly.

If you log onto Purex's website, you an request a free sample of the company's Natural Elements laundry detergent. Here's a little promotional material on the product courtesy of WalMart.com:

Natural Elements™ laundry detergents are made from 100% naturally derived cleaning ingredients and natural fragrance extracts.

Purex Natural Elements also offers these important benefits: Hypoallergenic, Free of dyes, and the bottle and cap are both completely biodegradable and recyclable.

I have long been jealous of any home or office with a skylight. The thought of enjoying sunshine even when indoors and hard at work is giving me energy right now. Unfortunately most skylights are large windows, which can also be a thorn in the side of your heating bill. Thankfully there is a innovative solution which uses "a series of tubes" to deliver sunlight to several rooms.

This lighting system is made by Sun-Tek and come in several configurations depending how you want to use sunlight in your house. The Sun-Tek tubes can even be outfitted with an additional light so you don't need to install other fixtures to use the room at night. According to the Sun-Tek website the smallest tube they offer, 10 inches, is equivalent to two 100 watt light bulbs, sure to brighten up your home.

I'm not sure that any studies have linked sunshine to productivity, but I know sunshine bumps mine up. I would love to have a skylight in the shower in order to harness the sun's energy as part of my morning wake up routine. I don't know how far these tubes can carry the sunlight, but how cool would it be to light your basement man-cave with sunlight? You know: for those times you need to be sure just how many troops you have in Australia before you launch your quest for world domination.

The American Electronics Association released a report last week as part of Earth Day celebrations making a strong case for telecommuting. The study found that if all employees in the U.S. whose positions allowed it worked from home two days a week the demand for gasoline would drop by 1.35 billion gallons!

The report also addresses many of the concerns managers have with their underlings telecommuting, dispelling several, and providing additional reasons for companies to support working from home. The strongest reasons other than cost savings are that working from home improves both employee retention and productivity.

For many employees, the technology to enable telecommuting is already available. Possibly one of the biggest hurdles is the need for a secure connection to the work network, known as a VPN, but in recent years these have become more common. Off the shelf solutions such as LogMeIn and GoToMyPC provide secure connections and are easy to set up, providing a link to a computer already on the network. This leaves just the need for a laptop, miscellaneous office equipment and a high speed Internet connection to complete the telecommuter's home office.

I would love to be able to work from home for a few days a week at my day job as a database administrator. I currently commute about 40 miles round trip, and while I carpool, I am still spending a nice chunk of my monthly take home on gas. In my case, the technology is all in place, and as for home office equipment, I'd be willing to use my own technology to work from home a few days a week. Unfortunately working from home is still looked at warily by my employer, though given the green initiatives in place at work; this report may be just what I need. I guess I'll be doing a mass emailing in the morning! I think I'll need support from the president to get this one green lit.

What do you all think? Do your employers allow you to telecommute? Why or why not? Let's hear from you.

This idea could go places.

The Washington Post reported Saturday that sometime in mid-May, SmartBike DC, a bicycle-sharing program, is going to get moving.

Metal racks are appearing throughout the city, enough for 120 red three-speed bicycles. For $40 bucks a year, bikes can be rented as many times as a person wants--though each rental can last no longer than three hours, and the hours are restricted from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m. (If you don't bring it back within three hours, you're charged $200.)

The most recent estate sale I went to with my friend Annie was like walking into a dollhouse full of "what Ever Happened to Baby Jane" lookalikes. The "sale matrons" running the show belonged to another era unto themselves.

This was an authentic estate sale. We had hit our mark. The signs were visible on every piece of furniture and every item down to the Victorian-inspired lace eyelet curtains hanging from the enormous bay window of the mock Georgian home we had entered.

Some sales pass under the guise of estate and turn out to be glorified tag sales where the majority of items are spread out on tables in the front yard, and only a limited amount of household treasures are purchasable. An authentic estate sale is run by a family who opens their own home to the public after the death of a loved one, or in desperation before moving far away, or by a company hired by a family to do its research and appraisal.

The Daily Deal for Sunday, April 27, 2008

I went into work Friday and set my lunch box down next to an advertisement that caught my eye right away. It claimed that you can turn used cell phones into real money. After researching the offer a little bit, I've determined that it sure looks legitimate to me. Pace Butler Corporation claims it will buy your used cell phones for cold hard cash.

The company website is clear and simple. The process works in four easy steps. Just gather the cell phones that you want to sell, print out a prepaid postage shipping label, box the phones up and ship them, then get a check. The company states that your check will be issued within four business days.

Many of the phones on their payment list will only garner you a few dollars, and some only pay .50 cents. However, there are models which will get you as much as $50. You can check out their payment values on this list (PDF file). Just a few of the higher paying models are Motorola's Q9m and Q9h, each paying $50. If you have a Nextel i580, that model pays $30. The LG CU515 and CU575 each get you $35. There's a whole range of the Blackberry 8000 series which will net you anywhere from $10 to $50 apiece.

Nowhere on the website did I see mention of cell phone condition as a requirement for payment but I assume that they want the phones to be all in one piece. They also offer assistance with cell phone collection drives and will help you with cell phone collection fund raisers. If you just want to find out where to send your dead cell phones to keep them out of the landfill, they have a link to help with shipping 3 or more phones for recycling.

I think Pace Butler is really in step with responsible consumerism and assuming that it's completely legitimate, I believe this whole concept is an extremely timely idea.

Josh blogged recently about Catalog Choice, a service that helped him decrease the number of catalogs he received. Another service, GreenDimes, goes this one better. If you sign up, it will help you reduce your junk mail AND pay YOU a dollar for the privilege.

Why the largesse? The company has a war chest of $5 million it has allocated to cut down on the environmental damage wrought by the avalanche of credit card offers, catalogs and sale flyers that jam the nation's mail boxes.

The company's efforts are not all altruism, though. It also sells upgraded services. A $20 premium package will keep your box clean for 3-5 years. It also offers a limited number of environmentally sensitive products such as high-efficiency light bulbs.

I'm fascinated by the for-profit aspect of GreenDimes, and will watch with interest to see if it can make money combating mail proliferation. The fact is that we get junk mail because consumers respond. As a reformed mass mailer, I know the sad fact is that direct mail packages that contain a lot of pieces, including hard-to-recycle decals and the like, work better than bare-bones pitches. Given this, the market GreenDimes is basing its business on should provide it with a steady stream of potential customers.

I try not to be too much of a global warming preacher. In my personal life, I recycle, walk a lot, take public transportation, and generally do everything in my power to reduce my energy usage. However, there are few things that annoy me more than holier-than-thou eco-Nazis, and I decided a long time ago that I would never, ever become one of them. I refuse to lecture people about light bulbs, yell at them for throwing away recyclables, make snotty comments when they keep the fridge open for too long, or pick up any of the other endearing little habits that dedicated green warriors seem inclined to inflict upon the rest of us.

Part of the reason that I don't like talking about global warming is the fact that it's somewhat difficult to explain its effects. Frankly, there seems to be a rejoinder for every argument against global warming: as people often point out, summers that are a couple of degrees hotter don't seem like that much of a big deal, unless you're a kid or a really old person. For that matter, while rising water due to the destruction of the polar icecaps will be a really big problem for people in coastal regions, most of the world isn't coastal. Beyond that, the death of thousands of different species of aquatic life isn't really all that big a deal, unless you're a really big fan of fish; for the rest of us, there will always be cows, chickens, pigs, deer, and other land-based life forms that we can consume.

However, I recently discovered something that beautifully illustrates the dangers of global warming, a far-reaching, catastrophic problem that affects every one of us, and my just be the key to explaining why green living is so important:

GLOBAL WARMING IS DESTROYING BEER.

In a quest for sustainability, self sufficiency and money saving; folks nationwide are trading in their Scotts Turfbuilder for manure as they begin growing crops at home. Homegrown veggies and herbs sound wonderful to me, especially with the warm weather we are finally getting in Ohio. I can appreciate the ideas behind farming in suburbia, replacing your front yard with rows of crops is taking it a step too far. If I was a homeowner I would help anyone on my block till up and seed their backyard, but I draw the line at rows of soybeans in the front yard. Putting negative pressure on my property value by growing crops in your front yard makes me long for the rules and strictness of a good ol' home-owner's association.

A backyard garden can be loads of fun and makes for a great family project over the summer months. Divvying up the chores for a garden is a great way to share family time and show children the value of hard work. If you are getting ready to garden, be sure to check out this handy guide for growing vegetables. It leads you through site selection, soil prep and garden care. Everything you need to keep fresh produce on your dinner table all summer long.

If you do have a home garden, feel free to send me some of your wonderful homegrown veggies!