See full article at http://austin.bizjournals.com/austin/afterhours/3829.html

Far left – Asian American Cultural Center Founder & CEO, Amy Mok Wong
2nd from left – Austin Mayor-Elected, Lee Leffingwell
3rd from left – The Long Center Managing Director, Paul Beutel
Far right – EcoBox Managing Partner, Sam Lee

EcoBox pays for the used boxes OR gives the customer an option to donate their payment to the Dell Children’s Medical Center in which case EcoBox will match it dollar for dollar. “We can only take credit for half of this donation, the other half was donated through the generosity of our customers willing to contribute in these difficult economic times. Last year, we donated $7500 to the Hospital which makes this years contribution a 40% increase over last !  We’re really excited about the growth of the program and that it creates a win-win-win. The customer wins, the hospital wins, and the environment wins by reusing moving boxes. ” explains Dale Malone, Managing Partner.

EcoBox has a goal to raise $15,000 for next years donation. Help be a part of the “Cardboard for Kids” program by bringing your used boxes to one of EcoBox’s three locations in Austin, TX.

EcoBox is honored to be recognized by the Austin Business Journal for their efforts to reduce the amount of used boxes that go into our landfills. “We aquire used moving boxes after homeowners have completed a move or from businesses who need to dispose of shipping boxes that are similar in size to a moving box” explains Sam Lee, Managing Partner of EcoBox.

EcoBox makes the process easy by sending a truck directly to your home or business to pickup the used boxes or you can simply bring the boxes to a nearby retail store. You can elect to be paid for the boxes OR donate your proceeds (to the Dell Children’s Medical Center) in which case EcoBox will match your donation dollar for dollar.

Last year EcoBox raised approx $8000 for the Dell’s Center, this year they are on track for $10,000 all thru the use or “reuse” of cardboard boxes.

“Do not wait for leaders; do it alone, person to person.”
-Mother Teresa

Dear Bryan,

Here is the pictures I promised you last week. The Loloma Foundation is very grateful to have you and EcoBox as one of our many partners, enabling us to bring aide half way around the world. The pictures I have sent you show only a part of the magnitude of boxes that were used to ship all items in a 40 ft. container. The second picture is Sister Patricia with all her school equipment that will supply the outer villages surrounding the capital of Fiji. The third picture is a group of children in the outer islands with their new school back packs. We were able to distribute 1000 back packs filled with basic necessities. These children were in the worst area of the flooding and are now without food crop other than what we have supplied along with the red cross.

Again, thank you for your help.

Allison Batlin

P.S. See you next week for more boxes.

Moving house is considered to be one of the most stressful situations that a person can go through. It’s rated high up on the list with marriage, divorce and death of a loved one. Part of the reason for the stress is that people don’t realize the physical and emotional toll moving can take and thus don’t prepare themselves properly for it.  Instead of dreading your move and panicking, make a plan, follow these 11 tips and have your move become a much more relaxing, stress-free experience.

1.) Purge

Before you get overwhelmed with the sheer amount of stuff you have, remember that moving house is a great way to get rid of stuff that you no longer want or need. But don’t get overwhelmed by all your junk either! While you’re packing keep a garbage bag beside your boxes and just throw things out as you go. It’ll make the process that much more simple and easy for you. Also, don’t forget to keep a box for things that you can donate or give away to charity.
2.) Pack a Box Every Day

By breaking your move into small increments, it’ll be easier for you to not get overwhelmed by the enormity of the task. Packing a box every day is a great way to take small steps while working towards your bigger goal. After you’ve gotten enough boxes packed, dedicate one room in your house to those boxes to get them out of the way. If you start early enough, you’ll find that packing up your house isn’t as big of a deal as it seems.

3.) Don’t Overstuff!

It might be tempting to cram as many things as possible into boxes (to save on your to-and-fro trips), but it isn’t a good idea. It’s better to have to make more trips than to not be able to pick up the boxes that are way too heavy.

4.) Plan in Advance

It might seem that you don’t need to do things until the few weeks before you move, but that’s a guaranteed way to make things stressful. Book things like your moving truck and pick up your moving supplies now while you’re not as busy and save yourself some tasks during your crunch time.

5.) Make Lists

It’s always a good idea to make lists of what has to be done, and who is assigned to it. Then, when the task is complete, make sure it’s checked off the list. This will prevent any confusion or finger-pointing on the day of the move, and it will also ensure that jobs aren’t needlessly done twice.

6.) Label, label, label

It may seem like a pain while packing, but make sure you label everything! You’ll thank yourself when you’re unpacking at your new place. And remember, when it comes to labeling, more detail is always better.

7.) Send your Kids and Pets Somewhere Else

On moving day, the last thing you need is for your children and pets to be constantly underfoot. And, as your door will be open for most of the day, it can be a safety concern to have them around. Ask your friends or family if they mind watching them for the day. It’ll really make your moving process that much easier.

8.) Plan How Things Will Fit

Planning how things will fit in the truck is an important part of experiencing a stress-free move. You want to arrange things so that they’ll all fit securely in the truck, and you also want to ensure the things you need first will be closest to the truck opening.

9.) Be Sure to Eat and Drink

Our moods are often dependent on our energy levels, and our energy levels are controlled by our intake of food. Keep yourself and your movers hydrated and sated for a positive attitude and maximum energy.

10.) Take Breaks

On moving day, it’s important to have little rest periods every once in awhile in order to refresh your mind and body. It can be tempting to just press through, but that can lead to exhaustion and short tempers and often just isn’t worth it.

11.) Communicate

It’s not enough for your entire moving day plan to be in your head, it needs to be communicated to those that are helping you move. If you don’t let other people know what you want or what is going on, you’ll end up very frustrated and stressed.

Moving is considered to be one of the most stressful experiences a person will go through in their life, but it doesn’t have to be that way. Take things one step at a time and one task at a time; you’ll find yourself less likely to be overwhelmed, and thus, less likely to be stressed.

Our country is currently dealing with an economic crisis. And unfortunately, the real estate market has had a direct effect on the financial situation, which means that a lot of us have to move house in order to keep our heads afloat. Moving house though, can be an expensive process and since it’s a time of belt-tightening, we need to look for ways to cut down on the cost of relocating. Below is a list of things that you can do to make your move as inexpensive as possible.

1.) Start Planning

If you’re planning on relocating to a distance that’s far away, start searching right away for cheaper deals on flights or hotel rooms. If you don’t have a car, but it’s a somewhat drivable distance, save yourself the cost of air fare and plan on renting a car or taking the bus or train.

2.) Appeal to your Friends and Family

Instead of hiring movers, ask your friends and families if they’d mind helping you move your things. If you have some big, unwieldy items like a piano, you can hire movers that can just help you with that specific item. No need to hire them to move the whole house if it’s just one or two items that you’re concerned about.

3.) Do Cost Comparisons

Don’t just pick the first moving company that you see listed in the phone book. Call around and do some price comparisons. Determine how long you’ll need the truck for and take that into account when doing your pricing. Some company’s have cheaper prices for a one day rental but their rates skyrocket if you need it for longer so make sure you take that into comparison.

4.) Start Saving your Newspapers

As soon as you realize that you’re going to move, start saving your newspapers immediately. Newspaper makes great wrapping material, and since you pay for it anyway, why not reuse it in your move? Since moving usually requires a lot of paper, be sure to ask your neighbors if they can save their newspapers as well.

5.) Have a Garage Sale

There’s no point in packing up a whole bunch of stuff that you aren’t going to use and will possibly throw out once you get to your new place. It costs time and money to move things, so have a garage sale instead. That way, you can get rid of some of your goods and make some money off of it to help with your move. And at the end of your garage sale, give your unsold stuff to a charity shop. If you were willing to sell it, you probably didn’t want it any more, so there’s no point in paying to bring it with you to your new place.

6.) Save your Old Blankets and Sheets

Although your saved newspapers are great for wrapping most of your items, there are probably some belongings in your house that need more of a soft cushion. Pictures and mirrors all need to be wrapped in something with a bit more of a cushion, but instead of purchasing expensive wrap, use some of your old blankets and sheets to protect your goods.

7.) Buy Recycled Boxes

Buying boxes from a place that sells recycled boxes is a great idea. They’re cheaper and often you can return them to the store when you’re through and make some of your money back. Even though you’re trying to save money, it’s a good idea to buy your boxes instead of picking them up at your local grocery store, as those boxes often have unpleasant bug eggs in the glue, which could be quite costly to get rid of!

8.) Pack your Own Boxes

It can be overwhelming to look at all of your belongings and think about packing. The temptation is definitely there to hire packers to have them handle the job, but it’s not a very economical way to move. Take it one step at a time, one box at a time, and you’ll be glad that you saved your money.

9.) Save your Perishables

One of the biggest expenses in moving house is the final grocery bill. If you aren’t flying to your new house, try and save your perishable goods, so that you don’t have to replace time right away after you move, and thus pay for your food twice. Get a couple of coolers to pack your food and you’ll save yourself a lot of money.

10.) Plan your Meals

Instead of spending lots of money on takeout over the days of your move, take some of the food you haven’t packed and make some quick, easy meals in advance that can be eaten on the go. There’s no need to get a big food bill at the end of your move when you can eat the food you have in your refrigerator. It just takes a little bit of planning ahead of time in order to accomplish it.

Moving can be a stressful time and an expensive one. By planning ahead and cutting corners you can save some money to make the expense of moving your home a little less burdensome.

Since our society as a whole is moving towards being more environmentally conscious, a lot of us are making an effort to be a bit greener in how we think and live. Since it’s a total reversal of the way some of us are used to living, it can be hard to know where to start. In order to get the most bang for your living green buck, we’ve compiled a list of the top 5 ways that we are wasting our resources, and hopefully, it will give you a good idea of where to start with your environmental living.

1.) Much Too Much

A lot of manufacturers seem to live by the philosophy ‘more is more.’ Essentially, why wrap your product in one layer of plastic when you can use five. These excess packing materials usually end up directly in the trash, creating a system where we’ve needed to use resources to create what is essentially garbage, and then we use our resources again to cart them off to the landfill. And, it’s all needless waste. A good way for you to combat this problem is to look for goods that use a minimum of packing materials, or to buy your goods from a bulk (loose foods) store that enables you to package your own products up.

2.) Too Much Trash

A lot of the goods we use are recyclable, but as a society we throw them out. Sometimes it’s a matter of convenience (no recycling boxes and containers around) and sometimes it’s a matter of laziness (can’t be bothered to sort). It can seem intimidating to set up a recycling system, but it’s honestly not a big deal. In your house, just set up two bins. Use one for your trash and one for your recycling, and when you go to throw something out, just use the correct bin. If it’s not convenient to recycle, just remember that you’ll be paying for that wasted material when it’s sitting in a landfill – so consider taking your recyclable product with you and recycle it when you get home.

3.) Taking the Easy Route

One of our biggest green sins is taking the easiest, most convenient route. A great example of this is our love affair with the water bottle. Using a disposable bottle for a product that we can get free from taps is an excessive waste of resources. Buying a reusable container to take with you means that you’re (a.) doing your part for the environment by not buying into a (mostly) unnecessary product and (b.) saving yourself money over the long term as you’ll never have to buy a disposable water bottle again!

4.) If It’s Broken…

It wasn’t too long ago that we as a society valued the products that we bought and did our best to preserve their long life. However, things that we buy now have become a lot more affordable and hence more disposable. So now, (with the exception of some consumer goods like cars) if something breaks we automatically throw it out and buy a new one. Instead, the next time your television breaks instead of polluting our overcrowded landfill try taking it to the repair shop and see what can be done; it’s a much less wasteful thing to do.

5.) Needs vs. Wants

Being environmentally conscious is sometimes all about doing things for the greater good. We all want our houses to be downright frosty in the heat of the summer, but do we really need it? Turning your temperature up (or down depending on the season) by a few degrees can really have an impact on our power resources, and really contribute to the overall good of our society.

Helping to preserve our resources is one of the greatest ways we can start to live green. Making just a few changes to our lifestyle choices will have a resonating environmental impact.

Making your home more environmentally friendly doesn’t have to be a complicated, expensive process. By just changing a few simple habits, you can make your home a greener, more eco-conscious place.

1.) Switch your Bulbs

Traditional incandescent light bulbs use about 70% more electricity than compact fluorescent bulbs (CFL’s), so it seems like a no-brainer to switch them over. And, not to worry, fluorescent bulbs have come a long way since their inception, and now produce a similar light to incandescent bulbs. (As a bonus – CFL’s last about 10 times longer, and they don’t generate heat either (unlike an incandescent bulb), so you aren’t wasting any of your air conditioning power trying to cool down your light bulbs.)

2.) Abandon the Paper Towel

If you’re at all like me, you probably have an unhealthy attachment to your paper towels and can’t imagine your life without them. But really, paper towels are one of the biggest sources of waste stemming from our everyday life. When you use them, you’re wasting your money and our natural resources, so instead, pick up a few micro-fiber towels, which do a great, if not better job of cleaning up everyday messes. Best of all, they’re reusable, which helps your wallet and our environment.

3.) Recycle your Recyclables

There’s no need for items to end up in our landfills that don’t belong there. If you’re worried that recycling is too complicated and you can’t be bothered, not to worry. Simply set up three bins in your home, one for cans, one for paper, and one for trash. When you go to throw something out, just put it in the proper bin and Voila! Recycling made easy.

4.) Put on / Take off your Clothes

Instead of reaching for the thermostat every time the weather changes, try adding and removing layers as needed. If it’s cold outside, there’s no need for you to be walking around in your house in a muscle shirt and shorts. Conversely, if it’s a sweltering hot day, then you shouldn’t be wearing your parka in the house. Save some power and save the earth.

5.) Let Sleeping Computers Lie

Don’t just rely upon your computer’s screensaver to save power, because in fact the screensaver only saves your monitor from getting images burned into the pixels and keeps your machine running at full power. Instead, when taking a break, put your computer into sleep or standby mode. This will drastically cut the amount of power your computer is wasting needlessly and will help save you money as well.

Going green doesn’t have to be a big ordeal. In fact, doing normal, everyday things just a little bit differently make a big difference when it comes to the environment.

We at EcoBox are all for initiatives that help keep waste out of landfills, and that’s why we love the idea of composting. If you’ve never heard of it, composting takes nature’s process of breaking down decomposing organic materials and accelerates it, producing a rich, dark soil. Composting waste returns nutrients back into the soil, which helps continue the cycle of life.

So, what does composting have to do with me?

Every year, over 200 million pounds of trash enter landfills in America, and about 15 percent of the garbage is waste from kitchen and yard scraps. Instead of this waste entering the landfill and taking up space, it instead can be composted and turned into a nutrient-rich soil which can be used to help grow the next generation of crops. In fact, soil produced by compost is considered to be “gardener’s gold” as it can help regenerate poor soils and helps with moisture retention It’s also a great money saver – as you can use the soil that is produced by your composter to help fertilize your garden (saving you from buying poorer quality soil,) and your compost soil will use less water which will cut down on your water bill.

I don’t have the resources to build a composter; I’m not even sure where to start.

Composting is really easy once you get into the habit of it. To begin, most gardening stores will carry pre-made compost bins for you, so you can purchase one and start the process right away. Once you’ve got your bin, all you have do is start collecting the waste from your kitchen garbage (and your yard waste) and put it into your compost bin. Here’s a great “recipe” that will produce a terrific nutrient-rich soil:

• Create a 3:2 ratio: Brown materials (dry leaves and newspapers) need to be alternated with green materials (food scraps and lawn clippings) in a ratio of around 3:2. Build as many of these layers as necessary for the amount of your scraps.
• Size matters: Make sure your compost bin is at least three feet square (this is necessary to generate the requisite amount of heat needed for the accelerated decomposting process). The bin should be no higher than five feet in order to keep the air needed for decomposting inside.
• Bury new food: Every once in awhile you should bury new food into your compost pile in order to get the maximum effect possible.

Composting is a great way to help practice the cycle of life in your own backyard and it’s a positive and easy step into living a greener, more earth conscious lifestyle.