Green Daily

I always feel so good when I'm organized enough to make -- and bring -- my lunch. But the ziplock bag at the end, inside the plastic grocery store bag ... that part always feels bad. Because, plastic, like love and diamonds, is forever.

So far I've made the switch to wrapping my sandwich in tinfoil (recyclable) or wax paper (compostable) in a brown paper bag (compostable) but there is a further green step I am checking out: the reusable sandwich wrap.

Before someone comments that I can rinse out ziplock bags and use them again -- seriously, I've tried it, Not Going To Happen. Just, yuck. I'd rather give them up entirely.

There are a few different kinds of resuable sandwich carriers, but they all are basically a piece of fabric with some kind of leak-proofing, that you can wrap around a sandwich and also use as a placemat. When you're done you wipe it clean, or wash and drip dry, then reuse! I like the Wrap-n-Mat because they're easy to clean, affordable (about $8 a pop) and come in lots of cute patterns.

If you're supercrafty, you can even make your own -- I found these cool directions on CraftyStylish. She recommends a fabric that's backed with polyurethane laminated fabric. Just make sure you're not using anything with PVC -- that's the bad plastic because it has chlorine, hence the "C".

Happy lunch time!

Thanks to the toughest dish detergent regulations in the nation, residents in Spokane, Washington are now heading across state lines to get their illegal suds. No joke. In order to protect water quality, the Washington legislature passed a law back in 2006 which banned dishwasher detergents that contained polluting phosphates.

As the phosphate ban is slowly being phased in this year, many consumers are in open revolt as they realize that green detergents like Seventh Generation, Ecover, and Trader Joe's aren't quite up to snuff. In fact, it appears that many law-abiding Washingtonians have become quite addicted to their squeaky clean dishes. Many are crossing into Idaho to buy Cascade. In fact, there may even be an emerging black market for suds. Says real estate agent Patti Marcotte:

"Yes, I am a smuggler ... I'm taking my chances because dirty dishes I cannot live with."

Supporters of the ban are blaming hard water as the reason green detergents are leaving dishes crusty with yesterday's spaghetti.

Now that you cleaned up your dishwasher, it's time to tackle the fridge. In the past, I'd use some type of spray cleaner or bleach and wipe everything down but this year, I'm going a bit more natural thanks to some tips from Eco Localizer.

You're going to need white vinegar, baking soda, some rags and your vacuum cleaner with hose attachment. First things first, you're going to want to pull everything out of the fridge so you can clean shelves and drawers easily. Make sure you throw stuff that needs to be kept cold into a cooler.

Then, start with the traditional, pull the fridge away from the wall, unplug it and vacuum the coils on the back. This is a good way to gain back some efficiency in your fridge. Once that is done, it's on to the scrubbing.

Using your vinegar you want to spritz down and clean all the surfaces in the fridge. If you come across a particularly gunky bit, use a paste of baking soda and water to get some extra scrubbing power.

Once everything is clean, make sure you wipe it down well to get rid of extra moisture and start adding things back into the fridge. Check expiration dates and make sure to toss out things that have been sitting around for too long.

Step back and enjoy your sparkling clean, nicely organized fridge.

Hey, all of you pregnant or breastfeeding moms out there, you want to get in on this Green Daily giveaway -- a complete MilkBank Storage System Starter Kit!

The MilkBank is a new, better way to store breast milk. With triple-vented, insulated bottles, milk stays warm. And the bottles are easy to clean and guaranteed not to leak. Plus you can feel safe using it with your precious bundle of love because everything in the MilkBank system, even the packaging -- is free of lead, phthalates, PVC, and BPA.

The MilkBank system is sold exclusively at Babies R Us. And you can also win one from us, if you enter befor 5pm EST today!

To enter, go to the original post and leave a comment about the craziest baby shower game you've ever heard of. Remember to use a real email address (we won't spam you!) because that's how we notify winners.

Good luck!