Free House Plans Help You Build Green
September 23, 2008 by boygreen · Leave a Comment
If you’ve decided to build a custom home, you’ve probably realized that design fees can take over a huge chunk of your budget, and often need to be paid for out of pocket prior to obtaining financing. Many people opt for stock house plans rather than custom designs in an effort to reduce costs, which can be a great option. Stock house plans are often thousands less than custom house plans, and can also save time since you won’t have to wait for the plans to be drafted.
Two websites have recently popped up offering free house plans. Yes, FREE! I’ve downloaded copies of the free house plans from both sites, and they are the real deal. Here are the details:
FreeGreen.com offers several free house plans. The plans include a LEED® checklist and green building notes. The site offers several different styles, including a spanish villa, a modern, and a more traditionally styled house. The plans range from about 1600-2000 square feet.
TheHousePlanSite.com offers a free contemporary house plan as well as several other reasonably priced modern stock house plans. The free plan is just over 2000 square feet and includes some green building notes. A customer service rep said they have plans to introduce new free plans on a quarterly or semi-annual basis.
When planning your budget, keep in mind that even with stock plans, you may incur some additional costs for changes required by your building department as well as engineering. LEED certification can also add to the total cost, but may increase the value of your home once complete.
Is Organic Candy an Oxymoron?
September 21, 2008 by boygreen · 1 Comment
A friend of mine recently ordered a bunch of organic candy to give out to the kids this Halloween. She’s really concerned about watching what she gives her kids, not wanting them to eat junk food and chemicals, and she’s always toting around a huge bag of organic snacks, just in case. This got me thinking about the idea of organic candy - can candy be healthy? So I did a little research.
The idea behind organic candy isn’t that being organic makes it “sugar-free” or even healthy. Most candy is filled with artificial flavors, artificial colors (ie: Red#…) preservatives, and other random chemicals with unpronounceable names. In addition, the ingredients used may contain pesticides. All natural candy, or organic candy, is simply that - all natural. No artificial anything. An organic label, specifically USDA Organic Certified, ensures the ingredients used don’t contain pesticide residue and aren’t processed with any chemicals or non-natural ingredients. Organic candy probably still has sugar in it, but it’s likely organic sugar, and you probably won’t find any high-fructose corn syrup on the ingredient list.
So is it an oxymoron? In my opinion, no. Candy can be chemical free. So, if you’re going to eat candy, go for the most natural, chemical-free version you can find. Look for the “Certified Organic” label, or check the ingredients to see what you’re getting before you put that candy bar in your cart.
I avoid artificial chemicals and try to go organic whenever possible, so I think I’ll give it a try. I placed an order for some organic lollipops and other goodies on SugarCoatedOrganics.com and I’ll post a taste-test review as soon as they arrive.