The Green Year: 365 Small Things You Can Do to Make a Big Difference by Jodi Helmer is a great book full of simple suggestions to green your life any and every day of the year. You don’t have to start at January 1 either. Pick up the book and start any today, start today.

The suggestion for July 21 is put garbage where it belongs…in the trash can and not the toilet. It says to not flush things like cigarette butts and dead bugs down the toilet. Simple enough for those who need a reminder. Tomorrow’s tip is turn the lights off when you leave a room. See, it really is the small stuff that can make a difference.

While many of the suggestions are things that I have already done, like changing out my light bulbs and recycling. There are some great tips and ideas that I didn’t know about or think to implement. Like in my garden. I keep having problems with cats deciding to use my garden as a litter box. Yuck, gross, hate it. I spread vinegar around the edge which kept them away for two days until it rained.

In The Green Year, author Jodi Helmer suggests grinding citrus peel and putting them in the garden to keep the cats away. Great idea. I know cats hate citrus as I spray lemon juice around my home where they like to scratch but I never thought about using the peels in the garden. Fab idea.

The whole book is chock full of simple, clever and sometimes fun ways to green small areas of your life. This can be really useful to some who just feel overwhelmed about going green, they complain they don’t know where to start or what to do. Well, The Green Year is the simplest book, set up with a one day at a time approach so no one gets overwhelmed.

While not for really seasoned greenies, newbies to the green world will find it to be a valuable resource that they can use then pass along to friends and family.

Helmer herself, is a greenie who has written for many green publications including Plenty and ReadyMade. She is also the author of The Complete Idiot’s Guide to Green Careers. You can visit her at www.green-year.com

[This post was written by Wenona Napolitano.]