With job security down and gas prices up, it seems more people than ever are opting for a staycation – finding fun and relaxation at home. If you have even a little money to spend on your summer entertainment, why not spend it sprucing up your own yard to make your staycation even more enjoyable?

With the right plants and conservation practices, you can easily create an inviting place for birds, nature, and your family with minimal cost and effort. The Natural Resources Conservation Service (NRCS), the National Association of Conservation Districts (NACD) and the Wildlife Habitat Council (WHC) offer a free Backyard Conservation booklet that showcases simple backyard conservation practices. These include simple ideas for terracing, tree planting, composting, mulching, wildlife habitat, wetlands, ponds and water conservation.

If you have a larger yard and time to work in it, designing a garden is a natural way to escape for awhile. It’s always best to work with what you have, so depending on the native plants and existing landscaping in your yard, you may choose to plant a woodland landscape, a butterfly garden or a xeriscape garden. All of these garden types are generally easy to plant and maintain and are likely to use plants already existing in your yard.

Patios offer similar benefits to decks, but are made of stone, brick, patio pavers or concrete. If you decide to add a box garden or planters to your patio, plan to locate them in areas that receive consistent sunlight. A small fountain can also add a peaceful feel to your patio or deck and obscure noises from neighbors in an urban area.

As for me, I’m off to spend some time relaxing and watching birds in my backyard!  While I’m there, post a comment about how you escape to your own backyard!

I read today that the White House is going green, so it seems like a good time to find some ways to make my own office greener.

I plan to start with the standard “reduce, reuse and recycle” since I already reduce a lot – using less paper and other resources saves money. Since I do a lot of my business for Star50 online, I already use less paper than more traditional businesses. Of course, there is always more we can all do and I plan to do my part!

Recycling, too, is easy. Simply set up bins in a central location for paper, plastic, glass and aluminum cans. I plan to have paper collection bins in several location throughout the office – near printers, copiers and workstations. If you can’t get recycling picked up at your office, you can either take it home for curbside recycling or drop it off at a recycling center on the way home from work.

With the green bug hitting so many people, greener office supplies are becoming more and more available. You can buy everything from organic cleaning supplies to recycled paper to keep your office environmentally friendly. With all the shipping I do, I was happy to find that I can even buy and use green packing materials! Committing to go green with even one product line such as packing materials, can make a huge difference in a business’s environmental footprint.

Another simple and easy way to go green at work is to turn off computers when they are not in use. According to goinggreen.com, nearly half of U.S. employees who use a PC don’t shut down their computers at the end of the workday, wasting energy costing billions each year.

If you are on and off the computer all day, check out the eco-button that allows you to quickly and easily stop and restart the computer each time you step away from the computer.

You can also reduce your energy usage at the office by replacing light bulbs with CFEs or LED lights when they burn out. Both can save energy and save you money. According to The Daily Green, LEDs can save up to $20 a month in locations where the lights are left on all of the time.

There are so many ways to make my office greener I can’t wait to get started!