John Parks asked:


In the middle of 2008 Yonkers put together its Green Policy Task Force. This task force was put together to help make Yonkers cleaner and healthier. The task force has the power to pass city policy and legislation. When the task force was put together they worked with the Code Protections team and Code Enforcement teams as well as the Board of Education and the Transportation to figure out how to make sure that they were up to speed on current laws.

Eventually the Green Policy Task Force for Yonkers will work with the schools to help put together a curriculum that helps educate students on how to live “greener” lives and be friendlier to the environment. The city of Yonkers is determined to keep up with the larger cities that are already known for their green practices (like the city of Portland, Oregon which was named the Greenest city of the year for 2007).

By now most people already know the basics: recycle soda pop cans, walk or take the bus instead of driving, but there are more creative ways to reduce reuse and recycle as well! Here are some hints to help you get started:

1. Instead of buying brand name spices, buy some small containers and use them for the spices that you can purchase in bulk. Some stores in Yonkers are starting to offer spices and other things like flour, sugar, pastas, oatmeal, etc. in bulk. Buying these foods helps to reduce the amount of packaging you throw away.

2. Use Tupperware containers instead of plastic bags to transport sandwiches and store leftovers. The Tupperware is recyclable and you can wash it out between uses. This will reduce the amount of trash that you produce by quite a lot!

3. Figure out how to reuse things like soup cans, cardboard boxes, etc—the things you would normally throw away. Cans make great pencil jars. Cardboard boxes can be broken down and used for padding or patching of things.

4. Rather than purchase expensive home cleaners use home made cleaners—vinegar is a fantastic cleaner.

5. Instead of using sponges use washcloths that you make from old clothes. The washcloths can be washed and it will keep you from throwing out your sponges and old clothes. This saves quite a lot of space in Yonkers’ landfills and town dumps.

6. Invest in some canvas bags and reusable bags to go shopping with. These bags last a long time and will cut down on the number of plastic shopping bags that you take home from the grocery store and other stores around Yonkers.

One of the best things about living a “green” lifestyle is that it can save Yonkers’ residents quite a lot of money. Reusing products means that you do not have to replace them with new products. Recycling things cuts down on the amount of space needed for Yonkers’ landfills and dumps. Living green is beneficial for everyone.

For more information on Yonkers, visit http://www.yonkersmicroblog.com. For more information on New Jersey, visithttp://www.njmicroblog.com.

Yodle asked:


With the recession being felt in full force now all across the country, people have begun to take a closer look at their consuming habits and making steps to cut back costs in any way possible. One strategy people have started warming up to again is the brown bag lunch. Spending $10-15 every day of the week on buying lunch at work can add up rather quickly and so we’ve put together a guide that will help reacquaint you with that old childhood lunch box - upgraded for the working class man and woman.

So save some cash and eat well by replacing the business lunch with the business lunchbox.

Tricks of the Trade

Anybody can throw together a cold egg-salad sandwich and some celery, but who wants to sit alone at a desk eating a miserable meal while your coworkers hit up the local Chinese restaurant? The trick to bringing a lunch to work is making a variety of tasty options that won’t leave you bored and resentful after your first week of brown-bagging it. Fortunately for you, there are a wealth of options that will not only make lunch a pleasure, but will also leave your coworkers jealous of your healthy and cost-saving meal.

The first step to take is investing in the right containers and utensils. Replace that plastic bag with a Tupperware container and buy a thermos for soups. Also purchase plastic utensils that you can either pack in your lunch or keep in desk drawer at work. In addition to keeping utensils at work, it’s a good idea to keep some of your favorite condiments at your office such as mustard, salt and pepper, ketchup and hot sauce as none of these require refrigeration.

If your office has a refrigerator, bring your own salad dressings, write your name on the bottle and store it in the fridge. Also, most offices have a microwave available but if they don’t, just check your local corner stores or 7-11’s as most will have one free for use.

Once you’ve got your tools ready, you can finally get to work on bringing your lunch to work!

Buying in Bulk

One of the biggest setbacks people face when attempting to make that step towards making your own lunches involve time-constraints. With family, work and leisure time all competing for your attention, not all of us can set aside 20 minutes every morning to make a tasty lunch. That’s why buying and cooking in bulk has become a popular and highly effective strategy for saving time and money.

When making dinners, cook more than needed so that you will have leftovers to use for the next several days. You would be surprised by how many foods can be tweaked to be made lunchbox friendly - everything from roast beef to grilled salmon make for great meals the next day.

Another option is to make large stews or soups with the intention of freezing the leftovers to be microwaved back at work. A good way to do this is by placing the leftover soup into plastic bags and then freezing them in a cup so that they can stack easier. Then, when you’re at work and feel the hunger, you just remove the plastic bag and place it in a bowl and microwave that sucker for a piping hot fresh soup!

Additionally, soups and stews are some of the only foods that actually get better with age as the ingredients settle together for a more flavorful food.

The Sandwich Solution

The first option you have is to put a twist on the classic sandwich. When deciding on what kind of sandwich to make, avoid recipes that could result in soggy bread or spoiled ingredients. Using a more hearty bread such as a baguette or a roll will keep your sandwich from falling apart and also add to the taste. And if your office lacks a refrigerator, avoid using condiments such as mayonaisse or butter as these ingredients can go bad quickly and spoil a perfectly good sandwich - plus, most of these add unnecessary calories and one of the biggest benefits to making your own lunch relates to health.

So what’s the perfect office sandwich? One great recipe is the classic grilled chicken sandwich. Grilled chicken is great as you can make it for dinner one night and use the leftovers the next day to put on some bread resulting in one very tasty sandwich. Additionally, you can add your own variations to the dish including mozzarella, pesto sauce, tomatoes or lettuce to customize the dish to your liking.

Other satisfying sandwiches include tuna fish (light on the mayo), the classic deli, mozzarella and tomato, hummus and grilled portabella mushroom.

However, don’t feel pressured into conforming to the standard bread-based sandwiches. Wraps and pitas are becoming more common alternatives for those looking to add variety to the standard sandwich.

Tupperware Party

This is the part where the right tools come in to play. Certain foods won’t fit easy into a brown bag or thermos and to avoid getting caught in a soup and sandwich rut, get a hold of some Tupperware containers and watch the world of the business lunchbox open in front of your eyes!

Tupperware makes pastas, salads, rice dishes and other foods all fair game. Most leftovers will easily fit into the containers but some foods hold up better the next day then others.

For instance, salads that have already been mixed with dressing will become soggy and unappetizing by the next day. Additionally, certain cheese-heavy dishes like macaroni-and-cheese or pizza won’t fare so well overnight in a refrigerator.

However, pasta with a light olive oil sauce, feta cheese and fresh tomatoes is an excellent example of a pasta that would be delicious the next day heated up or cold. Other dishes that stand up cold include chicken and salmon, as mentioned earlier, and they can be combined with rice or bread to add variety to the meals.

Bring In, Dine Out

A less obvious but very rewarding reason to bring your lunch in to work is the ability to take it with you anywhere. Just because you brought your own lunch doesn’t mean you can’t step out on a nice day and enjoy it outside or drive to a nearby park with friends or coworkers. Even if you do decide to eat at your desk, use the time you saved by staying in the office to take a walk around the neighborhood or run some personal errands. Remember, it’s not just money that you waste eating out but also valuable time waiting for servers and splitting bills.

So take that final step and join the brown-bag revolution!

Do you have any tips or recipes for good brown-bag lunches? If so, leave your suggestions in the comments section below! Thanks for reading!

Lawren Smithi asked:


General:

Tupperware is the name of a home products line that includes preparation, storage, and serving products for the kitchen and home, which were first introduced in 1946.

Tupperware develops, manufactures, and internationally distributes its products by its parent company Tupperware Brands Corporation and it is marketed by means of direct sales through a sales force of approximately 1.9 million consultants.

Tupperware is sold in roughly 100 countries. The top eleven patrons of Tupperware are:

Germany, USA, France, Mexico, Russia, Australia/New Zealand, Italy, Austria, South Africa, Japan, and India.

Business Model:

Tupperware is still sold mostly by means of parties, with rewards for hosts. A Tupperware party is organized by a Tupperware consultant for a host who invites friends and neighbors into their homes to take a look at the product line. The hosts not only qualifies for credit towards purchases, but are also rewarded with free products based on the level of sales made at their party.

To become a Tupperware Consultant, you must signup with another Tupperware Consultant. Then, you are given two choices on how you want to start your business. There is the option to purchase the Executive Business Kit for $119.99 or you can purchase the Business Kit for $79.99.

Tupperware Consultants are not encouraged to keep inventory, but there is a push for consultants to participate in “sampling”. New Tupperware products are featured each season and consultants are given the chance to purchase these items at 35% discount, which is then counted towards your personal sales.

At first, the money earned is mostly through the sale of Tupperware products. Overtime, after you have developed a team of Tuppeware Consultants, you will earn much more, based on the performance of your downline. You also have the opportunity to win trips, diamonds, cars, and cash bonuses. As mentioned earlier, one of the additional rewards is a car. Tupperware has a program called, Dream Drivers Program, that offers to those who qualify, the use of a company car with no payments and no insurance premiums.

Tupperware Consultant Training:

There are training sessions to attend regularly and part of your training will be to learn about the various new products and promotions that are coming out.

There are also training courses by conference calls and weekly meetings, during which some selling ideas are presented. There is training offered online in the Tupperware sales support website, but this is up to the consultant to seek the online help.

Recruiting:

There is definitely a push for Tupperware recruiting. Tupperware constantly provides spotlight on its “Royalty” sales force members. Managers, DIQs, and Directors are referred to as “Royalty”. You do not earn commissions, you earn “royalties”. Tupperware has started recruiting the Hispanic population and has even added a whole “Hispanic Recruiting” section on its training site.

How Much Can A Tupperware Consultant Earn?

A party in the U.S. costs around $400.00. A Tupperware Consultant can earn $100-$150 for a party that lasts 90 minutes. If a consultant has a sales organization, he or she can earn $50,000-$70,000 a year, and some , who build their own sales organization, are making over $1 million.

Conclusion:

There are no requirements to becoming a Tupperware Consultant. You just need only to believe in the products and sell them. You manage your own business and you can choose to work full-time or part-time.

Overall, the company seemingly is open to anyone to join. The success rate was not mentioned, but I assume that if you have a lot of close friends and family, know a lot of people, or are just good at sales, you can do well in this business.

For those who don’t have a large group of friends or family, and you are not good at sales, you have two choices. Either be willing to learn how to sale or find another opportunity. I don’t think the trainings are going to teach you how to approach people and make a sale. The training focuses primarily on learning about the products and how to host a party. There may be some other trainings offered, but I didn’t see any mentioned.

For those who don’t have the large group of friends or family and who don’t want to do any selling, there is another alternative; a marketing system. A marketing system offers trainings on using the internet to market your business. In addition, a marketing system provides a sales funnel that would allow a Tupperware Consultant to generate income while he or she is learning the various online marketing strategies. This means, no more staying broke while building a Tupperware home business. This would also lessen the impact of having to pay the $400 for a party to market your Tupperware products. A marketing system can provide the income needed to not only support your internet marketing, but it could help pay for other items necessary to building a Tupperware home business.

Anna Hart asked:


Road trips call for preparation, so our car trunk always holds an emergency kit with extra clothing, space blankets, and food snacks. The cup holders below the dashboard always hold water, even on half hour trips – and that’s where this story begins.

Drinking Cups for Road Trips

We used to carry bottled water in the car, refilling the bottles at home. Then we learned too much: about the rapid growth of bacteria in those bottles; about the leeching of plastic into the water; etc. We decided to replace the bottles with drinking cups.

The options were not good, however. Some drinking cups didn’t fit cup holders. Other drinking cups didn’t hold much water. Some didn’t allow for quick sips. Others didn’t close tightly. Some were much too heavy!

We needed light, plastic drinking cups with straws.

The Discovery

That’s when we found Tupperware drinking cups. More specifically, we found Tupperware plastic drinking cups with straws! The company makes a variety of drinking cups that work for car trips. Each one, of course, has a virtually liquid-tight seal on top – and each one is dishwasher safe, so no bacteria!

Some of their drinking cups are more for picnics or hiking, with seals (lids) that have no opening. Those are great in backpacks, even if they tip over. Other Tupperware drinking cups make provision for drinking without removing the lid, and were just what we needed for road trips.

1. The “Insulated Tumbler with Drip-Less Straw Seal” was our choice. This 24-oz. drinking cup has double-wall construction to keep beverages cold or hot for hours. It fits the console cup-holder, and doesn’t tip over. The great “Drip-Less” straw lid minimizes leaks, even on sharp curves. We loved the fact that you use disposable straws in it, so no worry about hygiene there! You don’t have to hand-wash a special straw, or risk putting it in the dishwasher. Any standard straw fits, so you can always stop in a convenience store for more. Of course, the drinking cup itself is dishwasher safe.

2. The “On-the-Go Tumbler” would be great for children on long car trips. This even larger, 32-oz. drinking cup has a tapered base that fits most vehicle cup holders, and the seal eliminates spills. The “On-the-Go Tumbler” has two designs, each with a different picture on the side. One design features a hinged pop-open drinking top. Children don’t have to remove the lid to drink. They simply flip the top open or shut. The other design features a seal with “drip-less” straw opening like the one in the insulated drinking cups with straws that we chose. The liquid-tight lid has a hole for a disposable straw. It would be worth taking these into a fast-food restaurant, and pouring the children’s beverages into them.

3. If you take babies or toddlers on your road trip (those days are gone for us), Tupperware’s “Sipper Seal Set” would be a good choice. For that matter, these drinking cups would be great at home, too. On a trip, you could pack all four, filled and sealed, in a cooler. When your baby (over 6 months) or toddler wants a drink, you simply change out the storage lid for a sipper seal that lets children drink without spills.

The Guarantee

Although I cannot guarantee you will like Tupperware’s plastic drinking cups with straws as much as we do, I can assure you that Tupperware guarantees the products. If you get one of their drinking cups and it gets damaged in normal use, they promise to replace it free of charge for the lifetime of the product. I’m not sure if the drinking cup’s lifetime will be as long as yours, but the guarantee sounds good to me.

If you love road trips as we do, or if you just like to be on-the-go around town, you may want to look into Tupperware’s plastic drinking cups with straws. If I weren’t so busy, I might consider becoming a Tupperware consultant so I could sell them.

By: Anna Hart

Anna Hart asked:


Traditional Tupperware Party Games

Tupperware distributors can choose a Tupperware party game from more than 200 games that focus attention on Tupperware.

* Concentration Tupperware Party Game

Prepare 2 identical sets of 12 square photos of Tupperware products. Paste the photos on plain white cardstock. Arrange shuffled photos upside down on a table: 6 across and 4 down. As guests select two squares at a time, you turn them over. If they are a match, leave them turned. If they do not match, turn them upside down again. Guests must concentrate on where they saw the photos. The person who matches all the photos wins. You can limit the number of guesses permitted to make this Tupperware party game more challenging.

* Word Search Tupperware Party Game

This Tupperware party game is like the word searches you see in word game books except that it uses Tupperware product names. Prepare your word search by arranging letters on a paper in 15 columns and 15 rows. This is done easily on a computer. Among the letters, hide the names of Tupperware products in such a way that they can be spelled out vertically, horizontally, or diagonally. Give each guest a copy of the puzzle and a list of the hidden word. Ask them to find and circle each word in the puzzle. The one who finishes first wins a gift.

* Gift Bag Tupperware Party Game

Each guest is given a small gift bag in this Tupperware party game. You announce that you are going to read a story, and when they hear the word “right” or “left” in the story, they should pass their gift bag in the correct direction while you continue reading. They should never have more than one gift bag at a time, and when the story ends, they keep the gift bag they are holding.

Whatever Tupperware party game is used, the winner often receives a gift-wrapped Tupperware product.

New Tupperware Party Games

Tupperware distributors may use other games at their parties, and some christen their new games as Tupperware party games.

* Parcel-passing Tupperware Party Game

Place a small Tupperware gift in a box. Warp it in a layer of paper. Now wrap it in another layer, and repeat until you have about 10 layers. Finally wrap it in gift paper so it looks nice.

Seat guests in a circle, and play a snippet of music. When the music stops, the person holding the parcel removes ONE layer of wrapping. Repeat until the box is unwrapped. The winner opens the box and keeps the gift.

* Mimes Tupperware Party Game

Several women are taken from the room. Those remaining are warned not to say a word. One is returned, and told to mime something. Example: putting 6 wet eels into a Tupperware bowl and closing the lid securely. Before she starts miming, a second woman is brought into the room and told to watch. When the first woman is done miming, she sits down, and the second is told to do what she just saw. Before she starts, a third woman is brought in to watch, etc. When the last person has done the mime, ask her what she just did. Chances are it will NOT be what the first was told to mime. This Tupperware party game has no winner, so no gift is given.

* Memory Tupperware Party Game

On a tray, place about 10 to 15 Tupperware items (e.g. key chain, midget tumbler, garlic keeper, spatula, salt shaker, ice cream scoop, etc.). Cover the tray with a cloth. Seat guests in a circle.

Place the tray in the middle of the circle and tell guests they will have just 60 seconds to look at what’s under the cloth. Remove the cloth for just 60 seconds. When the time is up, replace the cloth. Now ask each guest in turn to name an object on the tray. The first person who fails to name an object, repeats an object that has already been named, or names something not on the tray is out. The tray is then removed, some or all of the objects replaced and rearranged. The game is re-started with the person following the one who is out. The last person to go “out” is the winner and receives a gift. If this Tupperware party game is too easy for the group, add more objects or reduce the time.

* Chubby Bunnies Tupperware Party Game

Guests try to see how many marshmallows they can stuff into their mouths and still say “Chubby Bunnies”. The winner is the one who can manage the highest number. This Tupperware party game shows how fresh and soft marshmallows are when kept in Tupperware.

* Improvisation Tupperware Party Game

Pair guests into teams of two. Give each team a Tupperware object with which to perform in as many creative ways as possible. Example: a double colander. Hold the white part in front of your face, and say, “Your puck will never get past me!” or “Scalpel, please.” Place the red part on your head, and speak in a robot-like voice. When every team has performed, vote on the best and give both team members a gift.

No matter what Tupperware party game you choose, it is important to prepare before your party. Be sure you have the rules written out in a way that is easy to understand. Try reading them to a 9-year old to be sure you haven’t left out an important point. Have all equipment ready to go – all prizes wrapped.

Tupperware party games are so great at Tupperware parties, you may want to use them at your next birthday party, too.

By: Anna Hart