Chaya Kurtz
Chaya is the former editor of Networx.com. Her work has also been published in the Sourcebooks anthology Jewish Daughter Diaries and on a bevy of websites. Chaya's goal is to help people to make greener, more efficient home & garden choices. She is based in NYC and enjoys urban gardening, DIY home design and healthy cooking.
Passionate about recycling and helping people go green, Chaya has written countless articles on Networx.com about simple tips and tricks for recycling things we would normally toss in the trash without a thought. She also gives valuable advice for cleaning your home without using harmful chemicals.
In her article “Eight Ways to Reuse and Upcycle Milk Jugs” (https://www.networx.com/article/reuse-and-upcycle-milk-jugs) she gives many ideas about alternative uses for milk jugs, such making colorful lanterns, creating a slow-drip irrigation system for your plants for while you’re away from your home, and even making jewelry boxes and halloween decorations! She also provides equally creative ideas for ways to recycle plastic bread tags in her article, “Six Clever Re-Uses for Plastic Bread Tags” (https://www.networx.com/article/clever-re-uses-for-plastic-bread-tags). She suggests reusing bread tags for labeling cords, scraping hard-to-reach cracks (like the corners of a baking pan), labeling plants, marking the end of a tape roll, and using it as a makeshift guitar pick.
Chaya details several non-toxic cleaning solutions in her article “Bathroom Cleaning Ideas Without Air Contaminants” (https://www.networx.com/article/bathroom-cleaning-ideas-without-air-cont). In her article, she explains that you can restore your toilet to it’s pure, unscented glory simply by pouring one cup of vinegar into the toilet bowl, squirting castile soap under the rim, followed by scrubbing and flushing the toilet. Similarly, she writes that tubs can also be cleaned with vinegar and baking soda. She also reveals in this article that a mirror can be cleaned just using water and a black and white newspaper, of all things.
Check out more of her articles below for more green tips for your home!
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 29, 2013
Mother's Day is an opportunity to give a gift from the heart. Or maybe from the workshop? If you or your mom are home improvement enthusiasts, check out this Mother's Day Gift Guide...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 25, 2013
Every summer, thousands of homeowners embark on sweaty, dusty, angst-filled journeys. No, I am not speaking about the annual journey to retrieve their children from college for summer...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 25, 2013
As a New Yorker, the one piece of garbage that I am most likely to acquire and then throw into an overstuffed landfill is a paper coffee cup, with its ubiquitous plastic lid. In the...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 24, 2013
I am not sure if there exists a better smell than lilacs on a breezy summer night. What's more, their bright green foliage and clusters of tiny purple flowers bring a soft beauty to...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 24, 2013
I'm not sure how you are feeling, but right about now I could go for the squishy delight of a good arm chair. I'm talking about the kind of arm chair that makes you relax just by sitting...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 23, 2013
I read this morning in Real Simple (You have a problem with that? Say it to my face.) that well-known financial advisers recommend the following ratios for spending and saving take-home...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 22, 2013
Can you imagine not being able to use your own kitchen? In her great essay about designing a wheelchair accessible kitchen, Dr. Rosemary Rossetti calls the kitchen "the most important...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 22, 2013
Guys, I hate to break it to you, but your neighbor's toilet might clean itself. It is this fact, released by the plumbing fixture manufacturer Toto last week, that brings me to make...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 21, 2013
The words "house guest" usually conjure up feelings of privacy being invaded, coffee cups being left on the table, and the bathroom being unavailable when you need it most. That's why...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Apr 18, 2013
1. Because seeds are rad.
2. Because crocuses bloom early.
...