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
| Jun 05, 2012
What, if any, contaminants could be lurking in home compost piles? Conscious gardeners tend to want to know exactly what is in their fertilizer. That's why I interviewed three professors...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Mar 15, 2012
How much do you spend on plastic food storage containers? And how much do you spend on yogurt? Here's an epic idea that the crunchy set has been doing forever: save your yogurt containers....
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Feb 09, 2012
In his newest album, Volcanic Sunlight, Saul Williams sings about his heart, city streets and embracing the underbelly while enjoying...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Feb 06, 2012
You know the old saying, "There goes the neighborhood"? In today's urban American real estate climate, it's more likely to mean that yuppies are moving into a lower-income neighborhood...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Dec 25, 2011
Here's a question for other people who publish websites and blogs: Why do we perpetuate the barrage of self hatred improvement articles that flood the internet this time of year? It's...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Dec 15, 2011
We normally unwrap takeout chopsticks, eat with them and dispose of them without much thought. Recently, though, there has been a small wave of transnational activism aimed at reducing...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Nov 30, 2011
Certain embarrassments come with being the editor of a home & garden website, usually involving the deplorable condition of my own apartment. Not to compare myself to the queen...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Nov 18, 2011
Squeaky hardwood floors might just seem like an inevitable fact of life, something that is bound to happen as a home ages. While they can be experienced as a kind of charming aural...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Nov 10, 2011
Thanksgiving is upon us and what a day it will be: Reuniting with family and friends, getting outside for that annual flag football game with your favorite cousins, and of course, all...
Posted by Chaya Kurtz
| Oct 23, 2011
The one lie that I told my husband while we were dating was that I am a good housekeeper. The apartment of my carefree single days (and by carefree I mean working 60 hours a week at...