Santa Monica residents Erin Bunch and Michelle Vick were trying to climb the entertainment industry's corporate ladder when they realized one crucial thing: They were constantly broke. Despite student loans and entry-level salaries, the two assistants were expected to look, act and dress the part of savvy Hollywood networkers, and it was killing their pocketbooks.

But they also noticed they were getting pretty good at looking like a million bucks on a small budget. The pair became so good at it, in fact, that they decided to quit their jobs and found their own start-up to share tips and stories on how to do Los Angeles on a dime. Called the Broke Girl's Guide, it's currently raising an angel round of funding.

Read the Q&A on the Huffington Post to find out which Santa Monica vintage stores they frequent and other hotspots for good L.A. deals.

Click here to read the full story on the Huffington Post.

Be sure to like Culver City Patch on Facebook and follow us on Twitter. 

(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

Spring is here. And it’s time to cut the clutter and create a clean space, making room in mind, body, spirit and home for the people and things that truly matter to you. With natural products (free from toxic chemicals) and a little elbow grease, you can welcome the new season into your home.

In honor of Earth Day, here are 10 easy steps to get you started on a spring home cleaning that Mother Nature would be proud of.

(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

1. Take a home inventory. Go through each room with two giant garbage bags: one for items to be donated and one for items to be recycled. Be swift: don’t linger on imagined emotional connections to material objects. Learn to relish the joy of less. Embrace minimalism.

2. Make a vow to ditch paper towels. As you clear out your linen closet, gather any shabby or stained towels and washcloths and cut them into reusable rags.

3. Create your own green cleaning products. Mix half a cup of vinegar with a quarter cup of baking soda in a half-gallon spray bottle. You now have your own all-purpose green cleaning solution, at a fraction of the cost of the store-bought, chemical-filled version.

(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

4. Scour your tub and kitchen sink by mixing vinegar and baking soda. Some surfaces require a grittier cleaning solution. Soak your sponge in vinegar and sprinkle the surface with baking soda. Remember that elbow grease we mentioned? Here’s where you really put it to work.

5. Wash your floors with reusable microfiber cloths and a natural solution. The ProMist Microfiber Spray Mop by O-Cedar comes with ecofriendly, reusable pads; you can even add your own cleaning solution. For your hardwood floors, mix one cup vinegar and a few drops of baby or olive oil in one gallon of hot water.

Learn more Eco-Tips for a greener life.

6. Freshen up your fridge. It’s time to make room for spring’s veggie bounty. Check the dates on all products, particularly stuff pushed to the back and forgotten about. Anything that’s passed its freshness date — or looks (smells) a little funny — should be tossed. Wash the surfaces with vinegar, an effective and food-safe cleaner. Don’t forget to wipe away those dust bunnies hiding under the refrigerator.

(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

7. Clean the air with houseplants. Spider plants are super efficient air purifiers, and certainly very green! Add a few plants to the areas in your home where you spend the most time. For small, dark spaces, hang a Moso Bag. This fragrance-free, natural air-purifying bag contains moso bamboo, which absorbs and filters odors, harmful pollutants, allergens and bacteria while dehumidifying.

8. Line dry your linens. Dry your linens and clothes the old-fashioned way: on a line in the backyard. You’ll save energy, and that ultra-fresh smell will keep you coming back to the clothespins for as long as the weather cooperates.

9. Switch to a green energy option with your local utility provider. Many utility companies now let you purchase renewable energy at a slightly higher premium. And cutting down on your energy usage might actually negate the price change. Call up now, inquire and make the switch.

(Photo Credit: Thinkstock)

10. Enlist your kids to help. Spend time around the yard taking care of Mother Earth, and instill a love of nature in your children at the same time. Clean out the weeds and sticks from a fallow garden, then let them choose the flowers or vegetables to plant. If it’s fun, the kids will be clamoring to help.

Check out more kid-friendly environmental activities.

Visit the Earth Day section at CBS Local.

Amy Bizzarri is a Chicago based writer and mom. She blogs at tiramisumom.com.

Green Jobs and Beyond: The Next American Economy

6pm Presentation
7pm Book Sales and Signing of Rebuild the Dream

A new movement is rising all across America to reform our economy and improve the lives of middle class Americans and the planet. Van Jones calls this new wave of energy the “American Dream Movement.” It’s growing stronger by the day, and it’s not going away until Americans can find jobs, afford to go to college, retire with dignity, and secure a future for their children and their communities. Van Jones is a Senior Fellow at American Progress and is an expert on “green-collar jobs” and how cities are implementing job-creating climate solutions. Jones is a globally recognized, award-winning pioneer in human rights and the clean energy economy.

www.sustainableworks.org

Transition Mar Vista/Venice is a local grassroots group on the west side of Los Angeles. Their mission is to help guide our community away from oil dependency and towards a more local resilience. They raise awareness about the issues of peak oil, climate change and economic contraction, and seek to address these challenges through community-building and other projects.

Transition Mar Vista will be hosting a very cool100-Mile-Meal at
The Learning Garden @ Venice High on March 31. It's all about raising awareness about food re-localization. It was a very successful event last year, and this year has been included as one of the scheduled events for the
Mayor's Day of Service.

mvccgreentent.blogspot.com…

After picking up some great tips at the workshop, you can get started with home composting. Subsidized composting bins are available to residents year-round. Visit us online at www.smgov.net/r3 or call 310.458.2223 for more information.
Virginia Avenue Park is located at 2200 Virginia Ave, Santa Monica.

***

SolarCity doesn’t sell or install SunPower panels, a rival installer told GTM, “and SunPower, it is agreed on, is the best panel. They have the highest cell efficiency and the highest panel efficiency.” SunPower’s panels have “a 20.1 percent efficiency,” the installer, who will remain unnamed, explained, while the other panels on the market “are around 14 percent to 15 percent.”

“SunPower started as a panel maker. SolarCity started as an installer,” he went on. And while SolarCity pioneered the no-upfront-cost lease program for residential rooftop solar installations, “SunPower now has a similar program so consumers don’t have to choose between panel quality and high upfront costs.” But, he added, “they still have different business models because SunPower sells its own panels.”

“There is a really intense competition between them,” the independent installer said. They are “the two biggest players in the market.” He chooses to offer his customers SunPower panels even though they are more costly, the installer added, precisely because of their higher quality. “It’s a big question for everybody now,” he explained. “How much more is the better panel worth?”

Ben Tarbell, SolarCity Vice President for Products, answered for his company by describing SolarCity as "technology-agnostic." He added, “We don’t have commitments to any one manufacturer. Today we’re installing panels from companies like Kyocera, Yingli, Trina, and Suniva. We’ve installed more than 20 different types of panels."

“We’re very concerned about panel reliability and quality,” added SolarCity spokesperson Jonathan Bass. “We constantly re-evaluate technology and choose the best technology available.”

“We offer high-efficiency modules,” Tarbell said. “The situation that merits it is if you are trying to get high production out of a relatively smaller space.” But, he explained, “the measure of the economics of a panel is the cost per kilowatt-hour produced. If you’ve got a higher efficiency panel that is more expensive, typically, the cost per kilowatt-hour produced is also going to be higher.”

More importantly, he added, “Let’s make sure we don’t conflate efficiency with quality.” Efficiency is not what matters to most customers,” he explained. “It’s cost-effectiveness.” He then said, “If all things were equal, higher efficiency is likely to yield a better cost of electricity. But the challenge is that higher efficiency panels often cost a lot more. You lose any benefits, in terms of cost effectiveness, that efficiency would enable, because you’re paying much, much more for the benefits that you gain.”

Materials Science/Mechanical Engineering Professor at Queen’s University and Michigan Technological University Joshua Pearce, whose landmark 2011 study showed rooftop solar’s levelized cost of electricity (LCOE) has reached grid parity, essentially agreed with Tarbell. But “it is complicated,” Pearce added.

SunPower’s products, he said, “are overall more efficient modules and with better device design and light capture than standard modules. This gives them more energy per watt and more watts per square feet.”

For “a small apartment complex in Japan,” Pearce said, that needs “the highest efficiency modules or else you’re not going to get anything, you can’t mess around with a low-efficiency amorphous silicon panel.”

But, he said, “if you are in a typical American home and you’re putting on a four-kilowatt system, and you’ve got so much space that it doesn’t really matter, then you can go to the lowest cost per watt,” even though “you’re still looking for the lowest cost per kilowatt-hour and that lowest cost per watt may steer you in the wrong direction if you’re not paying attention to what the output is of different types of modules in different locations.”

The average consumer, Pearce said, “is going to buy polysilicon modules, because they are the least expensive.” Most of the silicon, he explained, comes “from only a couple of suppliers” and is made in China into “more or less the same quality of wafers that are then put in the same type of modules, no matter which company it is, and shipped to your door.”

Pearce said a consumer isn’t likely to go wrong with panels from any of the name brands. “You can have some faith that because they’re selling tens of thousands of them, they’re more or less good. I wouldn’t disparage any of the top manufacturers. I think all of them are pretty good.”

Bass said SolarCity’s success is based on designing “a system that is optimal for the customer,” whether or not it includes the most efficient panels.

“You have a solar system that produces 100 kilowatt-hours over a given period of time and it costs $100,” Bass hypothesized. “And you have another solar system that produces 120 kilowatt-hours over the same period of time but it costs $140. Which system are you going to buy?"

Elaborating on this example, he added: “And let’s say you can increase the area of the solar system that produced 100 kilowatt-hours to produce 120 kilowatt-hours and pay $120. There you have a slightly larger system in area that produces 120 kilowatt-hours for $120 and a slightly smaller system that produces 120 kilowatt-hours for $140. Which system are you going to buy?”

We will spend 60 minutes discussing the environmental problems relating to Water and Food as well as solutions participants can implement after completing the workshop. Presenters from partner organization will be available for participants to network with.  Horticulturist & Master Gardener Idalia Ramirez will be on hand and she will have information on…

Time:March 24, 2012 from 2pm to 4pm
Location:YWCA Santa Monica/Westside
Street:2019 14th Street
City/Town:Santa Monica 90405
Website or Map:http://www.sustainableworks.e…
Phone:310-458-8716 x4
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Join Sustainable Works & Gourmandise chef & co-owner Clemence Gossett at the SM Farmer’s Market as we shop for sustainably produced foods. Then head to the Gourmandise School to learn about the environmental problems related to Shopping & Food and receive impactful solutions to these problems.  We will finish the morning with a wonderful dish prepared by…

Time:April 11, 2012 from 9am to 11:30am
Location:The Gourmandise School
Street:395 Santa Monica Place
City/Town:Santa Monica
Website or Map:http://www.sustainableworks.e…
Phone:310-458-8716 x4
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STUDIO CITY (CBS) — Good compost — it’s the secret to a lush and beautiful garden.

Green expert Nick Federoff appeared on KCAL9 News at 9 a.m. Saturday to explain.

For more information, visit ThingsGreen.com.

Photo Credit: ThinkStock

Encompassing an expansive 464 square miles, sprawling Los Angeles affords lovers a plethora of romantic hiking venues. So walk hand-in-hand, smell the roses, and get your juices flowing at the same time by following any of the trails at the memorable spots listed below.

A visit to any public botanical gardens insinuates crowds gathering to drink in lush greenery. Still, this urban retreat offers plenty of hiking opportunities that allow for getting close by taking on a circuitous route through dozens of acres of tree-canopied hiding places. Just be sure to  end up at the serene Japanese tea garden where lovers can look into each others’ eyes without any interference. Romance has blossomed at Descanso since 1953.

Photo Credit: CBS LA

Griffith Park provides myriad hiking opportunities, but perhaps the most romantic begins at the Griffith Observatory’s parking lot. From there, a trail filled with all kinds of hidden places in which to canoodle in private leads to the Mount Hollywood summit. Astounding views of Los Angeles inspire even more romantic moments.

Solstice Canyon
Corral Canyon Rd. and Solstice Canyon Rd. intersection
Malibu, CA 90265
www.nps.gov

Opting to hike any of the five trails at Solstice Canyon means plenty of alone time, shared only with the wildlife, which include lots of deer to share with your dear. The three-mile Rising Sun Trail is perhaps the most romantic, as the end of this long walk promises sweeping views of the Pacific below.

Related: Best places for first dates in Los Angeles.

Photo Credit: ThinkStock

Will Rogers State Park
Pacific Palisades, CA
Price: Free; $7 parking
www.parks.ca.gov

This 186-acre retreat is ripe for romantic hikers who take the three-mile loop that ends at  Inspiration Point. Not only will you be, well, inspired there by the sight of the entire Los Angeles basin, from the Pacific to downtown, but you’ll also avoid being too winded to enjoy the scenery. Another plus: This state park was originally owned by actor Will Rogers who bequeathed his picturesque property to the public in 1944 after his widow died, to the great relief of ardent  lovers everywhere.

This storied downtown enclave that debuted back in 1781 offers 575 acres of natural beauty with hiking trails ready and waiting for romantic moments to live in the grasp of a lot of history. Along the way, stop and study the Portola Trail Historical Monument and the Victory Memorial Grove, both landmarks of great prominence in this alluring urban escape ideal for anyone with stars in their eyes.

Related: Most romantic restaurants in Los Angeles.

Los Angeles freelance travel writer Jane Lasky, contributes to publications such as Travel + Leisure, Vogue and Esquire. Her weekly sojourning column ran in 40 newspapers for 20 years. Jane is anything but an accidental tourist. Check out her articles on Examiner.com.

Sustainable Works 6-Week Los Angeles Green Living Workshop

Save Money By Learning Solutions to Today’s Greatest Environmental Challenges!

*Workshops meet for six sessions at the same location and time.*

Action Oriented 1½ hour 6 week Workshop series covers Water, Energy, Waste, Chemicals, Transportation, Shopping/Food:

• Reduce your Energy & Water usage
• Save $ on Utilities
• Cut landfill Waste
• Understand latest Eco-info

With the help of the Sustainable WorksBook, participants review and take action on ten related solutions.
 
The 6 week workshop is FREE to residents of Council District 11
Funding provided by LADWP through a grant from the US Dept of Energy
 
Workshop Participants can receive Resource Saving Tools and win Raffle Prizes.

To sign up go to:  www.sustainableworks.eventbrite.com

Loyola Marymount University Room MAL 460C
1 LMU Drive                     
Los Angeles, CA 900456 Thursday Meetings, Starting February 16, 2012:
2/16, 2/23, 3/1, 3/8, 3/15, 3/22
7:00pm – 8:30pm
 
West LA Municipal Bldg. Hearing Room #200
1645 Corinth Ave.                  
Los Angeles, CA 90025
 6 Tuesday Meetings, Starting March 13, 2012
3/13, 3/20, 3/27, 4/3, 4/10, 4/17
7:00pm – 8:30pm

Sherman Oaks Galleria
15301 Ventura Blvd. Community Room                     
Sherman Oaks, CA 91403
 6 Wednesday Meetings, Starting March 21, 2012:
3/21, 3/28, 4/4, 4/11, 4/25, & 5/2 No Mtg. 4/18
7:00pm – 8:30pm

RELATED

1. SustainableWorks Green Living Workshops Coming This Summer
2. Sustainable Works 6-Week Los Angeles Green Living Workshop
3. Sustainable Works 6-Week Green Living Workshop at Temple Isaiah in West LA

For many years, research focused on the practical view of socialization. As they grew older, people with more developed social connections could get a ride to the doctor, find someone to lend a hand with physical care or go out to dinner with companions. And this is indeed an important part of the picture. However, it is now known that this isn’t the whole story of why social engagement is so important.

According to researchers at Brigham Young University and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, who pooled data from 148 studies involving more than 300,000 men and women across the developed world, those with poor social ties had an average of 50 percent higher odds of death in the study’s follow-up period (an average of 7.5 years) than those with “robust” social ties.

“Right at Home caregivers not only offer homemaking, physical assistance and wellness care services, but they ensure the beloved family member enjoys social interaction on a regular basis,” said Tim Petlin, Owner or Right at Home of West Los Angeles. “Our caregivers have a genuine interest in helping seniors live a better quality of life, and as a result, relationships are built over time.”

Among the aging, the lack of ongoing relationships and love is a common concern, and the connection between relationships and life expectancy is not a new theory. One health problem reported by Medical News Today links the risk of developing Alzheimer’s disease in old age to social isolation. Loneliness was linked to lower levels of cognitive function as well as more rapid decline of function. People who identified themselves as lonely experienced double the risk of developing Alzheimer’s than those who described themselves as least lonely. According to AgeInPlace.com, an online resource that helps seniors maintain their quality of life, 28 percent of Americans older than age 65 live alone. It is important for seniors and caregivers to be aware of the potential for social isolation and how to create opportunities to develop personal bonds with others.

Additionally, gerontologists state that maintaining human relationships promotes healthy aging in many ways, including:
• Strengthening the immune system
• Lowering blood pressure
• Encouraging physical fitness
• Improving sleep
• Motivating good nutrition
• Reducing the perception of pain

Love from friends and family could be the key to ensuring a longer, happier life. Remember your loved one this Valentine’s Day by giving a cherished gift – your time. For suggestions and recommendations on providing care for aging loved ones, go to www.RAHWestLA.com.

RELATED

1. American Cancer Society Relay For Life of Culver City 5/15
2. Life Stories and Bringing Stories To Life w/Michael D. McCarty 3/8
3. Relay for Life of Culver City May 15th

Well Baby Center, 12316 Venice Blvd., Mar Vista, CA 90066 (310) 402-2229 ext 101

Tix:                   $30 in advance at…

Time:February 18, 2012 from 11am to 6pm
Location:Seven to ten modern homes on the Westside
Website or Map:http://venice.modernhometours…
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"I'm new here. So far my big challenge is getting started. I do have a question. I do want to eat organic. Let's say I get a small plant, like an herb, from Home Depot or a similar store, I plant
it and grow it organically with no man-made chemicals are pesticides. Does that make the plant organic? Is it kind of organic? If I keep it growing year-after-year and grow it organically, will
...