Easy Ways to Save Money and Go Green in your Home
Four easy changes you can make this week that will save you thousands of dollars and reduce the carbon imprint you leave on the earth. In today's economy, it just makes sense to look for ways to save money. But what is exciting is that we can make a difference in saving our planet too. Not to mention there are health benefits to living a green lifestyle.
Save the Planet and Save Money Too!
4 Easy Changes You Can Make This Week to Save You Hundreds of Dollars
With the price of food and gas going up everyday, what are some simple things we can do to save money and protect our environment at the same time? It used to be that you were considered a "tree hugger" if you promoted doing things good for the environment. But today, it's a cool thing to be green. So here are 4 easy things you can do to save money by going green.
- CHANGE YOUR SHOWER HEAD
- SHOP WITH REUSABLE BAGS
- STOP USING PAPER TOWELS
- USE CONCENTRATED HOUSEHOLD CLEANERS
Changing to a Low Flow Shower Head Can Save You $70-$120 a Year
Most shower heads use twice the water we need to take a comfortable shower. Using more than we need costs money personally and as a community. We overload our sewer and septic systems as well demand more energy to heat the water. To get clean water for our showers, our communities have to tap rivers and lakes, build dams and reservoirs, and construct processing plants.So take this easy step and convert your showers to low flow models.
It only takes a few minutes and costs about $10. The new aerating shower heads mix air with water creating a steady flow of water.
I switched from a 6 gallon a minute model (quite reluctantly) to one of these and didn't miss my old shower head as much as I expected.
In fact, when the electricity and water bills came in less, I really liked the low flow shower head even better.
Changing to a low flow shower head will save you between $50-75 on water bills and $20-50 on energy bills to heat the water (depending on your usage and local utility rate.)
Are you using low flow shower heads?
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Read More About Saving Money by Changing Shower Heads
- Home Tips : Showerheads That Save Water: Low-flow Showerheads
- Free advice on Showerheads That Save Water: Low-flow Showerheads from leading home improvement and Buying Guides expert Don Vandervort. ****
- Amazon.com: Showerheads - Bathtubs, Showers & Saunas: Home Improvement
- Online shopping for Showerheads Bathtubs, Showers & Saunas from a great selection of Home Improvement; Plumbing & more at everyday low prices.
- Oxygenics® Showerhead - Chrome
- Oxygenics showerheads use 2.5 gallons per minute or less without "low-flow" ... Oxygenics showerheads fit all standard showers; no plumber is required. ...
- Getting Ready for Earth Day: Save Water When You Shower : TreeHugger
- 1) Low-flow showerheads like Bricor's shiny showerhead and this model from Gaiam ... Home Depot has some simple low flow 2.5gpm shower heads for under $5. ...
Save Money Going Green on eBay
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Paper or Plastic: Which is best?
Four facts that may suprise you from Reusable Bags.Com
Q: "So would you like paper or plastic?"A: "Neither BECAUSE..."
1. Both use up valuable natural resources for a single-use, disposable product
2. Both have negative impacts on wildlife and pollute our environment
3. Both create significant toxic by-products during their lifecycles
4. Neither is effectively recycled
n 2001, Ireland consumed 1.2 billion plastic bags, or 316 per person. An extremely successful plastic bag consumption tax, or PlasTax, introduced in 2002 reduced consumption by 90%. Approximately 18,000,000 liters of oil have been saved due to this reduced production. Governments around the world are considering implementing similar measures.
I found these facts on http://www.reusablebags.com.
Take this easy step and reuse your bags.
Use Concentrated Household Cleaners to Save Money and the Planet
Do we really need to ship all that water around the country?
One of the easiest and most economically ways to go green is to switch to concentrated cleaners. Did you know that most of what you are paying for when you buy common cleaners is WATER?
By using concentrates, we reduce the amount of packaging that winds up in landfills, not to mention all those bottles getting shipped from manufacturing plants to the stores and to our homes. That's a lot of gas being used to ship water that we can get from our own tap.
This was the very first change I made over 15 years ago. I was reluctant at first because I figured if the cleaners were natural and good for the earth, they probably wouldn't clean very well. What suprised me is that they worked better. The concentrated cleaner I use takes only 2 drops of cleaner in a 16 oz. spray bottle to make a window cleaner that I was paying over $2.00 for at the time. To be honest, I wasn't really all that concerned about the environment at that time, but I was really concerned about my pocketbook. The savings were unbelievable. That bottle of concentrated cleaner lasted me over a year and it only cost me about $10.
Since then, I've switched all my cleaners to concentrates. The brand I use claims that the cleaners in the household cleaning kit keeps 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills, eliminates 248 pounds of greenhouse gas, and does the environmental equivalent of planing 10 trees.
But most amazing to me is it replaces $3400 worth of cleaning products.
By using concentrates, we reduce the amount of packaging that winds up in landfills, not to mention all those bottles getting shipped from manufacturing plants to the stores and to our homes. That's a lot of gas being used to ship water that we can get from our own tap.
This was the very first change I made over 15 years ago. I was reluctant at first because I figured if the cleaners were natural and good for the earth, they probably wouldn't clean very well. What suprised me is that they worked better. The concentrated cleaner I use takes only 2 drops of cleaner in a 16 oz. spray bottle to make a window cleaner that I was paying over $2.00 for at the time. To be honest, I wasn't really all that concerned about the environment at that time, but I was really concerned about my pocketbook. The savings were unbelievable. That bottle of concentrated cleaner lasted me over a year and it only cost me about $10.
Since then, I've switched all my cleaners to concentrates. The brand I use claims that the cleaners in the household cleaning kit keeps 108 pounds of packaging waste from landfills, eliminates 248 pounds of greenhouse gas, and does the environmental equivalent of planing 10 trees.
But most amazing to me is it replaces $3400 worth of cleaning products.
Best Concentrated Cleaners
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Stop Using Paper Towels...
or at Least Reduce the Number You Use
Imagine how much trash we generate from paper towels alone. I don't know about your family, but used to use them for everything. It's embarrassing to admit that we used them to dry our hands on.
Several years ago, my husband and I were house guests at a prominent surgeon's home in Atlanta. When were were served breakfast, I was shocked that were were given dish towels as napkins. I had always used paper napkins. So it struck me that I was a bit wasteful and my friend, the surgeon, who had really no reason to pinch pennies on napkins was really concerned about doing little things to help the environment.
So our first step was to do away with the paper towels. We just simply quite buying them. That broke us of the habit of drying our hands on them. Now we clean up our spills and dry our hands on dishtowels. (The old fashioned way.)
I have a business mentor and she says we spend the money because we have the money. Many times we aren't really thinking. So, I encourage you to take a small step and stop using paper towels.
Our next step is to stop using the paper napkins. I'm having a hard time with this one. I just really don't like to do laundry.
But, I don't think I'll go so far as to stop using toilet paper. That's too extreme for me.
Click here to read more about Greener Cleaning on Twitter...my personal account of the struggles of going green in a community that doesn't support it.
Several years ago, my husband and I were house guests at a prominent surgeon's home in Atlanta. When were were served breakfast, I was shocked that were were given dish towels as napkins. I had always used paper napkins. So it struck me that I was a bit wasteful and my friend, the surgeon, who had really no reason to pinch pennies on napkins was really concerned about doing little things to help the environment.
So our first step was to do away with the paper towels. We just simply quite buying them. That broke us of the habit of drying our hands on them. Now we clean up our spills and dry our hands on dishtowels. (The old fashioned way.)
I have a business mentor and she says we spend the money because we have the money. Many times we aren't really thinking. So, I encourage you to take a small step and stop using paper towels.
Our next step is to stop using the paper napkins. I'm having a hard time with this one. I just really don't like to do laundry.
But, I don't think I'll go so far as to stop using toilet paper. That's too extreme for me.
Click here to read more about Greener Cleaning on Twitter...my personal account of the struggles of going green in a community that doesn't support it.
Going Green on Amazon
Books to Help You Save Money by Going Green
Go Green, Live Rich: 50 Simple Ways to Save the Earth and Get Rich Trying
Amazon Price: $10.17 (as of 01/03/2010) 
Got Sun? Go Solar: Get Free Renewable Energy to Power Your Grid-Tied Home
Amazon Price: (as of 01/03/2010)
Go Green: How to Build an Earth-Friendly Community
Amazon Price: $11.04 (as of 01/03/2010)
Growing Up Green: Baby and Child Care: Volume 2 in the Bestselling Green This! Series
Amazon Price: $13.63 (as of 01/03/2010)
Gorgeously Green: 8 Simple Steps to an Earth-Friendly Life
Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 01/03/2010)
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- green-mahma green-mahma Oct 16, 2009 @ 3:05 pm | in reply to alphia1
- Awesome. You are on your way to saving money and helping the planet. Keep making those small changes.
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- alphia1 alphia1 Oct 16, 2009 @ 1:59 pm
- I am working on greening up my house. I refuse to use papertowels, I took a few buck went to the dollar store bought several pack of cheap wash clothes in a variety of bright colors, the kids will only use their favorite colors. We use some for cleaning and some for wiping our hands. When they get old, I use them for dish clothes. I also changed all my light bulbs to energy effience lights and noticed aprox $50.00 decrease in my light bill every month ( you know kids every light on). I have also bought a tankless hotwater heater and we will be installing it soon. I,ll let you know how it goes.
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- Karen Pore Karen Pore Sep 1, 2009 @ 2:21 am
- Love It!!! Switching my thermostat made a huge difference for me and saved me some money as well:) http://www.SwitchYourHouse.com
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- chicken-coop-plans chicken-coop-plans May 21, 2009 @ 1:35 pm
- Great info here. It can be hard work being green sometimes, but it is well worth it.
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- BarterQuest BarterQuest May 19, 2009 @ 8:58 am
- nice lens, I love your tips!
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by green-mahma
Hi, I'm Carla Clayton. I'm part of a nationwide coalition of moms committed to making a difference in our homes, communities, and our world. If you'd... (more)
