How to Go Green and Save Money

Guide Note: Going green doesn't mean breaking the bank to buy the newest hybrid, eco-luxe designer jeans, or pricey cleaning products. Whether you are out shopping, on the road, or puttering around the house, there are scores of small changes you can make to your life and lifestyle which will help you live more sustainably and at the same time put more money in your pocket. Our guide to How to Go Green and Save Money will help you identify what you could be doing to save the planet, and save some green of your own.

Table of Contents:

Introduction

You too, can roll in the green stuff. (Creative Commons photo by Lanuiop)
You too, can roll in the green stuff. (Creative Commons photo by Lanuiop)
  • There are plenty of high-priced green goods out there. But you don't need the new hybrid Lexus to prove your green intentions. In fact, if saving the environment means living more simply, it's quite natural to assume that you will save money on the way. While marketers may try to sell you a simpler, greener lifestyle, there are some quick and easy ways to get it without spending a dime.
  • One of the most important facts to remember when saving money by going green is that small changes can result in big savings over the long-term. Since we are usually designed to think in terms of immediate rewards, much of the savings to be found by going green may not become apparent for a few months. But when you get your next water, electric, or gas bill, you'll be surprised at how much you can save. Or when you stop purchasing plastic items that you can easily create yourself from reusable materials, you'll find that you have more money each month than you thought. Or when you sell those old clothes you have on eBay, instead of throwing them away, you'll find a lot more green lying around your house (and I don't mean mold.) Making some small changes can over time accrue and result in big savings.
  • Best of all, all of these tips will not only save you money and clear your conscience, but can also be a lot of fun to make happen. So take advantage of this advice: it's a win-win situation!

Step 1: Cheap Green Shopping Tips

  • The first place you probably want to save money is at the store. We all know that buying organic costs more, and this might make you uneasy about going green at all. But perhaps all you need is a different perspective on green shopping. We'll take you through some simple steps to save money while you're shoppin' till you drop.
  • The best way to save money is to buy less in the first place. Even if you're a shopaholic, here are some ways you can offset your compulsions.
  1. Buy in larger sizes and buy in bulk. You pay less and you reduce packaging. If you can't use all of the product, split it with friends and family, or consider starting a buying club. If you buy food from those bulk food bins at the supermarket, you pay less, buy what you need, and don't generate as much packaging waste.
    Be fresh. Shop at the farmer's market. (Creative Commons photo by Kevin Stumpr)
    Be fresh. Shop at the farmer's market. (Creative Commons photo by Kevin Stumpr)
  2. Shop at the Farmer's Market. You'll sometimes pay less for those often expensive organic fruits and vegetables, and by buying locally, you help reduce oil consumption. How did you think those bananas from Honduras got into your supermarket? Fuel was burned to get them there. Buying locally supports small farmers and helps reduce carbon emissions.
  3. Buy less meat. Meat is almost always more expensive than vegetables. If you devote just one night per week to a meatless meal, you'll save. And you'll end up doing your part to stop global warming, too.
  4. Don't throw away leftovers. Leftovers can often be re-heated, and if you're resourceful, turned into entirely new meals. Think leftovers first, and then think about cooking a new meal. A recent study in Britain revealed that UK residents dispose of 6.7 million tons of leftover food into landfills every year. Eating leftovers not only reduces meat consumption, it also prevents the methane released from rotting food from entering the atmosphere.
  5. Bring a cloth bag when shopping. Some supermarkets will give you money for bringing your own bag, and some stores, like IKEA, charge you extra for your plastic bag. Many governments worldwide, including the UK and China, have taxes on non-biodegradeable bags, or have banned their use entirely. The environmentally progressive city of San Francisco has already banned them, and other American cities have plans to follow suit.
  6. Reuse plastic bags from previous trips. No cloth bag handy? Get some more use out of old ones. Many stores will reward you for bringing your own bag, even if it's an old plastic one. And even if you use those old plastic bags for garbage, you're still giving them a bit of additional life, and saving yourself on store-bought trash bags in the process.
  7. Shop online. You won't drive to the store, so you'll save gas. And you'll probably get a better deal.
  8. Download music. Not illegally! But buy music online instead of collecting those wasteful CD jewel cases. And there's a lot of free music out there.
  9. Don't buy new drinking glasses when the old ones break. Wash out jars and use them instead. They're funky and they're free.
  10. Sell your old stuff on eBay. And then go shopping! Do you have a pile of old clothes lying around, wasting space, that you're about to throw away? Instead of piling them in the landfill, try selling them on eBay, or bring them to a local consignment shop. You'll make a little extra money and help someone else avoid buying new consumer goods.
  11. Buy at thrift stores. If you buy vintage clothing, shop at resale stores, thrift shops, and on eBay, you'll not only save money but focus your buying on products that don't require energy to make.

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Step 2: Cheap Green Travel Tips

  • Most people have to commute to work and most people love to travel. Between commuting and going on vacation, Americans spend a significant portion of their time on the road. There are dozens of ways to save money while going from place to place.

Go Green and Save On Your Commute

Commute and save money. (Creative Commons photo by Kevin Utting)
Commute and save money. (Creative Commons photo by Kevin Utting)
  1. Make your car more efficient. There are dozens of ways for you to get more money out of the gas you burn. See Mahalo's How to Get Better Gas Mileage for more specific information, but here are a few quick ideas.
    1. Keep your tires properly inflated.
    2. Don't let the car idle.
    3. Drive below 60 MPH.
    4. Reduce the weight of your car.
    5. Don't drive aggressively.
    6. Use cruise control.
    7. Replace your air filter regularly.
    8. Change your oil regularly.
    9. Avoid using the air conditioning.
    10. Keep your windows shut.
  2. Take public transportation. If this is not an option for you, don't feel guilty. But if you can take public transportation even occasionally, you save on gas, and you reduce pollution and thus, global warming.
  3. Travel to work with others. If you carpool with one other person, you cut your gas consumption almost in half. If you carpool with three people, you cut your consumption by two-thirds. With gas as high as it is, carpooling is a particularly attractive option. And if there are carpool lanes on highways near you, you get there much faster.
  4. Save by telecommuting. If you telecommute just one day a week, you're saving 20% off of your commuting costs. Two days saves 40%. Over a year, you can see a substantial savings. One study found that 25 tons of volatile organic compounds could be taken out of the atmosphere if 4500 workers in a given city telecommuted 1.8 days a week.
  5. Buy a scooter. While gas-powered scooters still consume fossil fuels, using them for simple errands, or even commuting, can save you hundreds of dollars a year. To save even more, consider new hybrid or electric scooters.
  6. Bike to work. If you're close enough, you should get a bike. Not only will you save on gas, you'll also save on a health club membership.
  7. Walk to work. This is pretty self-explanatory. If you can do it, you should. Even if you walk just one in ten workdays, you can save 10% on gas!
  8. Move closer to work. While it may seem like a radical idea to many, the best way to save money when commuting is to move closer to where you work. If you envision staying at a company for a few years, it just makes sense to think about moving closer to that company. If you have to pay more in rent, see if the rent will be offset by commuting savings. At the very least, consider moving closer to easily accessible public transportation.

Go Green and Save On Your Trip

  1. Travel closer to home to avoid flying. Airplanes use a tremendous amount of fuel, most of which they expel into the fragile upper atmosphere. Reducing flying reduces the number of flights, and if you travel closer to home, you'll generally spend less.
  2. Travel for business from your desk. If traveling for business, try to virtually travel instead. This is not always possible, but video conferencing can save a great deal of money for your business. AT&T reduced its employees' air travel by 15% by favoring video conferencing over meeting face to face.
  3. Combine business with pleasure. If you travel for business, take your vacation before or after you complete your business. That way you won't have to fly twice.
  4. Pack light. Overpacking runs the risk of making you incur extra baggage fees, which are increasing. Less weight means the plane burns less fuel.
  5. Get an E-ticket and save a branch, if not a tree.

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Step 3: Cheap Green Home Tips

  • Now that you've saved money while you're out shopping and traveling the wold, it's time to look around your house. There's hidden money everywhere. Don't let it slip away.

Save Money on Water

  • Most people pay for their water. The average American household spends $500 per year on water, of which $170 could be saved with just a few simple modifications. It's logical that if you use less, you'll save money and you'll save the environment at the same time. And if you're using hot water, you're also using some sort of fuel to heat it. If you use less water in your home in general, you'll use less fuel to heat the water you do have, so you'll save on both water and heat.
  1. Install low-flow showerheads. A low-flow showerhead can reduce water consumption in the home by 50%, and reduce the cost of heating that water by 50%.
    • SAVE: Because low-flow showerheads range in price between $8 and $50, you can recoup the price of them through water and energy savings quite quickly. And contrary to popular belief, such showerheads do not lower shower pressure; they just save much of the water that would otherwise be wasted.
  2. Take shorter showers. You might even consider taking a Navy shower.
  3. Take a shower with a bucket. Use the water collected in the bucket to water your lawn or plants.
  4. Put an aerator on your faucet. It's like a low-flow showerhead for your kitchen sink!
  5. Install a low-flow nozzle on your garden hose. The average single-family suburban home typically dumps 30% of the water it uses on the lawn. If you must water the lawn, at least do so with an efficient garden hose.
  6. Collect rainwater for your lawn. A rain barrel under your roof's downspout can collect all the water you need for your lawn.
  7. Try xeriscaping. Lawns may be nice, but they're usually not natural. Try planting more native plants and grasses that will invariably demand less water. If you live in the a dry area, it's expensive to make your home seem like it's in the jungle.
  8. Check for leaks. A leaky toilet can waste 90,000 gallons of water in a single month! A dripping faucet? Twenty gallons of water a day. Fix them and save money.
  9. Put soda bottles in your toilet tank. Even without leaks, most toilets waste hundreds of gallons of water a year. If you put some rocks or sand in a couple of empty soda bottles, fill them with water, and then place them in your tank, you prevent the tank from filling up as much. As long as there are three gallons in the tank, your toilet should flush fine. You can save 10 gallons of water or more each and every day this way! That's 300 gallons of water a month!
  10. Install low-flow toilets. If you're going to replace your toilet anyway, you should replace those monster 7 gallon per flush toilets with new ultra-low volume 1.3 gallon models. You'll save 60% on the costs of toilet water. Over ten years, a family of four can save $1000 by switching to more efficient toilets.
  11. Don't buy bottled water. Bottled water is no purer than American urban tap water. Bottled water is generally a rip-off, and it wastes plastic.
    • Reuse those plastic bottles before you recycle them. Fill them with tap water.
  12. Filter your water instead. If you're concerned about taste or purity, put a water filter on your sink instead of buying expensive bottled water. It's much cheaper.
  13. Keep drinking water in refrigerator. That way you won't let the water run from the faucet while you're waiting for it to get nice and cold.

Save Money on Energy

  • If you don't pay for water, you almost certainly pay for heat and/or electricity. If you live in a cold climate, and you've spent the last couple of winters there, you know how much heating a home or apartment can cost, and you also know how much those prices can go up over the course of a single season. Save money NOW, before it gets cold.
  1. Perform an energy audit of your home to see where you can save. The U.S. Department of Energy has a simple do-it-yourself audit.
  2. Switch to compact fluorescent bulbs. They're a bit more expensive, but they last much longer. They use 70% less energy, and last almost 10 times longer than regular incandescent bulbs.
  3. Seal leaky AC and heating ducts. You could save between 5% and 30% a year by simply making your home airtight. The U.S. Department of Energy has simple instructions on how to find these elusive leaks.
  4. Unplug vampire devices. Your home is filled with electrical devices and appliances that use energy even when they are not being used. They account for 5% of the average home electricity bill. Some common "vampires" include microwave ovens, DVD players, and even cell phone chargers.
  5. Shut off lights when not in use. Get in the habit of flicking off the switch when you leave the room. Or get the clapper and applaud as you thank the room for its use!
  6. Shut off the television. The television is not a friend who is talking in the next room and keeping you company. It is an appliance. Shut it off when you're not watching.
  7. Turn down the thermostat and wear a sweater. If it's cold, the most inefficient (and slowest) way you are going to get warm is by turning up the heat. If you dress more appropriately for the temperature, you will not need to spend all of that money.
  8. Wash your clothes in cold water. Using hot water requires gas and/or electricity. Your clothes will get just as clean if you wash them in cold water.
  9. Use a clothesline. Use wind energy to dry your clothing!
  10. Wrap your water heater in insulation or a blanket. Put your hand on your water heater when it is operating. Feel the heat? Well, it is being wasted. If you wrap your water heater with a blanket or other insulation, that heat will be put to work heating your water, and will make your entire home much more efficient.
  11. Don't use the drying function of your dishwasher. Open the door and let everything dry naturally. You'll save on electricity.
  12. Buy a new refrigerator. Older refrigerators use almost twice the power as new Energy Star labelled models. Over time, you can recoup the entire cost of buying a newer, more efficient refrigerator.
  13. Clean refrigerator coils. No matter what refrigerator you have, remember to clean the coils in the back. Getting those dust bunnies off of the coils keeps the refrigerator running efficiently.
  14. Get tax breaks for installing energy-efficient windows and doors. If you're building a new home, don't skimp on the windows and doors, because if you install energy-efficient models, you can get a hefty tax break. If you made improvements to your home through the end of 2007, you can even get a tax break for installing such windows and doors on your existing home. Check with a tax advisor, because many of these programs don't extend from year to year, but must be renewed by Congress. A professional will know best what you can write off and what you cannot.
  15. Get tax breaks for new insulation or roofing. You can also get money for installing more efficient roofing. Again, consult a professional about what you can write off.

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Conclusion

  • Not every environmental change you make to your life is going to save you money. We've listed changes that will have a direct effect on your wallet. But you should remember that becoming conscious of how your decisions affect the environment and the Earth will inevitably compel you to live more simply. And living simply generally means spending less on products and services that you don't really need. While there may be an entire industry centered around trying to make you buy things to make you feel as if you are being environmentally conscious, the most environmentally responsible action you can take is to walk lightly on the earth. In the long run, you'll save not only money, but the planet for your children.

Resources for How to Go Green and Save Money

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Have any great tips on How to Go Green and Save Money? Post your thoughts to the discussion board or email them to Ryan: Ryan M at mahalo dot com.