Go Green to Save Green

It’s Earth Day. Well, on the day this article gets published it will be officially, but no matter what day of the year it is as you read this its message will have relevance. What was once a single day annual event that appealed mainly to tree hugging hippies has evolved into a mainstream effort to take better care of our planet. Now, more than ever, “every day is earth day” as the movement to “go green” picks up momentum. Whether you are reading this on April 22 or any other day of the year the following tips will help you save money and the earth. Talk about a win-win!

Bottle your own water. Commercially bottled water is one of the biggest contributors to unnecessary environmental waste and a big waste of money. Filling your own reusable water bottles with filtered tap water makes a lot more ecological and financial sense. Let’s say you buy a case of bottled water every other week. At roughly $6 a case you’ll spend $156 a year on glorified tap water.

Detoxify your cleaning products. A few common household staples such as baking soda and white vinegar, some good-old-fashioned elbow grease and maybe a little essential oil are all you really need to clean every surface in your house. Replace the five most commonly used chemical cleaners (all purpose, toilet, tub, window and floor) with cheaper non-toxic ingredients and you can save around $75 a year, give or take a few bucks, depending on how often you clean. Here's a link to some easy homemade cleaner recipes: http://eartheasy.com/live_nontoxic_solutions.htm

Grow your own produce. The typical family garden yields $600 worth of food. Yes, there is a cost involved, but a 4x8 raised bed garden setup only requires an estimated $100 investment, including seeds, compost and lumber. That’s a $500 return. Furthermore, if you only have to walk out to your backyard to gather vegetables for your daily salad rather than burn the gas and oil it takes to drive to the grocery store you’ll be doing the planet and your wallet a favor.

Eat less red meat. The benefits of reducing or eliminating meat consumption are far reaching. Eating fewer animal products costs less, is better for your health and better for the planet. Beef production creates the biggest carbon footprint over all other food products. Beef is among the most expensive foods money can buy. It’s also one of the most beloved, so going totally vegetarian is not an appealing or realistic lifestyle modification for many of us. A more feasible option would be to simply cut at least one serving of beef from your weekly menu. Doing so can save you $100 a year. That’s per person, so if you have a family of 4, you’ll save $400 a year. And, if you’re consistent about it, you might even reap some money saving health benefits too.

Drive less. It’s estimated that 40% of urban travel in the US is for trips of 2 miles or less (round trip). In many cases, at least some of those trips could be accomplished easily on foot or on a bicycle. If you walked or rode your bike instead of driving for only one of those trips per week you could save a bunch of carbon emissions and $63.23 a year. Not to mention, increasing physical activity can add to your cost savings as well by improving your overall health .

Let your Mother do your laundry. Mother Nature, that is. Of all the appliances in your home, the dryer is the second biggest energy hog. Hanging your clothes outdoors to dry can save around $70 a year. Ok, this one’s not exactly the most realistic to implement, especially if you live in a region with bitter cold winters or in an apartment with no private outdoor space. But, even in colder regions, at least half the year is warm enough to facilitate outdoor clothes drying. So, you friends up north might save only $35 instead of $70. Still, that's nothing to sneeze at, especially in light of the environmental benefits. And, with a little creativity, apartment dwellers may be able to work out ways to air dry their clothes, perhaps a sunny window. Even if you can only air dry some of your laundry, reducing the amount of work your dryer has to do can help save energy.

Put less water (and money) down the drain. Did you know the average American uses about 100 gallons of water each day? Most of those hundreds of gallons end up as wastewater. Clearly, we have a lot of work to do to reduce our environmental impact where water is concerned. The modifications we can (and should) make to our lifestyles to reduce our wastewater output are far too numerous to list here in their entirety. But, as the old saying goes, “the journey of a thousand miles begins with a single step,” so here are a few small steps you can take to get off to a good start and save nearly $300 a year.

• Turn the water off while lathering up to wash your hands to save up to 16.5 gallons of water per day.
• Take shorter showers. Limiting them to 5 minutes or less can save up to 1000 gallons a month.
• When it’s time to replace your old water guzzling washing machine shop for a high efficiency machine that can save up to 20 gallons per load. Look for the “Energy Star” label for the greatest overall energy savings on this and many other household appliances.
• If possible, replace old showerheads, faucets and toilets with “WaterSense” labeled products. Doing so can save a family of 4 around 21,000 gallons of water annually and $240 on utility bills.
• Turn off the water while brushing your teeth to save 8 gallons a day.

Following all of the above tips can save somewhere around $1000 a year and go a long way toward a cleaner, greener planet. But don’t worry if you can’t do them all. Every little bit counts. Happy Earth Day!


Sources: eartheasy.com, energy.gov, treehugger.com, epa.gov, cityofkm.com, Wall Street Journal, AAA