If you read my list last week of 13 Things We’re Doing to Try to Save a Little Money, you’ll see some overlap on these lists. Isn’t it funny how sometimes living a life that is greener also saves money?
1. We started a composting bin. (We made our own composting bin from a trash can to save some money.)
2. We have a garden to grow some of our own produce.
3. When we got our economic stimulus check, we used it all to redo our laundry room. The vast expense of this was to get rid of our energy inefficient laundry appliance, and we bought brand new energy star efficient laundry appliances. (I didn’t realize how very inefficient they were until I started doing laundry in the new machines. Drying happens SO much faster now, and I can see that we are using so much less water and soap when washing.)
4. We have been trying to keep the thermostat set a little higher this summer so far. I can remember when we would keep the A/C set at 73 all summer long. This year, we haven’t set it lower than 74, but sometimes as high as 77. (Sorry — I saw someone saying 80 not too long ago, and I just can’t do that.)
5. We write most family notes to one another (like phone messages, etc.) on a dry erase board instead of using post-it notes or paper. (If we use paper, we try to use scrap paper.)
6. We buy a lot of our clothes second hand instead of buying brand new. (We actually bought a bunch of play dress up clothes for our kids second hand too!)
7. We use re-usable shopping bags when shopping.
8. We empty our dehumdifier onto our trees or vegetable garden when it is full, instead of just tossing down the drain.
9. We recycle through our trash company. Of course, I remember when it paid money to recycle, but we pay an extra $5.00/month to be able to do it. Oh well…it’s worth it!
10. We try (the emphasis is on “try”) to eat lots of meals at home. Have you seen the amount of trash that comes from a family of five running through a drive through? It’s just crazy!
11. My laptop and external hard drive are on a power strip. At night, when I turn it all off, I am able to really turn it *completely* off by switching off the power strip.
12. We try to borrow as many things from the library (and Netflix) as we can, rather than to fill our house with more books, DVDs, and CDs. Don’t get me wrong — we love all those things, but we know we need to not just have tons of those sitting around.
13. I love buying re-purposed things, especially on Etsy! The purse I use it re-purposed from an old skirt! I get comments on it all the time! And I got these fabulous magnets that were made from Starbucks lids.
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