« Getting Your Money’s Worth | Home | Earth Day 2008 »
Earth Day
By Daphne | April 21, 2008
Earth Day is tomorrow and this is the time of the year that there is more hoopla around the three Rs. Many people know about Reusing, Renewing, and Recycling. Making small changes can add up, but will being kind to Mother Earth really excite your frugal sensitivities?
Pick one or two things and stick with them so that you can really make an impact on saving natural resources and energy. If you decide to do too many things at once then you may not want to stick with your new lifestyle. Slow and steady wins the race. If nothing else, decide that you want to start using a reusable bag for most of your purchases. Many grocery and drug stores sell them now and for less than a dollar if you don’t already have a suitable bag at home you can use less plastic.
Here are some things that you can do to keep cash in your wallet and save resources.
Turning down the thermostat on your hot water tank if you have a home or turning your air conditioner up a degree will help you save money in the long run.
Changing your light bulbs to those new CFL ones will help. But what else can you do? One of the biggest changes which has more to do with gas prices is to take public transportation when possible. A monthly pass is $75 in Chicago which is about two fill ups. It may take you a little extra time to get to your destination, but you can read a library book that you have borrowed along the way.
Resuse the back of blank printed pages those with non-sensitive information for scratch paper or for kid’s drawing paper.
Use cloth or reusable gift bags for gifts.
Instead of buying water, use a reusable cup or mug. Also, take a mug to your favorite coffee shop for a refill instead of getting a disposable cup.
Reusing, Recycling, Renewing (and repurposing) really will work now since people are working to spend less in any way they can. Don’t think of being eco-friendly as cheapskate torture, look at it as being frugal and eco-savvy.
Topics: April 2008 |