As Earth Day becomes increasingly commercialized, remember that the lightest impact one can have on the planet's resources is to consume less, not more. In the course of consuming less, one can't help but to save money, too! The really good news is that "consuming less" doesn't have to mean deprivation. In fact, one's quality of life can actually go up.
A Vegetable Garden is Truly Green Living
Among green practices, few households can do better than to grow some of their own food in their own backyards. Not only will the plants absorb carbon dioxide, but local food isn't transported across the country or halfway across the world in refrigerated compartments. If the goods can be picked just twenty feet from the kitchen, consumers don't even need to burn gas to get it from the local grocery store. And no packaging is required at all.
But growing a vegetable garden will also save money. A small investment in seeds and tools will reap big rewards in fresh, wholesome nutrition picked at the peak of flavor, and costing usually less than a dime a pound. It's no wonder that many who don't even care about living green see the good sense in growing some of their own food.
Brown Compost is Green Living and Green Saving
A surprising number of gardeners fail to maintain a compost pile, but this is mistake from both green and pocketbook standpoints. Compost literally turns trash into treasure. Kitchen vegetable scraps, coffee grounds, egg shells, grass clippings, fallen leaves and even newspaper can all be diverted from landfills and turned instead into fertile humus that will make any garden thrive. The need for petroleum-based fertilizers disappears. Cost: Zero, which is a number near and dear to frugal living aficionados.
To Go Green, Get Used to Used
Clothes, baby equipment, toys, tools, cars and many other durable goods often leave their original owner long before their useful lives are over. Those into frugal living have learned long ago that new things won't stay shiny for long, and that they can save money by the bucketful when they accept hand-me-downs and look for items used before resorting to purchasing them new. Many used goods have proven their durability by how little they show their wear and tear. Buying new can be a risk because it's harder to judge the quality of items that haven't been tried yet.
But buying used also makes a lot of sense for those who want to go green. Manufacturing new things takes a lot of resources, many of which will be wasted if they are tossed in the landfill before they're completely worn out. Even dismantling a durable good to recycle the raw materials takes more energy than continuing to use it for its present purpose. Take an active role in recycling by acquiring things pre-owned and using them for as long as possible.
Green Practices Include Buying in Bulk
Many non-perishable foods will last for years, so why not buy a fifty pound sack at a time and skip the packaging of fifty one-pound bags? Those who want to go green but lack the storage space, can split the cost and the goods with like-minded friends. This strategy works very well with grains, beans, canned goods, dry pastas and more.
Those of the frugal living stripe like the lower garbage rates that come from having to throw away a lot less packaging. And buying a lot at a time ultimately saves money, since the per-pound price of that food is usually much lower than if it were purchased a pound or two at a time. Stored food is also a hedge against rising food prices.
Live Large in a Small Home
Even as the average family size is shrinking, homes have been trending larger and larger. But all that space has to be maintained, cleaned, heated, cooled, furnished and decorated. The higher the square footage, the greater the temptation to consume, to the detriment of one's commitment to green living.
A large home also usually means a large mortgage and a small backyard. More house means more paint to cover it, more parts of it that will need repair, more valuable time required to keep it clean. No one into frugal living can stomach those outsized utility bills for long, either.
In spite of all the advertising hawking one "green" product after another, true green living is very wallet-friendly. The same creative frugal living spirit that fuels the desire to use what one has most effectively and to consume less, can also fire the green living imagination.
Elise Cooke - Elise Cooke writes, teaches and speaks on ways to Live Large on Less. Her first book, Strategic Eating, The Econovore's Essential Guide is ...
Join the Conversation