I just received my water and electric bills and they have me contemplating ways to not only save energy but to save MONEY. I thought others might be thinking the same so thought I’d do a quick post on ways to be green and save more green. Read on for a few quick and simple steps as well as two ways to win!
1. CFL’s or better known as compact florescent lightbulbs. I have to admit, when I first started using them I was flat out not a fan. It took a bit of an adjustment, but now I can imagine not using them. Before I switched them in my workspace I was seriously changing out a bulb in the ceiling fixtures every few weeks. With high ceilings it was a total pain so frequently I just ended up working in less than idea lighting. Since I put in the CFLs about a year and a half ago I haven’t changed the bulbs once. I don’t use them where we have rheostats or in my storage room (I usually am just running in and out of there and without any natural light, it takes too long for the CFLs to come fully on). Even better if you just replace your 5 most commonly used bulbs, you can save $100 a year!! And if you want to know about the green impact, if every family in the U.S.A. did this, greenhouse gas emissions would be reduced by one trillion pounds! I have heard that they are developing newer bulbs that work well in rheostats and turn on more quickly…
2. A cell phone charger uses 2 watts while charging a phone, it still uses 2 watts even when the phone is fully charged, and STILL 1.5 watts when the charger is plugged in without the phone. Simple little fix, unplug your charger when not in use. This goes for other appliances in your house. My sister’s house was gutted by a fire that began in a faulty coffee maker. Talking with people in the fire industry, she discovered most fires either start with the toaster or the dryer. My lesson from that was to unplug kitchen appliances when not in use — save money, save electricity and possibly save your house from a fire. (Side note, I also never run the dryer or dishwasher when not at home or when sleeping. We had a 3 month old dishwasher completely melt down inside because the heating unit would not turn off. The repair man said he’s seen the same happen in other households and would never run a dishwasher unattended.)
2. If you like trees, plant one and save up to 25% on cooling cost when you plant one that provides ample shade.
3. I’ve been guilty of this one. Did you know that if you only ran your dishwasher and washing machine when full you could save up to 1000 gallons of water a year? In our municipality water is not cheap so I know that could save us a bundle!
4. If you use a commercial car wash that recycles you’ll actually be using less water (and saving yourself an hour of work!)
5. If you have a new dishwasher, you don’t need to rinse as much. Again, less work. My parents wouldn’t let us put a thing into the dishwasher unless every little speck was rinsed off — it’s proving an oddly difficult habit to break but I’m working on it…
6. Did you know that just by turning the water off while brushing your teeth you can save 25 gallons a month — times that by the number of family members in the house. That will add up to some savings as well!
If you have a great way to go green and save, National Geographic wants to hear about it! They’ve teamed up with Sun Chips for their Green Effects contest. The winner with the best green idea will win $20,000! Now that would really help with energy bills!!!
We at Cocoa Daisy want to get in on the action too. Tell us your favorite green tip and you could win a $50 prize package!!! Just post a comment to this post before June 15th and you will be entered into the drawing.
If you want to hear more on green (and white), read on. If you’ve had your fill– don’t.
On Thursday while listening to the radio, I heard a segment on a how the US Energy Secretary Steven Chu, a Noble Laureate in physics wants us to paint roofs white to help save energy and reduce global warming. I’ve seen some scoffing of this idea on the internet but I think it’s an interesting, common sense solution. You can read the story here.
According to Chu, painting roads and roofs a lighter color would be equivalent to take every single car in the world off the road for 11 years! I know that some global warming skeptics find this idea laughable, but what’s really interesting is where this idea originated. With the US army. In an effort to save fuel and to cut down on the need for fule convoys (which account for half of all casualties in the war theaters). The Independent reports that it estimates that every 1 per cent of fuel saved means 6,444 soldiers do not have to travel in a vulnerable convoy. The Army found that just by insulating tents in Iraq and Afghanistan with a layer of light colored foam, they have saved 100,000 gallons of fuel a day. Amazing results!
Also, anyone who has been to Greece, the Carribean or other places known for their warm climates has probably noted how the roofs and buildings are generally white or light colored as they don’t absorb as much heat. It’s an ancient way to stay cooler that seems to have been forgot for a while.
I doubt people are going to rush out and paint their roofs white but it will be interesting to what what direction this leads future construction.
There are also “green” roofs an other very old concept. I visited Norway while in college and was amazed at their turf roofs called torvtak. People’s roofs were gardens! This building method is now coming to a city near you. When I first read about it I thought that it would be messy, leaking and really expensive. Apparently that’ s not the case. They can last twice as long as a conventional roof, cut down on the need for insulation while decreasing cooling cost by 25% and provide more garden space! They’ve grown enormously in popularity in Europe and are starting to catch on in the US and Canada. You can read about them here and here. One day when we build our dream house, I want a green roof!
to win a summer of Project kits (shown above is June’s)! That’s a free kit for June, July and August – a fabulous prize…!!! Over $100 worth of scrapbook goodies with fun instructions for you to complete your projects!!! You also need to check outthe blog- share your best green tip with us and you could win a $50 prize package!! And the June gallery is the place to go if you feel like being inspired…!!! So many beautiful layouts…! Have a lovely lovely weekend ahead! We’re in for beachy weather, we hope:).
I too only wash the dishes and laundry when only full, which isn’t a problem in my house! I also have only started to run them after 8:00pm. They are usually done before I head on off to bed. I’ve also bought a $20.00 clothes hanger and hang up all my clothes that I wash in cold. I’ve got a cycle down that I can wash the cold cycle at 8, get it hung and run another load and get into the dryer before bedtime.
I try to organize all outside chores in one trip and will put off going out on one day to combine with others the next.
Windows get opened up every morning for the cool morning air and then ac comes on only when I can’t stand it any longer in the afternoon when the sun fully hits my house.
Been doing alot more recycling and our town is now having one large recycling bin (except for glass) It’s HUGE! And if anything can be salvaged, then it does and either used or gets donated instead of trashed.
I do love the idea with the cell phone charger – we have 4 of those always plugged in!
Thanks for the tips!
Jenn in Vancouver
My green tip?
Well I have a few!…
1. reusable bags… I can’t stress this enough! I dont care if you buy them, make them, borrow them, etc… just USE THEM! Tip… keep multiples in the car/trunk so that you remember them each time you go to the store…
I also use them to take my lunch to work, etc.
2. recycle your bottles/cans/paper/plastics/glass! Some of it you even get $$ back for doing so! Saving the bottles/cans are a great way for kids to learn and make a little money too!
3. Use GREEN products! My favorite are the METHOD products that I get at Target! They’re trendy, fun, and great for the environment!
Hello! I did not know about the cell phone charger! I am going to unplug mine after I post this! I always leave it plugged in! As far as my favorite tips, using my own bags instead of plastic bags at the grocery store, recycling anything that can be recycled, and just turning off the fans in our house (that makes a HUGE difference as I used to keep them running 24/7). Thank you for the chance to win!
What a great idea for a contest! The best thing I have discovered recently is printing on the backs of paper. How many times have you printed something at home (a coupon, a news article) and you are left with a page or two you never do anything with? Now I make a concerted effort to put them back into the printer. I even try this at work. For memos or papers I do use a little, I cut them up and use them for scratch paper.
Thanks for the chance to win!
After my hubby and son are done with their T-shirts I launder them and cut them up to use for dust rags and cleaning cloths. When they get dirty I wash them and use them again!!
Great tips… My hubby and I really became serious about reducing, reusing and recycling a couple of years ago. The first thing we did was upgrade our washer and dryer. The older models are terrible with water usage and electricity. I started saving the minimum of $30 monthly. Then we changed our air conditioner. We are not home most of the day so we keep it at 78 degrees and close all the doors. It’s hi efficiency so by the time we get home and turn it down the house cools quickly. We changed all the lightbulbs. Please remember to recycle these as well because they are terrible for the environment if thrown in the garbage.
We also use recycle bags for grocery shopping. I don’t like to put meat in these bags so I use plastic but then I recycle those bags at the grocery store.
I didn’t know about the chargers so that’s a great tip. I do a lot of recycling at work as well. Thanks for all the tips.
Only a few things which are labelled “green” are really green. Since green is a big seller suddenly everything is green. Why buying a new green product if you can also live without it or consciously use the old one. Don’t buy because it is green – only buy when you really need it and when there is no alternative.
Real green is more about conservation, consciousness and education.
Take a look to Europe.
Skip the bottled water. Use a water filter to purify tap water instead of buying bottled water. Not only is bottled water expensive, but it generates large amounts of container waste. Bring a reusable water bottle, preferably aluminum rather than plastic, with you when traveling or at work.
Save water to save money. Take shorter showers to reduce water use. This will lower your water and heating bills too. Install a low-flow showerhead. They don’t cost much, and the water and energy savings can quickly pay back your investment.
Make sure you have a faucet aerator on each faucet. These inexpensive appliances conserve heat and water, while keeping water pressure high. Plant drought-tolerant native plants in your garden. Many plants need minimal watering. Find out which occur naturally in your area.
End the water torture. One drip per second from a leaky faucet or pipe can waste up to 5 gallons of water a day – and 1,800 gallons a year. While you won’t notice much of an increase on your water bill (around $3 annually), if an overlooked leak soaks through your kitchen floor, you could wind up with a $1,000 repair job–money that could have been saved by simply replacing a 50-cent washer. This Old House: When faucets drip and toilets run
Did you know if you buy a laptop it uses considerably less power than a desktop computer…very interesting!!!
Hope this helps you all out a bit…
Favorite Green tip: Use cloth bags when shopping – most stores even give you a 5 cent discount; use your own water bottles – we each have our own metal one; dry clothes outside when the weather is cooperative – this saves a lot of money. Great blog subject and contest : )
Well my dh do the above mentioned tips hun and mind you he gets really upset if i dont behave..lol!! well other stuff includes plastic bag recycling, meat or vegetables styrofoam recycling..he dont throw them and used as a way to organize well the meat products we buy.
And this is a funny story,dh washes his car when its raining to conserve water! when it rains,he will for sure grab a piece of rag and head to the parking lot to clean his car..viola,water conservation! Thanks for this chance to win..DH and I are joining together in crossing our fingers to win that awesome package.
Hi there,
Lots of great tips. Our biggest thing is that we decided not to put in air conditioning when we renovated our home but to plant lots of shade trees instead. There are days I regret it but overall it was a very good decision and, when the heat gets to be too much, we head to the local pool and spend the afternoon splashing around. I try to only run errands one day per week (I don’t live in town) and I always park the car once (close to the grocery store) and walk everywhere else. I buy as much local food and grow as much of my own food as possible to cut down on package waste and really, we are just buying less because there isn’t too much that we need. I also only run my dishwasher and washer in the evening and I use my dryer only on very rare occasions. I have eliminated plastic water bottles and recycle everything I can. Oh, and, my friends and I have started a monthly scrap swap…we share our goodies by making little kits for one another.
Kelly
Hello there!
We in SA have been subjected to “Load-shedding” this is where various areas of the country have had their electricity supply cut off for “short” periods 2-4hrs during the day in order to address an electricity shortage. This hasn’t happened in the last few months but as a result of it, we have become very aware of conserving electricity! Lights are only used when in that particular room(instead of every light in the house burning), appliances are switched off at the socket rather than left on standby. Energy saving bulbs are used. Chargers are unplugged when not in use.
I am the dishwasher(LOL) and we have a twin tub washing machine and we use cold water.
We recycle newspaper at school and we send food cartons, empty boxes, egg boxes- any reusable, recyclable waste materials to my nephews pre-school for their craft work/ box construction activities.
Lastly I pass any unwanted bits and pieces of scrapping paper and embellishments on to friends who scrap on a really tight budget.
Hope these might be useful:-)
Sam
sam – that is serious when the temperature in KSA avg is 110 degrees, yikes! Thanks for your blog and the chance for a freebie. I reuse plastic bags for a ton of things.
I think we are a little spoiled here in Oregon with the recycling thing…I have a big garbage can that ALL paper, plastic, and glass goes in and is picked up weekly…makes it easy to be green!
We also pay a deposit on bottles and cans that we get back when we recycle them!
I use the reusable bags for grocery shopping…my kids are actually getting good at reminding me to grab them!
We put in a sprinkler system for the yard a few years ago. That helps because we can’t ever forget to turn it off since it is on a timer! Also it does it in the middle of the night so there isn’t much evaporation!
Many of the tips mentioned are already second nature for me (recycling, cloth bags), so lately I’ve been asking myself what else can I do differently? This year I’ve started hanging my laundry on drying racks whenever possible (towels and sheets don’t work so well) and using a broom to sweep up the kitchen crumbs (three boys under 6). We’re also planting shade trees this year and I’d like to set up some rain barrels as well.
Wow – many of these great tips I would have posted. Love it that we are on the same page. I canb testify to the white roof tip. We just had new foam put on and it’s painted white. There is a huge difference now with how warm our house gets when the sun is setting than before we painted the roof. I am actually having to wear a light sweater or sweatshirt on the sunny warm days. Its truly working.
The habit that will be the hardest for me to break is using paper towels, especially in the kitchen. It’s much better to use actual cloth towels. In my defense, though, I do save the extra napkins we get in fast food bags and use them like paper towels to clean the fronts of appliances.
Another one is to stop using so many specialized cleaning products. Vinegar and water can usually replace Windex and dishwashing soap and vinegar mix will remove soap scum. Soap and water will kill most germs so you don’t really need disinfecting cleaners for most common cleaning jobs. I’m sure there are many more, but these are the ones I’ve tried to adopt.
We’ve been using the energy saver light bulbs for almost a year now….also just making a quick trip around the house and turning off unused lights is a big help as well! I’m just trying to eliminate waste in general.
I love reusable bags. I use them for everything and keep them in the back of my van. and if I go into a store and forget, i carry my items out without a bag. they don’t mind, I don’t mind.
Hawaii has a 5cent deposit on all bottles. We no longer buy bottled water in single servings. we use reusable washable bottles that we fill from our water dispenser at home. we also do not buy individual cans/bottles of drink, we buy 2 liter bottles of soda, pour as you go, recycle when done.
when we find items we are no longer using, we donate to big brothers/big sisters.
My kids bring home a lot of worksheets from school. Most are one sided. I keep them in a pile and when my 2 year old gets the urge to draw we grab a paper from the pile. It doesn’t bother him that there’s stuff on the other side. It helps us save alot of “good” paper.
Speaking of dishwashers, don’t run the drying cycle! Seriously, just don’t. Stop the dishwasher, open it, and leave it.
And my current favorite, courtesy of my friend who has a year and a half old kid – stained onesies? Mustard splotch on his favorite tee? Tye-dye! Repurpose it instead of getting rid of it!
Great reminders you all have given!
My best tip to help the enviroment is to shop for locally, ecologically produced food, you cut transports, encourage local smallscale farming ang get a very nice product at your plate. I specially like to eat eggs and vegetables from my local supplier. If you ride your bike to the farmers market it is even better…exercise and fresh air and enviromentfriendly. Way to go!
I’ve thought of another that I need to do! Check the air pressure in your tires and fill them close to the max. pressure on the tire. Driving is much more fuel efficient on properly filled tires. This is something that I have trouble remembering – vehicles are DH’s department in my mind, but apparently not in his since he doesn’t actually do this for me!
Great tips! As mentioned earlier take a loke over you plate and see how people do things in Europe. 90% of the tips here are done there and educated in kindergarten and at school.
Don’t put more air in your tires than the manufacturer recommend – just read the manual first. Saving energy or killing yourself should be seperated.
jbi
I definitely have a bunch of re-usable bags stashed in the car. You can usually get them for a $1 each and they even hold way more and are easier to carry into the house than plastic. Some stores even make them during special campaigns. For example our local Sprouts sold pink ones during Breast Cancer Awareness month and donated all proceeds to that cause.
I also dont wash on any temperature besides cold. We discovered that living in AZ our pipes are so warm it is usually unnecessary and our clothes have come out just as clean.
Turn out the lights! SOunds so basic but who does it??? Only me in this house! I am the eco monitor! Something that also infuriates me is all this talk of recycling but how about not buying it in the first place if you don’t need it? I also don’t accept any plastic bags. I have been using the same ones for years & now have purchased a few very nice nonwoven ones. They LIVE in my car & here we have to pay for carrier bags mostly, but even where we don’t I tell them I don’t need them. Lastly, schools here are all guilty of producing far too many newsletters. It is almost daily & I can’t keep on top of them. Sure most people don’t & they just end up having to be recycled, often unread. How about only giving out to the eldest sibling instead of the every child? Funny how even the eco-flagged schools haven’t thought of that???!!!
There are many ways to go green…
* The water used to wash veggies, fruits, etc to use to water the plants..
* The foam water from laundry to use to wash the toilet bowl / floor…
* Switch on the electrical appliance when needed and switch off when not in use, this helps to conserve energy & save electricity
* Recycle food containers / bottles for storage purposes instead of buying new ones
* Use shopping bags instead of plastic bags
* Recyle plastic bags to use as trash bags
* When switch on air-con, try to keep to room temperature of around 25degree celcius, this help to reduce the greenhouse effect
Of coz we always have to remember the 3 Rs – Reduce, Reuse, Recycle to go green!
At work, we print out a lot of things that only get used once (signs for daily events, that sort of thing), and I have my staff trained now to put those in a pile rather than throwing them away! We can print on the other side of them, or use them for scratch paper.
At home, the biggest thing that I have done is just not turning on the lights! My back wall is full of windows and a huge sliding glass door, and it lets in tons of light most of the day. People get so used to the comfort of having lights on that they don’t think about if it’s even necessary or not! So whenever possible I don’t turn on the lights and just let the sunshine light my house.
reusable bags and CF light bulbs have become routine for our family. Garbage recycling is a bit more of a challenge because in our area we only get a little tub for recycling. But our state(Michigan) has 10 cent can deposits and that is huge! There is no reason that EVERY state cannot do that. You barely even see the litter here that I see in other parts of the country, simply because people dont waste the dime!!
I think most of us already are conscience in one way or another in being green. So my tip – .. recycle and reuse what you already have to scrapbook and/or create. With this economy, i don’t head to LSS anymore. I subscribe to the monthly kits and force myself to use what i have. If i run out, I don’t run out and buy anything else.
My green tips:
1. Get the family involved; Get you kids to be a part of creating a recycling center
2. clump your errands into one trip
3. Walk or bike when you can
4. use fabric shopping bags
5. Unplug electric items when not in use and turn off the lights!
As a scrapbooker, I’ve been “coined” as the “Frugal Scrapper” for years (before it was even popular, lol)…my favorite “going green” tip for scrapbooking is to use packaging for your scrapbooking creations. Plastic packaging can be incorporated into some really awesome “acrylic” albums. Gift boxes (you know, the white ones that are kind of glossy?)…they work great as a surface for using alcohol inks. Corregated cardboard boxes make great “distressed” albums…visit my blog at http://www.frugalscrapper.blogspot.com for more “frugal, going green” ideas!
Thanks for the chance to play. If there is one thing that I’m always guilty of is my habit of letting my laptop in standby mode. Should totally turn it off coz’ even in standby mode, it is still using energy.
Got this cool tip/FYI too: Forget to flush once in a while and save up to 4.5 gallons per memory lapse.
xoxo,
janis
I’ve been making my own cleaning supplies lately. You’d be surprised how well vinegar, lemon juice and baking soda does. It not only saves money, tme and packaging, but its much safer for your family.
here, we same energy but putting a pull-over in the home… and recycling a lot of things !!!
I never take my car to go to work : only bike !!! or I walk when the weather is fine
thanks for the chance
reuse, repurpose, recycle has been my motto for some time. Lately I have been trying to get the kids in the “walk or bike” mode for transportation. They have been amazed at where they can go and what they can do on a bike. We live in such a protect the kids mode, it was an eye opener for them to go on these adventures, save on gas and learn more about their world.
I use soap and no more shower gel, because it’s cheaper and economic…
I also fabric my “compost” in my garden
I try to do my best : for exemple I re-used the water i use to wash my salad, vegetables to use to water my little garden, I don’t use plastic bags but only fabric or paper bags to do my shopping
I turn off the lights when I live a room… and a lot of other little things but important !!!
1. I used a nalgene water bottle every day. not only do I save by not buying plastic disposable ones, it has measures on it so I know how much water I drank today (trying to get in the 8 glasses).
2. We recycle everything we can!
3. We turned down the temp on our hot water heater. We realized that when the temp was higher, we were always turning on the cold water to “cool it down”. DUH!
4. Here is a site to share: This is called “My Footprint”. It is a meausre of how much impact you make on the earth. Basically, it calculates how many earth’s it would take to sustain humans is everyone on earth lived like YOU! You would be amazed at the factors that affect your footprint. One of the biggest is how many miles you travel each year, speciafically by plane. http://www.myfootprint.org/en/visitor_information/
-Audrey
One exemple, i put 2 big “conteners” in my garden to collect the rain and I use it to water my flowers and vegetables in the garden !
Another exemple : My children draw in both side of paper
a lot of little things like this, but it’s important I guess
Let Mother Nature help with the laundry… When the sun is out all of our clothes are put out on the line to dry.
Thanks to the other readers for the helpful comments. It’s wonderful to know that others are trying to make a difference too.
Our best thing is that we’ve started using the recycle bags. I’ve been looking at some instructions online for juice pouch totes because I was thinking that I could make reusable bags out of recycled stuff and my sewing machine
I’ll let you know how that works out.
I’m such a big reader that I’ve been thinking recently about getting an Amazon Kindle and downloading my books/newspaper instead of getting print versions, but I haven’t settled on it yet!
When it comes to scrapbooking mini books I am always looking for things around my house. (chipboard off the back of writing pads, paper bags, corregated cardboard, etc) I also recycle and give my bottles & cans to my neighbor who is in need.
Thanks for all the tips Tricia!
We live on tank water, so we naturally are in the habit of conserving water.
We have a supertreat system for our sewerage and greywater which gets treated and this waters our plants, making our garden very low maintenance.
I also use Enjo household products which only require water to clean and not the normal chemical household products.
We also use cotton recycleable bags for when we do our shopping rather than come home with a ton of plastic ones.
We have solar garden lights rather than rely on electricity.
Our home was designed to be solar passive so its cool in summer and warm in winter.
Great tips- like the one about the cell phone chargers. I take it a step further and unplug that darn microwave. Why do I need to have that clock running when I’m not using the microwave to cook? (and I have a clock on my stove right next to it, too!) My favorite tip is to get rid of paper napkins! We’ve gone cloth for about a year now! Yeah for me finally using those cloth napkins I registered for over 10 years ago for our wedding!!!
We use the CFL’s and recycle everything.
The best tip is to remember to take your shopping bags with you!!!
denise
Wow, love your kits!
My family of six does all it can to reduce and reuse! Can you imagine the amount of laundry I do in a week? It’s a lot but I always line dry my clothes to save on energy. In the winter we heat our home with a wood stove and I dry pants and towels by the fire. They’re nice and toasty when you’re outta the shower on a cold winter’s day. Have a wonderful day!
Hi…
Thanks for the great post!
I recycle cans, newspapers and magazines at the local school. I’m recycling, and they make a little bit of money
We’ve used flourescent bulbs for years. I alsmost never change a light bulb!
I have a five mile radius….I am lucky that about everything I need is within 5 miles from home, so that’s a gas saver.
Sometimes I’ll walk instead of drive when going to the grocery store for just a couple of things.
Thanks for the great ideas as well as the scrapbooking inspiration!
: )