I started the community out with it's first post yesterday. Here were my suggestions:
Carry reusable containers when you go out to dinner for leftovers.
Cut a few minutes off your shower.
Don't take free stuff you will never use. (fliers, postcards, t-shirts, etc.)
Don't take more food than you can eat if it is an option.
Re-use plastic cups and bottles that are made with plastics #4 and #5 (but don't microwave them).
fortytwostars has been an AMAZING contributor so far. Here are the ideas from her first post.
- egg cartons make great bead sorters
- take a cardboard milk carton, punch teensy holes into it, fill with water, and lay in garden beds for easy summer irrigation
- clean out Chinese or sushi take-out containers really really really well (I spray on a vinegar solution to remove smells); the carboard containers make cute planters; the sushi trays are fun for wrapping small gifts
- I don't know as much about plastics as
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marykae, but we definitely save any plastic container that has a lid (yogurt, some lunchmeat containers, butter, etc)- zippered baggies (i.e. Ziplocks) that are used for dry or non-food items can be reused until they fall to pieces, which takes a lot of time and abuse
- keep those silica gel packets that come in purses and shoeboxes and electronics; drop them into coolers to keep them from getting musty in storage, or distribute them into your camping gear (we keep a bunch in our tent, plus in our equipment tote) to take care of dampness
- and finally, those lids on big glass jar candles? You can mail them to me. Postage due, even! I have uses for them. ;)
Zhyymy captured the true spirit of the community, which is to save the environment while doing yourself good.
Energy savings = Earth savings
My power bill each month is outrageous, so I'm constantly looking for ways to keep energy costs down. Please note most of these tips are geared at people living in warmer climes ... Here's what you can do:
-Buy compact flourescent bulbs. The lighting difference isn't noticeable after a week, and you will save money. Replacing one 60 watt bulb will save you $30 in energy costs over 5 years. If you, like me, have around 30 light bulbs in your house...well, do the math. :)
30x$30 = $900 / 5 = $180 / 12 = $15 a month. And a new law has been passed that will require light bulbs to be 30% more energy efficient by 2012, 70% more by 2020. So you're getting a jump on things already.
-Get, and use, a programmable thermostat for your heating and cooling. I knocked my power bill down at least 30% with this one!! Set it (depending on your personal comfort, of course) at 75 during the time you're home, 83 when you're not during the summer, 68 when you're home and 60 when you're not during the winter and you'll see drastic savings. 1 degree can save you or cost you 3% of your heating/cooling cost of your power bill.
-Ceiling fans. If you don't have one in a room, put one in there. Run it on medium speed all the time. It will circulate the air and relieve the pressure on your h/ac by 20%.
-If you have an electric stove, avoid using it during peak power times (11a-2p, 4p-9p). Doubly so for the oven! If you have a propane grill, this is an ideal substitute!
And some non-energy, but green tips:
-Get reusable grocery bags. Most stores sell them for about $1 each, and they hold more than a typical plastic grocery bag.
-Use a re-usable plastic water bottle - the kind that's dishwasher safe and is designed for sports or camping. Fill it from your filtered water dispenser on your fridge or water dispenser at work. You'll be amazed how much you save by NOT buying bottled water for a month.
(Marykae's note: not to mention that most bottled water uses plastic that will poison you to death. Most new reusable bottles are good, just look on the bottom for the number 4 or 5)
And fortytwostars is back to talk about saving energy! Which, again, saves money AND the environment.
Urbanfictions enters to talk a little bit about some of the stuff they do in their own life.-Buy compact flourescent bulbs. The lighting difference isn't noticeable after a week, and you will save money. Replacing one 60 watt bulb will save you $30 in energy costs over 5 years. If you, like me, have around 30 light bulbs in your house...well, do the math. :)
30x$30 = $900 / 5 = $180 / 12 = $15 a month. And a new law has been passed that will require light bulbs to be 30% more energy efficient by 2012, 70% more by 2020. So you're getting a jump on things already.
-Get, and use, a programmable thermostat for your heating and cooling. I knocked my power bill down at least 30% with this one!! Set it (depending on your personal comfort, of course) at 75 during the time you're home, 83 when you're not during the summer, 68 when you're home and 60 when you're not during the winter and you'll see drastic savings. 1 degree can save you or cost you 3% of your heating/cooling cost of your power bill.
-Ceiling fans. If you don't have one in a room, put one in there. Run it on medium speed all the time. It will circulate the air and relieve the pressure on your h/ac by 20%.
-If you have an electric stove, avoid using it during peak power times (11a-2p, 4p-9p). Doubly so for the oven! If you have a propane grill, this is an ideal substitute!
And some non-energy, but green tips:
-Get reusable grocery bags. Most stores sell them for about $1 each, and they hold more than a typical plastic grocery bag.
-Use a re-usable plastic water bottle - the kind that's dishwasher safe and is designed for sports or camping. Fill it from your filtered water dispenser on your fridge or water dispenser at work. You'll be amazed how much you save by NOT buying bottled water for a month.
(Marykae's note: not to mention that most bottled water uses plastic that will poison you to death. Most new reusable bottles are good, just look on the bottom for the number 4 or 5)
And fortytwostars is back to talk about saving energy! Which, again, saves money AND the environment.
Another Easy Energy Saving Tip
Those little red stand-by lights on your television and DVD player indicate a drain (albeit small) on electricity. We try to counterbalance this by connecting our entire entertainment system (which isn't much; TV + XBox + surround sound in one room, TV + DVD player in another, but STILL) to a surge protector. Not only could this save our "toys" in the event of a lightning strike, but it makes it easy as pie to just flick off the switch on the surge protector when the items aren't in use, cutting off the power and putting a stop to that wattage trickle.
some of what we do
-shop second hand; donate to second hand. not just clothes- books, art, furniture, etc! we get a lot of fabric bags that we dont need, so we keep one hanging on a doorknob to put our unwanted stuff in, and when its full, we drop the whole bag in the donation bin.
-eat one vegetarian meal a week, "eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, and planes in the world combined" and buy local produce- less energy was used to get it to you! [im totes a carnivore, im not pushing we all go 100% veg]
-dont dump your magazines in the recycling; take them to drs offices- waiting rooms NEED them, heh!
-take your old books and leave them at the laundromat!
-if you gotta take one of the plastic bags for produce [we buy apples by the dozen so we totes need to have them], stick the empty bag back into your reuseable grocery bag and use it til it falls to dust.
aaaaand more fortytwostars. Really! Paper towles and paper products in general should be reduced whenever possible. If you are having a party and you KNOW everyone, that is, no one is going to steal your shit, you should really try to use something reuseable.
I for one, always find alternative uses for grocery bags. And so does Missdotti:-eat one vegetarian meal a week, "eating meat causes almost 40 percent more greenhouse-gas emissions than all the cars, trucks, and planes in the world combined" and buy local produce- less energy was used to get it to you! [im totes a carnivore, im not pushing we all go 100% veg]
-dont dump your magazines in the recycling; take them to drs offices- waiting rooms NEED them, heh!
-take your old books and leave them at the laundromat!
-if you gotta take one of the plastic bags for produce [we buy apples by the dozen so we totes need to have them], stick the empty bag back into your reuseable grocery bag and use it til it falls to dust.
aaaaand more fortytwostars. Really! Paper towles and paper products in general should be reduced whenever possible. If you are having a party and you KNOW everyone, that is, no one is going to steal your shit, you should really try to use something reuseable.
Paper Towels
We are trying to wean ourselves. We got a whole pile of cloth napkins (which make every meal *special!*, but that is neither here nor there), and we have a rag bag that we use for cleaning. We still do use some paper towels, but we keep them in a high cabinet behind things, so we really have to WANT to use one before we dig it out. (And yes, want =/= need, but we are working on it.)
Grocery bags
I work at a day center for mentally impaired and disabled adults. If we have to change disposable briefs, we have to make sure they're bagged in plastic bags before discarding them in the trash for health reasons.
Although I'd much rather use the reusable tote bags that many stores now carry, I will often get the plastic bags when I buy groceries so I can take them to work and use those in the bathrooms. This recycles the bags and saves Hope Network a few pennies now and then. I've talked one of my coworkers into making us bag dispensers for each of our changing areas so that they're easily accessed. What's more, random people have stopped stealing the trash bags that we'd normally use instead, and we've saved almost $500 in two years doing this.
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