Ask the Piggy Bank: Can I Save the Environment and Money at the Same Time?
April 22, 2008 by Miranda Marquit
Filed under Finance
With Earth Day today, a lot of people have the environment on their minds. I’ve received several questions of a similar nature since Sunday, so I thought I’d answer the question:
Is it possible to save money while going green? So many environmentally friendly actions seem to cost a lot of money.
This is a valid point. It does seem like every time you turn around being friendly to the environment costs money. But it doesn’t have to. There are some small things you can do every day to save money and the environment, too.
- Prepare your own foods. Rather than buying pre-packaged and pre-prepared foods, make more meals at home with fresh ingredients. Web sites like allrecipes.com offer fast and easy dinner ideas. Plus, if you plan your meals you’ll shop with a list, which cuts down on impulse buying.
- Grow your own food, or buy local produce. We try to buy local produce when we can, and we have a garden. With food prices inflation, this is an important consideration. After all, if you can grow it yourself — or get it locally instead of paying for transport costs — you’ll save money as well as help the environment.
- Cut back on fuel use. Oil prices have hit new records every day for the past four days. This is driving up gasoline costs and starting to hit many a household budget where it hurts. If you can, use public transportation and carpool. Trip consolidation means that you don’t have to go out as much. And when you cut back on fuel use, it’s better for the environment as well as money-saving.
- Drink tap water. Bottled water is expensive and the plastic is bad for the environment. If your tap water is icky, get a filter. My family bought an under the counter filter that vastly improves the taste of the tap water. And even though the initial outlay was a little pricey, it only took two months for the filter to “pay for itself” in terms of mone not spent on bottled water. Now we’re saving each month.
And, of course, you can always make money in environmentally friendly ways. If you have solar panels, you can sell extra power that you have back to the grid. And there are environmentally friendly investing opportunities that can improve your income.
image credit: NASA
Thanks for the tips. I’ve been trying to be better about protecting the environment, and it’s god to know that one can do that and save money at the same time. I am totally going to try to drive less and save more on fuel. I’ve been driving to the nearby supermarket even thought it’s just a 5-minute walk and even for small purchases. I promised myself to change that.
Thanks for stopping by! Yes, walking is a great way to cut back on fuel. And it is healthier for your body as well. Now that the weather’s nice, the mile walk to the bus stop won’t be bad, and The Boy and I will take the bus much more.
Here are a few more tips…They may seem obvious though…
Simply using fans instead of air conditioning where possible is not only better for the environment, but can be cheaper too! With the increasing temperatures, this is something to think about…
Also, since we are in the digital (computer) age, you should save on paper waste by saving files where possible instead of printing out documents on paper. This saves you on the price of ink, and saves trees.
Thanks for the tips, Mark! These are great. Also, you can get a SmartStrip. These allow you to plug in your computer to the main “outlet” and then the peripheral items (printer, etc.) in others. When your computer is on, power goes to everything else. When it is off, so is the power to the other items. It’s a smart way to save energy (and money) without having to think about it too much.
Another way is to use fluorescent instead of incandescent bulbs (80% saving on electricity). The Asian Development Bank estimates that 1 million incandescent bulbs taken out of use saves putting up a 50 megawatt power plant.
My husband and I have been doing a couple of things to save energy:
1. We have replaced most of our bulbs with floresent ones. I actually like the light better.
2. We have a filter on our tap. I have bought a couple of environmentally friendly water bottles that I refill. I also don’t like really cold water, so this works well. I drink a lot of water, and I want to drink from something with a top on it, especially around the computer.
Thanks, Ren and Jean.
We get the energy saving bulbs as well. They’re great! And I love the filtered water.
When buying anything, choose a product that has less packaging too because a good portion of the price goes into the packaging of a certain product.
That is a great point, Pelf! And less packaging is better for the environment as well.
Nice take on the topic of conservation!
Thanks, Laura! I’m glad you stopped by :0)
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