25 July 2008
More for Less
Posted by admin under: Uncategorized .
Living a green lifestyle isn’t just about buying green products, it’s also about using our resources wisely. So for today’s Green Tips, here are some things that my wife and I do to reduce our waste, save money, and get the most out of the items we have:
Bargain shopping: My wife is an absolute genius when it comes to our weekly grocery trip. First, she usually doesn’t let me go with her, which keeps “mystery items” (items that mysteriously appear in the cart by themselves, such as cookies or a five-pound log of summer sausage) out of the cart. Second, she knows exactly what she’s going to buy when she gets there. Apparently, Walmart will match competitor’s coupons (at least in our area; check your local stores for details). In our area, “competitors” means Kroger and Meijer. So every Friday evening, we sit down and plan what meals we will eat and what I will take in my lunch for that week, based on what’s on sale at the various stores. So by taking 30 minutes and checking, we get the benefits of sales at three stores yet only have to go to one. This saves a TON of money and time.
In addition, she looks for coupons. One of her favorite coupon sites is CouponMom. I’ve never used it myself, but she loves it and she gets lots of coupons. Another one we both use is Mypoints. Mypoints is a nifty little site that offers points for various activities, such as signing up for sponsor offers, reading emails, playing games, shopping, etc. Many major online retailers offer points bonuses for shopping through the Mypoints portal. Once you have enough points, you can redeem them for gift cards to a lot of different stores, restaurants, etc. I highly recommend it. One word of caution: you will get a lot of emails. I usually just open them, click the link, get my five points for reading it, and then delete it. Quick and easy, and its perfectly safe to use. They also publish exclusive weekly coupons, which is why I’m mentioning the site here. If you are interested in signing up for Mypoints, please shoot me an email, because I get points if I refer you, and I assume you want to be nice to me if you read my blog. 
By using coupons, planning our meals, and price-watching, my awesome wife can usually buy all the food that she, Luke and I will eat, and also the vegetables and fruits for Brennan’s baby food (she makes her own baby food in a $15 personal smoothie maker) for less than $70 a week. In these times of skyrocketing food costs, that’s quite an accomplishment!
Freecycle
Freecycle groups are groups of likeminded people in a geographical area who are committed to reducing waste. Members can post items they want or need, or items that they no longer use and want to offer to others. It’s absolutely free to join, and items must be offered for free. I’ve gotten some great stuff, and some stuff that would normally have gone to a landfill is now being used. I highly recommend this to anyone who is interested in keeping our waste down.
Utilities
Utility costs keep rising, right along with everything else (surprise!). In addition to high prices digging in to our budgets, utilities are often among the worst pollution offenders. So to try to offset this, we’ve taken steps to reduce our utility use, saving money and pollution. Some of the things we do are:
- Only use the air conditioning when we have too. Our house, even though it’s over 100 years old, is actually very well-insulated. Unless the outside temperature is over 90 degrees Fahrenheit, we open the windows and use fans to blow the air around. Much cheaper than a/c!
- Keep the heat turned down. In the winter, when we’re not home the thermostat is set at 62 degrees Fahrenheit. Even when we are home, it’s set to 68. Put on a sweater or a blanket if you’re cold.
- Turn the water off while you’re brushing your teeth. That wastes a TON of water.
- Cut back your time in the shower. By showering for a shorter time (please make sure you get clean though. Ick!) you can save a lot of water.
- Not letting the fridge door hang open while I aimlessly look for a snack. That’s just common sense.
What are some ways that you conserve resources?
6 Comments so far...
Kelly Says:
9 September 2008 at 11:25 am.
so i was skimming through and in order to make my husband proud i had to contradict you on one item. (yes todd, i know. i only leave comments when i disagree)
According to Josh turning your heat down and back up can actually cost you more money. The reason being when you turn your ’stat down to 62 and then back up to 68, the furnace works really hard to bring the temp back up, thus using MORE energy, and the money you saved while it wasn’t running to get down to 62 has just been for nothing. the best thing to do is to set it at one temperature and leave it there. that way it’s just maintaning a constant temp and not working hard at all.
There you go.
admin Says:
10 September 2008 at 2:14 pm.
I wouldn’t presume to argue with Josh, as he actually installs furnaces, but wouldn’t the fact that it’s set on a lower setting for 8 hours still offset the amount it needs to work harder to increase the temp 6 degrees?
This is beyond my poor, math- and mechanically-challenged mind.
Kelly Says:
11 September 2008 at 12:29 pm.
I was actually going to post a correction to my correction. Apparently it doesn’t take MORE energy, but it uses about the same amount of energy to get the temp back up where you want it. So there again, the money you saved while it wasn’t running is cancelled out by the work it’s doing to get the house at the temperature you want it. Again, this is all according to my husband. I would imagine that different homes and furnaces heat differently. All I can say is try leaving it at one temp for a month and the next month do your ‘up and down’ and see what works for you.
admin Says:
11 September 2008 at 12:35 pm.
Hmm. That makes more sense. Maybe I’ll create a spreadsheet to track it all….
Oh, and Kelly: I know that some day, you will post on one of my blogs a comment that agrees with something I say.
And the world will end.
Kelly Says:
12 September 2008 at 11:48 am.
Haha. Thanks Todd. Just for that I’ll have to post something positive sometime. Ooh, or maybe I could start leaving positive comments on Nathan’s blog or Carma’s or Adam’s…just to drive you crazy.
admin Says:
12 September 2008 at 12:37 pm.
Now that’s just mean.
