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What's your family doing that's green and lean?
Share your tips about living green and frugally with Natural Life readers.
Inspire others to save money by conserving resources, or by thinking about
economics in a different way. Send us an
email with your tip (maximum 100 words,
please).
We grow a lot
of our own food, with a vegetable garden, and chickens for meat and
eggs. We make almost all of our food from scratch, including beer
and wine, which can be made at home inexpensively, while reusing the
same glass bottles every time. We use cloth napkins, handkerchiefs
and bathroom wipes. We use cold water in the washing machine, hang
everything to dry year-round, and only wash items that are actually
dirty. We have given up most personal care products, like shampoo,
conditioner, deodorant, toothpaste, lotion. A little castile soap
once a week with a vinegar rinse is all I need for my long hair, and
a couple drops of the castile soap keeps my teeth clean.
Laura Stock
Horse Lake,
British Columbia
We’re trying to save on the price of gas
and help the environment by driving less and increasing the
efficiency of our four-year-old car. (We’d buy a hybrid or electric
car if we could afford to!) Some of the things we’ve done is reduce
the weight and wind resistance by removing the roof rack, cleaning
out the unused stuff from the trunk, and keeping the sunroof closed.
We’re also avoiding drive-throughs, which require idling, and we no
longer warm up the engine in winter (thanks for the article on
idling awhile back, Natural Life!).
Noah & Ella Simonousky
Vaughan,
Ontario
My husband and I live in an
apartment building in the city where a clothesline isn't possible
for us. So we recently bought a clothes drying rack for under $10 to
put in our laundry room. It works great. I usually hang a load
before I go to bed and in the morning they are dry. However, drying
them indoors make them a little stiff so I throw them in the dryer
for a few minutes to soften them. It saves us a lot of money on our
bills and helps out the earth.
Nicole Gladitz
Philadelphia, Pennsylvania
We took Natural Life's advice, sold our clothes
dryer and hang our laundry outside to dry on a clothesline. I have to be
flexible enough to do laundry on days when it's not raining, but we have
saved some money on our utility bill and feel that this was such an
obvious thing to do we're ashamed not to have done it sooner!
Dana and Silvio Marchetti-Smithers
Windsor, Nova Scotia
I clean my home with 100 percent organic
products, compost all of my food scraps, yard waste and junk mail. The
redworms do a great job and every three months I have new organic
compost for my garden. I shop mainly at farmers’ markets and always
bring my hand-made reusable totes. I am in the process of building a
windmill so I can save even more on my electric bill.
Allison
Haney
Santee,
California
I make my own laundry detergent. To me, it’s
really important to use low/no-chemical cleaning products
– not only for my own health but for the
health of our waterways. It’s also so much cheaper than buying a natural
laundry detergent at the store (I save at least twelve dollars a bottle)
and, in one batch, I can make enough for six months!
Karla
McManus
Ottawa,
Ontario
We have two very young children in our family.
Instead of the pollution and waste of trees associated with disposable
diapers, and the huge amounts of soap and water used to wash cloth ones,
we are using a method called Elimination Communication (EC) or Infant
Potty Training (IPT). It eliminates the use of most diapers entirely,
saves us huge amounts of money and keeps us tuned in to our children's
needs.
Pattie Januski-Simms
Seattle, Washington
We had an EcoEnergy audit done to see how efficient
our house is. First you have an assessment done to your house and
receive a customized report with recommendations for improvements to the
problem areas in your home. It tells you how much money you can save by
completing the recommended improvements and how much money you can
expect as a grant from the federal and provincial governments. After you
finish the renovations, they will confirm the improved performance of
your house. They will do an assessment again to determine the new rating
for your house. If you qualify for a grant, the advisor submits an
application to Natural Resources Canada for you.
S.J. Cooper
Newmarket, Ontario
Use shipping paper (this is the very long,
off-white paper that some shippers use to protect their contents in
transit) as wrapping paper. Simply have your kids color on the paper,
and voila!
Daniel Burstein
Jacksonville, Florida
Our family does not own a car – for transportation we
first consider whether we need to make the trip, then we choose walking,
cycling or taking public transit depending on the destination and
weather conditions.
Deanna Hurstfield
Kamloops, British Columbia
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The kids pack lunches in stainless steel containers
& we use water canteens. We use recycled cloth bags when at all stores;
our three kids like to take their own bags that they’ve decorated. We
also purchase pre-owned clothing and household items, which saves energy
and money. I make our household cleaners from castile soap, vinegar and
baking soda. We use cloth diapers and washable rags for kitchen and some
bathroom needs. We changed all light bulbs to energy efficient and have
a rain catcher for our small garden and shrubs.
Lisa Stowe
Lumber Bridge, North Carolina
When we shop for groceries we use reusable cloth
shopping bags. We make a list of things that can be done all in one day
within the same perimeter and save gasoline. We have two children under
the age of three and find fun homemade things to do like our own
play dough and bubbles. We make lots of things from scratch like pancake
mix and yogurt ice creams. We use cloth dinner napkins and baby diapers,
and wash them in cold water. We use energy-efficient bulbs. All our
bills are online and we save on paper. We
don’t ever buy water in a bottle.
Joann
Hutsell
Banks,
Oregon
I wash my fruits and vegetables by putting them in
a big bowl and then use the "dirty" water on my houseplants and garden.
Katy Foster,
Scottsdale, Arizona When our children moved out on their own, we
bought a place in the city, closer to where we both work. Now I take
transit and my wife can walk to work. The next step is to sell our car!
We're healthier, we're doing our environmental bit, and we are saving
money...lots more once we unload the wheels.
Richard G. Knowles
London, England
We fixed all the drippy faucets and leaky pipes
in our 85-year-old home. (I was surprised at how many there were!) Not
only are we conserving water and preventing mold, we're saving money on
our hot water bill.
J.A. Moores
Toronto, Ontario
I recently quit my job to work on an Internet
project so I have realized that the “American Dream” is not necessary in
order to live a satisfying life. I ask myself: “Do I really NEED this?”
Often the answer is “no.” I gave up most paper products including
bathroom tissue. We have running water and cloth. I also wash most of my
laundry by hand, especially undergarments that should be hand washed
anyway.
Sarah Conaway
Lynchburg, Virginia
Recycle pop cans and pop bottles.
Use reusable grocery/tote bags
instead of plastic bags. Recycle newspaper.
Quanda Dykstra
Living in the
country on 14.3 acres, I use grass clippings and leaves to improve the
soil on my property. Ten years ago I noticed that a great amount of
plastic bagged grass clippings and leaves were brought to the garbage
dump. Because I am a big believer in organic gardening and composting, I
decided to ask for those grass clippings and leaves to be brought to my
property instead. Every year starting in May right to the end of
October, the people responsible for cutting the lawns and maintaining
the properties in town deliver all these bagged grass clippings and
leaves at my place. Because my husband and I work in a carpentry shop on
our property, we take all the grass clippings and leaves out of the
plastic bags and pile them together with half the amount of sawdust,
layering them, until a big pile is formed. In a matter of months, all of
this becomes a nice, big pile of compost.
Mrs. Raymonde Bourgeois
Swastika,
Ontario
I’ve been using reusuable grocery bags for a few
years now and love them. It’s very rewarding to walk out of a store without extra plastic bags. On the occasion that we forget, I always reuse the plastic bags
for trash or scooping the litter box.
Kimberly Wiltshire
Use energy-saving lights that use
considerably less energy than conventional lights, and can save your
family lots of money on your energy bills! Plan shopping trips in
advance so you don't make extra trips. Find colorful sections from your
newspaper and use it for wrapping gifts. Or use an old map or your
child’s artwork; tie a scarf, an attractive dish towel or bandanna
around the gift. If every family wrapped just three gifts one of these
ways, it would save enough paper to cover 45,000 football fields. Turn
off electric appliances when not in use.
Soumyajeet Chattaraj
Enfield, Connecticut
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For more ways to go green and save money, check out our
frugal living article index!
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March/April 2010
January/February 2010
November/December 2009
September/October 2009
July/August 2009
May/June 2009
March/April 2009
January/February 2009
November/December 2008
September/October 2008
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