Ultimate Guide to Saving Money and the Environment

Turn off the lights you are not using.

Unplug appliances you are not using.

In the evenings, have most of the family doing stuff in teh same location - saves on running lights in a bunch of different rooms.

All this will save you money on your electricity bill.

Buy your vegetables from the local farmers market or CSA program. It's usually a better product at a cheaper price and no packaging.

Check out books from the library instead of buying them.

Use Netflix, BlockBuster or other video rental instead of buying DVD's. For a flat monthly fee, you can see a bunch of movies for what you would have spent on one purchase.

Volunteer to work on clean up projects in your community and stop paying for gym memberships. You can get lots of excercise from walking a park or beach and picking up litter. Plus, there is always a shortage of people to help clean our parklands.

There's tons more of ways, but these are my personal contributions to the environment for this year.

Supplement your diet with natural nutritional products, Thus this elliminates the farmers that use pesticides from making money and spoiling our enviroment

Keep a diary of every cent you spend for 60 days to get an accurate picture of your spending habits. Don't be a debt slave.Live within your means which is to say if you don't have the the cash AFTER you basic bills are paid, do without till you can afford it. Best way to go green is to get over instant gratification & convienence. Grow your own food & have reachable goals for your life.

Combine trips, use public transport, share rides, bike, figure out *whatever* way you can to *not* turn on the car. And by all means, get a car that gets more miles per gallon. It's *amazing* how expensive cars are to operate.

The *simplest* ways to save money and the environment involve the simple choices we make in life. Avoid "more" when "less" will do. Live close to your work. Don't waste things like power, food, or gas... or soda cans. Live simply and recycle.

REduce the amount of plastic, paper, cardboard, glass or aluminum you use;
REuse that styrofoam cup you get at the convenience store whenever you buy a soda. Then wash it out and refill it ten or twelve times before getting a new cup;
REcycle everything that's not easily and quickly bio-degradable, such as: newsprint; cardboard; steel; paper; tin; computer parts; cell phones; magazines; aluminum; plastics; telephone directories; used cooking oil; asphalt; ink cartridges; glass; and anything else that won't easily biodegrade in a landfill.

Drive less. You save money and minimize vehicle emissions. Buy a more fuel-efficient car, a moped, a bike; use mass transit whenever possible; or WALK to school, work or the store if you can.

Every time you buy something that is packaged... you are having an environmental impact. The production of modern retail packaging is extremely wasteful of natural resources and energy.

So if you buy less... you save money and you have a lower "environmental footprint."

If you drive your car less, you save money (less gas and less wear and tear on the car...) and... you will have produced less pollution.

Use less, waste less, pollute less. Think before you use "do I really need?" After you use, think what can be done with the waste. Limit the activities where you pollute the environment. You choose, the 'less' you do, the better it gets!

Turn Green and Save Money

OK, we are not saying you have to expose yourself to radioactive rays and start bursting out of your clothes to turn green, however there are some simple things you can do to save money.

The following tips do not require any major changes in your life and are a fairly sensible way of saving money and the environment.

1. Switch off the lights when you leave a room.
2. Switch your appliances off. Leaving your washing machine or TV on standby uses extra energy and costs you money.
   
3. Only boil as much water as you need. Overfilling a kettle or pot means that it takes longer to boil uses more energy.
4. Unplug phone and other chargers.
5. Save 10% on your electricity bill by turning the temperature down a notch on your heating.
6. Switch to energy efficient light bulbs - these bulbs cost more to buy but will pay for themselves within a few months.
7. Car pool - Share a lift with your colleagues and split the cost of traveling to work
8. Don't buy prepacked vegetables and fruit, saves money and packaging when you buy them loose.

These tips are not going to save a fortune, but the way i see it is the money we save it better in our pockets.