Given today is earth day, I thought I would write an afternoon post with some environmentally friendly financial moves to help save mother earth, but also to help your pocket book. But first, what is earth day? Wikepedia says Earth Day is designed to inspire awareness and appreciation for the Earth’s environment. I think it’s becoming a lot more popular, or perhaps I’m just becoming more aware? Our company has designated this entire week as Earth week and have been sending out tips each day. They even replaced all of the paper coffee cups and gave us new coffee mugs to use instead! Alright, check out these financially responsible tips you might just consider any day of the week to help mother earth.
Environmentally friendly financial moves
- Log into your online accounts and opt out of receiving paper bills and statements.
- Commute to work. You can become more environmentally friendly and save on transportation costs by either carpooling, or taking public transportation to work. Hint: if you take public transportation (as I do) you can reclaim commuting time to do other activities such as reading, writing, etc.
- Make a concious effort to recycle at home. I suppose over time and with many people focusing on recycling we can reduce costs of products. A lot of cities have a designated recycling center, or will come by and pick up your recycled items with garbage collection.
- Utilities: you can save a tremendous amount of money by raising your thermostat in the summer and lowering it in the winter. While this decreases your spending on the electric bill, it also reduces the need for natural resources to produce the energy required to heat and cool your home.
- Avoid watering too much. If you have a sprinkler system set it only to water once per week. Also make sure you’re not over watering. Run a test and check for standing water on your lawn.
- By fluorescent bulbs. While I haven’t made this move myself, I need to get on it ASAP. They are more expensive but save money in the long-run and again reduce use of natural resources.
- Check out books from the library versus buying new books. Or, by eBooks. This tip can reduce paper and also save you money with new books being quite pricey these days (at least hardbacks).
- Turn your car off if you’re going to idle for several minutes to save gas and the environment.
- Do you like to purchase coffee at Starbucks or a favorite coffee shop from time to time? You can save money and reduce usage of paper by taking your own refillable mug versus using their cups.
- Reduce printing expenses: try to save documents electronically when you can versus printing at home. This will also help reduce the use of paper and avoid outrageously high printer cartridge replacement costs.
What are your green tips to save money and mother earth?
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