Bill reductions?

EMGhb

Has anyone recently made any eco-friendly changes that have benefited your pocket book lately, and by how much if you don't mind me asking? My girlfriend wants us to start living more "green," but all I care about with the current downturn is saving money. Any suggestions?

Fire_Fox

Reduce, reuse, recycle! Look hard at every item you buy and every item you throw away - could you have bought the same thing second-hand from eBay, Freecycle or a charity shop? Could the waste have been avoided, could you sell or give away your discarded items?

Reduce food waste by not getting carried away in the supermarket, use up or freeze what is starting to go off (e.g. soups) instead of throwing food away, buy loose produce from markets and butchers instead of heavily-packaged supermarket stuff, get some canvas bags for life (small investment) and stop using carrier bags, find out if your council offers free water butts or compost bins so you spend less on water or compost for the garden, grow your own fruit and veg.

Turn the tap off when you are brushing your teeth or washing your hands, turn the shower off whilst shampooing/ soaping up, use leave-on conditioner so less waste and less water. Fit a showersmart (see freebies board) to your shower and put a 'hippo' in you toilet (usually free from water company).

Full load in the washing machine, laundry at 30C, no tumble dryer, don't leave anything on standby (TV, digibox, microwave etc.), replace all bulbs with energy saving ones as they blow, ask if your energy company if offering any energy saving freebies, insulate the loft, stop heating the bedroom buy an electric blanket (=pence to run), turn the room thermostat and hot water thermostat down.

dixie_dean_2

An aerated shower, see thread on here, will save you money if you have a powerful shower and shower a lot. Insulating the loft and cavity walls if applicable are the 2 biggest, easiest things to do i think.

cattie

Can anybody point me in the direction of the shower as mentioned in the above threads only have done a search on Freebies & nothing is showing up?

dixie_dean_2

Google eco camel, or just check through for the thread titles something like "Aerated shower heads merged".

Fire_Fox

cattie wrote: »

Can anybody point me in the direction of the shower as mentioned in the above threads only have done a search on Freebies & nothing is showing up?

The free one is called a Showersmart and it came up when I searched for it. You will have to pay about £20 for an Ecocamel.
http://www.ekmpowershop9.com/ekmps/shops/eagashop4/