Ideas on how to be greener and save money

FrugalWorker

Consider all single use products - no need to change everything all at once, and not everything may apply to you. The fact you posted the question, you probably do a lot of this already. Not all of these save money, there is an initial out lay for some of them, but for lots you can re-use things you already have.
- Paper towels - use rags, tea towels, etc...
- Cling film - use old glass jars to store left over
- Packaging, buy unpackaged if possible I don't always get what I want, but I can nearly always get something close. Bring your own shopping bags + produce bags (I made smaller bags from left over fabric - gets thrown in wash regularly). Where I live plastic bags can't be re-cycled only hard plastics.
- Sanitary products - a cup or washable towels.
- cotton rounds for removing make up -knit up a couple of rounds with cotton, or just cut up an old tea shirt
- a safety razor (not made this change yet as I still have one on the go - not point throwing out disposables for the sake of it - depends how much you use it as to the savings)
- Paper napkins, use cloth. If you don't have any make them from old clothes. This was just normal for me, we had our own napkin ring growing up, so didn't wash them after every use, only when they were dirty.
- Tissues - Okay, so I'm not fully there, but I always bring a couple of cloth hankies with me if I'm heading out. If I decide to buy something to eat I can use a clean hankie to carry it/hold it instead of a plastic bag.
- Bring a to go kit with you. This really only applies if you eat out - a packed lunch would absolutely be better for your pocket. But I'll tend to bring a travel cup with me, napkin + knife/fork/spoon in pocket of my bag. I also have a water bottle which I sometimes bring. I've the travel cup (ceramic) and water bottle (metal) I think 6-8 years and going strong. The silverware is just spares from home. So not a big expense. Saves you buying water and sometimes get a reduction on cost of coffee (flask would be cheaper and yes I do that sometimes)

Use the bare minimum of any product (shampoo, soap, toothpaste, etc... don't use excess of anything) Only remember seeing on here, bend the loo roll so it doesn't roll as easy, less gets used. Only wash things when they're dirty.

This is probably old hat to you, but its so easy to forget, only buy what you need. If you do need to buy something, try and get it second hand first. This applies to food, clothes, stuff, decorations, etc.... But its hard to be really strict.

Again, probably old hat to you, but maintain what you have. Polish your shoes, repair the small hole in the jumper, get your shoes re-heeled, anything to extend the life in existing products. But take particular care to keep something in good condition so you still enjoy using it.

This one isn't money saving, but I would argue its a quite easy one, refuse free stuff. I know it goes against a lot of what is done on the old style board. I guess, I should re-phrase it as refuse things you don't need. E.g. if I'm at a conference and I'm offered a free pen/bag/etc... I could take them, I could use them, but I know in my heart of hearts I've more than enough of both so don't. But I do have minimalist tendencies. I would also extend this to things like refusing straws if I'm out.

Eat less meat (I'm not going to say eat vegetarian or vegan), but do try and find 1-2 meals that you enjoy. Meat is very intensive on water usage. But no judgments here, just beans in all their lovely forms are very reasonable + good for you. I'm a fan of Anna Jones + Rose Elliot, I'm sure they'll have their books in the library. Personally I've cut down to only buying meat thats free range/well sourced, but to do this, I've had to cut back quite a bit as it's more expensive.

Make it yourself/eat less processed food - this is is hard to quantify as to whether its cheaper. I'd argue its healthier. But I also admit, I work full time, I don't get to make everything but I do my best. For example home made yoghurt is cheaper, I make my own sauces, bake cakes (very occasionally), make popcorn, etc...

Grow what you can (for me, to date it has been a pretty small list), but do what you can. Focus on what you eat that you can't buy unpackaged. I hoping to add tomatoes + rocket to this list this year. I've a lot of herbs on the go. Forage for blackberrys in Autumn, etc..

House:Ensure all your lighting is LED or CFL. Check that the hot water tank is insulated and ensure that the house is as well insulated as possible. There is a cost with these, but will save on heating and electric costs over time and make the house more comfortable.

As a side note: apparently a guppy bag (can be purchased in patagonia) will capture plastic particles from washing say fleeces. But I haven't purchased one (yet) so can't comment further on it. I've been working on ensuring any further products are natural so I don't have to think about it. Its hard though, particularly finding appropriate gym gear. Especially given I try and buy second hand (I don't really want second hand gym gear....so I'm still researching best options for this)

Fly less! All of these smaller changes are wiped out with a flight from a carbon perspective. No judgements. I've family that live abroad, I fly, but I try to limit it - I want to research offsetting it, but can't decide if its just green washing or am just better off saying no and no going away as often..

Finally, baby steps and do what small steps you can do. It's very easy to get frustrated by all of this. I only work on one new thing at a time, the rest doesn't require any effort, its just what I do.

WeeMidgie

Again, it sounds simplistic, but I stay out of shops as much as possible.

There are various ways of doing this according to budget and family size. Supermarkets deliver and this is great for people who meal plan, which also saves money.

For health reasons and to reduce food miles and to support a local farm, I have an organic veg delivery every two weeks. I also buy free range poultry direct from a nearby free range poultry farm. My food bill works out at £15 to £20 per week, which I don't feel is excessive for one person buying organic / free range produce.

I'm currently trying out a home made recipe for dishwashing liquid. This is to save buying and disposing of plastic bottles, and to use gentler products. The recipe's based on castile soap, very simple but not quite right, it is offputtingly viscous, but I've another recipe to try when I've used up this batch, and if it works, I'll post the recipe on here. If anyone has their own good dishwashing soap recipe to share, please feel free to post it.

Pinkypink1

Being a first time buyer and not knowing that the gas and electricity bills would be like initially, I always wear layers on in the house and put a fleece on or a dressing gown. I also light candles in the lounge which also heats up the room, not only does this save on the bills but its so nice and cosy.
I don't leave any plug sockets on except for the fridge freezer, chest freezer and washing machine. The TV, kettle, toaster and microwave all get switched off after use. I don't own a tumble dryer. I was renting before I bought my house I never felt the need for one in the flat, so stuck to that when I moved into my house. I use the horse rack and leave it in the utility room. I'm trying to be greener and save the pennies.
Looking forward to reading what others do.

yellow218

I!!!8217;m really chuffed the thread I started made it to the weekly MSE email.

OctaviaP

The wikipedia entry for microfiber (sic) talks about the amount of fibres that come off during washing and how they don't get filtered out by water-treatment plants. Apparently something like 85% of the plastic on shorelines is microfibre.

Cupoftea123

How about reducing the number of spins for washing machine cycles in the Summer when the washing will dry quickly outside anyway.

buildersdaughter

Yellow, you should be pleased! This thread has been interesting and inspiring to a lot of people. This board tends to be kind to people,and supports, as FrugalWorker says, baby steps.

I have often written that these choices are not always straightforward. Most of what has been written, I do, try to do, or don't do for a reason. The thing I didn't know about was fleece/ microfibre particles. We have discussed this, and this is where we are at the moment:
we have acquired a lot of microfibre cloths (freebies etc). We already use rag a lot, and will keep those cloths for specific use where we would have used chemical cleaners.
clothes made of recycled bottles: we don't buy many clothes anyway. We also think that getting maximum use out of plastic molecules is helpful, so we may continue to buy the recycled fleeces. But by the time either of us needs another there may be a lot more information.
We are going to investigate the guppy bag, thanks to those who suggested it.

As for not using detergent for dishwashing (we use BioD), I keep an open mind. But I was taught to wash up before the use of washing up liquid became widespread. We used soda bic and very hot water, everything was washed in order. Then, if you were in a family where they kept a pig (we didn't but it was still common) a grown up carried the greasy bowl out to the pigs. I remember the pleasure of unleashing that cloud of bubbles into the washing up bowl and it seemed magical. I remmber my mum saying we didn't have a pig to worry about, and hang the expense!

Maxthebrave

I never buy new furniture - much to husbands disgust - I'm always at the tip dragging something home for a fiver and repainting it. I think the only new items in our house are sofas and mattresses.

I have young children and I have never used baby wipes. We use small flannels and water and then just pop them in the wash. I use them instead of loo roll a lot too - husband disaproves of this too

I used cloth nappies with my first but for various reasons they didn't work with my second so didn't work out as economical as hoped as quite expensive to buy. Still highly recommend them. Nothing cuter than a squishy cloth bum baby.

And on the bodily functions note I use a moon cup and washable cloth pads when I have my period.

sazzlebgood?

only a small way to save money and be eco friendly but i always make sure my computer is on battery saver.

jsrees

I use an adapted garden shed (6' x 4') as a compost loo.

It's on steep land, so I walk into the shed on the level, and at the back, there is some drainage of any excess liquid onto roots of an apple tree.

Two loo seats side by side - one in active use, the other closed off for fermenting. I empty the fermented one when the active one is getting full - about every 2-3 years. It's compost already but I then add it to the regular garden compost heap to allow another year or so before it goes on the vegetable garden.

Good saving in water and sewage costs, and great feeling of being in harmony with environment every time I use it.

Interesting to watch visitors' reactions - about 50% happy to use it in preference to indoor loo.