Green Living | Green living tips and advice

Go green easier by planning out your shopping and making some very simple changes to your habits. Simple steps will make a huge impact, it just takes a little patient rethinking.

From reusable grocery bags to buying and selling at consignment stores, a little preplanning will stretch your money and your planet’s resources a long way. Take plastic bags. Do you have a pet to pick poop up after? Unless you’re in an area that recently banned plastic grocery bags, why pay extra for tossing out critter waste? These are great for the cat box clean ups or for poop scooping after the dog.

Unless you go through a lot of bags every week, opt for using totes instead of the plastic or paper bags. Some stores use mostly-to-fully post consumer recycled materials in their bags, so ask. If the paper bags aren’t using post consumer materials, don’t use them.

Trees still have to be cut down and milled to make those bags. Totes rinse out, tear less, fold up easily and a stack of them isn’t unsightly on the backseat of anyone’s car.

Go green easily by planning your shopping trips and you keep fuel costs down. By making a list of what you have to do and where you want to go prevents back tracking. If you live with others, see if you can’t run errands together or even divide and conquer your lists. One trip to the consignment shop can get your items up for sale, some new clothes in your roommate’s or partner’s closet and a new bedside novel before grabbing some zinnias for the patio.

A phone call before leaving work puts a new batch of salad on the dinner table, replacing what got eaten as someone else’s snack; one trip, no unhappy surprises and fuel saved. Just grab a tote from the car and grab those goodies on the way home. Going green is easier than most people think and you don’t have to change your political party, your zip code or even your dress code.

All it takes to keep a greener planet and wallet is a little “Stop before you shop” thinking. Need poop bags, get plastic today. Start paying bills on line; electricity for the computer is cheaper than gasoline and uses no trees; there’s no paper check.

Bulk shop with friends to save fuel and food costs. Get as many errands run in one area of town as you can. There are internet sites, magazines and local groups devoted to helping everyday people, just like you, get a little greener, a little easier.

Second-hand is NOT a dirty word. People of all classes are realizing that there are great finds on the racks and shelves of consignment stores and thrift stores.

The old adage of “One man’s trash is another man’s treasure.” has taken on new meaning and new value. Utilizing stores that clean, refurbish, rewire or simply sell items as-is eliminates the need to ship merchandise from around the country.

There’s no added cost to the price tag for fuel fees, warehouse handling fees, trucking companies fees nor the big charge for buying a name brand article at full price.

Donations are tax deductible with receipts from the organization stating the estimated value of the items; you save when you give as well as receive. Many charity organizations use their resale stores for training. The developmentally disabled, recovering addicts, the homeless and others in need of marketable skills learn how to rewire appliances or do reupholstery work or succeed in retail so they can support themselves. Go green and get greenbacks by putting consignment stores to good use.

Last year’s fashion staples, brand new stock from retired businesses or an extra toaster oven from a newlywed’s gift collection are found treasures. As a rule, only clean, like-new products are acceptable for consideration at these stores. Finding original price tags on packaging is very common. Consignment stores will either pay you a flat rate for your items or take a small fee on what they sold for.

Many will even give an in-store credit or let you trade some of your things for same-priced merchandise. Building a good relationship with the owner or manager can garner you some nice perks, like getting a first look at new arrivals before they go out onto the sales floor.

Going green and second-hand buying go hand-in-hand so remember, second-hand is NOT a dirty word. These stores serve their communities by employing from within the area, giving new life to gently-used or even never-used things and keeping their corner of the local economy going. Thrift stores are usually a training and financial source for charities while consignment stores put cash in your pocket but both do the same service; keeping usable items out of the dumps.

Go green, see the light and save big. Taking small steps to improve your planet will mean big steps toward improving your finances, your health and your community.

Most people are intimidated by the amount of information bombarding them to “go green.” Being told “You have to become a whole new person or else” doesn’t usually sit well. They are concerned about adding new expenses or getting tangled up in high maintenance, frustrating activities.

Products are coming down in price dramatically and many changes can be done at no, or very little, cost. Go green and save big on energy bills. The traditional 60 watt light bulb lasts 5,000 hours and costs about 50-85 cents. That sounds pretty cheap when comparing it to a $4.00 florescent bulb. Now look again. That florescent bulb uses 75% less electricity to work, emits no heat and will last close to twice as long.

Count your light bulbs, multiply by that $100 and that’s how much your electric bill will drop in a year without standard bulbs. Three-way florescent bulbs last 6,000 hours vs the standard’s 2,500 which will put another $65, per bulb, in your pocket in a year.

Since no heat is emitted, you can put a florescent bulb in a lamp that shines like a 75-100 watt standard and only be using 13 watts. Changing over to florescent light bulbs can be done as the old ones blow out with the same positive impact. Go to a grocery warehouse store and buy a 10-pack of bulbs for around $24.00 and you save yourself $16.00 from the retail cost.

Go green easily and save big making a few simple adjustments at your own pace. What do YOU want to rearrange in your life? How to save on your use of fuel running errands? Cutting back on the amount of trash you generate? Adding recycling into your life?

Saving on clothes costs? There are community programs and resources to help you find the way that best fits your lifestyle and most information is on line. Get your family involved by letting the kids do some research. Go green easily; see your own light shine.

That isn’t exactly a clear picture of the situation. Organic foods are certified in different ways to stand for different qualities. Many foods deemed organic are grown in conditions that still harm the land they’re grown on and many are packaged inappropriately.

Just because a product flashes the word “Organic” on it doesn’t make it worth automatically buying. Certain plants are naturally bug-proof and get non-toxic treatments that make them invalid for the “organic” label. It’s not too difficult to go green easily within the big Organic Debate.

There are websites, local gardening classes and University extension programs that will answer your questions. How is a product deemed Organic? What do the different types or certifications actually mean? Are there some countries, states or counties whose foods you should avoid or buy with caution? What foods really should be organic and which ones just need a good washing?

As to this last question, the rule of thumb is that root and tuber vegetables, thin skinned fruits and leafy vegetables should be bought at the store as organics. Again, a little research from a trusted source will yield a bounty of important information.

Go green easily within the controversy of what should be organic or not by growing some super simple produce of your own. Grow your own spinach, lettuce, carrots or whatever strikes your fancy. Greens and carrots are very easy to grow and care for plus the savings are astounding.

A package of “designer” salad greens costs around $2.75, is ready for picking in 25-35 days from sprouting and keeps producing as long as you have seeds. Three 10-inch pots on the patio will provide a constant supply of salad goodies that can be brought in during winter and kept going year-round.

You can do the same with herbs and a windowsill. Go green easily choosing organically grown foods vs traditionally grown by getting more informed, being more aware and even dabbling in small batches of your own creations. When choosing your food think of it this way: If it’s good for the plant it’s probably good for you and the world you inhabit.

Go green easily and buy in bulk with friends at a grocery warehouse.

You save time, money and fuel just for starters. Most grocery warehouse stores charge $45-50 for a yearly membership and allow up to three people to be on the main member’s non-corporate card. When split three-ways it comes out to a little over $16.00 per person to join.

The average savings buying in bulk from these kinds of stores is 33 to 38% on fresh vegetables and fruits, up to 43% on fresh meats or poultry or fish and up to 55% on canned goods and staples such as flour, rice, sugar and coffee.

These discounts include the organic foods more of these stores are carrying. While these stores keep a basic inventory of popular items in stock, they do switch brand names, quantity sizes and rotate seasonal items quickly. Most send out flyers in the newspapers or put on their website special deals or things being offered for a short time so check those out before you go.

Go green easily buying in bulk with your buddies and keep your friendships enriched. One of the beauties of bulk purchasing with people you like is how you spend more time together just by doing a necessity. You get to hang out writing the shopping list, making the purchases and then dividing it all up. The other nice thing about shopping together is that impulse purchases are kept at bay.

Having a friend there to remind each of you that it’ll be harder to separate out the cost and taxes on that cute bird feeder or the complete Beatles compilation keeps everyone feeling more on task. The free food samples can be a bit distracting but if you go there hungry, after 15 minutes of wandering the aisles, you’ll be full; we all know how important it is not to shop on an empty stomach.

Go green easily buying as a co-operative with neighbors, family, or even coworkers. What’s not to like about something that saves you money, strengthens your bonds of friendship and helps the planet? Your bank accounts stay as full as your cupboards, you can reuse containers from past purchases (good for the earth) as you divvy up the goods, take one car and turn a boring chore into a fun day. There’s strength and savings in numbers so round up your posse and get your “green” on.

Go green easily by reusing glass jars from sauces, olives, jams and even spices.

Instead washing jars out and throwing them in the recycling or, say it isn’t so, the garbage, use them again and again. It’s so easy to soak the label off, grab masking tape (it peels off easily) and relabel them for left-over soup or anything you can think of, really. You go to a warehouse grocery store and see a gallon of artichoke hearts but what to do with that large jar after the goodies are gone stumps you.

Put your flour in it to keep bugs out or use it for the jumbo bag of coffee beans you’ve been wanting to put in the freezer. Glass freezes well as long as you don’t subject it to extreme temperature changes and leave room for the food to expand while it’s freezing.

When freezing liquids always leave 1/2 to 1 inch of room from the top of the jar and keep the lid loose until your food is frozen so the jar won’t break.

Go green easily using glass jars and utilize the bulk foods. Most stores have bulk cereals, pastas, snack foods and other staples that can be bagged there and put in jars at home. They also have spices, honey, nut butters and syrups so why not reuse the same type jars for that?

You’re saving resources, counter clutter and you don’t have to guess what’s in the jar; if you use masking tape labels even spices aren’t a mystery. When the item inside the jar changes, peel off the old tape, put on a new piece and voila, a used glass jar gets a new life, again.

Go green easily with reused jars and be healthier. There is a lot of controversy about storing and microwaving food in plastic storage containers. Too many types of plastic leach unhealthy chemicals and vapors into the hot food when it’s cooking and also as it cools in the container.

Glass doesn’t leach, leak or warp when heated so it has a built-in safety feature. Using 8-12 ounce jam jars to store left-over soup will give everyone their own cups of soup to heat and serve, so clean up is a breeze. Going green is easier than you may have thought and you have the start of a new storage container collection already in your cupboard.

Soak off the labels, use tape for new labels, fill them up and reuse them when they empty. What could be easier? Money, resources and your healthiness are saved in larger doses for the future.