Going green for me isn’t just about buying special light bulbs or buying reusable trash bags, it is more about reduction of the total footprint I have. Part of the reason is that I don’t have a ton of money to just take the working light bulbs out of my home and replace with the more energy efficient ones, part of the reason is that I feel I just over-use resources too often. Some of the things I’ve done include,

  1. Maintaining my car. While my civic is 18 years old, it still routinely gets 34+ MPG; this is partly due to the fact that I take very good care of it. Regular oil changes, checking tire pressure every 6-8 weeks and cleaning / changing the air filter every year all lead to better fuel economy. I also try to run errands all at once, rather than stopping somewhere on my way home only to go to another store an hour after being home. Mapping where I drive often results in less miles, thus less fuel is burned.
  2. Turning off electrical items not needed. For more than 20 years I have been falling asleep at night to glowing of a television screen and the sound of some stupid show. Simply teaching my body to fall asleep without the television on saved me 30 minutes of power usage. Same thing goes for cooking dinner or washing dishes, I turn off the TV in the other room, along with the lights.
  3. Maintaining my laptop. These seems odd, but since buying a Macbook more than a month ago, I rarely charge it, running off battery power more than 90% of the time I use it. Part of the reason I chose a Mac was because they have amazing battery power, often given me close to 5 hours of usability per charge. Laptops charge faster when they are closed, either in sleep mode or turned off, so that is when I charge mine. Keeping it plugged in while working on it can cause it to take five times longer to charge, wasting electricity.
  4. No more bottled water. In making an investment for a better cup of coffee I bought a Brita water pitcher. This has drastically improved the taste of my tap water and I will no longer be buying bottled water. Simply filling a bottle, like the Nalgene one we are giving away is going to not only save money, but also reduce the amount of waste I produce.
  5. Doing full loads of laundry. Sounds simple enough, but I wait until I have a full load of laundry, almost always use cold water and pull the clothing immediately from the washing machine when it is done. Many of my collared shirts are hang dry, reducing the amount that goes into the dryer, which I make sure to keep the lint trap free and clean at all times.
  6. Keep the freezer full. I have a 19 cubic foot fridge, I admit that it is much larger than I need, but it’s mine regardless. I have no reason to keep it stocked full of food, partially because I prefer to buy fresh as often as possible and only what I can eat in a few days, but if you keep the freezer full it will maintain a constant temperature longer. Doing so means that the fridge will need to kick on far less to keep things cool. Simply fill empty soda or juice bottles (plastic only) with water, no close than 2” from the top. Screw the top on tightly and put them in your freezer. The frozen water will help maintain the temperature, thus starting the cooling process longer.
  7. Open and close the shades. In the summer, I keep the shades in my home closed for the majority of the afternoon, not because I don’t like the sunlight, but because it can raise the temperature in my home as much as 10 degrees within an hour. Even with the shade closed, the light filters in more than enough to light nearly my entire home. In the winter, I open them during the day to help the sun come in to naturally help heat everything and close them at night. Doing this has helped reduce my energy bill by about 10%.

The upside to these simple changes in life is that it will also reduce the money you spend on nearly every aspect of your life and cost you nearly nothing.

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