Coincidentally Green: Saving the Planet When you Least Expect It

Compost everything, grow my own garden, bought a pressure canner, can store most veggies on shelf for a year at least this way. Never miss a bargain at a food store, buy meat, fish, can it, and store it on shelf too!(no power to the freezer), All my clothes are recycled, sold my car, bought a bike then a trike, Local farmers are a good source of cheap food when its in season, canner makes larger purchases practical. Got most my canning jars from friends and yard sales, washed them with NaOH (lye - caution burns) and they are great. I feel I have reclaimed my life from the 'system'. I now have time for me, my garden, my photography, my computer (Ubuntu is cheaper, better), my wife, my kids (mostly grown up now), and to do this, spread the good eco-frugal news!

I also find my green tendencies influence my frugality. If something is in a lot of packaging, isn't local, has ingredients that worry me and so forth, I'll think twice before buying it. That makes sure that I'm not just throwing my money around. Sometimes I realize I can do without something all-together.

use cloth kitchen towels instead of paper

Being frugal automatically greens you. A large part of being frugal is avoiding waste and over-consumption. If you try to be green, you will also find yourself, becoming frugal.

It's why I like this site. A lot of the articles are helpful to people who want to be greener.

Thanks.

Where to start? Cloth diapers for the kids is a big one -- my son is in pull-ups now and I just hate it, but he's autistic and won't wear cloth any more. My daughter, however, is clad in luxurious bamboo diapers most of the time. I also use cloth feminine products for me. I made the switch five years ago, before the current "green" movement, out of a poor newlywed's need to reduce our monthly spending, and I've kept thousands of chemical-ridden pads out of the landfills (so far). I was also able to breastfeed my son until he was almost one, eliminating the need to buy formula (and saving the energy required to manufacture and transport it), and I plan to do the same with my daughter.

I also stopped buying paper plates and have reduced my reliance on paper towels by investing in a nice set of microfiber cleaning cloths for everyday messes (although with two kids, I still use paper towels for the occasional puddle of chocolate pudding on the kitchen floor). Many of my kids' toys and clothes come to us second-hand from their cousins, and when they are outgrown, I pass them on to a friend.

More recently, I started using CFLs and line-drying about a third of my clothing to reduce my electric bill -- which saves energy produced by fossil fuels, too. I use dryer balls instead of fabric softener sheets to reduce waste and speed drying time on the clothes I do machine-dry. And this year I purchased vintage safety razors for my husband and myself from eBay. We use about four or five blades a week (combined), we purchased a case of 100 blades for $11 and expect it to last six months. The blades come in simple paper wrappers -- no plastic shells or excess packaging. Much greener than buying disposable plastic razors in blister packs every few weeks -- and we both get a closer shave with no razor burn.

Still, I know there is more I could do to be more frugal and greener at the same time. As much as I know the benefits of shopping local (and there is a great farmer's market in my city), I just can't give up some of my convenience foods (hey, with two kids under three, sometimes a Lean Cuisine is my only shot at eating lunch). And because my son has special needs, we can't always expect him to go along with my cost-cutting efforts (as with the cloth diapers, or buying brand X cheese-flavored crackers instead of Pepperidge Farm Goldfish -- he *can* tell the difference!). But I'm striving towards complete frugality and greenness...and isn't life a journey anyway?

Hey j,

I did extended breastfeeding too. I knew it was cheap, but I didn't think of it as green. Obviously you don't buy bottles and you don't buy formula. So all the stuff in manufacturing those is avoided as is the water and soap (and heat) to keep it all clean. One frugal aspect of nursing is the time savings - nothing to prepare or clean means extra time for mom (& dad if dinner prep and clean-up is his job). For a new mother, that is a real blessing!

Of course my only consideration was the health and well-being of my child! ;-)