26 Green Websites that Save You Money

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There are countless green websites on the internet today, ranging from tips about green parenting to business ideas for eco entrepreneurship. Most of these sites mention saving money while being green, but they tend to be more green (eco-friendly) focused and less green (money) focused. Luckily there are some green websites that you can count to consistently save you money.

Save When Shopping

Buy Green Items

Greenshopper is essentially an Amazon store that gives 10% of profits to environmental groups.

Ecobunga tells you about green giveaways and special deals.

Buy Used or Get Free Stuff

Craigslist is a site that everyone knows.  But it's still worth remembering that while most items in the for sale/wanted section of Craigslist cost money, they are discounted and usually used, thus reducing landfill waste.

Free Cycle is a worldwide network that allows you to get and give free stuff -- thereby reducing the amount of money you spend and reducing the amount of stuff going to landfills.

FreeSharing lists over 700 of local (often city based) free recycling groups that are similar to Free Cycle. 

Here are more sites like Free Cycle and FreeSharing organized by US, Canada, and UK. (For other countries it's best to look at FreeCycle.)

US

SharingIsGiving: US Listing: States A-N and States O to Z

Free Give Away

FreeUse

Canada

Reuses

 UK

2recycle

eFreeko

SnaffleUp

Don't Dump That

Save On Your House

Reduce Consumption and Waste Production

The Low Impact Living calculator shows you home improvements you can make that will save you money while lowering your environmental impact.  The end report tells you approximately how much the project will cost to do as well as how much you'll save -- allowing you to make the most cost effective decisions.

Reduce Electricity

Energy Star has a great website that will help you find appliances that will save energy, both reducing your impact on the earth while reducing the burden on your wallet.

The FTC also has good data on appliances. 

This U.S. Government run website allows you to conduct your own home energy audit.  

Repair Instead of Buying New

Fix it forums like the Bob Vila Fixit Site will show you how to do your own housing repairs.

eHow has good general advice for fixing just about anything.  Although for more specific advice you are better off visiting the links in the resources section at the bottom of the eHow articles. 

Save on Transportation

Driving

This vehicle eco calculator calculates the yearly cash savings along side by side with the yearly carbon emissions savings.

Ecomodder is one of the top websites for fuel economy and hypermiling tips.

Carpooling

eRideShare has daily carpools as well as carpools for special events and cross country trips.

Carpool World has a good list of local carpools groups.

Rideshare Directory lists a number of regional carpool websites.

Save on Travel

Search Green Travel allows you to search for travel using the Kayak search engine, receives a share of advertising revenue every time you search, then donates 50% of profits to environmental organizations.  (Full disclosure notice, this is a website I (the author of this post) co-founded.)

RezHub is a travel agency that donates 20% of their profits to environmental or volunteer nonprofits.

What other green websites do you use to save money?

Disclaimer: The links and mentions on this site may be affiliate links. But they do not affect the actual opinions and recommendations of the authors.

Wise Bread is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to amazon.com.


Guest's picture

These look like fantastic resources. I absolutely appreciate the low impact calculator, I can definitely use this very soon.

thanks for all your research,
Little House

Myscha Theriault's picture

You clearly did your homework on this one, girl. Great job. I'm going to try out that first green shopping store for some of the things we order online. Thanks, Elizabeth.

Check out my various projects and services at Itinerant Tightwad. I also have a monthly education newsletter.

Guest's picture

Great list! Freepeats.org allows parents to pick up free gently used baby, kid and maternity stuff and pass on the baby stuff they're finished with locally.

It's in more than 50 U.S. cities.

Guest's picture
grechen

my site http://www.greengrechen.com has a number of exclusive coupons (http://www.greengrechen.com/coupon-codes-eco-friendly-fashion-organic-co...) for eco-fashion designers & boutiques like Stewart + Brown, Crystalyn Kae vegan handbags, TOMS Shoes, & more. in addition, i publish daily finds and weekly deals & steals.

if you're interested in fashion/personal style at all, please take a look, and let me know what you think.

thank you! grechen

Guest's picture
US

Green Planet and Me promotes a large range of green products that can help you save money and help the environment. In addition, it also has some practical day-to-day tips on how to save money by being green, for example:

Saving Money By Going Green: Stimulus Tax Credits

Green Living Tips

And more!

Guest's picture
Andrew

Noticed that the carpool sites are mainly for regional, suburban commuters. A site for cross country ride sharing is LiftSurfer. Complement that with couch surfing , and you have a cheap and ecological way of travelling.

Guest's picture

Great list of resources! couchsurfing.com is great for travelers!

Guest's picture
Derrick

I’m wondering which might help me save more: Repairing the old or should I wait for the new cash for appliance prog that’s coming up soon to buy new energy star ones. Seems like according to
http://www.newsy.com/videos/the_new_cash_clunkers
, it might be better to repair.

Guest's picture
Ben

Don't forget the garden. When buying tools, seeds, and anything else you're going to use in the garden or on your allotment make sure you check for the latest discount voucher codes for garden accessories and of course for any recycling and energy saving products.

Guest's picture
Charon

Very nice website I will study it & I carry your all suggestions hope so they all are good for my site.Thanks a lot for your tips.

Guest's picture

All those car pooling sites are for local carpooling. Check out www.liftsurfer.com if you are looking for a one off cross-country rideshare.

Guest's picture
RK

Great post.

For event organizers www.viamerge.com helps people travel to their events together.

The Union of Concerned Scientists has a paper comparing impact of different travel modes for different distances:
http://www.ucsusa.org/clean_vehicles/solutions/cleaner_cars_pickups_and_suvs/greentravel/getting-there-greener.html