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One of my goals for this year is to take more strides toward sustainability.
If you’re not familiar with sustainability, it’s living in a way to reduce your impact on the environment. This can take many forms, such as reducing energy consumption, reducing fuel consumption, and reducing your waste.
My family already takes plenty of strides towards sustainability. Here are some of the things we do:
- One of our cars is a hybrid
- We live relatively close to my husband’s job, so he has a short commute
- We refuse, reduce, reuse, recycle
- I try to purchase products with minimal and/or recyclable packaging over the opposite
- I cook and bake a lot from scratch rather than using the prepackaged premade versions
- We use reusable bags when shopping (which also hold more and are sturdier)
There are a lot of things that you can do to live sustainably that are also easy and hardly take any extra time out of your day. The best thing about these things is that they also save you money!
Small Sustainability Hacks That Also Save You Money
1. Reuse gift bags and tissue paper
Hi, I’m Amanda, and I’m a gift bag hoarder.
And yes, before you ask, I plan to Konmari the entire gift bag/gift box/tissue paper hoard.
But, why do I hoard gift bags and boxes among other things? (Why not cat figurines?) Well, for one, I find it ridiculous to purchase a gift for someone and then on top of it shell out another five dollars on a gift bag and some tissue paper that the recipient will just toss in the trash. While a brand new gift bag with fluffy new tissue paper looks pretty, to me it’s a waste. I may as well set that fiver on fire. And number 2, see above – it will probably end up in the garbage anyway.
So I hang on to the bags and gift boxes and even the tissue paper that’s in relatively good condition (it’s gonna be stuffed right back into that bag the next time I use it, so who cares if it’s a little wrinkled). Every Christmas, or birthday party, or baby shower, out come all of the gift packing materials. I pretty much always have a bag or box the right size for the right occasion. Insert matching tissue paper, et voila!
If you too want to free yourself from the burden of setting your cash on fire just to ensconce your gift in a pretty brand new bag, take a page out of my book, and hang on to some of those gift bags you get! You will save money and keep a few bags out of the landfill.
2. Reuse your butter wrappers
This is a neat trick I learned from Bea Johnson, writer of zerowastehome.com and author of the book, The Zero Waste Home. Whenever you open a new stick of butter, fold up the wrapper and put it in the freezer. You can use these wrappers to grease your pans rather than using cooking spray.
What I do is fold the wrappers up, buttery side in, into quarters. I have them all lined up on a shelf in the freezer, so I can easily pull one out when I need one.
This hack doesn’t work for certain baked goods that require a pan to really be greased up. I use butter wrappers for greasing baking sheets or for greasing aluminum foil before putting down whatever I’m baking. (Save even more money by going without foil!)
3. Reuse veggie scraps and meat bones to make stock
I will share with you my recipe for homemade chicken stock in the crock pot very soon. For now I will tell you to save some of your veggie scraps from preparing food as well as the carcass from your chicken or turkey.
I keep a small container in my freezer full of onion, carrot, and celery peels and trimmings I get from prepping veggies for various meals. When I’ve cooked a whole chicken, or have saved up enough chicken bones (kept in a freezer bag), it’s time to make stock.
Homemade stock is far superior to the store bought stuff. It freezes well, so you can always pull it out and thaw it when you need stock. This saves you money because you won’t have to purchase stock from the store!
4. Reuse bread bags to clean up after pets
This works for any small bag, but bread bags seem to be the most ubiquitous and easy to use. If you have a dog or indoor cat, save those little bags to clean up after them.
This probably seems intuitive, but I’ve known people who buy plastic bags specifically for cleaning up after their pets. If you’re taking the dog for a walk, grab one of those bread bags you’ve saved and take it with you. You can also use these bags for cleaning out the cat litter box.
Other kinds of bags you can possibly reuse to clean up after pets:
- deli meat/cheese bags
- shredded cheese bags
- cereal bags
- newspaper bags
(Another tip for the newspaper bags: I keep one or two of them in my diaper bag. When I have to change a particularly dirty diaper in a public restroom, I pop the used diaper into a newspaper bag before throwing it away. This keeps it from stinking up the bathroom.)
5. Reuse packaging for mailing
You may already do this, but it’s still a good frugal trick. When you get that weekly package from Amazon or wherever, if it’s a box or padded envelope of a good size, open it carefully and save the packaging.
I sometimes sell things on Ebay or Etsy, and I always mail out my sold items in reused packaging. It’s cheaper and less hassle than going out and purchasing new packaging.
This doesn’t have to create a lot of clutter in your home, either, if that’s what you’re worried about. Break down the boxes if you like, and stack them and the envelopes upright inside a bag or box. Pull them out as needed.
6. Cut packing tape in half
I know, this one sounds pretty annoying. Hear me out.
I’m talking about when you are affixing a packing label to your box or envelope. As mentioned above, I sometimes sell things on Ebay and Etsy, which means I have to print out shipping labels.
When taping the shipping label to the package, there’s no way I need that whole wide strip of packing tape. I simply measure out the length I need for one side and cut it in half. Repeat for the top and bottom. Boom, done.
This actually has saved me both money and waste because I’ve mailed out quite a few packages in the last few years. Try this tip the next time you send a package!
7. Recycle, duh
If, like me, you lived through the ’90s, you probably had the Reduce, Reuse, Recycle mantra drilled into your head. But, do you really know what you can recycle?
I’m asking this because I’ve seen the craziest things in peoples’ recycling bins. Hoses, styrofoam, food waste, lawn clippings… I mean, come on.
Don’t be lazy and throw garbage into the recycling bin and then give yourself a pat on the back for “recycling”. Trash goes in the trash bin! When you throw non-recyclables into your recycling bin, you mess up the entire process, which also increases costs for your municipality.
Check with your municipality often to find out what materials they accept for recycling. My municipality recently began accepting all plastics #1-#7 (hurray!) as well as cardboard milk cartons. I’m glad I checked!
Most places will accept #1 and #2 plastics, glass bottles, aluminum cans, steel cans, mixed paper, and cardboard. Those are the things you should definitely throw in there.
Things that are iffy or a downright no-no:
- Plastic bottle caps. (If your municipality accepts these, leave them separate from the bottle. Don’t screw them back on.)
- Pizza boxes. Unless the lid has 0 grease on it, and you can cut it off, just put the whole thing in the trash. Cardboard with grease on it can not be recycled.
- Anything with food waste on it. Rinse out bottles and containers before putting them in the recycling. Putting food bits in there is nasty and will make your bin stink, and it’s a rude thing to do to the recycling workers.
- Yogurt cups. Most yogurt cups are made of #5 plastic, which not all municipalities can recycle. Check online with yours to see if they can be accepted.
How does this save you money? When everyone puts the right things into the recycling stream, the city’s recycling centers can do their jobs more efficiently. Putting garbage in means more tax dollars going towards sorting recycling and dealing with ruined batches – thus increasing the cost to the taxpayers.
8. Change your shopping habits
Shop less, shop mindfully, and shop secondhand.
Seriously, this is my number one tip for saving money and living more sustainably.
Stop. Mindlessly. Shopping.
Stop the mindless window shopping, stop impulse purchasing, stop buying things you don’t need. Don’t watch shopping channels on TV, and don’t flip through ads in the newspaper.
If a tree falls in the forest, will you hear the sound it makes? It’s the same thing with the stores. If you’re not window shopping or browsing online, you won’t even know what you’re missing out on.
Unsubscribe from store emails! You won’t be tempted by their marketing tactics (“Everything must go!” “60% off clearance!” “Get it before it’s gone!”), and your inbox will be closer to blissfully empty. You will probably feel happier and relieved when you’re not inundated with ads.
When you do need to make a purchase, give it some thought first. Consider how much you really need it. It’s fine to buy what you need, but don’t get that shirt just because it mostly fits and kind of looks okay on you. If you can, hold out for something that truly brings you joy instead of spending money and resources on things you don’t actually like or need.
We don’t usually think of all the resources that go into producing all the goods we consume, or all the pollution caused by the giant container ships that convey products made in overseas factories. By purchasing less, we are voting with our dollars. We are saying we don’t want all this crap to be produced in the first place.
Instead of buying something brand new, see if you can find it used first. Alternatively, borrow it from a friend.
By paying attention to what you are purchasing, avoiding mindless shopping, and buying second hand, you can save a lot of money!
What measures toward sustainability do you take? Do you already do any of the hacks I’ve listed? Leave a comment below!
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Resources:
One of the original blogs on going zero waste: zerowastehome.com
Bea Johnson’s book with lots of excellent zero waste solutions: Zero Waste Home
My community started recycling and curbside garbage pickup about 2 years ago. Since we live outside city limits we’d have to pay monthly for the services and my grandpa doesn’t understand about recycling. It hurts so much to chuck recyclables into the garbage. It makes me feel like a villain from the Captain Planet cartoon.
It’s a shame that it’s not covered for you, but I’m laughing at the Captain Planet villain mental picture!
The information about recycling is a really good reminder. We can often get lazy. I think I’ll verify our local restrictions tonight and print out a recycle rules paper and laminate it and stick it right on our bin.
Keeping the list right by your bin is a great idea!