I have been thinking the last few days about different ways that people can go green and save a little money in the process. We have a few ways that we do this in our family, but would love to hear your ideas as well!
- We use a pellet stove to heat our house. For those that don't know (as I didn't until a few years ago) a pellet stove is much like a wood stove except you burn little pellets made of compressed sawdust. The pellets that we purchase are made from trees killed by pine beetles. If left standing, these trees drastically increase wildfire danger so cutting them down and turning them into pellets helps in more than one way.
- We use cloth diapers. I will do a more in-depth post on this in the near future, but today's cloth diapers are a far cry from the pinning, toilet dunking, diaper pail disinfecting diapers our parents and grandparents used. They are just as easy as disposables, cost a fraction of the
price and have re-sale value. Try selling a used Huggies diaper and see what happens!
- I have recently canned my first batch of food. While this hasn't been too cost effective yet, I can see how it could be over time. Next year I will have everything I need to can, without purchasing much beyond lids and I have plans to actually water my garden to produce food to can.
- We line dry as much as possible. While it is hard to use that bath towel that is stiff as a board, I have found that it actually is more absorbent and dries my hair a lot faster than one that came out of the dryer. I also love the fact that the sun bleaches any stains out of the cloth diapers and my entire stash looks as good as the day I bought them 4 months ago.
- We only run full loads in the washer and dishwasher. It is a little thing, but it does help.
- We recycle all that we can.
- We reuse everything possible that we can. In fact, I have told my extended family that we are having a pink Christmas this year. We had a baby girl in March and I can't imagine that I will ever have need of 50 different pink gift bags. So everyone is under strict orders NOT to buy any gift bags for Christmas and we are going to put a spin on the old red and green.
I'm sure there are others, but I'm drawing a blank. So I'm going to turn it over to you.
What are ways that you and your family go green and save money at the same time?
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