Things are rough all over, Ponyboy

This is my 497th post. I'm still deciding what to do for the big 5-0-0, but for the few posts leading up to it, I'm going to look back at some of my previous posts. Please indulge my reminiscing.

I know we're supposed to believe that the economy is getting better. Perhaps it is on it's way up, and I just don't know how to read the signs. But most of the people I know, including my family, are looking for ways to spend less money and save money on the things they have to spend it on.

So I thought I'd go back and find some old posts that talk about saving money while being green. Here are a few that you might find helpful.

Staying green during the (possible) recession - Yep, this one was written a year and a half ago, when many of us were still in a bit of denial. It deals with stretching your grocery budget.

5 ways to be greener today that will save you money - 5 things you can to today, right now, with little effort.

Buying local at the peak of season saves money - Considering we're in the heart of summer and local foods are abundant everywhere, this is a very relevant post.

Going greener with your music can save you money - Tips on finding inexpensive or free legal music and downloads.

Host a swap and save money - "One man's trash is another man's treasure" and a swap can help you get rid of your unwanted items and get things you need or want without spending a dime.

10 easy ways to be more sustainable with your clothing - These tips will help you save money on new clothes while extending the life of the clothes you have

5 reasons to dig into your pantry - You've got food in your pantry that you've already paid for, why not use it?

Reduce, reuse, recycle: Packing and shipping items - If you're a careful saver, you should never have to pay for shipping products again.

Coupons for organic and natural foods are out there - Coupons for the organics and naturals aren't as plentiful as say coupons for Hot Pockets, but they are out there.

And please, before every female Gen-X'er who reads this post tells me that the photo doesn't match the quote, I know it doesn't. I couldn't find a photo of the right scene.

6 ways to stay green when money is tight

I read two conflicting articles recently about the effect the economy is having on people’s choices to buy green products. One urged consumers to think twice about paying the extra money for organic and green products in light of the economic crisis.

The other article stated that the economy is leveling out the playing field between conventional and green products. The energy saving practices that many companies that produce green products already employ has kept their costs from rising at the same rate as conventional companies.

Either way, it seems everyone is feeling the economic pinch, and choosing conventional products over green products to save a couple of dollars can be very tempting. I think we need to resist the temptation as much as possible.

Here are some tips for continuing to buy green in tough economic times. I've probably talked about each of them in one way or another before, but I thought I'd bring them all together in one post.

• Don’t assume everything green is more expensive – If the one article I read is correct, the prices of many green products are remaining steady. Compare prices before you make the decision that you can’t afford a certain product in its green or organic form. In my grocery store, a canister of a popular brand of regular slow cooking oats is more expensive than the same amount of organic slow cooking oats from the bulk bins. 
• Hit your local farmers market – The price for organics is usually lower at the farmer’s market than in the grocery store on everything from produce to flowers to eggs. By eliminating the high cost of shipping the items hundreds of miles, the local farmer can charge lower prices. Supporting local farmers during tough economic times is important, too. We don’t want them to go away.
• Prioritize – If you decide you must cut out some of your green products, sit down and determine what you aren’t willing to compromise on. For me, it would first be the things that affect my kids. Organic milk is non-negotiable. The mini carrots that they scarf down at lunch since we made them a replacement for potato chips have to be organic, too. We’re also committed to buying fair trade coffee. What are you not willing to compromise?
• Eat less meat – Organic or grass fed, free range meat is expensive, but instead of switching back to conventional meat, eat less of it. Buy a small amount of organic boneless chicken breast, cut it into cubes, and chop up a bunch of vegetables to make kabobs. You won’t even notice that ¾ of the food on your plate is vegetables. Institute Meatless Mondays in your home. Be wise with your leftovers, too. Freeze small, uneaten portions and when enough has accumulated, defrost and have a leftover night.
• Do without other things so that you can continue to buy green – Read any advice on cutting back and the first thing mentioned will be expensive cups of coffee and lunches out. Is there something you can cut out so you can free up money to continue to buy green? How about your monthly DVD rental subscription? The local library has DVD’s to borrow for free. There is bound to be something you can cut out.
• Make your own green cleaning products – The organic/natural cleaning products isle is one of the places that empties your wallet fast. If you make your own cleaning products from things like baking soda, vinegar, and tap water, you’ll spend less tan you would for the conventional products. You can use the savings on the organic food for your family.
  

Getting Tax Refund Money? 10 Ways to Spend Your Green, Greenly

It's the third Friday of the month and that means we're privileged to have a guest post by Adam Shake of Twilight Earth. Today he's talking about how to spend our tax refunds wisely and greenly.


A common misconception amongst many people is that being green costs more money, than not. This is not true, and in fact, the opposite is true. Being green saves you green. But just like most things in life, there is sometimes an up front cost involved, and that cost, over time, pays for itself or cost's less than a conventional product.

We've put together a list of items that will help you live a healthier life, help you keep the planet clean and will save you money. It’s a win, win, win situation!

1. An Energy Star Washing Machine - While saving over $50.00 per year, the machine will pay for itself through its average life-cycle of 10 years. Kenmore, GE, Asko and Miele are just a few of the companies that sell these models.
2. An Energy Star Dishwasher - This has a double bonus. Not only will you be saving money on electricity, but these use 25-50% less water than a non Energy Star rated Dishwasher. Save some green and use fewer resources.
3. Energy Star Refrigerator - Standard Fridges account for a whopping 15% of your household electric use. But there is good news, new Energy Star Refrigerators use 40% less energy than models sold in 2001! One of these could easily save you $50.00 a year in electric expense.
4. High Efficiency Water Heater - Saving you over $100.00 a year through less energy use and water use, for most homes you can get the heater itself for $600 - $1,200. Sounds like a good deal.
5. Upgrade your insulation - There are many homes, especially those in the South West that don't have adequate insulation. Proper insulation is one of the most overlooked energy saving methods out there, and should be started in the attic. Just about any insulation investment will pay for itself in less than five years. You can also buy great insulation made in the US out of recycled and sustainable materials such as Cocoon cellulose insulation (recycled newspaper), Ultratouch recycled denim insulation, and BioBased insulation (made from soybean oil)
6. New Windows - If you do not have them already, installing energy-efficient, or double-paned windows can be a great way to use your refund. Not only will installing these new windows keep the cold out and the heat in, but you can also claim federal tax deductions for qualifying installations, if installed before December 31st of 2009. You can deduct 10% of the cost, up to $200 for all windows, skylights, and storm windows.
7. Change out your light bulbs and shower heads - Perhaps you’ve been waiting to change your incandescent lights to compact fluorescents or LEDs because the latter are expensive. Now’s the time spend a couple hundred dollars and get really energy-efficient lighting throughout your home– and for outdoors as well. Compact fluorescent lights will last ten times as long as standard bulbs, and LED lights will last 5-10 times longer than the fluorescents. You’ll save money and energy. Also spend $50 to get a few low-water-use shower heads. These shower heads can save you 2,000 to 3,000 gallons of water per person per year. And they work great! You won’t know you’re in a low-flow shower!
8. Alternative Energy Stocks - It looks as if the economy may be turning around, but even if we have to wait a bit, Alternative Energy Stocks are the way to go. Check out sites like AltenErgyStocks.com for more ideas and tips.
9. Invest in a Garden - What's better than healthy eating, saving money on groceries and spending time outside? Not much. Did you know that the largest selling seed in the United States is grass seed? Did you know that there is more grass grown in this country than corn? Gardening is the way to go.
10. Saving your green - One of the things we like to say here at Twilight Earth is that "Sometimes, the greenest thing to do, is to do nothing at all." The only thing I would suggest replacing with energy efficient substitutes is light-bulbs and shower-heads. (Unless it is time to replace other things) Nothing else should be replaced if it has already been installed and is in good working order. The energy it takes to create things often offsets the savings of replacing them. Please don't go ripping out hardwood flooring to replace it with bamboo. Please don't tear out counter-tops to replace them with recycled glass ones. Only replace when needed, and then replace with green!

________________________________

Adam Shake is the founder of Twilight Earth, a blog that brings news and excellent commentary on what is going on with the environment worldwide that we need to care about. Whether he's educating about the environmental impact of things like coal or simply sharing his breathtaking photos of nature, I always learn something at his site. Visit Twilight Earth and look around (and check out my guest post on his site today).

On his blog he says "I’m about sharing with you what I know, what I’m learning, and what I’m ignorant about in reference to this huge subject that we call the environment." That's what we appreciate around here.

10 easy ways to be more sustainable with your clothing

I'm not too different than other women. I like clothes. I like to feel good about what I'm wearing. I have a certain style, and when I see something that I think is "me" I want it. Unfortunately, buying whatever I want isn't very sustainable - either environmentally or financially. My clothing buying has considerably dwindled in the past couple of years. 

Still, I need clothing (believe me, it would not be all that pretty if I did not have them). So how can I be more sustainable with my clothing and with my family's clothing? Here are ten ways to be greener with clothes.

1. Wash your clothes less. Lots of the things we wear don't need to be washed every time we take them off. I have a rule that my boys have to wear their pj's at least three nights in a row before they can go in the hamper. We take a look at what we wear each day to see if we can get another wearing out of the before they get washed. Washing less helps the clothes to last longer and you use water and energy because you wash less.
   
2. When you do wash, wash in cold water. It takes a lot of energy to heat the water that is used when you wash in warm or cold.
   
3. Line dry clothing whenever possible. 
4. Buy clothing made of organic fabrics. The making of organic cloth is much less harmful on the earth than non-organic cloth.
5. If you can't buy all your clothes made from organic fabrics (and it's very difficult to do so - I don't), try to buy as many from natural fabrics - cotton, linen, bamboo, hemp and wool are natural. While some of these may be grown using fertilizers and pesticides, it doesn't take the additional chemicals to turn them into fabric as it does for fabrics like rayon or polyester.
6. If your all natural clothing is no longer useful - say your jeans are so holey that you can't donate them, you can compost them. They act as "brown" additions to your compost pile. Cut them into thin strips so they will break down more quickly.
7. Buy used - thrift stores and consignment stores help the environment because they are instrumental in getting clothing reused. You can find some really fabulous clothing for good prices, too.
8. Accept hand me downs for your kids (and even yourself). Kids grow so quickly and need new clothes a couple of times a year. There's nothing wrong with accepting hand me downs. It can keep a lot of resources from being used in creating new clothing, and of course it will save you a bundle.
9. Hand down or donate your old clothing. Don't let clothes sit in storage if you aren't going to use them again. Get them back out into the market so they can be used.
10. Cancel the majority of your catalogs. I mention Catalog Choice here a lot because its such an easy way to cancel catalogs. If you have a bad habit of buying on impulse because you saw something you have to have in a catalog, cut off the source. If you don't know the items exists, you can't want it.

5 reasons to dig into your pantry

Over the past few weeks the fact that people are digging into their pantries (and freezers and fridges) more often to create their meals has become obvious to me. The Wall Street Journal had a piece about the sale of food being down, and attributed part of it to people using up what they have instead of buying new.

I saw two blogs over the weekend that talked about using up what you have, too. The Green Phone Booth had a post called Eating Out the Cupboards that chronicled one woman using up the stuff in her cupboards for a week and making brownies and pizzas from stuff that might have otherwise gone bad.

On La Vida Locavore blogger Jill Richardson made Pot Luck a.k.a. Let's Clean Out the Fridge.

Maybe it's time we all started digging into our food stores and using what we have. Here's five good reasons why.

1. You'll waste less food. Food waste is a big environmental problem.  Whenever you waste food, you also waste all of the water, resources, and fuel that went into growing, processing and transporting the food. 
   
2. You'll get to flex your creative culinary muscles. Figuring out how to use that can of black beans that you bought for a recipe that you never made (and now don't remember what it was) can help you discover all new recipes.
   
3. There's a good chance you'll eat a little healthier. Let's face it, you've probably got some dried whole grains in your cupboard that you bought with good intentions, but passed over when you chose to make something a little less healthy. Chances are a good deal of the foods you pass over are healthier ones. At least that happens frequently in my family. 
   
4. You'll get your cupboards, fridge, and freezer cleaned out. Once they are a little less full, you can refill them with more healthy foods. For some ideas on healthy, organic foods that won't break your budget, check out this post I did over at MNN on how you can afford some organics.
5. And speaking of budgets, if you use foods you already have, you won't need to spend so much on groceries. At least for a while. It can help you lower your weekly food bill for several weeks, and you can save some much needed cash.

Find a food co-op near you

Derek over at Natural Papa had a post on Friday about joining a food co-op so you can buy your natural foods in bulk. Here's what he has to say:

Join a co-op and buy your natural foods in bulk. Order ahead and get what you’d need for a month. You’ll always have the staples at hand, and you’ll save some cash at the same time.

Most whole foods are available by the bag or box, with 10, 25, and 50 pound sizes being the usual sizes. Rice, lentils, beans, oats, wheat, pasta, nuts and seeds are all available for much less than you’d pay for the fancy box with the cool colors, and you’ve contributed less waste to the landfill. Produce, grocery products, and personal care items are all great candidates for bulk purchases.

A co-op doesn't necessarily have local foods (but I'm sure at certain times of the year one might), but they are a way of buying healthier, natural, sometimes organic, whole foods for less money and with less waste because there is less packaging. 

In his post, Derek points to the Food Co-Op Directory where you can put your zip code in and find a co-op near you. There are a few co-ops within a 45 min to an hour drive of me, and I think I may check one out to see if it would be beneficial for my family to shop there once a month. 

Image: mcmorgan08

Valentine's Day: Lovin' Green While Saving Green

Valentine's Day is a little less than two weeks away. I'll be having several posts, both here and on MNN, talking about ways to show your love to the earth over the next week or so. 

Everyone likes to get a Valentine's card, and if there was ever an appropriate time for a homemade card, Valentine's Day is it. Making a card from what you've already got around the house is more earth friendly than buying a pre-made card, it can save you several dollars, and it's more personal than a manufactured card. 

Today's post on homemade Valentine's cards comes courtesy of Lynn Colwell and Corey Colwell-Lipson , a mother and daughter team who co-authored Celebrate Green! Creating Eco-Savvy Holidays, Celebrations and Traditions for the Whole Family, available at www.CelebrateGreen.net. Lynn and Corey have graciously allowed me to reprint their advice.

The card

Valentine's Day is the second biggest holiday for greeting card sales. Literally billions of cards are sent each year and most come from virgin trees. Making your own cards from recycled and or unconventional materials leaves trees standing and your sweetheart thanking the stars for your creatively thoughtful gesture.

And what to say inside a custom card?

You may not believe you are a writer, but honestly, can a professional truly express what is in your heart in a more meaningful way than you can? Even if you believe she can, just for the fun of it, why not give it a whirl? You (and your love) might be pleasantly surprised. Here are a few pointers for producing poetic prose:

· Five syllables, seven syllables, five syllables--that's haiku, a simply beautiful form of poetry that you'll catch onto quickly. Read a few, then give it a try.

· Of course, a letter or free verse is always an option, or if you're really wanting to knock your partner's socks off, how about writing a sonnet?

· These sound to difficult? Here's an easier, but still romantic idea. Take each letter of the words "My Valentine," and next to it, write something about your beloved. Here's an example:

M My heart
Y You are the only one I'll ever love

V Very best
A Always my partner
L Love you forever
etc.

· If your words don't capture the exact tone you're looking for, remember that laughter is a gift - even if it is unintentional.

Beyond the card

And if you're feeling creative, how about making some seeded paper or thinking inside the box? Select a small box. Cover the outside with pictures of you and your honey or appropriate words cut from a magazine. Inside, place some stones on which you've stamped words of love, a small bag of beans with a tag that says, "I love how you've always BEAN there for me," or come up with a (much) better play on words and items to go with it.

Image: Sister72

Green Saves Green Month is Ending Early

Good Morning, All. I am officially ending Green Saves Green month a bit early. The readership is down. The comments are down. And I'm thinking that perhaps everyone is a little tired of hearing about how to save money and being reminded about the stinky economy. 

For those of you who were enjoying it, I tend to write about ways to save money frequently anyway, so please keep coming back. Tomorrow, I'll have a happy, uplifting post. For today, I'm just going to point you to some of my other blog pieces that I've written in the past week or so for Green Options. Perhaps you'll find something you want to read in these posts:

Are You Ready for a Four Day Work Week?

Thrifty Thursdays: How to Feed Your Cookbook Addiction without Breaking the Bank

It’s Hip to Drink Tap: 7 Reasons to Give up the One-Time Use Bottle

Will You Risk Your Image for Sustainability? How about Your Property Value?

24 African Countries Double Their Yield Using Organic Farming

Give the Kids an Allowance and Save Money

When your kids want a new pack of Pokemon cards are a download from iTunes how do they pay for it? Do you buy these things for them because they are relatively inexpensive purchases or do you require your children to pay for them out of their own money?

Giving your kids an allowance and requiring them to make their own purchases will save you money in the long run and keep your kids from acquiring more useless stuff. Here's how it works. 

"Mom, can I have a bakagun?" 

"How much do they cost?"

"I don't know. Can I have one?"

"Let's look up online how much they cost."

"Okay."

"The start kit costs $18.99. Do you have $18.99?"

"No."

"Okay, when you get $18.99 let me know and we'll go get a bakagun."

Your kids won't be happy at first, but after a while they'll get used to it. And chances are, they'll loose interest in the bakagun before they save the money or they may just save the money and buy it, but it will take weeks. In the meantime, they aren't buying anything else with their money.

When my boys wanted a Wii, we had them save up for the entire thing. They saved birthday money, report card money from Grammy, allowance, tooth fairy money and any other money they could. Then they held a yard sale and sold a lot of their toys. Not only did toys they weren't using find new homes, they realized how much stuff they could do without.  They also understand the value if that Wii a lot more than if we'd handed it to them. They take good care of it.

My boys don't buy everything. We buy their clothes, food and other necessities, of course. We treat them once in a while, too, and buy them birthday and Christmas presents. But they need to figure out how to get most of their toys throughout the year. My six year old, who wanted the bakaguns ended up trading his Ben 10 watch that he had paid for himself to get them.  

The result, they have less toys (and don't seem unhappy about it), they leave a lighter footprint on the earth, and my husband and I can use our money for other things - like the gallons of organic milk we go through each week.

Buy Ingredients and Save Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 20

I've come to look at foods in basically two categories - ingredients and processed foods. These are my own categories, so please don't take them as official.

To me ingredients are ones you can eat as is or by simply cooking them. This would be fruits and vegetables, grains, pastas, meats, eggs, cheeses, milk and other dairy products.

Processed foods are the ones where the ingredients have already been put together to form something like a cookie, a loaf of bread or a frozen meal. 

I've noticed something. Bread made from ingredients costs less than processed bread bought at the grocery store. The individual ingredients for my meat loaf (which I'm making tonight) cost less than a family size Stouffers frozen meat loaf dinner or the pre-made, uncooked meat loaf at my grocery store that is ready to cook. Homemade cookies usually cost less than packaged cookies. 

When I buy ingredients instead of processed packaged foods and make my own foods, it costs less and I have much more control over the quality and earth friendliness of the ingredients. Right now, I've got a huge pot of chicken noodle soup on the stove, and at least half of the ingredients are organic. Others are all natural. This whole pot is costing me about $20 to make (I've doubled the recipe).

Making your own food from basic ingredients may cost you time, but buying processed packaged foods for the majority of your meals costs you more in money and quality, and it costs the earth. Take a look at the ingredients in a frozen dinner. They can come from all over the world and by the time that frozen meal hits your table, it's much better traveled than you may ever be. 

Even if you can't get all of your ingredients locally, buying ingredients instead of processed foods will still minimize your food miles. Add that to the fact that your food will be better quality and cost you less, and you can see why it's a better choice.

I know not everyone can cook from scratch every night of the week. I can't. But several nights a week, I make sure I organize my time so I can do it. If you never do it, try it just once this week. 

A little hint - the more you do it, the less it will cost you. Once you get used to cooking from scratch and become familiar with favorite recipes, you'll be able to buy more and use an ingredient in more than one dish. If a dish calls for half a red pepper, diced, you can also plan to have kabobs that week and use the remaining half a pepper on the skewer. You'll be able to waste less, saving even more money. That type of planning takes time to learn, and I don't have it all down yet, but once in a while, I have a week where it all comes together.

Host a Swap and Save Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 17

I gave up a while ago trying to come up with clever blog titles for this month's Green Saves Green posts. Sorry about the redundancy. But really, we're all looking to save money, right? And people doing a search for being green and saving money are more likely to come across these posts if I don't give them clever titles. 

Our topic today is hosting a swap. What's a swap. It's an event where you bring items and other people bring like items, and then you swap them. Not very difficult, huh? What kind of items can you swap? Pretty much anything but popular swaps are clothing, books, music, and unused kitchen items. 

Put all the items you have for the swap together, and then let everyone take turns choosing one new-to-them item for each item they brought.

It's a great way to reuse and recycle items, and it can save you a lot of money - especially if you do something like a children's clothing swap.

Another type of swap is a food swap. Everyone agrees to make one dish, preferably one that freezes well. They make as many of that one dish as number of people who are participating in the swap. Then you meet, maybe make it into a girls night with some wine and a chick flick, exchange food, and everyone has a freezer full of pre-made dinners. While this isn't necessarily green, it can save money because the food for the meals can be bought in bulk which is usually cheaper. It can also save trips to the grocery store because you don't have anything for dinner (which is sort of green - keeps your car off the road for a bit). 

What type of items do you have that you can swap for items that you need? Chances are you know people who would love to participate in this type of event and save some money along with you.

Brew Your Own and Save Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 16

Coffee. MMMMM. I must say it again. Coffee. MMMMM.

You know, I really didn't drink coffee until I began freelancing, but the late nights that I spent meeting deadlines early on in my career became fueled with coffee. And I probably fit everyone's stereotype as a writer because I often hang out in local coffee houses and work. Sometimes I've just got to stop staring at my office walls.

But for the most part, my coffee comes from my good 'ol Mr. Coffee maker in my kitchen. That wasn't always the case though. Both my husband and I work from home and for quite a while we were making at least one coffee run through the drive thru at Dunkin Donuts (yes, my friend Suitably Despairing in Scotland, we have drive-thru coffee here!) or running to the local mini-mart.

Not cheap and not green.

So we started making our own coffee at home and started saving money and lessening our impact on the environment. It's obvious how it saved us money, but how much did it really lessen our environmental impact. Think about this:

• Every take out cup of coffee we got came in a disposable cup - sometimes a styrofoam cup. Making our coffee at home saved at least two disposable cups a day (now when I do get coffee to go, I almost always have my travel mug with me).
• We used up a lot of gas and created a lot of pollution driving to and from our coffee destinations. And when we went through the drive thru, our car would idle for quite a while, too. Now we just walk to the kitchen.
• At home, I can be certain that the coffee I am brewing is Fair Trade and Organic. The majority of coffee grown around the world is grown in such away that it harms the environment and it harms those who pick the coffee beans. Fair Trade, organic coffee is better for the earth and the workers. I also use organic milk and sugar in the coffee, something that isn't available at take out joints.
• Additionally, less stir sticks*, individual paper packets of sugar or sweetener, and little paper coffee sleeves are used when we brew our own coffee.

So for a small investment of a couple of travel mugs and some good Fair Trade, organic coffee (which isn't all that more expensive than regular coffee), you can save quite a bit of money and tread more lightly on the earth at the same time.

*If you're ever next to me at a take out coffee place, I'll probably hand you my stir stick and say something like "I hate throwing these things out after only one use. Wanna use mine?" I've never had a person say no, but I have gotten some very strange looks while being told yes.

Going Greener with Your Music Can Save You Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 14

In addition to my serious book habit that I discuss here once in a while, I have a serious music habit. I'm not the only one in the house with this habit either. My husband and nine year old son have it, too, and my six year old only wants an iPod for Christmas (oh, and bakaguns and pokemon cards, but really he only wants an  iPod). 

A good portion of our disposable income around here goes towards music, but we download a lot of our music or buy used CD's. Both of these ways of getting new music save us money and are greener than buying new CD's. 

Downloading music is greener because you never end up with a physical item. It saves resources, it saves shipping, and it's usually cheaper to download an album than buy it on CD new. Plus, if there is only one song you want, you can purchase just the one song instead of the whole CD. 

Buying used CD's is greener because no new materials are used to make them.

However, I get a lot of music free, too. How? There are several sources online that I use to download free, legal music. 

• If you use iTunes, you probably already know that each Tuesday they offer two or three free downloads. It's hit or miss if they are songs you will actually like, but I always check them out (along with any other free downloads like tv shows, videos or books) each week.
• Amazon.com offers free music each Tuesday, also, and I usually find it to be more to my taste and there are usually 5 or 6 choices. Every once in a while, they'll offer an entire album. Actually, if you follow the link, you'll find over 400 free songs there right now. You can also sign up to receive a weekly e-mail that will let you know what there free songs of the week are.
• The XPN blog. There is an amazing member supported Philadelphia radio station, WXPN. Each week day they offer My Morning Download. You have to sift through the blog for each day's entry because they are in with all of the other blog entries. Go to 10/10/08's My Morning Download for a free Bob Dylan song.
  

And while you can't download music for free from this next place, it's so cool I need to mention it. Pandora.com creates a radio station based around an artist or song that you request. It's a free service, and it plays from your computer so if you're a little tired of your current music collection, but don't want to pay for new music, go to Pandora, input a fav song or artist, and let it create a playlist that it will play for you. It's also a great way to hear songs from your youth that you would be embarrassed to actually buy (Bay City Rollers radio anyone?).

For more on greening your music, check out my post on 10 Easy Ways to be More Sustainable with Your Music 

Go Paperless Where You Can and Save Money

Green Saves Green 

Day 13

For many of us, one of our first steps in being green was recycling paper. It may not have even been a conscious green step. Our communities started a curbside recycling program and we participated. 

Paper comes from trees and our world needs trees to provide oxygen, clean the air, provide shade, keep topsoil from washing away, and a host of other really good things that trees do for our world and for us. So using less paper is definitely green, but how does it save money?

First of all, you've got to think beyond the paper that you use in your printer or to write letters on. Think about the other paper products you use in your home. Namely napkins, paper towels and plates.

Get rid of the paper napkins and get cloth napkins*. Cloth napkins don't need to be expensive. The majority of mine came from Ikea, and if I recall correctly they were $1.99 for a four pack. They aren't all cotton or organic, but they've lasted me for two years and so no sign of wearing out so I think they're a better option than the paper napkins. And not buying paper napkins every two weeks saves me money.

Not using paper towels saves me even more money. We use rags to clean up our messes. You don't even have to buy rags. You've got something around the house that can become a rag. Old t-shirts you never wear. Dishtowels that are no longer attractive enough to hang over the stove handle. I haven't bought a single roll of paper towels in about a year and a half. 

Paper plates are another costly habit. You most likely have regular, durable plates. It's not that difficult to use them or wash them. 

Over at Crunchy Chicken, she had a challenge ditch toilet paper and go with washable wipes/rags, but honestly, I'm not there yet. But it is an option. I do, however, buy toilet paper made from recycled materials (which I have to remind my boys often is not the same as recycled toilet paper!)

On the actual paper side of going paperless, opting for your banks and credit cards to e-mail you paperless statements and bills will help save paper and paying those bills online saves you money by saving the cost of a stamp. I can't keep up with the rising price of stamps these days.

*Note about cloth napkins: A lot of my friends ask about the difficulty of using cloth napkins - washing them, ironing them, getting out the stains. Honestly, I don't care about ironing or getting out stains. I have all white napkins, wash them each time I do a white load and hang them out to dry. If they are stained, oh well, we're only using them to wipe our mouths and hands. Wrinkles - who cares?

Ditching the Bottled Water Will Save Money and Perhaps Even More

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The other day my Green Saves Green partner, Allison, wrote about tapping the tap - drinking tap water instead of bottled water. Bottled water is so much more expensive than tap water (about 1000 percent) and the environmental effects of bottled water are devastating. Plus, there's a 40% chance you're just drinking tap water anyway when you drink bottled water.

There's a movement by newdream.org that is asking people to pledge to break the bottled water habit. 

From their website:

Everything we consume has a climate impact, but manufacturing and trucking water bottles to homes with clean tap water seems particularly wasteful. The Beverage Marketing Corporation reports that Americans consumed 31.2 billion liters of water in 2006 – nearly 9 liters per month for every man, woman, and child.

Manufacturing all those bottles requires 900,000 tons of plastic, the equivalent of more than 17 million barrels of oil, and emit more than 2.5 million tons of carbon dioxide. Trucking around all those heavy bottles emits even more greenhouse gases. Beyond the climate impact there’s the massive waste – 86% of water bottles aren’t recycled -- and water bottling is also, ironically, a very water-intensive endeavor. The Pacific Institute tells us that it takes three liters of water to produce one liter of bottled water!

Read the above paragraphs again. Those statistics need to change. Are you ready to save money and help save the environment? I'm going to be taking the pledge. How about you?

Go Meatless and Save Money

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I'm beginning to think I've covered most of the ways to be green and save money in some post or other over the past year on this blog. I know I've mentioned this one before. But it's worth repeating for Green Saves Green month.

Producing meat can cause environmental problems. A lot of resources go into keeping and feeding the animals while they are alive. In America and several other developed countries we demand meat, particularly red meat and chicken, at very low prices. That give those who raise the animals a reason to justify pumping up man of the animals with hormones and antibiotics which are passed on to us when we eat the meat. The animals are also fed cheap, unnatural diets which at the very least cause them severe gastro-intestinal discomfort. 

Once the animals are turned into meat, the packaging, the shipping, and the refrigeration of the products also harm the environment.

Two ways to combat this are to eat organic, truly free range meat (which is always more expensive but for a good reason) or eat less meat. Since the first option doesn't really serve our green saves green purposes, today we'll talk about eating less meat.

Vegetarian dishes are usually less expensive to make at home than dishes with meat in them. By switching to one or two meatless dinners a week, you can cut your grocery bill and cut your environmental impact at the same time.

Some meatless meal ideas that don't involve tofu or faux meat products (because when you start adding those ingredients, your family will fear you're trying to actually turn them into vegetarians instead of just making some minor changes in the way you eat)

• Hearty soups like 17 bean and barley or minestrone (I will personally testify to the yumminess of both of these recipes)
  
• Grilled cheese and tomato soup - don't just stick to white bread and american cheese. Use wheat or grain breads and pile on combinations of your favorite cheeses. Personally for my tomato soup dipping, I like a combo of American and Swiss on Wegman's 9 Grain Bread
  
• A vegetarian lasagna like this artichoke/spinach version
• Vegetarian chili - mmmmm.... with a side of creamy mashed potatoes
• Pizza - as long as you don't add pepperoni, sausage, ham... on top

The ideas for meatless meals are endless. My favorite recipe site is allrecipes.com. If you type in the word vegetarian you'll come up with hundreds of user rated and commented on recipes to choose from.

Photo from the artichoke/spinach lasagna recipe on allrecipes.com

Green Your Laundry and Save A Little Cash

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I've written about this quite a bit, but the environmental impact of washing and drying our clothes often is worse than the environmental impact of the production of the clothes. There are plenty of ways that you can lessen the environmental impact of caring for your clothing. The really good news is that you'll save money, too.

• Wash your clothes and linens in cold water. The energy that it takes to heat up the water for doing your laundry is one of the biggest environmental offenders when it comes to laundry. By simply washing in cold water, you'll save energy and you'll save money on your energy bill.
• Hang dry your clothing. Each time you run your dryer, it averages about 5 pounds of greenhouses gasses emitted into the atmosphere. Multiply that by the number of loads you do in a week, and hanging that line outside doesn't sound so bad. Not running your dryer will save you money, too.
• Don't wash your clothes every single time you wear them. Sometimes, clothes need to be washed after just one wearing, but most times they do not. Wear those jeans a second (or third time) before throwing them in. And if you hang your bath towels up to dry when you're done, you can use them for several days. You'll end up doing less loads of laundry this way which will save you money, and your items will last longer if they are laundered less. You'll have to replace them less often, saving you even more money.
  
• When you do run your dryer, make sure the lint trap and the exhaust line are cleaned out regularly. Dirty lint traps and exhaust lines cause your dryer to run less efficiently. It will take longer for your clothes to dry, you'll use more energy, and you'll run up your energy bill. Regular cleaning can help to avoid this.

These are just a few suggestions. For more details about being more green with your laundry, check out these past posts.

Little Environmentally Friendly Laundry Changes, Part 1

Little Environmentally Friendly Laundry Changes, Part 2