Category: Green Living

TMR Frugal Living Tip #96

Print Both Sides of PaperToday’s frugal living tip is to use both sides of the paper when printing. I cannot follow this tip for school reports, but I use this often when printing coupons, and other items where it doesn’t matter. It is cost effective and cuts down on the amount of paper used.

My son comes home with an obscene amount of paper from school, and mostly it will just get thrown away. I let him draw and color on the backs of those pages so he isn’t wasting my good print paper. That paper is not cheap. I do recycle all the paper in our house.

Do you print on both sides of the pages or do you also let your kids draw on the backs before discarding?

TMR Frugal Living Tip #94

Today’s thrifty living tip is to hang your laundry using a clothesline or a laundry line. I have two metal posts outside that I use for my clothesline. Inside the house, I have a thick long chain on hooks which runs the length of my wash room. I do have a long wash room.

I can use the inside line when the weather is too rainy or cold to hang laundry outside. Hanging laundry helps to save electricity or natural gas, and I also find it puts less wear on my dryer. I have had the same dryer since 1997! I do use my dryer, but I hang laundry as much as I can.

Worried about wrinkles or clothes are too stiff, then just throw them in the dryer for a few minutes to help soften them. I prefer my towels to be stiff as I find they absorb the water more after I bathe. I just love how my sheets smell in the fresh air.

Do you hang your laundry?

Turn Off the Lights for Earth Hour on 3/31/12

Earth Hour I’m not sure what rock I had been living under, but I never heard of Earth Hour until last year during my speech class. An exchange student from China gave a wonderful speech on Earth Hour. I try to live a “greener”  life by conserving more of our resources, planting more of my own food, and recycling. I plan on participating in Earth Hour by turning off my lights for one hour. It seems inconvenient in our super busy lives to not be on the computer or to watch television, but maybe Earth Hour can help us to slow down a little and spend more time together as a family.

Earth Hour originated in Sydney Australia in 2007 by the WWF (World Wildlife Fund) by asking everyone to turn off their lights for one hour. The date is March 31, 2012 (Saturday night) at 8:30 PM until 9:30PM. The initiative is to help offset the climate change, but it also conserves energy. From the Earth Hour website: “It’s scheduled on the last Saturday of every March – closely coinciding with the equinox to ensure most cities are in darkness as it rolled out around the Earth.” Last year more than 135 countries and millions of people participated in Earth Hour.

What else can we do to help preserve our planet?

Earth Hour asks everyone to go beyond the 60 minutes of one year by doing more to help conserve and preserve our world. The things we do to conserve are usually what helps to save you money. No matter what your views are, we do need to help preserve our planet for our generation and future generations. What we do now impacts us all now and in the future.

Get involved . It is also a great way to slow down and spend time with your loved ones. There are lots of great ideas by making a nice dinner by candlelight, play games with your flashlights, go outside and pretend to camp or look at the stars, talk, tell stories, or spend time with the neighbors and play cards. The possibilities are endless, and some communities have big events for the whole town or city to participate together.

I dare you to participate in Earth Hour on March 31, 2012 from 8:30-9:30. Will you join Earth Hour?

 

 

 

TMR Frugal Living Tip #82

stainlessbottlescommutermugsBPA-freewaterbottles
Today’s thrifty living tip is to use sports bottles or commuter mugs. I do have some plastic Tupperware mugs and big sports bottles to bring when I’m traveling and to use at school. It’s an environmental friendly way to cut down on trash and of course it does save you money.

It saves you money by making your own coffee to bring with you instead of buying it on the road. This can easily save you $20+ per month or even more depending on the size of coffee you purchase. It might not seem like much, but that is $240 per year! You can also save money by not spending $1.25-1.50 for a 20 oz bottle of water. Now if you bought a case of water (16 oz) you still spend $4-5 per case. You won’t save as much money unless you buy a bottle daily at the vending machine. But you can refill your bottles or mugs, and it cuts down a big amount of trash. Even if you recycle the bottles, it still isn’t as environmentally friendly.

There is a big debate of plastic bottles vs stainless steel. Many of the plastic sports bottles and mugs were made with BPA which we found out was harmful since it leached into acidic (orange juice) or hot liquids (coffee and hot tea). Now you must make sure that your stainless steel bottle doesn’t have a liner as it will contain BPA. I’m not going to have that debate and will leave it up to each individual.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #80

Today’s frugal living tip is to reuse those coffee grounds, tea bags, eggshells, and vegetable/fruit peelings. Yep I drink coffee and tea on a daily basis so I take the grounds, and work them directly into the soil around my plants. Of course you can also throw them in a compost pile. I take rinsed eggshells and crush them before mixing into the soil. I also compost. You can either compost vegetable/fruit peelings or just dig small holes into your garden. I dig them in a few inches and let them rot until it’s time to till the soil. I love just digging small piles directly into the garden as I don’t have to deal with a compost pile this way. My soil still benefits and it gets worked into the whole garden plot twice a year. Not everyone is keen on the idea of having a compost pile so here is another alternative way to reduce waste, but it still helps your soil and plants thrive. The best part is that worms love the coffee grounds and seem to attract them. This is actually a positive as worms help to aerate the soil.

TMR Frugal Living Tip #76

Today’s thrifty living tip is to bring your own bags to the store. We know all it cuts down on plastic being used to make bags which is great for the environment. It also cuts down on the amount of trash in landfills. But did you know that you can stuff a lot of groceries in them? Not only that, but the majority of them have a reinforced bottom which is great for canned goods plus heavier items. Most people say they have a hard time remembering to bring them to the store. So what I’ve done is to keep them stored in my car side door. This way I always see them before I get out of my car. I have heard that some stores will give a discount for bringing your own. None around me do this, but you might be one of those lucky people. CVS has a key chain one that you can buy for 99 cents, and you will get a $1 ECB for every 4th purchase when you have it scanned. I’m even starting to bring bigger tote bag ones when I go to yard sales. I usually get the bigger ones for free at some stores I have shopped. Another great thing about them is you could make your own customized ones if you wanted to have more stylish bags. I feel that these bags are a great and inexpensive investment.