It’s Called Currency

The mantra of the “green” folk (those who are focused on a sustainable world) is “Reduce, Reuse, Recycle”. I’ve seen and heard these three words for more than 20 years. And in various ways, I’ve made them a part of my life. The concept here is to first reduce, then reuse, then recycle. This helps to break the cycle whereby we produce lots of disposable goods that are ultimately destined for the landfill. So let’s look at this three-word philosophy word by word.

First, reduce your consumption. Use less…less shampoo, less detergent, less electricity, less gasoline. When you reduce the amount that you consume, you also reduce your expenses related to those goods. You can easily use less shampoo by skipping the “repeat” part of the “wash, rinse, repeat” instructions and you’ll find yourself buying shampoo less often. Your clothes will be just as clean if you reduce the amount of soap by one-third. Turn off the lights when you leave the room, shut off the computer when you bed down for the night, turn down the heat and up the air conditioning, and your reward will be a smaller electric bill. Shop at stores that are along your route rather than making special out-of-the-way treks and you’ll use less gas. It’s easy to create new habits that will reduce the amount you consume and you’ll be rewarded financially as well as environmentally for your thoughtfulness.

Next, reuse anything and everything you can. Cool Whip containers are less fancy than Tupperware and they’re already in your house. Consider the many other plastic containers that get dumped into your trash as alternatives to plastic zipper bags. Several brands of spaghetti sauce come in standard canning jars which can be sterilized and reused for your own home-grown or handmade concoctions. Why buy rubber bands when the postman puts them in your mailbox on a regular basis? And speaking of mail, hold onto cardboard shipping boxes and reuse them when you need to mail something. Many people purchase reusable shopping bags and use them for anything that needs a bag as well as for bringing goods home. If you’ve not yet gone that route, you can still reuse the plastic bags that groceries and other items are transported in. The cardboard cores in toilet paper and paper towel rolls can be reused in fun and practical ways, just hand one to a child for several ideas. Since you’re reusing things you already have, you won’t have to buy new ones nearly as often.

And finally, recycle everything else. A great deal of what you’ve previously considered to just be trash is actually recyclable. Check with your local recycling center to see what they will take, as it varies from one locality to the next. Usually, they’ll take newspapers, glass and plastic in varying forms. Some will also take mixed paper, which is where much of our computer trash and junk mail ends up. (A note on this: shred anything that’s personally identifying before you recycle it, just to protect your identity.) Water bottles, soda bottles and cans, tin cans, glass jars, paper…a lot of things end up being thrown away that could easily be given new life in a different form. Recycling itself doesn’t save you money unless you live in a state where they pay you to bring things in, but it does save manufacturers from having to harvest all new materials to produce new goods.

I also encourage you to “close the loop” and buy recycled goods. It may be that they actually cost a little more, but you’re buying less to start with, right? A few more dimes or dollars on a “green” product won’t wipe out your savings, and you’ll know that you’re working to keep our planet happy and healthy. After all, it’s the only one we’ve got.

Tags: priorities, saving, spending less // 1 Comment »