Earth Friendly Reminders

I picked up this book at the local consignment shop, Treasures & More, for $1.00 I think.  Talk about frugal and earth friendly!  Anyhow...so far this book is turning out to be different than most "green" books.  It is not telling you not to do this but do this...its just giving helpful suggestions of small things you can change and how it would affect the environment.  I am a passionate recycler, electricity saver, and cheapskate so I will be sharing a few helpful hints from each chapter with my readers that will not only help our environment but rock your inner frugality at the same time!

Chapter 1: Home Is Where the Heart is - but What About All That Extra Stuff?

#1 - We've all heard to take shorter showers.  But if you just shorten it by two minutes you can save 10 gallons of water!  Think about that on your water bill!  If everyone in the US did this we the savings would equal the size of the Great Lakes.  WOW.

#2 - Adjust your thermostat.  The #1 environment problem is the use of coal.  Cut down on your electricity, gas, etc. and cut down on your use of coal.  An adjustable thermostat has saved my electric bill HUNDREDS.  Ours is set at 60 degrees when we are at work during the winter and 80 during the summer.  We then adjust the temp to become a more comfortable temperature about 30 minutes before we get home.  If you move your thermostat just ONE DEGREE up or down depending on the season, you can save $100 PER YEAR.

#3 - Toilet flushing.  Our house has definitely embraced the saying If its Yellow Let it Mellow.  We save TONS on our water bill.  For a family of four our water runs around $30 a month, or $1 a day.  I'm satisfied with that.  If you flush just one less time per day you will save 4.5 gallons - or what a person in Africa uses for an entire day of drinking, eating, cooking and bathing.  Clean water is a crisis in our world so do your part to save what we have in the U.S. and stop flushing it down the drain!  Another tip for toilets using less water is to put a full water bottle in the tank.  This tricks the toilet into thinking it has filled up faster and using less water.  My husband the plumber was not happy when he discovered our water bottle in the toilet because it got in the way of the chain on the handle one day, but I say its no big deal to move the bottle once in awhile to save that much more water.

Try to implement these three tips this month and see if you find you save money.

Do you have any earth friendly and frugal tips you want to share related to the shower, thermostat or toilet?  DO SHARE!