Small ways to save money and the planet

All the little things do add up. A dollar here, a dollar there. Over time there are some small green changes you can make that will help save more money in the long run. Each step alone may be just a small savings but when added together it becomes far more beneficial for your wallet and the earth.

Brew coffee at home or at the office: Instead of frequenting costly coffee shops make your own and save some cash. Making your own coffee also means you’ll be using a reusable mug and can choose sustainable coffee. Coffee makers aren’t rated or labeled by Energy Star yet, but there are greener coffee makers available. Read Green Your Coffee Maker for tips.

Plug in a power strip: Power strips can save you lots of energy, and thus money over time. Energy Star notes that basic home office equipment, when left plugged in has a “phantom” power load that can range from a few watts to as much as 20 or even 40 watts for each piece of equipment. You should unplug items when not in use, but it’s far easier to simply turn of a strip then it is to unplug and plug in everything all the time. You don’t even need to buy a fancy power strip.

Use cloth: Cloth napkins and cloth rags to clean with save tons of money over paper products like paper napkins and paper towels. It may feel like a BIG, not small step to switch out paper but over time it becomes second nature, and you’ll wonder why you ever used paper products when cloth is easy, cheap, and green.

Wash on cold: You can wash anything in the washer on cold with good results which saves you a lot on hot water heating. You might think you need the hot water to disinfect, but most washers, even on hot won’t get hot enough to sanitize. Some washers (mostly front loading) have steam sanitizing functions that do heat up enough to sanitize, but typical top loaders don’t. If you wash on hot with your top loading machine not only are you not sanitizing, but you’re wasting energy in the process.

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