We’re killing the Earth and Mother Nature is pissed. We’ve had so many earthquakes out here this summer that I don’t even stop working anymore, unless something falls off a shelf. When I was little, trying to plan my October wedding in Illinois would not include price checking cooling stations for the guests, but it does now. I’m moving to Mobile, Alabama, at the end of this month, so I’ll get to see firsthand the utter disaster this oil spill is going to continue to cause after the first storm system rolls through. With all of these major things we are doing to the planet, “Going Green” is the band-wagon everyone seems to be jumping on. Make no mistake, it’s a good one, but the ticket is not cheap. When you get right down to it, you can only stretch that dollar so far, and “Green” products are expensive.
When it comes to your finances, there are a lot of Earth friendly choices that you can make that help Mother Earth and Father Finance at the same time. The key here is to look for ways to meet a need that won’t add to a problem. Example 1: Paper. Commercial grade printing paper is available in recycled levels ranging from 10 – 100%. I use this because I like to keep printed copies of all my writing. Conventional logic tells you to print less, recycle more. I say, take that a step further and go with a paperless office. It can be done. Many people have done it for years, and I am making the change myself. Use that old scanner, get your data backed up and use services like EcoSign for your contracts. When you break it down, you have now drastically reduced (or even eliminated) your costs for the following items: paper, ink, printing equipment, postage, writing utensils, paper clips, etc. How many ways can that extra cash be reallocated?
Another significant problem is the pollution emitted from our cars. Example 2: Daily Commute Emissions. Using flex fuels, carpooling, driving hybrid vehicles and planning more efficient driving routes are all great ways to reduce your emissions, but a little thinking out of the box could cut your daily commute emissions out of the picture almost completely. Working from home has gotten a bad rap over the years, but look at what it saves you in both time and cost. With new tools like Basecamp, FreeConferenceCalling.com and laptops, we can literally take our office anywhere we want. Though not all positions can be adapted to a telecommuting position, there are many that can. Look into it with your supervisor and HR to see what the possibilities are. If you can show them that your productivity will not suffer and that it would save the company money, they should be pretty receptive to it. This cuts down more than just the emissions. The funds that were spent on gas bills, repairs, general maintenance, insurance and drive-thru windows can all now help boost your investment accounts.
Putting the planet at large aside for a second, there are things we can do for ourselves that make going green easier on the budget as well. One of the easiest things to do is buying household items you frequently use in bulk containers to cut down on plastic packaging. Example 3: Household Supplies. If you think about it, we don’t really need most of the products we buy. I enjoy my dish soap as much as the next person, don’t get me wrong, but we can make some substitutions and cut down the plastic consumption and the household cleaning bill at the same time. For example, most cleaning products can be substituted for baking powder, salt, lemon juice and other simple household items (most of which can be bought in a biodegradable, paper container). You can buy the pretty green bottle of window cleaner or you can use water and a little vinegar in a spray bottle. Tips can be found online to make anything from carpet sprinkles to shampoo all by yourself. Certain things we can do to be planet friendly come with a trade off. Using cloth towels rather than paper towels for messes makes more laundry, and there is the initial cost for the towels (if you don’t have some old ones you convert). There are other things that don’t have to cost you money or a great deal of time. Starting a compost pile in the yard to help with your garden can cost as little as nothing and save you money on disposal costs, fertilizer and will help give a better garden yield.
The ideal world and the real world don’t always understand each other. As thinking, adapting human beings, we have the power to translate. When you go green, or as you continue to be so, don’t be afraid to go in totally new directions. We are largely creatures of habit. When we make a change, it is in our nature to gravitate toward different methods of doing the exact same thing. If you put in a little research time and are willing to try something new, you will find that the advantages of going green can not only make you feel good, but give you a financial boost. Going green doesn’t have to be expensive or hard. You just have to be willing to change your environment while you help improve ours.
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