Going Green on a Budget

In many ways trying to lead a greener lifestyle may seem like it clashes with frugality. Organic produce is indeed expensive, if not impossible to find, in certain areas. And sometimes the cost of daily use products likes soaps, cleaning supplies and laundry detergent can be almost double the price of their toxic competitors. Yuck. But I am here to tell you that going green doesn’t have to break the bank. In fact, you can even save money by making environmentally friendly changes to your lifestyle.

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1. BUY IN BULK. It really pays to buy your dry items in bulk. Nowadays more and more stores are offering bulk items. Some of the things I prefer to buy in bulk include steel-cut oats, quinoa, flour, and beans. Some places will even let you bring your own containers (a good way to reduce waste might I add).

2. MAKE YOUR OWN CLEANING SUPPLIES. There is seriously no excuse not to give this a try. For PENNIES you can make your own cleaning supplies in under ten minutes with some basic ingredients you probably already have around the house and best of al it is safe for your family.

3. KNOW WHERE YOU FOOD COMES FROM. It’s so important to do your research when it comes to what you ingest and one way to make that easier is by eating locally. The locavore movement as it is called, asks people to support local farmers by getting your food local. This can be challenging, especially in less populous cities but it’s something worth looking into. Farmer’s markets are the best place to start where you can get fresh fruits, veggies, meats and dairy products cheaper than the store. What I enjoy most about this experience is getting to know the farmers who grow my food. You would be surprised to know that many of them don’t use pesticides and are essentially “organic” however they couldn’t afford the USDA’s label (which I am beginning to trust less and less these days anyways.) 

Buy shopping local you are also putting money back into your community, supporting neighbors and helping decrease your carbon footprint by not buying produce that had to be shipped from Argentina.

4. DITCH THE WATER BOTTLE. It’s really that simple. Buying water bottles again and again adds up to a lot of $$ and also, more trash. Do your pockets a favor (as well as the Earth) and just use a reusable bottle like kleenkanteen or bobble.

5. ONLY BUY THE “ESSENTIAL” ORGANICS.  Chances are you have heard about the dirty dozen, as in the twelve fruits & veggies that are typically ranked highest in pesticides. These are ones that it is recommended the most to buy organic whereas the clean fifteen are the produce with the lowest amounts of pesticides. If you are on a budget you can do your best to look out for the dirty dozen. Another way to save money though is avoiding the organic “junk food”. Organic cookies are still cookies and you are better off putting that money to other, healthier goods. Besides you would be surprised what you can make from scratch!

6. COOK FROM SCRATCH. Which is my last point, cooking from scratch is another way to make your dollar stretch a little further. With a little planning you could even make a whole batch of yummy meals over the weekend and then freeze them to use throughout the week. Which is to say that a homecooked meal doesn’t have to = spending all your free time in the kitchen.