Save The Planet - Save Money Too!

Save The Planet - Save Money Too!
by Colleen Moulding
* * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * * *

Easy ways to eco friendly living


Cut back on using the car. Walking will keep you fit, save you
money and save all those poisons getting into the atmosphere.
Use public transport when you have to travel and share
supermarket and school runs.

Buy foods loose whenever possible, dried goods as well as
fruit and vegetables. Not only is this usually a much cheaper
option than branded goods, it saves on all that unnecessary
packaging. Always choose the refillable, reusable container
over the disposable, throwaway one.

Use shopping bags or baskets when you go to the store so that
you can say no thank you to plastic carrier bags. Re-use plastic bags
you do receive for bin liners, food wrapping etc.

Use eco friendly washing powder and cleaning products or make
your own from the recipes at http://www3.pei.sympatico.ca/galavoie/ENVIRO.HTM

Save energy. Turn your heating down and wear warmer clothes or layers
when necessary. Turn down the hot water thermostat, turn off lights and
tv's when no-one is using them, use energy efficient light bulbs.

Insulating your home will quickly pay for itself in lower heating bills.
Find out about grants in your area towards installing new or thicker insulation.

Use waste paper and packaging for crafts and play activities. Make
wonderful gift trays, bowls and decorative plates from papier mache or
make handmade paper cards from office waste paper. Kids love making
toys and models from packaging if you start them off and show them how
to join bits together with glue, slots or string.

Locate and support your local recycling projects. Be a good neighbour
and encourage the recycling habit by collecting other people's saved
newspapers, textiles, glass bottles etc. while you are going there anyway.

Clothes or linens no longer fit for their original purpose
can be torn up and used for cleaning rags. You will be
surprised how useful an old fashioned rag bag can be.

Try not to buy plastic, it accounts for a large amount of landfill waste.
If you must buy plastic containers look for those with a label 1 or 2.
These are much easier to recycle than those numbered 3 to 7.
Then use them to store food instead of using foil and plastic wraps.

Buy a reusable coffee filter or at least use the unbleached paper ones.
The white ones produce deadly toxins during their manufacture.

Plant a tree, or several if you have the space. Make them fruit trees
and you can enjoy the produce as they clean up carbon dioxide
from the air.

Staple together pads of one side used paper for shopping lists,
to do lists etc.

Use rechargeable batteries whenever possible. Ordinary
batteries contain heavy metals that can either contaminate
the soil or seep into water supplies when sent to landfill
sites or contaminate the air if they are burnt.

Many trees must be harvested to provide Christmas and gift wrapping
paper that is almost immediately discarded by the recipient.
Consider wrapping gifts in something else useful like a pretty scarf or
kitchen towel or just fold or roll and add a reusable ribbon bow and a pretty
recycled paper gift card.


Restyle, recover or makeover furniture that is no longer to your taste
before having it carted off to the dump. Cutting the legs off an old
sideboard gives it a low modern look, old fashioned dressing tables
can have a useful life under a pretty, gathered fabric skirt, large old
wardrobes can be painted and have door panels replaced with chicken
wire and fabric to make modern storage for any room in the home.
Learn how to make slipcovers for furniture from a library book or
the Internet, or invest in a staple gun to easily recover headboards or
reupholster dining chairs painted to suit your new look. Use bed sheets
to make floor length table cloths to cover a shabby table without joining
fabric. If you really cannot find a use for furniture or clothing donate
it to a good cause.

Stop or at least cut down on eating meat. Apart from being
barbaric and cruel, killing animals for food is extremely
wasteful of the earth's resources, as much of the land
they graze could grow other food in much greater
quantities. Animals being farmed for their meat also
consume gallons of water and produce tons of potentially
water contaminating manure.

Buy organic foods whenever possible. As well as being much
more healthy for your family, the farmer will not have
been polluting the earth and the air with pesticides,
herbicides and chemical fertilizers. Compost your kitchen waste
and you will have a wonderful medium for growing your own veggies,
fruits and flowers.

Copyright 2001
Colleen Moulding


About the author: Colleen Moulding is a freelance writer from England
where she has had many features on parenting, childcare, play, travel,
entertaining and the Internet published in national newspapers and
magazines. She has also published a variety of women's and children's
fiction.
Her work frequently appears at many sites on the Internet and at her own
site for women All That Women Want.com a magazine, web guide and
resource for women everywhere. Why not drop by?
It was made for you!
http://www.allthatwomenwant.com
Subscribe to the free monthly e-zine
by sending a blank e-mail to:
allthatwomenwant-subscribe@yahoogroups.com


[Non-text portions of this message have been removed]