Frugally Green » Tips & Tricks

What’s the Best Way to Save the World? Oh, and Save Some Money, too?

Tyler — Wed, 30 Dec 2009 13:55:32 +0000

Recently, I asked Frugally Green Readers what the best ways to improve the world while pocketing some coin for themselves along the way are. As an incentive to answer, I gave away a few prizes.

Turns out, you guys are really smart (of course I already knew that)!

I got lots of interesting replies from a number of excited people. I don’t want those ideas to be forgotten, so I’ve decided to highlight some of them in a post.

The following are five comments that I selected from that post to highlight here as well as a little commentary from because, well, I like to hear myself talk.

Take a second to think about each one and see how it could apply to your life. Maybe these ideas could provide a little guidance while you’re setting your goals for next year.

Comment #1 comes from Wendy, who said:

Best way to save while saving planet: Don’t spend money on useless crap that you don’t really need or will even want in a month. Save the money and keep stuff out of the landfill.

Best way to make money while saving planet: Do something you truly love and find a way to get paid for it. A planet of fulfilled souls makes for a better world.

Way to tell it like it is, Wendy! We can all stand to get real once in awhile about the things we need. I try to do a little benefit analysis every time I consider buying anything, but I still end up with junk I never really wanted now and again.

I’m right on board with you about doing what you love, too. Fulfilled souls certainly beat wandering zombies.

Comment #2 comes from KC, who said:

Best way to save while saving planet: Get rid of all incandescent lamps at home. Replace them with efficient CFL or LED lamps. They draw way less power saving you money and result in less emissions at the power plant. They can pay for themselves within a few months depending on your usage.

If you’re concerned about mercury in CFLs, use caution while handling them so they don’t break and recycle them at the end of their life. Home Depot has an excellent CFL recycling program.

Incandescent lamps generate a lot of heat that your AC needs to remove from your home during summers. This causes extra burden on your AC and also costs you money.

No need to go out and replace every light in the house. Just pick them up one at a time if you want until you’ve totally converted. The biggest complaint I hear about CFLs is in regard to the quality of light they emit. People prefer incandescent bulbs to read under. “They’re superior,” they say.

You know what else is a superior product no one uses anymore? Asbestos. Same story, different application.

Comment #3 comes from Jason, who said:

The best way to save money while improving the world is to be realistic in your choice of automobile. How much passenger/cargo space do you really need? Are most of your trips made with only the driver in the car, etc.?

Once you have determined what you really require, buy a used, well maintained vehicle that fills those requirements. Make maintenance a priority and do as much of it yourself as you can to keep the vehicle in top condition.

IMO, it is wealthier for the planet to continue to use existing resources as opposed to consuming more in the name of new.

Spot on, Jason. I’m almost a perfect example of who you’re talking about. I bought a little, old truck right before college to get around in. I never really even considered what I “needed” in terms of transportation besides something cheap.

98% of my trips are by myself with no cargo yet, six years later, I still haven’t done anything about it. Next year will contain some serious head scratching over how to improve this. Ideally, I’d like to go carless. No promises…

Comment #4 comes from Susie (aka my mom), who said:

Composting can save you some money on your garbage bill and your garden will thank you next year. It is easy to do and doesn’t have to take up a lot of space.

A blog is always better with family involvement. That’s why I make sure to call out my mom every time she shows up here no matter how badly she wants to remain anonymous.

You’re right, Mom. Composting is awesome. However, sometimes compost tumblers aren’t.

Comment #5 comes from Rosemary, who said:

The best way to save money while saving the planet is to live close to where you work! Since I really wanted to live in Boston/Cambridge, I chose to work 3 miles away instead of 20+ miles away! In the summer I bike or take public transportation to work, and in winter time I drive when it’s too cold or snowing.

We also live within walking distance from our main grocery store.

The rent in the city is not that different from being in the suburbs, so from that aspect it’s not too bad either!

This kind of advice is extremely useful, but takes some careful planning to complete. Finding a good home and a good job can be two of the most difficult things a person does in life. Getting them next door to each other is even tougher.

Nonetheless, many do it and live very happy lives because of it. Honestly, how happy can you be if you spend half your working life in a car?

Well, there you have it, folks. Five suggestions from the brightest minds at Frugally Green on ways that you can reduce your footprint and your bottom line simultaneously. I hope you take a little time to consider implementing or optimizing some of them in your own life.

Have any feedback on these tips? Any others you’d like to add?

~~~~~

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5 Things You Don’t Need to Go Green

Tyler — Mon, 14 Dec 2009 13:35:04 +0000

Any time I think I’d like to to try something new, my brain naturally reacts by creating a list of things that I’ll need in order to do it right.

Does your head work like this, too?

It can be useful to come up with a few things that will help guarantee your success, but if you don’t keep your wandering mind in check, it can quickly generate an impossible list of things for you to buy, make, or otherwise acquire in order to “do it right.”

This is dangerous territory if you’re serious about making a change. Left to it’s own devices, I know my brain can talk me right out of any good idea.

That’s why, instead, I like to make short lists of things I don’t need to start something. This is usually the same list of things I think I do need, but with a little more creative reasoning applied to them.

If you want to start making a better effort to live sustainably, here’s a list of 5 things everyone says are important but that you definitely do not need. Save your money and get creative.

Books & manuals

If you’ve found yourself interested in the green movement, you’ve probably already read a couple books on the subject and come up with some ideas of what you can do. Leave it at that and get started.

If you read book after book looking for the one with the magic bullet – the one with all the answers to fit your lifestyle and make your dreams come true – all you’ll ever do is read books.

Now, there’s nothing wrong with reading, but I have a bias for doing. It’s much more effective in the long term.

Besides, the book you’re looking for doesn’t exist. Search is just your brain’s mechanism for keeping you from actually doing something uncomfortable.

If you really do need a book with every answer in it, you’d better get started writing.

A hybrid car

Who could even think of going green without taking a serious look at their transportation? Cars emit so much CO2 we ought to be ashamed to be seen in them. The only way to do right by the world is to go buy a hybrid car so you can do the least harm.

Wrong.

Yes, cars are a huge part of our footprint, but if you think you need a new hybrid vehicle to get yourself on the right path, then you’re distracting yourself from looking at the really important issues behind car ownership – how much we drive them and how efficiently we drive them.

A car is a tool and, like any tool, you should have a good idea of how to use it before you buy a new one.

Consider walking or riding your bike for shorter trips. Get familiar with your city’s transit system. Learn how to hypermile. Basically, get the most out of what you’ve already got.

A newer car is, in most circumstances, better for the environment, but if you can’t afford one, then convincing yourself you need one to go green is just an excuse to not get started at all.

New appliances

Just like a new car, new appliances should be the last thing on your list when you’re learning to go green. They’re big money pits that your head will try to use against you and your attempts to live more sustainably.

Instead, get the most out of the ones you already have.

Learn the best ways to use your dishwasher. Keep your refrigerator full, at the right temperature, and don’t leave the door open. Leave the oven door open after cooking for extra heat.

Don’t just forget about buying a new dryer, eliminate the need for it completely.

New appliances are just shiny distractions. Shiny distractions that keep your mind from getting creative with how you use what you already own.

CFL light bulbs

Despite what all the experts might tell you, you have no need for a house full of CFL light bulbs. Not all at once, at least.

Before you go spend a small fortune and half your weekend changing every…single…bulb in your whole house, spend some time figuring out which rooms you use the most and when you use them. Get better at turning lights off when the sun’s out. Teach yourself to turn off lights in the rooms you’re not currently using.

Once you’ve got these steps down, then go buy CFL bulbs, but just a few of them.

You don’t need to spend half your paycheck all at once. You can buy a couple and put them in the fixtures that are used the most. Then, when a light burns out, replace it witch a CFL.

Whatever you do, don’t let the daunting task of changing all your light bulbs get in the way of getting started on a smaller scale.

Tons of external support

Wouldn’t it be nice if everything we ever did got us a big pat on the back from everyone we knew? I’d love it if my email inbox filled up every day with kudos for my latest post. It would really be nice.

Unfortunately, not everyone sees eye to eye with you and even those that do are busy with their own lives and probably don’t have time to give you a gold star every time you remember to put the aluminum can in the recycling instead of the trash.

Truly embracing sustainability is something you do to satisfy your own internal values. You do it because it’s the right thing to do whether or not anyone else recognizes that it is.

When you focus on doing the right thing just because, you can satisfy yourself without having to rely on others to keep you motivated.

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When is the Right Time to Buy?

Tyler — Wed, 02 Dec 2009 17:28:10 +0000

Don’t you remember what your mom always said growing up when you wanted to do something stupid that all your friends were doing?

“If Billy jumped off a bridge, would you jump too?”

Lots of times I would answer “yes” under my breath before I gave up arguing. I knew once that line came out, all hope was lost.

Mom had good advice, though. It’s usually a safe bet that if everyone’s doing it, there’s something to be suspicious about.

We know this, but we’re social creatures. We want to do what our friends are doing. We want to fit in.

Well, guess what all your friends do? They buy air conditioners, fans, and drapes in the middle of the summer because it’s sunny and they’re hot.

In the winter, they switch course and pick up space heaters, sweatshirts, and extra insulation for their homes. Makes sense. It’s cold out.

They repeat this buying pattern ad infinitum. They run into a situation that causes them discomfort and immediately seek to fix it.

Perfectly natural reaction, but it’s draining their wallets and not doing any favors for the planet since they’re not likely to make wise, earth friendly decisions when the gun’s to their head.

You don’t want to be like that. Every salesman knows the fastest way to make a ton of money is to sell stuff to people that are desperate.

Side note: If you’re behind on rent and desperate for cash, consider selling Viagra, hair loss formulas, or air conditioners (but only in the summer).

I want to help everyone make eco-friendly purchases and save money when they need to solve problems like being miserably hot or cold. And I don’t want anyone to suffer through half-ass solutions because they can’t afford to do the right thing at the last moment.

That’s why I want you to start planning out your seasonal purchases so that you can save all kinds of money.

I’m not going to say “all it takes is a little planning.” That would be making light of it. You’re busy. I’m busy. We’ve got a lot on our minds every day.

When it’s hot outside, it’s hard to think about what you’ll need when it gets cold. When you’re sitting in your house freezing your buns off, the last thing on your mind is how miserable you’ll be when it’s 100° and you’ve got no drapes to keep the sun out.

But this is kind of thinking is exactly what’s necessary.

A new furnace is expensive no matter when you buy it, but it’s really expensive if you wait until the middle of winter when you can’t go a day without it. Buy it in the summer and take your time choosing the most efficient one that fits inside your budget. You’ll get more for your money because there’s no pressure to buy.

I have an old window air conditioner from back in my less than earth conscious days sitting in my basement. Last summer when it was over 100° for a week straight, Portland, Oregon was completely sold out air conditioners. People were paying hundreds of dollars for tiny old units like mine on Craigslist.

I honestly considered selling it before my conscience kicked back in. Now, in December, I’d be lucky if I could give it away.

When you plan ahead for your future needs, you take away the power those salesmen wield in times of desperation and give it back to yourself.

Now, every situation is different and certain types of items require slightly different tactics to get the best deal, but here are a few questions to ask yourself when you decide that you no longer want to be at the mercy of the market:

When is everyone else buying it?

If all your friends buy it during the winter, could you save by buying it in the summer? Maybe a better option is to buy it right at the end of the season its intended for?

Here’s a seasonal buying guide from Kiplinger for common consumer goods and services to get your thinking on the right track.

For the eco-aware, you’ll want to start taking that information and overlapping it with the greenest options of whatever you’re looking for.

What’s the most responsible option for me?

With all the time you now have to plan, what’s the best choice for you?

When you buy in the moment, you’re likely to overpay for features that you don’t really need and give little thought to the environmental impact of your purchases. Figure out what you really need and don’t pay for more.

On the other hand, when you’re desperate, you’re also likely to pay for something inadequate that serves as little more than a temporary band aid.

Do I really need this at all?

When you’re lost in a sea of agony and just want something to fix your problem, you’re more willing to pay for something you don’t actually need at all.

By planning and giving yourself time to find the best option, you might realize that there are other, much better choices to solve your problem.

You might have thought you needed air conditioning to beat the agonizing heat, but, after running the numbers, you realize that more home insulation and a few carefully placed ceiling fans can keep you cool all summer.

Without the time to consider all your options, you’re less likely to think of alternatives.

If you’re a busy person, it can be tough to get your mind out of the present and plan for the future, but doing so can unlock a whole lot of new opportunities for you.

Try to find one day, maybe on a weekend, each season, where you can plan out your future needs and strategize how best to meet them.

Do you have any tips for making the most responsible purchases? Have any rules that you follow to make sure you buy at the right time for you?

~~~~~

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Multiple Intelligences: Why You’re A Green Rock Star but Suck at Saving Money

Tyler — Mon, 23 Nov 2009 14:45:23 +0000

We’re all different and that’s what makes life beautiful, right? Growing up, we all navigate different avenues, make different decisions that impact our lives, and draw different conclusions from the same information. The culmination of all these differences are what come to make us uniquely “us.”

This is largely related to the fact that everyone possesses their own unique learning profile, meaning that we are naturally inclined to learn better from specific types of inputs and are predisposed to perform better at certain tasks than others.

This is something that we all recognize intuitively, but have you ever considered that it might explain why you’ve got a knack for understanding and caring for the environment, but have thousands of dollars in credit card debt and can’t seem to dig yourself out?

8 ways to be a genius

There’s a gentleman by the name of Howard Gardner who understands this. From 1983 to present, he’s developed the Theory of Multiple Intelligences to challenge the generally accepted measurements of intellect.

According to Gardner’s studies, there are 8 ways that a person can express the intelligence that they naturally possess. They are:

Linguistically – People with linguistic intelligence have a natural affinity for reading, writing, speaking and listening. They’re often good at explaining and teaching.

Logically – If you possess logical intelligence, you’re probably good with abstractions, numbers, and complex math.

Spatially – Those with spatial intelligence usually have a talent for visualizing and manipulating objects and ideas. This is a common trait of the artistic.

Bodily-kinesthetically – If you’re good with your hands or find that you learn the best by doing an activity, you probably have a strong kinesthetic intelligence.

Musically – People with a strong sensitivity to sounds, rhythms, and tones usually have a great musical intelligence.

Interpersonally – If you have interpersonal intelligence, you’re likely extroverted and can easily read others’ moods and temperaments. You probably work well in groups.

Intrapersonally – People with a very strong sense of self and internal understanding have what’s called intrapersonal intelligence.

Naturalistically – Those with naturalistic intelligence are highly aware of their environment, can understand how ecosystems work, and can be talented with communicating with animals.

Interesting list, no?

Now consider for a second the relevance of each of these intelligences to understanding how you and the natural world work versus, say, the manmade construct of money. I’m not insinuating that you have to be primarily a logical learner to understand money, but it sure would help, wouldn’t it?

What’s your learning profile?

So what are you supposed to do if you’re not naturally inclined to understand and appreciate the math behind the conventional rules of personal finance?

I suppose it would help to begin by understanding your learning profile. Most of us probably have at least an idea of how we learn best, but it might help to have an idea of our other supporting intelligences to help us gauge the best way to approach what feels like a complex topic.

There are a lot of tests out there that aim to give you a snapshot of your learning profile. I know because I spent all day finding and taking them. I recommend this test from the Learning Disability Resource Community. I liked it the best for these reasons:

At 80 questions, it felt very comprehensive.

I felt the results were accurate.

The questions were worded in ways that made it easy to select appropriate answers.

No email address or other personally identifying information was required to get my results.

Speaking of results, here’s a snapshot of my learning profile:

As you can see, I’m highly musical and kinesthetic. Also, I’m not very interpersonal or naturalistic. It’s true, this stuff doesn’t come naturally to me.

On improvement

To this day, personal finance and money, when they’re taught at all, are still taught with very mathy overtones. This is a roadblock for most of us.

So what could a guy like me do if I wanted a better grasp of my personal finances? I would need to find a way to relate it to the musical and kinesthetic intelligences that I already possess.

When I developed my first budget, I started tracking how much money I was spending on CDs, records, and recording equipment.

As it turns out, it wasn’t all that much and I had other parts of my life that needed a lot more attention, but relating money to music was the first step I had to take to get my brain to even accept the fact that money management was now going to be a part of my life.

It’s what got me to say, “Hey, I can do this!” I couldn’t have begun to understand it any other way.

From there, I went to an all cash budgeting system and almost entirely stopped using my credit card. Taking the physical dollar bills out of my wallet and counting them out each time I bought something really played to my kinesthetic intelligence.

Removing the barriers to successful personal finance and working from basic concepts with my natural intelligences gave me the sense of understanding that made me want to keep improving.

Putting it all together

Today, I’m on an all-credit, fully-automated budget tracking system that works perfectly for me, but starting out with what made sense at the time is what it took to get here.

Money, budgets, and personal finance were scary words not that long ago. Music and handwork were comfortable and familiar.

The human mind is a complex organ with all kinds of built-in roadblocks. Learning to connect with yourself and your natural strengths will help you to address foreign ideas and concepts with less fear and hesitance.

What are your primary natural learning styles? How can you incorporate them to improve your understanding of personal finance?

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Marketing for Environmentalists: Sell Benefits, Not Features

Tyler — Mon, 16 Nov 2009 13:00:48 +0000

One of my favorite blogs right now is Naomi Dunford’s Ittybiz. She writes about ethical marketing for small businesses without marketing departments. She also has a buzzed haircut and swears like a sailor. Awesome.

Go ahead and take a second to ask yourself what the hell that has to do with Frugally Green and then I’ll continue.

OK, enough postulating. The answer, interestingly enough, is “everything.”

I’ll prove this by asking you a few questions:

Do you enjoy saving money and improving the environment?
Do you sometimes wish that other people enjoyed saving money and improving the environment, too?
Have you ever had someone ask you what this “green movement” is all about?

If you answered yes to those three questions then, whether you realize it or not, you’ve had to market your frugally green lifestyle to someone else. If you’ve ever stumbled over your words and left them with a puzzled look then, unfortunately, you’ve marketed poorly. But that’s okay, we can fix that. I know you never wanted to be a marketer, but as long as you have to be one, you may as well be good at it, right? That’s right.

On the other hand, if you answered no to those questions, I’m not quite sure why you’re here. Maybe you aren’t, either. Hmm…awkward. Feel free to stick around anyhow.

Anyway, I know a lot of us hanging out in the anti-consumerism camp have a strong distrust of marketers. We think they’re constantly conspiring to find new, slimy ways to convince us to buy junk we don’t need. Well, yeah, a lot of them are. But some of them aren’t. Some of them find a deeper meaning in connecting people with ideas and products that will truly change their lives. That’s the kind of marketer Naomi is and I know that’s the kind of marketer you want to be.

The other day, Naomi taught me about the difference between selling features and selling benefits. As environmentalists, I think this is one of the most important lessons we can learn about getting and keeping others interested in the movement.

Features

We care about our environment…a lot. Sometimes we care about it more than we care about other people. In fact, sometimes we create an adversarial relationship between our environment and other people because we’re so passionate about it.

That’s why, when people ask us why we “sort our garbage” (sometimes also called recycling), we answer with something like, “Because we’re running out of space in our landfills.”

That’s why, when someone wants to know why we ride our bike around town instead of driving, we retort with, “Because it emits less carbon dioxide into our suffocating atmosphere.”

That’s why we say, “Because it clears our mind of the consumerist culture,” when someone asks us why we don’t watch TV.

These are all examples of selling the features of environmentalism.

Benefits

Technically, they’re all true, but the problem is that all these “other people” we’re trying to get our message out to don’t care about features. They care about benefits. Benefits are what they get out of making the changes we want them to make. Benefits are more compelling to people than features because they can tangibly relate them to their personal life.

Ideas like landfill depletion, carbon emissions, and the consumerist culture are too psychologically far away, too disconnected from the every day goings-on of normal people. They can’t relate to them in the way they can relate to the benefits they see when they make a change that affects these ideas. Does that make sense?

So, the next time your neighbor asks you why you sort your trash, instead of going on about landfill depletion, kindly inform them that you call it “recycling” and doing it can save them a bunch of money each year on trash hauling that they can use for something else they care about.

When your co-worker wants to know why you would ride a bike instead of take a car to the grocery store, let him know it’s because it’s fun and the exercise you get saves you money on a gym membership.

If your sister wonders why you got rid of your TV, tell her it’s because you’ve found that it allows you to exercise your creative mind by finding new ways to spend your time and the money saved from the cable bill helps fund your new hobbies.

As backwards as it might sound, true environmentalism is about people before it’s about the environment because, well, what good is a clean, beautiful world without anyone to appreciate it?

What do you think? Is marketing an important part of our “job”? Are people more important than environment?

~~~~~

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Video Post: Reader Questions Answered

Tyler — Wed, 04 Nov 2009 18:00:11 +0000

Hey everyone. Welcome to the first ever video post at Frugally Green. I’ve answered a few of the questions that readers asked in the recent survey. Hope you all enjoy. If for some reason you can’t watch the video, I’ve highlighted the important points below.

“How do I convince myself that in fact, I do not need as much as I have?”

Eliminate unnecessary clutter. Look at the things you already have and ask yourself, “When was the last time I used that?” If it’s been awhile think about getting rid of it.

Determine long term value. When you buy something new are you just filling an immediate desire or are you buying something that will give you lasting joy and value? Check out this post for more.

“What would be a good way to start up a community recycling center?”

This will be tough to do on your own. Get together with some good neighborhood friends if you can. Maybe a ‘traveling’ center is the way to go at first. Share the responsibility weekly or monthly. Keep it small and manageable until you’ve got a real handle on it.

Get involved with your city council. Go to meetings and let them know what you want as a resident. Enlist the help of your friends. The more people you can get involved, the faster you can effect change.

Check out this guide I found (downloadable pdf) with real, solid info about starting a community recycling initiative.

“How do I continually find new ways to be green and stick to them?”

Focus on the things that are already important to you. How can you improve them?

Put a microscope to the things you’re already doing. Don’t look for something new without a reason why.

“Is it possible to find a way to make sustainability something that most people can be bothered getting behind?”

I think it’s possible, but has more to do with focusing on yourself than others. Do what you love – you’ll exude an energy that is contagious. When people see you improving your life without making it look like work, they’ll be more inspired to try it themselves.

Do you have any suggestions for these readers?

~~~~~

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10 More Green Changes in Less than 10 Minutes for Less than $10

Tyler — Sat, 10 Oct 2009 12:00:13 +0000

I just can’t stop. I tried, but I can’t. On Wednesday, a reader pointed out that I had missed a few big ticket items in the original post. He was right. I left out some seriously good tips that you should know about. So, assuming that you’re happy to have another list of tactics in your arsenal to improve your eco-footprint, here’s a list of 10 more green changes you can make in less than 10 minutes for less than $10:

Start a compost pile: But for the love of god, read this post first. If you want something fancy, it’s going to cost you more than $10; I sure found out the hard way. But you don’t need something fancy. You just need something that works. A pile works.

Stop using paper towels: Nope, not hard. Nope, not expensive. A giant pile perfectly acceptable washcloth sized towels is pretty darn inexpensive at your local outlet grocery or restaurant supply store. Fill a drawer with them and toss ‘em in the wash with the rest of your laundry. It’s really no big deal.

Plug your electronics into a power strip: If your living room is filled full of electronic do-dads and thing-a-ma-jigs, it’s likely you’ve already bought a power strip to plug them all into. If you haven’t, go get one dang it! Then, make a little note somewhere to remind yourself to switch it off every morning before you leave for work and at night before you go to bed. All those gadgets (TVs especially) are sucking what’s known as a “phantom load” even while they’re turned off.

Use your oven like a furnace: Our house is down right cold in the winter. Give your furnace a rest for a bit and leave the oven door open after you’re done cooking. The heat won’t make it that far, and it’s not going to keep you warm all night, but I swear it feels great while it lasts! And what else were you going to do with it?

Take a reusable bag to the grocery store: San Francisco banned plastic bags not too long ago. When I was in Europe last summer, if you didn’t have your own bag, you had to pay extra to get one from the supermarket. I walk to my grocery store, so I keep a couple bags by the door. If you’re not that close and prefer to drive, just leave a few in your trunk. You’ll always have them when you need them.

Donate to your favorite charity: Honestly, I’m more of a fan of volunteering time, but that usually takes more than 20 minutes, and let’s face it, they need money to keep going, too. No matter how broke you feel, I bet you can find $20 once in awhile to help out a cause bigger than yourself. If you really can’t find $20 to give away all at once, I bet you can find $5 four times over the course of a few weeks or months. Think about it the next time you’re buying a latte or super big gulp.

Don’t wash clean clothes: I’ve read that the average person does 4 loads of laundry a week. What!?! I only do one and seem to get by just fine. If I had more clothes, I could probably manage 1 load every other week. I think most people just have a habit of tossing a piece of clothing in the laundry after the first time they wear it. If you think about it, that’s really unnecessary. I never wear socks or underwear more than once without a wash, but shirts and pants? I have an office job; I don’t exactly perspire much. At the end of the day, my clothes are almost always still clean. My pants get washed about once every two weeks and my shirts about once a week. You can do this. I know you can.

Don’t run an empty dishwasher: Yeah, I’ve done it. There were 5 things in there and I needed 1 of them. Come on, what did you want me to do? Pull it out and quickly hand wash it? You’ve got to be kidding. You really do want me to do that? Seriously? Ok, I guess I’ll think about it next time.

Turn down your thermostat: If you can find a good sweater for less than $20 then you’re all set. I recommend Goodwill. Go in July if you want the best deal. This also happens to be the best time of year to find a selection of cheesy Christmas sweaters, and that’s going to pay off big time at your next cheesy Christmas sweater party.

Unplug your dryer: I wrote a whole little ditty on this not that long ago. I actually save time doing this by not having to wait around for the dryer to stop. What you’ll need: 2 vertical things, 1 horizontal thing, and wet clothes. I’m sure you can figure out the rest!

I should mention, as a reader did on Wednesday, that this list is not comprehensive. I simply have a Tpenchant for round numbers. When you get creative, there is a limitless number of things you can do that fit into this category. The only thing stopping you is your own imagination.

So, please don’t be shy. I know you guys have all kinds of suggestions that could be added to this list and the comments section is, undoubtedly, a fantastic place to compile them.

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10 Green Changes in Less than 10 Minutes for Less than $10

Tyler — Wed, 07 Oct 2009 12:00:12 +0000

That’s right! The trifecta. Frugally Green is here to bring you squarely into 3-dimensional sustainability. Seriously, when was the last time you read a blog post that spoke directly to 3 different facets of your life? You can actually answer that question if you want; I’m looking for some new, amazing material to read after doing some thorough scrubbing of my RSS reader. It’s looking a little sparse.

Anyway, it’s been a little while since I wrote a real, down and dirty, dollars and cents post. It seems like you guys have enjoyed the personal development articles I’ve been writing lately (I’ll be conducting a survey soon to actually confirm that), but I know you secretly yearn for more ways to green it up for less, so I shan’t withhold that from you any longer.

One of the first things I learned while studying construction management in college was how to draw a triangle. Then I was taught how to write ‘time,’ ‘cost,’ and ‘quality’ at each point and told how to interpret this funny diagram. You see, the theory was that, when you’re putting a building together, you must always sacrifice one of these aspects in order to maximize the other two. In other words, you can build quickly and cheaply, but you’ll end up with an inferior product. You can build cheaply and maximize quality, but it’s going to take a long time. Or, if you wish, you may assemble an amazing building rather quickly, but you better believe it’s going to cost a hell of a lot of money.

I stared at this diagram for a few minutes, tilted my head sideways, squinted a little, and then quickly decided that it was complete garbage and quit listening. This model functions quite beautifully, you know, if you’re trying to describe how the vast majority of companies or people work. You can profile the average company or project quite accurately. This is also where the model becomes completely useless because, well, who cares about being average? The best and most innovative builders out there are constantly finding new ways to do what they do better, faster, and cheaper.

Anyway, before I head too far down that road again with my hippie-psycho-babble, let’s get to:

The part you actually care about

All you skimmers (I know you’re there!) will love this part. Here’s a list of 10 things you can do to kick ass at all 3 corners of the triangle and prove my old professor wrong. Maybe she’ll even see this post some day and offer me my tuition back. A guy can dream can’t he?

Don’t flush your toilet: At least not until you start to wonder what might be living in there. I grant you permission to flush every time you poo, but just know that if you choose not to, you are a remarkable person. And I never want to meet you.

Turn off your lights: How many rooms have you ever been able to occupy at the same time? I’ve maxed out at 1. I’d like to know any tricks you have for increasing this number (and no, having an open kitchen/dining area does not count as 2 rooms!). If you’re like me and lacking superhuman powers, you don’t need light in a room you’re not in, so take a second to flip the switch when you exit.

Play a board game instead of a video game: After about 6th grade I was unable to find any interest in video games. Really, what could possibly come next once you’ve beat Super Mario World? But, you know what? I still love Scrabble and Risk like nobody’s business. And I don’t need a TV, a console, or face full of pimples to play scrabble. All I need is a friend. If you know where I could find one of these, I’d appreciate an email.

Turn off your computer: If you leave it on all night or while you’re gone to work, it gets really lonely. When a computer gets lonely, it acts out just like your puppy that ate your couch when you left it alone for an hour to go shopping. Also, I am a total hypocrite. I’m writing this post from my new laptop while my old desktop is buzzing idly across the room. I am ashamed. I will now turn it off and go sit in the corner.

Hypermile: Read this post and start doing it. It’s awesome, it’s addicting, and it’s a fantastic conversation starter as your friends will undoubtedly ask you why you’re driving 45 mph on the freeway. Don’t be ashamed to tell them.

Kill the sink while brushing your teeth: Yeah I know, you’re mom already told you this one. Where do you think I got it? Anyway, if your mom already schooled you on this, why are you still doing it? I know, I know, it’s habit. If you can force yourself to do it 20 times though, you’ll never have to think about it again.

Take shorter showers: How much time do you really need in there? I’ve developed ninja-like quickness in the shower and still lead a perfectly enjoyable life. I understand those early mornings, though. If my body begs me for a few more seconds under the hot water, I oblige, but I don’t need that every day. Life’s too short to dilly dally!

Buy some green investments: Ok, ok. If you really do your research on this, it might take you a bit longer than 20 minutes, but you’ll sure save yourself a lot of time in the long run. If you’re not sure where to start, just start at the beginning. I wrote a little series a while back about what I did when I bought my first green investment. Hopefully it’s of value to you if you’re interested in investing. I trade on Tradeking, which charges $4.95 per trade and account set up only takes a few minutes. I’ve had a good experience so far so I am happy to recommend them to you at no benefit to me.

Buy some white vinegar: And clean your whole damn house with it! Seriously, this stuff is amazing. White distilled vinegar is what you want. I use it to mop floors, clean countertops, bathtubs, sinks, and toilets. I’ve also been told that it works great as a fabric softener. Once I run out, I’ll be giving that a whirl too. Oh yeah, this stuff is crazy cheap, also.

Tell someone about Frugally Green: What kind of post would this be if I didn’t do some shameless self promotion? Honestly though, the reason I write this blog is to help people out. I sure get a lot out of it, too, but I like it more when you get something out of it. The more people that read Frugally Green and get something worthwhile out of it, the better I feel about myself. You wan’t me to feel good about myself, don’t you? Don’t you!?!

Well, looking back, perhaps a more appropriate title for this post would have been 1o Green Changes in Less than 5 Minutes that Will Save or Make You Tons of Money, but I think we all know that’s too long and, really, there’s something to be said for consistency.

Are you doing any of this? What else do you have going on?

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