Savings Philosophy #2

This is the second article in the Savings Philosophy series.
Go Green

Whether you agree or disagree with proponents of the Global Warming scenario, going green can be good for you and your wallet. The key ideas here all relate to the three R’s of environmental responsibility: Reduce, Reuse, Recycle.

Reduce

Every extra trip to the store, each degree of heating or cooling and every extra light turned on costs us. The cost is not just in money either. It costs us time. Time while driving too and from the store, time maintaining the heater and air conditioning, even time changing bulbs out more often. Not always a lot of time, but it really adds up.

Instead, if we combine errands so that we make fewer trips and do it less often, we can save ourselves time, money and frustration. Plus, it is fewer opportunities for us to buy things we do not need. Other simple changes help us reclaim our lives while saving money by reducing.

Reuse

Second best on the scale is reusing something that has already been created. Unfortunately, this is one of the harder tasks to do in your day to day life. Using both sides of a sheet of paper is a good example. Another way to reuse is to take things you do not need down to the nearest thrift shop. You may not get any more use out of it, but somebody else can and if it is a charitable organization, you may even be able to get a tax deduction for your donation. Of course, you can also look at the thrift store to see if you can benefit from something that is looking for a second life too.

Recycle

Recycling is another good way to make some money. Depending on the state you are in, you can get paid for collecting and turning in bottles and cans. Office supply stores will also give you a discount on ink cartridges for your printer when you bring in the old cartridges. Other items may not earn you money for recycling, but there are significant benefits for recycling cell phones and electronics and keeping the heavy metals and volume out of the landfill.

Summary

Reducing is your best bet for saving money, since anything you do not use, you do not have to pay for. Done intelligently, you do not need to move to an off-grid straw-bale home with solar panels, a windmill and no car to save a lot of money. Reusing gives you the chance to extend the life of something that you have purchased or that somebody else no longer needs to save over the cost of buying new. Recycling is the final chance to avoid throwing out something that has an intrinsic value and – for certain products – you can even get paid for your recycling efforts.

Parent Article

Saving Philosophy Collection

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