simple ways to reduce waste at home
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Come to think of it, there are many ways to cut cost around the house. It’s not nearly as drastic as a lifestyle change because all it requires is some simple behavioral modifications.
Here are some things we’re doing/you can do at home to reduce waste:
Last person out of the room switches off everything that’s not in use – lights, fans, air-conditioning, chargers, etc. This has always been our house rule even before gas prices went up.
I park my car outside if I’m going out again soon. It saves on using the electric gate. Yes, the price of electricity has gone up too, so what else is new?
We’re cooking at home more as it’s much cheaper and healthier. For the price of one restaurant meal, we can have several healthy, homecooked meals.
My neighbor buys her garbage bags. I’ve never bought any before. I reuse old plastic bags for trash.
I only do a laundry run when I have enough clothes for one load. After all, we have plenty of clean clothes so we really are in no rush to get our laundry done.
Many people go line up at the car wash first thing Sunday morning and pay to sit there and watch their car being washed. Why when you can DIY, get a great workout and save money at the same time? Hey, sitting too much is not good for you, okay? I wash my own car or better yet, I let the rain do it for me 
.
The bottom line is to reduce waste and there are countless ways to do that. How are you doing it? Care to share?
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5 Responses to “simple ways to reduce waste at home”
By Lori on Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
Great tips! I use shopping bags over, or I use them as trash bags. We’ve begun recycling everything - We usually have one trash bag for the curb every month.
We’ve consolidated trips. If you think about how often you drive for no good reason, it makes sense to combine trips.
I recycle clothing - Goodwill, Salvation Army, or good clothing/shoes to DressforSuccess.org. I buy more organics, including detergents. I shope the farmer’s market for produce instead of the grocery where everything is packaged. Also, we don’t eat much in the way of processed foods, so we’re reducing waste from packaging and we’re eating tastier foods. I grow herbs, make my own broths and seitan (we’re vegetarians).
Great post.
By Shopperista on Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
Great tips, Lori, thanks. We pretty much do all those things you mentioned except for being vegetarian. We just don’t eat ‘live’ food.
By Alex on Jul 7, 2008 | Reply
I live on an island - and the sheer volume of paper bags they use is shameful! They double bag everything, put about 3 things in each bag, and refuse to let you give your bags back so someone else can use them. When I came home to the States, we bought a bunch of the recyclable bags. We use those religiously, now. If we walk over to the store and forget the bags? We carry our groceries home!
By Shopperista on Jul 8, 2008 | Reply
I finally remembered to bring my recyclable bag out shopping with me. I felt almost heroic refusing my first plastic bag (LOL).
By Lori on Jul 11, 2008 | Reply
Funny how many times those bags stay in the car, isn’t it?
I do that more often than I want to. What I like is our grocery store has a container at the door for you to put your used plastic bags in for recycling. Less guilt if you forget the reusable bags. 