Green Budgeting Tips For Busy Families

Earth Day may have come and gone, but April 22 doesn’t have exclusive rights on when you can think about the environment. How your family impacts the world should be a year-round priority, but not for the reasons you may think. Sure, a sustainable lifestyle can reduce your waste and help the environment, but it can also help your check book. Simple actions like changing your diet and tweaking your thermostat can unearth some extra cash in your budget.

If you’re looking for ways to loosen your tight budget, keep reading. Here’s an eco-friendly guide that puts the “green” in greenbacks.

Start composting

Did you know that 50 percent of household waste is organic material?You can keep some of it out of the nearest landfill by composting organic matter. A well-maintained compost is a gift that keeps on giving. Not only will this reduce your monthly garbage bill, but compost is an excellent fertilizer for your backyard. This nutrient-rich soil additive supports healthy vegetable gardens, which means you can skip inflated produce costs by growing your own. If you aren’t sure what you can safely put in your compost, refer to this comprehensive guide for help.

Go meatless

This may be a challenge for any self-proclaimed carnivores in your family, but it’s an easy way to keep your costs low at the grocery store. If you discount food deserts where affordable, fresh veg is difficult to find, a plant-based diet is often cheaper to follow for most Americans. It’s also healthier for the environment. Cattle farms produce more greenhouse gases than cars. According to Oxford University, the world could cut 70 percent of food-related emissions if people adopted plant-based diets. If you’re hesitant to try this new meal plan, check in with The Simple Dollar’s money-saving meatless meals here. They’re easy and affordable to adopt.

Try e-billing

If you haven’t done so already, going paperless should be your next priority. When you switch to e-bills, you can save 6 pounds of paper and reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 29 pounds each year. Go to your bank and opt for paperless billing — but don’t stop there. When shopping at places like Best Buy, Kmart, and the Gap, opt for their digital receipts to save on paper. You can even cut down on waste by applying with an online lender like MoneyKey. Their installment loans require very little paperwork compared to conventional payday loans.

By going to Moneykey.com/installment-loans-online.php and browsing their services, you could eliminate unnecessary waste when you need to borrow cash.

Moderate temperatures

In the winter, you can expect polar vortexes. In the summer, you can expect days so hot they melt plastic. It’s only natural to turn to your thermostat for protection during these extreme weather warnings. Though this is a quick fix for your temperature woes, it’s also a quick way to inflate your utility bills. Energy.gov suggests keeping your thermostat set to 68°F in the winter and 78°F in the summer for optimal savings.Their experts also say you save as much as 10 percent on your yearly heating and cooling costs when you turn your thermostat back by 7°–10°F for 8 hours a day from its normal setting.

Sustainable habits like the ones above may be a challenge to start at first, but like anything new, all it takes is time before they’re part of your family’s routine. Give these eco-friendly tips a try, and don’t give up. Once you see how much you save, you’ll want to test out new ways to reduce your environmental footprint and your budget, too!