Make Your Life More Green And Save Money While Doing It!

We all want to do our bit for the environment and we all want to save a bit of cash along the way. In recent years it has become increasingly easier to achieve both objectives at the same time, so below we complied what we believe to be eight of the best and simplest ways to save money and the environment.

Switching to a green energy tariff

Most, if not all the major energy suppliers will have green tariff option available which all help environmental sustainability in different ways. How they help depends on the company, for instance, on a green tariff your energy might come exclusively from renewable sources, such as solar or wind power. Another way the contribution could be worked is some of your energy bill goes towards research into renewable energy.

As green tariffs become more popular, the competition between energy suppliers is driving the costs down. You can save a hefty amount of money by converting to a green tariff, they cost anymore than a duel fuel tariff, so shop around the energy suppliers to find the best deal and use it as the perfect excuse to switch energy suppliers.

When driving, be more careful

While not many people do it, or realise it, certain driving techniques can help conserve petrol or diesel. Drive within the speed limit for starters, accelerating and breaking hard requires more energy than a steady and slow increase. You will also find that using electronics in the car siphon off fuel, such as air conditioning, finally, if you need a roof rack, make sure it is a removable one, as the drag it creates wastes consumption. Small changes like these will see your fuel needs decrease and keep your wallet in healthy shape.

Save energy at work and home

This one couldn't be simpler or more obvious really. Simple but effective energy saving tips around the house include all the classics, turn the lights off when not in the room, turn on the heating as and when you need it and to round off, make sure all appliances are switched off and not just on standby.

Make use your local library

Why spend a small fortune on entertainment such as books, music and DVD's when you can rent a large selection from your local library? Libraries have gone out of their way to expand into CD's and DVD's in recent years, also making it cheaper than going to Blockbusters. As for the environment, well, you're saving more paper and plastic finding its way to landfill sites for starters.

Alter your computer settings

The standard settings of your Laptop or PC are not set for energy efficiency. With this in mind tweaking and then using the 'sleep' and 'hibernate' options for maximum energy savings, also turn off your PC if it is not going to be used for an hour at least.

Grow your own fruit and vegetables

You don't have to sacrifice much garden space to produce your own fruit and vegetables, neither do you have to splash the cash on fancy equipment or seed packets. Ask for cuttings or seeds off a friend or neighbour and save money on the weekly shopping bill. The added environmental bonus of course is the packaging saved from store bought produce and the thousands of miles it had to travel to get to your supermarket, so called 'food miles'.

Save paper usage

Common sense rules supreme here, there's no great secret or revelation to be found. Use both sides of the paper always, don't discard scrap paper, keep it in one spot for use for notes, shopping lists etc. Printers default settings will need to be altered to energy efficient parameters (like discussed above on PC's) and last but not least, start recycling used paper, magazines and newspapers whether by a trip to the paper bank or in separating your rubbish for the dustmen.

Use rechargeable batteries

Batteries can be quite expensive, so buying them over and over can cost a pretty penny, so the long term savings rechargeable batteries can give make them a worthwhile investment. The purchase price is going to be higher than for normal batteries, but that is easily offset by the large savings to be made by using them. Used batteries are one of the worst pollutions on the environment, so the less they are the used is always a good thing.

That concludes our round up of saving the environment and your bank balance. Don't make the mistake that these are the only good ways available, there are hundreds of other options to save cash and a few trees if you have a flick through the internet. We just aimed to give the starting point, if the above helped, notch it up to eleven and continue saving money and the environment at the same time.


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