Cheap Green Tip 10: Think small

Americans like their things big.

We have larger vehicles. We have super-sized closets that, no fibbing, are often larger than my childhood bedroom. We have bigger plates to accommodate our larger portions.

And we have big houses. In fact, the average home today is 40 percent larger than 35 years ago. More space to store all our crap. More space to escape the annoying habits of those living with us. More space to impress our friends.

But there's a lot to be said for a smaller house. You use less of everything to maintain them. Less furniture. Less energy. Less frilly knickknacks. It really makes you think twice before you buy a hall clock from Pottery Barn.

Smaller houses are often older houses, built closer to city centers. For me, that means my 1,600 square foot ranch (which includes a furnished basement) is just a mile from downtown. I can easily reach shopping, entertainment and services by bus or bike.

Plus, it's very green-hip and eco-fabulous to live fantastically in a small space. Chic, cozy and, though rarely mentioned, cost-effective.

Tip: If you live in a larger home, try closing off a few rooms you hardly use to save energy.

Cheap Green Tip 9: Grow your own

I kind of hate this tip. Mostly because I know that gardening does not come easy for many people (me, me and me) and it's actually kind of scary and expensive to get started.

But it's well worth it if you have the time and space. And if you don't, just grow some herbs in your kitchen to save money and the time it takes to scrape bits of gooey parsley off the bottom of your crisper drawer.


You might wonder, if I don't really garden, how in the hell am I supposed to write about how great it is? Well, because my family had a gardener and it was totally awesome. There's nothing in the world like fresh tomatoes on a hot August picnic. And there's nothing greater than opening one of your own jars of tomatoes long after the plants call it a season.

This summer, my family will again try to not have a failed garden. We stick with the easy stuff, tomatoes and peppers mostly. We have a place in the corner of our backyard that gets a lot of sun, although I've heard it's better to put a garden near the house in order to keep a better eye on it.

But sun trumps proximity.

We'll also attempt a small compost pile, mostly because I feel so awful anytime I throw carrot peels away. Those little bits of leftover produce apparently help create a pretty kickass soil.

Tip: If you just can't do it, either because you're a closed-in urbanite, you live on a rock or your thumb is as black as a Hummer-owner's heart, join a CSA. It's kind of expensive, mostly because often you have to pay upfront, but you get a big enough bounty each week to try your hand at freezing or canning for those veggie-lacking winter months.

Cheap Green Tip 8: Recycle

Technically, this isn't going to save you a ton of cash. I guess, if I were really stretching the term cheap, I could say you save on trash bag cash. Or maybe I could argue that by recycling your batteries and newspapers and furniture that you're keeping items in circulation and saving money for the planet.

Hmmm. Not working. Well. Just recycle, that's why.

Just because we know you're busy blah, blah, blah, half of all communities have curbside recycling. It's really just as easy as tossing your plastic bottles in a container separate from your trash can. In my community, we have bins set up throughout the city that allows me to recycle at my leisure, which I kind of like.


And what I've noticed? My family of four never uses more than a single trash can each week. And once you get rolling, you can focus your attention on reducing waste before you bring it home.

For instance, I've just stopped buying water. Those plastic bottles are really a burden on the landfills. And I buy products with less packaging, which in turn produces less waste.

Amazing how that works.

Tip: Visit Earth911 for all things recycling. They have ways you can recycle the basics (cans, bottles and paper) along with other items you might not have considered like electronics and pharmaceuticals, although I'm unsure as to why anybody would throw Vicodin down the drain.

Cheap Green Tip 7: Borrow

PBS has this great new ad. It shows all these things — a library, a school, the shoreline, beautiful landscapes.

After each, the screen says, "This belongs to you."

Really, I'm getting weepy right now just thinking of the ad. All those things, PBS included, DO belong to me.

Libraries, for instance, are great sources for all sorts of entertainment. Most libraries aren't limited to books. There are DVDs, music CDs, computer games and sometimes even toys. I could not afford to buy what I borrow every year from the library.

Don't forget to bring your own bag.

Speaking of bags, why not borrow instead of buy, if you're really into bags which I understand some people are. For a fee, almost anything can be rented. One company has a Netflix-like service for toys.

But really, the free stuff is the best stuff.

Take a walk to the city park and enjoy a picnic. Climb the playground equipment. Chase your kids. That land belongs to you, so you might as well use it.

Tip: Moms, lend out some of those giant maternity muumuus you're keeping, just in case. Your friends will give them back if the vasectomy doesn't hold. Same is true for the baby bath, cutie newborn duds and crib.

Cheap Green Tip 6: Switch to vingear

Once in a grocery store, I walked by a pretty, little co-ed musing over the vinegar selection.

"What's the difference," she asked her equally pretty boyfriend, "between balsamic vinegar and white vinegar?"

Well, one is used for cooking and the other for cleaning toilets. I left the young couple to mull over this quandary.

White vinegar is an amazing cleaner and can substitute for products from fabric softener to Windex. It's so inexpensive you'll think about treating yourself to some high quality red wine vinegar. Who am I kidding — I meant red wine.

But don't stop there. Regular household cleaners contribute to indoor pollution, which can be 2 to 5 times as high indoors. Scrub the bathtub with baking soda. Substitute lemon juice for bleach. Did you know you can make your own laundry detergent?

And with all these natural products, no risk of poisoning your family. Fill a spray bottle with 1/3 vinegar to 2/3 water, give the kids a rag and let them help with light cleaning. Internet recipes abound but here are a few of my favorites.

Tip: The biggest complaint about vinegar is the streaking. Help by wiping down the cleaned window/mirror with wadded up newspaper (that's a old-timey tip I got from my grandma) and never clean in direct sunlight.

Cheap Green Tip 5: Line dry

Hanging the laundry out to dry is one of the easiest, and best feeling, ways to go green. I honestly think the whole process of hanging clothes is the quintessential example of how being more eco-friendly really means getting back to basics.
And this, in turn, means saving money.

Line drying can save you $100 a year in utility bills (there are other great reasons to line dry at that link). Also, dryers are tough on clothes so line-drying helps them last a little longer.

Bonus for busy parents, line-dried clothes don’t wrinkle as much, which means you can leave them out until you’re ready to revisit the laundry. The same cannot be said about clothes left in the dryer.

Not all communities have this kind of romantic impression about clothes swaying in the breeze on a blue-skied spring afternoon while you're wearing a flowy white dress. In fact, many homeowners associations prohibit laundry lines.

If you’re an unlucky owner of a home in one of these evil lovely neighborhoods, you can always buy a simple wooden dryer rack. It’s a great, absolutely free humidifier in those super dry winter months. Or if you live in Arizona. Or you like moisture.

Tip: If you’re hanging a line outside, consider two levels. The lower level can hold kid clothes and they can help with the laundry.

Cheap green Tip 4: Have patience

So I'm a little, let's say, frugal. This is not eco-friendly scrimping that have made sites like Freecycle and Zwaggle so darn popular, but rather an innate cheapness aided by too many years of Ramon noodles as my main source of nutrition.

But re-sale goodies, especially on the big stuff like furniture, can help keep quality items in circulation. It's always better to buy something used than new, even the greenest-of-green products.

I once bought a tiled oak table for $250 and our bed frame (which was broken, but just barely) was a scant $30. And with kids, because they use things for such a short amount of time, it's crazy to buy some of this stuff new if you can help it.

Take my daughter's big-girl bed, for instance. We found this Pottery Barn masterpiece at a garage sale for $200, including the Sealy mattress and two identical princess quilts. The key was patience. We looked for months before we found what we wanted. And we didn't want junk because a)we don't like junk and b) junk is a lot more likely to end up at the landfill.

So this summer when we go searching for my 4-year-old's first bike, we won't be paying the bike store $100, and we won't be buying junk from Wal-Mart. C'mon garage sale season. I know you're out there.

Tip: Don't forget about the old-fashioned classified section. Sometimes when people move, or get divorced or whatever, they need to get rid of some big-ticket items fast.

Cheap Green Tip 3: No More Corn Syrup

I love to cook. Love it, love it. I bake my own bread. I freeze meals made ahead of time. I insist my kids at least try the arugula pesto, which they love.

But I've also been known to give my girls cereal for dinner. I love the planet and all, but seriously, I'm not giving up Cheerios.

Prepackaged food is hugely wasteful. It's more expensive then the home-made counterparts, uses unnecessary packaging and has unpronounceable additives.

Here’s a little trick that'll let you have it both ways: Get rid of high fructose corn syrup.

Food companies add this sweetener, thought to be a key source of the obesity epidemic, in everything from bread to yogurt. Banning it in your household still allows for some kid-friendly foods like Triscuit crackers, only-fruit jams and applesauce.

Jarred spaghetti sauce, which almost always contains high fructose corn syrup, doesn’t make sense when the simple concoction of canned tomatoes, garlic and olive oil tastes infinitely better, is cheaper and doesn’t have a bunch of mystery ingredients.

Tip: Save the containers from food you buy (like Parmesan cheese and cream cheese tubs, and yeah, I like cheese) to use as snack containers. This cuts down on additional waste from plastic baggies.

Cheap Green Tip 2: Go outside

I live in the Midwest. I understand cabin fever. I know how it feels to be so pale you're worried you might become translucent.

I get it. Honest I do.

But you've got to get the kids outside. For your sanity. Today, I spent the morning outside with my 4-year-old shoveling out from a snowstorm. We made a snowman and then walked to preschool. I felt exhilarated. I felt like it would be OK to have a huge lunch.

One of the greatest ways to help your kids grow up green is to take them outside. There’s a growing movement that suggests kids need playtime and exploration in nature.

Worried about creepy old men in vans? Sure. Who isn't! You’ll be happy to know violent crime is much lower today than when you were a kid.

In snow. In sunshine. In rain and wind. Kids aren't as concerned about the weather as morning commuters. Dress for the weather and work with it. You won’t be freezing with proper gloves. You won’t get as stinky-sweaty under a shade tree.

And if you aren't worried about cars (a much more relevant concern than crime) go ahead and send them out alone. Think of all e-mails you can send to long lost friends while your kids look for bugs under rocks.

Really, it’s win-win.

Tip: Invest in a good pair of snow pants (these are pretty easy to find second-hand). They’ll keep kids outside twice as long as wet and frozen jeans.

Cheap Green Tip 1: Sell your car

(I’ll pause while you stop laughing. Done yet? How about now?)

Hopefully I haven’t lost you. So maybe giving up your wheels seems a tad extreme. I get that. I’m pretty certain most people think I don’t drive because of some recent series of drinking-and-driving incarcerations.

But…


If moms are to lead the way toward a greener future, they need to drive less. We drive too freakin’ much, and sometimes for really stupid things. If you think a special trip to the store for organic polenta is eco-friendly, think again.

Start small. Combine errands. Shop close to home. Have somebody hide your car keys once a week so you won't be tempted to drive around town listening to Dr. Laura while your kids scarf down a large order of fries.

Americans produce an annual average of 15,000 pounds of carbon dioxide, almost a third from driving. Reducing annual mileage by 20 miles a week eliminates 1,000 pounds of CO2 emissions each year. Also, you'll save about $130 in gas.

If you’re like me, maybe you’ll find the extra car sitting in the driveway isn’t necessary. And consider the money saved from car payments, insurance, maintenance and gas, a price put near $20,000 for some high-end models.

Tip: If you live in a fairly small town, or in a green-dreamland like Oregon, biking around town for errands in the warm months is fun for the kids, efficient and helps you look fantastic in a bathing suit. My girls love a bike ride to the playground.