Life Coaches Central: Where Coaching Insiders Blog About Real Issues

I've always been a cheapskate and an environmentalist, and it was only a few years ago that I realized the two habits really go hand in hand. Being concerned about saving money has helped me to my part to save the environment and vice versa.When I traveled abroad a couple summers ago and discovered countries like Ireland and France were charging anywhere from 10-30 Euro cents for plastic bags at the grocery store, I quickly learned to bring my own bags when shopping (Hey, that's 20-60 American cents!). Then, when stores in the U.S. like Whole Foods started discounting five cents per bag I didn't use, I was pretty much trained against using grocery store bags. I vaguely understood that charging for bags/giving a discount for not using bags, related to reducing waste, to conserving energy and reducing the amount of raw material used on plastic bags. But if those were the only reasons, wouldn't that be the case for paper bags and cloth bags too?Then I found out that plastic bags take up to 1,000 years to decompose (compared with paper bag's one month, or the reusable factor of cloth bags). I was glad there was a monetary incentive that made me realize the issue of plastic bags was greater than just the use of raw materials. And even though I usually have to remind the clerk at my drugstore or the local fruit stand seller "No, I don't need a bag, thank you" I have been pretty consistent about making this small change in my daily routine.

This small issue, made me realize there were probably other things I was doing that could be easily changed. Most recently I took a cue from my boyfriend's habit of always carrying a thermos of water with him. Sure I haven't bought a fancy thermos, but I've reused, washed, and refilled the same water bottle for the last few weeks. Not only have I saved probably $30 on watter bottles, I've also helped cut down on plastic water bottle wastes. Recently I read that in just one year Americans use 1.5 million barrels of oil to make enough plastic bottles to satisfy our thirst for bottled water. The article had other useful money-saving, energy-reducing, environmentally friendly tips that made me feel kinda good about being a cheapskate environmentalist!

Since by now we know I am really into saving money, as much as I am into saving the environment. I'm always kind of wary of the "eco-friendly" or "organic" cleaning products. What do those labels mean? As of yet, for the most part they're highly unregulated by the FDA and USDA, so as far as I'm concerned that could mean spending money on something for nothing. So I was pleased to find good common sense advice on ways to clean my house, without dirtying up the environment in exchanged. The best part was, none of this advice required me to buy anything I didn't already have (Basic mop or broom? Check. Salt? Check. Sponge? Check)

Again, I have decided any changes I will make to my daily routines to do my part to reduce and reuse will be small (and cost-free), making it easy for me to say, "I can do this, I will do this!" So I will keep trying to go green and save money.