Ask the Readers: What Are Your Green Habits?

I ride my bike to work as much as possible. The obvious benefits are gas savings and a small workout. Problem is I spend more on bikes and parts than I save in gas!

Over a year ago, I gave up my car. Yes, it saved us insurance, maintenance, and gas. But we've also saved tons on dining out. When it's harder to just hop in the car and go somewhere, we're more likely to eat at home.

We recycle, use re-usable grocery bags, buy meat and produce from local farmers and compost our kitchen waste.

I reuse old milk jugs for my childrens' art projects.

Nalgenes! Always have one in the car and always take one on travel (just remember to empty it before you hit airport security). I have a nice glass 1/2L beer stein I keep on my desk at work just to keep the same concept but a little classier.

I do many small things that I hope contribute to a healthier planet. Use CFL and LED light bulbs; line-dry many clothes; turn off unused lights and appliances; plan errands to reduce driving; almost never buy bottled water; bring my own shopping bags. Most recently, I have begun composting kitchen scraps. I already save and freeze wilted celery, onion ends, carrot tops, etc. for soup stock. Now I compost everything else that used to go in the garbage. My city has a recycling program for green waste, but they don't take coffee grounds, eggs shells, veggie peels and such, so I made a compost bin out of a big trash can and a kitchen compost pail out of a coffee can and the charcoal filter for kitty litter box. Coming next: hardscaping for the front yard to replace grass and reduce water use. We already salvaged the flagstones and are saving for the labor costs.

What are our green habits? We are members of our local CSA, from which we can get organic fruits and vegetables (and other foods, as well) grown regionally all year long. We also buy organic products at the grocery store most of the time (on sale and with coupons!). We recycle and repurpose as much as possible. We don't use plastic grocery bags and we use resusable water bottles. When we do get plastic bags, we recycle them. I am trying my hand at composting, and this year, I am hoping to grow a few more vegetables. That is a new undertaking. We use very few paper towels and almost no paper napkins. We line dry our clothes most of the time. When possible, I walk to do errands in the strip mall that is close to our house. I also walk to a few other things that are close to our house. I try to combine errands. We used to have a Prius, but it was totaled in an accident (not my fault!), and we got a Scion because it was the best deal we could find at the time and not have car payments. A good deal of this saves us money. Obviously, we could get groceries for less if we didn't buy organic, but we're trying to stick to this value because it is very important to us. Clearly, using the CSA allows us to have organic produce of a very high quality for less money.

I eat a 100% vegan diet! There's a dozen different figures, but it boils down to the fact that meat production uses 5-30 times the resources - calorie for calorie - as grain/veg/fruit production. I also am investing in my first CSA box this summer and plan to get most of the rest of my food from the local farmer's market. An added benefit is that produce uses WAY less packaging than processed foods, so I save a lot of waste that way. I also use my own grocery bags to cut back on plastic consumption - I have a zillion of them in the trunk of my car.

So yeah, all the aspects of veganism. That's probably the biggest thing for me. Good for my health, good for my wallet, good for the planet!

(for the record, I do know there's really good-quality sustainable meat out there, but I like the vegan thing - to each their own!)

We recycle paper, glass, cardboard, anything we can. We compost scraps when we can. I bought microfiber towels and save rag items so we don't use paper towels very much. I make my own coffee and use reusable mugs and water bottles. I use reusable shopping bags. I repurpose some items when we can. We eat less processed food and cook from scratch (less packaging and healthier and cheaper). We take short showers. We try to conserve our trips in the car....these are the things we do.

recycle, walk and ride a bike.

Well we do recycle cans and water bottles, my kids all use recyclable water bottles

Bebing green, to me, isn't about being fanatical, frugal or hugging a tree. It's all about common sense... which ultimately leads me to actually being frugal. As a retiree, my hubby and I chose to move to Panama, leaving behind family and friends but allowing us more freedom and breathing room with our fixed retirement funds. While not everything here is cheaper than the U.S., our lifestyle is much improved and greener as well.
We live in a much smaller house and live mostly outside on one of two terraces. We don't have to heat the house because "hey, this is the tropics." We've found that as we've adjusted to the local climate, we use fans instead of air conditioning... only using the air conditioner to cool the bedroom prior to sleep. We are close enough to town to walk to everything so the car sits alot. A tank of gas can last me 6 weeks instead of six days. I only drive to the city once every 3 or 4 months to take advantage of PriceMart... purchasing in bulk things that are used frequently. I take a Tamar Adlar approach to cooking... the water used to cook broccoli, cauliflower, etc becomes the base for tomorrow's luncheon soup. I do the bulk of my shopping once a month, with a list that I stick to. If the carrots look good, then I'll buy several pounds and roast them along with whatever else is in season. My vegetables don't go bad... it's quicker to cook dinner... and I only turn on the oven once for multiple cooking projects. I make cookie dough and freeze it and when I know the oven will be in use, I finish it up with warm cookies. I use a good faucet filter so no bottled water. With all the fresh fruit growing around, there are healthy smoothies every day and iced tea... no soda. I make most of our cleaning products. Not because of cost(although it does save money) but because I find them to be more effective and don't endanger our health. I make several of my own beauty products as well. Jars are reused and I know exactly what I'm putting on my skin. My husband is very good and creative at revitalizing anything that's broken... those kind of things that most people would toss and replace. I've learned to utilize the things and products that are around me instead of paying dearly for items to be ordered and sent here. The actual cost is astronomical but it also saves that product taking up space on a plane or ship as well as the fuel involved. As an avid book lover, I never thought I'd depart from my beloved bound paper. But books don't hold up well in the tropics. So rather than purchase a Kindle, I simply downloaded the Kindle app onto my laptop and get books, mostly free. I read at least 2 books a week and truthfully, haven't missed the paper. As someone who has been involved in alternative medicine for many years, I'm delighted to find so many plants, trees and herbs here that I can take advantage of. Instead of paying for a 1 ounce bottle of a healing tincture, I can make a quart at a time, usually just for being nice and talking to someone who has a guanabana tree in their back yard. That wouldn't work for everyone, but it's wonderfully green for us. We haven't returned to the states in 3+ years... we don't miss the consumer driven frenzy... nor the compulsive/impulsive buying that U.S. marketing imposes upon the people. We are very capable of making green decisions that help us and our community. We enjoy and delight in our ability to do what we feel is right for us... it is not a chore nor is it an actual choice. It is the lifestyle we've chosen.

Buy used. Use things up or wear them out. Recycle and up cycle. Moderate heating and cooling. Solar lighting. Combining errand trips. Take public trans when possible. Organic garden. Turn off the water when brushing my teeth.

We recycle. We also have a small garden. We have a water pitcher and use water bottles. We also have an electric lawn mower.

I carpool to work with three other people. It saves me a tremendous amount of money!

I'm planting a garden this year, and I carpool as often as I can

I recycle whatever I can, live 4 miles away from work, use reusable shopping bags, drink from a refillable water bottle, and have chosen to not have children.

Recycle! We put nearly everything we can into the recycle bin. My goal this summer is to try to grow some veggies!

we use reusable water bottles, and we reuse plastic bags at LEAST once... we use (or try to as best we can) use cotton napkins versus paper. It's the little things we try to do each day that we hope will make a difference. At the least, it makes us stop and rethink about what to with our stuff.....

We recycle and I recently started growing tomatoes and herbs.

I reuse plastic bags and water bottles.

What do I do? I walk or take the bus everywhere, make my own laundry detergent (the plus is that since it's made of water, fels naptha soap, borax & washing soda it can be used to clean things other than laundry can't say that about commercial laundry detergents), use vinegar for almost all of my cleaning, dilute one to two cups of liquid fabric softener with a gallon of vinegar for use in my downy ball, have switched to "paper" towels made from diaper cloth, cloth menstrual pads & cloth baby wipes for my toiletpaper (still use the paper tp for guests & solids), make my own soda using soda stream instead of buying an endless stream of cans & bottles, recycle what I can, re-purpose things when I can, use cloth shopping bags & have no problem shopping thrift stores for things I want (scored a $50 ice cream maker for $2.50 at one years ago, had all it's parts except for the directions which I got online for free & years later it still works).

I refill my bottle at work.

i recycle and carpool with my husband to work. also we stopped using bottled waters

We recycle glass, paper and plastic at our house. We also reuse or repurpose a lot of items like old T-shirts into necklaces, scarves and yarn. We have a 250 foot organic garden and try to put up as much of our own food as possible, but the biggest thing we do is to try and establish the difference between want and need with everything we buy. Unfortunately, we live out in the country and have to drive everywhere :(

We recycle every week and try to re-use items around the house. It's amazing what you can repurpose and save a lot of money.

Well we have what's called a belkin conserving adapter it tells us how many kilowatts were using on all electrical items in our home/how many trees were saving and how much money we'll pay on any particular electrical device! love it! we recently made the switch to tracfone prepaid service and ditched our contract, we don't buy paper towels, we use baking soda and vinegar for cleaning as well as borax, we use a steamer for cleaning floors, we also have led bulbs for all used lighting fixtures, we use a Brita water pitcher for filtering our households drinking water, we wash our cars at home(I run out right before it rains and soap my car down and let the rainwater rinse it!) lol! It works all the time! We use washable produce bags, reusable grocery bags as well, we Freecycle EVERYTHING AND ANYTHING THAT STILL HAS USE, I make all facial masks from fruits and veggies at home! I have 3 special recycling bags one for glass, one for plastic/ cardboard, and one for aluminum! Too many to list here!

My green act is for the most part I buy things used or damaged cosmetically from ebay/craigslist. Less things to trash and keep the national/local economy.I hope that counts.

We eat as much organic food as we can afford, we take the bus whenever possible, we buy as many recycled products as we can, we try to use as little gasoline as possible by finding things to do closer to home. We try to limit our use of plastic bags and other stuff that just clogs landfills.

I recycle like crazy, plastics, glass, cans, paper, cardboard, etc., just for environmental reasons. I try to conserve water as much as possible, b/c it costs us twice as much where we live here than anywhere else we've ever lived. I shop at thrift stores for second hand items, to save money and not support unfair overseas pay and labor practices. I keep our thermostat high in summer and low in winter to save money and use less carbon producing energy. I try to do a lot of things for environmental, frugal and moral reasons, at least as much as possible.

We recycle, compost, grow garden veggies, use canvas grocery bags, use CFLs, and buy energy star appliances.

I drink out of a reusable water bottle and recycle everything. Recycling doesn't save me money, and in fact ends up costing me because I have to drive to the recycling center, but I guess reusing a water bottle saves a bit since I'm not buying new bottles all the time.

I love to recycle. I use the backs of all my papers, return my pop cans for the deposit, and save all the cardboard and tin to bring to our local recycling center.
It's important to me that I leave this Earth beautiful for my children.

I always bring a mason jar (my water bottle) full of water everywhere I go so I don't suddenly find myself thirsty and having to purchase a plastic bottled beverage, among other things.

Compost, recycle, use cloth bags, LED bulbs, plant a garden, combine trips, take a thermos to work, pack reusable containers for lunch

My biggest green habits are: eating a vegan diet, using reusable bags at the grocery store (even for my produce and my bulk food buys), and using a menstrual cup. I know the last one is a bit personal but if you think about all the waste disposable menstrual products create, a menstrual cup is a great way to cut down on that waste. Plus it helps save money, which isn't that the point of this blog? I spent $36 on my menstrual cup (I purchased a Lunette) and it's supposed to last AT LEAST 5-7 years. Considering one can spend around $48+ over a year buying disposable products, I definitely think I'm coming out ahead.

Green : Since we moved 2 the 'country' we have a vegetable garden. We have planted fruit trees... Apple, Cherry, Peach, Plum & pear. We have a well, so we don't deal with Chlorine & FLUORIDE in our water... We buy "GRASS FED beef". I also just got into making my own bread. I bought a wheat grinder and buy NON-GMO wheat berries 4 the bread...! We added a Solar array to our roof - we buy from the electric co & at the same time we SELL to the same company - sometimes having a credit 4 an electric bill, sometimes just a few $$! Heat 4 the house : wood burning 'Country' (brand) Fireplace. The ash from the fireplace goes into the garden 2 add minerals to the soil. AND a friend of mine is raising chicks, so we will also grow Chickens 2 have eggs & meat. Livestock - not yet, although have thought of milking goats, as I get raw cows milk locally.

We try and stay green by NOT buying items - no plastic water bottles, we make a lot of our own staples and food items so less packaging.

I belong to a CSA. Recycle, use cloth grocery bags, bring my lunch to work every day and use mass transit to commute or walk.

I use a reuseable portable cup to transport tea to and from work, and while at work to avoid using multiple paper coffee cups all day long at the office. It's also saved me hundreds of dollars per year buying tea at the local coffee shops. We recycle everything possible at home, and grow our own herbs in our garden. We also just did a home energy audit and, as a result, insulated the crawlspaces under the house to make it more energy efficient.