Yesterday, I listed a ton of suggested ways of how you can green your home on a budget. I had to break the article up into two posts because the ideas just kept flowing out of my head, making the article way too long. Today, I am focusing on water conservation in the home and gardening low cost tips.
The Garden:
- Don’t throw your coffee grounds away. Use them around your plant. They (and worms) love them. (Incidently my coffee grounds story is the #1 story on my site. It keeps getting stumbled since everyone loves the concept.)
- Use your left-over water from your potatoes, vegetables, or spagetti to water your plants.
- Use egg shells when you plant your tomatoes and supposedl, they repel slugs.
- Use banana peels for your roses.
- Consider using containers to grow your tomatoes and other veggies if you don’t have space for a garden. My friend grows tomatoes and many herbs in containers since growing a garden was out of the question due to the deer. Not only will your food taste better, you will be lower your foods’ footprint. Food sometimes travels countless miles to get to your plate.
- Consider growing plants from seed as well as saving the seeds from your plants for next year. I grow all of my plants from seed and it is much more affordable than buying the plants. Plus, I don’t have to dispose of any plastic pots.
- Use newspaper rolls as seedling holders.
- Use your old warped screens to cover plants for some shade in the summer.
- If you don’t grow your own, buy organic. If organic is too expensive, consider buying only organic for those fruits and vegetables which contain high pesticide residue.See here for more information.
- Use your leaves as mulch. They are free.
- Compost your veggies and fruits. Less waste, happier plants. I have a little container by my sink and a black composter in my yard. Everything goes in the composter except dairy and meat.
Water:
- Consider licking your baking dishes clean rather than washing them. (For dishes using eggs this may not be the wisest idea. You can use the following egg replacement recipe from here or buy an egg replacement package from the health food store.)
- Buy a low flow shower head to reduce your water consumption. See Eartheasy for a discussion between the difference between a nonaerating or aerating ones.
- Buy a faucet aerator to reduce your water consumption.
- Turn the water off when you are brushing your teeth.
- Reuse your cooking water, left over water in your glasses, and left-over water in your botttles for your plants.
- Reuse your shower water for your plants. Put some bucket in your shower to catch the extra water. Be careful as to the type of shampoos and soaps you use if you are going to reuse your water. Only use environmentally friendly soaps and shampoos. Check the Skin Deep Database before you buy any personal care product to access its safety for you. Also, see here for more information on the reuse of grey water. (Personally, I would not use this water on my veggies or fruits unless you collect it before you shower.)
- If you can’t afford to replace your toilets in favor of dual flushing or low water consumption ones, put a liter bottle full of water in the tank. See more information about ths practice on Tiny Choices (the site of my friend, Jenn.)
Don’t forget to Read Part I and then add your tips. Who says you can’t be green without breaking the bank?
Lisa says
Great article. Here’s EnergyCircle’s video on low-flow showerheads: http://www.energycircle.com/st.....jg8vK1Q%3D
Jeff9 says
Save money and the Earth and be clean at the same time! Get serious and add Bathroom Bidet Sprayers to all your bathrooms. I think Dr. Oz on Oprah said it best: “if you had pee or poop on your hand, you wouldn’t wipe it off with paper, would you? You’d wash it off” Available at http://www.bathroomsprayers.com with these you won’t even need toilet paper any more, just a towel to dry off! Don’t worry, you can still leave some out for guests and can even make it the soft stuff without felling guilty. It’s cheap and can be installed without a plumber; and runs off the same water line to your toilet. You’ll probably pay for it in a few months of toilet paper savings. And after using one of these you won’t know how you lasted all those years with wadded up handfuls of toilet paper. As for water use a drought is always a concern and must be dealt with prudently but please remember that in the big picture the industrial water users always far exceed the water use of household users and in the case of toilet paper manufacture it is huge. The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways. Blog; http://jeff9.livejournal.com/932.html
Marie M. Bennett says
“The pollution and significant power use from that manufacturing process also contributes to global warming so switching to a hand bidet sprayer and lowering your toilet paper use is very green in multiple ways. ”
For me, much better if every house will have their bidet in their toilet bowl to reduce toilet paper consumption. I recommend using a bidet at home. (Editor’s note: link was removed.)
kimberlee says
I saved my water all summer for the garden. Whatever cooking and drinking water was going to be dumped down the sink, I made it go into a pitcher instead. I never had to use the hose to water my little tomato garden.
Oscar Cifuentes says
Can I really use the spaghetti water for plants? I cook it with veggie oil to make sure it doesnt stick together. I actually prefer using the dog poop from my chihuaha/dont know for flowers.