Some truly radical ways to save money
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| Wed, 09-21-2005 - 11:44am |
I've been doing tons of research lately on sustainability, and discovering that beyond the expensive and sometimes over-hyped "sustainable solutions" like solar panels, hybrid vehicles, and buying organic produce, there are hundreds of ways to protect our environment, lifestyle, and budgets all at the same time. I've been employing some pretty radical strategies myself lately, and they've shown up as bottom-line savings on my monthly bills.
Basic: The most basic thing I've done is start hanging my clothes to dry in the sun. Old-fashioned, perhaps, and slightly more time-consuming, but I'm loving it. Since I have to fold the clothes individually anyway, it really doesn't add that much extra time to my laundry cycle, and it actually allows me to do more loads at a time because I don't have to wait on the dryer before I can start a new load. It also has these benefits: My clothes get cleaner (the sun is a natural sanitizer), brighter (the sun is a natural bleach), and smell fresher; it forces me to spend some time outside in the morning at the nicest time of day, and the kids love it too; I can wash clothes on a lower temp setting because any stains or smells the wash doesn't get out, the sun does; it saves MONEY! Despite the fact that this month has been warmer on average than the same month last year, I have saved $20 on my electric bill (some of that may be due to a new air conditioning unit with a higher efficiency rating, so it is hard to judge how much is due to the line-drying). I have heard an estimate that each dryer load costs $.60 to run--multiply that by the dozens of loads we do each month, and it's easy to see a savings of $20 a month at least. And you don't have to have an expensive line system. Right now, while waiting to install my rotating line, I just hang the clothes on the rails around our patio, where they get strong morning light.
More radical: solar cooking. Instead of heating up the house and burning energy on the stove and oven indoors, I'm learning to make an oven that uses the sun for energy--and it can be done with scrap materials you have lying around: two cardboard boxes, some aluminum foil, glue, and a few other odds and ends. Look here for plans and details: http://solarcooking.org/minimum.htm . One of the great things about it is, you can put your meal in it in the morning, and come home to it cooked and ready in the evening--no safety issues with leaving an appliance on all day, no cost, and no temptation to pick up take-out. Dinner's served! I am still working on constructing my oven (I'm making mine from salvaged materials including a cedar chest, so it will be as pretty as it is functional--hence, a longer construction time while I assemble my materials and build), so I have no cost savings to share (yet), but it just makes sense to me, especially in summer, that this will save money on both ends--it won't heat the house I'm trying to cool with AC, and it won't require electricity to cook my food.
Most radical: Biodiesel. Okay, okay, this has some upfront costs associated, and is not for beginners. But based on sourced materials I can obtain locally, I'm looking at cutting my fuel costs by 50-80%. Lots of research, lots of work, but worth some thought if you're ready to take a plunge into pioneer-land. :)
Other things I'm doing: driving less (got a bike trailer for kids at a yard sale, and using it for trips to the library), going to bed earlier and rising earlier (did you know that roughly 20% of your home energy costs are in lighting? Why not take advantage of natural, free sunlight?), turning off appliances when not in use (computer printer, cordless headphone, etc.), looking for ways to make my home more efficient (caulk and seal, low-flow showerheads, bricks in the toilet tanks, etc.), gardening organically (this can be very low-maintenance high-yield if you choose to grow only easy, high-productivity varieties and use cheap, local materials such as horse manure for fertilizer--just tomatoes, beans, and squash can increase your family's nutrition, decrease your food costs, and are very low maintenance; also when landscaping consider combining functionality by using trees and shrubs that in addition to being beautiful also produce a useful crop or product).
The best thing about all these solutions (except biodiesel, which is expensive and time-consuming upfront with cost savings on the back end) are things we can each do today for cheap or free and very little time invested. They'll save us money while we save our planet. How cool is that?
Rambling eco-philosopher-in-training :),
Heather

Fabulous ideas! I have been thinking about the daylight thing... and about not drying my clothes 100% to save a few pennies per load. I don't think I could commit to drying them completely in the sun/air.... but maybe some day I will be that brave! :)
Thanks for the ideas!
Jennifer
Way to go! I've been line drying for several years now and love the smell of freshly line dried clothes. I haven't ventured into the solar cooking or biodiesel but am working on some of the other things...
Taleyna
I've been line drying for several years, too, we have an umbrella clothesline. I just got a booklet from the electric company that estimates what each appliance costs to run, b/c dh and i could not figure out why our electric bill is so high when i tried many things to cut it down. It did say that it was about 50 cents per load of clothes to dry, The biggest expense that i could find on it was the water heater, it was like 39 dollars a month to run! I had no idea. What to do in the winter though about line drying???? I have thought about getting a drying rack and i could do at least some things on that but not much. We don't really have the room right now to put a line indoors. If anyone is curious how much a certain appliance is to run a month let me know and i can tell you from this booklet! WE had a small garden this year and I didn't have to buy tomatoes for a month and a half! ( i planted like 9 tomato plants b/c they are my favorite!) I was in heaven. Also the beans did well and the squash, i got a few green peppers at the end and 3 pumpkins! Next year i will be able to use what i learned this year and make it a better garden. Oh and we have an apple and a pear tree and right now we have some of the best pears you've ever eaten!
Shannon