Wayne National Forest/Flickr
This is a post by BargainBabe.com writer Yazmin Cruz.
Green trends are everywhere these days – in the news, politics, fashion and even technology. Everyone is trying to be environmentally conscious and that’s great – but I am trying to be money conscious.
My family and I have been recycling since before it was the “in” thing to do. Recycling is one of the green changes that makes sense and cents. But when I think about changing my lifestyle to be more eco-friendly, the money adds up. Is being green actually frugal?
Organic Food
There are many benefits to organic food, like the fresh taste and lack of hormones and pesticides. With the high prices, however, not every one can afford it. Thankfully I have a garden that provides me some organic fruits and vegetables. I’ve learned to cut corners by using Organic.com’s Dirty Dozen list, which shares the 12 most and least contaminated produce items. The list helps me decide when it’s best to buy organic. Organic milk and meat are often twice as much as non-organic. Overall eating organic food, which is greener than non-organic, is not frugal.
Organic Beauty
Like organic food, the down side to organic beauty products is added expense. Organic shampoos and lotions can run anywhere from $10 to $20 a bottle and there aren’t a lot of coupons. Similar non-organic beauty products cost about $1-5. Unless prices drop, organic beauty products remain decidedly not frugal.
Alternative Energy
Solar panels are another green change that is too expensive for me to afford. Residential solar panels can cost tens of thousands of dollars and they generally pay for themselves in 10-20 years, but I just simply do not have the money to invest in them today. A cheaper alternative is changing incandescent light bulbs to florescent light bulbs around the home. Florescent light bulbs are a few dollars more than regular bulbs but will reduce your energy costs. A couple years ago, we changed out our bulbs for florescent bulbs and saw a major dip in our utilities bill, from $54 every two months to $33. Energy is one area that can be frugal.
How do you reduce the cost of being green?
June 30th, 2010 at 1:31 pm
Solar panels do not have to cost tens of thousands of dollars…. many companies will do a lease for little or NO money down. I just got solar for my whole house through SOLAR CITY (no I don’t work for them!), I will pay approx. $35/month for electricy to the solar company for the lease of the equipment for the next 30 YEARS–it will never go UP (which DWP can’t guarantee). Also, it’s their equipment so if anything breaks, they will fix it. This is a fraction of my monthly energy bill AND I will still use CFL’s and conserve energy, too. I think it’s still frugal….
June 30th, 2010 at 3:08 pm
@LisaL I had no idea you could lease to own solar panels. This is a great option that I hope will convince more people to consider solar energy. Thanks for sharing.
June 30th, 2010 at 3:11 pm
@LisaL Wow, sounds like you got a great deal. I recently found out that some cities do not allow solar panels unless they are through the DWP, which cost an arm and a leg. Is Solar City a national company?
June 30th, 2010 at 3:56 pm
Organic skin care products do not have to cost more than the non-organic ones, if you’re even a little bit inclined toward DIY. Mostly it takes research to figure out what does what, and a trip to the grocery store. Glycolic acids are a great example: AHA ingredients in cosmetics are fruit acids: juice from citrus and papaya, (or powders can be found in the vitamin/supplement aisle) lactic acid is found in dairy products such as yogurt and milk. BHA is salicylic acid – aka aspirin (can you say CHEAP?) Fruit and seed oils are well known antioxidants – olive, sunflower, grapeseed, etc. Fresh avocados do the same thing. At age 50, my oily skin is coming under control by using (SURPRISE!!) a couple of drops of grapeseed oil with a drop of ylang-ylang essential oil mixed in my hand and smoothed on my face after cleansing and exfoliating. I also keep a bottle of grapeseed oil in the shower and apply it the same way you’d apply baby oil after a shower, because the rest of my skin is very dry. It soaks right in very quickly and leaves my skin soft with no white lines. Each morning, I pour a little of my freshly brewed green tea into a tiny spray bottle and use it as toner and a little extra moisture spritz throughout the day. None of these items are expensive at all. It makes me wonder why the skin care items supposedly made from all natural ingredients have to be so expensive.
June 30th, 2010 at 4:16 pm
I think in a lot of ways being frugal by nature is a greener lifestyle. If you’re doing things like using items until they wear out, shopping at thrift stores, trading items at swap meets and through sites like Freecycle and swaptree, checking books and media out from the library instead of buying, riding your bike for short trips instead of driving, etc. you’re not only saving money, but you’re also cutting down on your carbon footprint, reducing your consumption of goods, and keeping perfectly good items out of landfills, all of which I think are even more important than buying organic food or beauty products.
July 1st, 2010 at 1:16 am
How about using washable towels instead of paper towels. If you don’t have many towels stock up on them from the thrift store. Much cheaper than using the disposable ones that sacrifice not only your bank account, but your lungs as well (trees=oxygen).
Making your own cleaning products out of vinegar, baking soda, and peroxide costs just pennies verses the $4+ you’ll spend on all cleaning products, environmentally friendly or not.
Books, music, and movies can’t get much cheaper than the library or swaptree.
And if you cut out the expense of buying those things like paper towels, books, movies, cleaning supplies, etc, you’ll actually be able to put the savings towards buy some more organic food.
Most of the major grocery stores as well as Whole Foods and Trader Joes all have store brand organic products at a fraction of the price of name brands, and a lot of times they’re not all that much more expensive than the non-organic counter parts.
And leasing of solar panels is becoming a huge thing. Last time I looked into it there were about 5 companies doing it, mostly in CA, but that’s where you live so that would work for you!
July 1st, 2010 at 1:08 pm
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