Wow, the economy is on everyone's mind these days. I know there are people out there who were previously trying to live green, but now are just trying to get by...but it is still possible to keep your house green without breaking the bank.
I thought I'd do a little overview of the rooms in my house and how we try to be green in each of them while still being frugal. Sure, I'd love to install solar panels and low flow toilets, but that's not in the budget now. Over the next couple of blogs, I'll let you know my little tricks around the house that helps my family stay green and cheap. Let's start with the bathrooms.
1) Save money while conserving water
-take a 5 minute shower (I use a kitchen timer)
-use a low flow shower head. I have one that has the long cord and puts out only 1.5 gallons per minute. I got it from Let's Go Green. They have a variety of shower heads that range from $8-$23. I also have (from the same company) sink faucet aerators on my bathroom and kitchen sinks. They are 1.5 gallon per minute as well.
-use less water to flush with. I'd love to have those fancy low flow toilets that have 2 flush levels! What we do instead is to fill up a gallon milk jug with some pebbles (just enough to prevent floating) and put it in the toilet tank. It takes up 1 gallon of space that was previously water...so 1 gallon saved with every flush.
-and the good old "turn the water off while you brush" technique
2) Reduce waste in the bathroom
- use a rechargeable razor rather than disposables. Sure, it costs a little more at first but the rechargeable razor will cost less than many disposables in the long run.
- use bar soap instead of liquid in plastic pumps. Bar soap lasts SO much longer and doesn't produce the plastic bottle waste. I do keep one ceramic bottle filled with liquid soap for when guests come (some people feel weird about using someone else's bar soap), but for everyday use, we love the bars.
-reuse one of those old pumps for shampoo. My husband is a shampoo glutton. He could easily finish off a whole bottle in a week. So I reused a pump bottle and put his shampoo in it. Two pumps of shampoo is plenty and makes the bottle of shampoo last a lot longer...meaning it saves you money and reduces the number of shampoo bottles you need to recycle. Ideally, a bar shampoo would be great...I'm still looking for one that is natural and works well on my hair.
-make sure kids in the house use a proper amount of toilet paper. I know some kids that practically use half a roll! In addition, find a brand that is made of recycled paper. Marcal is one brand that is economical.
3) Try to use environmentally friendly and healthy products. Many "everyday" products are not as green or healthy as we'd assume they'd be. Check out the Skin Deep Cosmetics database to find out how your current brands rank. I've found I really like the Kiss My Face products. Green? Yes. Cheap...well not always. The way I afford it is to keep an eye out for these products on sale or clearance and then stock up. I found Kiss My face deodorant for half price at Target and bought four. There's a Surplus Outlet near my sister's in Pennsylvania that always has green products for SUPER cheap prices.
4) Use environmentally friendly (and inexpensive) cleaning products and methods. More on that in the cleaning edition :)
Do you have any bathroom cheap and green tips? Leave a comment!
Showing posts with label toilet. Show all posts
Showing posts with label toilet. Show all posts
Wednesday, October 8, 2008
Friday, June 20, 2008
8 Ways to Green your Bathroom
Over the past few months, I've posted little things here and there that I've done to be cheap and green. So I thought I'd put all of those hints in one list. Most of these things cost little or nothing.
1. SOAP
Using plain old bar soap over liquid soap has a couple benefits. Bars are cheaper than the liquid soap, it lasts longer than liquid does and it reduces waste (no plastic bottles to recycle). I'll be honest, this was a little bit of a difficult transition for me...the liquid pump bottles are just so easy, but after a month or so I've grown used to it and so has my family.
2. SHAMPOO
My husband uses shampoo more quickly than anyone I know. He can easily polish off a whole bottle in a week. My solution to save money? Pour the shampoo in one of the old liquid soap bottles! Instead of squeezing a big handful of shampoo out, we pump the dispenser twice. That seems to be enough to get a good lather and uses less shampoo. That saves money AND reduces the number of shampoo bottles we need to buy. Eventually, I'd like to move on to bar shampoo, but I've yet to find one that I like.
3. SOAP IN THE SHOWER
You know how your soap ends up as tiny shards and chunks? I bought this little soap bag on ebay that you put those soap bits into. They lather up even better than soap alone and the bag is like a loofah. The husband loves this!
4. ELECTRIC RAZOR
This took me a little while to transition to but I got used to it. My razor is rechargeable and can be used in or out of the shower. No more disposable razor waste and saves a lot of money- the electric razor cost me $20...much less than the cost of a year's worth of disposables.
5. SHOWERHEAD
We installed a low flow showerhead (1.5 gallons per minute). I'm really happy with it. I expected it to be "wimpy" and not have the water pressure I was used to, but this is great. Since installing this and 1.5 gpm sink faucet aerators, and watching our water consumption, we are using 30 gallons per day LESS than this time last year. That saves us money as well.
6. SHOWER LENGTH
I know I have posted about this before. I love the long, hot shower, but I've been saving that as a treat on days I really need it. Most days, I jump in the shower after setting my timer to 5 minutes. My goal is to make it out before the buzzer. Pretty soon I am getting my long hair cut and the shampoo/rinse will be a shorter time. My son likes to use the timer too, which is great, because taking a shower is way less water than his taking a bath. Now, we need to work on the husband who takes LOOOOOONG showers....
7. SAVE A GALLON WITH EVERY FLUSH
I'm currently pricing low flow toilets, but in the meantime, we have our toilet floaty thing (sorry for the lack of technical terms!) set so the water level is lower and we filled a gallon jug full of water and set it in the tank. This saves us one gallon of water every time the toilet is flushed. Not a pretty picture- but no one will see inside the toilet tank.
8. SHOWER CURTAINS
With recent studies showing the smell from new shower curtains comes from all kinds of nasty chemicals, the best way to go is a fabric shower curtain. I was hesitant this would work as well as the plastic/vinyl, but it works just as well and can go in the washer when needed. Bonus: they look prettier.
Most of these things were pretty cheap to do- switching to bar soap (cheaper than liquid), buying an inexpensive soap bag, sink aerators ($2), low flow showerheads ($8-25) and even the razor ($20) show immediate savings or will pay for themselves in a matter of months.
There are many more ways to be cheap and green in the bathroom, including using recycled paper products and environmentally friendly cleaners. How do you save money while being eco-friendly in your bathroom?
1. SOAPUsing plain old bar soap over liquid soap has a couple benefits. Bars are cheaper than the liquid soap, it lasts longer than liquid does and it reduces waste (no plastic bottles to recycle). I'll be honest, this was a little bit of a difficult transition for me...the liquid pump bottles are just so easy, but after a month or so I've grown used to it and so has my family.
2. SHAMPOOMy husband uses shampoo more quickly than anyone I know. He can easily polish off a whole bottle in a week. My solution to save money? Pour the shampoo in one of the old liquid soap bottles! Instead of squeezing a big handful of shampoo out, we pump the dispenser twice. That seems to be enough to get a good lather and uses less shampoo. That saves money AND reduces the number of shampoo bottles we need to buy. Eventually, I'd like to move on to bar shampoo, but I've yet to find one that I like.
3. SOAP IN THE SHOWER
You know how your soap ends up as tiny shards and chunks? I bought this little soap bag on ebay that you put those soap bits into. They lather up even better than soap alone and the bag is like a loofah. The husband loves this!
4. ELECTRIC RAZORThis took me a little while to transition to but I got used to it. My razor is rechargeable and can be used in or out of the shower. No more disposable razor waste and saves a lot of money- the electric razor cost me $20...much less than the cost of a year's worth of disposables.
5. SHOWERHEADWe installed a low flow showerhead (1.5 gallons per minute). I'm really happy with it. I expected it to be "wimpy" and not have the water pressure I was used to, but this is great. Since installing this and 1.5 gpm sink faucet aerators, and watching our water consumption, we are using 30 gallons per day LESS than this time last year. That saves us money as well.
6. SHOWER LENGTHI know I have posted about this before. I love the long, hot shower, but I've been saving that as a treat on days I really need it. Most days, I jump in the shower after setting my timer to 5 minutes. My goal is to make it out before the buzzer. Pretty soon I am getting my long hair cut and the shampoo/rinse will be a shorter time. My son likes to use the timer too, which is great, because taking a shower is way less water than his taking a bath. Now, we need to work on the husband who takes LOOOOOONG showers....
7. SAVE A GALLON WITH EVERY FLUSHI'm currently pricing low flow toilets, but in the meantime, we have our toilet floaty thing (sorry for the lack of technical terms!) set so the water level is lower and we filled a gallon jug full of water and set it in the tank. This saves us one gallon of water every time the toilet is flushed. Not a pretty picture- but no one will see inside the toilet tank.
8. SHOWER CURTAINSWith recent studies showing the smell from new shower curtains comes from all kinds of nasty chemicals, the best way to go is a fabric shower curtain. I was hesitant this would work as well as the plastic/vinyl, but it works just as well and can go in the washer when needed. Bonus: they look prettier.
Most of these things were pretty cheap to do- switching to bar soap (cheaper than liquid), buying an inexpensive soap bag, sink aerators ($2), low flow showerheads ($8-25) and even the razor ($20) show immediate savings or will pay for themselves in a matter of months.
There are many more ways to be cheap and green in the bathroom, including using recycled paper products and environmentally friendly cleaners. How do you save money while being eco-friendly in your bathroom?
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