Go Green to Save Your Budget

Go Green to Save Your Budget

From swapping to reusable coffee cups to riding a bike or carpooling to work, every little bit contributes to protecting the environment we live in. But going green can also be great for your budget.

Budget Bee has some great ideas to save money while you’re busy saving his bee friends. Why not try some of Budge Bee’s five clean, green ideas?

1. Use less plastic

We all know that plastic waste is becoming a real issue. Plastic islands are building up worldwide fast, and many countries have substantial plastic waste issues that seriously impact their quality of life. Another concern is that microplastics have been discovered to be a far more significant problem than we previously thought. They can cause severe health problems and are found just about everywhere.

How much plastic do people throw out? According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics (ABS), Australia generated 2.5 million tonnes of plastic waste in a single year from 2018-2019. That’s a lot of plastic! Australian industry is a large contributor to the problem, but households contributed a whopping 47%.

You may feel comfortable thinking that putting your plastic bags and containers in your recycling bin stops you from adding to the problem, but only 9% of all plastic waste was sent to recycling.

So, what should we do?

Replacing your regular takeaway coffee cups, sandwich bags, and water bottles with a reusable alternative can really cut down on the waste that you produce. Reusable containers must be used many times before they start to save time and waste.

Swapping to reusables can save you a little bit of money every time you use them and over a few years, it really adds up! Many cafés will give you a discount for bringing your own cup, and you can save a few dollars every time you shop by bringing reusable bags.

2. Meat Free Mondays

What’s one thing that’s been steadily increasing in price, threatening to blow out your budget? Meat.

Even the cheaper cuts of meat are outpacing other supermarket items in price, putting strain on many Australian households.

Besides the cost to you of feeding your family meat every single day of the week, there is a growing cost to our planet too. Livestock consume a considerable amount of our planet’s water and contribute to greenhouse gases.

In fact, if every person in Australia went meat-free for a single day each week, they would reduce greenhouse gas emissions by the same amount as 18 billion kilometres of driving.

Meat Free Mondays is a campaign that’s been picking up a lot of steam recently. The goal is to reduce the load on our planet by spending a single day each week eating vegetarian or vegan meals. There are some great recipes on their website to get you started.

3. Choose LED lightbulbs

There’s no better way to make a change than a simple set-and-forget.

LED lightbulbs consume 75% less energy than the traditional tungsten lightbulbs we’ve relied on for years. Even better, they last longer, so making the swap is actually less work than staying with the old ones.

Since LED bulbs have become cheaper due to mass production and more innovative technology, households are expected to save around $75 per year by making the switch. It’s too good not to do it!

4. Give your car a day off

It’s no secret that driving isn’t exactly helping our environment flourish. Between the carbon emissions, fossil fuels extracted and burned, and the infrastructure required to keep your car on the road, there are plenty of reasons to drive less.

So, what should we do?

It may not be feasible to commute by public transport or carpool with co-workers, but there’s something for everyone when it comes to getting from A to B.

Replacing a trip or two weekly with a bicycle ride or even walking for shorter distances are great options. Working from home is also a great option!

If you can’t do without the car, check that your tyres are correctly inflated to get the most out of your fuel dollar. And try combining errands to reduce total trip times.

Alternative arrangements for travel or even making your car as efficient as possible can save you an incredible amount of money over the year.

5. Try some retro fashions

Hand-me-downs are a great way to save by reducing textile waste. In fact, there are so many opportunities and Budget Bee has two full articles about this. Check out the textile waste blog here and the blog on how you can save on fashion here.

And that’s the buzz from Budget Bee!
If you have nifty tips of your own to save money going green, or if you’d love to hear more financial tips from Budget Bee, pay him a visit on his Facebook page