Diane's No-Cost Ways to

Please check back often for more easy ways to do something simple!

NEW TIP! Use your toaster oven instead of your regular oven! Because they are smaller, the heating elements in a toaster oven are typically 750 watts as where in a regular electric oven they are typically 3000 watts. And, because they have less space to heat, toaster ovens heat up faster than a regular oven saving you mega-watts on your electric bill!
Go to http://seattlepi.nwsource.com/athome/368703_smart28.html for more information.

Tired of getting all those catalogs in the mail? Well, I was. On April 7, 2008 I started contacting each company whose catalog I got in the mail to ask them to take me off of their mailing list. After a month I had contacted 48 companies! After two months the total was up to 64 companies!! And then a friend e-mailed me a link to a fantastic web site, www.catalogchoice.org, that will do all of that for you. Just sign up and enter the info for each of the catalogs that you wish to have stopped -- and viola! And when they ask for the reason you want to stop each particular catalog, there is even a choice for "I want to help the environment." What a great way to be able to do something about the environment and make the statement at the same time!!

Here I go again doing something very environmental and not even realizing it. A friend had a birthday and, as I always do, I sent her an e-greeting card. And then it hit me ... how very environmental this is!! No paper waste from eventually throwing the card away and even if the recipient keeps the card, there is still the envelope that is thrown away. And most websites, such as Yahoo! and AIM offer this service for free, while the website I use, www.birthdayalarm.com, charges a small yearly fee for their service.

Sometimes I surprise even myself by doing something that is good for the environment without even realizing it. Like this morning, for example, I was making a cup of tea and went to get a tea bag; something I've done countless times before. But this morning I realized, when I reached for my beloved Earl Grey tea, that I had purchased tea bags that come four to a package. No more throwing away that outer bag every time I have a cup of tea. Instead I am now generating 1/4 of the waste that I used to! And I didn't even realize it. Just goes to show that once you are in the zone, it's easy being green!

When shopping, try not to get a bag if you only have one or two items. Or bring your own cloth bag to use. I once overheard a gentleman make the sly comment that he did this in order to "save a plastic tree".

This tip comes from my 11-year-old daughter and her friend. They have now reused, back and forth for the third time, the same Scooby Doo birthday gift bag. If you have a birthday party and any of the bags are still in good shape after all the festivities, hold onto them and reuse them. (And at sometimes close to $4.00 a bag this amounts to a pretty good monetary savings as well.)

When you want to recycle jars that have a lot of residue in them, such as peanut butter, jelly or mayonnaise, but you don't want to waste a ton of water rinsing them, run them through the dishwasher (on your next full load, of course) to get them clean enough to recycle.

If you use cloth napkins (and we should all at least consider using cloth napkins), toss them in with your white or colored full loads of laundry instead of washing them in smaller loads by themselves.

Use your dryer sheets more than once. (Or, even better, go to my Low-Cost page and check out the hint for Dryer Balls!)

Save the peanuts!! Got a package in the mail with those cute little packing peanuts in it? Save those peanuts and bring them to your local shipping store. Some companies will even give you a discount the next time you ship something and need packing materials.

Use those handy dandy envelopes the printer cartridge people give you and send those cartridges back so they can be reused.

Stop using plastic wraps and use aluminum foil instead. It works just as well, sometimes better, and can often be reused a few times before it is recycled.

When heating something in the microwave that needs to be covered, use a cloth napkin instead of a paper towel or waxed paper. (And never use plastic wrap!)

Save that bundle of napkins you got from the drive-thru at your favorite fast food restaurant. You can use those at home to clean up little messes and save a paper towel.

Turn off electrical items, such as computers, printers and shredders when you won't be using them for an extended period of time.

Try to limit your maximum driving speed to 60 miles per hour. According to a chart on Page 99 of the Transportation Energy Data Book, Edition 25, due to an exponential increase in aerodynamic drag, your car's gas mileage rapidly decreases at speeds above 60 miles per hour.
Old link was disabled; still trying to find a new link!

Wash your clothes in cold water. About 90 percent of the energy used to wash clothes is used to heat the water. 90 percent!!! And nowadays there are even specially formulated detergents that work best in cold water.
Go to www1.eere.energy.gov/consumer/tips/laundry.html for more information.

Did you know that that little plastic bag your morning newspaper comes in is recyclable? Check to be sure before putting it in with all your other recyclables but, if it is, then recycle away!

Avoid buying anything that comes in a package that cannot be recycled. I had a favorite brand of cookies that I used to buy that came in a cardboard box (no problem; recyclable). Inside they were wrapped in a plastic sleeve (not recyclable, but I could live with that part), but they sat in a plastic divider tray that was totally not recyclable! I called the consumer comment number on the box and submitted my comment but got no explanation as to why the tray was not recyclable. So, sad to say, I no longer buy those cookies even though I really, really, really liked them.

Go paperless. If you have access to a computer and the internet where you pay your bills, sign up for paperless billing. Think of all the paper that could be saved if everyone who had a computer went to paperless billing.