One of the most common misconceptions about green living is that it is costly. Many people find the barrier to living a healthier, more sustainable lifestyle takes much more time and money than they currently use living a non-eco-friendly lifestyle. I’m here to say, that is simply not true.
It is a fact that you can save up to $50 a month by taking simple steps to incorporate green living into your lifestyle. Where does this come from? Reducing the amount of power, water and waste you consume as well as buying quality products that will last are two key ways. More still you can recycle old products via yard sales, donations and Craig’s List. And when you do buy, buy in bulk and buy vintage or antique items instead of new ones. These cost-saving options can help off-set the higher costs of buying organics foods and products.
I asked some of my most-valued, eco sources about the common misconception that green living is costly and here is what they had to say:
Janelle Sorensen, formerly of Healthy Child Healthy World and Honest Company: “You should totally check out Diane MacEachern’s http://www.biggreenpurse.com/ as well as http://shiftyourhabit.com/ for concrete facts about savings. Excellent resources for supporting the argument that green living can actually SAVE money!”
Suzanne Wheatley Bertani of Mommy Footprint: “The most important part of moving towards greener living is to reduce consumption as a consumer. You learn to consolidate with cleaning agents, toiletries, kitchenware, etc. Learning that quality, safe items will last you a life time and investing in that quality rather than using disposable, single use items will safe money long term. Moving towards a long term goal of green living doesn’t have to be expensive and done all in one day…select different areas to concentrate every season to ensure it doesn’t break the bank!”
Beth Terry of My Plastic-Free Life: “I was going to say the same thing as Suzanne. Giving up bottled water, reducing the amount of new stuff I buy, learning to make things myself and fix things when they break saves me money so I can afford to pay more for a few good quality things that will last and organic food. I started these practices as a way to reduce my consumption of new plastic, but I’ve definitely also reduced my spending.”
Danielle Richardet of It Starts With Me: “Absolutely agree with that! Years ago we cut our trash service and the local paper interviewed me about it… One of his major questions (that completely baffled me) was: do you think because you all are people of ‘means’ that it’s easier to live a green lifestyle?? Seriously… Couldn’t believe it. We don’t have trash service, we don’t use trash bags, we don’t buy fertilizer because we compost, I make food from scratch vs buying premade/prepackaged, purchase bulk food, local food, reuse everything, etc and how some people imagine that costs more boggles my mind. I told him when you reduce the amount of things you consume and reduce the amount of waste you create you save resources and through those efforts you save another resource… $$$. Money we save now gets donated to causes/people we believe in:) And we buy a good portion of our furniture used. I think I’m most proud of my dining room table (seats 10 easy) that we got used for $200 and refinished it. Another bonus is that the used pieces are a lot more unique than if we had bought new!”
Anna Hackman of Green Talk: “Buying through bulk bins and making your own products definitively saves you money. Also, buying anything used (furniture, clothing, products) also saves you a ton. Majority of the furnishings at my house are used, which I could never have afforded buying the same quality of furniture new.”
Lynn Colwell of Celebrate Green: “This question always makes me laugh, but the reason it comes up is because marketers have convinced the American public that BUYING green is what you need to do in order to live green and of course, most products with a “green” label are more expensive. Reminds me of when they started taking fat out of products and charged double what it cost when it was left in. Living simply with less cannot possibly cost as much as buying everything in sight just because it’s advertised to us.”
Lisa Nelsen-Woods of Condo Blues: “With cheap and simple home improvements under $200 and new habits I cut our household electricity use to 15 Kwh a day. I reduced our use by over 20%. I didn’t buy expensive solar panels or green doodads to do it either.”
Additionally, here is a good infographic that dissects the cost of green living and its cost savings from doing small acts in your daily life.
Source: EasyFinance.com
It really is all about off-setting your excessive purchases with more sustainable and cost-saving options (think eating fresh fruits and veggies v. canned ones; savings of $225 per year). Take time to think about what you are purchasing and try not to purchase so much. We have slowly become a more consumer oriented society (we need stuff, right) but that is just not going to work for the sustainability of our planet and our future generations. Think one small act, organic, vintage and quality; it will take us all a lot further.
