The regular 5 frugal things linky I take part in most weeks has got me thinking. So many of my suggestions to save money end up being more eco-friendly in the process. I love this and wish to make my environmental footprint much smaller. There is work to be done but we are aiming for progress not perfection. So, for a bit of inspiration on how you can adopt a greener approach during this hot weather, here is a list of ten eco-friendly things to do this week. Please add yours in the comments.
A drink for the wildlife
Leave water out for the wildlife in dry periods. Bees and butterflies get thirsty, as do the birds, mice, voles and hedgehogs if you are lucky enough to have any in your garden. Some small bowls dotted around the garden in shady spots will be much appreciated and could even save a little life.
Avoid plastic bags
Take some used plastic or cloth bags to the supermarket and buy your fruit and veg loose. Obviously take your reusable carrier bags with you too. I leave mine in the car boot so that I never forget and always have a fold up cloth one in my handbag.
If you have to buy something in plastic bag, snip the top off and reuse the bag. I have a drawer full of these and they come in handy!
Take your own water bottle
Rethink your hot water bottle
Turn off the fan and freeze a hot water bottle to take to bed instead. This tip came from my lodger, Jess, and it’s a good one! As helpful in the summer as a hot water bottle is for those chilly winter nights.
Drive less
Walk or cycle at least one journey you would normally drive. How many times do you pop to your local corner shop in the car, when it is a five minute walk? In the summer, you may as well enjoy the fine, sunny weather. This is one of those eco-friendly things to do every week!
Use your grey water
Use your bath water in the garden or stand in a washing up bowl and collect the water from your shower. You have to get creative to keep your plants alive in a heatwave!
Snub the packaging
Refuse to buy anything with more than one layer of packaging. Some items really do need packaging to protect them, but the number of things that are ridiculously over packaged is alarming. Challenge companies that do this on social media. There is nothing like a bit of people power to change attitudes.
Recycle!
Be scrupulous about recycling and pressure your family to do the same. Think about things you might not consider putting in your recycling bins. Plastic toothpaste tubes, for example. Batteries may not be collected in your kerbside collection but many supermarkets and hardware stores will take them. Lots of charities will happily take your old spectacles, such as VisionAid.
Make your own lollies
Another one for the hot weather. Make healthier versions of commercial ice lollies, and avoid all the packaging that comes with them. Silicone versions
Make your own toiletries
Cass from Diary of a Frugal Family has some lovely ideas for home made versions of products that might normally be over packaged or contain lots of chemicals. I really love her home made peppermint cooling spray. Perfect for this hot weather.
As well as avoiding chemicals and saving money, this sort of approach means you can re-use an old plastic spray bottle rather than throwing it away.
I hope you enjoy my ideas for ten eco-friendly things to do this week. Can you add some eco-friendly things to do, especially when it is hot?
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Margaret Powling says
Great ideas as always here, Jane. I have been considering a reusable water bottle but have simply been refilling my Pellegrino bottle and taking that when we go out. If we don’t use the water, I put it on the plants, and then re-fill with fresh water and pop the bottle into the fridge so that it’s chilled, ready to go out again next time.
We always put batteries into the recycling bin, but I don’t know whether our council takes plastic toothpaste tubes.
Yes, we have been putting water out for wildlife. A shallow bowl is out there all year round for them (I change the water regularly otherwise it goes stagnant) and recently I have been putting smaller ones around for the smaller creatures – we have a toad in the garden, he’s been living under some filled garden refuse bags waiting to go to the recycling centre, and I know he’s grateful for some water.
We don’t go far with our car as we’re now retired, so we only do around 3,500 miles a year. Petrol has recently risen yet again in price, so I do feel for those who must drive many miles to and from work.
I always consider how I might use boxes, cardboard or plastic, before I throw them away. Some of them, open, are now trays for jewellery, in one of my drawers; those from old boxes of A4 paper, before they were simply wrapped in paper, are in my bedside drawers, to separate items. I also offer cleaned jars with lids to husband for items for the garage (as I don’t make jam, which is what most people collect jars for, I think). We were brought up with frugality in mind as it was how people lived in the 1950s, but we didn’t think of it as ‘frugality’, it was just how one lived.
My pet beef about packaging is the plastic around cucumbers, which already come with their own packaging – their skin (which I always removed, along with the seeds, both indigestible parts of a cucumber).
Margaret P
Julia says
Yep, do most of those but not the collecting grey water for the plants as I’m never sure how good the soaps/shampoos etc will be for them.
One thing I did as a new home owner before I could afford furniture, was to use the boxes I’d unpacked after moving in, as bedside tables. One standing inside another and covered with a net curtain, re-purposed from the windows, was just the right height and stability for a lamp and clock etc!
A bonus was that anything not unpacked could remain in them until I knew what to do with them, and I had ready-made up boxes for when I next needed them!
Louis says
Love this, I recycle all our batteries and drop them off at Aldi when they’re done; got to go green!