75 Ideas to Spend and Consume Less In Your Life (1-15)
1. Buy Raw Ingredients: Instead of prepackaged foods, save on food bills, and your body will thank you for it in the long run.
2. Buy In Bulk: From a local health food store, or place bulk orders directly with mail0order companies.
3. Avoid The Middleman: Buy directly from the farmer. Look for farm stand, cummunity supported agriculture programs and farmers markets.
4. Eat Fruits and Vegetables In Season: They will be less expensive. If you buy them when they cheap, buy a lot and freeze or can whatever you can’t eat before they go out of season.
5. Keep Up With What’s in Your Refrigerator: Make sure nothing spoils. Once a week, make soup or casseroles to use up vegetables and other leftovers.
6. Calculate the Price of Food Per Pound: When you visit the supermarket do your math. Doing the math will help you spot the good deals.
7. Don’t Overeat: When you do, you are flushing money down the drain. When you are full, you’re full. Trust your own body.
8. Find a Live-In Elder Care Position: It not only helps someone stay out of a nursing home. Even if it is to help out around the yard, get involved in that.
9. Help Renovate a House: In exchange for lodging. It maybe the way you aquire your next home.
10. Become a Housesitter or Pet Sitter, For Short-Time boarding: Watching someone’s pet while they are out of the country is a great way to have room and board for a short-time.
11. For Longer-Term Stays, Become A Long-Term Caretaker of Property: Try Care Taker.org
12. Look Beyond Realtors’ Listings: Thumb through penny or nickle ads. A lot of great things are listed in those tiny papers.
13. Don’t Be Afraid to Ask: If you find a piece of land you really like talk to the owner and find out is they are willing to sell. Just by asking the price may be cheaper than you think.
14. Salvage Materials for Your New Home: Look for a house that’s being renovated and might let you take materials from the site. Look in the yellow pages for used building materials, or look for online groups such as Freecycle, or one I started entitled The Repurpose Foundation. Join The Repurpose Foundation’s Group here. Where people trade all kinds of unwanted items and find new purpose for them.
15. Never Skimp on Insulation or Good Windows: Build your home tight enough, and it will cost much less to heat. Even a wood stove will help on heating, but be sure to burn clean with what wood you use. (Source: NH 2007)
*Natural and Sustainable Living Tip: Use organic beauty products. If you have makeup in your cabinet that is not organic, use up what you have so there will be no waste, then as you run out of a product, replace it with an organic choice. An organic choice, most not only have better ingredients but put their products in recycled containers.
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