Tips on Going Green within the Home and hence Save Some Money

Why all this discussion about going green first of all you may be asking? Well simply put, more and more people these days are very concerned about doing what they can to lower their fuel bills, use energy more wisely and trying to reduce the amount of garbage that ends up in the landfill. The whole point of going green is to find some best practices, whether they are at home, at your place of business or simply in our everyday lives that will help us to achieve this goal. So here are a few random tips looking at cars and the home to get the reader started.

With respect to cars you can:

1. Keep the air filter clean:
o Just like humans, cars and vehicles need to breathe properly also. The dirtier the air filter the harder the vehicle will have to work thus burning more gas and hurting your wallet even more.

2. Car pooling with people who you like:
o Obviously if there is another passenger in your car, that is one less car off the road if he or she is accustomed to driving. Remember though to let your passengers know that they have to respect your vehicle, do not let them slam your car doors or let your doors slam against a wall, other cars or stationary objects. You might end up spending more money fixing the damages than what you might be trying to save by going green.

Also remember that with more people in your car, you will have higher gas expenses but considerably less gas will be used compared to having your passenger drive their own car. Ask your car pooling buddies if they will pitch in for gas, since gas seems to be going up all over the world and probably will not return to levels which we are used to.

3. Hand wash your own car:
o Many of us love our cars and some but not all, wash our cars at home. It is true there are car washes at your local garage or gas station but there are still many countries where it is not the custom to go to a car wash. So for those who still wash their own car by hand, try using a bucket and water instead of the hose.

In other words, fill the bucket with some water and get a sponge and wash the car yourself. You can use a scrub brush for the tires since that surface is tougher. You will be amazed at how far a bucket of water can go and you will not constantly have the water running when the hose is not in use.

In your home there are many possibilities but a few are as follows:

1. Recycle your glass and plastic bottles:
o Even if you are the one who does not go to the recycling center, there is nothing wrong with putting your bottles into separate bags and placing them by the trash. In many cities around the world, the less fortunate collect bottles and return them to the recycling center themselves to collect the few cents per dollar.

Help do your part by separating the bottles into their own bags, instead of having such people go through your garbage looking for bottles and causing a mess on the sidewalk or around your garbage collecting area.

2. Find creative ways to use items:
o Think of a way to reuse items before throwing them out. If you ship things frequently, maybe hold onto clean items such as egg boxes, cartons that are washed out or simply boxes that you may receive. These can be reused for shipping and packaging purposes.

3. Solar heating:
o Use a solar heating system for your water, if available in your country. In many developing countries such as certain islands in the Caribbean, they have been using solar heating for decades now. You basically have a tank of water on your roof, with solar panels connected to it and the heat from the sun heats the water which is stored in the tank.

True that in countries which have the winter season or where it is not hot all year around, some sort of backup system will have to be used. But the point is, for those few months of spring, summer and fall where it is possible to have the warmth of the sun to heat your water; this is a viable and cheap alternative.

Obviously, there are many other areas which you can look at whether it be with your electronics, personal self with respect to walking instead of driving, you can look at generating your electricity at home with the use of home based wind wills and even with the food you feed your pets.

I hope this article has allowed people to realize that it is the simple things which can allow all of us to get started on going green within the home and our businesses and that we can help create or leave behind a better Earth for future generations.