you, too, can be green

start by sending electronic payments to pay your bills instead of writing checks. most banks even encourage that you pay your bills through your bank instead of writing checks, so much so that they make it free for you to do so. this reduces on the number of trees being cut down just so that they can make the paper used to print your checks. and this also reduces on the use of fuel by the postal service for delivering your payment.

next, if your creditors offer it, and most do, opt to not receive a bill in the mail. have them notify you by email. you'll most likely be able to login to the site to check out the bill if you so choose. my electrical service, gas service, home telephone, and cell phone service no longer send me "snail mail". the four companies all send me emails, telling me how much i owe on a monthly basis. then i just jump on the net, login to my bank account, and authorize my bank to make electronic payments to the appropriate payees.

but because i want to look at my credit card transactions more closely, i opted to still receive paper bills from my credit card companies. however, payments are still made electronically. i'm hoping to make the full transition soon to not get any paper bills at all in the mail.

i recycle all glass and plastic containers. and it doesn't matter if you don't get much out of it. i don't. they all rest in a large bag in my garage. when it fills up, i leave it next to the trash bin for someone else to pick up or for the trash collection people to pick up. even though i don't get any cash back for my efforts, i know that someone else, and more importantly, the planet, benefits.

and don't leave the water running while you are brushing your teeth. same goes for washing dishes. and finally, turn off the lights when it's not needed. and transition to compact fluorescent bulbs to further cut down on the use of electricity. they also last so much longer than regular incandescent light bulbs.

these are some of the simple things you can do that doesn't require that you spend money to be green. in fact, they save you money. the compact fluorescent bulbs may cost more per bulb, but they pay for themselves within a couple months in the form of a reduce electric bill. they also last much longer, so you don't have to buy replacements so quickly.