Financial times are tight right now.  Fuel costs continue to climb as well as the cost of food and most everyone we know are tightening their belts.  Often times people think of being environmentally conscious as costing money.  There are a lot of gimmicks out there now that might cost you more but you are smarter than that. Here are three simple things that you can do to save money and it just so happens they are good for the environment, too. Not too bad, eh?

Switch Out Your Bottles

If you are big on the convenience of plastic water bottles you could save big by switching to a reusable bottle. Also, if you are a soda addict you could save even more if you switched to water, or make your own tea or coffee and put it in a reusable container. If you buy one 20oz bottle of soda per day at ~$1.30 you could save yourself $474.50 per year (not to mention 365 bottles and ~91,250 calories!!!) If you average purchasing two 20oz water bottles per day at $1.10 each that will save you $800 per year! It will also save a landfill from having an extra 730 plastic bottles, or save the energy and water it takes to transport and recycle all of that plastic! A reusable bottle that is easy to wash and is made from BPA-free plastic or stainless steel is your best bet, you can pick one up for $20 or less. [Read more about plastic on my personal blog] [BPA Free Plastic Bottle]

Kick the Habit

Everyone knows that smoking is bad for you. Perhaps now is as good a time as any to stop smoking when financial times are getting more difficult we could all use any extra money. The savings of quitting smoking is quite significant, if you figure an average pack of cigarettes is $4 and one is smoking a pack each day quitting for a year would save you $1,460!! That does not include all of the money you would save on health care costs and if a bunch of people kicked the habit it would lift a huge burden on the state. [State Tobacco-Related Costs and Revenues]

Financial and even personal health cost isn’t everything to some folks so why not consider the environmental benefits of not smoking. A smoker only takes in 4% of the smoke produced by a cigarette, the other 96% is going into the atmosphere and into the lungs of surrounding people and critters. Cigarette butts are the most littered thing in the country. Contrary to some smoker’s belief they are not biodegradable. Those filters are made up of a type of plastic that takes years and years to break down. In the mean time they gather in waterways, can pose a hazard to critters who might mistake them for food. On top of all that it is a huge waste of paper, each cigarette would be made with roughly 1.25×1.5 inch papers.. 20 cigarettes to a pack.. 1 pack a day over a year is 13,687.5 square inches of paper or 1,140 square feet 95.05 square feet of paper (WOW major math mistake there, I apologize). [Prevent Cigarette Litter]

Eat More Vegetables

It takes seven pounds of grain to produce one pound of meat, it is no wonder that with skyrocketing grain prices the price of meat is going up more and more.  Meat prices are even higher due to the cost of transportation thanks to ever increasing fuel costs. It only takes a small change to make a big difference – by replacing one meaty meal a week with a meatless one you would save over $300 per year. Want to save even more? Try planting some veggies in a container patio garden, cherry tomatoes, garlic, herbs and kale work really well in pots and would make a great sauté.

If saving money isn’t your main motivator, cutting out meat, even just once a week, can help the environment. “If price spikes don’t change eating habits, perhaps the combination of deforestation, pollution, climate change, starvation, heart disease and animal cruelty will gradually encourage the simple daily act of eating more plants and fewer animals.” (Bittman) [NY Times: Rethinking the Meat Guzzler] [PBS: As Food Prices Soar, UN Calls for International Help]

Related posts:

1. Save Taxpayer Money And Help Create Locally Made Fuel By Recycling Your Turkey Grease This Year.