Welp, nowadays everyone is talking about “going green”, to the point where people (including me) just start ignoring them. How about we pause for a moment and forget about buying expensive hybrids or carbon credits (dubious if those work) and focus on how to save money by going green.

Go Green and Save Money in the Bathroom

• Navy shower – conserve water, use less electricity for hot water, and save money
• Turn off the water when you brush your teeth – You’ll save gallons of water each day if you follow this easy tip, assuming you brush your teeth.
• Clean and dry off your razor – This makes your razor stay sharp for many moons, and saves money by not having to buy new razors.

Go Green and Save Money on Your House

• Insulate your home – This will let you use your air conditioning less in the summer, and your heater less in the winter. Saves money and helps the environment.
• Turn off air conditioner, and open windows – If you do this on nice days, you can lower your energy use AND save some money
• Reuse construction materials for projects – You’ll save money by reusing old materials, and be “going green” by finding new uses for old mess instead of throwing it away.

Go Green and Save Money on Special Events

• Throw a green Super Bowl party – online invitations save money and paper, use reusable decorations, etc.
• Go vegetarian – I admit, I don’t do this step. But if I did, I’d be saving money and lowering my eco-footprint at the same time.
• Have event outside – this should save you money on lighting and air conditioning, plus you’ll be using less energy. Huzzah!

That about wraps it up. There are many other ways to go green and save money, but really, all the things I mentioned just involve small changes that will help the environment and your wallet. So next time you want to save some money, por favor, go green.

This morning outside my work it was about 70 degrees and sunny. The weather was quite literally TOO good. So we turned off our air conditioning and opened the windows to air out the office. As the cool outside air came rushing in, my brain gears started turning, and I wondered to myself, “Self, if every house in the U.S. of A. turned off their A/C and opened their windows whenever the weather was nice outside, how much money and electricity would that save?”

Welp, let’s see. The average price in the U.S. for energy is 9.49 cents per kilowatthour. And the average home air conditioner uses “more than 2000 kilowatt-hours of electricity per year, causing power plants to emit about 3500 pounds of carbon dioxide and 31 pounds of sulfur dioxide.”

Okay, stay with me. According to the OFFICIAL ENERGY INFORMATION ADMINISTRATION, in 2005 there were about 93.3 million American houses with air conditioning. So let’s figure that those houses are in places that have nice weather (65-80 degrees) about 20% of the time, or 70 days each year.

That means that if all those houses turned off their air conditioning on those days and opened their windows to let in the fresh air, then:
400 kwh per house * 93.3 million houses = 37.2 billion kilowatthours saved!! That equals out to savings of over $3.5 billion each year! Ay chi wa wa.

Of course, the actual amount of nice days could vary, but still, if everyone did this whenever the temperature was nice outside, we’d be saving billions of kilowatthours. Dang, crazy.

So next time you’re at work or at home, and the weather is nice, instead of cranking on the ol’ air conditioning and wasting energy and money, why not just open the windows and let some fresh air in? You’ll be saving money and electricity while getting some fresh air in your cave.

This here tip will reduce food waste AND save you literally pennies each time you use it! I had to use this here tip last weekend on a plastic barbecue sauce bottle. I squoze the bottle with my gnarled and calloused hands ’til nothing else came out, then good ol’ Tiff told me this helpful lil’ green hint:

1. Take bottle (lotion, ketchup, mayonnaise, mustard, etc.)
2. Cut bottle in half using scissors (please wear goggles, gloves, elbow pads, and a mouth guard, and have your parents supervise you)
3. Use a spatula to get out the rest of the sauce, salad dressing, or what have you.

Simple. A tip that reduces waste while saving you money. Now that’s an EcoJoes© kind of green tip.

I’m EcoJoe and I approve of this message.

Dag, I haven’t updated this site in TOO long. I’ve been busy as heck at work, plus at home. Anyhoo, let’s get down to business.

Econo-Chem makes a very cheap (pennies a bottle), all-purpose, eco-friendly cleaning product. Part of their secret is that they sell you the cleaner in concentrated form, so it weighs less (lower transportation costs and less air pollution) and so you can dilute it to the strength you need. Let’s hear what Econo-Chem has to say about Econo-Clean, shall we?

Econo-Clean contains no phosphates, bleaching agents, acids or solvents. It works on a sodium-based lifting agent, which gets into the pores of a material, to lift and remove anything which is not permanently bonded.

To get the free sample, SIMPLY CLICK YOUR MOUSE BUTTON ROTCH HUR and answer some quick questions. Make sure you say that you’ll consider buying their product, and that you already have an empty spray bottle.

When you’re done, you’ll be the proud owner of some good ol’ Econo-Clean.

Good ol’ Wal-Mart and Costco have started using a new design for their milk jugs, and I think they’ve come up with a real winner. The new design has a whole mess of environmental and cost advantages compared to the milk jug design that you’re probably used to, but there are some people that jes’ plain don’t care for it. Here’s a brief summary of its pros and cons.

New Milk Jug Design Pros

• Less shipping materials – The old jugs had to be packaged with heavy shipping crates. The new ones can be stacked with just a layer of cardboard between them.
• More efficient transport – Less shipping materials means more milk jugs can be transported in each truck, so companies save money on gas and cut down on air pollution.
• Shipping labor cut in half
• Water usage cut by 60-70% – The old shipping crates had to be sprayed off after each run, since milk would spill on them and birds would roost in them
• Lower milk cost! – “Sam’s Club said [there] was a savings of 10 to 20 cents a gallon compared with old jugs.“
• The new milk jugs fit better in your fridge.

The Bad Side of New Milk Jug Design

Amy Wise, a homemaker in Ohio, said the new-fangled gallon jug spilled milk everywhere. Judging from the picture, I’d say her main problem is that she’s trying to pour the milk into an imaginary cup in her left hand. No wonder she looks frustrated.

Many people say the new milk jugs are harder to pour. But I think with more practice, people will get used to them quickly. With all the benefits (less pollution, cheaper milk, easier transportation, and more efficient use o’ materials), methinks that the new milk jug may be here to stay.

* The bodacious picture of Amy Wise was taken by David Maxwell of The New York Times.

 
UPS has 93,637 vehicles (cars, trucks, vans, motorcycles, and tractor-trailers) that drive over 2 billion miles a year, so they have had a lot of practice in finding ways to save gas, save money, and reduce air pollution.  Here are three of Brown’s gas saving tips for any of y’all driving this holiday weekend.

1.  Avoid left turns – UPS plans its routes to minimize left turns.  This reduces gas usage because left turns generally mean you car has to sit and idle while waiting to turn.  This helped UPS save $12 million last year!
2. Reduce idling – I did not know this, but UPS has a “no idling” policy, so no matter how short of a stop a UPS driver makes, they turn off their engine.  This reduces idling time by 24 minutes per driver a day, which saves them $188 per driver per year!
3. Plan your route – UPS plans out its routes to be as efficient and direct as possible.  Remember, if you fail to plan, you plan to fail!

If you can’t read that good, here are some gas saving tips from UPS… IN VIDEO FORM. 

It’s true; after 6 months of using the same razor blade (by applying the ancient Immortal Razor Technique), it is time to lay the ol’ blade to rest.  Faithfully it has served me, but in the last week or so, I could feel some dullness.

By cleaning mess out of my razor and drying it every time I used it, I stretched its life to half a year, a lot longer than the average razor!

If you haven’t tried it, I heartily suggest you try cleaning out your razor blade and drying it (with a towel or what have you) after each time you use it.  Not only will you save money, but you’ll also be reusing some good ol’ resources by putting forth only the slightest of effort.  ‘Tis a win-win situation, ’tis.

P.S. It turns out my razor came with two blades, so I didn’t have to buy a new razor at all, just put in the new blade and bah-bam, new razor.