Bike to school with your kids and save up to $220 or more by biking to school three times a week, on average, instead of driving. You can conserve more than 55 gallons of gas per school year. You will be able to save driving time and avoid getting stuck in school drop-off traffic. And it’s a great way to get a little extra exercise.

Instead of choosing a vacation that involves staying in a hotel, consider pitching a tent in a state or national park and save up to $2000 or more on accommodations for a two-week trip.  Tent-camping can be a great way to reduce the ecological footprint of your vacation and an excellent way to practice living with limited resources. Compared to a hotel, you’ll save energy and water, reduce waste, and experience nature.  Breathe fresh air, get back in shape by going on a hike every day, and stand in awe of huge canyons, waterfalls, lakes, mountains, wildlife, and meadows.  Be sure to take fantastic pictures!

Don’t speed.  Driving over the speed limit can severely cramp your MPG and your pocketbook.  The difference between 60 mph and 80 mph is $900 in gas expenses per year (assuming 500 high-speed miles driven per month).  Drive slower and you’ll also save 225 gallons of gasoline annually.  On average, for each 5 mph you drive above 60 mph lowers your gas mileage by about 2.5 mpg.  In addition to the obvious reduced risk to your safety and driving record, sticking to the speed limit will also save you the time it would take for 15 additional fill-ups per year.

Unload unnecessary cargo from your trunk before your road trip and save nearly $25 per year for each 100 pounds of weight you remove from your vehicle.  Driving around with tools, golf clubs, textbooks, or other heavy gear is a waste of gas and money.  For every 100 extra pounds of cargo added to the vehicle, gas mileage drops about 1%.  Lose the weight and save up to 6 gallons of gas and 120 pounds of CO2.

If you’re new to camping or don’t do it very often, rent your gear or borrow it from a friend and you’ll save up to $1500 or more compared to buying new gear.  You’ll also conserve the resources used to produce new equipment, which for most people sits in the garage or basement and gathers dust for 50 or more weeks per year.  Not only will you save the time it would take to shop for the right gear but you can avoid buyer’s regret. In fact, if you’re thinking of buying your own gear, renting first can be a great way to try out different styles and brands to see which you like best.

If you’ll be hitting the road for your getaway, buy regular octane (low-grade) gasoline—unless your vehicle calls for “premium fuel” only—instead and save up to $150 or more per year in gasoline expenses.  For a standard engine, switching from premium fuel to regular unleaded gasoline results in more complete fuel combustion, which improves gas mileage and reduces smog-forming tailpipe emissions.

You can make this yummy, grainy body exfoliator in a cereal bowl. Pour about a cup of Kosher salt into the bowl. Add just enough cold-pressed sweet almond oil to allow the salt to form moist clumps. It should stick together and be easy to pick up with your fingers. Add up to 20 drops of rosemary essential oil to scent the mix and invigorate the skin. (You can switch the rosemary essential for whatever you like best.) Store the scrub in a mason jar wide enough to fit your hand in, and massage over your whole body—not your face—in a warm shower.

Buy frozen vegetables instead of canned ones.

Pound for pound, canned and frozen vegetables may be comparable in price, but the canning process consumes up to eight times more energy than it takes to freeze, package, and store frozen vegetables. And although most frozen vegetables come in non-recyclable plastic packages, these are less bulky and heavy than steel cans, which take more energy to produce and transport. Frozen vegetables tend to have a more natural flavor than canned vegetables, which are often preserved in a salt solution. Because canned vegetables are usually pre-cooked, they may also have lower levels of nutrients than frozen vegetables, which are usually only blanched before being packaged.

Paper grocery bags are more eco-friendly than plastic ones

TRUTH

Surprised? At face value, plastic may seem better than paper. But it’s really all about how you look at the data.

In one-to-one comparisons, paper bags require more energy, create more air and water pollution, cost more to transport, and generate more solid waste than plastic bags.

Yet, one-to-one comparisons aren’t really appropriate. As any supermarket-goer knows, when you ask for plastic you often end up three times more bags than if you’d asked for paper.

In terms of fossil fuel consumption, recyclability, and reusability, paper bags actually come out on top.
The biggest issue associated with plastic bags is their proclivity for escaping from trash bins and getting washed into storm drains, clogging sewage systems, and mimicking tasty sea life in the ocean environment. Plastic bags and other plastic debris are responsible for the death of an estimated 1 million marine animals per year

Try This: Bring along your own reusable bags when you go shopping. But if you forget, opt for the paper bag and then reuse or recycle it.

Check out how they saved $5200!

http://shiftyourhabit.com/the-lawsons/