7 Changes To Save Green
Tuesday, May 11th, 2010
“If saving money is wrong, then I don’t want to be right.” ~ William Shatner
You don’t need Scottie to beam you up to know that financial savings is important! Saving $7 daily and investing in a savings plan for 40 years at 10%, compounded quarterly, can accumulate $1.3. million by retirement.[1] As American consumption is increasing at a faster rate than incomes, I am sleuthing for green changes I can make to my daily routine to save $7 a day. Here are 7 easy eco-friendly savings that add up to $7 that I have found thus far:
- Don’t drive by yourself– $0.14 to $3.00 savings. Although there are a variety of alternatives you can take (i.e. walking, car pooling, biking, etc.), public transportation most likely has the next highest cost to driving, which in Chicago, is $2.86/day (on a 30 day pass). Driving 4 miles/day, 5 days/week costs approximately $3.00/day[2].
- Bring your own organic lunch – $1.92 savings. A homemade organic turkey sandwich and apple costs $4.75. A regular processed turkey sandwich and apple from a chain costs $6.67.[3]
- Workout outside and forgo your monthly gym membership – $1.60 savings, assuming you pay $50/month for a gym.
- Drink water from your own glass – $1.50 savings (minimum). Filling a glass with water rather than purchasing one bottle of water daily saves money while increasing your water consumption (we are suppose to have 8 glasses/day, right?).
- Watch media on your laptop instead of your television – $1.19 savings. The average American watches 5 hours of television every day[4]. Assuming a $2.19/day cable cost[5], the cost of watching a 125 Watt 32” LCD television for 5 hours day at $0.11/kWh costs $2.26[6]. Assuming a $1/day internet cost, watching media online on a 125 Watt laptop at $0.11/kWh for 5 hours costs $1.07.[7]
- Decrease your heat/air conditioning setting by 3-4 degrees – $0.66 savings. You can save 10% by cutting 3-4 degrees off of the thermostat. That equates to $20/month on a $200 bill or $0.66 per day.
- Invest your $7 daily in a savings account – $0.17 extra savings! If you invest $7 every day in the ShoreBank Direct savings account at 1.07% APY,* compounded quarterly, you could save approximately $2,620 in the 1st year.[8]
Total Savings: $7.18. It may seem like only pennies, but a penny (or $7) saved, can really be earned. What are other eco-friendly daily savings you can take?
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[1]http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/simple-savings-calculator.aspx
[2] http://www.commutesolutions.org/calc.htm
[3] http://www.fitbytes.com/whole-foods-store-and-diet/
[4] http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/americans-watching-more-tv-than-ever/
[5] http://www.getrichslowly.org/blog/2009/02/19/how-i-cut-my-television-bill-in-half/
[6] http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/tv.html
[7] http://michaelbluejay.com/electricity/computers.html
[8]http://www.bankrate.com/calculators/savings/simple-savings-calculator.aspx
