The Frugal Environmentalist

Frugal living often combines beautifully with caring for our environment. Perhaps you know someone who buys lots of plastic bags. Every time she wants another, she just reaches for the roll of plastic bags and peels off another. When she's through with the bag, she just throws it in the trash. This is her routine. It wastes money, and all that extra plastic in the trash is bad for the environment.

There are ways to have the convenience of a plastic bag when you need it. You can even reduce your ecological footprint, and save money at the same time. Here's a wonderful example that was shared with me. Give it a try.

The next time you reach the end of a box of facial tissues, don't throw that box away. Instead, reuse it in a different way. When you come home from the store, take those empty plastic bags you carried your purchases in and stuff them into the empty tissue box. You will find one box can hold quite a few bags. Then, whenever you need a plastic bag, you can simply reach for that tissue box and pull one out. You are doing your own recycling of plastic bags and tissue boxes. You are also saving money over buying small plastic bags from the store.

I keep one of these tissue boxes stuffed with bags in the trunk of my car. I never know when I might be out somewhere and find I need a plastic bag. I also keep an empty tissue box in my car to use as a trash collector. I burst out laughing when I saw disposable automobile trash bags being marketed in the store. My reused tissue boxes are sturdier and cost me nothing extra.

There are lots of simple, easy, and sensible ways we can make less of a negative impact on the environment. We need to make these types of adjustments fashionable. Use these ideas and share them with others.

That's my two cents.

Wade Houston
September 20, 2007