Five Ways to Green Your Budget and Spending Habits
January 13, 2009 by Jennifer
Maybe creating a saner budget was one of your new year’s goals. Or maybe you don’t believe in new year’s goals, but everyone can use at least a little budget restructuring.
If you’re making over your budget for financial reasons, why not make it over to be greener as well? Some easy steps to greening your budget…
Bank and invest responsibly: Especially with a big tax refund coming (hopefully) now is the ideal time to think about socially responsible investing and green banking. To learn about which banks offer the most green for your green check out the Socially Responsible Investing Basics for Individuals guide from the Social Investment Forum. To learn about eco-investing you can order Co-op America’s Green America’s Guide to Socially Responsible Investing.
Stop and think: Being a green consumer, and thus a green budget rock-star, means you stop and think before you buy. Ask yourself if you really need the item, or just kind of want it, and if so, why? Other things to consider about purchases – is the product recyclable, ethical, will it make your world a lot better? Learn to flex your green purchasing power for a better planet and a more substantial savings account.
Get yourself a green budget bible: Big Green Purse is a good budget-minded book if you happen to be female, a shopper, and green. My personal green budgeting bible is Your Money or Your Life, which isn’t meant to be green, but it did kind of turn out that way. It’s about simple, and simple, to me, tends to translate nicely into green.
Green your friends: You know how when you’re on a diet it sucks to see your pals dig into that chocolate cake? Well, much like that, it’s hard to be green and on a budget when your pals could care less. It’s hard to make that eco sensible choice when your friends are saying, “Oh, socially ethical banking is not that big a deal.” Convert folks you know into thinking about budgeting green, investing green, and saving some green. Yes, this can take time, but the more serious your friends and family know you are, the less whining they’ll do. Also, who knows, maybe you’ll change a pal’s life for the better.
Change over your budgeting routine: If you haven’t gone totally paperless, now would be a great time. Why get paper bills, use stamps and envelopes, and use up the gas on the mail truck if you can pay your bills online? You can track your budget on the computer, get rid of annoying checks, and have an easier and tidier life sans paper trails by going green.
Oh, and PS, on a related note, Co-op America has a killer budget minded piece up right now, 7 Solutions from the Green Economy. Check it out.