Save green, be green

By Genoa Sibold-Cohn

Velocity Contributor

 

 

Vanessa Culver doesn’t catch the latest movies in Seattle theaters anymore. She’s parked on the couch with a selection of flicks from a home delivery service.

 

The City University of Seattle business administration student avoids unnecessary entertainment expenses as the economy continues to toughen the marketplace. Culver, who works in accounting, also switched to a yoga class closer to her office, cut back on eating out and now listens to her church’s sermon online instead of making a weekly 30-minute drive.

 

“I used to have extra play money,” says Culver, 25, of Lynnwood. “Now I have to watch my account.”

 

Like Culver, a weak economy forces everyone from the single guy to working families to budget. Although being thrifty is now a necessity, CityU of Seattle students and alumni alike are being mindful of how their frugality affects the environment.

 

Sally Herigstad, a Kent, Wash. certified public accountant and author of Help! I Can’t Pay My Bills: Surviving a Financial Crisis, says being environmentally conscious and financially savvy work together.

 

“If you’re not saving money, you’re not saving energy,” Herigstad says.

 

Although carpooling and walking are obvious ways to do double duty, Herigstad advocates telecommuting. It can save employees up to 20 percent in commuting costs for one day of work at home each week, she adds.

 

Class of 2005 Alumna Katie Sandberg says her husband saves money on gas by riding to work on a bicycle with a small motor.

 

The bicycle gets 75 mpg and goes 35 mph, says Sandberg, an Eagle Mountain, Utah mother of five who earned her education degree.

 

Another way to reduce bills and help the environment is to adjust the home thermostat. Users save three percent of heating costs for every degree a thermostat is lowered during winter. Those with air conditioning can save three to four percent during the summer when the thermostat is raised a degree, according to Trane Home Comfort Institute in Tyler, Texas.

 

Americans also can save money and the environment with their food and clothing choices, offers Donna Gold, Director of Public Relations at College of the Atlantic in Bar Harbor, Maine. College of the Atlantic is the first college to have neutralized its environmental footprint by going carbon net zero.

 

Gold recommends recycling and buying clothes at thrift stores because of the “contribution to coal-fired factories in China and the transportation that gets the goods here is therefore much less.”

 

If clothes are torn and shouldn’t be given away, Gold suggests using them as rags in place of paper towels.

 

Another option for reducing grocery bills and frequent trips to the store is to grow food at home.

 

“You can grow hundreds of dollars worth of food on the back porch and in a little garden plot for not much more trouble than you’re spending maintaining grass there right now,” Herigstad says. “And think of all the energy and packaging you save.”

 

Sandberg and her family ate apples, blackberries and grapes off their own property when they lived in Lewis County, Wash. Sandberg believes living through financially-strapped times taught her family how to make do with what was available.

 

“We still have frugality in our blood which is something I never hope to lose,” she says.

 

Your Money: Ways to Save

Ask your local utility companies for a free energy audit. Some companies make free or inexpensive repairs and replace older service equipment. - Sally Herigstad

Buy a latte machine to make coffee at home. The machine pays for itself when costs of driving to a coffee shop and buying daily cup are totaled. - Herigstad

Install a programmable thermostat to shave about 10 percent or $100 annually off heating bills. - Trane Home Comfort Institute

Unplug electronics before a trip to avoid using electricity when you’re gone. Even if the power is off, it’s using electricity. - The Environmental Protection Agency Web site.

 

Plan your errands. Combine trips to the store, dry cleaners, salon to save on gas. - Eileen Ryan-Rojas, CityU of Seattle Alumni and Development Director

 

Don’t buy frivolous items. If you think you need it, go home and sleep on it for at least one overnight. If you’re still thinking about it, perhaps you can treat yourself; otherwise, try to

limit the buying just on emotion. - Ryan-Rojas

 

My personal favorite is homemade birthday cards. There are templates available on the

web and the savings can be up to $4 if you normally get your cards from Hallmark. And it’s so much more personalized as you can customize the paper as well. - Rosemary Taylor, CityU of Seattle Marketing Director

 

Online bill paying saves gas to the bank and paper. - Taylor